Spectra and the Rainbow

Spectra and the Rainbow

Long ago, the mortal world underwent a period of gloom and darkness. The sun had not shined in over a century because of the heavy rainfall that fell over the earth. Thankfully, the gods had protected the earth from flooding. Many of the people wondered why the gods had brought this upon them. They prayed and offered sacrifices to Zeus, but all they heard was silence. Many of the people had become weary and lethargic. Meanwhile, in Olympus, the gods were arguing. Zeus stated that he was bored with the humans and that he wished they were all wiped off the face of the earth. He argued that they were becoming more self centered and careless. On the other side, Athena and many other gods, tried to convince Zeus to give the humans a second chance. Zeus agreed, but on one condition. He would search for the most cheerful person, if one existed, and force them to find light in the dark and gloomy earth. The rest of the gods thought this was fair, so they agreed upon Zeus’ request.
In the small town of Raspora, there lived a peasant family with six children. All of the children were grown except for one, who was only sixteen. Her name was Spectra. Her parents loved her and were thankful for such a great daughter. In the midst of the human’s despair, Spectra spoke words of encouragement to others. One day she went to fetch apples from an apple orchard. When she found the trees, she was amazed because of their plentifulness. She immediately looked up to the heavens and thanked the gods for giving her food to feed her family. Hearing her words of thanksgiving, Zeus came to earth in the form of wind and breathed words to Spectra. He told her that she was to set out on a journey to find light in the world. Spectra asked how she was supposed to find the light. Zeus told her that he would send signs showing the way. He also told her that she could not miss the light, for it consisted of vibrancy.
Spectra placed the apples in her sack and traveled to find the light Zeus commanded her to find. She journeyed through farmlands and came upon a harvest of pumpkins. “A small pumpkin will make a great pie for my mother,” she thought. Spectra found the healthiest looking pumpkin out of the patch and followed the road again. Although the countryside was lush and green because of the rain, the sky was cloudy and dark because of the lack of light. Before entering the forest, Spectra came upon a field of yellow daffodils. “How beautiful! My sister would love a bouquet of freshly picked daffodils,” she said kindly. She gently placed the flowers into her sack along with the apples and pumpkin. While traveling through the forest, she came upon a bed of clovers. Her feet were tired, so she sat down and rested. Her hands wove through the green clovers and she picked up a handful. To her amazement, she found a four leaf clover. She laughed and put it in her sack and headed off because she remembered Zeus was counting on her to find the light. The path Zeus told her to follow led to a small village. She paced down the path and heard someone call out to her. She turned around and saw an old lady handing her a handkerchief. The lady told her she thought that she could use one because Spectra was dirty from traveling. Spectra thanked the old lady and placed the indigo handkerchief in her sack. The path became rocky after she left the village and the rain started to pour. However, Spectra knew she had to press on. As the rainfall lightened, she finally grew weary and she decided to rest behind a large rock. On the ground beside her was a bluebird’s feather. She had never seen such a blue feather in her life, so she put the feather into her sack. When Spectra passed the rocky hills, she came across a vineyard. Without a doubt, she was hungry, so she picked off a cluster of grapes. They tasted delicious. She saved the rest of the grapes she had picked and put them into her sack. It had been more than two days since Spectra spoke with the mighty Zeus, so she assumed that her journey must be coming to an end. Amazingly, she reached two golden gates within an hour. She opened them and went inside the garden. To her astonishment, gleaming light shone from a waterfall that was in the center of the garden. Spectra joyfully ran towards the light, but as soon as she reached the waterfall’s edge, she tripped and her sack went flying into the water. Suddenly, the light engulfed the sack with its belongings and vibrant colors of all sorts began to shine from the waterfall. Spectra covered her eyes because of the brightness. Then, she heard Zeus’ voice. He told her that because of her obedience, light would be restored to the earth once again.
Spectra went home and told her family of her adventure. She told them to look outside and see the light that shined in the sky. Beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, helped light the cloudless sky. Zeus declared that the object in the sky would be called a rainbow. He would stop the endless rain and this new light, the rainbow, would help illuminate the sky. ~ Kristen

Echo and Narcissus

There once was a nymph named Echo. She was very involved in the woodland sports, and enjoyed the hills as well. But Echo had one very bad quality. In all conversations she never forfeited the last word to anyone else. Eventually, she managed to offend Juno. Juno made it so that she would never be able start any conversation; just end it by repeating the last words spoken.
One day in the forest, Echo came upon a beautiful youth. His name was Narcissus. Narcissus heard Echo following him, and shouted “Who’s here?” But, even with the undeniable urge to converse, Echo could only mutter “here.” After Echo repeated a few phrases, Narcissus was offended. He apparently thought that she was mocking him, so he walked away from her. For many nights, Echo stayed in the woods, in caves and among the mountain cliffs. She stayed hidden away until her flesh wasted away and her bones turned to rocks. Her voice was the one thing left of her. All during this, Narcissus continued to be self-centered and vain, so the gods decided to punish him.
There was a fountain of water, in the forest. No shepherd led his flocks to drink there, and no beast drank as well. It was the perfect fountain without any obvious blemish. Narcissus, fatigued after hunting, went to take a drink. As he brought his head up, he saw a reflection. It was his own, and it was mesmerizing. He was drawn by his beauty, and his own vanity. He lost any desire for anything but himself. Finally after wearing away he pined away and died. The nymphs mourned his death. They went to find the body for a funeral, but instead of a body being at the fountain, they found a white and purple flower. This flower was called the Narcissus, in honor of a very beautiful but vain man. ~ Josh

IO

IO

One day as Juno was taking a walk through heaven she noticed that the skies were particularly cloudy and dark. Her husband, Jupiter, often produced these skies when he didn’t want his wife to see his doings. Immediately, she brushed away the cloud as if it were a strand of hair and observed her husband lounging near a quiet river with the most beautiful heifer accompanying him. Suspecting the heifer to be some sort of a mortal youthful nymph Juno joined her husband and asked from where it came from. Jupiter exclaimed that the heifer was just created when in reality he had turned the maiden named Io into a cow when his wife was approaching. Juno was of course, perceiving this and requested that her husband give her this heifer as a gift. Could the man deny her of such a trifling gift? Although he was loath to hand over the maiden heifer, he had to comply with his wife’s wish. Juno was not convinced of her husband’s story so she entrusted the heifer to Argus.
Argus was a humongous giant-like man who had a hundred eyes but never rested more than two at a time. Because of this he was able to keep watch over Io every second. Forced to be tied with a painful rope on her neck and feed through the day, Io longed to beg for freedom from Argus but because she was no longer human she had no resources to do so. Once while she was grazing, her father and sisters came up to her and exclaimed over her beauty, patting her back. Oh how she longed to tell them that it was their beloved sister and daughter but she couldn’t, or could she? Io realized that her name was such a simple one that she could simply inscribe it in the sand with her hoof. Once she did so her father was ecstatic and embraced his long lost daughter. Observing this reunion, Argus was infuriated and watched Io even more closely than before.
Meanwhile, Jupiter was immensely troubled at how much Io was suffering and summoned his messenger, Mercury, to formulate a plan to rescue this troubled maiden. Mercury slipped on his winged sandals and flew like the wind down to earth to play out the plan he had contrived. He posed as a Shepherd looking after his herd while keeping his wand as a staff. While tending his flock of sheep, he began to play upon his Syrinx and Argus was delighted with the beautiful music. Inviting him to sit on his rock, Argus was enchanted with the music and stories that Mercury told. One by one the ever-watchful eyes of Argus were lulled into a deep sleep while Mercury continued to drone on with his stories. When at last every eye was in a dreamy slumber, Mercury quickly slit the throat of Argus and rescued the heifer.
Although Mercury’s actions were swift, they were not quick enough, for Juno had observed the slaying of her companion and was enraged. From the mountains of Olympus, Juno sent forth a gadfly which would torment Io. Indeed, Io ran around the world trying to escape this fly but to no avail until at last Jupiter intervened and promised his wife that he would no longer give a second thought to Io if only she was restored to her former beauty. Juno granted her husband’s wish and Io was once again reunited with her family, only this time she was human again. Argus, who had died in service to Juno, his eyes were taken up by Hera and placed in a peacock’s tail, which she took as her bird to remind her of her faithful servant. ~ Greta

Callisto

Juno’s Wrath

Jupiter, lord of the gods, espied Callisto, a beautiful young lady who loved hunting and was a friend of Diana. One day, Juno, Jupiter’s wife, found out Jupiter fancied Callisto and sought to destroy her rival. She proclaimed, “So, my husband admires your beauty. Let us see if he still likes you this way!” Angry, Juno transformed Callisto into a giant black bear. Unfortunately, the hunter became the hunted. Upset, Callisto crawled on all fours home to see her son Arcas, but when she arrived, her son, frightened, ran away in horror. Her appearance had changed, but her disposition had not. She was afraid to sleep in the woods alone, and when she saw other bears and dogs, she fled from them forgetting that she was an animal herself.
While out hunting, Arcas caught sight of Callisto coming towards him to greet him. Not knowing that this was his mother, he picked up his spear and was about to hurl it at her when Jupiter turned him into a bear. Jupiter grabbed both of them by the tail and hurled them into the heavens where they became constellations.
Juno was horrified when she realized Callisto was put in a place of honor in the heavens. She would have rather Callisto remained lovely in the mountains of Arcadia than a bear exalted in the sky. Juno traveled from the heavenly plains to the depths of the ocean to seek Tethys and Oceanus, the powers of the ocean. In agony she relayed her pitiful story. She asked them, “Why should any one hereafter tremble at the thought of offending Juno when a place in the heavens is the reward of my displeasure?” In supplication, Juno beseeched Tethys and Oceanus, if they felt for her and agreed she had been unfairly treated, to forbid Callisto and Arcas from entering their waters. They assented and the Great and Little Bear are the only two constellations that circle heavens yet never descend as the other stars do under the sea.

~Cole

Research Paper Topics Assigned

Mythology 101

The purpose of this blog is to facilitate in the posting of information. Throughout this semester, we will cover a lot of information that all blends together in one way or another. To assist you with Mythology and your research paper, I will post class information, ideas, guidelines, links, etc. to help you complete your assignments.