G is for Greeks

Ah, the Greeks. Such a long, tumultuous history. From their epic battles, larger than life heroes, and moody gods, they made sure they would be remembered for a long time to come.

The early Mycenaean Greeks of the bronze age were greatly influenced by the Minoans of Crete, and actually thank their rise to the fall of the Minoans. Bronze age Greece were divided up into city-states such as Mycenae, Sparta, Ithaca, Thebes, and Pylos. the Mycenaeans were ruled by a warrior aristocracy, and benefited through conquest.

Sculpture of Poseidon in Copenhagen, Denmark

There were several major gods in the Greek pantheon, and like the Mesopotamians, the gods were often associated with certain cities, even foreign ones, like Poseidon with Troy. However, the Greeks believed that the world was created by Chaos, who eventually gave birth to the primordial gods, who eventually gave birth to the titans, then the Olympian Gods.

Psyche crossing the river Styx

The Greeks believed in an underworld called Hades, named after the god who ruled it. They thought that if a funeral was never performed, a person’s spirit would never reach it, and would remain a ghost forever. the underworld was guarded by a three-headed dog named Cerberus, and souls had to cross the river Styx. Later Greeks believed in Tartarus, where the dammed went, and Elysium, where heroes (like Achilles and Ganymede resided) too.

Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus by John William Waterhouse

One of my favorite tales is that of Orpheus and Eurydice. At their wedding, Eurydice went for a walk and was chased by a satyr. When she tried to escape, she fell into a nest of vipers and was bit. Orpheus discovered her body, and overcome with grief, traveled to the underworld and begged them to return his wife and played such sweet, sad music that it softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone. They agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth only if  he walked in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. However, in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, but she had not crossed over into the upper world yet, and she vanished for the second time.

During the Greco-Persian wars, the Spartans came to the aid of the Athenians, in one of the most famous moments in history, when king Leonidas held off the Persian army with only 300 men (it was more like a couple thousand) at the battle of Thermopylae. However, less than twenty years later, the Spartans and Athenians fought against each other in the Peloponnesian War. the people of the Peloponnese were fearful of Athens growing power.

Alexander the Great managed to conquer much of the East, and accomplished what many great men before him had failed, he overthrew the Persians. Alexander was also responsible for the spread of the Greek language.

Greek, Greek, it rhymes with meek. But meek they were not.

More on Alexander the Great from John Green:

Book recommendations for reading challenges:

Fantasy                                                                                                            Sci-fi

Storytelling Through Music

Older than the written word–older than civilization even, storytelling has always played a central role in society.  Tales were meant to provide entertainment. They were told to recount and immortalize historic events. They were cautionary tales, lessons. Stories were family histories passed down orally from one generation to the next.

One of the ways this was done was through verse; or song.

Some of the oldest, greatest tales, myths, and legends are written in verse– the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Edda, parts of the Arabian nights, the Vedas, the Kojiki, the old testament, and some of the traditional Irish epics. Even Tolkien used song in the Hobbit and LOTR as back story. Just as in our world, the people of Middle Earth told the tales of the great heroes through verse.

Think of Orpheus, arguably one of the most famous musicians. Pindar called him the Father of Song, and he wasn’t far off. Gifted by the gods, he was a man who, armed with only his lyre, was able to charm beasts, defeat the Sirens, and brave the Underworld to win back Eurydice. In a way, he was the ultimate hero. He used music to fight his battles. What a concept! Now, if everyone did that, the world would be a much better place.

Throughout history, people have used song to convey their messages. 

Troubadours would travel the countryside, telling their tales and singing their songs to kings and noblemen. These songs were silly, they were tragic, they were entertaining.

Slaves in the American South would create and sing songs while they toiled away in the hot fields. These songs would give them hope that they would one day rise above the oppression; they were a distraction from the horrors of their everyday lives.

During the Depression, folksingers used song to fight back against the government, to raise awareness, and again, to give hope. Woody Guthrie, perhaps one of the most prolific songwriters of our time, rambled and sang his way across the country. Like Orpheus before him, he battled discrimination with song. Armed with nothing more than his guitar, he stood up against a corrupt government, and gave a voice to the unheard.

Songs are a powerful way to get your message across. They are our fears, our desires, our hopes, our dreams, our losses, our celebrations, our sorrows, our joys, our memories, our experiences. They are, each and every one of them, a story.

What are some of your favorite songs that tell a story? Here are some great examples:

I chose them, not necessarily for the songs themselves, but for the execution. Each of these songs not only tell a story, but have interesting, unique, and oftentimes silly ways of going about it. As you will notice, they are mostly folk. My work may be rubbing off on me.

Rocky Raccoon

I think the way Paul gets every verse to rhyme, like a poem, is brilliant.

Alice’s Restaurant

Sure it’s long. Sure it’s meandering, but if Arlo is anything, he is a master storyteller.

Walt Whitman’s Niece

I love the atmosphere Woody conveys with this song. Hearing it, you feel as though you are sitting in the bar with him, talking over drinks, while he struggles to recall the details.

Albi the Racist Dragon

What a hilarious way to tell a story–with the contradictory said-isms and the magical, upbeat descriptions interwoven into an otherwise depressing tale.

In the Pines–Nirvana cover

This is a traditional song arranged originally by Leadbelly, but I love the raw intensity of Kurt Cobain’s cover.