"The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law." (Romeo & Juliet)

.....Looking for something to read rather than Time or Sports Illustrated, once again I came across Edith Hamilton's book of mythology on my bookshelf. It's been a very long time since I taught mythology--in the tenth grade if I remember. But it doesn't matter; I'm delighted to reacquaint myself with all the crazies coming out of Zeus's heaven and of paganism itself. For those who have forgotten--or who never knew, paganism is a polytheistic religion in antiquity, especially when viewed in contrast to an adherent of a monotheistic religion--such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. To me, there is something passionate and romantic in knowing about the many gods worshiped by the Greeks and Romans, and the stories they had to tell. Perhaps the time is ripe to go back to that time, even for a little while. It was William Wordsworth who wrote, "The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending; we lay waste our powers..." Finally, he writes "Great god, I'd rather be a pagan suckled in a creed outworn so might I standing on this pleasant lea have sight of Proteus rising from the sea, or hear old Triton blow is wreathed horn." Proteus and Triton being sea gods, of course. Perhaps the shofar, blown on Rosh Hashanah, is a descendant of Triton's horn. I'll have to research that one! The real interest of the myths is that they lead us back to a time when the world was young and people had a connection with the earth, with trees and seas and flowers and hills, unlike anything we ourselves can feel.

.....In that infinitely remote time primitive man traipsing through the woods might see through the trees a fleeing nymph, or bending over a clear pool to drink, behold in the depths a naiad's face. How the Greeks explained the beginnings of the world and the Gods is a fascinating story. The gods did not create the universe--it was the other way around. Before there were gods there were Heaven and Earth. They were the first parents. The Titans were their children and the gods were their grandchildren. The parents must have spent lots of time in the bedroom because they produced many Titans. They were of enormous size--great for football, and of incredible strength. The most important one was Cronus (Saturn). He ruled over the other Titans until Zeus, his son, dethroned him and seized power for himself. Familiar, isn't it? A couple of other notable Titans were Prometheus, who saved mankind, and Atlas who bore the world on his shoulders. But the family of the gods who succeeded the Titans were called the twelve Olympians. They were called that because the great mountain, Olympus, was their home. Or so it was thought.

.....I'm trying very hard to make this as easy an education as I am able. The twelve Olympians made up the divine family--Zeus (Jupiter); his brothers Poseidon (Neptune) and Hades (Pluto); Hestia (Vesta) their sister; Hera (Juno), Zeus's wife, and Ares (Mars), their son; Zeus's other children were Athena (Minerva), Apollo, Aphrodite (Venus), Hermes (Mercury), and Artemis (Diana); and Hera's son Hephaestus (Vulcan). Zeus was the primordial Tiger Woods. He is represented as falling in love with one woman after another and resorting to all manner of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. However, Hera became chiefly engaged in punishing the many women Zeus fell in love with, even when they yielded unwillingly. Hera's anger was, well, Olympian. Well, these are the men and women---I mean gods who ruled the world in Greek and Roman antiquity. So what if I should worship them?