Ancient Civilizations Inspired Fashion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Trojan Women- Getty Villa

For the month of September 2011, The Getty Villa is performing the Trojan Women. Unfortunately, I am broke and have no real means of obtaining $38.00 tickets. Perhaps for my birthday? We shall see. I am looking that the 8:00 pm performance September 24th. 


 The Trojan Women was written by Euripides  during the Peloponnesian War as a parallel between Melos and Athens.


 * Melos and Athens, as accounted by Thucydides, in 416 BC Athens attacked Melos for not paying tribute or joining the Athenian alliance  against Sparta. The Melians had claimed Spartan descent, but had remained neutral during the war. In 416, the taking of the island occurred after several months of seige warfare. The seige was lead by Tisias and Cleomedes. The Melians refused to join the Delian League and pay tribute and the Athenians saw it fit to execute all the men of the island and enslave the women and children.




 The Trojan Women was the third tragedy of the three set starting with Alexandros, was about the recognition of the Trojan prince Paris who had been abandoned in infancy by his parents and rediscovered in adulthood. The second tragedy,Palamedes, dealt with Greek mistreatment of their fellow Greek Palamedes. 


* Palamedes , according to Apollodorus' "Epitome", 


Agamemon sent Palamedes to retrieve Odysseus, who had sworn to defend the marriage of Helen and Menelaus. Odysseus did not wish to fight, and he pretended to be insane and plowed his fields with salt. Palamedes guessed what was happening and put Telemachus in front of this plow. Thus, Odysseus stopped working and revealed his sanity.

According to Fabulae,  by Hyginus

Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for sending him to the Trojan War.. When Palamedes advised the Greeks to return home, Odysseus hid gold in his tent and wrote a fake letter reportedly from Priam. The letter was found and the Greeks accused him of being a traitor. Palamedes was stoned to death.

A painting of Palamedes before Agamemnon by Rembrandt 1626

The Trojan Women seems to be a very tragic play about the aftermath of Troy demise. I am intrigued and wish to read it. I wish I was proficient enough to translate in quicker.

 Translation in Progress....

Ἑκάβη
260τί δ᾽ ὃ νεοχμὸν ἀπ᾽ ἐμέθεν ἐλάβετε τέκος, ποῦ μοι;

Hecuba: Why did you take my young/new child from me, where from me?

Ταλθύβιος
Πολυξένην ἔλεξας, ἢ τίν᾽ ἱστορεῖς;

Talthybus: Do you speak of Polyxena, whom you inquire?
Ἑκάβη
ταύταν: τῷ πάλος ἔζευξεν;

Hecuba: This girl: to whom (what) stake/ task is yoked?
Ταλθύβιος
τύμβῳ τέτακται προσπολεῖν Ἀχιλλέως.
Talthybus: She is ordained to serve the tomb of Achilles.

Ἑκάβη
265ὤμοι ἐγώ: τάφῳ πρόσπολον ἐτεκόμαν.
ἀτὰρ τίς ὅδ᾽ ἢ νόμος ἢ τί
θέσμιον, ὦ φίλος, Ἑλλάνων;

Ταλθύβιος
εὐδαιμόνιζε παῖδα σήν: ἔχει καλῶς.

Ἑκάβη
τί τόδ᾽ ἔλακες; ἆρά μοι ἀέλιον λεύσσει;

Ταλθύβιος
270ἔχει πότμος νιν, ὥστ᾽ ἀπηλλάχθαι πόνων.

Ἑκάβη
τί δ᾽ ἁ τοῦ χαλκεομήστορος Ἕκτορος δάμαρ,
Ἀνδρομάχα τάλαινα, τίν᾽ ἔχει τύχαν;

Ταλθύβιος
καὶ τήνδ᾽ Ἀχιλλέως ἔλαβε παῖς ἐξαίρετον.

Ἑκάβη
ἐγὼ δὲ τῷ
275πρόσπολος ἁ τριτοβάμονος χερὶ
δευομένα βάκτρου γεραιῷ κάρᾳ;

Ταλθύβιος
Ἰθάκης Ὀδυσσεὺς ἔλαχ᾽ ἄναξ δούλην σ᾽ ἔχειν.

Immortals and Cleopatra

Loosely based on Theseus and Titanmarchy. Made in the same style as 300. It will make things interesting for the future Historians and Classicist. It assures me that my passion is not a dead one.

I would like to say that even though I will hate everything they do to this movie- I will appreciate its effects and gore for the sake that younger generations are inspired and search out the true knowledge or dedicate their life to the Ancient World.

I will say that I hope one day to be making movies as a proper historian and while I do understand that this movie will sell tickets and rake in an income it gives me hope that more Ancient Movies will be made.

Cleopatra

They wait for poor Elizabeth Taylor to die before making this movie. HOW CAN THEY REMAKE IT!??!



 Reportedly the movie is still in the process of being made- thought Jolie claims that her performance will not be a lovely as Taylors. Let us hope it is better than her creepy portrayal of Olympias. It was nice, but a little over done.

It is stated the release is due out for 2013 and the appeal of the movie will not a sex appeal but of her true ruthless reign as pharoah.I respect this, because honestly- what is there sexy about this:

She seems plain at best. I wonder if they will "The Hours" Angelina Jolie the way they did Nicole Kidman. Since Cleopatra did have a nose on her.

According to the interview, it would be based up on the novel "Queen of the Nile: Cleopatra, A Life," which is described thusly:

"Rather than a devastatingly beautiful femme fatale, Cleopatra was a shrewd power broker who knew how to use her manifold gifts -- wealth, power, and intelligence -- to negotiate advantageous political deals and military alliances. Though long on facts and short on myth, this stellar biography is still a page-turner; in fact, because this portrait is grounded so thoroughly in historical context, it is even more extraordinary than the more fanciful legend. Cleopatra emerges as a groundbreaking female leader, relying on her wits, determination, and political acumen rather than sex appeal to astutely wield her power in order to get the job done."

Personally I think Margret George's version of A Memoirs of Cleoptra would be an awesome adpatation if not for a movie then a series. :)

Two thoughts of the day: The Eagle and Pandora

 Pandora or the nameless first woman that Hesoid describes in his "Theogony" and "Works and Days" as a woman whom: 


"He (Zeus) commanded Hermes to put both the mind of a dog/bitch and the custom of a thief."
"ἐν δὲ θέμεν κύνεόν τε νόον καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος Ἑρμείην ἤνωγε"


* However it should be noted that "ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος" and "θέμεν κύνεόν" are both accusative even though my translation hints possession.


The reason why I mention this is for my own information due to the paper I wrote on Semonides Poem 7: "On Women" A link to my paper is here.


The eagle or CaucasianEagle that is sent to Prometheus to eat his liver out, I discovered today can be considered a sibling to the Chimera, Scylla, Cerberus, Hydra and Orthus and son to Typhon and Echinda.
*Echinda being the grandaughter of Medusa, neice to Pegasus. The whole half woman, half snake  thing makes sense now. 

530 BC

   


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 120 :
"When he [Herakles] reached the mainland on the other side he killed with an arrow the Eagle on the Kaukasos, the product of Ekhidna and Typhon that had been eating the liver of Prometheus."
(Could not find the Greek)




Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 1021 ff :
"The winged hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle, coming an unbidden banqueter the whole day long, with savage appetite shall tear your body piecemeal into great rents and feast his fill upon your liver until it is black with gnawing." Hermes


 Διὸς δέ τοί
πτηνὸς κύων, δαφοινὸς αἰετός, λάβρως
διαρταμήσει σώματος μέγα ῥάκος,
ἄκλητος ἕρπων δαιταλεὺς πανήμερος,
1025κελαινόβρωτον δ᾽ ἧπαρ ἐκθοινήσεται.


My translation:
The winged hound of Zeus, blood eagle, rushing
He will cut limb to limb the great tatters of your body
crawling uncalled feaster πανήμερος,
He will feast on your liver (until) black and bloody with gnawing.

 560-550 BC

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 15 :
Then, too, he sent an Eagle to him to eat out his liver which was constantly renewed at night. Some have said that this eagle was born from Typhon and Echidna, other from Terra and Tartarus, but many point out it was made by the hands of Vulcanus and given life by Jove... 

Odd that one account the eagle is made and the other it is an offspring of the most feared monsters of Ancient Greece.




Interestingly enough, there is an online comic dedicated to Prometheus and this Eagle.

Herakles, Hesione, and Sea Monster= Fossils?

 

Herakles plies the sea monster (ketos) with arrows, as it comes forth from the sea to devour the Trojan princess Hesione. The monster is depicted as a serpent-like beast with a large head lined with sharp teeth. Before it stands Hesione with arms outstretched, her chains set in the rocks at her feet.

I came across this vase, when searching for some vase for Lisa'a presentation with Boustrophedon (sp?) writing on it.

NOW I AM INTERESTED:

 

I just the read the myth concerning Hercules and Hesione. I did not know she married Ajax's father NOR did I know she was the sister of Priam. WOW, my mythology is lacking.  King Laomedon of Troy seemed to be the cause of the monster and the basic down fall of the entire city of Troy before the actual fall of Troy. Poseidon and his sea monsters. I wonder- what the author has to say about fossils at Troy in comparison to this story.

Well, time for bed, maybe I will read more on this tomorrow after the Lyric Poets and write a little summary of what she has to say on the subject. Though, NOW I am very curious to her finding.