EPISODE FIFTEEN: CONSIDER YOURSELF AT HOME
ODYSSEUS BEFORE ALCINOUS, KING OF THE PHAEACIANS
1853
August Malmström, Swedish (1829-1901)
Johan August Malmström was a Swedish painter known for his genre paintings of children and country life. He also painted scenes from Norse and Greek mythology, including the moment when Odysseus clasps the knees of Queen Arete.
LIBATIONS IN ANCIENT GREECE
Libations were an extremely important part of public and private religious life in ancient Greece. One method of performing a libation was to pour a liquid such as wine (often mixed with water), or milk, or honey from a jug (an Oenochoe) into a shallow bowl (a Phiale). The libation was poured from the phiale onto an altar, or onto the earth.
Libations were offered to the gods, or in honor of ancestors.
Libation rituals are recorded on numerous terra cotta pots. Whenever you see a tilted plate, chances are someone is pouring a libation to a god or, sometimes, one god is pouring a libation to another.
Phiales could be made of metal or terra cotta. Many have come down to us intact from ancient times.
THE THREE JUDGES OF HADES
Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, three sons of Zeus, are the judges of the dead in Hades. They judge the deeds of the deceased and create the laws that governed the underworld.
Aeacus was the guardian of the keys of the underworld and the judge of the men of Europe. Rhadamanthus was Lord of Elysium and judge of the men of Asia.
In Dante’s Inferno, Minos judges each soul entering hell and curls his tail around his body a number of times, corresponding to the circle in which they are to be punished.
(The unnamed 18th century artist shows a very non-classical understanding of Hades, with roaring flames seen behind the three judges.)
Also mentioned in this episode:
James Whale’s “The Old, Dark House”
William Pène du Bois’s “The Twenty-One Ballons”