Medusa

The power of sight. Aristotle captures is succinctly: All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves, and above all others the sense of sight. Metaphysics 980a:21 Sight is superior because it reveals theContinue reading “Medusa”

Athena

I am suffering a sinus infection that is giving me a pounding headache. The phrase is overplayed but accurate. The pain behind my eyeballs is impossible to ignore; it pulses with a dull insistence. A steady, hammering rhythm. One imagines Zeus felt something like this. Zeus had taken Métis, the goddess of cunning intelligence, asContinue reading “Athena”

Atalanta

Atalanta intrigues me. She is the only female to compete among the heroes on their terms. There are female warriors, of course, the Amazons, and Medea, a constant reminder of the older, earthbound powers women can summon. But Atalanta stands not as an opponent or enchantress, but as a peer. Who is Atalanta? She isContinue reading “Atalanta”