The myth begins with Zeus in disguise. He comes to Leda, queen of Sparta, in the form of a swan. Later poets make it salacious. The earlier versions make it necessity. Their union yields eggs. From them Castor and Polydeuces emerge, and in many traditions Helen and Clytemnestra as well. Only the brothers are calledContinue reading “The Dioscuri”
Tag Archives: Virgil
Diomedes and Aeneas
In Calydon, Oeneus made his offerings to the gods, and in the counting of names he forgot Artemis (Ov. Met. 8). The first fruits rise in smoke to Zeus, Hera, the household powers, the immortals who tolerate men so long as men remember them. It is the old economy of reciprocity, the one James FrazerContinue reading “Diomedes and Aeneas”
Neptune’s Fountain
Las Vegas is a temple of the ersatz celebrating the vacuousness of gambled fortunes. For all the glitz and neon grandeur (quickly being replaced by LEDs), Las Vegas is usually an honest thief. Everyone knows that isn’t the Eiffel Tower, nor the Montgolfier balloon in front of Paris; New York, New York’s scale is wrongContinue reading “Neptune’s Fountain”
Protective Arts 