| Mythology |
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| Timeless Tales Of Gods and Heros |
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Mythology is is a collection of myths about the origin and history of people and their deities, ancestors, and heroes; a body of myths concerning some individual, event, or institution. |
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Psyche, the youngest of three daughters, is the most beautiful human anyone has ever seen. Everyone fell in love with her the second they seen her. Her beauty surpassed the earth. Being this beautiful, you would think she has a boyfriend and gets all the men. Well that's wrong. She doesn't have anybody. All the men think she has a boyfriend or a husband because she's so pretty, but she doesn't have anyone because they all think she's taken when she's really not. Psyche's father didn't understand why Psyche didn't have a husband. They decided to go to an oracle and find out what is wrong with her.
When they get there,Venus, the oracle, told them that Psyche had to go to the summit of the top of a rocky hill and be left alone and a winged serpent stronger than all the gods would come and make him her husband. So they went. They dressed her up as though is was her death. They then carried her to the top of the hill in the greatest sorrow. Venus has set this whole thing up. After a long time, and till dark, she waits. Finally, a soft wind comes and takes her away and lays her in a grassy meadow soft as a bed and filled with the wonderful smell of flowers.
When she awakend, she was next to a bridge, and across the river was the biggest mansion she had ever seen. When she arrived in the mansion, she could not see anything, only hear. The voices told her this was her's and not to be feared. She was to bathe herself and freshen up. The voices then said, "We are your servants, ready to do whatever you desire." She waited all day for her husband to arrive. She was sure he would come when the night would fall. Then it happened. He softly talked to her in her ear, and all her fears drifted off. Even though she could not see him, she knew was was not a monster and not a bit of shape of terror, but the husband she had been waiting for. He then told her that her sisters were comming to the hill to weep for her, and that she should not let them see her or it will bring great sorrow to him and ruin herself.
The next day, the two sisters came to the hill, Psyche met them. She invited them to her house and brought them in. She showed them around and they loved it. It was then that they asked who this man was. Psyche could not say because she didn't know him that well, or what he looks like. All she told them was that he was a young man on a hunting expedition. Later that night, Psyche's husband had warned her a last time to not see her sisters. Her sisters told her that she should take a knive and stab him with it, and while she's doing it, look at him. She didn't think it was that bad because she often wondered why he wouldn't let her see him.
When he fell asleep, she got a knive, and a canlde and walked over to his side of the bed. When she held the candle up to him, she realized he wasn't a serpent or a horrible creature, he was the most handsome thing she had ever seen. While she was admiring him, she spilled the hot oil on his shoulder and burned him. With that happening, he woke up and without a word, stormed off. She then chased after him into the night. Her lover was Cupid. She didn't know how or where to find him, so she went to his mom, Venus. She asked for help in where to find him, Venus didn't want her son with her becasue she was jealous, so she make Psyche do whatever Venus asked. First she told her to get her the smallest seeds, poppy, millet, and so on. Next she made her fetch her some shining wool. Then she made her go to the river of Styx and collect some of the black water and put it in a flask. Lastly, she gaver her a box and made her go down to Hades and ask Proserpine and fill it with some of her beauty. She succeeded in those deeds and did them well. Then something happens that Psyche has been waiting for, Cupid comes back to her. Then they announced to everyone that they were formally married. The union could never be broken.
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Long ago, the dark red berries upon the mulberry tree were white as snow. The reason for the color change was the death of two lovers. Pyramus, the most beautiful youth, and Thisbe, the loveliest maiden of all the East. The two lovers lived so close to each to each other that the only thing that separated them was a little wall. They grew up side by side with the wall, and they learned to love each other. They wished to get married, but their parents forbiddend them to do so. There was nothing that could stop these two lovers from getting married. It was impossible for these two hearts to be kept apart. In the wall, there was a little chink. No one had ever noticed it before, exept for Pyramus and Thisbe. Through the hole, the two would talk sweetly in each others ears and whisper. "But for you we could touch, kiss," they would say. "But at least you let us speak together. You give a passage for loving words to reach loving ears. We are not ungrateful." They would talk.
As the time would come for them to part, they would press on the wall kisses that could not go through to the lips on the other side. Day and night they had hoped to be with each other with no wall to separate them. One night they decided they were going to try and slip away and steal out through the city and into the open country where they can be together in freedom. They agreed to meet at a well-known place, the Tomb of Ninus, under a tree there, a tell mulberry full of snow-white berries, near which a cool spring bubbled up.
The night came when Thisbe made a go. She made her way in all secrecy to the tomb. Pyramus had not yet come, but she still waited for him. In the light of the moon, she spotted a lioness. The beast had made a kill for her jaws were bloody and she was comming to the spring of the slake of her thirst. Thisbe felt she needed to escape this beast, and it was still far enough away from her to be safe. When she ran off, she dropped her cloak. The lion had approached it and tore it to pieces before she head off to the woods. That is what Pyramus saw when he appeared there a few minutes later. There, before his very eyes, was the bloodstained shreds of his love's cloak. He knew exactly what happened, he let his love come in the world of danger alone and now she was dead. It was his fault. "It was I who killed you," he said. He picked up the shreds of Thisbe's cloak and started kissing it over and over again carrying it to the mulberry tree. "Now," he said, "you shall drink my blood too." He then drew his sword from and plunged it into his side. His blood spurted on the berries and dyed them a dark red. Thisbe, though still afraid of the lioness, came back to see if her love had arrived. She was looking for the mulberry tree with white berrys to find her way there. She could not find it. She thought she was in the spot of the tree, then she seen something move on the ground beneath. Then, she had seen what it was. It was her love, Pyramus, bathed in blood and dying. She rushed up to him and put her arms around him. She kissed his cold lips and begged him to look at her, to speak at her. "It is I, your Thisbe, your dearest," she cried to him. From the sound of her name, he opened his eyes and looked at her, then died. She looked on the ground beside him and noticed his sword soaked with blood and next to it was her cloak, bloody and torn. She knew what had happened. "Your own hand killed you." she said, "and your love for me. I too can be brave. I too can love. Only death would have had the power to separate us. It shall not have that power now." She took his sword and stabbed it into her heart, still wet with his life's blood.
The deep red fruit is the everlasting memorial of these true lovers, and one urn holds the ashes of the two whom not even death could part. |
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Ceyx is a king and the son of Lucifer. His wife Alcyone is a princess. Her father is Aeolus, the king of the winds. They loved each other so and they were never apart from each other. The time came when he decided he needs to leave her for once and go on a long journey over seas. When Alcyone found out he wanted to leave, she was overwhelmed with grief and terror. She insisted him not to go, it was too dangerous. He said that he would be fine and could handle it. He said he hasn't seen any ships come up from the sea so it must be safe. She knew something bad was going to happen to him. She told him that she cannot persuade him, but to take her with him. He thought that was nice of her to say that, but he needs to go on this journey alone and he can make it. She then let him go off alone.
Her heart felt so heavy when she said her farewell to him and while she's on shore, she watched her husband sail away untill she couldn't see him anymore. That night, a horrible storm broke out. The winds met hurricane strength and the waves met mountain tops. The rain was so hard that it looked like the heaven was falling into the sea and the sea was flying into heaven. All the men aboard the ship felt great terror and anger. Not Ceyx. He kept thinking that he was glad Alcyone didn't go with and that she was safe on land. Her name was on his lips when the ship sank and the waters closed over him. Alcyone kept counting off the days till his arrival. She kept her self busy and distracted from him by weaving him a robe and one for herself to look beautiful for him when he arrived. All the time she kept praying that he was safe and was on his way home.
Her prayers went to Juno, and when she found out, she was heart broken. Juno ordered Iris to go to the house of Somnus, God of Sleep, and bid him to send Alcyone a dream to tell her the truth about Ceyx. That night while Alcyone was asleep, Iris approached her and made her dream about Ceyx. In the dream Ceyx came to Alcyone naked and dripping wet telling her that he is there with her. He also told her that he is dead and her name was written on his lips when he drowned. In her sleep, Alcyone moaned and stretched and yelled to him to wait for her, she is comming with him. Her cry awakened her. When she awakened, she said, "So piteous he looked. He is dead and soon I shall die. Could I stay here when his dear body is tossed about in the waves? I will not leave you, my husband; I will not try to live."
The next morning she went down by the shore where she last watched Ceyx sail away. Then she seen something float near her, then she could see what it was. It was a dead body. When it got closer, she realized it was her husband, Ceyx. When she approached him, she went in the water. Before she had a chance to drown herself, the gods turned her into a bird with feathers. She was flying over him and then she swooped down to get him and he disappeared. The she turned to her side and Ceyx was next to her flying as well. Even tho they were birds, their love didn't change. They were still seen flying together and flying over the sea. |
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Glaucus was King of Ephyre, later called Corinth. Glaucus' son, Sisyphus, was in Hades and forever has to try to roll a stone uphill because he once betrayed a secret of Zues. Glaucus also drew down on himself the displeasure of heaven. He was a great horseman and he fed his horses human flesh to make them fierce in a battle. He angered the gods with monstrous deeds and they served him as he had served others. He got thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him into pieces and devoured him. In the city, a bold and charming young man named Bellerophon was held to be his son. It was going around that Bellerophon had a mightier father, Poseidon. Poseidon was the ruler of the sea. The youth's surpassing gifts of spirit and body made this account of his birth seem likely. His mother, Eurynome, was a mortal and had been taught by Athena until in wit and wisdom she was the peer of the gods. It was only to be expected on all scores that Bellerophon should seem less mortal than divine. Great adventures would call to such a one as he and no peril would ever hold him back. And yet the deed for which he is best known needed no courage at all, no effort, even.
Bellerophon wanted Pegasus more than anything on the earth. Pegasus was a marvelous horse which had sprung from the Gorgon's blood when Perseus killed her. The spring beloved of poets, Hippocrene, on Helicon, the Muses' mountain, had sprung up where his hoof had struck the earth. Who could catch and tame such a creature? Bellerophon suffered from hopeless longing.
Polydus, the wise seer of Ephyre (Corinth), whom he told his desperate desire, advised him to go to Athena's temple and sleep there. The gods spoke to the men in their dreams. So Bellerophon went to the holy place. When he was laying deep in slumber beside the altar he seemed to see the goddess standing before him with some golden thing in her hand. She said to him, "Asleep? Nay, wake. Here is what will charm the steed you covet." He sprang to his feet. No goddess was there, but a marvelous object lay in front of him. It was a bridle of all gold, such as never had been seen before. With it in his hand, he hurried out to the fields to find Pegasus. He caught sight of him, drinking from the far-famed spring of Corinth, Pirene; and he drew gently near. Pegasus looked at him tranquilly, neither startled or afraid, and suffered himself to be bridled without the least trouble. Athena's charm worked. Bellerophon was then the master of the glorious creature.
Bellerophon, all dress in his bronze armor, leaped upon Pegasus' back and put him through his paces, the horse seeming to delight in the sport as much as he himself. Now he was the lord of the air, flying wherever he would, envied of all. As it turned out, Pegasus was not only a joy, but a help in time of need as well, for hard trials lay before Bellerophon. In some way, we are not told how except that it was purely through accident, he killed his brother; and he went to Argos where the King, Proetus, purified him. There he began his trials and his great deeds as well. Anteia, the wife of Proetus, fell in love with him, and when he turned from her and would have nothing to do with her, in her bitter anger she told her husband that his guest had wronged and must die. Enraged, Proetus would not kill him. Bellerophon had eaten at his table; he could not bring himself to use violence against him. However, he made a plan which seemed certain to have the same result. He asked him to take a letter to the King of Lycia in Asia and Bellerophon agreed. Bellerophon did not mind the long journeys now because he had Pegasus to ride on. The Lycian king received him with antique hospitality and entertained him splendidly for nine days before he asked to see the letter. Then he read that Proetus wanted the young man killed.
He did not care to do so, for the same reason that had made Proetus unwilling: Zeus's well-Known hostility to those who broke the bond between host and guest. There could be no objection, however, to sending the stranger on an adventure, him and his winged horse. He asked him to go and slay the Chimaera, feeling quite assured that he would never come back. The Chimaera was held to be unconquerable. She was a most singular portent, a lion in front, a serpent behind, a goat in between. For Bellerophon, having Pegasus was no need to come anywhere near the flaming monster. He soared over her and shot her with his arrows at no risk to himself.
When he went back to Proetus, the latter had to think out other ways of disposing of him. He got him to go on an expedition, against the Solymi, mighty warriors; and then when Bellerophon had succeeded in conquering these, on another against the Amazons, where he did equally well. Finally Proetus was won over by his courage and his good fortune, too; he became friends with him and gave him his daughter to marry.
He lived happily thus for a long time; then he made the gods angry. His eager ambition along with his great success led him to think "thoughts too great for man," the thing of all others the gods objected to. He tried riding Pegasus up Olympus. He believed he could take his place there with the immortals. The horse was wiser. He would not try the flight, and he threw his rider. After that, Bellerophon, hated of the gods, wandered alone, devouring his own soul and avoiding the paths of men until he died.
Pegasus found shelter in heavenly stalls of Olympus where the steeds of Zues were cared for. Of them all he was foremost, as was proved by the extraordinary fact that poets report, and when Zues wished to use his thunderbolt, it was Pegasus who brought the thunder and lighting to him.
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Pygmalion, a young, gifted sculptor of Cyprus was a woman-hater. He told himself along with everyone else he was never going to marry. He said his art was enough for him and he didn't need a woman. One of his statues he made and all his genius went into was that of a woman. He either made that because of his dismiss of what he so disapproved or if he just kept sculpting and it turned into a woman.
He could not stop working on this statue. He worked on it from dusk til dawn and just could not stop. No woman ever born, no statue ever made, could approach it. When nothing more could be added to it, a strange fate had fallen against Pygmalion. He had fallen in love, deeply, passionately in love, with the statue.
It must be said in explanation that the statue did not look like a statue; no one would have thought it was ivory or stone, but warm human flesh, motionless for a moment only. From that time on, the sex he scorned had their revenge. No hopeless lover was ever so desperately unhappy as he. He kissed the statue's lips---they didn't kiss back; he caressed her hands, her face---they were unresponsive; he took her in his arms---she remained a cold and passive form. He would pretend like children pretend with their toys that she was a real person and not a statue. He would dress her in rich robes, trying the effect of one delicate or glowing color after another, and imagine she was pleased. He would bring her real gifts as if she was real. He put her to bed at night and tucked her in all nice and warm. He loved a lifeless thing and he was utterly and hopelessly wretched.
This secret did not last. Not long after he started this, the Goddess of Passionate Love, Venus, was interested in something that seldom came her way. A new kind of lover. She was determined to help him. Venus had a feast. Everyone was there. She decided it was the time for Pygmalion to fall in love. She invited him there sure he was to find a love. Pygmalion dared to ask the goddess only that he might find a maiden like his statue. Venus knew what he really wanted and as a sign that she favored his prayer the flame on the altar he stood before leaped up three times, blazing into the air.
She had wished for a perfect maiden to come and sweep Pygmalion off his feet. Then she appeared. There she was, standing on her pedestal, entranclingly beautiful. He caressed her and then he started back. Was it selfdeception or did she really feel warm to his touch? He gave her a kiss, and felt her lips grow soft beneath his. He touched her arms, her shoulders; their hardness vanished. It was like watching wax soften in the sun. He clapsed her wrist; blood was pulsing there. He had what he wanted. He then put his arms around her and she smiled into his eyes and blushed. Venus, herself, graced their marriage with presence, but what happened after that we do not know, except that Pygmailon named the maiden Galatea, and their son, Paphos, game his name to Venus' favorite city. |
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Endymion, whose name was so famous, has a very short history. Some poets say he was a king, some a hunter, but most of then say he was a shepherd. All agree that he was a youth of surpassing beauty and that this was the cause of his singular fate. He never awakend to see the shining silvery form bending over him. With all the stories that has him in it, he sleeps forever, imortal, but never conscious. Wondrously beautiful he lies on the mountainside, motionless and remote as if in death, but warm and living, and night after night the Moon visits him and covers him with her kisses. It is said that this magic slumber was her doing. She lulled him to sleep so that she might always find him and caress him as she spleased. But it is said, too, that her passion brings her only a burden of pain, fraught with many sighs. |
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| Page Updated Fri Jan 2, 2004 7:52pm EST |
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