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Ancient Greek Myths And Tragedies
Posted by Jeunelle • 11/22/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: goddesses, Gods, greek legends, greek myths, greek tragedies, greeks
Ancient Greek Myths, Legends, Gods, Goddess And Tragedies.
Do You Remember Any, If You Do Please Discuss What You Liked About Them?
For Example:
Here is one of my all time favorites.
Here in Helen of Troy, clymenstra gets pissed at Agamenon as she returns from her trip to see the city get sacked and Helen has been raped by Agamenon (Clymenstra's own husband) and nets him while he is lounging away in the bath
and murders him after she had enough of his bullshit.
When the Gods are pissed they are pissed and must be avenged.
User Comments
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CfOdOMXwck&feature=related
Clytemnestra's golden net looks just the material I have on my golden dress and would of made a nice little throw to go with it too. I just loved how she successfully netted her prey and then killed it.
Agamemnon had no way of escaping. Nice job Clytemnestra.-
The best part is when Clytemnestra nets Agamemnon
I should get me one of those nets too
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CfOdOMXwck
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We learnt that it was Clytemenstra's lover Aegisthus that killed Agamemnon as he exited his bath?
My favourite legend is that of Odysseus told in Homers The Odyssey.-
@Bonnielicious...many of the old movies and google searches says otherwise or it seems to be confusion as to who did the actual killing.
They both had a hand in Agamemnon's killing, that's for sure.
Clytemnestra sure had a motive for killing that SOB, especially after she learns that her own husband offered her young daughter as a sacrificial lamb to some God/Goddess.
Ohhhhh I see Oedipus, Echo and Narcissus coming up for discussion.
This is some great stuff. I will return in a little while to discuss this but right now
I have to go have some dinner...Later
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Do you know Oedipus?-
MrCheeseburger....Yes another great.
Oedipus finally realizes that earlier at the crossroads, he had killed his own father,
king Laius, and as consequence, had married his own mother, Jocasta.
Oedipus goes in search of Jocasta and finds she has killed herself.
Keeping it in the family goes beyond saying here... hey hey.
Taking brooches from her gown, Oedipus blinds himself. Oedipus leaves the city and his daughter Antigone acts as his guide as he wanders blindly through the country, ultimately dying at Colonus, after being placed under the protection of Athens by Theseus, its king.
Wow what a tragedy. The stuff of soap operas.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtMHltBFqlo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOLmfbeACoQ&feature=related
Here you can see that Jocasta his Wife/Mother begs Oedipus
not to continue his own personal search of who he truly is and where his origins actually comes from or he's doomed
but of course he has to push the envelope to find out
and he finds out alright that Jocasta is his Mother.
It all goes down hill from there.
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I take a break from researching my essay on Greek Foundation Myths and end up reading a thread about Greek myths! I think that's a cue to get back to work!
But my favourite myth is Echo and Narcissus -
My favourite Greek myth is the myth of Clitoratis the hidden goddess of the small pink cave beyond the forest of pubica.-
@aningeniousname...hahahahaha I never heard of this one, though I have heard stories about "the man in the boat".
Drum Roll
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Most of the time I get the Roman and Greek gods mixed up but I do remember Oedipus- wasn't he in love with his mother?-
@curlydesigh...I doubt it. When a man finds out that he is sleeping with his Mother, I don't thing many men will go along with that one. hehehe
Power almost always came directly from the thrown of the Mother to Son
and even from Mother to Daughter but Love is a different story. -
Yeah I think Oedipus and Jocasta split up after they figured out exactly who was related to whom. -
Correction throne not thrown... my bad.
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The Oedipus complex in psychology is based on this myth. We studied it in psychology, VERY interesting.
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My favorite story is Medea, who was a beautiful princess from the east. Jason came looking for the Golden Fleece but her father the king refused to let him leave with it.
But Medea fell in love with Jason and the ran off together, and to keep her father from chasing them she chopped her brother up into little pieces and scattered them throughout the land so that they could make their escape while the king and his men went to gather up the pieces.
Then when they got to Corinth, Jason was greeted with a hero's welcome and the king of Corinth offered his daughter to Jason in marriage. Jason accepted so that he could become king, and told Medea that he would still see her on the side (typical man!).
Of course Medea was pissed at this so she killed the two young children she had with Jason, and the King of Corinth and his daughter, then fled to Athens and married the king there, and left Jason alive just to let him suffer. (my favorite line from any Greek tragedy: "When a woman is wronged in the marriage bed no other mind can be so bloodthirsty!")
And of course Jason was killed years later when a beam from his own ship the Argo fell on him.-
@Diabolicomix....You are getting to be quiet interesting because this happens to be one of my all-time favorite Tragedies.
Medea. Cunning, patient, precise, vengeful,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea
The extent that a woman will go through when she has been wronged
and the revenge that knows no bounds that she will take in time,
makes for a real juicy play.
I particularly loved the Movie Medea from Director Lars Von Trier/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYcticxOWA0&feature=related
Also the other Medea that starred Opera singer Maria Callas & Director Pier Paolo Pasolini.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGPd411gOYA
Part of the tragedy of Medea is the fact that once a woman discovers that she is not loved,
after all the time, children and effort she put into a relationship, all hell can break loose.
It was Medea that helped give Power to Jason and after he receive Power he no longer needed Medea and wanted her gone, used up and spit out.
When the Goddess is spurned, this is a major offense to the Goddess
and she will be taking heads and the Goddess has no preference for man, woman or child, she will be appeased.
I would like to know what type of poison Medea used in that dress that was offered
to Jason's new bride to be before she burned to death in that dress. TRAGEDY. -
Cool, I have never seen that version of Medea I will have to check it out.
>>I would like to know what type of poison Medea used in that dress that was offered
to Jason's new bride
LOL! -
@diabolicomix...and you thought you were diabolical. lmao
Yeah difinately get that other version, they were both very good. -
Another thing I would like to add here is that without love, you really have nothing and Medea made damn sure that Jason realized this by leaving him
with absolutely nothing. No Sons, no new bride, no crown (Kingship, no kingdom, nothing.
This woman proved that power can come from her and can leave through her too.
An obvious revolving door. Incoming...inbound & outbound.
Love was the glue that held it all together and once it cease to stick
from Jason's failed lack of understanding, the whole kingdom fell apart.
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My favorite is the Bacchae by Euripides--showing just what happens when people repress their desires and forsake the god of wine and revelry....-
Everybody needs to make a sacrifice at that altar.
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Prometheus has always been my favorite.
I love Greek Mythology for the flawed gods who can be manipulated by men, and who despite their flaws, and our manipulations manage to still keep a (mostly) soft spot in their hearts for us.-
Ah, Prometheus. What a tragedy. Poor guy had to get his liver eaten everyday just because he gave humans fire.
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I find the Prometheus myth interesting for its place in the collective world mythos. The most obvious example being Lucifer in the Bible...Lucifer meaning 'bringer of light'...who ends up being punished for all eternity by having to move on his belly forever.
Interestingly, it is an element that is in most Native American mythologies as well. -
Ah! A common factor! What does it mean? Its a conspiracy! Everything was written by the U.S. government man!
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The middle managers of the ancient world never did fare well when they sided with labor.
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DaneMorgan...Prometheus really was dealt a bad hand.
The Gods appeared to want to reserve fire for themeselves, leaving man cold and in the darkness. Yet with all the fires we have around here today, one can only wonder if we are responsible enough to handle fire. It sure must suck having to have your liver eating away
every day by birds of prey. Prometheus sure made a unselfish sacrifice and hopefully man
will be responsible enough to handle fire. -
Dane here you go
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuxyXDJkaig&NR=1
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I like Greek ancient story is what they have to offer in real life from philosophic points of view and great thinkers they have come out of it
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@arilestariono....agreed...thanks for playing.
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as a greek I like them all!
but my favorite is the king midas one...
Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and who by some accounts was the goddess-mother of Midas himself.
Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Bermion mountain, In Mygdonia.
Midas was known for his garden of roses:
Herodotus remarks on the settlement of the ancient kings of Macedon on the slopes of Mount Bermion "the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenos was taken captive."
According to Iliad (v.860), he had one son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men; but in some variations of the myth he had a daughter, Zoë or "life" instead.
Once, as Ovid relates in Metamorphoses X
Dionysus found his old schoolmaster and foster father, the satyr Silenus, missing.
The old satyr had been drinking wine, and had wandered away drunk, and was found by some Phrygian peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden).
Midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus entertained Midas and his friends with stories and songs.
On the eleventh day he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in Lydia. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever reward he wanted. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold.
Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone and both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table.
"So Midas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold: but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold cursed his prayer" (Claudian, In Rufinem). In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne,he found that when he touched his daughter, she turned into a statue as well.
Now he hated the gift he had coveted. He prayed to Dionysus, begging to be delivered from starvation. Dionysus heard and consented; he told Midas to wash in the river Pactolus.
He did so, and when he touched the waters, the power passed into the river, and the river sands became changed into gold. This explained why the river Pactolus was so rich in gold and the wealth of the dynasty claiming Midas as forefather, no doubt the impetus for this etiological myth.
Gold was perhaps not the only metallic source of Midas' riches: "King Midas, a Phrygian, son of Cybele, first discovered black and white lead."
Midas, now hating wealth and splendor, moved to the country and became a worshipper of Pan, the god of the fields and satyr.
Roman mythographers,asserted that his tutor in music was Orpheus.
Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill.
Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen as umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present.
Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award.
Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.
The myth is illustrated by two paintings "Apollo and Marsyas" by Palma il Giovane (1544-1628), one depicting the scene before, and one after the punishment.
Midas was mortified at this mishap. He attempted to hide his misfortune with an ample turban or headdress. But his hairdresser of course knew the secret. He was told not to mention it. He could not keep the secret; so he went out into the meadow, dug a hole in the ground, whispered the story into it, and covered the hole up. A thick bed of reeds sprang up in the meadow, and began whispering the story and saying "King Midas has a donkey's ears."
Sarah Morris demonstrated (Morris 2004) that donkeys' ears were a Bronze Age royal attribute, borne by King Tarkasnawa (Greek Tarkondemos) of Mira, on a seal inscribed in both Hittite cuneiform and Luwian hieroglyphs: in this connection the myth would appear to justify for Greeks the exotic attribute.
info by wikipedia.... -
regarding Agamemnon the real story is as follows...
(just to put the right names in the story)
After a stormy voyage, Agamemnon and Cassandra (not Helen) landed in Argolis or were blown off course and landed in Aegisthus' country. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, had taken a lover, Aegisthus, and they invited Agamemnon to a banquet at which he was treacherously slain.
According to the account given by Pindar and the tragedians, Agamemnon was slain by his wife alone in a bath, a blanket of cloth or a net having first been thrown over him to prevent resistance. Clytemnestra also killed Cassandra.
Her wrath at the sacrifice of Iphigenia, her jealousy of Cassandra, and the possibility of going to war for Helen's affection are said to have been the motives for her crime.
Aegisthus then ruled Agamemnon's kingdom for a time, but the murder of Agamemnon was eventually avenged by his son Orestes with the help of his daughter Electra. -
In Greek mythology, Helen (in Greek, Ἑλένη – Helénē), better known as Helen of Sparta later Helen of Troy, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta and sister of Castor, Polydeuces and Clytemnestra.
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Helen returned to Sparta and lived for a time with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus in The Odyssey.
According to another version, used by Euripides in his play Orestes, Helen had long ago left the mortal world by then, having been taken up to Olympus almost immediately after Menelaus' return. -
@brexians...Wow looks like you love your ancient myths and tragedies. Very nice and thank you for your large contribution here.
The true motives as to why Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon are her own
as nobody really knows what's in the heart of a person or the true motives as to why she killed him,
one can only guess. Plus a myth's storyline can change by word of mouth.
It does seem however that Agamemnon was not a very likeable guy.
It also leads me to think that if Agamemnon was good to his wife, he would still be alive in that time, there would be no logical reason for Clytemnestra to take another lover.
Of course all this is just speculation as I wasn't there to see for myself and I would have to somewhat rely on a storyline that constantly changes from person to person, mouth to mouth. Even the Googgle searches and Winekpia can't seem to agreed on the facts of any of the myths. -
See now this is what I'm talking about, up above you say it was Pan
that challenged Apollo to a music fest. But in my High School books and other online sources
said it was Pan that originally had the flute/lyre but Apollo later beat him up and took the flute or lyre for himself...thus becoming the God of music. You just don't know who to believe and I am sure that there are a lot of people out there with the wrong storyline as they also got there information from incorrect sources. -
It is pity that you don’t speak or read Greek
Start with a good translation of Iliad / odyssey and Theogonia of Hesiodus the foundation of the Greek myths.
Also try encyclopedia Mythica on the web…
Nice discussion
Keep up…-
@brexians...No I don't read Greek yet.
However thank you very much for the Foundation and Encyclopedia, I usually go there to get facts but a lot of people don't know about these two places you listed here and they do get the storyline mixed up. The funny thing is even my High School books got it wrong so I can only imagine how many other people have wrong information on the topic too. -
This is the best translation of the Iliad: www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226469409
And this is the best for the Odyssey: www.amazon.co.uk/Odyssey-Penguin-Classics-Homer/dp/0140449116/ref=sr_1_1?ie...
(I'm not suggesting you buy them from Amazon or anything like that...just so you can see the covers etc.)
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@SiuilARuin...thank you for your contribution.
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Ancient Greek Warfare was very advance....just look at the weapons
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aznz9mj5grA -
Do the Kabeiri count as Greek, being Samothracian? Or do they have to be transformed to the Roman Penates first, or at least to Castor and Pollox? Sometimes I feel like I'm taken back to that temple, as the fire rages, and hear afresh the voice of Axieros, even as if I'm Kasmillos.-
@LynneaUrania....Oh my God...I never heard of them. I would have to ask either brexians
or Dane. They both seem to be more versed at myths than me, I am still in awe with myths.
I see no reason why they can't be included unless everyone else here disproves.
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Athena kicking some ass
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5HPZlesqCs&feature=related
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