Greek Morals

Most of Greek mythology, I have noticed, are all similar to the stereotypical fairy tales of nowadays. All of them seem to have some kind of a moral at the end. The story of Baucis and Philemon is one great example, and I'd like to use this one as an example since it actually has a happy ending (at least for me), unlike most of the other Greek myths.

Zeus, the god of gods, and Hermes, his son, decided to come down to Earth and dress up as beggars to observe how human beings would act among them. No one wanted to share even a tiny piece of their happiness and time with them because they were very poor and filthy-looking. But, one couple, Baucis and Philemon, invited them in with a warm welcome, even though they lived in a really small hut and had almost nothing to give away. For being so generous, Zeus, of course, transformed their little hut into a mansion of gold and gave them extravagant lives. Not only that, but he granted them a wish and the only thing they wanted was to be able to die at the same time in the future. Wish granted. Main moral of the story: Do acts of kindness, and something good will come back. As simple as that.

What also caught my attention, not only in the story of Baucis and Philemon but while reading Metamorphoses, was the way the gods acted. They were all like ordinary people. They all had their own emotions, thoughts, and personalities just like humans do. Here's an example from the story of Baucis and Philemon:

Narrator One: "At last they came to a little hut on the outskirts of town."
Hermes: "Why bother knocking here? We've knocked on houses of all kinds, the homes of people with plenty to spare. Whoever lives here obviously has nothing."
Zeus: "Let's give it a try all the same. We've come all this way."
(He knocks.)
Hermes: "This is hopeless. Let's just go home."

In this scene, Hermes is starting to give up and lose hope. He is definitely showing signs of human feelings. This seemed interesting since the concept that most humans have today about God is the way opposite than the Greek gods because most of us think of God as a perfect being without flaws.

So, it was very fun to read this play. Not only did I learn about the stories of Greek mythologies, but the way the author wrote it was very entertaining since he added modern ideas to the text.

Modern Greek

Phaeton, I think, is one of those typical mischievous kids that are selfish and that always cause problems. But, of course, with a slight touch of the exaggeration of Greek mythology, Phaeton causes a bit more than just a little problem usually seen in fictional stories. He asks his dad, Apollo (the god of the sun), to lend him his chariot that transports the sun around the Earth. Big mistake. He ends up destroying most of Earth, the stars above, and later on, himself. So yes, that's how the story goes. But, what was so interesting about this story was the way Phaeton talked:

"Now, there's only one thing I want, I mean it's obvious, right? I say, 'Give me the keys to your car.' Immediately, he starts backpedaling, saying it's his job."

Through this, we can surely tell that this version of the story is a remake of the actual original myth. I mean, of course there were no cars in ancient times. But, I guess that made the play a bit funnier and entertaining.


The way that the story of Eros and Psyche was written in Metamorphoses was very short but to the point. The characters Q and A obviously represented the words, question and answer. But, the characteristic that interested me the most was the way that Q and A talked to each other about Eros and Psyche. Just like Phaeton, Q and A also had modern characteristics. They were both talking to each other as if they were telling some kind of a gossip about someone (just like normal people today). The whole purpose of this part of the play, in my opinion, was to briefly explain the story of Eros and Psyche in a more informal way.

What also caught my attention was when Q and A started talking about the ending of this story:

Q: "So it has a happy ending?"
A: "It has a very happy ending."
Q: "Almost none of these stories have completely happy endings."

I agree with Q: almost none of these stories have happy endings. There's always some kind of a love problem that interferes with the happiness of the characters. But, I think that it's better to have a bit of a sad ending because it makes the reader think about it afterward. This story, on the other hand, didn't leave me thinking about it because it had a happy ending. I'm not trying to say that I like sad endings. I'm just saying that sad endings makes you think more. Anyway, it was fun reading this. Even though it was a bit short, I think it was able to cover the main ideas of the actual story.

The Typical Antagonist and the Replica of Alcyone and Ceyx

Erysichthon seems to be one of those typical greedy antagonists. But, since Greek mythology is a bit more dramatic than normal stories, Erysichthon is a lot more cruel compared to most of the evil characters that come out in tales. His first act of cruelty is cutting down a tree. This is what a "bad guy" would do in a typical fairytale, but this tree wasn't just a normal tree. It was a very old tree in a sacred grove beloved by the goddess, Ceres. Besides that, Erysichthon forces another guy to cut it down by using foul language. But, this is nothing. When Erysichthon is punished with hunger, and he can't satisfy himself even after eating everything he can, he decides to sell his own mother for money and doesn't really seem to care that much:

Narrator: "Now this part is true, though you may not believe it: His hunger led him to sell his poor, his darling mother."
Buyer: "She doesn't look so strong."
Erysichthon: "Just give--just whatever--just give it to me--"
Buyer: "All right then."
(Tosses him a coin.)

So yes, Erysichthon is a very cruel and selfish character.


On the other hand, Orpheus and Eurydice has only love to share with each other. They both love each other just like the story of Alcyone and Ceyx, but this time, it's the woman (Eurydice) who dies, instead of the man (Ceyx). Here, Orpheus, the man, seems to be the intense one. He literally goes to hell for the love of his life. Trying to bring her back to life, he bargains with Hades, the god of the underworld. The only thing Orpheus had to do in order to be with her was just to not look at Eurydice during the journey out of hell while going through the Styx River. But of course, the curiosity of humans compelled Orpheus to look back, and when he did, he was separated from his wife forever:

Eurydice: "She was already loosened like long hair, poured out like fallen rain, shared like a limitless supply."
(Orpheus slowly turns to look at her.)
Hermes: "He has turned around--"
Narrator Two: "She could not understand, and softly answered,"
Eurydice: "Who?"
(She looks at Hermes, who then looks at Orpheus. Then she looks at Orhpeus.)

So, I think these short Greek stories are very interesting. They are a bit odd sometimes, but they are fun to read.

Intense Love

Most of the characters in love stories are very dramatic, but the stories in Metamorphoses seem to be a bit exaggerated. In the story of Alcyone and Ceyx, Alcyone is so in love with Ceyx that she believes that he's the only thing that matters in the entire world.

After Alcyone finally allowed Ceyx to leave, he started his long journey on a ship, leaving her alone, waiting for him. She was so intensely in love that she waited every single day on the shore, watching the horizon of the sea:

Alcyone: "...ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.. Ceyx? Come home. I'm nearer now, I'm sleeping on the shore. It's not so far until you see me."

Here, we can see that Alcyone loves Ceyx too much for her own good. When she finds out that her husband actually has died, she denies the truth and tries to ignore reality. She sees her dead husband in a dream, but does not accept the fact that he has passed away:

Ceyx: "Look at me, I charge you--look at me."
Alcyone: "No! I won't. I won't!"
Ceyx: "Look at me, and know your husband's ghost. Your prayers have done no good, for I am gone, beyond all help or hope forever."
Alcyone: "Go away!"

This whole story, in my opinion, is a bit too dramatic. But, I guess that's what makes these plays so unique and entertaining. It was very strange and random when Alcyone suddenly just transformed into a bird, but besides that, it was interesting.

The Beginning - Metamorphoses, Creation

Even though Ovid wrote the book, Metamorphoses, a long time ago, it seems to have very similar concepts and ideas compared to Catholicism today. This first chapter talks about the creation of the Earth. The way it's described in the book is very similar to the way it's described in the Bible. Both say that God created the Earth, first with nothing but emptiness, and then filled it up little by little with land, ocean, air, lakes, rivers, trees, etc. He created the heaven and the underworld and divided them apart. Technically, this first chapter only talks and describes about how the world could have started. In the beginning, the author describes how dark, sad, and lonely the world was. But then, the author starts to describe in a more hopeful and cheerful manner, the creation of the Earth and everything added on to it later on.

The first chapter was okay but the events in this book seem to be going really slowly. It might be because of how slow the guy narrates the story in the audio file but besides that, it's fine.

Wrapping Up the Teachings

This was an interesting book to read. The whole book was about Krishna teaching Arjuna about life and trying to reason him to fight in the war. There were few parts that were hard to understand but in general, it was okay. I didn't really like it in the beginning because nothing really happened in the story. Then, I noticed that the whole book was going to about the teachings of Krishna so I realized that this was, of course, a different kind of reading than the ones that I was used to. But, in its own different way, it was an interesting book because it made me think really deep at times. I sometimes even disagreed with some of the concepts explained by Krishna. And, what seemed a bit weird to me was how Krishna acted a bit arrogant sometimes because he was superior to every other being on the universe. He said that superior people are the ones that believe and praise him. This is weird to me since Krishna is a god and gods usually treat everyone equally and no one is supposedly superior than other beings. Anyways, I guess that's it. This is probably the last post that I'm going to write about the Bhagavad Gita so here's a little picture I drew that represents Krishna.

The Universal Concept of Krishna