9/6/11

"Instead of a god who would live longer than other gods, he became a man who would have a shorter life than other men. And yet, of all men, he was the closest to being a god. Because he had taken the place of he who should have put an end to Zeus, his own end was forcibly etched into his flesh"(pg.105).

Thetis was the only woman to ever reject Zeus. Zeus later found out that Thetis was fated to have a son who would other throw his father. Zeus feared the thought of his reign ending so he married Thetis to mortal man. Thetis had seven sons but six of them were killed by her failed attempt to make them immortal by burning them. Achilles on the other hand, survived, but the flames only made him almost immortal, "and what that meant was more mortal than other mortals"(pg.105). Achilles was bound to die earlier than other men and was therefore killed in the Trojan War.
When someone's life was laid out for them before they were even born, once they were actually born they were forced to follow the path and come to whatever end was prophesied. In Achilles' case, he was to have a short life and thus had a short life. When a person is born to do a certain thing and all of their actions were made before the person did them, they couldn't prevent or change the outcomes.

In class we talked about how mythology tells the truth about the beginning, middle and end. We talked about different names and how they relate to mythology, for example, Theodore means beloved of gods. Original mean the origin of things, the very beginning. Aracane's story was told in class, and how she claimed she was the best weaver and so Minerva challenged her to a contest. Arachne won but the goddess, Minerva, didn't want to admit defeat so she turned Arachne into a spider, so she could weave for the rest of her life. Lastly, we talked about the Lyre and how it was the first instrument and music that was ever played. Hermes created the Lyre out of a turtle shell and dried guts. He gave it to Apollo to apologize for making trouble.