Introduction to Western Literature and Arts
[The Theban cycle contains stories which are ironical and paradoxical. The destiny of the house of Cadmus was closely related to "Serpent." The transformation of the family of Cadmus concerns about "vision" & "forbidden seeing."]
| Name | Ironical Reversal | Forbidden Seeing & Mystery | Transformation. |
| Cadmus | The destroyer of serpent was turned into a serpent. The gazer (of the Serpent) was gazed by other (as serpent).. | Serpent | both Cadmus and Harmonia --> serpent |
| Actaeon | The hunter was hunted by his hounds. | Voyeur the bath of Diana | -->boar |
| Semele | Semele was the gazed one. She wanted to be the gazer in the love affair. | She saw Zeus in person | --> burned |
| Bacchus | -->fragmentation-->rebirth-->god | ||
| Tiresias | The judge was judged. | He saw two snakes mating twice. | change of sex blindness vs insight |
| Narcissus | A self-lover, who adored his own sight, became a flower (a mere sight). | Obsessed with his own self image | --> flower |
| Echo | A talkative speaker became the voice of the other (echo= mere imitating sound). | She saw Zeus's affair but did not told Hera | --> "echo" |
| Pentheus | An unbeliever was frightened by what he saw. | He saw the Dionysian mysteries with uninitiated eys. | -->deformation His deformation is contrast ot Bacchus's deformation. |
Visit Carlos Parada's website: Greek Mythology Links and see the table about "Robe
& Necklace of Harmonia 1:
Robe & Necklace of
Harmonia 1. (Interesting Objects:
read here this incredible and entangled story and follow its episodes of betrayal and
other nonsensical behavior while you get acquainted with the origin of the city of
Thebes, its unwise rulers and the scandals and destruction that their actions caused.)