TFBT: Random Notes on Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes.

Over at the Kosmos Society  we’ve been studying the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes.   Here are my random notes;

Why Orpheus first in the catalogue of the Argonauts? Any significance to who comes next in the catalogue? West suggests that most epic catalogues spiral out from the initial location of the tale.

I find it interesting that seven of the heroes were “sent” on this quest;

• ·      “Actor sent his son Menoetius”,
• ·      “Canthus eager for the quest, whom Canethus son of Abas sent”,
• ·      “Phalerus of the ashen spear. Alcon his father sent him forth;”,
• ·      “146-150) Moreover Aetolian Leda sent from Sparta strong Polydeuces and Castor”,
• ·      “Ancaeus followed them as the third, whom his father Lycurgus sent,”
• ·      “Laocoon the brother of Oeneus, Oeneus sent to guard his son: thus Meleagrus,”

“Theseus, who surpassed all the sons of Erechtheus, an unseen bond kept beneath the land of Taenarus, for he had “followed that path with Peirithous; assuredly both would have lightened for all the fulfilment of their toil.” I wondered what this line was all about, but our discussion of Heracles cameo it makes sense. AR is explaining why Theseus was not on the boat. He was still stuck on that bench in Hades waiting for Heracles to rescue him. If he had been on the boat than the epic would have been him instead of Jason, so AR had to write him out of the story. With Theseus in Hades Castor and Polydeuces could rescue Helen in Athens and then join the expedition.

“185-189) Yea, and two other sons of Poseidon came; one Erginus, who left the citadel of glorious Miletus, the other proud Ancaeus, who left Parthenia, the seat of Imbrasion Hera” Per Maicar;  Parthenia is an old name for Samos . Joan V. O’Brien in The Transformation of Hera theorizes that prior to being summoned to Olympus by Hesiod and Homer, Hera was the local goddess on Samos and wedded wife of the river-god Imbrasus.

“no woe will be fatal, no venture will be unachieved, while Idas follows, even though a god should oppose thee. Such a helpmeet am I that thou bringest from Arene.”(ll. 472-475) He spake, and holding a brimming goblet in both hands drank off the unmixed sweet wine; and his lips and dark cheeks were drenched with it; and all the heroes clamoured together and Idmon spoke out openly: (ll. 480-484) “Vain wretch, thou art devising destruction for thyself before the time. Does the pure wine cause thy bold heart to swell in thy breast to thy ruin, and has it set thee on to dishonour the gods?” This is Idas, strongest man in the world after Heracles. If I recall correctly he would have beat Apollo to a pulp if Zeus hadn’t intervened. He has a bit of an attitude and I am sure his fiancée and future sister-in-law didn’t mind being abducted by the sons of Leda

“Glaucus the wise interpreter of divine Nereus” was once mortal. As was Leucothea who rose from the sea to speak to Odysseus in his epic.

“On that day all the gods looked down from heaven upon the ship and the might of the heroes, half-divine, the bravest of men then sailing the sea;” I only four count for demi-gods.

What is the significance of the mantle Jason wore on Lesbos;

• ·      Cyclopses making lightning bolt.
• ·      Amphion and Zethusbuilding the walls of Thebes.
• ·      Aphrodite as an Amazon.
• ·      sons of Electryon were fighting; Taphian raider”.
• ·      Pelops chariot race.
• ·      Apollo as a stripling shooting a giant.
• ·      Phrixus talking to the ram. (Ends up the winged ram that rescued him recommended that Phrixus sacrifice him.)

Really? Heracles turned prudish and passed on the maidens of Lesbos? He bedded Echidna! He was the one that convinced the others to leave this golden age existence?

“by command of Orpheus the youths trod a measure dancing in full armour, and clashed with their swords on their shields, so that the ill-omened cry might be lost in the air the wail which the people were still sending up in grief for their king.” Like the corresponding Curetes dancing about the crying Baby Zeus.

“And a fierce quarrel fell upon them, and violent tumult, for that they had sailed and left behind the bravest of their comrades. And Aeson’s son, bewildered by their hapless plight, said never a word, good or bad; but sat with his heavy load of grief, eating out his heart.” Some leader! Didn’t notice three of his men were missing? Heracles would be hard-to miss. And how come all the seers and helmsman had to make all the decisions?  My friend Helen says this is a new kind of hero, a Hellenistic hero in a democratic city.

“1332-1335) “Son of Aeson, be not wroth with me, if in my folly I have erred, for grief wrought upon me to utter a word arrogant and intolerable. But let me give my fault to the winds and let our hearts be joined as before.” Now that’s how you apologize!

AR says Amycaus “seemed to be a monstrous son of baleful Typhoeus”. None of Typhon’s children were theomorphic. All were hybrids or animals.

 “Aea; a huntress who was metamorphosed by the gods into the fabulous island bearing the same name in order to rescue her from the pursuit of Phasis, the river god.” (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology)  Aea is also the name of the capital of Colchis. This is the distant and mysterious land where King Aeetes and his daughter Medea lived. It is near here that Aeetes’ father Helios rested each morning on his couch before the sun-god and his sister Eos, the Dawn launch into the sky. In “The East Face of Helicon” M.LWest (1997) argues Aea was tied to the Akkadian dawn goddess Aya. “It seems impossible to separate this Aea from the name of the Babylonian goddess Aya, who is the Sun-god’s wife and the goddess of sexual love” (p. 407). (Thanks to Jason Colavito for this insight.)

Start of Book Three; Enter the Olympians!

“36-51) So she said, and starting forth they came to the mighty palace of Cypris, which her husband, the halt-footed god, had built for her when first he brought her from Zeus to be his wife.”  So, sometime between the arrival of the Argo at Colchis and the final year of the Trojan War, Hephaestus caught his wife and Ares in the net got the marriage annulled and married a Grace.

  

“for she is full of many wiles.” Doesn’t disaster always follow when someone is described this way? 

“they were playing for golden dice, as boys in one house are wont to do.”When young Patroclus kills the son of Amphidamas over a dice game, Menoetius whisked the boy off to Peleus in Phthia to be educated with his cousin Achilles. (Hom. Il. 23.85) In Norse mythology after the Fire Giants destroy what is left from the universe, from the boiling sea arises Balder’s estate with Hod, a handful of gods and the innocents who had hidden in his forested lands. The game of dice, with which the gods played in their youth while they were yet free from care, is found again among the flowers on the new earth. Some other quotes;

• ·      “Mars rolls his iron dice, and if they turn up snake eyes he sends a pair of nations to war.” Steven Pinker http://t.co/29oNJ39how.
• ·      Advice from Hades, “Don’t bet your future on the roll of the dice.” http://t.co/6VYeV0AAjr. 

“Eidyia his wedded wife, the youngest daughter of Tethys and Oceanus.”Is the fact that she is the last of the 3000 daughters an indicator that the age of the gods is over and the veil will be pulled between men and gods soon? 

“Medea then [they found] going from chamber to chamber in search of her sister, for Hera detained her within that day.” That time of the month?

 Eros’ reluctance to do his duty seems similar to Lyssa’s reluctance make Heracles slaying children at Hera’s command. (Euripides, Heracles 815) Aphrodite and hence her children and the elder Eros are outside the dispensation at Mecone. Maybe the goddesses really do need to beg this favor.

 Aeetes “angered most of all with the son of Chalciope”. This is his grandson and second in line to the throne

Medea calling on Hecate. How come all of Hecate’s stories are someone else’s; Jason and Medea, Zeus gathering allies, Hesiod’s praise, HH to Demeter. She never gets to be the star of her own myth. 

“thou then, hero son of Aeson, art minded to yoke Aeetes’ oxen, and art eager for the toil,” Yoking and plowing was the bride price for Admetus’ wife. This is the ritual act that ignited the Theban wars. In Ancient Greek aren’t toil and battle the same word? 

“Once he had heard a baleful prophecy from his father Helios, that he must avoid the secret treachery and schemes of his own offspring and their crafty mischief. Wherefore he was sending them, as they desired, to the Achaean land at the bidding of their father—a long journey. Nor had he ever so slight a fear of his daughters, that they would form some hateful scheme, nor of his son Apsyrtus; but this curse was being fulfilled in the children of Chalciope.” Oops! Misinterpreted that prophecy!

At this point I stopped reading thanks to the wise advice of my wise friend Maya.  Maya once said, “Bill, just because we are having a Book Club, doesn’t mean you have to read the book and just because we are reading a book, doesn’t mean you have to like it.”  Thanks Maya.