Tree Huggers?

I finally got my sister to send these. She may be saving them for blackmail.

Pictures of the Game

Just a Preview...

Images of Metamorphoses X

Death of Adonis, Andre Durand, 1993

The Death of Adonis, Giovanni Battista Gaulli

Atalanta holding the Golden Apples, Vilhelm Bissen, 1890

Pygmalion and Galatea, Jean Leon Gerome, c. 1881

Pygmalion and Galatea, Jean Leon Gerome, c. 1890

Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus, John William Waterhouse, 1900

Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus, John William Waterhouse, 1900

Orpheus and Eurydice, Violet Brunton, 1878-1951

Orpheus, Roelandt Savery, 1628

Metamorphoses X

Their upward path was dark and steep; the mists they met were thick; the silences, unbroken. But at last, they'd almost reached the upper world, when he, afraid that she might disappear again and longing so to see her, turned his gaze back at his wife. At once she slipped away - and down...And as she died again, Eurydice did not reproach her husband. (How could she have faulted him except to say that he loved her indeed?) One final, faint "Farewell" - so weak it scarcely reached his ears - was all she said. Then, back to the abyss, she fell.

Now the veins beneath his anxious fingers--pulse.

One story of utter and complete loss. To lose the one you love not once but twice? After venturing so far, Orpheus loses her again.

The second story of Pygmalion is one of gain. He yearns for his ivory maiden and Venus makes her real. Both stories show the deep love both these men feel but one ends up broken and alone while the other receives his wish and is filled with happiness.

Images of Metamorphoses IX

Achelous and Hercules, Thomas Hart Benton, 1947

Hercules and Achelous, Cornelis van Haarlem, 1590

Hercules in the Stars

 

Hercules Constellation Art

Metamorphoses IX

The loving wife, believing Rumor's story and overcome by news of that new love, at first gives way to tears - her misery finds its release in weeping constantly.

Now Jove, his father, the all-powerful, rode down to earth and wrapped him in a cloud and, in his four-horse chariot, carried off his son and set him in the sky among the bright stars. Heaven now was heavier on Atlas' shoulders.

But we are young: it is audacity that's opportune in love. We've yet to learn what's licit: we think nothing is forbidden; we take as our examples the great gods.

Images of Metamorphoses VIII

Erysichthon, not sure of artist or source, but sure beautiful

 

 

Calydonian Boar Hunt, Musei Capitolini

Antonio Tempesta, Atalanta and Meleager Killing the Wild Calydonian Boar, c.1555-1630

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metamorphoses VIII

"O Icarus," he said, "I warn you: fly a middle course. If you're too low, sea spray may damp your wings; and if you fly too high, the heat is scorching."

Do sons ever listen to their fathers?

His eyes were glittering with fire and blood; his neck was bold, erect; his bristles were as stiff as rigid spears; his giant flanks were flecked with hot foam as he grunted, hoarse; his tusks could match an Indian elephant's; his mouth flashed lightning; and his breath, in passing, scorched the boughs; and now he tramples fledgling corn, and now he means to make the farmers mourn - to reap but tears: he ruins ripened ears.

I really liked this passage, although transposing it was a bit rough.

Althaea: "O you, my brothers' souls, you, new-made Shades, accept this honor that - to you - I pay; accept the deadly offering I make - it is so dear, so costly - for your sake: the evil fruit my womb has reaped."

This appears to be a theme in Metamorphoses: the mothers bear their children, the children then are killed in battle, the mother weeps and seeks vengeance for the murderers of her sons/daughters. Womb to earth.

Images of Metamorphoses VII

Eugene Delacroix, The Fury of Medea, 1862

Herbert James Draper, The Golden Fleece, 1904

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Vision of Medea, 1828

Hans Broek, Medea

Medea Kills Her Son, Louvre Museum

Metamorphoses VII

"Medea, you are doomed to fail: the force you face must be some deity. I wonder if this power (or something like it) is not the power known to men as love."

"I am aware of what I do; if I'm undone, the cause is surely not my ignorance, but love. You shall be saved; but when that's done, maintain the vow you made."

And if Medea had not soared on high with her winged dragons, she'd have had to pay a bitter price.

The foreshadowing of the arduous, ill-fated life of Medea is nicely placed here by Ovid.

Images of Metamorphoses V

 

Luca Giordano, 1680s

Alpheus and Arethusa, Bernard Picart, 17th century

Metamorphoses VI

Minerva tore to pieces that bright cloth whose colors showed the crimes the gods had wrought; a boxwood shuttle lay at hand - with that, three and four times she struck Arachne's forehead.

This shows Athena punishing the hubris Arachne has committed in her tapestry; the outlining of the gods wrongs.

And Niobe now sat childless, among cadavers - daughters, sons, and husband; grief had made her stony, stiff. The air is still, not even one hair moves, her face is deathly pale; above sad cheeks her eyes stare motionless. Even her tongue is frozen in her mouth; her palate now is hard; her veins can pulse no more; her neck can't bend; her arms can't move; her feet can't walk.

Niobe's punishment for her hubris.

But they, despite her prayers, still refused; and then they added threats, and insults, too. And as if that were not enough, they soiled the water with their feet and hands, and jumped - maliciously - to stir the bottom mud.

Latona: She lifts her hands to heaven, and she cries: "Live then forever in that pool."

Lycian peasants punished for their hubris also. This chapter is full of metamorphoses borne of the hubris transgressions against the gods.

Images of Metamorphoses VI

Niobe Vase

 

Mt. Sipylus, Niobe's fabled bed of anguish, the porous limestone sheds "tears"

Metamorphoses V

King Cepheus: "Beneath your very eyes, you saw her chained; you were her uncle and her promised mate, yet you did nothing then; you brought no aid."

Now Athis' close, inseparable friend was the Assyrian Lycabas, a man whose love was true - a love he did not hide.

And dying, Lycabas, with eyes that swam in darkness, turned to search for Athis and, beside the body of the boy, collapsed but bore this comfort even as he left to join the Shades: he shared death with his friend.

Two modern semi-taboos visited in these verses.

Perseus: "If you want proof, then I will give it to you. let the others hide their eyes." - and with Medusa's head held high, he left that skeptic bloodless, petrified.

And Minerva looked at length at where the waters had sprung up beneath the horse's hoof when it struck hard. And then her eyes took in the ancient forests, the inmost groves, the grottoes, and the flowers - those countless points of color on the meadows. She said the daughters of Mnemosyne, in what they did and where they lived, were blessed.