Millions Disappointed

Yes, I know that millions of you logged on in anticipation of Bubo's Blog world debut of guest poster Grant (my son) and his review of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif movie.  Well, the day has come and he has waited so patiently for a weekend that was free of all the things that take up our weekend only to wake up this morning very sick.  So the debut will have to wait.

Instead, I will post something that I was inspired to while I was scrubbing the toilet (and the bathroom floor, and the carpet in the living room, and . . . well, you get the idea) - vomit mythology.

If you were to go to God Checker and look of god of vomit, well, you'd get an entry on Bumba, the African god of vomit.  They even have a tee shirt of him.

The following is God Checker's entry (if you've never checked out God Checker, you really should soon!) -

BUMBA: From the Bushongo in the Congo comes BUMBA, the African Creator God of Vomit. Yes, vomit.
In the beginning, all was dark. Then out of the darkness came BUMBA, a giant pale-skinned figure. He was not feeling well. In fact he had not been feeling well for millions of years. He was lonely, and the unbearable solitude was making him ill.
Troubled by a ballooning bellyache, he staggered, moaned and vomited up the Sun. Light burst forth into the Universe — and he choked out the Moon. The stars came next and then, with a tremendous effort, he threw up the planet Earth. We do live in a very sick world.
This nauseating display was brought to a triumphant conclusion when, as an encore, he vomited forth nine animals, an assortment of humans, and a pile of diced carrots.
Exhausted from his labors, he sat and watched as the nine creatures multiplied. After a while, they had evolved into every living thing on Earth. Which goes to show that Creationism and Evolution are both right.
Apart from a pesky critter named TSETSE-BUMBA, all his creatures were friendly and respectful. His loneliness abated and finally he was content.
Then BUMBA's three sons appeared. NYONYE-NGANA, CHONGANDA and CHEDI-BUMBA added the finishing touches and thus the world was made. BUMBA spoke kindly to his human creations before ascending to Heaven, never to be seen again. So far as we know, his stomach has never troubled him since.

Medusa

Well, Percy Jackson is out int he theaters and we've been so busy that we haven't got to see it yet.  We'll go this weekend.  I've heard from many that it is O.K., but can't hold a candle to the book.  After watching it, I'll let my son be a guest blogger and tell you if it is good from a set of ten year old eyes.

In honor of the movie coming out, I'm posting up a few pictures of Medusa.  The first one from the movie and then some more from how other people have envisioned her.  Some are a bit hiss-terical while others are pretty good adaptations.

#1 - From Percy Jackson

#2 - From Clash of the Titans, of course!

 #3 - I think this one is my second favorite - I've noticed a trend in making Medusa look good (except for the hairs) and while I don't think it is mythologically accurate, I do think it is a nice bit of torture for her to still look good, but have her looks still be stone turning.

 #4 This one is probably my favorite.

#5 The freaky thing about this one is that the snakes appear to be leaving.

#6 - One of my least favorites, but since it has adorned the covers of Hamilton's mythology for years, I figure it ought to get a nod here.

#7 - A very unusual interpretation.  This one is called Electric Medusa"

#8

#10

#11 and last, but not least, the cutest Medusa of all...

 

So, which one was your favorite?

One Eyed Monstrousities and Kitties

Our next stop is the most famous of stops for Odysseus - Polyphemus the cyclops. 

I've already written about cyclops with my entry on Cy the Cyclopic Kitty, but since it was way back when, you may have missed it.  Here is the link: Cyclops Kitty.

Below is a recap of the story of Polyphemus.  If you're familiar with it, skip the green writing.  If not, read the green writing.  If you're color blind, tough. 

Odysseus and his men are pretty hungry.  How many of his men he has right now, I don't know.  I read in one place that he had 3 boats and in another he had 12 boats.  Whatever.  In a few stops it won't matter anyway, so suffice to say, he had a small enough number to take with him but a large enough number to feel confident that they could over power whatever enemies they might find.

You all know this story - in a nutshell, Odysseus must prove here how clever he is by finding a way out of the cyclops cave.  The rock used to block the door is too heavy for his men to move, so they can't kill the cyclops.   They can't wait it out because the cyclops keeps eating the men.  So he gets the cyclops drunk, stabs him in the eye with a hot pointy log, and hides under Polyphemus's sheep when they are let out to graze.  

This story is also important because it shows Odysseus' hubris - his pride.  You see, he told Polyphemus his name was Nobody.  When the other cyclops came to see why he was crying, he said Nobody hurt me, so they just left him alone.  However, Odysseus couldn't bear to let this opportunity pass so he calls out to the cyclops and gives him his name, his father's name, and where he lives.  Being the son of Poseidon, Polyphemus just calls daddy whines.  Poseidon heard.  Poseidon delivered.  O.K., that doesn't do it justice.  Here is his prayer to Poseidon:

"Hear me, Poseidon … If truly I am your son, and you acknowledge yourself as my father, grant that Odysseus, who styles himself Sacker of Cities and son of Laertes, may never reach his home in Ithaca. But if he is destined to reach his native land, to come once more to his own house and see his friends again, let him come late, in evil plight, with all his comrades dead, in someone else's ship, and find troubles in his household." (Polyphemus ₂. Homer, Odyssey 9.528).

Alright - recap over.  Let's look a little more deeply at the cyclops.  One of the problems is that according to Hesiod, there are three cyclops, all sons of Uranus and Gaia.  There names are Argos (dang, how many things are named Argos in Greek mythology?  Got to be a post in that somewhere), Steropes, and Brontes.  They helped Cronus overthrow Uranus because Uranus kept them locked up.  In return, Cronus locked them up in Tartarus.  When Zeus took over, he set them free.  Being pretty good at metal working, the returned the favor by making Zeus' thunderbolts, Poseidon's trident, and Hades' helmet of invisibility. Supposedly Apollo killed them when they hit his son.

The problem comes in with Homer.  He writes that they are Poseidon's sons and they are not nearly as intelligent as mentioned above.  So, to make things work, let's assume that both Poseidon and Uranus sired cyclops, but Uranus must be better at it than Poseidon.

Bad Jokes

O.K., I apologize in advance.  These jokes are so bad that they make my puns look good!  I cannot take credit for these chestnuts and if you want to see all one hundred one of them, just click the link at the bottom of the page.


Why couldn't the Egyptian god speak?


He was a little Horus


What is an Egyptian cheerleaders favorite cheer?

Ra Ra Ra


Which Greek god is the windiest?


Ares



Why can't you get tech support in the Greek underworld?


Because their Cerberus down



What is the most important part of Greek Poetry?

Demeter


How did the Ancient Greeks do their laundry?


With a washer and dryad

Why is Cupid such a good archer?


He is good with his Eros


Which Ancient Greek orator married Marge?

Homer Simpson


What do you call the monstrous sisters with snakes for hair, when they are asleep?


Snorgons



What happened to Perseus when he grew old?


He was beginning to go graeae



Where did the Ancient Greek goddess have to be?

At a Hera appointment



Hestia makes wastia
 
What is a favorite game of Ancient Greek mythology?


Hydra and go seek

These jokes are either funny or they are not, you might call them hit or myth


What does an Ancient Roman say when annoyed?


You're getting on Minervas

What did the people of Minos pave their roads with?


MinoTar


What is another game popular in Ancient Greek mythology?

Pick up Styx


What sauce did Tantalus put on his food?


Tartarus sauce


What is the favorite cheese of a Greek Monster?


Gorgon-zola


Why is the Egyptian goddess of the sky crazy?

She lives in a Nut house.

What Star Wars movie is about the Egyptian gods?


Episode III: Revenge of the Seth

How did Ancient Egyptians predict their future?


With Horus scopes

 
 
You can read all 101 of these bad jokes of the ancient world if you wish at http://boomsblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/old-jokes.html

Quick Quiz

For you followers who are deeply into mythology, this little test will be no challenge.  For the rest, see how many you can identify.  The braver of you can post your surmises.

Hippy Crackhead Island

The second stop of Odysseus is the island of the Lotus Eaters.  Nobody know exactly where this is supposed to be located and I've seen several maps of the travels of Odysseus always to find it somewhere different.  One guess is that Odysseus is trying to spare us from finding it.

What is so bad about it?  Having learned from his last stop, Odysseus only sends out a few people to scout out the area for food.  These guys never came back.  It seems that the land is full of these Lotus flowers (the actual translation here is vague and could mean any type of plant) that, when eaten, produce a state of forgetfulness and tranquility.  Odyssesu has to go out and literally drag these men kicking and screaming back to the boat.  Now you know why my students have affectionately nicknamed it Hippy Crackhead Island (hey, I encourage mythology in them in any way I can).

This is not the only example of drug use in mythology.  The entire Bwiti mythology relies on drug induced visions.  This Central African belief is still in existence today, so I am once again deviating from my viewpoint of mythology being a religion no longer practiced.  However, since embarking on this blog, I have found that to be a completely inaccurate definition anyway, so...

Back to the point, Bwiti relies on the Iboga plant, all parts of which has a drug effect.  The most potent part of the plant acts much like LSD and can send you into a trance that can last up to 5 days (or forever, but that is a more permenant trance!).  The main god is Mebeghe, a god who created an egg, hung it from a spider's web to cook in the sunshine, fertilized it, and waited for it to produce life.  Out of the egg popped Ninepone, None, and Evus.  No not a robot - that would be Eva from Wall-E, a great movie, but totally useless in this discussion.  These beings have not done well in keeping Earth safe and moral.

While most of the websites that discuss the Bwiti are in French (and I can't remember much from French class from all those years ago except "Tu a un chien mouche," which I think means you are an ugly dog, but after 20 plus years I can't be sure), there is a very detailed English translation of a French site that can be found here: http://www.ibogaine.desk.nl/barabe.html.  If you're interested but just not too interested, then I suggest the God Checker entry on Mebeghe.

The Odyssey - Stop 1

Well, I'm currently teaching The Odyssey to my ninth graders (standard fare here).  The other teachers follow the text book which hits Polyphemus and then jump straight to his fight with the suitors.  This cuts out all the great stuff.  Plus they use a version that attempts to keep the poetry of the original but fails and just makes the story harder for my students to grasp.  So we try to use several versions and have as much fun with it as possible.  I thought we would look at all the stops in the travels of Odysseus and see what we could see about them.

Stop #1 - Cicones

Odysseus leaves Troy after a clever wooden horse ruse (worked better than that wooden rabbit idea in King Arthur).  Cicones is north of Troy and they were allies of Troy.  Odysseus needed supplies and decided that they would be easy pickings.  Which they were.  This was the problem.

They were so easy to conquer, that the men got cocky (in more ways than one) and decided not to spend their time loading the wine, food, and other plunder like Odysseus told them to and decided instead to drink more wine, slaughter more animals, and, ah, hold hands aggressively with the women (need to keep a non-explicit rating here).

Some of the neighboring areas came to the Ciconians aid and unleashed their spears upon the men of Odysseus.  I've read two accounts here.  One is that Odyssesu arrived with 3 ships and lost 18 men in this battle.  Another is that Odysseus arrived with 12 ships and lost 70 men.  Whatever the case, the result is clear.  Odysseus still has no supplies and lost some stupid men.  Mythic Fail.

By the way, the picture comes from an elementary school which is reading The Odyssey.  Check them out at http://blogs.sch.gr/makarono/odyssey/


Next stop?  Hippy Crackhead Island (or as more commonly translated, The Lotus Eaters)

Treasure 14 and 15

The Mantle of Tegau Eurfron and Eluned's Stone and Ring are treasures number 14 and 15; however, they do not appear on every list and when they do, Rhygenydd's crock and dish are made into one treasure and one of the other treasures are dropped so that the number stays at 13.  Neither one of these are traditional, but as they do appear, I thought that they should be recognized.  Sort of like recognizing Never Say Never Again as a Bond movie, when it really isn't.


Tegau Eurfron's Mantle belonged to Eurfron the Fair (that's what the Tegau part stands for).  She had a nickname - gold breasted (wow, all sorts of James Bond references this post).  She got bit by a snake on her breasts and they had to be removed, so she had gold ones built to replace them.  This story does not survive in the English versions, but there is a French romance that includes it.  This mantle is much like the other treasures: only a woman who has been chaste could wear this and have it fit.  Women of the more, er, experienced type, would find the mantle too short (which probably suited their purposes anyway).

Eluned's Stone and Ring is a little harder to find the answer to.  I found a Eluned who was a 5th century saint, but nothing connecting him to a ring.  One source stated that the wearer would become invisible, a bit already done in the treasures.  It appears that you could wear the ring normally, but when you hid the stone on the ring (with your hand or something) it would hide you.  Did I mention already done?  One different aspect is that it seemed to free Owain from being trapped or imprisoned, which may imply a bit of intangibility ot go along with that invisibility.  While many scholars credit the many rings mentioned in Norse sagas as being the source for Tolkien's magic ring, this certainly has to be part of it.  He would have been familiar with this story I'm sure.

And leaving you with this disturbing picture, I'm off to figure out the next long drawn out theme posts.  Maybe the stops of Odysseus, the Ten Labors (I know some of you thought it was 12) of Hercules, or Norse death.  I don't know.  Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't take another ten months to finally finish!

Invisibility Cloaks

Back to the 13 Treasures of Britain and....we present the 13th and second to last of the 13 treasures!  I know, counting is not my strong point, but trust me.

The Mantle of Arthur in Cornwall (Llen Arthyryng Nghernyw) is a cloak that when worn, whoever was under it could not be seen.  Sounds a lot like the cloak that Harry Potter has, right?  Well, a lot of people make a big connection to the Hallows in Harry Potter and the 13 Treasures.  With J. K. Rowling's other mythology allusions, it is quite possible that this connection is real and not just a coincidence.

The word "Llen" could be translated in a variety of ways.  At http://home.ix.netcom.com/~kiyoweap/myth/arms-weap/arthurs-mantle.htm, they give a fuller discussion, but to boil it down to a nutshell, instead of it meaning "mantle," it could mean "carpet," in which case anyone standing on the carpet disappears.  Seems a bit odd and rather useless to me, but then again, many of these treasures are a bit strange.  Other translations of the word llen could be sheet, curtain, or veil.  Of all of these, it seems that mantle would be the most logical for this particular treasure.

I would show you a picture of it, but getting a picture of an invisibility cloak is akin to drawing a polar bear in a snow storm.

It is not the only invisibility devise in mythology.  Caswallan is another Brit who had a cloak of invisibility.  He used it to attack Caradog who was steward for the king.  Caswallan did not wish to hurt Caradog, since they were kinsmen, but when what appeared to be a floating sword killed six men around him, Caradog died of grief.

Hades had a helmet of invisibility.  Perseus had a cap of invisibility.  There is a Russian folk tale that has a hat of invisibility, however, this one makes the wearer blind as well.  The Tarnhelm is a helmet in Norse mythology that makes its wearer invisible.  

While not exactly mythology, Plato made a story of an invisibility ring called the Ring of Gyges.  The story goes something like this: a shepherd worked for the king.  One day, while he was minding his own business, the ground cracks open.  This revealed an opening that contained a dead body with a ring.  The shepherd (named Gyges) took the ring and left.  Later he is sitting before the king waiting to tell him how the sheep are doing.  He finds that when he turns the ring on his finger, it makes him invisible.  He later seduces the queen and kills the king to take his place.  Sounds like Lord of the Rings to me.  My Precioussss.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out.  Can any of you think of an item that turns people invisibile in mythology?

Olympics, Fiddles, and Flying Canoes

I finsihed up our swim season and was exhausted.  My wife wanted to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and I did too (although I much rather watch the sports than the ceremony), but I was so tired I kept drifting off. 

One part I did catch (sort of) was a flying canoe with a man playing a fiddle in a duel against his shadow which for some reason was on the moon (if I had stayed awake, I'm sure I would know why).  I thought I'd check it out to see if there is any mythology involved here. 

What I found was more under the folk tale section, but since folk tales are close cousin to mythology, I feel like we can cover it here.

Apparently there is a French legend that seems to be the inspiration for this story of man punished for skipping church to go hunting.  His punishment is to be stuck in a flying canoe being chased by wolves and horses, which I can only assume are flying also.  It seems that loggers in Canada modified this story over time to the following:
Dec. 31, 1822, Gatineau River in Canada - After a harsh start to winter, the boss logger hands out rum.  One guy, Joe, drinks too much and falls asleep.  Another logger, Baptiste Durand, wakes him up and wants him to go with him on a 300 mile trip to see his sweety-pie.  Baptiste tells him not to worry since they'll be back in time for work the next morning.  His secret?  Baptiste is going to fly in their canoe.

Joe, being a smart guy and all, figures out that Baptiste is going to a deal with the devil.  Baptiste tells him to follow these rules - do not mention the Lord's name and do not touch any crosses on church steeples that they may pass.  They get eight other men to go with them and Baptiste makes them promise not to drink any more rum, since dealing with the devil is tricky enough without being intoxicated.

Just as they get ready, the devil himself appears and carries their canoe over the tree tops and villages.  Before they knew it, they were at Baptiste's family's house, which is in full swing for the New Year's party.  Not being a smart group of partiers, no one wonders how the loggers arrived at the party.

A few hours later, the crew is ready to set off again, but there is a problem.  Baptiste broke his rule and has gotten drunk.  Since he is the one who must steer the canoe, things are not looking so good and in one of the first instances of drinking and driving, they take off, a bit unstablely, in the canoe.

He almost runs them into a church steeple and a snow bank.  The men grab him, bind him up and get Joe to steer.  Every one of them are terrified that they are going to lose their soul to the devil (an occurance that typically happens when deals are made with the chap).

Just like any drunk driver, Baptiste feels he is O.K. to handle it and breaks the ropes and starts swearing and taking the Lord's name in vain.  The men freak out and Joe, highly distracted, crashes into a tree. They all fall to the ground and pass out. 

The next morning, they were all found, no worse for wear, by the other loggers, who just assume that they had too much to drink and all wandered off during the night.  The men, still freaked out, decide not to correct them for fear of the devil appearing when they mention his role.
Not exactly the fiddler and the moon story, but when I search for flying canoe, this one is the one that pops up in the search engines.  I bet that there is at least a connection between the one chosen by the Olympics and this one.
 
Have fun watching the Olympics - GO USA!
 
(thanks to http://www.allsands.com/travel/places/thewitchedcano_byu_gn.htm, my source for the story)

Dionis

Swim team season is almost over (tomorrow!) and then I can get back to posting on a somewhat regular basis. These last few weeks have been crazy.

I was a Cracker Barrel restaurant and for those of you who are not familiar with them, they have a store of country related goods that you must go through to get to the restaurant.  My oldest son is 10 and has decided that he wanted to get him mom something really nice for Valentine's day.  So he gets me (since I have the money, I guess) to walk over with him toward the scented candles.  While there, I see some goat milk soap products made by a company called Dionis.

You know by now that I am a bit of a nerd and wondered between having to smell various Yankee Candle scents (kind of liked the Strawberry Buttercream) if this was something related to Greek mythology.  The name just had a ring to it, but I couldn't place it. 

So here I am, looking on the internet and I find that it is an obscure alternate spelling for Dionysus (Mr. D to you Percy Jackson fans).  Even alphadictionary.com which searches 1065 different online dictionaries only had it as a girl's name from a baby name dictionary.

I was a bit afraid of looking at the connection between Dionysus and goats.  I mean, this is Greek mythology and all.  I've never been a big fan of Dionysus.  My students, however, think that he is the greatest.

Turns out that the connection is not one to worry about and I am ashamed that I had not remembered this myth.  The goat connection comes from his birth.  Hera, constantly jealous (with good reason) finds out that Semele is carrying Zeus' child.  She disguises herself and goes down to convince her to ask Zeus to see him in all his glory to prove he really is who he says he is.  After making a stupid promise to give her anything she wished for, Zeus ends up shining brightly and completely destroying her in the process.  He saves the baby (Dionysus) by sticking him into his thigh. 

When the baby is born, Hera comes after him.  At first Zeus hides him by dressing him as a girl.  That didn't work.  Then he changed Dionysus into a goat.  This worked like a charm and Dionysus grew up as a goat.  When he got old enough, Zeus turned him back at which Hera literally drives him crazy.

I think that naming the goat milk products after this is worthy of an Obscure Myth Allusion Award.  Looking at his picture, I guess it is lucky for him that most women around him were a bit intoxicated.

Icarus Revised

I found this while stumbling along on the internet  It comes from a dinosaur comic page and it tells a more accurate view of the story of Icarus:

I can't make it big enough here, but you can read it clearly at: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1453

While Juno's Away, Jupiter Will Play...

Coming into mid February you will be able to see (at least those of you in the Northern Hemisphere) a meeting between Jupiter and Venus (planets, that is).  All you need to find it is to look west/southwest.  If you are directionally challenged, no need to break out a compass.  Just go out and look at where the sun sets.  That is west.  If you are facing the sunset, just turn a little to the left.  Now you should be able to see two really bright stars.  Which do you think is which? 

The brighter of the two is Venus.  See how beautiful it shines?  That is why it was named after the goddess of beauty.  For that matter, many cultures named this planet after their goddess of beauty.  Even Judaism and Christianity got into the game when Lucifer was described before the fall as being so beautiful he was the bright morning star, which would have been Venus.  Of course, right now we see Venus at night, btu just hold a bit and you'll see the bright morning star in the morning again before you know it.

To the Moon!

Well, while my Alaskan friend Dani Harper might not bee too impressed with this, we've just had 7 inches of snow over here and have had a blast.  When it snows in the south east US, everything shuts down for a while.  So it's been sledding with my boys and getting smacked with snow balls that are a bit too much ice.  Anyway, on with today's post.  I know I've been a bit deliquent in posting this past week, but as I've said, I've been outside.  Kind of hard to post while sledding.

We're going back to our space posts to add something new.  Kaguya is a space probe that has just gone to the moon.  It has been 50 years since any spacecraft has visited the moon (and with the recent news from Obama, the US won't be going back anytime soon), so this trip is a pretty cool thing, in my book.  It took some amazing pictures like this one of an Earth rise:

So why am I talking about this on a mythology blog?  Because Kaguya is, of course, a mythology name.  It is not Greek or Roman (although another name for the project is Selene, a Greek and Roman reference), but rather a Japanese one.  This makes more sense to me since the mission is from Japan.  Kaguya is a princess.  To make matters harder to research, she is also the name of a character on Sailor Moon.  The real Kaguya is the main character in Japan's oldest folktale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," probably written in the 9th century or so.  Here are the basics of the story:

An old man one days notices a light coming from a stalk of bamboo.  Thinking this strange, he takes a closer look and spies a tiny girl.  He and his wife (there names are Okina and Ouna, which are the names of the two satellites that the lunar craft shot up to send it's images back) raise this little girl until she grows to be a very beautiful woman.  She is known as the Shining Princess of Supple Bamboo, but her friends called her Kaguya for short. 

Kaguya has many men call upon her hoping to win her hand, but she does not desire any of them, no matter how hard they try.  Some of them believe that persistence must be the key (hey, it worked for my dad).  The five most persistent of these suitors are assigned impossible tasks to prove their devotion.  We know enough to mythology to know that no task is impossible.  The first guy is to retrieve Buddah's beggin bowl.  Being a smart guy, he figured that it would take to long to travel all the way to India, so he gets a fake.  She doesn't fall for it.

The second guy has to get a branch from a tree from the island of Paradise.  The branch has jewels all over it.  Not learning from suitor number one, he too tries ot fake it.  This time, the deception works and Kaguya has to marry him.  Before the ceremony can take place, however, the jewellers who faked the branch show up and demand payment for their work, ruining his plans.

The other three all try to complete their tasks instead of lying and all three are unable to do so.  Did I say that all impossible tasks are possible?  Hmmm...  Oh yeah, I was thinking of Greek and Roman impossible tasks.  These, of course were Japanese and everyone knows that while you have a better than average chance of performing a Greek impossible task, you don't have squat when it comes to the Japanese impossible task!

Why did Kaguya refuse to marry these guys?  She has a secret.  Her secret is revealed when the emperor himself falls in love with her.  She comes from a race of people who live on the moon and she was punished by having to live on earth for a spell, a spell which is about over.  She has grown to like Okina and Ouna and does want to leave.  They try many things, but not going back to the moon is, well, impossible. 

All is not lost, however.  At least not for Kaguya.  Her people come to get her and seeing her grief, give here a feathered robe to wear.  She write a quick note for the emperor and then puts the robe on, which makes her forget her sadness and hops on their flying chariot and is never seen again. The note told the emperor that she really did like him, but oh well. Her adoptive parents, well they didn't get a robe of feathers to forget their grief.  In the end, they die of sadness.