I enjoyed the stories in Ovid I very much. It’s nice to have the poem translated, because
I sure wouldn’t be able to understand it.
(Well not all of it.) I’m sure it’s much more condensed as well, because
they sure liked their stories long back in the day.
I absolutely had my favorite stories. I loved the stories of Io and Phaeton. Just in a very general way, the story of
Phaethon reminded me a bit of Icarus and flying too close to the sun. This story surprised me the most. I never realized that the English language adopted
the name Phaethon to indicate a carriage.
Straight from Jane Austin’s Pride
and Prejudice. Mr. Collins brags of
Lady Catherine driving by his home in “her little phaeton and ponies.” The details of how the Earth scorched, flying
into the stars, avoiding Scorpio, etc. I
could have devoured more of that type of story.
The stories of women like Io and Callisto always annoy me, as
does the story of Medusa the Gorgon. These
women were raped, so we’re going with unwillingly here, and yet these women are
punished. Now I realize that there would
be no way to punish Jupiter/Jove/Zeus, the perpetual perpetrator, but come on
goddesses of ancient Rome and Greece, trick the gods into something, not those
poor girls. It can be done! Zeus tricked
Cronus into eating a rock….. helloo! Haven’t
they suffered enough?
I thought that the story of Semele could have had more
background information. It feels as
though the story picks up after the fact, but I’m curious to know how Jupiter
found Semele. We hear how he found Io
and Callisto, but Semele seems to be different, she enjoyed (?) the company of
Zeus/Jupiter. Additionally, I’m a bit
unclear as to the meaning of the following statement made by Juno to Semele
while incognito:
“beg him to assume all of his
powers before he embraces you, and be just as glorious as when Juno welcomes
him on high.”
So, does Jupiter manifest all his powers, although admittedly
holding some back, to come to Semele again?
And it is his almighty power that IS him that destroys her?
I had a difficult time understanding some of the goings on of
Semele’s story. For instance, when
Semele is asking Jupiter for the favor and says “when you enter into the pact
with Venus.” I searched the Internet for
a better comprehension of this phrase, but to no avail. I saw other beings had entered into pacts
with Venus, but nothing explaining this exactly. I do this pretty often throughout reading
these stories. If there is someone who I
am not familiar with, or some side story, I will do the research on it and look
it up. I feel it gives me a better
understanding of the story itself. I
wonder if it would be possible to create, I don’t know, a side reference that
perhaps addresses these other characters?
Or perhaps short footnotes?
 |
| Ruben's-Fall of Phaeton |
Bibliography:
Myth-Folklore Unit: Ovid's Metamorphoses I. Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/kavgc4d
Ovid's Metamorphoses: Semele. Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/l8vv3cw
Ruben's - Fall of Phaeton. Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/osk78yz
No comments:
Post a Comment