i'm having a greek mythology summer

You know when you hear a word for the first time and then you suddenly start seeing it everywhere? Well, that’s sort of what’s been happening to me with Greek mythology.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been aware of it and intrigued by it. But I’ve never actually dived too far into the myths. Now, I’m in deep. 

Of course, we had the release of The Odyssey this summer, which I saw in the theater. But what’s crazy is that just the night before, I saw the Hadestown musical pro shot in the theater. And the night before that, I started reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, which has been on my TBR list for a while. And the thing is, I went into most of these experiences fairly blind. I was under the impression that they were Ancient Greece-adjacent, but I did not realize just how central Greek gods and myths were to all of these stories, and that these stories were layers of each other.

I was having whiplash throughout every experience as tales began and ended in different mediums. “Oh wait, Odysseus is in the novel I’m reading, too? I just read the backstory behind Helen, Menelaus, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra last night and now I’m watching the end of that story in the movie theater? I watched Eurydice and Orpheus journey to Hades’ underworld last night and now I’m watching Odysseus and his boys go down there?” And this was just the crescendo, because my relationship with Greek mythology had actually been unfolding over the few weeks leading up to this.

My newfound fascination actually all started with Astrology (I’ve been taking classes at the library, you see). The planets are closely associated with Greek gods, so as I learned more about the planets, I learned more about the gods. Take Uranus, for example. (And, disclaimer: Greek/Roman myths can be incredibly violent, sickening, and bizarre. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

Uranus, or Ouranos, (Father Sky) and his wife Gaia (Mother Earth) were the primordial deities, arisen from the original Chaos. Meaning, they were existing from the dawn of time - the dawn of the universe. All Greek gods are descended from them, as they reared the first twelve Titans. But some of those Titans almost never came to be.

Because Uranus began to hate his born children, he imprisoned his unborn children in Gaia’s womb. Yep, just wasn’t letting them come out. So men have been trying to control women’s bodies from the beginning of time, just saying. 

Gaia did the reasonable thing: she fashioned a sickle and called upon the babies within her womb to overtake Uranus. Kronos (Saturn) stepped up to the task. He popped out of the womb with that sickle and castrated his Daddy, banishing him sky-bound for eternity. Yeah, you read that right. And as you might know, the sickle is now the symbol for the planet Saturn in astrology.

The blood spilled over the earth from Uranus’ castration gave rise to the Giants, the Furies, and the ash tree Nymphs. Oh, and Saturn threw his father’s testicles into the ocean, and from his floating sperm came Venus (Aphrodite). You know, one of the most extensively painted goddesses in history?

As Uranus was banished, however, he cursed his son Saturn with a prophecy that he, too, would one day be overthrown by his own child. So when Saturn eventually had children, his paranoia led him to swallowing them as a way to curb the prophecy. Yeah, he ate his kids. Don't believe me? Here's a painting from the 1820s by Francisco Goya entitled, "Saturn Devouring His Son":

Brutal, right? Goya actually painted that on the walls of his own home. It was transferred to canvas after his death. Imagine that in your living room? Nuts.

Well, Saturn swallowed most of his children (Neptune, Pluto, Vesta, Juno, and Ceres), but his wife then set out to trick him. When his son, Jupiter, was born, Saturn's wife hid Jupiter away on the island of Crete. She gave Saturn a large stone wrapped in baby clothes for him to swallow instead - and it worked? So Jupiter grew up in secret and then came to fulfill the prophecy. 

Jupiter forced Saturn to vomit up his siblings - duh. Then Jupiter led his siblings in a massive war against Saturn and his siblings, ultimately winning the war, banishing Saturn, and taking control of the Cosmos. When Jupiter became the supreme ruler of the gods, he divided up the world with his brothers, giving the sea to Neptune and the underworld to Pluto, keeping the sky and earth for himself. Oh, you wanna know Jupiter's other name? It's Zeus. The other names for Neptune and Pluto? Poseidon and Hades. It's all starting to make sense, right? No? Well, at least it's entertaining. 

Despite eating his children, Saturn's mythological reign on Earth in ancient Italy was regarded as the "Golden Age" for humanity, by the way. The Romans even celebrated this and honored Saturn with the famous winter festival: Saturnalia. 

So, a lot of Greek and Roman myths are, like, basically the same, they just have different names for things and whatnot. The Ancient Romans named the five planets they could see with their naked eye after their own gods. So:

Jupiter being the largest planet in our solar system, it made sense that it would be named after their supreme god. 

Saturn was apparently the god of time, the planet having the longest orbit made sense. And it being so far out in the solar system coincides with Saturn's banishment.

Mercury has the fastest orbit, so it was named after the messenger god. (Greek name: Hermes. You know, the guy with wings on his shoes?)

Venus was named after the goddess of beauty because it is the brightest light in the sky after the Moon.

Mars was named after the god of war because its red hue reminded the ancients of bloodshed. 

After the telescope invention, scientists honored the tradition of naming the planets after Roman gods. Uranus was named for being even farther out than Saturn. Neptune, for its vivid blue methane atmosphere. Pluto, because it is a dark and freezing distant world on the edge of our solar system.

So, all of this has been, genuinely, a fraction of mythology. And I should note that while there is a general consensus around a lot of myths, there can also be many different versions or varied details between them, as well. So, even what I've laid out here may have other iterations if you go looking elsewhere. Speaking of, I would recommend the podcast, "Let's Talk About Myths Baby" as a way to learn more about the myths. I mean, this stuff is fascinating.

Before I conclude this lecture, let me add one more myth. When I watched Hadestown for the first time, I was like, "Wow, I've never heard about Eurydice and Orpheus. I'm going to research it." (Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the show or aren't familiar with the myth, I'd really recommend watching it before reading this paragraph.) Apparently, Orpheus spent the rest of his days crying over Eurydice. He encountered Dionysus' groupies (the Maenads, or the "raving ones," as Dionysus was the god of wine and ritual madness, of course) who became so offended by his lack of desire to sleep with them that they tore him to shreds. They threw his head into the river, where it would float around and sing about Eurydice for eternity. So... that was hard to digest.

Anyway, I will continue my summer of learning. I plan to read Circe by Madeline Miller after I finish The Song of Achilles. I'll report back. Ta-ta for now. 

- From Chey