In part 1 we looked at divine mothers in epic. Now in part 2 we see the difficulty of being a mortal mother of a hero. Unlike some of the examples we looked at featuring divine mothers, these sons do not rely on their mothers or ask them for help, and the mothers seem to have no control over events or their sons’ lives. But as with the divine mothers,… Read more
In these posts we are looking at the way the relationship between mothers and sons is portrayed in Homeric epic. In this first post we look at some divine mothers: Aphrodite, mother of Aeneas, and Thetis, mother of Achilles; Hera and Hephaistos, and the role Thetis played in caring for Hephaistos. Because Aphrodite’s and Thetis’ sons have mortal fathers, their sons are also mortal, and will die. Both these mothers… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Maria G. Xanthou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for an Open House discussion on ‘Mothers of Heroes and Monsters: Althaea and Callirhoe’. She introduces the topic as follows: Mothers of Heroes and Monsters: Althaea and Callirhoe Maternal figures are inescapable in the fragmentarily preserved Stesichorean poetry. Two of them, Althaea (P.Oxy. 3876) and Callirhoe (P.Oxy. 2617) await a comprehensive literary appreciation. The article focuses on motherhood… Read more