Identity appears first. Between roughly 700 and 500 BCE, something kindles in the Greek world before it bursts into flame. The later blaze is short lived. Very short. If one is severe with dates, it runs from the Persian victory in 480 BCE to the Spartan demolition of the Long Walls in 404 BCE. AboutContinue reading “The Lyric Poets”
Category Archives: myth
The Use of Myth
Hesiod stands at the beginning. He is the first to write down stories that had been circulating for centuries. His account is not a moral arc in the way the Hebrew tradition would later tell its story. Hesiod is part farmer’s almanac and part chronicler. This is how the seasons work, and this is whoContinue reading “The Use of Myth”
Heracles
In most tellings, the Labors come later. Heroic, impossible tasks imposed to atone for the uncleansable act of killing his own children. Violence precedes expiation. Crime is answered by ordeal. Euripides reverses the order. The Labors come first, to prove that achievement is no protection. The monsters are dead. The roads are passable again. TheContinue reading “Heracles”
Protective Arts 