You I have realized something when casual people talk about the Trojan War, they know little of the Trojan War. I'm not blaming them it just feels weird to see how little some people know. There are such great little moments in the Epic cycle that are forgotten by the mainstream. A good example of this would be the story of poor Philoctetes who was bitten by a snake and left on the island of Lemnos. (Future blog maybe?) Now the story I'm talking about today occurs at the second gathering of Aulis, where the Greek fleet prepared to set out for Troy.
How dare you hunt down one my deers, that's my job
So this is what happened, Agamemnon killed a deer that was sacred to Artemis. Because she was goddess of the hunt she made a bunch of random deers sacred to her. In a fit of rage she decided to avenge her fallen animal and somehow stopped the wind in Aulis, thus preventing the Greeks from casting off. Wanting to find a way to appease the pissed off goddess, Agamemnon consulted the great prophet Calchas for a solution.
She wants me to do what now?
In the proud tradition of the Greek deities asking for a ludicrous demand after a little misdeed. Artemis wants Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to her. I'm sorry, but I always the Greek Gods had this taboo with human sacrifice, I mean you either allow or not. Stop being hypocritical!
Sorry honey, but Artemis is a bitch
But wait there is a twist! At the last minute as the priests prepare to sacrifice Iphigenia, Artemis takes her and substitutes a deer carcass. Okay, then why did you want her to be sacrificed in the first place, show some commitment woman. Well it seems that this act did have a payoff, Iphigenia was made a priestess of Artemis, but would never see her family again. This would eventually bite Agamemnon in the ass since his wife didn't take him sacrificing their daughter to the moon goddess that well and when Agamemnon returned from Troy, he was killed by his wife and her lover and she herself was killed by her remaining children. All this was caused by a king killing a deer.
Next- Erysichthon vs Demeter
No comments:
Post a Comment