Reading Diary A

The Greek gods have always interested me because they generally come off as entitled babies. It's a significant contrast to God in Christianity or Judaism because humans seem to be their playthings as opposed to creature that they care for to some extent. I think this makes sense because they were originally thought up as a means for explaining all the terrible things that happened back in those days, and eventually transitioned to also explaining the good. For example, when crops died or there was an extended drought, Ceres could be to blame. Now of course if she was to blame when things were bad, she also received some credit for an especially strong crop. An example of the whims of the Gods exists in this section in the story of Arachne and Minerva. In this story, Minerva is essentially angry because Arachne is an excellent wool spinner, but refuses to give any credit to Minerva, thought Minerva claims that she in some way taught the girl this ability. Ultimately Minerva is so upset that she challenges Arachne and turns her into a spider. This is just one in a long lineage of stories of Gods messing with the lives of mortals. Later, a woman named Niobe rejects the goddess Latona as being inferior to her and tells the people to worship her instead. Latona is furious at this, and kills first Niobe's sons and then her daughters. Again, this is an example of a mortal putting themself above the gods, making one of them angry, and ultimately paying the price. These stories both explain the many tragedies that took place back in those times, but also teach people to be careful not to display hubris.

Ovid's Metamorphoses Part 2

Death of Niobe's Children, Konig