The Lovers Legend

That Kind of Love
Alison Krauss

Who would sell their soul for love?
Or waste one tear on compromise
Should be easy enough
To know a heartache in disguise
But the heart rules the mind
And the going gets rough
Pride takes the fall
When you find that kind of love

I can't help feeling like a fool
Since I lost that place inside
Where my heart knew its way
And my soul was ever wise
Once innocence was lost
There was not faith enough
Still my heart held on
When it found that kind of love

Though beauty is rare enough
Still we trust
Somehow we'll find it there
With no guarantee
It seems to me
At least it should be fair

But if it's only tears and pain
Isn't it still worth the cost
Like some sweet saving grace
Or a river we must cross
If we don't understand
What this life is made of
We learn the truth
When we find that kind of love
Cause when innocence is lost
There is not faith enough
We learn the truth
When we find that kind of love

Ah, Alison Krauss is the best!

Now I realize I've been coming back to this topic time n again but honestly I'm really fascinated by the golden Greek period and I won't ever regret taking this art history course despite how boring our prof is.

So today's menu is : the lovers legend - celebration of male beauty in greek mythology
The marble scuptures Romans copied from Greeks are stunning but that's not where it all started. It all began with an interesting story told by a pediment frieze at the temple of Zeus, which was built in the 5th century BC. The theme of the frieze is 'the chariotte contest for King Oinomaus' daughter Hippotamia(a name that reminds me of hippopotamus...)'. It was a contest in which Pelops who eventually won over Hippotamia, played a trick on Oinomaus's chariotte. (the bronze linchpins were replaced by fake ones made of beeswax so the wheels easily slip off).

And that lead me on to read more about Pelops (sly & treasonous), which lead me to his old lover Poseidon. And Pelop's eerie past: his own dad slew and cooked him into a stew for the Olympian gods. Zeus, out of sympathy(which is rare, all these gods who easily throw their wrath on helpless mortals), resurrected Pelops who upon rebirth, exuded an essence of unparalled beauty which stunned Poseidon.

And onwards with Pelops I was guided through a winding path that eventually ended at Oedipus from whom the Freudian term 'Oedipus complex' is derived.

And back on to Zeus & Ganymede, Archilles & Petroclus etc.

To sum it all up, it is an 'omnivorous' period which culminates in art, in culture and also in celebration of male beauty. If you think now, homosexulas are still fighting for their rights. It was such an integral part of Greek culture back then and instead of being something immoral & sodomite, it was part of an 'initiation', the binding of a youth to his master who passed on his knowledge and wisdom to the young friend and lover. Oscar Wilde might have wished to be transported back to that period, together with his beloved Bosie.

But I have to say all the legends evolving around gods' relationships are somewhat stupid-sounding, beastly funny at times.

in which Pelops walked to the grey sea on the night before the contest, calling out to Poseidon
O, Poseidon! If you had any joy of our love, Aphrodite's sweet girt, stay the bronze spearof Oinomaus, speed me on the swiftest of chariots down by Pisa's river, and clothe me about in strength, for he has already killed twelve, and puts off his daughter's wedlock.
Great danger does not take hold of a coward; since we are all destined to die, why should one sit to no purpose in darkness and find a nameless old age, without any part of glory his own? No, to me falls this hazard, to you to grant me success!

I was even momentarily fascinated by his pompous speech (well-delivered nonetheless), guess what, this bastard struck a deal with Oinomaus' charioteer Myrtilus (God Hermes' son). 'Help me win' he says ' and the first night with her (Hippotamia) is yours to enjoy, I sear it upon all that is sacred!' It was an outrageous lie which brought down Pelops eventually, but still, what a bastard. He should've been stewed and eaten clean back then. Nothing Zeus ever did was right.

Ah, I haven't eaten rice for almost a week. How disastrous.