Characters story and Myth.
The Myth of the Minotaur
One
of the most intriguing myths of ancient Greece is the myth of the Minotaur on
the island of Crete.
King
Minos was one of the three sons born to Zeus and Europa. When their
step-father, King Asterion, died, Minos declared himself king and appointed his
brother Sarpedon as lawmaker of all the islands. Sarpedon questioned his
brother’s authority, but Minos said that it was the will of the gods for him to
become king. As proof, he sacrificed a bull to the god Poseidon and then
asked the god to send a new bull for the same purpose. Poseidon listened to his
request and sent a beautiful white bull from the sea. King Minos as well as the
citizens of Crete was impressed, and because the bull was so beautiful, Minos
set it free and sacrificed a different bull.
Minos
was married to the goddess Pasiphae. Together they had many children, some of
which were Ariadne, Phaedra, Glaucus and Androgeus. When
Poseidon realized that Minos didn’t sacrifice the white bull, he caused
Pasiphae to fall in love with the animal. Pasiphae desperate from her love for
the bull asked for help from the sculptor and engineer Daedalus. Daedalus built
her an empty wooden cow. It was so beautiful that the white bull was tricked
and fell in love with it. Pasiphae then went inside the wooden cow and loved
the white bull. The result of this union was the Minotaur, a powerful beast
with a human body and the head of a bull.
When
Minos saw the beast he was furious and asked Daedalus to build a labyrinth with
unlimited corridors and cells where the Minotaur could be held captive. This is
what Daedalus did built a great labyrinth that the Minotaur, and people who
entered it, could never get out of. The labyrinth is believed to be the one
that has been found in Knossos, Crete.
Later
on, when Minos son Androgeus was killed by the Athenians, Minos
declared war against Athens and won. As a punishment, he obliged Athens to send
7 young men and 7 young women to be sacrificed to the Minotaur every 9 years.
It is worth mentioning that King Minos was in direct contact with Zeus, which
means that all of this had the indirect approval of the god. The death of the
Minotaur finally came from the Greek hero Theseus, son of Aegeus, king of
Athens, with the help of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, who fell in love with
Theseus.
Summary
It
is intriguing to again see the involvement of the gods in human affairs and the
punishment they would inflict when men were not obedient to them. The birth of
hybrids half human, half animal beings is also a common pattern in myths all
over the world. Is it possible that those hybrids did exist, and if so, who
where their creators? In most myths it appears that gods are directly related
to their creation. If that’s true, how did they do it? On the other hand, we
have conventional archaeology suggesting that these ‘primitive’ ancient peoples
simply had a vivid imagination.
Reference: By John Black, London, An Author and Researcher
The Myth of the Centaur.
Fig 4 Fig 5
The centaur probably began as a horse totem of a tribe of early Greeks in prehistory.
The earliest drawings of hippo centaurs (a kind of demon given human form, or kallikantzaroi, in ancient Greek myth) show men wearing fetishes of hindquarters of
horses joined to their waists. These hobby-horse fetishes, common (in varying
form) to European crop and fertility rituals, only later became depictions of
human torsos joined to actual horse bodies. The hypothesis that the centaur
represents a terrified tribal reinterpretation of a horse and rider is probably
without merit.
The Greek love for the horse led to the
ennoblement of the centaur in myth and legend (the only version of the kallikantzaroi to be so
honored). The Centaur Chiron was known for his wisdom and healing abilities.
Other centaurs did not fare so well in myth: Nessus was killed by Hercules for
trying to rape (variously) his wife or a woman under his charge, and other
centaurs were renowned for their weakness for drink. The centauromachy - the
depiction of one or more of the fights between humans and centaurs in myth -
became a popular feature of Greek art. The centaur was also used by some
writers to symbolize man's dual nature as an intellectual creature (the human
half) which was also a physical animal (the horse half).
In the Medieval period, the centaur
fared more poorly, often becoming a demonic image. Nevertheless, the centaur
remained a popular character in art, no doubt due to the vast influence of
Greek art and literature on Western culture.
Summary
In modern times, the centaur has
reappeared in art and literature, especially in the genre of fantasy. C.S.
Lewis' The Narnia Chronicles and
Piers Anthony's Xanth series
have prominent centaur characters. Science fiction has used the character as
well; John Varley's Titan,
Wizard, Demon series, Jack Chalker's Well world series, Walter Jon Williams's Knight Moves, Elf Sternberg's The Journal Entries series, and
my own (as yet unpublished, gripe, gripe) homo centuries all feature prominent centaur characters.
References
Dr, A. F., 2011. Greenville,
south Carolina, USA: ISBN.
The Myth of the Cyclops.
Fig 6 Fig 7
The Cyclops were represented as strong, one eye giants in Greek
Mythology. Their name is also spelled Cyclopes, and, as usual with Greek words,
the letter K may be used in place of the C.
According to the Greek epic poet Hesiod, the Cyclops were the sons of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia /Ge (Earth). Hesiod names the Cyclops Argos, Steropes, and
Brontes. The Titans and Hecatonchires
(or Hundred-handers), both known for their size, may have been other offspring
of Uranus and Gaia.
Even though Uranus
was their father, he lacked paternal instincts. Instead, he had the nasty habit
of keeping all his children imprisoned -- inside their mother, Gaia, who wasn't
very happy about it.
When the Titan Cronus decided to help his
mother by overthrowing his father, Uranus, the Cyclops helped. But they were no
better off with Cronus than Uranus. Instead of rewarding them for their
assistance, Cronus imprisoned them in Tartarus [see: The Greek Underworld]
Summary.
Zeus who, in turn, overthrew his own father (Cronus), set the
Cyclops free. Since they were metal workers and blacksmiths, they repaid Zeus
with a thank you gift of thunder and lightning. The Cyclops also gifted the
gods Poseidon with a trident and Hades with the Helmet of Darkness.
In Modern times, stories of the Greek mythology is showed in
movies today e.g Clash of the Titans, 300 and Immortals etc.
Reference; By N.S.Gill,
ancient/classical history expert
