| Cyparissus' Greek Myth of the Day |

[I Cyparissus I]

Apollo and Hyacinthus
23 March 2015

Today's myth is currently my personal favorite and one that is on my mind a lot. I came across it out of curiosity when reading through Apollo's wiki, trying to determine the god's personality for a roleplay. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had a separate list for male lovers after female lovers. The name Hyacinthus was the first to come up with quite the tragic story to follow.

Apollo and Hyacinthus were lovers, depicting the Greek cultural norm of pederasty. For those unaware of what pederasty was, in Greece it was sort of like a "coming of age" for young men. At a certain time in a youth's life, generally around the same age young girls are considered for marrying age, he will be faced with many suitors, generally older than he by several years. He can choose whichever he likes, for these relationships were consensual contrary to girls who had no choice in who they were to marry. The man he chooses is his erastes (ἐραστής; lover), he himself being the eromenos (ἐρώμενος; beloved). The job of the erastes to his eromenos was to act as a mentor, bestowing him with knowledge and wisdom that he would carry with him in adulthood, and one day pass on to his own eromenos. Despite the relationships being educational in their own rights, they were also sexual and presented an early form of socially acknowledged and accepted homosexuality. The pederastic relationship was not supposed to last into the eromenos' adult life when he was supposed to become an erastes.

In the legend of Apollo and Hyacinthus, we aren't told how they met or even formed their relationship. All we are made aware of is that they are very much in love and have a close relationship.

Hyacinthus was a beautiful Spartan prince, depicting everything a Greek youth should be. He was very athletic and was particularly fond of throwing discus. One day, he and Apollo decided to throw discus together. Around here is where the story begins to vary. In one version, Apollo throws the discus hard into the air, parting the clouds. Hyacinthus, laughing and light, runs to catch it as it fell, only to be hit in the head and killed. In another version, Zephyrus, god of wind, was also in love with the youth. Jealous of Apollo's closeness with Hyacinthus, after the boy throws the discus, Zephyrus blows a hard wind, pushing the discus back and hitting Hyacinthus in the head, killing him. It was a petty display of, "If I can't have him, no one can."

Regardless of how Hyacinthus was killed, Apollo fell gathering the boy in his arms, frantically trying to heal him. However, even he, a god of healing, couldn't keep Hyacinthus alive and he died in his arms. Rather than letting him travel to the underworld in his death, Apollo made him into a flower out of the blood he spilled, and stained the petals with his tears as a sign of his grief.

While the Hyacinth flower is commonly regarded as the flower created in honor of the youth, other flowers have been identified to better represent the myth such as the Iris.

A Hyacinth (left) and an Iris (right)

The legend of Apollo and Hyacinthus was remembered as a Spartan festival called Hyacinthia, taken place during the summer and lasting three days. The festival was so important to the Spartans, that they had put military campaigns on hold just to come home and celebrate the festival. One day was taken to mourn the youth's death, and the last two to celebrate his rebirth into the flower.

The story is not only special to me because I'll pretty much go googoo over anything that's gay and tragic, but because the story is simple and sweet in it's own way. I'll leave this one off with a quote by a favorite author of mine.

"Whenever I tell this story, I always wish that there were more of it. Its final image of Apollo cradling Hyacinthus is beautiful and sad, but we don’t know anything about Hyacinthus and Apollo’s love beyond that moment, how they came to meet, or who Hyacinthus was. It’s almost more of a triptych then a story, three moments caught in amber: the youth and Apollo happy together, the youth chasing the discus, the lover grieving over his dying beloved. It’s enough to make me feel sympathy for Apollo, who has never been a particular favorite of mine." -Madeline Miller

 

[I Cyparissus I]

Perseus and Medusa
24 March 2015

Today I decided to write about Perseus and Medusa simply because this piece of artwork to the left has haunted me with its beauty and especially the strange sense of peace surrounding the subject's faces. This is a very popular thriller in Greek mythology. However, I'm going to offer a condensed version, as the original legend of Perseus naturally spans the hero's lifetime. Our myth of the day is going to focus mainly on his encounter with the gorgon Medusa.

Perseus' grandfather, Acrisius, King of Argos, heard a prophecy from the oracle of Delphi that his daughter, Danae, would bear a son that would bring about his demise. To prevent his daughter from marrying or participating in any kind of intercourse, he had a room built below the castle and had her sealed away inside. The god Zeus came to her, dripping through the walls and inside the girl in the form of golden rain. She became pregnant. Disbelieving that Zeus was the father of the child, the King of Argos had Danae and her unborn child put on a ship and left out to sea. They eventually landed on the island of Serifos, ruled by king Polydectes. The king's brother took Danae in.

As Perseus grew, Polydectes had his eye for Danae, meaning to take her as his wife. However, he knew that as long as Perseus, who was now a strong young demigod, was around to protect his mother, he could never have her. He made a plan to get rid of Perseus, sending him on a dangerous mission in which he had never meant Perseus to return from. The boy was to bring back the head of Medusa, the mortal of three gorgon sisters who lived at the end of the world.

Perseus asked the goddess Athena and the god Hermes for aid. They advise him to seek out the Graeae, three sisters who share one eye and one tooth between themselves, who are to tell him the location of the Nymphai who have gifts to aid him in his quest. At first, the Graeae refuse to tell him where the Nymphai are, so he steals their eye and tooth, promising to return them if they give him the information he wants. They agree and the bargain is made. He finds three nymphs who bestow upon him winged sandals, a cap to turn him invisible, and a kibisis (a sack to protect against the toxic gorgon head). He finally sets out to find the gorgon sisters. Before he finds them, he is visited by Athena who tells him to only look at the gorgons through the reflection of his shield, otherwise he would be turned to stone.

He finds the cave in which the three sisters all slept. He quietly sneaks in and looking through his shields reflection, cuts off the head of Medusa and puts it away in his kibisis. Two offspring are born from the decapitated body; the winged horse Pegasus and Chysaor the giant. Medusa's two sisters wake up and in a rage, begin to chase after Perseus. He dons the invisible cap and flees with his life.

On his way back to the island Serifos, Perseus is caught in other adventures which I may write in more detail at a later date. He comes into contact with the Titan Atlas, accidentally spills some of the gorgon's blood on the earth, producing a highly poisonous snake, and meets Andromeda, who he rescues and makes his wife. When he finally returns to the island, he finds his mother hiding away from king Polydectes in a temple. He makes his way to the king's palace where he finds him feasting with friends. Shocked to see Perseus returned, he demands that he show him the head of Medusa. Perseus turns his head away and takes the head from the kibisis, turning the king and his company into stone. Perseus then returns the magical items back to the nymphs and in a gesture of thanks, gifts the head of Medusa to Athena, and she places the head on the front of her shield.