CLAS220 - Lecture Notes for April 19, 2012

Introduction to Classical Mythology

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

April 19, 2012

William-AdolpheBouguereau (1889)

Extra Credit Opportunity

• If you attended Dr. Connolly’s lecture on April 12 and wish to receive extra credit, be sure to submit your report by the time of the final exam (Wed, 5/2, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon)

• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily Writes (up to 8 points), depending on how complete and comprehensive the report is

Daily Write #24: Review

In his poem On the Nature of the Universe, Lucretius calls Venus “mother” of the Romans and “nourishing Venus” who “makes the sea and land throng with life.” In The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Apuleius calls Venus “mother of the nature of the universe” and “nourishing Venus” who “feeds and fosters the whole of this great globe.” Why do you think Apuleius chose to describe Venus in language that reminds us of Lucretius’s poem? Do you think Apuleius’s intentions towards Lucretius are serious, playful, mocking, respectful, disrespectful, or something else? Explain your answer as completely as you can.

Daily Write #24: Review

Sample student response:I think Apuleius is alluding to Lucretius’ Venus in a playful yet respectful manner. Lucretius made a very serious use of Venus. Apuleius is not mocking Venus or Lucretius; he is paying homage to what has come before. He assumes that his readers have a knowledge of Lucretius’ writings and can understand both the humor and the respect in Apuleius’ parody.

Mythological Parody

• Parody– A literary or musical work in which the

style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect

• Origin of the word “parody”– Par (para) = alongside, not “straight”– Ody (ode) = song– Thus, parody is a kind of “counter-song,” a

playful imitation that goes against the serious grain of the original

Mythological Parody

• Aristotle (Poetics, ii. 5) wrote that the comic poet Hegemon of Thasos (c. 430 BCE) invented a kind of parody by altering the wording of well-known poems to transform the sublime into the ridiculous

• In ancient Greek literature, a parodia was a narrative poem imitating the style and rhythm (dactylic hexameter) of epics but dealing with light, satirical or mock-heroic characters and events

Mythological Parody

• Lucius is on a (mock) heroic journey• Lucius seeks hospitality / xenia from

Milo• Milo’s wife Pamphile engages in

witchcraft and magic, like Helen, Circe, or Medea

• Lucius is curious, like Odysseus, but foolish where Odysseus is clever and cunning

Mythological Parody

• Lucius’ (mock) heroic quest for a rose to regain his human form reminds us of other heroic quests– Odysseus’ journey home– The labors of Herakles– Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece– Aeneas’ quest for the Golden Bough

Mythological Parody

• Charite, the maiden kidnapped from her wedding by thieves, is like the kidnapped maidens of mythology listed by Herodotus– Io– Medea– Helen

Mythological Parody

• The old woman who is a servant to the thieves and tells the tale of Cupid and Psyche is like Eurycleia, the nurse in the Odyssey who tells the story of how Odysseus received his scar and his name

Mythological Parody

• Traditional epic maintains a high tone– Odysseus’ relationship with Nausicaa

• Apuleius’ novel often assumes a low tone– Lucius’ relationship with Photis

Epic Poet BecomesRomantic Storyteller

• Romance– A medieval tale based on legend,

love, adventure, or the supernatural– A prose narrative about imaginary

characters involved in events remote in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous, or mysterious

– A love story especially in the form of a novel

Epic Poet BecomesRomantic Storyteller

• When Lucius (as a donkey) is stolen from Milo’s house by thieves, he becomes an eyewitness and an eavesdropper

• Instead of receiving the gift of song from the Muses, he picks up stories along his journey by seeing them firsthand or hearing them from others

• The romantic storyteller is thus analogous to a historian– Hower, his stories are understood to be

entertaining fictions, not historial facts

How different is the romantic storyteller from

the epic poet?• Remember what Hesiod’s Muses say:

“We know how to tell many believable lies, but also, when we want to, how to speak the plain truth.”

• The romantic storyteller (fiction writer, novelist), while divorced from the idea of divine inspiration (the Muses), retains the idea of fictional tales (“lies”) that have some kind of intellectual, emotional, or spiritual truth

The Tale of Cupid and Psyche

Both Parody and Allegory• Parody

– A literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect

• Allegory– Use of symbolic fictional figures and

actions to express truths or generalizations about human existence, human nature, or the human condition

The Tale of Cupid and Psyche is both a parody and

an allegory• Mythological parody• Philosophical allegory


Mythological Parody• Psyche is a beautiful maiden, like many

beautiful maidens in mythology such as Pandora or Helen

• Most beautiful maidens are said to receive their beauty as a gift from Venus, but Psyche’s beauty is not credited to Venus

• Instead, Psyche becomes a rival to Venus, and is worshipped as a goddess

• This makes Venus angry, and she retaliates


Mythological Parody• Apuleius’ Venus is a multiple

mythological parody– Demeter from the Homeric Hymn to

Demeter•Demeter, grieving for her kidnapped

daughter, withholds the grain from humanity•Venus, grieving for her abandoned temples,

deprives humanity of Psyche• Thus, Venus takes on the role of kidnapper,

like Hades in the Homeric Hymn


Mythological Parody• Apuleius’ Venus is a multiple

mythological parody– Venus from Lucretius’ On the

Workings of the Universe– Juno from Vergil’s Aeneid (with

Psyche, in this parody, becoming a parody of Aeneas)

Aeneid Book I, Lines 1-11

Of arms and a man I sing, that famous fugitive from fatewho first tried to escape the shores of Troyonly to find himself here in Italy on Lavinian shores,tossed on land and sea by powers above(because cruel Juno’s anger doesn’t forget)and suffering many casualties in war as well,until he could finally found a city and bring his gods to Latium;whence the Latin race, our Alban ancestors, and the lofty walls of Rome.Oh Muse, recount for me the reasons—which insult, what injury was she nursing,when the queen of the gods contrived so many mishapsfor a man so marked by his piety, forced him to undergo so many labors.Do the gods above really experience such intense anger?

Translated by…Dr. Broder!


Mythological Parody• Venus demands that Psyche be sent

to a mountaintop and wed to a murderous beast– Reminds us of the plight of

Andromeda, chained to a rocky cliff to be wed to a sea monster

– She is rescued by Perseus– In this scenario, Venus = Poseidon,

who demanded the sacrifice of Andromeda (Hades is only in Clash of the Titans)


Mythological Parody

Carle van Loo, c. 1740


Mythological Parody• Sent by Venus to destroy Psyche,

Cupid falls in love with her and flies her away to his castle

• Apuleius’ Cupid, too, is a multiple mythological parody– If Psyche = Andromeda, then

Cupid = Perseus– If Venus = Demeter, then Psyche =

Persephone and Cupid = Hades


Mythological Parody• After Cupid abandons Psyche for

revealing his identity, she seeks help from Venus, who assigns her four impossible tasks

• Of course, this makes– Venus = Juno (Hera)– Psyche = Hercules (Herakles)


Mythological Parody• When Psyche must retrieve a jar of

beauty from Persephone, things get REALLY FREAKY– Since she is making an underworld journy,

Psyche now = Odysseus, Aeneas, Herakles, Eurydice (wife of Orpheus), and Alcestis (you remember her)

– But remember, Psyche herself is already a mythological parody of Persephone, so she she going to visit HERSELF!

– But since the beauty comes in a jar, Psyche = Pandora (especially when she opens the box)


Mythological Parody• After Cupid rescues her, he begs Zeus

to let Psyche become immortal– Like Helen and Herakles and Zeus’ own

boyfriend (“cupbearer”), Ganymede (who, btw, is an ancestor of Aeneas)

• Psyche is given ambrosia (like Demophoon in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter…so Psyche is both Persephone and Demophoon…again, FREAKY!)


Philosophical Allegory• Psyche = soul is joined with her

heavenly desire = Cupid• Remember Uranian Eros from

the speech of Pausanias in Plato’s Symposium?


Philosophical Allegory• Psyche = soul believes that her

desire = Cupid is an ugly monster = wealth and power, but instead he turns out to be a beautiful god = wisdom and virtue


Philosophical Allegory• But because Psyche = soul does

not remain true to her desire = Cupid, she loses him

• Psyche = soul must then go on a long journey with many labors to regain her desire = Cupid


Philosophical Allegory• Once Psyche = soul is reunited

with her desire = Cupid, she becomes immortal– Remember the immortality of the

soul in Socrates’ speech in Plato’s Symposium?

– Remember the immortal souls that are reborn into new bodies in Vergil’s Aeneid?


Philosophical Allegory• Once Psyche = soul is reunited

with her desire = Cupid and becomes immortal, they have a child named Voluptas = Joy, Delight, Pleasure, HAPPINESS!

• Thus, the immortal soul achieves happiness when it is united with its true desire, which is beauty and goodness (Socrates much???)

Mythological ParodyAND

Philosophical Allegory

It’s a floor waxAND

a dessert topping!

Extra Credit Opportunity

• If you attended Dr. Connolly’s lecture on April 12 and wish to receive extra credit, be sure to submit your report by the time of the final exam (Wed, 5/2, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon)

• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily Writes (up to 8 points), depending on how complete and comprehensive the report is

Introduction to Classical Mythology

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

April 19, 2012

Entertainment & Humor

CLAS220 - Lecture Notes for April 19, 2012