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Classics in African-American Life

I had never looked at W. E. B. DuBois' Souls of Black Folk before, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a fun "fantasia" on the city of Atlanta and the mythological character Atalanta in chapter 5 (not to mention a reference elsewhere to teaching / translating Cicero's Pro Archia):

Perhaps Atlanta was not christened for the winged maiden of dull Boeotia; you know the tale,—how swarthy Atalanta, tall and wild, would marry only him who out-raced her; and how the wily Hippomenes laid three apples of gold in the way. She fled like a shadow, paused, startled over the first apple, but even as he stretched his hand, fled again; hovered over the second, then, slipping from his hot grasp, flew over river, vale, and hill; but as she lingered over the third, his arms fell round her, and looking on each other, the blazing passion of their love profaned the sanctuary of Love, and they were cursed. If Atlanta be not named for Atalanta, she ought to have been.

Atalanta is not the first or the last maiden whom greed of gold has led to defile the temple of Love; and not maids alone, but men in the race of life, sink from the high and generous ideals of youth to the gambler's code of the Bourse; and in all our Nation's striving is not the Gospel of Work befouled by the Gospel of Pay? So common is this that one-half think it normal; so unquestioned, that we almost fear to question if the end of racing is not gold, if the aim of man is not rightly to be rich. And if this is the fault of America, how dire a danger lies before a new land and a new city, lest Atlanta, stooping for mere gold, shall find that gold accursed!

It was no maiden's idle whim that started this hard racing; a fearful wilderness lay about the feet of that city after the War,—feudalism, poverty, the rise of the Third Estate, serfdom, the re-birth of Law and Order, and above and between all, the Veil of Race. How heavy a journey for weary feet! what wings must Atalanta have to flit over all this hollow and hill, through sour wood and sullen water, and by the red waste of sun-baked clay! How fleet must Atalanta be if she will not be tempted by gold to profane the Sanctuary!

The Sanctuary of our fathers has, to be sure, few Gods,—some sneer, "all too few." There is the thrifty Mercury of New England, Pluto of the North, and Ceres of the West; and there, too, is the half-forgotten Apollo of the South, under whose aegis the maiden ran,—and as she ran she forgot him, even as there in Boeotia Venus was forgot. She forgot the old ideal of the Southern gentleman,—that new-world heir of the grace and courtliness of patrician, knight, and noble; forgot his honor with his foibles, his kindliness with his carelessness, and stooped to apples of gold,—to men busier and sharper, thriftier and more unscrupulous. Golden apples are beautiful—I remember the lawless days of boyhood, when orchards in crimson and gold tempted me over fence and field—and, too, the merchant who has dethroned the planter is no despicable parvenu. Work and wealth are the mighty levers to lift this old new land; thrift and toil and saving are the highways to new hopes and new possibilities; and yet the warning is needed lest the wily Hippomenes tempt Atalanta to thinking that golden apples are the goal of racing, and not mere incidents by the way.  [...etc.]

Much better, in my view, than the more prosaic possibilities (after a railroad or the governor's daughter)...Incidentally, the "Quest for the Golden Fleece" of chap. 8 looks promising (mythologically speaking), but is not so well-developed.

January 06, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The L Word

Ah, here's a news story that cries out to be quoted in full...Frankly, I'm amazed this hasn't happened before now!

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women.

Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.

One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, "insults the identity" of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.

"My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos," he said.

The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using "lesbian" in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10. The other two plaintiffs are women.

Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island is a favored holiday destination for gay women, particularly the lyric poet's reputed home town of Eressos.

"This is not an aggressive act against gay women," Lambrou said. "Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want (the group) to remove the word lesbian from their title."

He said the plaintiffs targeted the group because it is the only officially registered gay group in Greece to use the word lesbian in its name. The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10.

Sappho lived from the late 7th to the early 6th century B.C. and is considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity. Many of her poems, written in the first person and intended to be accompanied by music, contain passionate references to love for other women.

Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. "But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years," said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticizes the Christian Church.

Very little is known of Sappho's life. According to some ancient accounts, she was an aristocrat who married a rich merchant and had a daughter with him. One tradition says that she killed herself by jumping off a cliff over an unhappy love affair.

Lambrou says Sappho was not gay. "But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent — including women — be considered homosexual?"

The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece could not be reached for comment.

Lambrou also presented an essay on the subject, "The Misfortune of Being Lesbian" (in Greek:  Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Λέσβιος, -ια) at the website of his magazine, Davlos, so feel free to go out and work on your modern Greek language skills...

I should just add, since as a footnote to his essay Lambrou appeals to Oxford lexicography and the change in definitions (of both Lesbian and, of course, gay) wreaked by people other than himself between the 1911 and 1999 editions (of the Compact Dictionary), that the big OED has citations for the female homosexual meaning of "Lesbian" dating back to 1870, when A. J. Munby wrote, "Swinburne..expressed a horror of sodomy..and an actual admiration of Lesbianism, being unable..to see that that is equally loathsome."  And finally, if antiquity of usage is the issue, I wonder whether Lambrou is more comfortable with a different "Lesbian" association in ancient Greek - e.g. the verb λεσβιάζω...

Ok, really finally:  I think I have a compromise suggestion.  Since LesVos is the modern Greek pronunciation of the place name, let's just all say that LesVian will be toponymic designation, and LesBian (to be spelled Λέσμπιος, etc., in Greek) will be the sexual orientation.

April 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Colosseum vs. Capital Punishment

This was news to me...In the midst of pro/con death penalty agitation surrounding the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams was the following:

Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's death penalty opposition. Since 1999, the monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment.

"I hope there will be such an occasion soon," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said. "When it happens, we will do it with a special thought for Tookie."

Here's a BBC article from the 1999 campaign, in which then mayor Francesco Rutelli said:

"I think all over the world the Colosseum is known as a place of death and as a place of amusements linked to death...Today we want to make a positive link between the Colosseum and life."

And here's more on the Colosseum...er, Flavian Amphitheatre...

 

December 14, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Chest of the Earth

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (in an interview with Reuters):

A Greek myth has it that the Euro-Asian continent is the chest of the Earth, and in fact it has seen many many mighty and magnificent historical epics. This continent is also the place which enjoys the best exchanges between East and West.
Well, I have heard the one about Atlas, but that doesn't seem to be what he's talking about...Hmm...

May 03, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mediterranean Echoes

The Globe and Mail reviews travel/political writer Robert Kaplan's Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece. Kaplan lets the historical resonances come through loud and clear (seeing Sicily through the lens of Thucydides, for example), which in the reviewer's opinion leads to some glib overstatement:

There are times you wish that Kaplan were truer to his younger self, that he could set aside the big-picture view of the warring world and focus more innocently on the humble details of the day-to-day traveller. For readers not determined to compare and contrast ancient Rome with modern America, his history lessons can feel trite and simplified, whereas his more random observations -- Of noisy nomads: "The ceaseless wind had given them the habit of talking loud" -- have the ring of deeper truths.

March 13, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unconvincing Etymologies

Recently posted at about.com: a history of spas. On the sidebar: "Possible Origins of the Word 'Spa.'" Everyone sitting down?


• From the Latin words 'Espa' (fountain) and 'Sparsa' (from spargere = to bubble up).  
• "Sanus Per Aquam" [S P A] - meaning health by or through water.  
• "Solus Per Aqua" [S P A] Latin for enter by means of water. Other interpretation: "health through water."
• “Salut Per Aqua” [S P A]  Latin for health or relaxation through water. Found in graffiti in Roman baths

This site mentions the real origin (Spa is a place name in Belgium: cf. OED), and then goes on to mention the above, with minor variations, not much better at the Latin, but at least with references to books that make the various suggestions.
Another suggestion I don't believe--Hungarian...

January 29, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (1)

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