OLYMPIA INTERNAL
I've been reading books of Stephen Mitchell. He is a translator of the classics in a most readable way. I've read Gilgamesh. The jewgod has some 'splainin' to do about that plagiarized Flood Story. Most interesting story of Gil's mirror image come to life, as best I read it. Sumerian, it is the oldest recorded story known to man.
The Iliad was great. The story opens with one word - 'Rage'. I could sure equate with that sentiment. The story is with plot holes, time incongruence, pouting heroes and one honest woman. Helen describes herself several times as, 'the bitch that I am', and blames herself for this turmoil. As well she should, running off with her assigned Boy Toy, Paris (it was Aphrodite's fault), insulting King Menelaus. Can't do that.
David Patroclus, very tight with half-god Achilles, slain by Hector on the battlefield.
In the Odyssey, the Good King and Queen Helen have seemed to have made up as a couple and enjoy each others' company. Crazy, huh?
War, huh, What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. - Edwin Starr
I'll give the ending away - Odysseus survives and gets his revenge. Some heavies, too - 7 years on a deserted island with a nymphomaniac goddess, he struck a sharpened stick into a Cyclops eye, pissing off Zeus once again. Cy was his son. Six-headed cave monsters, Poseidon causes shipwrecks galore, O returns home with no ship, no plunder, dressed in beggar's rags 20 years after sacking and pillaging Troy to a loyal wife, a young warrior son and grieving aged father. He takes care of business and moves on; a concise book report on the Cliff's Notes.
In these Greek classics, it appeared to me obvious that the gods that come and help or hurt, depending on their moods it seems, are the internal make up of the individual human condition. Each god or goddess, nymphs, lesser gods, half-god, and Immortals represent a focus of our intention. Love or fear, good or bad, kindly and atrocious. It is the subconscious at play and a fascinating way to tell a tale.
Rule number 1. Everyone kisses Zeus's ass. He will kill you as much as look at you, gods included. Always fickle, holds a grudge. Surly and unpredictable, like a 12 pack a day man.
Athena is born out of Zeus's head, interestingly, not his ribcage, as from the intellect not the physical body. Athena is Zues's daughter after he impregnated and ate her mother, and Odysseus owes a great deal to her for his return. The sub-gods conspire to undercut Zeus, many gods are loyal depending on their individual interest. Zeus didn't like the Achaeans, or Greeks, he was all for Hector and the Trojans. The gods were split on this battlefield. It was O that put together the Wooden Horse idea, a success with Zeus's wrath, the source of O's troubles returning. So the story goes.
All the gods view the human being as amusing slaves without empathy or concern. The fact they help humans, perceived, at all is a passive-aggressive assault on the authority figure just to trick or fool Z, like a celestial Full House episode on TV. Athena gets anything she wants being a spoiled daughter and she may have helped O, but as glorious a human he was in his travails, Odysseus is now her bitch boy. He'll be on call. The relationship will be strictly transactable for him here on out. She'll be bossing him around, sure 'nuf . Zeus could care less, amused at Athena's acquisition, I suppose. Just another day in Olympus.
… a little known Goddess, often ignored...
There were many more travels of Odysseus not included, some maybe even made up! I enjoyed the genre but I liked Game of Thrones, too. Homer, not Simpson, is a certain inspiration for that splatter drama. Men were men, women were on a pedestal, and good honorable revenge was presented as just and needed. We all enjoy a good revenge story. A good revenge story... we need more of them. Yes, a good righteous revenge story is enjoyable,
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