The Minotaur, Theseus, and Ariadne: I found this story pretty crazy. The fact that Queen Pasiphae fell in love with and had a baby with a bull is ridiculously weird. It was interesting that King Minos decided to imprison the Minotaur in a labyrinth, but I didn't understand why he had to feed it men. I thought it was sad that a hero such as Theseus would just abandon the person who helped him, especially on an island!
Daedalus and Icarus: This story was by far the saddest of all of the units. Why did Daedalus have his son test his invention? He should have done it himself or at least had a test flight, but instead he ended up killing Icarus.
Philemon and Baucis: I really enjoyed this story and it goes to show what kindness can do. Philemon and Baucis are probably the nicest people ever. They just invited complete strangers into their house, cooked for them, and pampered them.
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| (Philemon and Baucis, Rubens) |
Transformation of Philemon and Baucis: Although the gods were merciful to Philemon and Baucis, I feel that they were unfairly cruel to the rest of their neighbors. The world isn't always a safe place and I don't blame the neighbors for having their doors bolted at night. Also, nobody knew that they were gods, so why should they let any strangers walk into their house? Philemon and Baucis were the perfect couple, and I loved how their last request was that they may die at the same time so that they don't have to live for a second without the other.
Ceres and Erysichthon: Unlike the previous story, I felt the gods were just and reasonable for their punishment to Erysichthon. Not only is he extremely and unreasonably sacrilegious, but he killed a guy. He cut a man's head off for simply trying to stop him from chopping down the Ceres's Oak Tree.
The Famine: Erysichthon's punishment was to have an insatiable hunger and to essentially starve to death. Personally, I sometimes wish I could eat whatever I wanted without it effecting my body. All jokes aside, I think he deserved to suffer for killing an innocent man.
Achelous: This was a very exciting story and I thought the author did a fantastic job of creating imagery throughout the fight between Achelous and Hercules. Towards the end, when Hercules has Achelous by the horns, I couldn't help but picture the painting of White Goodman from Dodgeball, "taking the bull by the horns." I also liked how Achelous was so humble and gave Hercules credit for defeating him, rather than having sour grapes about the defeat.
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| (White Goodman Taking the Bull by the Horns, Dodgeball) |
The Shirt of Nessus: I don't understand why he trusted Nessus to take his wife and didn't just help her himself. After all, he was a demigod. Also, why did Hercules allow Deianira to take the shirt of Nessus, knowing it was covered in Hydra poison. Lastly, the lack of trust by Deianira shows how weak their marriage was.
The Death of Hercules: Before reading this, I never knew how Hercules supposedly died and I was extremely disappointed. A hero like Hercules should have died in battle, not at the hands of a poison covered shirt.
Birth of Hercules: Hercules is my favorite mythological hero, so it brought up memories from the animated Disney movie when he was recounting about everything he has conquered.
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