Calasso opens chapter
three speaking about the island of Delos, which he referred to as a "hump
of deserted rock." Laying down the foundation and setting for the story,
the reader instantly gets a feel that Delos is no exactly a desirable place to
be. He further isolates the island from the rest of the world depicting Delos
as "drifting about the sea like a stalk of asphodel." After a little
research it came to no surprise to find that asphodel was commonly referred to
as a weed in desert like environments. I even found asphodel regarded as the
"peculiar plant of the dead" on various mythology websites. Moving
along further in passage we get a little foresight into what is to come,
Calasso proceeds to rag on Delos a little more...(he might have a vendetta
against the island) calling it "a place not even wretched slave girls
would come to hide their shame." More importantly he states that Apollo
was birthed on the desolate island, quite the polar opposite in my opinion.
After reading this Calasso had me hooked, I mean who would've guessed the powerful
and mighty sun god could have come from such an isolated wasteland? Calasso
speaks about Leda and how she birthed Apollo in isolation, grasping the lone
palm tree on this "godforsaken" rock. Further looking into the
birth of Apollo I started researching Leda or (Leto) and quickly realized this
was the same chick who Zeus lusted over in swan form. Leda was the beautiful
daughter of the original Titans Coeus and Phoebe. Hera was tormented with
jealousy of Leto (obviously because she sleot with Zeus). So the Queen of the
Gods sent a serpent after Leto to vex her and to prevent her from finding a
place to deliver her babies. Leto frantically went from place to place, but
found no welcome anywhere, since everyone feared incurring the wrath of Hera.
She finally found refuge on Ortygia (the first name of Delos), the island of
her sister Asteria, where she gave birth to Artemis. Immediately after her own
birth, the newborn Artemis precociously helped her mother through nine days of
labor and delivery until her brother Apollo emerged. Calasso paints beautiful
imagery of the birth of Apollo, when he emerged
"Everything turned to gold, from top to
bottom. Even the water in the river turned to gold and the leaves on the olive
tree likewise. And the gold must have stretched downward into the depths,
because it anchored Delos to the seabed. From that day on
it drifted no more."
It truly amazes me the
capacity Calasso’s little stories can tell hold, in dissecting one short myth
from Calasso I learn a valuable story that will remain with me for eternity!
All in all I would think
it’s safe to say that things turned out alright for the once “godforsaken rock”
Delos. ;)
Info found about Leda (Leto)
found at Classical
Mythology: Night of the Hunters: Artemis and Apollo | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/night-hunters-artemis-apollo.html#ixzz2iniOXVTO
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