I assume my readers, if any, are bibliophiles; lovers of
books. If so, I am sure you had this experience. On a long flight
or in a remote location you get stuck reading a book that is a piece of propaganda
full of lies and half-truths. In order to save someone else from getting
sucked into this mess you toss it into the garbage rather recycling or donating
it to the library. Or is it badly written and has a lame ending.
Or it is full of illogic and bad science. Or the author makes a
state of general and universal application that this is an "obvious
projection of..." If it is so obvious why must the authoress point it out? I
read one of these books recently. (Walker 1983). I would have tossed it
but I was on a five hour flight. In between the waves of nausea and disgust
there were a few interesting if odd insights on Greek mythology. This is
the third in a series of blogs investigating these possible gems in the
rubbish.
"The ritualistic
manner of his (Agamemnon's) death
showed it was more than simple murder". (B. Walker 1983).
Let me start by pointing out that in Greek myth women and
goddesses bath by skinny-dipping with their girlfriends. Men are given a
solitary bath by a woman.
Hence, Hera bathes regularly in the spring of Canathus, the
mountain nymphs bathe naked to make sure that everyone in their
company is a woman, finally Artemis and Athena both got caught at different times in the
nude by unfortunate hunters.
Meanwhile; Baby Zeus was bathed by his mother Rhea in the
river Nepa, Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, Telemachus by Nestor's
daughter, Odysseus by Nausicaä’s maids, Odysseus by his nanny, Odysseus
after exacting a "solemn oath from Circe" is given "a
deliciously warm bath, wine in golden cups, and a tasty supper". Helen
of Troy got the disguised Odysseus to her house, where she bathed, anointed and
clothed him.
In the examples above "peeping toms" died or
suffered when stumbling upon the frolicking nymphs. But no hero died getting a
bath from a babe. So the quote for this blog is somewhat unusual;
“The ritualistic manner of Agamemnon's death
showed it was more than simple murder".
If you don't know of Agamemnon's death, here's the short
version. He led the Greek forces at Troy. To gain favorable winds
for the fleet, he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. This was second of his
wife's children that he killed. When he returned home in victory, his
wife Clytemnestra literally rolled out the red carpet, wrapped him in a
luxurious robe, tossed him the bath tub and stabbed him to death. If Agamemnon
died in a "ritualistic manner" you'd think other guys died in the
tub. But they didn't.
The only way I can explain the authoress' statement, was that she confounded “bath tub and “cauldron”.
Visually this is not too much of an intellectual leap if you've ever been
in a wood-fired hot tub. (See attached photo.)
So the only way I can support her statement
is by analogy or what Nagy calls metonymy
(2015). Ritual deaths involving cauldrons and female attendants? That we can find references to; The boy Pelops was
diced up and tossed into a boiling cauldron; he was restored by the Fate
Clotho. Under the direction of the witch Medea, Pelias’ daughters diced
him up and tossed him into a boiling cauldron; that didn't work too well for
him. The spell worked much better on Medea' father-in-law Aeson.
So it appears there
was a ritual (magical) bath followed by death (or immortality.)
If only
Agamemnon had treated his step-children better!
