Fiamma
April 29th, 2011, 10:28 PM
I posted this last week over on my blog, but I thought it would be interesting to post here.
I came across this interview (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/adrenaline-living/2011/03/21/ancient-mysteries-apollo-on-trial-investigating-mass-murder-in-greece) last week and while I need to listen to it again (sadly, it can only be streamed, not downloaded!), the basic idea is a discussion of the possibility of there being some historical basis for the myth of Apollo and Artemis slaying Niobe's children. As in, once upon a time, there was a queen with a whole bunch of children who were all killed and eventually that event translated into a story in which the children's deaths were acredited to Artemis and Apollo.
I think that the idea, at least is very interesting because I hold the belief that myths are more than just stories that poets and playwrites made up for entertainment. No doubt some of them are wholly made up, but I think there are also some which must have some sort of historical basis- the more mortals that figure in the story, the more likely I am to think that once upon a time, real events may have inspired it to some greater or lesser extent.
On a related note, I tend to find the idea that mythology is whooly divorced from religion other than maybe to serve as allegorical stories or somesuch to make no sense. some of them? Sure...but not all. Especially the ones that are related to actual religious festivals, such as the myth of Hyakinthos or of Persephone, or the Marriage of Zeus and Hera, to name a few.
Discussion?
I came across this interview (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/adrenaline-living/2011/03/21/ancient-mysteries-apollo-on-trial-investigating-mass-murder-in-greece) last week and while I need to listen to it again (sadly, it can only be streamed, not downloaded!), the basic idea is a discussion of the possibility of there being some historical basis for the myth of Apollo and Artemis slaying Niobe's children. As in, once upon a time, there was a queen with a whole bunch of children who were all killed and eventually that event translated into a story in which the children's deaths were acredited to Artemis and Apollo.
I think that the idea, at least is very interesting because I hold the belief that myths are more than just stories that poets and playwrites made up for entertainment. No doubt some of them are wholly made up, but I think there are also some which must have some sort of historical basis- the more mortals that figure in the story, the more likely I am to think that once upon a time, real events may have inspired it to some greater or lesser extent.
On a related note, I tend to find the idea that mythology is whooly divorced from religion other than maybe to serve as allegorical stories or somesuch to make no sense. some of them? Sure...but not all. Especially the ones that are related to actual religious festivals, such as the myth of Hyakinthos or of Persephone, or the Marriage of Zeus and Hera, to name a few.
Discussion?