0:00

M m

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hi,

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Hello, welcome. This is Let's

0:34

talk about Mitts Baby, and

0:37

I am your host Live, the

0:39

woman who really loves to hate or

0:42

at least critique these so called

0:44

heroes. Before

0:47

I dive into a day's story, though, I just want

0:49

to pour my whole heart out to the

0:51

people of Greece and Turkey and everywhere

0:54

in the region that's dealing with these horrific

0:56

wildfires. I've seen a video

0:58

of via a blaze ease and heard

1:01

of the fires close to Athens, little on all the

1:03

others. It's so scary and

1:05

sad and tragic and just fuck anyway.

1:08

Climate change is fucking real, and the corporations

1:10

are to blame, not the individuals down with

1:12

late stage capitalism, and the billionaires take themselves

1:15

to space for no fucking reason and putting all the

1:17

CEO two and imaginable into the atmosphere

1:19

while we sit here feeling bad for using

1:21

single use plastic

1:24

there to blame. The climate fires

1:26

are real. They hit my province,

1:29

my country every year, and every

1:31

year they're worse and worse. Don't let anyone

1:33

tell you they're not getting worse because of climate

1:36

change. Billionaires are inherently immoral

1:38

and just I don't even know what more to say. Jeff

1:40

Bezos deserves the worst fate Tartarus

1:43

has to offer. Move aside,

1:46

Tantalus, let me introduce

1:48

you to Bezos. I'm

1:51

just I'm sorry, Greece and Turkey

1:53

from someone in the Pacific Northwest, where

1:55

wildfires are always common, but in the last

1:57

five years have become NonStop and horrifying

2:00

and destructive like no other time in my

2:02

life. I know just a fraction of what you're

2:04

experiencing. I hope your heat wave

2:06

abates and the fires get controlled

2:08

and the damage is minimal. And

2:11

now I have to transform my tone because perseus

2:13

story is lighthearted, Medusa's

2:16

murder aside. Now

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we're back again today with more. Perseus

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a man who is really quite complex, at

2:22

least when it comes to ancient Greek heroes.

2:25

First, he's one of the most ancient, and I think

2:27

that's important. Second, he really

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does do some heroic stuff.

2:31

He has good intentions, he does mostly

2:34

good things. He's an interesting one,

2:36

and I'm going to try to look at him under that lens.

2:38

Perseus is no Theseus, he's

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no Jason. We don't really need to hate

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him outright, and I think that alone

2:45

is worth looking at more closely. Where

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we last left this one of

2:51

the most ancient heroes of Greek mythology.

2:54

He was setting out on his hero's quest

2:56

in search of a gorgon's head to bring

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back to Polydectes because of possibly

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a very stupid comment made by a

3:03

mouthy young man Perseus

3:06

himself. Note not

3:08

Medusa's head specifically, He's

3:10

in search of simply a gorgon's

3:13

head. It's because Medusa is mortal

3:15

that it will end up being hers. Hermes

3:18

helps Perseus, giving him what he needs

3:20

to get on his way, if not bringing him to the first

3:22

location entirely, or the gods

3:25

join him later tough to say. Regardless,

3:28

the first location of this quest is

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the Gray Eye, three old women,

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always old, born old, who

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share one eye and one tooth between

3:38

them. They have information on the Gorgons

3:40

and the hissperities and live almost

3:42

as far west at the very edge of the

3:44

earth because Gaya drops

3:46

off into Earth, encircling

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Oceanus. This

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is episode one hundred and thirty

4:07

six, Perseus

4:09

at the edge of the World. The Many

4:11

Daughters of Forcas and Keto, the

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Gray Eye, or some of my most favorite

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beings of all of Greek mythology, and not

4:33

only because they were the inspiration for

4:35

the visual representation of the fates

4:37

in Disney's Hercules. These

4:39

three women don't take part in any stories

4:41

I know of Beyond this, they don't have any kind of

4:43

important role in the mythology, or really

4:46

any role at all. Beyond this

4:48

moment. Still

4:51

we know their parentage. They are also three

4:53

daughters of Forcas and Keto to see

4:55

monster deities, and the parents of the

4:57

three Gorgon sisters. This

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makes all six of these creatures sisters

5:02

in their own way and daughters of these

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primordial sea creature beings,

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but none of them are explicitly connected

5:09

to the sea themselves. Beyond the note

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I had last week that the Gray Eye were said to personify

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the sea foam. The connection

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of the six, though lends itself primarily

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to the name of East Kalis, is lost

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play that I mentioned at the end of

5:23

last episode. The four kiddies

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means the children of Forecas, and

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thus refers not only to the Gorgon's but the

5:30

Gray Eye too. Anyway,

5:32

the genealogy and visuals of Greek mythology

5:34

is wildly entertaining and often super

5:36

weird, Like why do these women only

5:38

have one eye and one tooth between them.

5:41

What did this add to the story beyond a mechanism

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for Perseus. There's no reasoning,

5:45

no background. They just have this very

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weird, very unique

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quirk. So

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Perseus arrives at the home of the Gray Eye,

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and he's there to find out the next location

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on his quest. He's looking for the home

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of the Asperities, also

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referred to as just the Nymphi here

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they are nymphs after all, and

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according to both Pharrachites and the

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much later Polydorus, who almost definitely

6:10

used Phrakites as a source, Perseus

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is looking for the Hesperities because they

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possess things that he

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needs, which is where the chronology

6:19

and logistics of Perseus's quest gets

6:21

a bit murkier. What

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do the Hesperities have? They might

6:28

have the winged sandals of Hermes,

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but if they did, then how did Perseus get to

6:32

the Gray Eye in the first place. They

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all live very far away from Seraphos.

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They're also said to have a kibbusis that he

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needs a backpack style bag for him

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to store the gorgon's head when he gets it. So

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maybe they just have that, and Perseus already had

6:46

the Sandals, trying

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to understand the stories that exist only in fragments

6:51

and references and analyzes over many

6:53

hundreds of years of sources and lost things,

6:55

and the confusion, the madness.

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I love it so much. Still.

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Perseus is searching for the Hesperities, and he

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knows that the Gray Eye will be able to tell him where

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they are. He finds the Gray

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Eye, but it's not as easy as him just asking

7:10

these three old women where he might find the hesperities.

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These ladies stick together. They're not about to

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just give up the location of the nymphs who live

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so close to them. They all live

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on that world's edge that for this

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western world of deities, and

7:24

sometimes even beyond it. The

7:27

Gray Eye refused to tell Perseus where the

7:29

Hesperities are, so he does the only

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thing you can think of. Perseus

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takes the single eye and the single tooth of the

7:36

Gray Eye hostage. He

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holds onto their precious limbs.

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What we call these limbs, I imagine not. They're

7:44

important, though, however you want to phrase these particular

7:47

vital body parts. Percis

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takes the eye and the tooth hostage, and he tells

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the Gray Eye that he will return the items

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only if the ladies tell him where he

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can find the Hesperities,

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and well, the Gray Eye tell him, and who can blame

8:01

them? I mean again, a single eye and a single

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tooth shared between three sisters means

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those items hold an awful lot of value.

8:09

So I imagine the Gray I make a silent apology

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to the Hesperities for giving up their location,

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and they indicate somehow to persist that they'll

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give in because of course they can't actually tell him

8:18

the location until he's returned their tooth. But

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he does and they tell him,

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and so next up the land

8:26

of the Hesperities. But

8:28

first a fascinating variation I've found.

8:31

As I've mentioned now with quite a bit of frustration,

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there's a lost East Kalis play

8:35

about the death of Medusa called the Four Kiddies.

8:38

Because it was a play, Eastlis was limited

8:40

on how much he could include, and he needed

8:43

to keep it to one location, so he

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chose to set it all alongside the

8:47

Gray Eye, since they, along with the

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Gorgons, were these four kiddies,

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these children of Forcus in

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East Kilis, the Gray Eye are actually more

8:57

like protectors of the Gorgons.

8:59

They guard the women and stand up against

9:01

Perseus in that respect, rather

9:04

than just directing him to the next location

9:07

in Eastchlis, Perseus intercepts

9:09

their shared eye and throws it into

9:11

a nearby lake. Once he's done

9:13

this, they can no longer watch over the Gorgons.

9:16

It seems too that easts might not have invented

9:18

this bed, and it might have existed in further sources

9:21

this idea at least of the gray eye being permanently

9:24

blinded by Perseus in

9:26

his attempts to kill Medusa. Still,

9:29

according to the more standardized

9:32

versions of Perseus, still yes.

9:35

Next up the Hesperities.

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The Hesperities were daughters of

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the goddess of the night Nix,

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the three nymph goddesses of the sunset

10:04

the evening, basically just the idea of the

10:06

sun setting into the western horizon,

10:09

and so they lived on that western horizon,

10:11

near to where the Titan Atlas holds the

10:14

very heavens up on his shoulders.

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Now a quick aside, because I'm in the midst of learning

10:19

modern Greek and I'm absolutely obsessed with the words

10:21

that I can find historical or mythological connections

10:23

with. So here's your single word modern Greek

10:25

lesson for the day Cali spera

10:28

means good evening, with sparta

10:31

clearly coming from the same ancient

10:33

Greek root word that gives us hesperities.

10:36

Anyway, I fucking love learning Greek. It's super fun.

10:39

The role of the hesperities in perseus

10:42

story comes primarily from Pseudo

10:44

Apollodorus. He was writing quite late

10:47

in terms of Greek mythology, but he also

10:49

put together so many details that

10:51

were in other sources that he had

10:53

read. But in what we have now we're are otherwise

10:55

left out or super fragmentary. So it's

10:57

really interesting to see what he has added to the myth

11:00

based on sources he had that we

11:02

don't or in some cases

11:04

did he make it up. So did he make it up or was it

11:06

from some older source he was referencing that

11:08

we don't have. Again, sucking

11:11

fascinating. I could go on regardless.

11:14

I just enjoy the hesperities, and I

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prefer the idea that Perseus actually had to

11:18

complete an entire quest, actually

11:20

had to put in some work and go to all these locations

11:23

before he was able to just take meduce his head

11:25

from off her body, thus spawning a lifetime

11:28

of shitty takes about the badass Oregon lady

11:30

on the Internet. So

11:32

Perseus goes seeking the

11:34

Hesperities. Now in the story

11:36

of Heracles, he also had to

11:38

visit the Hesperities for one of their famous

11:41

golden apples, because you see these Hesperities

11:44

along with a super fucking wild dragon,

11:46

and in their garden they grew golden apples.

11:50

Still, because much of the details of this bit

11:52

of story come only from Apollodorus,

11:54

we don't know whether Perseus had any trouble

11:57

getting the items from the Hesperities, whether he had

11:59

to fight the drag again, or whether the dragon

12:01

was even there. We just know Perseus

12:03

retrieved from the Hesperities some

12:05

of those godly gifts that he would

12:08

need in order to continue seeking out

12:10

and ultimately kill one of the Gorgon

12:12

sisters. From

12:14

the Hesperities, Perseus got Kibbist,

12:17

the backpack of sorts that would carry the poor

12:19

woman's head. He got the winged

12:22

sandals if he didn't have those already, and

12:24

he got hades helmet of invisibility,

12:27

though, as another source asked, why

12:30

didn't Hades have his helmet of invisibility?

12:34

With all of these godly items, all of this

12:36

divine intervention, all of this help,

12:39

Perseus is now ready to travel to

12:41

the final location, the Gorgons.

12:44

You know, three women who don't seek out any trouble

12:46

and are only ready to defend themselves against attackers

12:51

with the winged sandals of Hermes. Perseus

12:53

flies off towards the Gorgon's. It's

12:56

interesting to wonder where they are in terms of the

12:58

Hesperities, but it isn't totally clear in the mythology.

13:01

They might be beyond the edge of night.

13:05

But all three of these trios of women, and

13:07

that there's three gray I, three Hisparities, and

13:09

three Gorgons is fascinating in itself. All

13:11

three of these trios live at this western

13:13

edge of the world in one place or another.

13:16

I'd love to understand how they visualized it all.

13:18

And it was kind of a disc with an edge

13:20

that dropped off into that earth encircling

13:23

river Oceanus. But where was everyone?

13:26

Perseus flitted off towards the

13:29

Gorgon's, further along the western

13:31

edge perhaps, or just closer

13:33

to Oceanus in Oceanis,

13:36

some say, or at the very edge of night

13:38

itself. Regardless, they're far

13:40

enough away that Perseus has to fly there,

13:43

decked out in his winged sandals,

13:45

his helmet of invisibility, and

13:47

with his kibbus is flung over his back,

13:50

and with that, finally he finds the three

13:52

Gorgon sisters, Medusa, Stheno

13:55

and You're really the

14:23

Gorgon's who dwell beyond glorious

14:26

ocean in the frontier lands

14:28

towards night? Where are the

14:30

clear voiced asperities Steno

14:34

and you really? And Medusa who suffered

14:36

a woeful fate. She was

14:38

mortal, but the two were undying and

14:41

grew not old. With her

14:43

lay the dark haired one in a soft

14:45

meadow amid spring flowers.

14:49

How many times have I read you all that

14:51

passage from Easy It? Fuck, it's

14:53

been a lot, But you know what, I really don't care,

14:55

because I truly just want to drill in these earliest

14:58

opinions on Medusa, this earliest

15:01

textual description of her, because

15:03

that was from he see it's Theogony, the

15:05

earliest surviving mention of Medusa

15:08

in text. She's just a gorgon,

15:10

just immortal gorgon, and whatever Gorgon

15:13

looked like is not even described. She's

15:17

immortal who quote unquote lay with

15:19

Poseidon again, whatever that means

15:21

consensual or not that was all

15:24

she was, and that made her perseus is target,

15:26

just the simple fact that she was mortal.

15:29

She was immortal. Gorgon and her sisters

15:31

were not mortal. They couldn't be killed.

15:34

I wish I knew why. Nobody

15:36

seems to ever explain why Medusa

15:38

is the only mortal, but still that

15:41

is why Perseus went for her over anyone

15:43

else, and Perseus

15:45

did. He arrived where the Gorgon's lived

15:47

at the edge of the world, and the gods

15:49

Hermes and Athena accompanied him

15:51

on that leg of the journey. They provided

15:53

even more divine help in this quest.

15:56

He found where the Gorgon's lived and

15:59

they were sleep bing. The gods

16:01

directed Perseus to the only one

16:03

of the three gorgons who he could physically

16:06

kill, Medusa, and they

16:08

warned him that he wasn't to look her in the eye,

16:11

either he looked away, or if

16:13

he did have that reflective shield of

16:15

later myths, he looked there instead, using

16:18

it as a mere and while

16:20

the three gorgons were sleeping soundly

16:22

in the comfort of their own home where they

16:24

felt safe and protected, he

16:27

cut off Medusa's head, stored

16:29

it away in his kibbusses, and got

16:31

the hell out of there, not

16:34

at all heroic. To

16:38

continue my quoting of Hesi, it's Theogany,

16:40

the oldest surviving source for this moment

16:43

quote. And when Perseus cut off

16:45

her head, there sprang forth great

16:47

Chris or and the horse Pegasus,

16:50

who was so called because he was

16:52

born near the spring Peggy of

16:54

Ocean, and that other because

16:56

he held a golden blade a or

16:59

in his hands. As

17:02

you all probably well remember, Medusa's

17:04

death is what triggers the birth

17:06

of her children, Pegasus and Chris. They are

17:09

their father was Poseidon, hence why

17:11

one of them is a horse, and something

17:13

about Medusa's decapitation is

17:15

what causes their birth. It's

17:18

a fascinating bit ripe with

17:20

ways to interpret Medusa's relationship

17:22

with Poseidon. To me, it only enforces

17:25

the fact that I take it as an assault,

17:27

even though heca doesn't say as much. He

17:30

doesn't say anything at all. And God's no, Poseidon

17:32

was rarely dealing in consensual encounters.

17:34

And besides, if it was consensual in a godly

17:37

act, why would she only be able to give birth

17:39

when she was killed? And

17:41

remember the version where Athena has cursed

17:43

Medusa with her so called monstrosity

17:46

is unique to of it, at least in terms

17:48

of what survives. But the assault of

17:50

Poseidon and the children born of that

17:52

are not. After

17:54

the death of Medusa and the birth of her children,

17:57

the famous flying horse Pegasus, who

17:59

was absolutely not written by Perseus

18:01

and Chrissy or a man who we never really hear

18:04

from. Again, Medusa's sisters

18:06

chase after Perseus, defending

18:08

their sister, trying to avenge their

18:11

sister, but Perseus has

18:13

the God's health, and either by speed or

18:15

invisibility or simply divine intervention,

18:18

Perseus escapes the pursuit of

18:20

the Gorgon sisters. Another

18:23

of the earliest surviving sources for the idea

18:26

of a Gorgon and Perseys taking her

18:28

head, though not named as Medusa, comes

18:30

from a work called the Shield of Heracles,

18:33

originally attributed to Hesiod, but I think

18:35

I've heard that that's up for debate. Regardless,

18:37

it's seriously old, archaic Greek, sixth

18:40

century old, and it describes a

18:42

bit of this moment. The

18:44

context is that all of this was actually carved

18:46

into the shield carried by Heracles,

18:49

because this, this epic itself is about

18:51

Heracles, though not all of it survives,

18:53

and it being about Heracles, it also

18:55

includes a very detailed description

18:58

of what imagery appeared on heroes

19:00

shield that in itself makes us even

19:02

more fun. And so, yes, Perseus

19:04

and his story are depicted on

19:07

heracles shield. I'm going to

19:09

redo this passage because it's quite interesting,

19:11

it's quite old, and also, my god,

19:13

what a cool shield. There

19:16

too was the son of rich hair Danny,

19:18

the horseman, Perseus. His

19:21

feet did not touch the shield, and

19:23

yet were not far from it. Very

19:26

marvelous to remark, since he was not supported

19:28

anywhere, For so did

19:30

the famous Hephaistus fashion him of

19:32

gold with his hands on

19:35

his feet. He had winged sandals, and his

19:37

black sheathed sword was slung

19:39

across his shoulders by a cross

19:41

belt of bronze. He was flying

19:44

swift as thought, the head

19:46

of a dreadful monster. The gorgon

19:49

covered the broad of his back, and

19:51

a bag of silver a marvel to

19:53

see, contained it. And

19:56

from the bag bright tassels

19:58

of gold hung down. Upon

20:00

the head of the hero lay the dread cap

20:02

of Hades, which had the awful gloom

20:05

of night. Perseus himself,

20:07

the son of Danegie, was at full stretch

20:10

like one who hurries and shudders with

20:12

horror, and after him rushed

20:14

the Gorgon's unapproachable and unspeakable,

20:17

longing to seize him. As

20:20

they trod upon the pale adamant, the shield

20:22

rang sharp and clear, with a

20:24

loud clanging. Two

20:26

serpents hung down at their girdles with heads

20:29

curved forward. Their tongues were

20:31

flickering and their teeth gnashing with fury,

20:34

and their eyes glaring fiercely, and

20:37

upon the awful heads of the gorgon's great

20:39

fear was quaking again.

20:44

Quite the intricate shield. Quite

20:46

the depiction of Perseus being chased

20:49

by these gorgons, which is not something

20:51

we get in a lot of other sources. It

20:54

really emphasizes the idea that this

20:56

was a tragedy for the Gorgon's. He

20:58

had killed their sister and they were

21:00

going to at least try to

21:02

do something about it. From

21:23

here, the story of Perseus and poor Medusa's

21:25

severed head diverges into two interesting

21:27

versions, and obviously I'm going to share them both

21:30

next week, the story of Andromeda

21:32

in Ethiopia and her relationship

21:34

with Perseus. But today Atlas,

21:38

another famous person to live at the edge

21:40

of the world is of course Atlas,

21:43

the titan whose job it is to hold the

21:45

heavens on his shoulders. That

21:47

he lives out that way is standard to

21:49

these stories. But that he holds the heavens on

21:51

his shoulders isn't That lies

21:54

pretty deeply within Heracles His story.

21:57

As for Perseus, my beloved, Ovid tells

21:59

the most detailed version of his encounter with Atlas,

22:01

making the whole notion of it pretty late

22:03

in the period. But there's a Greek who mentioned

22:06

it too, though really differently. According

22:08

to the dith Rambic poet Polydo's

22:11

mentioned like Farrachetes in a later

22:13

commentary, told the story of Perseus

22:15

and a man named Atlas, who he encountered

22:18

shortly after killing Medusa. In

22:20

this version, Perseya simply passes by a

22:22

shepherd who happens to be named Atlas

22:24

and who apparently just questioned

22:26

Perseus about his identity, which caused

22:29

Perseus to show him Medusa's head. So

22:31

yeah, that version is Percy is just murdering another

22:33

random dude because of a nothing reason, not

22:35

ideal, But Ovid's is more interesting.

22:38

According to Avid, Perseus encountered

22:40

the real Atlas, that is the Titan

22:42

son of Yapidus, on his way

22:44

back from killing Medusa. First,

22:46

Perseus was flying back from his encounter,

22:48

and as he was flying over ancient

22:51

Libya, broadly just modern North

22:53

Africa, drops of Medusa's

22:55

blood fell upon the earth and

22:57

spawned a bunch of snakes. This

23:00

of it says, is why the region is infested

23:02

with snakes. I'm sorry this episode

23:04

is just full of random asides, because funcket all these

23:06

variations and versions over so many hundreds of years

23:09

are fascinating as fuck. But

23:11

beyond the spawning of a bunch of random

23:13

snakes, Perseus continues

23:16

on until he reaches the land of Atlas

23:18

once more, at another furthest western

23:21

edge of the world. This

23:23

version of Atlas was still a Titan, still

23:25

son of Yappotus, still enormous, like

23:28

any good Titans should be. But he

23:30

ruled this land as a king. He

23:32

had thousands of flocks, herds, everything,

23:34

including the golden apples of the hesperities,

23:37

who, according to of It and others, lived

23:39

along with Atlas. Perseus

23:42

came upon this realm of Atlas and Atlas

23:44

himself, and asked if he could be the titans

23:47

guest. He was tired, he traveled

23:49

so far, plus he'd killed that nice woman who'd

23:51

done nothing wrong, and so he was awfully

23:53

exhausted and very excited to have

23:55

a place to stay there with Atlas.

23:59

Atlas, though, was not interested in having

24:01

Perseus day in his lands. He'd

24:03

heard a prophecy many years before

24:06

about a son of Zeus arriving and

24:08

that that would cause the gold of his

24:10

land, his apples to be spoiled,

24:13

to disappear, leaving his land a much

24:16

poorer place. To prepare

24:18

himself against this prophecy this son

24:20

of Zeus, Atlas had surrounded

24:22

his lands with large walls, and he'd set

24:25

this dragon to watch over them to protect

24:27

him from a son of Zeus. It

24:29

seems that Persey has got past all of that just

24:32

fine, I imagine, because he was flying and ancient

24:34

Greek dragons couldn't fly. But

24:36

regardless, he got as far as to actually

24:39

ask Atlas for his hospitality,

24:42

and to be rejected at

24:44

first. Percy has tried to fight Atlas for his

24:46

insolence for not allowing him to be a guest

24:49

in his lands, but well, Atlas is

24:51

a fucking Titan, so he quickly realized

24:53

he was absolutely no match for the man. When

24:56

this realization hit, another

24:58

hit Perseus as well. He now

25:00

had the ability to win any argument,

25:02

any fight in the absolute least fair

25:05

way possible. So

25:07

he held up the head of Medusa before the Titan

25:10

Atlas and bam Atlas was turned

25:12

to stone. Honestly, these

25:14

are moments where, like so many other heroes, I do

25:16

question how heroic they are. Medusa's

25:19

murder aside, you have to think Perseus did a

25:21

few heroic things. Next week, he'll save

25:23

Andromeda, he saves his mother from a

25:25

horrible predator. You know, he does some

25:27

good. And sure this is only an ovids,

25:29

we can pretend that in the older ancient Greek sources,

25:31

Perseus is more explicitly heroic, except

25:34

for killing Medusa. But still so much

25:36

of his heroism is just him possessing

25:38

a woman's head to use to turn people

25:40

to stone. Percy

25:42

has transformed Atlas into stone, and thus

25:45

the mythological history behind the

25:47

Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa,

25:50

yes still called that today they

25:53

span Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

25:56

At least that bit's cool, Perseus.

26:00

I find myself so torn with you. You're certainly

26:02

much much, much better than Theseus

26:05

or Jason. But are you really a hero

26:07

in the truest sense of the word. The ancient

26:09

Greeks would certainly say so. He was one of

26:11

their most ancient and so their most important.

26:14

They're founding heroes, and

26:16

their use of the word is a bit different from ours today

26:18

too, which is an interesting piece of this

26:21

and which often gets forgotten and talk of their

26:23

so called heroic actions. In

26:25

ancient Greece, these heroes protected their

26:27

lands, they completed quests. They didn't have

26:29

to be perfect and chivalrous. They just

26:31

had to do what they've been instructed to do,

26:34

keep their lands safe, and kill whatever

26:36

they needed to do. All the same

26:38

again, Perseus does do some good. It's

26:41

just that they'll come next week all the

26:43

good things he does, including a princess

26:45

whose heritage is up for debate, but who in

26:47

all possible instances, is absolutely

26:50

not what we would consider today as white.

26:54

Next week, fucking Andromeda.

27:12

Oh thank you all for listening.

27:14

I really do have so much fun revisiting some of these

27:16

stories that I covered so very early on the podcast.

27:19

Honestly, this one I was expecting to be a bit

27:21

more narrative based, so I apologize for

27:24

all of the wild variations. But I

27:26

just think it's so interesting, and I'm just assuming

27:28

you all want to hear all this crazy ship

27:30

too, because it's really fucking fascinating.

27:33

It's incredible to me how much more I

27:35

know now, how much better I am at finding original

27:38

sources, and therefore how much more in

27:40

depth and accurate my retailings can be. These

27:42

days, I basically only use primary sources

27:45

i e. Writers from antiquity, the ancient

27:47

world itself, rather than people who were already

27:49

retelling the stories, as I did with the

27:51

early days of this podcast. The exception

27:53

to that is a couple of books that I want to mention because

27:55

they're really cool. Lately, I've been

27:57

using as a source for some episodes at least

28:00

a two volume set of books called Early Greek

28:02

Myths by Timothy Gantz. Honestly,

28:04

I don't necessarily recommend them to you all unless

28:06

you're at the level of nerd I am. Plus are

28:08

really expensive, they aren't easy

28:11

to understand retellings, but instead the books

28:13

explain all the varied sources

28:15

on each of the myths covered, including

28:17

visual representations, even which is

28:20

something lacking in a lot of other places. So

28:22

it's basically everything I want in

28:24

order to retell the myths to you guys. And

28:27

it's the only place I found this Farrichides

28:29

version of the story today, which is why I'm telling

28:31

you all of this in the first place. So farik

28:34

Hides was a mythographer, though

28:36

he's described then as a historian

28:38

and genealogist. From the fifth century.

28:41

He seems to have written a very complete account

28:44

of many of the myths of ancient Greece, similar

28:46

to Apollodorus, but about

28:48

four or five years earlier. But

28:51

it's lost. The book entirely

28:54

is lost. And yet

28:56

here I've been referencing him the whole time. How

29:00

an ancient source referred to

29:02

his retellings, his details, and we have that

29:04

source, an ancient school. He

29:06

asked someone who was commenting

29:08

on Farrachits, whose name we don't

29:10

have. Their work survives

29:13

where they comment on farra Chaits, thus

29:15

telling us what fara Chiti says, and sometimes

29:18

even with direct quotes, which

29:20

is all to say, ancient history and the survival

29:22

of versions and sources is fucking fascinating.

29:25

And the more I learned, the more thrilled

29:27

I am. Every fucking time. What survives,

29:29

what doesn't. How why incredible?

29:32

Anyway, I'm the biggest nerd on this planet. This episode

29:34

was a little bit wild, but I hope you will enjoyed

29:36

it. Percy's is really interesting, mostly

29:38

because of how old he was and thus how much

29:41

his story varies. Thank

29:43

you all again, You're all very awesome. Next week,

29:46

Andromeda, you know the African or

29:48

maybe Middle Eastern, I'll explain princess

29:51

who married Perseus and thus

29:53

became the matriarch of an entire fucking

29:55

dynasty of Greek heroes and characters.

29:59

Fuck yeah, I am living.

30:01

I really love this ship.