If you have sat through any Psychology class, whether it was Psych 101 or higher, you have likely heard the term “narcissistic.” Narcissistic is one of the six types of personality disorders. This disorder deals with the constant ME, ME, ME, and oh yes ME! way of thinking.
A narcissistic person is in love with himself and shuns the advances of others. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Many people know someone who is narcissistic. Perhaps you’re a narcissus yourself. The question is do we know where the term “narcissistic” comes from?
The Ancient Greeks, apart from having awesome gods and goddesses, had many different moral stories in their culture. As entertaining as they all are the one that I am referring to today is that of Echo and Narcissus. Does narcissus sound anything like narcissistic? It should; even the spellings are similar. For a fuller version of the tale of Echo and Narcissus, click here.
For now, I shall give you the short of it. Echo was a nymph who was punished by Hera so that she would only be able to repeat the last word(s) of what another person said. While out in the woods she came upon a man named Narcissus and being unable to talk first followed waiting for him to speak. Eventually he heard her footsteps and called out asking who was there, which Echo gladly repeated. After much calling out he finally invited Echo, not knowing her name, to meet him. The nymph was overcome with joy and threw her arms around the man. Narcissus shoved Echo away stating he would rather die then be loved by her. This caused Echo to flee into the mountains where she shrank away to the mere echo we hear when we speak in big rooms.
As for Narcissus, after leaving a trail of broken hearts, he looked into a pond one day and saw his reflection. He fell in love with it and attempted to hold the figure in his arms, believing it to be a nymph. He wasted away beside the pond starring at his own reflection, leaving only a flower in his place when he died.
Since then psychologist have referred to people who have fallen in love with themselves as being narcissistic after this Greek myth. The next time you run into that person who thinks they are the greatest thing in the world, remind them of what happened to poor Narcissus in the end and maybe they can save themselves from the exact same fate.
For a bit of fun I have included a link to a site where you can take The How Narcissistic Are You Test. Mine was a score of Echo and 32 percent Narcissist. I guess that means you might say I have learned the moral of this tale.
Danielle Patterson
(photo credit: gauri_lama)
April 16th, 2009 by admin | Posted in History | Comments (0)
This one is going to be split up into at least a two-part blog due to the amount of information that has to be given. To start us off a brief overview of the Greek gods and their Roman equivalents who are involved in the weekdays. Remember while the Greeks used names for their gods, the Romans used planets.
Apollo, the sun god, rode his fiery chariot every morning and pulled the sun into the sky. Every night, he would ride that same chariot and pull the sun out of the sky so that the world could rest. Apart from pulling the sun Apollo was also know for his talents in healing, prophecies and the use of the oracle. He was also known to be like his father, Zeus, in character, often chasing nymphs and sometimes even mortals. His Roman equivalent was the Sun, odd coincidence, right?
Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and is often associated with animals and woodlands. Unlike her fellow Greek gods, she has more than one Roman name. She is known as both Diana and the Moon. She is the twin sister of Apollo, who we know as the Sun god. Besides being excellent with a bow, Artemis was also wonderful with words when it came to poetry and an athlete on the field.
Ares is the Greek god of war. He was known to be fierce and merciless on the battle field. When going to war, the Greeks, or any other civilization that had an Ares-like god, would pray to him. They would pray for victory, honor, courage and death to all of their enemies. Often before battles, they would hold a great feast in his honor. His alter ego is Mars, who lives the Roman life.
Hermes is the gods’ favorite messenger. This however was not his only job. He also dealt with travel, trade, animal husbandry, writing, astrology and even thievery. Often he was depicted as a handsome youth with winged boots or as an old man dressed in a travelers cloak. The Roman version of this jack-of-all-trades, in a manner of speaking, is Mercury.
The great Zeus is the king of all the gods. He is the thrower of lightning bolts and the Olympian hypocrite. One of his jobs as a ruler is to punish those who lie and break oaths. This is highly entertaining, considering the amount of times he himself has broken oaths and told lies. Zeus was famous for his many affairs with the nymphs and often mortals, something that his wife Hera did not look kindly on. You do remember the story of Echo and Narcissus, right?
Many wonder how it is that Zeus became the ruler and not his brother Hades. I shall tell you the great secret: They drew lots and whomever’s was longest won the right to be king. By chance Zeus happened to pull the right one and won. This is something that Hades has yet to get over. His other self is that Roman god Jupiter.
Before I leave you to digest all of this information and to wait in nail-biting suspense for my next post, notice how the Roman gods are named. They are all named after planets in the sky. The word “planet” means “wanderer” in Greek. I wonder if the Romans knew that …
Until next time, keep these gods straight. Next week, I will introduce you to the last two gods involved and share how the names of the days of the week were given … as soon as I find my astronomy notes, that is …
Danielle Patterson
(photo credit: mc5)
April 15th, 2009 by admin | Posted in History | Comments (0)
There is no need to fear! I have found my mythology notes and I am ready to introduce you to the last two gods. After you have been properly introduced, I will explain how the days came to be named. First, however I must introduce you.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is probably one of the more popular goddesses. People both young and old would prey to her. They would pray to her asking for someone’s admiring eye. They ask for the courage to tell a person that they love them. Aphrodite was also known for watching over sailors as they were at sea. Her Roman equivalent is Venus–Release the goddess in you. (Sorry I just could not resist doing that.)
Last but not least, by far, is Cronus. He is the father of time. Cronus also has a very interesting story. Years after he was born Cronus castrated his own father then disposed of him. When he married Rhea, Cronus was told a prophecy. That prophecy stated that one of his own sons would over throw him. Fearing this, Cronus swallowed each child as they were born. Rhea however managed to save one child, Zeus. Later, Zeus forced his father to throw up the rest of the children. After this, Zeus and Cronus waged a war of the gods vs. the Titans. Cronus is Saturn in Rome.
Now that you have become familiar with the gods, we need to have a brief astronomy lesson. We know now that the Earth is not the center of the universe. This however is not true for the ancient Greeks and Romans. Back then, they believed the Earth to be the center of the universe. They often used this belief in relation to important cultural ideas. In this case, they used it to name the days of the week.
Here is where it gets a bit tricky. Just remember that the Earth is the center of the universe. If you lined the planets up in the order of how close they are to the sun what would it be? The closest is the Moon, which is where Monday comes from. Next is Mars who represents Tuesday. Third is Mercury who is Wednesday. After that is Jupiter who stands in for Thursday. Then comes Venus, which is Friday. After Venus is Saturn who is Saturday. Finally comes the Sun who is Sunday.
All of the planets either kept their English names or were changed into Nordic in order to get the names we have today. That is how the days of the week got their names.
Danielle Patterson
(photo credit: julesstoop)
April 14th, 2009 by admin | Posted in History | Comments (0)
Everyone loves a hero. Countries around the world have multiple myths containing heroes. The Greeks and the Norse loved their heroes. For that matter, every ancient culture loved their heroes. Heroes faced the things that the people themselves feared. These things change from culture to culture but mainly included creatures of the fantastical kind. However, no matter how different the story every hero story has the same formula as discovered by Joseph Campbell. Each story starts out with the call. This explains why the hero goes out on his/her adventure. Often it is something they have to do in order to help the community. Other calls are personal ones, like needing to find out who their father was.
After the call there is the transition. The transition is when the hero enters the usually supernatural world. In place of the supernatural they may enter a world of the nonliving. If that s not the case then they enter non normal way of life. In some religions, they even meet with gods.
Soon after they face their challenge. This challenge sometimes occurs while the hero is still in transition. The challenge maybe either physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional. However the hero does not need to beat these challenges in order to proceed to the next part of the tale. In fact, many cultures have heroes that fail.
The final stage is the return. This occurs when the hero returns to their home. For most heroes their homecoming turns into a huge festival. Other heroes return to a family celebration. The type of homecoming depends on the values the culture holds.
That is the basic formula for a hero tale. However, Campbell also made a good point when he said that this formula can be applied to everyone. We all face our own challenges and go through our own heros journey at least once in our lives. So the next time you receive the call to go out on your own journey remember there is a hero in all of us.
(photo credit: harrsch)
April 10th, 2009 by admin | Posted in History | Comments (0)
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