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Link: Greek Gods Quiz

That of Xena. Obviously Amazons (Xena is an Amazon, bytheway) interacting with Greek gods does not really portray Greek culture accurately. Is Xena an act of heresy? Actually, Greeks can utilize Xena’s inaccurate use of Greek mythology to extend it. Preteen Greek kids that are anxiously sitting around their tv sets watching Xena could believe Greek gods were promiscuous with the indigenous people in the Amazon. In fact, if you did believe in Greek mythology as a religion, than the gods would be promiscuous with the whole world population. Hmmm.

This sparked my interest in seeing the show again. I found a random episode on the internet and tried my best to recreate my childhood Saturday nights, when I’d stay up late to watch Xena on the WB. This time I exchanged a box of tissue for a pen and notepad, however. I’m living on a couch after all.

This Xena was the thirteenth episode from the second season, circa 1995. The episode is perhaps most remembered by the famous kiss between Xena and Gabrielle.

Visualize this:

Xena: [to Gabrielle] I’ll always be with you, Gabrielle.
[they kiss]

We see some attention-grabbing cameos and appearances. One is the guy that was Hercules’ sidekick and the other is B-movie king, Bruce Campbell portraying Autolycus, the ‘king of thieves’.

The story goes that Xena is dead and Gabrielle needs to take her body to be buried with her brother’s (an Amazon with a brother? Hmmm). On the way, however, a group of Amazons waylay Gabrielle and Xena’s dead corpse as the Amazons want the corpse to be burnt the Amazonian way. Somehow, also, Gabrielle can become queen of the Amazons too. Anyway, Gabrielle decides to burn the body and be queen instead of burying the body and not being queen.

Yet, Xena is not dead yet, or how the show puts it: ‘not completely dead’. Xena goes into, and sometimes can wield, Autolycus’ body. This makes for some needed humor provided by a slapstick actor. Although I am a fan of Bruce Campbell, I was disappointed with his slapstick acting. So Autolycus and Xena (hiding in his soul) go to get Xena’s body.

See, there is still a chance for Xena to be saved…if her dead body consumes the food of the gods, ambrosia, than her life can be restored. It sounds harder than it really is, but to access the food of the gods they must also venture to a temple and use the BLLAAADE OF HELIOS (that Autolycus conveniently retains).

Meanwhile, another Amazon girl, Valaska who is with Gabrielle wants to be queen, as well as a god, so she wants the ambrosia too. Obviously Autolycus succeeds in saving Xena’s body, and Gabrielle and Xena (possessing Autolycus’ body, mind you) are able to feed Xena’s dead body the ambrosia, while killing Valaska.

The Greek Angle

The main Greek elements in the show, as there are not many, are Autolycus, (the BLAAADE OF) Helios and ambrosia. Pretty much everything else was not Greek. Let’s look at these elements and see how Greek Mythology was adapted for America, 1995…

Autolycus literally means self-wolf, but translates to lone-wolf essentially. He was best known for his wicked thieving skills and athletics; however, he was also one of the Argonauts that accompanied Jason to locate the Golden Fleece. Although he is not a notable character in Greek mythology, Autolycus does frequently pop-up in many stories. He was the son of Hermes and grandfather of Odysseus, the hero in Odyssey. He is also noted as the guy that trained Hercules in wrestling.

Although I see the parallels of using the king of B-movies to portray the ‘king of thieves’, the slapstick style of Bruce Campbell was inaccurate. This was a tactic used by the creators to add the needed humor to the episode, obviously. At first glance this appears to be the case, but the name Autolycus was also used by Shakespeare in his comedy ‘The Winter’s Tale’. Autolycus was a rogue similar to the Autolycus in Xena. So perhaps rather than a misinterpretation of a Greek mythological character, it was a cultural blend between Greek mythology and English theater.

The BLAAADE OF Helios! Helios was a deity or Titan that was personified as the Sun. The modern Greek word for the sun is ‘ilios’ (ee-lee-os), so there’s the connection. As for the blade, Helios didn’t have a specific one, nor was Helios a gatekeeper to the stock of god-food. He was best known for his chariot, which he rode across the sky every day. Providing a magical item in a show, such as a weapon used by a god, appeals to us and follows suit to something like Indiana Jones and the archeological elements thereof.

Ambrosia is believed to be the food or drink of the gods. Nectar is also used as either the food or drink of the gods, but both terms were used. Only Homer distinguished ambrosia as the food and nectar as the drink. Through the consumption of ambrosia the person becomes immortal.

Valaska upon consumption of the ambrosia would only be granted immortality not god-status, nor would Xena be able to be resurrected. A dead body having the ability to digest food is asinine. Ambrosia was used to help facilitate a shitty story and add to the suspense (Valaska’s attempts to become a god) and sympathy (a dead Xena) factors the show desired to use.

So how does the episode hold up? Save for the weak production and storyline, the Greek mythology used isn’t too far off from what I found on wikipedia. The elements that were changed served a purpose to make the show more appealing and entertaining. The possibility that the character of Autolycus derives from Shakespeare in lieu of Greek mythology would be clever and has hints of sophisticated character development. I think Greeks watching the show would have the same impressions regarding the shows portrayal of Greek mythology as anyone else: the show uses just enough accurate elements to satisfy your intellectual needs but provides enough scantly clad amazons pretending to fight to satiate your other needs.

~The Guy on the Couch…Out

After getting into it, the soul wakes upon the shores of Styx River, the borderline between the world of the living and the world of the dead. After tipping the ferryman Charon, the soul embarks on the boat and Charon crosses the River. The souls then encounter Cerberus, a three-headed dog, the guard of the Hades Gates.

Cerberus never barks, only roars. Never somebody entering the underworld had a problem with Cerberus. It mangles those who try to leave the underworld, though. Entering the underworld you can stare into the North and see the red flames of Phlegethon River and into the South the dark clouds of Cocytus. Phlegethon is the River of the flames and Cocytus the River of Lamentation. They protect the world of the living from souls who try to escape the underworld. Another boundary is the River of Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness. Even if you do it across either Cocytus or Phlegethon you have to swim Lethe but if you drink even one sip of water, you forget who you are, where you go, who you were and dubious you stay there forever…

In the underworld somebody can see the Erebus, a dark and woeful place where all the souls of the sinners are driven to. Another place is the Asphodel meadows, populated by the souls of the indifferent and finally the Elysian Plains where the souls of the heroes, the brave and the thinkers are in. There is though a river crossing the Erebus land, its name is Eridanus, fading into a hole, just like Acheron, leading to Tartarus. It is said that it is the place where the souls of the tyrants and the bloodthirsty are led there. Nobody knows anything more about it, for nobody has returned to narrate.

Technorati Tags: mythology, underworld

Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a woman from clay. Hephaestus worked hard and made a masterpiece, Aphrodite was there to advice him. Athena, goddess of wisdom, breathed life into her. Zeus named the woman Pandora, meaning “she who possesses all the gifts” and sent her as a gift to Epimetheus.

Epimetheus had been warned by Prometheus that he should never accept Zeus’ tricky gifts. But Epimetheus fell in love with Pandora and married her. Zeus, pleased that his trick was working, gave to Pandora, as a wedding gift, a beautiful box. There was one condition however; that was that she never opened the box.

Pandora often wondered what was in the box. Day by day her curiosity was growing bigger. One day it got very important to find out what was hidden there. She could stand it no longer. She took the key, fitted it into the lock and turned it. She lifted the lid but before she realised it the room was filled with terrible things: disease, despair, death, violence, cruelty, greed and war. She closed the box, locking in only the hope.

While someone can extract just the “don’t be curious” meaning, one can see clear similarities in the way God gave fatalities to humanity between the Adam and Eva story and the Pandora’s box story. Something forbidden, two women, curiosity and finally the punishment. Does it mean that the Jews and the Greeks had common views of the creation of the world? Perhaps.. It may also be that one of the two peoples just got affected by the other, since trade was running between the two and cultural contact was adequate to have such influences.

No matter what had happened, referring to “the opening of Pandora’s box” always has the meaning that the worst are about to come. The box itself can be something beautiful outside, evil inside.

Technorati Tags: pandora box, Zeus, greek mythology