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Odysseus and the Winds of Aeolus
Odysseus devised a wooden horse to enter Troy after the Greeks failed to capture the city by force. Greek warriors hid inside while the army sailed away, and the Trojans brought the horse within their walls before celebrating their supposed victory. Odysseus Builds the Trojan Horse Odysseus proposed a new stratagem after the Greeks had failed to take Troy by force. He told the Greeks to build an enormous hollow horse of wood and conceal their best warriors inside it. Epeios, an architect and skilled worker in wood, built the horse from timber felled on Mount Ida. It was hollow within and had an opening at its side. Odysseus persuaded the chieftains to enter, although the men understood the danger. Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, was the only one described as free from terror. The remaining Greeks were to burn their tents, board their ships, and appear to sail away. They would hide beyond Tenedos, or behind the nearest island, where the Trojans could not see them. A Greek whom the Trojans did not know was left near the deserted camp. The plan depended on the Trojans finding the horse after the army had withdrawn and believing that the war was over. They discovered the wooden horse and brought it through the city gates. One account says that they took it as a divine gift. The Trojans then spent the day celebrating. When night came, the hidden warriors emerged from the horse. They reached the sentries and opened the gates for the Greek army, which had quietly returned from its hiding place. The Greeks entered Troy and sacked the city. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus and his men boarded their ships and sailed towards Ithaca. A storm sent by Poseidon at Athena's request drove them off course, beginning their long wanderings. Source note: Primary text: Homer, Odyssey. Corpus check: The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics); Greek Myths & Tales. Poseidon Curses Odysseus Odysseus and his companions blinded Polyphemus with a sharpened club after heating its point in the fire. They had prepared the weapon inside the Cyclops’s cave. When Polyphemus cried out to the neighbouring Cyclopes, they came and asked who was hurting him. He answered, “Nobody.” Believing that no one was attacking him, they went away. When the flocks left the cave for pasture, Polyphemus opened the entrance and felt the sheep as they passed. Odysseus tied three rams together, hid beneath the largest, and left with the flock. He then freed his companions from beneath the animals and drove the sheep to the ships. As the ship moved away, he called back to Polyphemus and revealed his name. He said that if any man asked who had blinded him, the Cyclops should answer that it was Odysseus, son of Laërtes, whose home was in Ithaca. Polyphemus remembered that a prophet named Telemos, son of Eurymos, had foretold that Odysseus would blind him. Odysseus’s companions urged him to stop provoking the Cyclops. They had already seen Polyphemus throw a rock into the sea, bringing the ship back towards the land, and feared that another stone would destroy them. Odysseus ignored their warning and continued to shout at Polyphemus. Polyphemus raised his hands to the heavens and prayed to Poseidon, claiming that the god was his father. He asked that Odysseus never reach Ithaca. If Odysseus was destined to return, Polyphemus asked that he arrive late, after suffering many troubles, losing all his companions, travelling on another man’s ship, and finding grief in his house. Poseidon heard the prayer. Polyphemus then lifted a much larger rock, swung it round, and hurled it with all his strength. It fell near the ship’s steering-oar. The sea surged when the stone struck the water, and its wake drove the ship onward. Poseidon Curses Odysseus. Original MythSource illustration created for this story; not a historical artwork. Source note: Primary text: Homer, Odyssey. Corpus check: The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics); Greek Myths & Tales. Aeolus Gives Odysseus the Winds At Aeolus's island, Odysseus and his companions were received as guests. Zeus had appointed Aeolus to control the winds, allowing him to calm them or send them forth. When Odysseus prepared to leave, Aeolus placed the winds that could hinder or endanger the voyage inside a leather bag. He fastened it with a silver string and arranged for favourable winds to carry the ships towards their homeland. The voyage went well. For nine days, Odysseus kept watch and held the steering rope, refusing to give it to another man. As they drew close to Ithaca, he could see smoke rising from the town. Exhausted from constant effort, he fell asleep. His companions looked at the sealed bag and decided that it must contain gold, silver, or other treasures that Aeolus had given their commander. They believed Odysseus had received a richer reward than they had, although they had shared the same journey. Their suspicion overcame their judgement. They untied the bag, and the imprisoned winds burst out. The ships were swept away from their course and carried back across the sea towards Aeolus's island. Odysseus then returned to Aeolus and asked for help and a favourable wind. Aeolus refused him. He said that he could not aid a man whom the gods were opposing, and that he could not save someone against their will. The ships therefore left the island again without his assistance. Source note: Primary text: Homer, Odyssey. Corpus check: The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics); Greek Myths & Tales.
Oedipus and the Sphinx: Gustave Moreau's Staring Contest
In 1864, French painter Gustave Moreau exhibited Oedipus and the Sphinx at the Paris Salon. The thirty-eight-year-old artist spent three years and thirty preparatory studies completing the work, earning a medal and gaining recognition from prominent art critics. The Paris Salon of 1864 In 1864, Room M was the main attraction at the annual Paris Salon. Visitors gathered in large numbers to view paintings by Jean-François Millet alongside the work of Gustave Moreau. Moreau was thirty-eight years old and had trained under the history painter François-Édouard Picot. Although Moreau had disdained the Salon in previous years, he decided to submit Oedipus and the Sphinx to the 1864 exhibition. His submission earned him a Salon medal, establishing his presence within the official French exhibition system. Many visitors entered Room M primarily to see two new canvases by Ernest Meissonier, who was celebrating his thirtieth anniversary at the Salon. Meissonier had debuted in 1834 with A Visit to the Burgomaster and had shown work at seventeen Salons, yet he had not exhibited for three years prior to 1864. He approached the exhibition with self-doubts regarding The Battle of Solferino, a major commission commemorating the Emperor. Meissonier spent four years working on the painting but remained concerned that he had failed to capture His Majesty at his moment of glory. A few weeks before the Salon opened, Meissonier expressed his frustration in a private letter regarding his struggle with the commission. He wrote that it was grievous, after so many years of effort and reliance on what he had learned, to acknowledge that he felt powerless to succeed as well as he wished at the first task requested by the Emperor. Despite Meissonier's central presence in Room M, Moreau's new painting drew sustained attention from visitors and critics throughout the exhibition. The Critical Response in Room M Moreau spent three years and executed thirty preliminary studies to complete Oedipus and the Sphinx. His detailed preparation paid off when major Parisian art critics greeted the canvas with enthusiastic reviews. Critics including Théophile Gautier, Paul de Saint-Victor, and Maxime du Camp praised the work, heralding Moreau as a significant artistic force. The painting depicts the mythic confrontation between Oedipus and the Sphinx, a composition that now resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A review published in Le Temps expressed warm approval of Moreau's contribution to the Salon. The critic wrote that the painter represented unflagging effort, devotion to the Old Masters, and the application of sound principles and traditions. This reception established Moreau's reputation among intellectuals. Following his success in 1864, Moreau began creating paintings in a more Baroque style while continuing to depict unreal worlds of fantasy and imagination on his canvases. Oedipus and the Sphinx MET DT2132. CC0; source: Wikimedia Commons. Artistic Background and Training Gustave Moreau was born in Paris, the son of an architect. In his teenage years, he began formal instruction with the history painter François-Édouard Picot, who lived from 1786 to 1868. From the age of twenty, Moreau continued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts. His early style was strongly influenced by his friend Théodore Chassériau, who lived from 1819 to 1856, as well as by Eugène Delacroix, who lived from 1798 to 1863. Moreau expanded his aesthetic approach through travel in Italy, completing visits in 1841 and 1857. These Italian trips encouraged him to blend elements of High Renaissance art with Romanticism. He focused primarily on the intellectual content of his themes, examining religious stories and mythological subjects for their underlying meanings and sentiments. Turning away from a nineteenth-century world increasingly dominated by science and technology, Moreau developed a distinctive style that incorporated symbolic elements alongside romantic imagery. Technique, Symbolism, and Seclusion Moreau developed a unique painting method characterised by thick, smooth paint application and intense colours. His works featured a flowing style alongside symbolic elements and embellished details. However, his interest in embellished details frequently prompted accusations of pretentiousness from certain observers. Because Moreau was sensitive to disapproval, he was often reluctant to exhibit his pictures publicly. He spent prolonged periods in seclusion, refraining from submitting his work to public exhibitions. Because Moreau possessed private financial means, he did not need to rely on Salon medals or public sales to sustain his artistic production. Over time, he became appreciated by intellectuals and grew more willing to exhibit his work. Following Oedipus and the Sphinx, he produced Jason in 1865, now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Moreau became recognised as a precursor of the Symbolist Movement, exploring themes such as the myth of Orpheus, where a girl adorned with iridescent jewels holds the killed musician's severed head upon his lyre. Academic Career and Museum Legacy Moreau continued to paint fantastical subjects throughout the following decades. He completed The Apparition between 1874 and 1876, followed by Galatea around 1880 and Hesiod and the Muse in 1891. In 1892, Moreau joined the faculty of the École des Beaux-Arts as a professor. As a teacher, he proved inspiring to his students by bringing out their individual talents and self-expression rather than attempting to impose his own aesthetic ideas upon them. Moreau taught several students who became prominent artists, including Albert Marquet and Henri Matisse. His favourite pupil was Georges Rouault. Upon his death, Moreau left his Parisian house and its contents to the nation to establish the Moreau Museum. Rouault became the first curator of the museum, preserving the artist's home and work. Due to his focus on unreal worlds and fantasy imagery, Moreau was later recognised as a forerunner of Surrealism.
The Morrígan and Cú Chulainn
During single combat, the Morrígan offers Cú Chulainn love and aid, then threatens to obstruct him after he rejects her. She attacks as an eel, wolf and heifer, before meeting him as an old milkmaid, where their hostility moves towards reconciliation. The Morrígan and Cú Chulainn The Morrígan offered Cú Chulainn her love and aid while he fought in single combat. He rejected her. She warned him that she would hinder him at the hardest point of the fight. She would take the form of an eel, trip him in the ford, and attack him there. Cú Chulainn answered that he would catch the eel and crush its ribs with his toes. He would leave a lasting mark on her unless he removed it with a blessing. She then threatened to become a grey she-wolf and drive cattle into the ford against him. Cú Chulainn said that he would throw a sling-stone at her and burst the eye in her head. She also said that she would take the form of a hornless red heifer. She would lead the herd through the ford and pools, trample him in the water, and remain unknown to him. During the fighting, an eel wrapped three coils around Cú Chulainn’s feet and brought him down in the ford. Léch attacked him with a sword, and the water turned red with his blood. Bricriu taunted him for being overcome by a small creature. Cú Chulainn rose, struck the eel, and smashed it. The combat continued. He later fought Loch with the sword and the gae bolga. After Loch fell, Cú Chulainn cut off his head, and great weariness came over him. The Morrígan then appeared as a squint-eyed old woman milking a cow with three teats. Cú Chulainn asked her for a drink. This meeting followed her attacks in animal forms and his earlier rejection of her. The account presents her approach as a reconciliation after their conflict. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore; The Táin : translated from the Irish epic Táin Bó Cualinge. The Death of Meche Mac Cécht killed Meiche before the serpents within him could mature. Meiche was the son of the Mórrígan and had three hearts. Three great serpents were coiled within each heart. If they reached maturity, they would break out of his body and devastate the land. One account says that they would split his heart open and devour all Ireland. Mac Cécht killed Meiche to prevent this danger. After the killing, Mac Cécht burned the heart to ashes. He threw the ashes into a river, whose waters boiled and killed every living creature in them. Another account says that he threw the burned remains of Meiche’s body into the Barrow River. The accounts differ over whether the remains were ashes or burned body parts, and over the river named. Both describe their destruction after Meiche’s death because of the danger posed by the serpents. Meiche is also named Mechi or Merca. The accounts identify Mac Cécht, a warrior of the Tuatha Dé Danann, as the killer. They name the Mórrígan as Meiche’s mother, not as the person who killed him. They give the same numbers for his hearts and serpents: Meiche had three hearts, and each heart contained three serpents. The Death of Meche. Original MythSource illustration created for this story; not a historical artwork. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. The Morrígan and the Dagda at the Ford The Morrígan stood astride the River Unius in Connacht, with one foot on each bank. She washed the clothes of those who were about to die in battle. The black-winged goddess was associated with war and prophecy. She was also known as a magician who cast oracles and foretold the future. The Dagda came upon her at the river. He saw the enormous goddess bending over the stream and was overcome with desire. He had many mates among the Irish goddesses. At the ford, he had intercourse with the Morrígan. The encounter satisfied her. The Dagda was preparing to fight for the Tuatha Dé Danann against the Fomorians at Mag Tuired. The Morrígan agreed to support his side in the battle on the following day. She would remain at the edge of the fighting and sing magical chants as the Tuatha Dé Danann faced their enemies. Her support came before the second battle of Mag Tuired, when the Tuatha Dé Danann fought to drive out the Fomorians. The account links the meeting at the river with her promise to aid the Dagda and his people in the coming battle. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Celtic Mythology; Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore.