And so it begins...

..."But how did it all begin?" (Calasso 4).

Definition of myth - precedent behind our actions. From The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony p. 383 "For the first time she felt pricked by a goad that would not leave her be. In her mind she began to say words of farewell....And all at once she understood what myth is, understood that myth is the precedent behind every action, its invisible, ever-present lining. She need not fear the ncertain life opening up before her. Whichever way her wandering husband went, the encircling sash of myth would wrap around the young Harmony. For every step, the footprint was already there." Destiny appears in the footprint that Harmony need only to step into to fulfill.

There is no beginning or original to myth. Calasso reiterates and narrows this notion to not only all of myth, but to mythical figures as well: "Mythical figures live many lives, die many deaths, and in this they differ from the characters we find in novels, who can never go beyond the single gesture. But in each of these lives and deaths all the others are present, and we can hear their echo. Only when we become aware of a sudden consistency between incompatibles can we say we have crossed the threshold of myth" (22). Ariadne for example died at least five different ways. So which is the original? Which is true? In myth, Ariadne is not Ariadne without acknowledging all of her deaths. Original and true simply don't exist or matter (23).

Mythos-story: Some of my favorite quotes so far from Calasso just happen to pertain to what we have been discussing so bare with me:) "Stories never live alone: they are the branches of a family that we have to trace back, and forward" (10). So as we uncover these myths or stories, it is important not to think of them in a linear fashion but as a more fluid intermingling tangle of braches as Calasso points out as a way to better understand them. That is way I love the way Calasso starts out in the middle, then traces back with the question "But how did it all begin?" It emphasizes this idea while simultaneously reiterating how many times this question really can be asked because the "beginning" persay does not exactly exist.

Origin myths: How we came to be: So we were instructed to find Eliade's From Primitives to Zen online and read the chapter on creation stories and find one we really like. I may be a little biased being that I have already read the work for another class but Hesiod's Theogony is really one of my favorites. The language and imagery of the creation of the first generation of gods is really intriguing. I also enjoyed the Thompson Indian myth of the creation of man. Once again the beautiful imagery captivates me and leaves me wanting to hear more. "When he had finished teaching the people, he bade them goodbye, saying, 'I know leave you; but if you ... require my aid, I will come again to you. The Sun in your father, the Earth is your mother's body. You will be covered with her flesh as a blanket, under which your bones will rest in peache.'"

Disney's Aladdin: Yes we did briefly talk about this wonderfully accurate and incredibly important tale of the Arabian nights. It was mainly brought to life how the genie proclaims at the end of the movie "I'm not history, I'm mythology" or something along those lines:) Calasso too addresses the difference between history and mythology. Rather, he finds the history in the mythology. "If it is history we want, then it is a history of conflict. And the conflict begins with the abduction of a girl, or with the sacrifice of a girl. and the one is continually becoming the other....Out of these events history itself was born: the abduction of Helen, the Trojan War, and, before that, the Argonauts' expedtion and the abduction of Medea--all are links in the same chain." (7-8)

Things to look forward to!: Prompted by a passage read on pg. 122 in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony where we learn of a plot to go down into Hades by Theseus and Peirithous, we have been promised the answer to a question I am sure we have all been dwelling on for some time now: Why do Greek men have such small bottoms?