Tag Archives: Gwen Minor

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now: The Odyssey

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #7.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Iliad

Ancient World Now: The Iliad

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #3.

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Diomedes was one of the most revered heroes of the ancient world. Though we don’t hear much about him nowadays, he had as many adventures as Achilles and Odysseus! He is quite overshadowed by those other characters. But a huge chunk of The Iliad is devoted to his “aristeia”, or glory day on the battlefield, during which, he wounds Aphrodite, goddess of love.

This dramatic painting is by Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm Fitger and shows the mad chaos of Aphrodite’s desperate move to save her wounded son, Aeneas. And if you are a good student of the ancient world, you know that, yes, of course she saves him. Virgil’s Aeneid is the tale of Aeneas’s trials and tribulations after the Trojan War. Stay with me and you will hear my version of The Aeneid, soon to come as a podcast.

Next week we begin The Odyssey!!!

The Iliad

Ancient World Now: The Iliad

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #2.

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Like most writers, I am a fiend for books and paper, and find it difficult to keep up with it all.  So today, I organized my work space for maximum efficiency and came across a slip of paper with this note written in my handwriting: “Epipole of Carystos, daughter of Trachion…wanted to go to Troy with the Greeks—was stoned to death.” Just something I ran across in my research that I wanted to know more about. There are so many tales related to The Iliad, that study of the cycle of stories could easily take over one’s life. In the editorial process, some great tales I’d written up never made it into the book I did for Scholastic. Here is one of them, a very sad tale of the young newlyweds, Laodamia and Protestilaus.

Laodamia was the new wife of Protestilaus, a Greek warrior sent to fight at Troy. It was prophesied that the first soldier to step foot on Trojan soil would be the first to die. Protestilaus, seeing great honor in being the first to die for the cause, leaped from ship to shore and was slain immediately by Hector. Laodamia had only been married to him for one day. She so mourned her loss that the gods took pity on her and allowed her to see him for three hours before he proceeded to the Underworld. When she saw him, she fell into his arms, plunged a dagger through her heart, and accompanied him to Hades.

Enjoy today’s podcast. We finish up The Iliad next Monday and then begin on The Odyssey!

The Iliad

Ancient World Now….one day…hey, wait—i counted wrong! Inaugural Podcast

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Podcast launch date: Today…
Next podcast: The Iliad-Part II, in one week

Here it is…….Click here for direct link to audio Episode #1

Click here for up-to-date list of all podcasts.

I can’t do math to save my life! It is no surprise that I counted wrong! But who’s counting?!!!

And for those of you who were paying attention the other day, here is the follow up
to the Heinrich Schliemann saga……One morning, so the story goes, Sophia & Heinrich went to the site where their workers were digging. They had laid bets that in this one particular spot on the Greek mainland, Agamemnon’s Mycenaean kingdom had stood and prospered. As they were approaching the work site, Sophia caught a glint of  gold. Thinking fast, she declared, by George, that it was Heinrich’s birthday, (how could they have forgotten) and all the workers had the day off! When the workers cleared off, the couple dug up one of the most important archaeological treasures ever to be recorded. Sophia donned the gorgeous gold jewelry, they took pictures and notified the press, and a firestorm of renewed interest in the ancient world (picking up where eighteenth century discoveries of Herculaneum and Pompeii left off) immediately swept the globe. This photograph inspired designers to fashion jewelry in the old, old styles, and nineteenth century ladies fell all over themselves trying to keep up with the new trend.

Okay, now to the podcast…drumroll, please…..I am crossing my fingers that this works properly, but as with all things tech, there’s bound to be a glitch. Let me know what you think! And contact me ASAP if something is amiss. From here on out, podcasts will be available every Monday. Thanks to everyone for your help and support. Let’s roll!

The Odyssey

Ancient World Now….two days…..

Podcast launch date: Monday, June 14, 2010.

First episode: The Iliad 20-30 minute podcast.

David’s dear friend Seek died today. We had been taking care of him since Monday, making him comfortable and surrounding him with the things he loved. We watched his body shut down slowly. David gave him a thorough brushing yesterday, and again today after he passed. These are photos of him from healthier times.

Seek loved to drink from faucets. We thought taping a cutout of a raccoon on the wall above the bathroom sink would keep him from doing it. One night we came home and Seek was curled up underneath the photo. We nearly died laughing! Priceless…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
And how can I justify bringing our pet into the Iliad mix? Easily. Homer’s stories touch us because they are real and true and honest. He told stories of love and friendship and betrayal and loss. Countless generations have been moved by this, one of the most famous scenes in The Odyssey. When Odysseus finally arrives back on the island of Ithaka, after 20 years, Athena disguises him an old pauper. Odysseus encounters his old shepherd, Eumaeus….

As they were talking, a dog that had been lying asleep raised his head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom Odysseus had bred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any enjoyment from him. In the old days he used to be taken out by the young men when they went hunting wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that his master was gone he was lying neglected on the heaps of mule and cow dung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men should come and draw it away to manure the great close; and he was full of fleas. As soon as he saw Odysseus standing there, he dropped his ears and wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. When Odysseus saw the dog on the other side of the yard, dashed a tear from his eyes without Eumaeus seeing it, and said:
“Eumaeus, what a noble hound that is over yonder on the manure heap: his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he looks, or is he only one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are kept merely for show?”
“This hound,” answered Eumaeus, “belonged to him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Odysseus left for Troy, he would soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never do their work when their master’s hand is no longer over them, for Zeus takes half the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him.”
So saying he entered the well-built mansion, and made straight for the riotous pretenders in the hall. But Argos passed into the darkness of death, now that he had seen his master once more after twenty years.
Homer, Odyssey, Book 17
Animals are our friends. People can be mean and hurtful, but an animal friend will never turn on you or cause you pain or betray you. Animals are real and true and honest….Rest in peace, Seek, we love you…………………
The Iliad

Ancient World Now….three days…..

Podcast launch date: Monday, June 14, 2010.

First episode: The Iliad 20-30 minute podcast.

From the time Heinrich Schliemann was a wee lad in Germany, he dreamed of finding the location of legendary Troy. He dedicated his entire life to this dream. He came to America and made a gold rush fortune out west. He did the mail-order bride thing and hooked up with a Greek girl named Sophia, who was also a big fan of all things Homeric. Together, they combed Greece and Turkey in the hopes of locating Ilium. While Heinrich has a bad rap in today’s world for his rough & tumble archaeological practices, you gotta hand it to him, the man was passionate!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about his young wife, Sophia, and show you how she influenced ladies accessories in the mid-nineteenth century.

Tune in to the maiden podcast of Ancient World Now to see what inspired these two characters!

The Iliad

Ancient World Now….four days…..

Podcast launch date: Monday, June 14, 2010.

First episode: The Iliad 20-30 minute podcast.

Who was Paris? And how did he get so lucky? Goddesses! Helen! Playing the lyre whenever he wanted! Hanging out in the palace while everybody and his brother fights his battles (literally)!

Little did you know that he was callously cast aside, nay, exposed on a mountaintop, soon after birth because his mom had a nightmare that he would bring down her family!

Some time later he was picked up by a shepherd who raised him to manhood. But discovering he was a hot young swashbuckling prince of Troy is another story.

This Judgment of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder is from around 1528.  If you want to see it “in person” you’ll have to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Find out how these three ladies tried to bribe Paris and what they used to entice him in the maiden podcast of Ancient World Now!