Skip to main content

IOLAUS AND THE SONS OF CALLIRHOE THRU BYBLIS p.220


Repoussé and engraved relief of Hercules (right),
  Eros (center) and Iolaus (left) on the Ficoroni cista. 
4th century BC Etruscan ritual vessel


Magically a young lad, Iolaus, appears. He's a gift of Juno's daughter, Hebe. Thought to be Hercules lover but also his nephew.

Themis is mentioned. Civil war is upon Thebes.

She meant to swear not to bestow such gifts
On any man thereafter, but was stopped
By Themis.

From wikipedia:

"As a son of Iphicles, Iolaus was a nephew of Heracles. He often acted as Heracles' charioteer and companion. He was sometimes regarded as Heracles' lover, and the shrine to him in Thebes was a place where male couples worshiped and made vows.

The Theban gymnasium was also named after him, and the Iolaia or Iolaea (Greek: Ιολάεια), an athletic festival consisting of gymnastic and equestrian events, was held yearly in Thebes in his honor. The victors at the Iolaea were crowned with garlands of myrtle.

Iolaus provided essential help to Heracles in his battle against the Hydra, his second labor. Seeing that Heracles was being overwhelmed by the multi-headed monster (the Lernaean Hydra), who grew two heads in place of each one cut off, Iolaus helped by cauterizing each neck as Heracles beheaded it.
".
=================================================================
SONS OF CALLIRHOE- 

Jove may not be all that happy about Hebe giving away Iolaus...some negotiation is needed...

And then at last Callirhoe, the child
Of Achelous, for her infant sons
Shall beg those years from Jove on bended knee,
To speed their vengeance for the victors death
And, at her suit, Jove shall foreclaim that gift
Of his stepdaughter, and her sons shall be
Transformed to manhood from their infancy.

Rumblings in heaven



Old men growing older:




















And I could love him were he not my brother;
He's worth my love--but kinship ruins me.

But I, whose ill luck made your parents mine,
In you but have a brother. That alone Is ours to share, that thing that severs us.



Byblis resolves to write her love on tablets to Caunus, her brother.

Byblis - by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1884)

Then, shamefaced, called a slave and nervously,
With honeyed words, "Take these, good faithful friend",
She said, "and give them to" ---a long and anxious pause--- 
"My brother".

The slave delivers tablets to Caunus who grows angry with the slave. Caunus throws the tablets to the ground as Caunus is swamped

"Be off, you rogue! Off, while you may!" he cried,
"You pimp of lawless lust! But that your fate
Involved my shame, your death has paid for this!"

Byblis hears the news... her love repulsed, she turns pale with remorse, but immediately her wild desire returns. She works on a new strategy asking:

                                        Why, oh why
Did I reveal my wound so rashly? Why
So quickly put in writing---in such haste--
What should have been concealed? I should have first
Tested his feelings, using words that might
Mean nothing. To make sure the wind blew fair,
I should have set a small sail and kept good watch

Her brother flees after many unwonted advances.. Byblis beats herself in grief. She threatens to hunt him down.

Like Thracian women maddened each three years
By Bacchus' wand in holy ecstasy,
Byblis ran howling through the countryside,
Watched by the wives of Bubasis, then on
Through Caria and Lycia....

So by wasting all her weeping away Byblis became a spring.

The tale of this strange miracle might well
Have been the talk of all the hundred towns
Of Crete, had not the island known
In Iphis' change a marvel nearer home.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Lycean Peasants

Leto (aka Latona) with the infants Apollo and Artemis, by Francesco Pozzi (1824) Sent by his father who: "Had charged me to retrieve some special steers And given me a Lycean for guide, With him I traversed those far pasture-lands, When, standing in the middle of a mere (lake), And black with ash of sacrifice, behold An ancient altar, ringed with waving reeds. Inquiring as to who build the altar: "no mountain deity Enjoys this altar; it is claimed by her Whom the queen of heaven barred from the world, Whom drifting Delos scarcely dared consent To harbour, when that island swam the sea. Latona (Leto) in spite of Juno (Hera) bore her twins; If you are wondering how Leto got her bad temper, that story unfolds here. Recall, if you will,  Artemis & Apollo, the children of Leto, methodically kill Niobe's children. Latona and her babies (both divine) got thirsty; spied a mere The flaming sun beat down upon the fields; The goddess, tir...

Tereus, Procne, and Philomela - a savage tale picked up by Shakespeare, wherein #MeToo strikes back

Spoiler Alert!! Tereus may be Titus Andronicus Tereus of Thrace with his relieving force Had routed them and won a victor's fame;  And, seeing he was strong in wealth and men  And, as it happened, traced his lineage From Mars* himself,  Pandion gave his child, Procne, in marriage, thus to link their lines. Tereus' and Procne's marriage gave delight To Thrace, Now season followed season, as the sun Led on the years; five autumns glided by, And Procne coaxed her husband, 'If my love Finds any favour, give me leave to visit My sister, or invite my sister here, Giving my father your sure word that she Will soon return. To see her once again Will be a gift most precious.' So her husband Had his ship launched, King Pandion gave him audience, And hand clasped hand, their meeting, seemed set fair. He had begun to speak of Procne's plan, ... suddenly In entered Philomela, richly robed In gorgeous finery, and richer still Her beauty... ...

Book IX - p. 199 ACHELOUS AND HERCULES THRU TO DRYOPE p.211

Hercules and Achelous in a Roman wall painting from the Hall of the Augustales . Achelous is subdued even after changing himself into a snake and then into a Bull. Hercules wins Deianira and marries her.  ============ Time passes here.=========  Nessus, a centaur, abducts Deianira; Hercules returns after many love affairs, subdues and slays Nessus. But it's a lingering death ( pierced with an arrow). His blood bearing the Hydra's poison soaks Hercules tunic after Nessus has given it to Deianira, "A talisman, he said, to kindle love... Long years had passed, and Hercules' great deeds Had filled the world and sated Juno's hate...'At Cenaeum, when rumour rode ahead-- Rumour who talks and loves to tangle true with false, and from near nothing flourishes On her own lies --and swiftly reaches the ears Of Deianira, rumour that her lord was held in thrall by love of Iole.  Her doting heart believed." Deianira decides... "To send the s...