Greek mythology and culture are important element of the development of every culture. Ancient Greeks always thought that Gods are the reflection of our inner conflicts and turmoil. That is why the myths about the Gods contain thoughts much deeper than it seems from the very beginning and can be interpreted in multiple ways. I’ll be discussing the meaning the story about Zeus and Typhon, following them by the interpretation of Aegyptus and Danaus, comparing the myths to my own personal conflict.
First, I would like to analyze the story about Zeus and Typhon. According to the plot, Typhon (or Typhoeus) was an ugly creature that challenged Zeus. It was mixture of a dragon body and a hundred of snake heads burning with fire. The story describes how Zeus fought against Typhon who dared to attack Olympus. At the beginning of attack, the gods decided to leave without fight and turned themselves into various animals: Aphrodite into a fish, Apollo into a crow, Hermes into an ibis, Zeus into a ram. Only Athena didn’t change her form and was ready to fight. She was the one who persuaded Zeus to fight for Olympus by mocking him for being a coward. Her actions made an influence of Zeus and made him return his initial form and even wound the beast with a thunderbolt and with the sickle (the one Cronus used to castrate Uranus). However, Typhon was not so easy to defeat. He wretched the sickle out of Zeus’ hand, cut the sinews from his feet and hands and imprisoned in a cave that was guarded by a dragon. Luckily, other gods did not leave Zeus in captivity: Hermes and Pan came to save him. First Pan frightened the dragon and Hermes managed to reconstruct Zeus’s sinews and made him move again. Freed Zeus started pursuing Typhon in a chariot drawn by horses with wings but the beast was not going to yield his positions. He started fighting back and threw whole mountains at Zeus. His efforts were unsuccessful since soon Zeus wounded him by a thunderbolt and put Mount Edna on top of him.
I would like to point out that the character of Typhon and its meaning contains a number of variations for me. Sometimes it is my own laziness to do something good enough. For example, once I was preparing for a test. It seemed to be quite easy, I understood the material and my inner Typhon tempted me not to spend a lot of time on preparations but have a meeting with an old friend and have some rest. I was like Zeus when he was attacked by Typhon for the first time – decided to turn my back and not to fight. If I did so, I would fail the test, I’m sure of it. Luckily, my best friend, having heard about my plans and loud phrases that I knew everything already and there was no need to study for me, decided to check my knowledge. To my extreme disappointment we found out that my knowledge was not deep enough to pass the test. My meeting was cancelled and we spent the whole night studying. Of course, the story of my life doesn’t literally remind the events described in the myth, however, there is a number of similarities. Taking into account the plot of Zeus and Typhon story, there were both main characters in me, two roles: Zeus and Typhon. At the beginning, behavior was similar to Zeus’s – I simply wanted to run away from the problem not willing to face it, but my best friend saved me from failure and turned into the right way -he made me study and fight with my inner Typhon, with my laziness. We can also interpret the character of Typhon on the other example that can show another aspect of understanding of the myth: Typhon is not only my laziness or my bad qualities but also it embodies all the problems that I face. As an example, I would like to tell another story: a couple of years ago I, as usual teenager, I had a rough time with my family – we had some understanding issues. However, they were rather complicated and morally staining, I felt exhausted after every quarrel. One day I felt so bad that I was ready to leave, go away from home and stay somewhere else. Now I understand that for that time I was Zeus afraid to face his Typhon, willing to turn into an animal and forget about the problem. When I was packing by bag, my sister entered. She usually didn’t take part in our family debates and tried to maintain a happy middle between our family extremities. The most interesting thing happened later: she was not even trying to persuade me, she wanted to understand, asked some questions. We talked for quite some time and I decided to stay at home and give my parents a second chance. I listened to my Athena who used her way of influence on me - not by mockery but with the help of understanding – and helped me fight my inner fears and break the wall of misunderstanding between me and parents. This very wall was my Typhon that seemed to be much stronger than me. Now our family is happy, we talk a lot and understand each other.
This story made me realize that sometimes you should listen to a close person even if your own attitude towards some things is different. Moreover, it is always easier to win the fight being not alone, knowing that there is always someone ready to help you in case of any problems.
Another story I would like to discuss is about Aegyptus and Danaus. The myth says that they were brothers who had a quarrel, as a result of which Danaus moved to Argos and became a king there. Later on, fifty sons of Aegyptus arrived with an idea of forgetting the quarrel, they offered money and marrying Danaus’s fifty daughters. Unfortunately, Danaus was too angry at his brother and didn’t want any peace, he agreed for the marriage but gave a knife to each of his daughters and commanded to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty nine daughters followed the Danaus’s wish, only Hypermnestra spared the life of her husband, Lynceus. Danaus confirmed the validity of their marriage. The other daughters had their marriages arranged due to the contests that Danaus held, their offspring were the Danaans. Also, some sources inform that Lynceus avenged the murder of his brothers by killing Danaus himself, his daughters and their other husbands. The story says that in the Underworld, the forty nine Hypermnestra’s sisters who killed their husbands are condemned to refill leaking water jugs for the eternity - it’s their punishment for the crime towards the sons of Aegyptus.
The story is rather complicated, but it has some similarities with the recent events in my life. I got into a quarrel with my sister and could not let it go. I was like Danaus who could not forget that his brother insulted him, and even when everything seemed to be as usual between us two, wanted to something in return. My sister like Aegyptus, wanted to leave peacefully and even allowed me to play with the dog she loved very much. First I really wanted to make my sister feel bad and even has an idea of giving something to the dog. Fortunately, I realized that poor dog has nothing to do with my anger. My role changed from Danaus’s to Hypermnestra who decided not to be a part of a huge family crime. The change was one of my hardest since I had to forgive my sister and forget her insulting words. In my opinion, the short story shows the importance of our choices and makes us think about the consequences of them.
As a conclusion, I would like to say that Greek myths are the prototypes of our behavior, they contain very deep meaning and are applicable for everyday life. Moreover, it is important to mention that the meanings are metaphorical, it can be seen from different perspectives, and, as a result, be understood in a number of ways depending on the person that reads it. Every story is a lesson and it’s up to us to learn it.
Works cited
"Zeus and Typhon." Web of Myth. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
"Aegyptus and Danaus." Web of Myth. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
