Tag Archives: Gwen Bowers

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now: The Odyssey

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #7.

Click here for previous episodes.

Circe the Sorceress….another painting by J.W.Waterhouse.

It turns out that Jason & Medea (another famous sorceress) visited Circe on their way back from the Black Sea where Jason was looking for that dazzling piece of finery we call The Golden Fleece. Medea worked all kinds of magic for the man she loved. She started killing people for his benefit quite early in their relationship. They stopped off to see Circe who purified them after they killed her brother. They washed up & got on their way. Later, Jason left Medea for a rich (and much younger) princess—so, Medea killed her in a very fiery, burning-flesh kind of way, and then hung up her little ones to dry, so to speak! She knew this would destroy Jason’s spirit! But that is a whole other story that I’d love to get into here, but hope that you will do a little research on your own and find out why Medea is not just famous, but infamous!

And, as usual, I get away from myself. So here is the powerful Circe, who actually does no harm whatsoever to our hero and his companions. And indeed, makes them all taller and more handsome than before. Oh yes, and younger.

Extra credit and a post here on the website to anyone who can paint, draw, or locate a fabulous image of Calypso. I have looked far & wide, but only found this one that just doesn’t do it for me. What fun you could have doing all the details of her magical garden. Or maybe someone could Photoshop this one & put some clothes on her!

Yikes!

Enjoy today’s installment of The Odyssey!

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now: The Odyssey

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #6.

Click here for previous episodes.

You can now subscribe to my podcasts through itunes store!!!

Of course, the favorite scene of kids everywhere and throughout the ages, I am sure. Polyphemus the cyclops, one-eyed son of Poseidon, eater of random strays & those washed ashore. Sheep-herder, island-dweller, boulder-thrower, non-drinker but open to it—and lover of Galatea, who did not love him. : (

I have a fondness for this guy. He really was just minding his own business, taking care of his sheep, hanging out in his man-cave. I think it is his role as “shepherd” that always made me feel such affection.  After getting him juiced up, clever Odysseus literally sticks it to him.

What happens to his animals? I’ve always wondered and worried about them….

Find out how the poor monster responds to our hero in today’s podcast. Enjoy!

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now: The Odyssey

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #5.

Click here for previous episodes.

Today you meet Nausicaa, “of the white-arms”. One of my favorites. Referred to as “discreet”, you can see why. This young princess is down by the seashore playing ball & washing clothes, when her handmaids find a naked man washed up on the shore! Yikes! Her ladies try to stop her from going down to see what all the ruckus was about, but she insists—because she is Nausicaa, who knows her own mind. She treats him like any other stranger they might meet along the road, is absolutely unruffled and unmoved, and gets him a tunic & some refreshments from their mule cart. What a queen she will be!

In fact, it is known that Sophocles wrote a play about her. But, alas, as so many things from the ancient world, it is lost…..

I love Homer’s passages about this girl. This one in particular, when Odysseus first sees her and cannot tell whether she is mortal or goddess: “I have never with these eyes seen anything like you, neither man nor woman. Wonder takes me as I look on you. Yet in Delos once I saw such a thing, by Apollo’s altar. I saw the stalk of a young palm shooting up…And as, when I looked upon that tree, my heart admired it long, since such a tree had never yet sprung from the earth, so now, lady, I admire you and wonder, and am terribly afraid to clasp you by the knees.”
From Richmond Lattimore’s translation.

Enjoy the second installment of The Odyssey!

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now: The Odyssey

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #4.

Click here for previous episodes.

Aaahhh, Penelope….. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Odysseus’s wife is one of the most memorable female characters in all of ancient story. This was one patient lass—she waited twenty years for her husband to return to her! Now that is faith. Penelope was hounded by suitors for years. Everyone was quite sure that Odysseus had been killed in the battle at Troy and that his lovely wife should take a new husband. Lone women surely can’t take care of themselves—and of course, she had all that property—a kingdom! Let’s get her married off to someone new. To keep these rascals at bay, she said she’d take a new husband when she finished weaving this burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes (no relation to Ophelia’s bro). Clever lass that she was, she’d weave by day and when the drunken suitors would nod off, she’d unravel at night. Dumb guys! You can see why Odysseus would choose her for a mate.

Here is John William Waterhouse’s painting of Penelope.  Waterhouse was at the tail-end of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painting, which focused on themes from the classical and Arthurian world….and some Shakespeare stuff, too. Edwardian. Victorian. You may know his painting of Proserpina (Persephone to the Greeks) with the pomegranate. Lots of rich details, deep colors, and dolorous looks! Fabulous!

Enjoy our first installment of The Odyssey!

The Writing Life

Remis Velisque!

Remis Velisque means “with oars and sails; with all one’s might” in Latin.Okay. I don’t know where this is taking me, but are you along for the ride?

The publishing world is in flux. Authors have been talking about it for a few years now, wondering how we all need to change to adapt to the new technology. This is historic, folks. We are in a revolution. Think cuneiform, papyrus, moveable type. Think awesome. And I am ready to jump.

I am ready to embrace the new reality and make it my friend. Jump into the infinite space and enjoy the free fall. I am not going to worry about where or if I land. I’ll just do it and see what happens.

My intention: to offer my writing for free to whomever is interested! My stories and novels will be available as free podcasts from itunes and podiobooks. Read on to find out why this is a solution for me.

After years of writing and pursuing my unique interests in the ancient world, I published my first book with Scholastic in 2007, Read Aloud Plays: The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid. But with book publication comes the pressures of marketing, publicity, events, sales, networking, and positioning for the next work. All of these daily concerns are a severe drain to the body, mind, and spirit. Writers are held hostage by these demands that are so out-of-sync with their natural flow of research, reflection, and writing.

Jockeying for position has never been a part of my personality. In other words, I suck at schmoozing! I always feel the real insincerity of it so that what should be a great pleasure (meeting new people who love stories) is marred by the tense and uncomfortable reality of promotion. Very unnatural! With this new enterprise I hope to take back my power and put all my energy into my work. If you like it, hang with me and let’s enjoy the stories together!