family in Oedipus and the Eelusinian mysteries
One of the big things I noticed in both The Eleusinian mysteries and Oedipus is that both have a focus on family that are comparable. In Oedipus he says "and so for these long years I've lived away from Corinth"(lines 1124-1125). Oedipus left his home in order to save his fathers life. We see a similar sacrifice in The Eleusinian mysteries when Demeter fasted while searching for her daughter as seen in the last paragraph on page 31. Both convey a sacrifice thats been made for a loved one. There is also another similarity that I noticed and that's the parents giving up their children to protect themselves. Zeus gives Hades his daughter in order to keep Hades happy and keep him from starting a fight. Jocasta gave up her son because it was told by oracles that he would grow up and kill his parents. In both cases we see parents who put their own safety above their children's safety. It might be a little more difficult to hold Zeus accountable for what he did because it's hard to hold gods to morals, but what jocasta does in oedipus is completely immoral. Karma struck them when Jocasta and Oedipus marry and that leads to Jocasta's death. I feel like her death was deserved because of her previous actions.
I have to agree with your observations -- there's a big emphasis on family as a theme in these two pieces. However, I've always found it interesting how "human" in personalities the Greek deities were. They were godly, yes, but they also fought with each other, raised families, went on lustful excursions (Zeus...). They are rather relatable, which is not something we can typically say about almighty beings, and the Greek people must have had a close relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteYour second instance of familial sacrifice doesn't seem as loving as the first. The parents sacrificing the child to protect themselves sounds a bit selfish lol.
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