Week 2 Reading Diary: Ovid I

Week 2: Ovid I
For this reading diary, I have decided to make some quick notes about each story contained in the reading. I will go through them in the given order.                                                                          


Deucalion and Pyrrha 
This reading started out with a flood/creation story like those that occur in many cultures. There are only two survivors of this all-consuming flood, one male and one female, the two for whom this story is named. One of the quote that struck me from this story is as follows:

"How would you feel now, poor soul, if the fates had willed you to be saved, but not me? How could you endure your fear alone? Who would comfort your tears? Believe me, dear wife, if the sea had you, I would follow you, and the sea would have me too. If only I, by my father’s arts, could recreate earth’s peoples, and breathe life into the shaping clay! The human race remains in us. The gods willed it that we are the only examples of mankind left behind."

Io
In this story, poor Io had more than her fair share of trouble. She was raped and then turned into a heifer by Jupiter, but she is still clever enough (and human enough) to use language to spell out her situation to her father. In the end, she is returned to being a human. I found the side story about Argus and his hundreds of eyes to be interesting as well. It made me wonder if he served another purpose in other Greek myths.

Phaethon and the Sun
The family lineage got a little hard to follow for me. I kept referring to the notes at the top to keep straight who was supposed to be related to/descended from one another. I really liked the description of the fantastic Palace of the Sun. I also thought the personification of the seasons was interesting:

"Young Spring stood there circled with a crown of flowers, naked Summer wore a garland of ears of corn, Autumn was stained by the trodden grapes, and icy Winter had white, bristling hair."

It seems like it's going to be difficult for Phaethon to find success, but it also seems like he's not going to back down from his request.

Phaethon's Ride
Here, Phaethon gets his wish and is able to take the chariot out, even though he has been repeatedly told of all the things that could go wrong along the way. Phaethon is unexperienced and he loses control, allowing the horses to run free. This causes a lot of destruction. The sky was burning, and the Earth burned too.

The Death of Phaethon
As the title suggests, Phaethon dies in this part. I found it difficult to feel sorry for him because he was told what he would be getting himself into and he foolishly thought he would be able to handle that. Again, there is a lot going on with family connections and I had to look over some parts more than once to establish what was really going on. I also didn't really understand what the purpose of the sisters turning into trees was supposed to be. At least the horses were recaptured.

Callisto
This story frustrated me because Juno turned her rage toward Callisto and her child instead of turning her rage toward Jupiter, who was actually the only one guilty of doing anything wrong. Callisto is essentially punished (turned into a bear) for something she didn't do and wanted no part of. It's really sad at the end because her own son is about to kill her, but Jupiter does probably one of the only decent things he's ever done and stops that from happening. Mother and son are turned into constellations.

Semele
Again, Juno avoids the source of the problems and acts out against the innocent party, in this case, Semele. Juno tricks Semele into wishing to feel all of Jupiter's power, something she is ultimately unable to survive. The ending of this story was pretty bizarre. Semele's child was torn from her womb and "sewn into his father’s thigh to complete his full term". Yikes.

Echo
The concept of being born twice, as Bacchus was, still seems pretty ridiculous. Somehow, he seemed to turn out alright. The story of Echo and Narcissus begins in this story. I'm pretty familiar with this story, but I think it's a really interesting one.

Narcissus
Narcissus felt he was too good for all those that yearned for him. When he saw himself for the first time, these suspicions were only confirmed. It's strange to think of the idea of unrequited love as being in love with your own being. In the end, Narcissus can no long move forward with his life in this state and wishes for his own death:

"Now sadness takes away my strength, not much time is left for me to live, and I am cut off in the prime of youth. Nor is dying painful to me, laying down my sadness in death. I wish that him I love might live on, but now we shall die united, two in one spirit."

He dies and is transformed into a flower.

Pyramus and Thisbe
As stated in the notes, this story reminded me a lot of Romeo and Juliet. It's super sad. They were kept apart, so they went to great extremes to meet. Neither one of them had to die, but Pyramus was blinded by love and acted hastily and in the end they both ended up killing themselves.

Mars and Venus
This was a very short story and not a lot happened in it. Basically, Vulcan captures his cheating wife and her lover in a metal net he crafted and makes them the laughing stock of the community.

Perseus and Andromeda
Perseus just seems like an all-around good guy. He is accomplishing feat after feat. He has already killed Medusa, a task considered impossible by many, and now he's about to rescue a princess from a sea monster. He has a pretty exciting life. Also, he can fly around on his shoes, which is a pretty cool thing to be able to do.

Perseus and Medusa
To nobody's surprise, Perseus is able to defeat the sea monster and save Andromeda. After the battle, Andromeda and Perseus are married. At the wedding feast, Perseus outlines his battle with Medusa because everybody there can't get enough of him and how great he is. I think Medusa is an interesting character and her story is a complex one. Even though she's portrayed as a villain, she wasn't always that way, nor did she necessarily make herself into that.