Lucius' poor barricade against the witches and the Big Lebowski

In reading about Lucius' attempts to barricade the doors of his room against the possible entry of the witches, I was reminded of the best scene from the Big Lebowski in which Jeff Bridges attempts to barricade his apartment against a couple of thugs.  Both characters place objects flush against the door in the thought that the doors would swing inwards and both cases yield hilarious results.

Evil sheep?

In translating 6.17-18 for my translation assignment, I was caught unaware of the threatening presence of the sheep who would be guarding the fleece.  Sheep carry with them multiple association, many of which are influenced by Christian imagery.  Sheep are docile creatures that can easily be led astray.  They need to be guided and protected.  This is the only context where sheep are vicious ravenous creatures.  The green river reed tells Psyche that the hot sun makes them enraged and that their sharp horns, stone solid foreheads and poisonous bites can all hurt and damage people.

Do any of these connotations carry over into modern day culture?  Why yes, they do.  "Evil Sheep" is a popular cartoon and the concept of demonized sheep was converted into a popular cult flick in New Zealand.  The common thread that strings the concept of evil, aggressive sheep together are the eye color which usually changes to a demonic red.

Roman winds

In  reading about Zephyr and his gentle duties of bearing Psyche's sisters up to and down from the cliff,  it got me thinking about what other wind divinities there had to be.  Since Zephyr is the god of the west wind, what are the other divinities of the compass and what do they represent?

Boreas is the north wind and since he blows cold air, he is usually represented as an old man with a shaggy white beard.

Notus is the south wind and is the opposite of the North Wind.  He blows a very dry wind typically during the late summer period and was feared in that he may kill crops through drought.

Zephyr is the west wind and he brings spring tidings and good fortune and is also as Apuleius relates, the gentlest of the winds.

Eurus is the east wind.  He is seen as a tumultuous force that is the bringer of rain and wind.

Other lesser divinities existed such as Skiron, Apeliotes, and Kaikias the gods of the northwestern, southeastern, and northeastern winds do exist but their mythological footprint is not as firmly established as the four main winds.  The Anemoi are sinister winds who are imprisoned so that they may not wreak havoc.  Winds here serve the combined purpose of wind and weather phenomenon; the east wind is strong and was thought to cause rain.  There is no separate divinity for weather phenomena (rain, snow, etc.)

Did Tolstoy read Apuleius?

Is Anna Karenina modeled on Psyche (is she an anti-Psyche)?  I've been re-reading Anna Karenina to prepare myself for seeing the new film, and this scene struck me as being ripped from the pages of "Cupid and Psyche" with ironic role-reversals (maybe already well known to Russian scholars, but it had not occurred to me before):

He was in the study fast asleep.  She went over to him and, lighting his face from above, looked at him for a long time.  Now, when he was asleep, she loved him so much that, looking at him, she could not keep back tears of tenderness; but she knew that if he woke up he would give her a cold look, conscious of his own rightness, and that before talking to him of her love, she would have to prove to him how guilty he was before her.  She went back to her room without waking him up and, after a second dose of opium, towards morning fell into a heavy, incomplete sleep, in which she never lost awareness of herself.

Eros of Thespie by Praxiteles

 I would like to add this marble statue of Cupid to the selection of James. 

It was a famous sculpture in the Roman world and it had a complex story. In the Fourth Verrines (De signis) Cicero says that Mummius, the conquer of Corinth, took away from Thespiae all the unconsecrated  statues including a Lady of Thespie, he did not touch the marble statue of Cupid in this town, work of Praxiteles, because it was consecrated. Later Caligula carried off the statue from Thespiae which was later returned by Claudius; then Nero stole again the statue and placed in the Porticus of Octavia where it was burned in the fire of 80 (Strabo 9. 2.25; Pausania 9. 27. 3; Pliny 36. 22). The Thespians, however, commissioned a copy of this statue by the sculptor Menodorus. The sources point out that the statue of Cupid was not only essential for the cult in Thespiae but was also a touristic attraction. The sources say that people come to Thespiae from all over only for seeing the statue. It was a cultural mark, a symbol of Thespiae’s identity. 

More Fairytale Elements

When I was translating my section for the translation exercise (chapters 6.9-6.10, if you're interested), I was very excited to discover that it had a very clear echo of Cinderella. Specifically, in my passage Psyche is dragged before Venus, who decides to give her an impossible task: sort out a mound of seeds and separate each seed into a different pile. This is one of the tasks that is commonly given to Cinderella, when she wants to go to the ball. Here is a section from the Grimms' Cinderella:

However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us."
The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather:

The good ones go into the pot,
The bad ones go into your crop."

Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again.
It is interesting to compare this to the passage in Apuleius. The biggest difference is the agency of the heroine. In the German folktale, Cinderella calls for help when she is unable to complete the task. While she cannot do it, she is unafraid of asking for aid. However, Psyche is stupefied and unable to move when Venus assigned her her task. It is up to an ant scurrying by to call for help and make sure the task happens. This fits with Psyche's general character, which is not very proactive. As far as I can tell, pretty much everything has to be managed for her. Cinderella is known for getting aid from outside sources, but this degree of passivity is unusual.

Wait, What?

If the "Cupid and Psyche" myth is allegory for the soul gaining knowledge through love, then what does the birth of Cupid and Psyche's daughter Voluptuas (Pleasure) represent? Maybe it was allegory for how the union of the soul, love, and knowledge is a source of unending pleasure?
Anyway, thank you all for a great semester!

Depictions of Cupid through the Ages, or "Marrying a Baby is Gross, Dude."

I think it's fair to say that the typical image of Cupid in most modern minds (whether they be the highly trained sophisticates of our program or the drooling reality television machines over in the business school) is that of a baby with wings. You all know that it's quite common to see in classical art (as in the Augustus of Prima Porta).

On the other hand in "Cupid and Psyche" the god seems to be "childish" only in the sense that he has smooth, beardless cheeks. But as all the men in the class know, puberty and its attended hormonal changes begin long before the beard comes in; with that in mind, perhaps Psyche married a teenager rather than a baby. Not as gross. (Smith's entry on the significance of ancient beards is pretty neat)

In the Renaissance Cupid was occasionally passed of as an angel, and hence comes misconception that cherubs are are adorable little baby angels that kiss on the cover of Hallmark cards. Consider Boticelli's "Primavera" below, which disguises Venus as the Virgin Mary:

This fresco was painted on the wall of Lorenzo de Medici, who would regularly entertain the pope. Claiming Christian allegory to what is otherwise a blatantly pagan painting might have helped the Pope look the other way in a time when studying Classics was supposed to take a back seat to studying Christianity. That, and the fact that they were cousins and Lorenzo murdered everyone who ever talked back to him.

Baby angels like you find on a modern Hallmark card are often called "cherubs." But in scripture the cherubim are actually terrifying beasts with three faces and six wings that will obliterate you if you cross god. Personally I think this would make for a more interesting greeting card, but ever since Boticelli we're stuck with these weak "flying baby" cherubs.

The charade that passed off Cupid as an angel was thin, but it may have been aided by the concurrent depiction of Cupid as a teenager once regard for Classical study grew and the strictness of a Christian education was loosened. In turn, "teenaged Cupid" depictions may have resulted from the popularity of the Cupid and Psyche story at that time. Because even the most Oedipally-fixated artist doesn't want to draw a naked chick marrying a baby. I hope.






In closing, here is a depiction of Cupid by Caravaggio which I like to call  "How YOU doin, girl?":

High School Cupid and Psyche Play in Latin

This is awesome. These kids are putting on the Cupid and Psyche play entirely in Latin.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hipsters-embrace-lingo-of-the-ancient-worlds-20121012-27i6u.html

When I was child, in Italy there was an hilarious cartoon (my favourite) called Pollon. The heroine, Pollon, was a petulant chickadee, daughter of Apollo. Her best friend was Eros. In the cartoon Eros is an ugly bungler kid, scorned by everyone, including his mother Venus. In each episode there was a myth ( I remember the episode with Narcissus, Athena and Aracne, Orpheus and Eurydice, Jason, etc).
Here there is the episode with Psyche. Venus who is making up in front of a mirror and wearing a sexy dress is hilarious (in other episodes Hera dresses fishnet stocking!).
Unfortunately the two episodes are in Italian but you already know the story of Psyche, the jealous of Venus etc..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbCl5c_dIQI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz9g9oyZnBY

Cupid and Psyche as an imperfect narrative

Finishing the Cupid and Psyche for this class, I've come to appreciate more than ever before the context it has within the Metamorphoses. As the first chapter was a story overheard by our man Lucius, so this story should be imagined coming out of the mouth of an old, traveling woman. I noticed in my translation for the written project that there was a distinct use of what I would call meta-humor, breaking the fourth wall. It seems that the characters often identify in dialogue with the veneer of melodrama the exact literary trope as it is occurring to them. Furthermore, the narration seems to irregularly focus on different parts of the tale. In the passage for today (the ending few sections), we get a large buildup of what Psyche is to expect in the underworld, but the trip there is anticlimactic. One could argue that that's because the true climax is actually the opening of the box and Cupid's following intervention, but I was really expecting more drama to occur with the trials Psyche encounters in Hell. I think a good interpretation of this pacing is the natural tendencies of a not-quite-perfect storyteller botching the execution.

The Translator Has the Worst Job in the World

We were having a conversation in our Greek composition about the meaning of one particular word and Professor Higbie was so amused by this that she told us to look up the word in our dictionaries and put together a translation of the whole sentence as our assignment for Friday.
Even though we all had the same word, each one of us gave a different definition because we all interpreted the context of the situation using our own biases and experiences.
For example, I wanted to know more about the people involved and tried to find one man in some sore of prosopography, but I had no luck.
Other people did all kinds of strange things to figure out a meaning, from debating the author's use of Greek particles to tearing apart the etymology of the word.
It just goes to show how much we rely on a translator and the deleterious or positive influence he or she can have on the understanding of a reader not at all familiar with Greek or Latin.
Despite the difficulty involved in translating our own chunk of Apuleius, it is such a beneficial exercise! Not just because it instills within us a greater appreciation for the laborious work of translator, but because it allows us to visualize our own potential impact on a text and its audience.
Next time, I hope we can read more translations of a particular author and gain a better understanding of how and why different translators omit or include different aspects of the text.
Let's all kick ass and take names on Thursday too!
Kittie

Of Fire and Water and Metaphor

I really enjoyed reading these last few sections. I like the metaphors and symbols Apuleius uses and relates with each character. The sisters are associated with lamps and light and fire. They suggest that Psyche use the lamp and the light to kill Cupid. Apuleius then turns this lamp and light into the fire in Psyche's heart. I really liked that part. And then, when Psyche is conflicted, Apuleius talks about the "waves," metaphorically using fire and water to describe the two sides of Psyche's confusion. In the very next sentence, Apuleius describes Cupid as a monster and a husband. These two are nicely positioned right next to the fire and water. The attention to little details is great.

Retroactive Marriage

Hmm...I see Cupid and Psyche had a "retroactive marriage." That is to say, they were legally married after Cupid "made Psyche his wife" in their "conjugal embraces."
I find it curious that the Romans and the Hebrews had the same practice. In Deuteronomy or thereabouts, a woman who wasn't engaged to be married had to marry a man who had sex with her before marriage (or raped her); they were never allowed to divorce. (If a woman who was engaged cheated on her betrothed, she was stoned.) I just find it interesting that these two cultures had similar practices (even if death wasn't an issue for Cupid and Psyche). Is it just because they were in roughly the same region? Could the Hebrews have shared this with the Turks to the north (or Hittites in those days) and the practice got brought over from Troy to Latium? Food for thought.

Peau d'Ane (Donkey-Skin) by Charles Perrault

While we are preparing for the end of the term I thought I would mention a story call Peau d'Ane or in English Donkey-Skin by Charles Perrault which I feel is readily relatable having read Apuleius now. Perrault was a 17th century writer who was both a politician, a writer or historic and literary topics and a writer of folktales.

It is an interesting take on a royal tale of intermarriage that has both a beautiful princess, though in this case she is running away from marriage, and a donkey. The wife of the King has died and made him promise to marry only if he finds a woman more beautiful and refined than herself. So after searching in vain for awhile he decides the only way to fulfill this oath and to remarry is to marry their daughter. She gives him a number of nearly impossible tasks to do in the hopes that he will fail and she will be free. He succeeds, despite the odds much like Psyche, and she if forced to run away in the skin of his prized donkey (which poops francs because well its 17th century France and that kind of stuff seems pretty common).

It is an interesting thought when looking at both the Cupid and Psyche episode and the overarching  theme of a travelling donkey to get a French, and albeit rather incestuous and odd, version which has many of the same themes.

Apparently it is also a 1970 film by Demy which refers frequently to the Beauty and the Beast story for plot devices and imagery. It is interesting to see these two tales so closely connected within the same film!