Writing Greek Myth 2: Power

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Re-writing Greek Myth 2: Power Jupiter as parallel for emperor Augustus Jupiter and rape: see also Io Met. 1.568-688; Semele Met. 3.268-342; and c.f. Apollo and Daphne Met 1.451-77.) Callisto Met. 2.401-530 - Jupiter, Diana and Juno Actaeon Met. 3.148-267 - Diana N.B. Bk. 3 = Theban stories c.f. Greek versions: Semele rivalry ([Hesiod] Catalogue of Women fragment 217A & [Apollodoros] Library 3.4.4); Actaeon guilty? (Callimachus Hymn 5) Challenges Artemis (Euripides Bacchae 337-40) Compare: Daedalus and Icarus Met. 8.221-78 and: Icarus in Art of Love 2.20-98 (publ. 1 BCE): ‘boy, made over-reckless by youthful daring’ who ‘soared aloft/ too close to the sun’ (AA 2.84-5) Daedalus’ skill: Minos could ‘not clip wings of a mortal’ (97) Compare Phaethon Met. 1.803-2.361 blasted by thunderbolt (c.f. Semele) Revisited in exile: Augustus as Jupiter, Ovid as Phaethon Ovid Tristia 1.1.74-83: still I fear the gods who did me harm... Had Phaethon lived, he’d have stayed clear of those horses he once was crazy about, kept out of the sky. What scares me is Jove’s weaponry. I’ve been its target: whenever there’s thunder, I’m sure the lightning is for me. Arachne Met. 6.1-162 Minerva Contests in the Metamorphoses see also Niobe vs. Latona 6. 163–354; Pierides vs. Muses 5. 342–787; Marsyas vs. Apollo 6.435;–57) Books 3 & 4: punishment of those who deny Bacchus: Pentheus (3.511-732) IMAGES shown in class Daphne Bernini Apollo e Dafne 1622-25) Borghese Gallery, Rome http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/it/dafne.htm Pollaivolo Apollo and Daphne (c.1470) National Gallery, London http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/antonio-del-pollaiuolo- apollo-and-daphne Actaeon Athenian red figure vase c.480 BCE: http://155.97.32.9/~rstewart/WebOfMyth/artemisactaeon.html Caserta statue group: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Actaeon_Caserta.jpg Titian Diana and Actaeon (1556-9) National Gallery, London http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-diana-and-actaeon Titian The Death of Actaeon (1559-75) National Gallery, London http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-the-death-of-actaeon .

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Zeus Cronos, father of the gods, who gave his name to time, married his sister Rhea, goddess of earth. Now, Cronos had become king of the gods by killing his father Oranos, the First One, and the dying Oranos had prophesied, saying, “You murder me now, and steal my throne — but one of your own Sons twill dethrone you, for crime begets crime.” So Cronos was very careful. One by one, he swallowed his children as they were born; First, three daughters Hestia, Demeter, and Hera; then two sons — Hades and Poseidon. One by one, he swallowed them all. Rhea was furious. She was determined that he should not eat her next child who she felt sure would he a son. When her time came, she crept down the slope of Olympus to a dark place to have her baby. It was a son, and she named him Zeus. She hung a golden cradle from the branches of an olive tree, and put him to sleep there. Then she went back to the top of the mountain. She took a rock and wrapped it in swaddling clothes and held it to her breast, humming a lullaby. Cronos came snorting and bellowing out of his great bed, snatched the bundle from her, and swallowed it, clothes and all. Rhea stole down the mountainside to the swinging golden cradle, and took her son down into the fields. She gave him to a shepherd family to raise, promising that their sheep would never be eaten by wolves. Here Zeus grew to be a beautiful young boy, and Cronos, his father, knew nothing about him.
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