The Oldest Story Ever Told
“de mortuis nil nisi bene “
In the Iliad, the moral background and the shuddering personal and social dilemma starts with a quandary mortals have been scratching their heads over for eternity: choosing between beauty and wisdom.
As it as appears, the Greeks knew both cannot coexist at the same time. The very frugal albeit venerated gods, splattering in the earthly gene pool, did not squander genetic material especially where one single chromosome could potentially generate several pages of bewildering mythology material.
Paris chose his own beauty to the detriment of wisdom. To his defense, if wisdom would have been given the ability to choose between Paris’s splendor and some impersonal, universal wisdom, what would it chose?
The legendary reckoning done by Paris brought the anger of Zeus’s wife, Hera. Continuing his rush of faux pas, Paris chose Venus as the most beautiful woman and got as a reward(?), Helen, the distressed beauty in a doomed marriage. They looked at each other and adultery suddenly tip toed around the overflowing caldron of celestial passions and drama. All is well when it ends well however as Helen of Troy was declared divorced by no other than Hera herself. You see, this way, the reputation of marriage was left intact and promiscuity was somewhat overlooked. The war resulted out of this dicey match is only the zest of the story.
It is a fact, mortals have never accepted lightly divine plannings and interventions in their flimsy destinies, but this rebelliousness is precisely the way History was fulfilled for centuries. This ultimate legalized adultery between Helen of Troy and Paris attracted the frustrations of many warriors on the notorious island. Achilles, Ulysses, Ajax, they all desired revenge in the name of the husband-king Menelaus becoming famous as only heroes do and fueling unforgettable history as a result. The citadel of Troy fell under a siege for several years and Homer’s drama practically wrote itself.
By some literary accounts, the impervious Achilles held a divine genetic spark but that did not protect him from a legendary orthopedic impediment he suffered when Paris shot his arrow in his heel. In a reverse of destinies, Paris was hit by an arrow also and the resulting pain tamed his love for Helen. Paris sought soothing and healing through a former lover as the un-consoled Helen married somebody else. In the end moral justice triumphed, no ?
The Odyssey, or the story of irony surrounding destiny, established the source for most philosophical, ethical, historical, mythological, poetic, schools of thought.
The masterpiece became a source of inspiration for later literary works while writers built stories around the vague and undecipherable topic of sexual impiety.
Ulysses –Odysseus, wandered aimlessly while trying to reach his home in Ithaca where Penelope waited for him. The soundness of Penelope chastity forever affected the modern world of the stay at home moms everywhere...
Ulysses, disguised as a beggar, sneaked inside Troy and discovered the secrets that allowed the Trojans to resist the relentless attacks from Achilles’ army.
Knowing the secrets and details of the fortress, Ulysses crafted the plan that will conquer Troy. A huge wooden horse was left at the castle gates and the Trojans received the gift oblivious that inside were hidden the best enemy fighters.
Ever since, gifts are pondered with careful consideration to the alternative: the enemy within .This kind of wariness has not decreased the number and the gullibility of victims, proof that people do not learn from history or mythology and that both need to be repeated over and over.
Ulysses-Odysseus returned home following a twisting path through time and space traveled by the entire humanity ever since.
He lost years wandering through the Greek archipelago, a stone throw away from his house. Leaping from one island to the other, stealing here and there, seducing at times or falling victim to seduction other times, Homer’s ingenious exploit of mortal buoyancy became later on the inspiration for Don Quixote’s and other delusional heroes’ passions..
On the island Aeolus, Ulysses received a revolutionary propulsion system for his ship. On Circe’s island, debauchery held him prisoner to his own vices for over a year while awaiting the answer to the eternal life riddle.
Finally returned home and after countless offenses committed, eliminating his rivals and saving the honor of his beloved Penelope, Ulysses inspired a violent, bloody, and passionate story, just as a television commercial would advertise it nowadays.
In the Iliad, the moral background and the shuddering personal and social dilemma starts with a quandary mortals have been scratching their heads over for eternity: choosing between beauty and wisdom.
As it as appears, the Greeks knew both cannot coexist at the same time. The very frugal albeit venerated gods, splattering in the earthly gene pool, did not squander genetic material especially where one single chromosome could potentially generate several pages of bewildering mythology material.
Paris chose his own beauty to the detriment of wisdom. To his defense, if wisdom would have been given the ability to choose between Paris’s splendor and some impersonal, universal wisdom, what would it chose?
The legendary reckoning done by Paris brought the anger of Zeus’s wife, Hera. Continuing his rush of faux pas, Paris chose Venus as the most beautiful woman and got as a reward(?), Helen, the distressed beauty in a doomed marriage. They looked at each other and adultery suddenly tip toed around the overflowing caldron of celestial passions and drama. All is well when it ends well however as Helen of Troy was declared divorced by no other than Hera herself. You see, this way, the reputation of marriage was left intact and promiscuity was somewhat overlooked. The war resulted out of this dicey match is only the zest of the story.
It is a fact, mortals have never accepted lightly divine plannings and interventions in their flimsy destinies, but this rebelliousness is precisely the way History was fulfilled for centuries. This ultimate legalized adultery between Helen of Troy and Paris attracted the frustrations of many warriors on the notorious island. Achilles, Ulysses, Ajax, they all desired revenge in the name of the husband-king Menelaus becoming famous as only heroes do and fueling unforgettable history as a result. The citadel of Troy fell under a siege for several years and Homer’s drama practically wrote itself.
By some literary accounts, the impervious Achilles held a divine genetic spark but that did not protect him from a legendary orthopedic impediment he suffered when Paris shot his arrow in his heel. In a reverse of destinies, Paris was hit by an arrow also and the resulting pain tamed his love for Helen. Paris sought soothing and healing through a former lover as the un-consoled Helen married somebody else. In the end moral justice triumphed, no ?
The Odyssey, or the story of irony surrounding destiny, established the source for most philosophical, ethical, historical, mythological, poetic, schools of thought.
The masterpiece became a source of inspiration for later literary works while writers built stories around the vague and undecipherable topic of sexual impiety.
Ulysses –Odysseus, wandered aimlessly while trying to reach his home in Ithaca where Penelope waited for him. The soundness of Penelope chastity forever affected the modern world of the stay at home moms everywhere...
Ulysses, disguised as a beggar, sneaked inside Troy and discovered the secrets that allowed the Trojans to resist the relentless attacks from Achilles’ army.
Knowing the secrets and details of the fortress, Ulysses crafted the plan that will conquer Troy. A huge wooden horse was left at the castle gates and the Trojans received the gift oblivious that inside were hidden the best enemy fighters.
Ever since, gifts are pondered with careful consideration to the alternative: the enemy within .This kind of wariness has not decreased the number and the gullibility of victims, proof that people do not learn from history or mythology and that both need to be repeated over and over.
Ulysses-Odysseus returned home following a twisting path through time and space traveled by the entire humanity ever since.
He lost years wandering through the Greek archipelago, a stone throw away from his house. Leaping from one island to the other, stealing here and there, seducing at times or falling victim to seduction other times, Homer’s ingenious exploit of mortal buoyancy became later on the inspiration for Don Quixote’s and other delusional heroes’ passions..
On the island Aeolus, Ulysses received a revolutionary propulsion system for his ship. On Circe’s island, debauchery held him prisoner to his own vices for over a year while awaiting the answer to the eternal life riddle.
Finally returned home and after countless offenses committed, eliminating his rivals and saving the honor of his beloved Penelope, Ulysses inspired a violent, bloody, and passionate story, just as a television commercial would advertise it nowadays.
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