I like Arachne, too. It's a good story.
Favourite animal or monster? Hmm... I do quite like Pegasus, the winged horse born of the sea foam. He'd definitely be up there as a favourite.
I think the story goes that when Perseus flew over the sea with Medusa's head in his hand, some of her blood dripped down onto the waves below from which Pegasus rode out.I always thought Pegasus was born from Neptune and Medusa. Didn't he jump from her body after Heracles took her head?
Perseus! That's right. I think I was getting a couple stories mixed upI think the story goes that when Perseus flew over the sea with Medusa's head in his hand, some of her blood dripped down onto the waves below from which Pegasus rode out.
wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?
I think Medusa was described as the most beautiful woman in Athens.yes i remember, in one of Athena's temples wasn't it. So then Athena punished Medusa by making her so ugly - before that she was beautiful i guess. woman's inhumanity to woman. i don't know.
wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?
so they weren't from medusa then. it does seem it would have been right for them to have been from medusa - after the horrible and unfair story of her rape and punishment for it, giving birth to vengeful spirits would seem quite right.The Furies (Erinyes in Greek) have several origin myths surrounding them. One says that they were born from drops of blood that fell from Uranus after he was castrated by his son Cronus. Another says that they were the daughters of Mother Earth and Darkness, another that they were of Cronus and Eurynome, or Cronus and Night.
Though originally there were an indefinite number of Furies, eventually the Greeks decided that there were three: Tisiphone (the avenger), Megara (the jealous), and Alecto (the unresting).
Despite their negative interactions with humans, the Furies were called Eumenides, kindly ones because of their indulgence when Orest was seeking refuge after his mother’s murder. They are sometimes represented by flies which harass their victims as remorse.
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At first the Furies were ordered to guard the entrance to Tartarus to make certain that those who entered had atoned for their sins. Those who had not were rejected and had to wander as ghosts or shades(wandereing souls that thirsted, but could not drink, hungered, but could not eat-constantly in pain for eternity). They became better known for their responsibility as punishers of those who offended the Olympians. Their main function was then to torment those who had committed a sin. Though origionally probably reserved for patricides, matricides, and those who broke their oaths, the Furies eventually would come to punish any sin. They would harass and injure their prey but not kill them. They would pursue wrong doers relentlessly, until death, often driving them to suicide. They would extend their torments into the underworld, cruelly lashing the offenders. The sight of them could drive one to madness.
I'm not sure what Orest did to warrant their kindness, perhaps they simply pittied him because of his mother's death.so they weren't from medusa then. it does seem it would have been right for them to have been from medusa - after the horrible and unfair story of her rape and punishment for it, giving birth to vengeful spirits would seem quite right.
my views are definitely coloured by robert graves - as that's where i got an introduction to the myths from. so maybe that's where i get an idea of the furies. anyway, i think of them as being concerned with punishing rape and matricide primarily, and leaving such crimes as theft and manslaughter to the jurisdiction of others. i didn't know that they had let orestes off the hook in the end. what did he have to do to satisfy them? i also think of them as being older than the olympians. and that the name 'eumenides' is a euphamism - used so as not to summon them by mentioning their true names. like hades is sometimes called 'the general' or 'the wealthy one'.
i have mixed feelings about Uranos' castration. clearly he was no good as a dad. but wasn't his time the golden age for humans? when we lived without work and didn't die but just fell asleep ? i don't know if it was the dethronement of Uranos that also brought the golden age to an end. but if it was then for us down here perhaps it would have been better if he'd stayed -even with such a bad private life in his own family.
i never read the story of orestes. i know more or less the background story - the murder of agamemnon. i like reading to old plays so i might go from there. i'm not sure if there's one that covers his whole story though.
bye then, FD
a real duffer then. poor show.when Zeus took the throne he destroyed the Golden Age and created his own, new race of man. He wanted to create the perfect world, one better than his fathers. When he saw that man of the Silver Age was worse than the first he created another (Bronze) and another (Heroes) until we of the Iron Age were created, the worst yet.
I couldn't remember at first, but your comment reminds me of Zoolander when Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson learn that the files that they need are on the computer. They couldn't figure out how to turn on the computer so they started pushing buttons, then hitting it, then jumped onto the table and started beating it. Then they were told that the files were "in the computer" so they broke it apart and were confused when they still didn't see them!wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?