The bulk of the reading was about Phaethon, the sun of Helios/Phoebus Apollo. He tries to drive Apollo's sun chariot across the sky in an attempt to prove his heritage and grandeur, and instead lays waste to both the earth and the heavens, then is killed by Jupiter to spare the rest of creation. I think the biggest take away for me was how descriptive the story was. The doors to the Sun Palace are described in great detail, as was the sun chariot itself and the fire-breathing horses. In my first Storytelling exercise, I tried to fit the mold of a lot of the myths that I had read, which only included as much detail as was needed to express the point of the myth. I'm glad that I chose Ovid for this exercise, because I think it will give me more confidence and inspiration to include more visual detail in my stories.
Aside from the tragedy of Phaethon and the "creation story" of Deucalion and Pyrrha (which is essentially the story of Noah's Ark, but with less implied incest for the repopulation of the world), most of the stories in Ovid's Reading A are about the women who are raped by Jupiter and pay the price for beauty.
Two of these stories stood out to me, as potential Storytelling assignments and possibly the Storybook project. The first is Callisto, and the second is the story of Semele.
Callisto is a virginal companion of Diana who is raped and impregnated by Jupiter. When Diana discovers the pregnancy, Callisto is cast out of Diana's group of hunters. Then, Juno triples-down on her misfortune by turning her into a bear after Callisto "insults" her by giving birth to a son, Arcas. Jupiter was indifferent to the difficulties he'd instigated until, fifteen years later, Arcas nearly kills his own mother in a hunt. He "fixes" the damage by turning them into Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
This story kind of reminds me of the "Me Too" movement, and I think that a modern adaptation would really showcase the depth of what happens to the women Jupiter takes a liking to. When the stories are told in Greek/Roman mythology, the extent of Jupiter's creepiness and sexual aggression are glossed over; conversely, Juno's insane jealousy is always made a major point. In a modern version of events, I would portray Diana as a high school "purity warrior," Jupiter as her father, and Juno as her step-mother--true enough to their mythological genealogy and personas. Callisto would be one of Diana's clique, but would become an outsider after getting raped by Diana's father, then further ostracized and targeted after her pregnancy becomes public. I think if I told the story this way, the entitlement that powerful men feel they have over women and their bodies would be a major theme, as would the support--of lack thereof--of sexual assault victims (particularly regarding other women).
I think this would work better as a chaptered story, so I'm keeping it in mind for my Storybook project, though, of course it's still rather early in the semester.
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| "Ursa Minor and Major" Source: LisaAlisa via Vectorstock |
The other story, Semele, is compelling as well, but I think that it would be more interesting as a part of an origin story for a mortal Dionysus. His mother, killed by his father's glory, goaded by a jealous Juno. He is then taken away and raised by his aunt, Ino and by the nymphs, until he becomes the god of the proverbial "wine, women, and song." I think that there is an interesting trope of "damaged souls" with tragic backgrounds growing up to become party gods, chasing that oblivion to snuff out the sadness. Even though it's a well-known trope, I still think it'd be fun to explore in this context.
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