Sisyphus
An Ancient Version:
Sisyphus, a king, is credited with the founding of Corinth. He was often refered to as the craftiest of men, a talent he paid for in his afterlife.
When it was his time to leave the world of the living, either Thanatos, God of Death, or Hades himself went to collect him. Sisyphus used his cleverness to temporarily make whichever god had come to haul him down to the Underworld his prisoner.
A Request: Orion
Ancient Versions:
Orion’s myth has various twists, turns, and ever afters that can make following his story difficult. Here I will try to separate the versions of his myth.
Orion was a huntsman who became a constellation after his death.
In many versions of his story, it was said that Orion served King Oinopion of Khios. During this time he either fell in love with the King’s beautiful daughter Merope (and was promised her hand in marriage if he did the King a favor) or greatly desired her, so much so that he raped her. Both of these versions end in Orion being blinded by the king and exiled.
The Last Valentine’s Myth: Aphrodite
Ancient Versions:
Aphrodite, later identified with the Roman goddess Venus, was the Ancient Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Procreation. She was depicted as an incredibly attractive woman, most often with one or more of her attributes: the dove, an apple, the scallop shell, and a mirror. She was unhappily married to the smith god Hephaestus, but had many affairs with other immortals (Ares, whom she had her children Deimus, God of Fear, Phobus, God of Panic, Eros aka Cupid, God of Love, and Harmonia, Goddess of Harmony) as well as mortals (Adonis and Anchises, the latter with whom she had her son Aeneas).
Valentine’s Myth #3: Ariadne
An Ancient Version:
Ariadne: A beautiful daughter of King Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphae, whose search for true love took a sour turn before finding a happily ever after.
King Minos, as we know, was the ruler of Crete who had the Minotaur in his labyrinth. As you might remember from my previous post on the Minotaur, the hero Theseus of Athens successfully navigated the maze to kill the beast and escape. However, he could not have found his way out of the labyrinth without the ball of string (or yarn) given to him by this Cretan princess.
Valentine’s Myth #2: Cupid & Psyche – A Request and One of My Personal Favorites!
Ancient Versions:
Cupid, also known as Eros, was the winged God of Love. Once upon a time, there was an amazingly beautiful princess named Psyche who was so beautiful that mortals began to worship her as a goddess instead of worshipping Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans), the Goddess of Beauty and Love.
