'Gate to Hell'

I stumbled upon this article last night and thought it quite interesting because of what we are about to embark on in our mythologies class, the end, the apocalypse.

A “gate to hell” has emerged from ruins in southwestern Turkey, Italian archaeologists have announced.
Known as Pluto's Gate -- Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin -- the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition.
Historic sources located the site in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, now called Pamukkale, and described the opening as filled with lethal mephitic vapors.

“This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death,” the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BC -- about 24 AD) wrote.
“I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell,” he added.
Announced this month at a conference on Italian archaeology in Istanbul, Turkey, the finding was made by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.

The Hellenistic city grew into a flourishing Roman city, with temples, a theater and popular sacred hot springs, believed to have healing properties.
“We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Indeed, Pamukkale' springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave,” D'Andria told Discovery News.
Featuring a vast array of abandoned broken ruins, possibly the result of earthquakes, the site revealed more ruins once it was excavated. The archaeologists found Ionic semi columns and, on top of them, an inscription with a dedication to the deities of the underworld -- Pluto and Kore.
D'Andria also found the remains of a temple, a pool and a series of steps placed above the cave -- all matching the descriptions of the site in ancient sources.
“People could watch the sacred rites from these steps, but they could not get to the area near the opening. Only the priests could stand in front of the portal,” D'Andria said.
According to the archaeologist, there was a sort of touristic organization at the site. Small birds were given to pilgrims to test the deadly effects of the cave, while hallucinated priests sacrificed bulls to Pluto.
The ceremony included leading the animals into the cave, and dragging them out dead.

“We could see the cave's lethal properties during the excavation. Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes,” D'Andria said.
Only the eunuchs of Cybele, an ancient fertility goddess, were able to enter the hell gate without any apparent damage.
“They hold their breath as much as they can,” Strabo wrote, adding that their immunity could have been due to their "menomation," “divine providence” or “certain physical powers that are antidotes against the vapor.”
According to D'Andria, the site was a famous destination for rites of incubation. Pilgrims took the waters in the pool near the temple, slept not too far from the cave and received visions and prophecies, in a sort of oracle of Delphi effect. Indeed, the fumes coming from the depths of Hierapoli's phreatic groundwater produced hallucinations.
“This is an exceptional discovery as it confirms and clarifies the information we have from the ancient literary and historic sources,” Alister Filippini, a researcher in Roman history at the Universities of Palermo, Italy, and Cologne, Germany, told Discovery News.
Fully functional until the 4th century AD, and occasionally visited during the following two centuries, the site represented “an important pilgrimage destination for the last pagan intellectuals of the Late Antiquity,” Filippini said.
During the 6th century AD, the Plutonium was obliterated by the Christians. Earthquakes may have then completed the destruction.

Displacement Story

           This Wednesday started out like any other day, my friends and I were walking down the sidewalk along the fenced park on the right of me. School had been like every other day, nothing out of the ordinary. But I keep telling myself that since I am a senior, I am almost done with my school career. Anyway, back to my story, we were walking along the sidewalk. It was barely big enough for me and my three friends to walk side by side. This person on a bike came barreling by and we scattered. I jumped out of the way and backed up into the fence. There were a couple of wires hanging out of the fence that jabbed me in the back and the leg. I didn’t think anything of it because it felt like a pinch. So after we cursed the man on a bike a while, I went on my way home. The minute I was in my bedroom, I hit the bed and was asleep.

 Sophie was the girl next door. She was a fair girl, with white skin, long, flowing dark hair, big almond eyes. She was quiet and kept to herself in her mother’s garden in the back yard. She was a senior in high school, about to graduate. She had no real plans after high school except to work in her mother’s florist shop and in the garden.

 The next day, after I woke up from my twelve hour slumber, I stumbled out of bed in my pajamas and looked out the window. Blinking a couple of time, I saw her, the girl next door, Sophie I think her name was. She was in the garden, picking flowers, what a surprise. I didn’t understand what her damn fascination was with the garden. He always saw her in the garden, no matter what time of day. He had not really talked to her much at all, even though they had been neighbors since elementary school. After leaving the window, he went to take a shower. The entire time he was getting ready for school, his mind was filled with Sophie. Simple little questions like what else she does, what else do she like, why is she so quiet, etc.  He didn’t think anything of it for the rest of the day, or the rest of the week.

 When Monday came around, he got up this feeling that he needed to talk to her. So he gathered up so courage and went to talk to her.  She was still pretty shy but gradually she started to warm up to him and him to her. This started out to be a common thing; he would walk with her to and from school, they would talk about everything, almost no subject was off limits. This occurred for about three weeks, until he gathered up some more courage to ask her to dinner. That coming Friday night, they went to a nice restaurant. They order a three course meal, appetizer, main, and a dessert. The dessert was the best dish of all, which they both agreed. It was the beginning of summer and the fruit was just beginning to ripen. After he escorted Sophie home from the dinner, he quickly kissed her on the lips. As he started to walk away, this feeling hit him and he could not have but one kiss. So he started back up the stairs where she was watching him. He started to kiss her more and then suddenly, he pushed her through the door, and led them both to her room, with the help of her directions.

 After that night, they had become a couple, with neither of them being able to escape the other and having no idea why. Sophie’s mother did everything in her power to split them up but nothing worked. She had given up hope to split those two children up. After graduation, I took Sophie down to Texas with me because I got a job offer to work on an oil drill and it was pretty good money. Sophie did not like it much because I was not home for four to five months at a time. So we discussed it and she returned home to her mother during those times in which I would be gone. This happened for years after, I would work on the drill and she would go home to her mother and tend to the garden. But she would always return to me no matter how much she did not want to.

Deciding between Goddesses

 

 

This is the judging of three fair goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Paris is the lucky one to be judging them.

Some back story:

Zeus threw a wedding celebration for Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles) but he did not invite Eris, the goddess of discord, to the party for she would have not been a happy party goer. So, the story goes that she created a golden apple with an inscription on it reading "for the fairest one."

Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera each claimed the golden apple for themselves. They asked Zeus to decide for them who got it but Zeus, being smart in this, decided to shove the decision on to Paris. The goddesses, trying to persuade Paris, offered him each something that was in their skill level. Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful girl in all the land. Athena offered him wisdom and to be a skillful warrior. Hera offered him wealth, power, and to be king.

Paris, being a man, took Aphrodite up on her offer. The most beautiful woman was Helen of Troy.

This is said to be the reason for the Trojan War.  

 

Disney's Dionysus

In class, we have talked about Dionysus and his rituals. Every time Dionysus' name is brought up, this picture pops into my head. This is Disney's version of Dionysus in the movie Fantasia. He is having a jolly good time with his followers and drinking his wine. This helps show how much Dionysus loved to play around and have a good time.

Francis Goya

 

Listening to Professor Sexson talking about painters painting myths reminded me of this painting above. It is by Francis Goya. This is Kronos eating one of his children. As we know, Kronos was told that one of his children was going to overthrow him so he decided to eat them all until Zeus comes along and defeats Kronos. This is one of my favorite paintings by this artist because Francis Goya does not portray the gods as nice and kind. It is very dark, gloomy, and grotesque in a way. Creepy is an understatement. Just the way Kronos' eyes look is enough to make anyone cringe, and the look of the mangled, eaten body in his hands is gruesome. It makes me wonder if Goya had an idea of which god/goddess he was making Kronos eat in this painting.

Diego Velazquez

 

 

One of the first things that I noticed was how there seems to be two different atmospheres in the painting. One is in the foreground with Athena and her helpers. The other is in the background where Arachne is showing off her tapestry to her helpers. It seems to me that the logical reason to put Athena in the foreground and make her known is to show the outcome of this challenge. All of Athena's workers seem to be involved in helping Athena probably because they knew or at least had a sense of who she was. Arachne's helpers are probably all about lavishing attention and admiration on to hers, since Arachne perceived herself as the best weaver.

 

Also I noticed how Athena's head is not turned towards Arachne's tapestry and looking at what she produced. Athena looks completely at ease with creating her tapestry. She is doing it at a leisurely pace all the while talking to that girl on the left. She doesn't need to hurry because she knows that she is the best.

Story Telling in Real Life

This semester I am in writ 201 with Professor Jill Davis. It is pretty much a pay it forward class. We work on creating something that will help the community or world. We have this opportunity to join an organization that is already created and work on it for the semester. I jumped at the chance to join one because, honestly, it sounded better than creating a brand new one. The one that I joined is call Tuesdays with Morrie. Inspired by the book by Mitch Albom, Mitch is talking to one of his old college professors, Morrie, who is dying from ALS. They talk about everything, from how they are doing in their life now, and the main theme is dying.

I am doing essentially the same thing, but the person I am talking to is not dying soon from a disease. I get to talk to a senior citizen named Jack Staples. I get to listen to all the stories he is willing to tell me, from the time when he was a little boy to the present, where he is living alone, just a few months after his wife's passing. I take as many notes as I can, and write an 'essay' about their life. I pick a common theme, one direction I choose to discover more about. I then present my story to Jack and show him the care I took to create it. This takes the entire semester and I am only in two out of six meetings with Jack so far but it is exciting to listen to him just telling me stories.

  Morrie doing his all time favorite thing, dancing, before he was diagnosed.  

Myths for Quiz

Apollo and Daphne

• Cupid shot Apollo, (sun god) with a gold tipped arrow to make him fall in love with the first person he would see
• Cupid shot Daphne (daughter of a river god) with a lead tipped arrow to make her flee from the first person she saw
• Apollo sees Daphne, falls in love, and persues her
• Daphne fleeing and needing help, pleas to her father to help her and save her from Apollo
• Daphne is turned into a laurel tree and Apollo, upon seeing this, makes the laurel tree his symbol and his tree

Io 

• Jove sees Io and tries to seduce her without Juno's knowledge 
• He covers the land with clouds and when Juno finds out, he disguise Io as a beautiful cow and gives her to Juno
• Juno has her watched by the 100 eyed monster named Argus,
• Mercury is sent to fetch Io and slay the monster
• He tells a story to the monster to get him to fall asleep
• Pipes of Pan
• Mercury slays the monster 
• Io lives as a cow, sees her father and he does not recognize her
• She writes her name in the dirt to show who she is
• She is eventually turned into a human again 

Europa 

• was seduced by Zeus, as a white bull, 

Semele 

• another of Zeus' love interests, 
• Juno found out about the affair and told Semele to ask Zeus if she could see him in his turn form 
• She asked Zeus for a favor and he said of course (gods can not go back on their word) 
• She saw him in his turn form, she exploded, while a child was inside her, 
• Zeus put the child in his thigh and was born from it
• the child was Dionysus 
• Dithyromb - ancient Greek humn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus
• meaning - he of the double doors ( divine birth and human birth)

Callisto 

• Was seduced by Jove when he turned himself into a woman
• He kissed her, disguised as Diana 
• She was a nymph of Diana and banished when she become pregnant
• Gives birth to Arcas 
• Juno takes her revenge and turns her into a bear 
• Arcas tries to kill his mother as a bear while he is hunting 
• Callisto is in the form of Ursa Major 
• Arcas is in the form of Ursa Minor 

Actaeon

• Was a hunter who was the grandson of Cadmus 
• He stumbled upon Diana bathing with her nymphs 
• She caught him and turned him into a stag, and sent his hunting dogs after him and they ripped him to pieces 

Narcissus

• Blind prophet, Tiresias, prophosized that it is important that he does not know himself or else he will fall in love with himself 
• Nemesis leads him to a pool of water and there, he falls in love with himself  
• He stays there for his entire life, never leaving, trying to grasp at his reflection 
• Turns into a daffodil 

Tiresias

Pentheus 

Orpheus 

Myrrha 

Pygmylion 

Cadmus

Class Notes 1/23 - 2/13

Shakespeare Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold 
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. 
In me thou seest the twilight of such day 
As after sunset fadeth in the west, 
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. 
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire 
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 
As the death-bed whereon it must expire 
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. 
   This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
   To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Apollo and Daphne - winners (of any kind) and military victors get laurel leaves place upon their heads 

Etiology - study of causality or originality 
Etiological myth - myth intended to explain origins 

Four types of creation myths:
Ex Nihilo - creation out of nothing
Earth Diver - aquatic birds sent to the bottom of ocean/sea to bring up particles of earth
Dividing in 2 of a primordial deity 
Dismemberment of immortal being 

Enuma Elish - Babylonian creation myth 

Tree is an axis mundi - world center/connection between heaven and earth 

Three kinds of myths:
Full circle - wholeness
Two half circles - separation 
Dashed circle - return 

Eschatology - concerned with last four things: death, judgement, heaven, hell 

Archaea vs. Athena 

• weaving contest 

Initiation myths 

Types: 

• puberty rites
• entering into a secret society
• mystical vocation 

Common Things in our Creation Myths

The most obvious common link in these creation myths is that they all start with the words 'in the beginning' or something along those lines.

Almost all of them referred to 'a time in the beginning before there was actual time.' Which to me seems a bit ironic to always put in this little line just so people have the knowledge that there was no time before the earth was created.

There is always one to two beings who create the earth.

The earth and its elements always seem to be created out of the being's body parts and/or bodily fluids.

The humans of the earth are usually molded out of mud or something from the earth.

Earth divers were a common way to begin making land from everything being a primordial sea.

Everything and the majority of beings are changing or metamorphosing into something else in order to help create the world.

Most of the creator beings are worshipped in their own cultures are deities.

Gods/Goddesses consumed by love

The myth of Persephone and Hades has always interested me. I knew the whole myth.



Which is as follows: Hades fell in love with Persophone, who is the daughter of Demeter, the earth goddess. He developed a plan to kidnap her and bring her down to the underworld to live with him. Demeter, after learning this, was extremely distraught. The whole earth seemed to die in her grief. Demeter asked Zeus for help in getting her daughter back. Zeus said that she would be able to get Persephone back only if Persephone didn't eat anything while she was in the underworld. Hades, knowing this, tricked Persephone into eating three or four pomegranate seeds. By eating these, she was bound to the underworld and be his wife. It is said that she is only to return to the earth, to Demeter, for half of the year and spend the other half down in the underworld, being the Queen. Demeter is so alive and happy during the time that Persephone it up on the earth and when she returns, Demeter is heart broken. Since she is the earth goddess, the earth and nature reflect on her feelings. This is how the seasons began.

 But after reading Ovid's version, I do believe that a crucial part in the myth was left out in the other versions that I have read. Ovid says that Cupid shot one of his arrows to Hades and that is how he fell in love with Persephone and became obsessed with her. This little bit of information is interesting to me in the way that the gods and goddesses can be affected by Cupid's arrows. This one human emotion, love, can consume even supreme beings. There are quite a few myths where Cupid shoots his arrows at gods/goddesses and they fall in love with the first person they see. Such a human quality that they are succumb to. They are not above falling in love or being heart broken by love. In this aspect they are just as human as you and me.

Slavic Creation Myth

In the beginning, there were no earth and no people, only the primordial sea. Bielobog flew over the face of the waters in the shape of a swan and was lonely. Longing for someone to keep him company, he noticed his shadow, Chernobog and rejoiced.
"Let us make land" said Bielobog.
"Let us," said Chernobog, but where will we get the dirt?"
"There is dirt under the water, go down and get some," answered Bielobog, but before you can reach it, you must say 'With Bielobog's power and mine'."
The devil dived into the water, but said "With My Power", instead of what he was instructed to say. Twice he dived down and neither time did he reach the bottom. Finally, the third time he said "With Bielobog's Power and Mine" and he reached the dirt. Scraping some up with his nails, he brought it to the surface but hid a grain of dirt in his mouth in order to have his own land.
God then took the dirt from him and scattered it upon the water. The dirt became dry land and began to grow. Of course, the land in Chernobog's mouth also began to grow and his mouth began to swell. Chernobog was forced to spit and spit to rid himself of all the earth and where he spit, mountains were formed.
Angered that he was cheated out of his own land, he waited for Bielobog to fall asleep. As soon as the god was sleeping peacefully, Czernobog lifted him up to throw him in the water. In each direction he went, but the land had grown so much, he could not reach the ocean. When Bielobog awoke, Czernobog said "Look how much the land has grown, we should bless it."
..And Bielobog said slyly, "I blessed it last night, in all four directions, when you tried to throw me in the water."
This greatly angered Czernobog who stormed off to get away from Bielobog once and for all. In the meantime, the earth would not stop growing. This made Bielobog very nervous as the Heavens could no longer cover it all, so he sent an expedition to ask Czernobog how to make it stop.
Czernobog had since created a goat. When the expedition saw the great god Czernobog riding astride a goat, they couldn't stop laughing. This angered the god and he refused to speak to them. Bielobog then created a bee, and sent the bee to spy on Czernobog.
The bee quietly alit upon Czernobog's shoulder and waited. Soon, she heard him say to the goat "What a stupid god! He doesn't even know that all he has to do is take a stick, make a cross to the four directions and say 'That is enough earth'. Instead he wonders what to do."
Hearing this, the bee buzzed off in excitement. Knowing that he'd been heard, Czernobog yelled after the bee, "Whoever sent you, Let him eat your excrement!".
The bee went directly to Bielobog and said "He said All you need to do is make a cross to the four directions and say 'That is enough earth.' And to me he said 'let whomever sent you eat your excrement'.
So god stopped the earth from growing and than said to the bee "Then forever after, let there be no excrement sweeter than yours."

http://www.plesiosaur.com/creationism/creationmyths/myths_25.php

Class Notes 1/9-1/21

Mythos - 'story' + Logos - 'word/truth' = Mythology - 'truth of stories'

Myth - precedent behind all actions, no orginiality, going back to the orgins

Nothing ever dies: it changes into new forms




'In Ilo Tempore' - in the (great, big) time

Sparagmos - the act of rendering, tearing apart, or mangling

• performed during acts involving Dionysus
• animals and even humans are sacrificed
• omophagia (eating of raw flesh from the sacrified) follows after

Joseph Cambell's Monomyth: Hero's Journey

• Call to adeventure
• Refusal or denial of adventure
• Supernatural aid
• Crossing of the threshold
• Belly of the whale
• Road of trials
• Meeting with the Goddess
• Woman as temptress
• Atonement with father
• Aptheosis
• Ultimate Boon
• Refusal of the return
• Magic flight
• Rescue from without
• Crossing of return threshold
• Master of two worlds
• Freedom to live

Baucus/Dionysus - god of wine, winemaking, grape harvest, ritual madness, and ectasy

All fairy tales are degenerated myths.

Italo Calvino - Italian journalist, wrote the novel, Invisible Cities

Caduceus Staff - medical staff
Asclepius - father of Hygieia - goddess of health, cleanliness, and sanitation
Asclepion's Temple of Healing ( Faith Healing )
- People go in with a sickness, pick a single room and lay down in a bed and fall asleep. The therapy was that you hopefully have a dream about Ascleplus and/or his staff, and if you did, you would be cured of whatever illness you have.

The Doors ( of Perception) by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World

Orpheus - legendary muscian and poet
- tries to get his wife back from Hades on one condition, he cannot look back at her until he is in the mortal world again, he looks back and loses her again forever

Recursive Structure - stories with in stories with in stories

Theseus - philander and abandoner of women

• killed minotaur in the labyrinth
• friend to Pirithous who helped each other get girls
• wanted Helen of Troy
• daughter of Leda and Zeus
• Zeus raped Leda in the form of a swan
• laid two eggs, one with Helen and Polydeuces and one with Castor and Clytemnestra
• tries to kidnapp Helen but her brothers rescue her
• Pirithous wanted Persephone
• went into the underworld and ask Hades for her, he said ok and asked for them to wait on a bench while he went to get her, so they sat and when he brought her out, they were unable to get up, they were stuck to the bench, they sat there for years and years until Hercules was in the underworld and asked Hercules to help them, he only had time for one and helped Theseus, in the process of pulling him off the bench, Hercules ripped Theseus' butt off, reason why Greek men have small butts today

Leda and the Swan
-William Butler Yeats

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers push

The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,

But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there

The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Sisyphus - didn't return to the underworld directly after scolding his wife for not proper burial and showing respect for him and tricking persephone and now eternally damned to rolling a boulder up a hill

Tantalus - fed his children to the gods and now eternally damned to be thristy and hungry

Ixion - tried to seduce Hera, and now eternally damned to be chained to a fiery wheel either in the sky or the underworld

Prometheus: both creation myth and god

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I were watching a movie that came out recently called Prometheus. It is suppose to be a prequel to the movie series Alien. Prometheus is about this group of scientists that follow a star map to a distant planet in search of the origins of humanity. They find these life forces, which they call Engineers. These Engineers created human kind and all that persists in their world. After a period of time, the Engineers believe that the humans have defied them and are all around not perfect. So, they set out to destroy their creation and start anew. The scientists who set out to find the Engineers are focused on finding their creator and learning all that they can. They insist that there has to be a reason why the human race was created. Their curosity is their downfall. Humans having to learn about everything they can. This clip from the movie helps explain this.

Watching this movie reminded of the Greek god and Titan, Prometheus. He is known for the creation of man from clay. He also is known for the stealing of fire from the gods and giving it down to man. He represents human kind striving for survival and for knowledge of all things possible. His punishment was to be bound to a rock and have his liver eaten by an eagle every day for eternity.


These two stories connect in such a way the groups of humans are constantly wanting to know everything about anything and everything. We have such a need to know about the things we don't know that sometimes we go too far and end up worse than we orginally started. Knowledge is power, but at times, it gives up too much power than we know what to do with.