Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Dangerous Beauty: The Abduction of Ganymede, Vat. Myth. 1.181

 TRIGGER WARNING: abduction

The common denominator in abduction myths is not the victim's gender, but their beauty.

Ganymedes filius Troili filii Priami cum prima forma ceteris Troianis preferretur et assiduis venationibus in Ida silva exerceretur, ab armigero Iovis, scilicet aquila quae quondam sibi fulmina deferebat, in caelum raptus est et factus est pincerna deorum, quod officium prius occupaverat Hebe filia MInois filii Iovis. Vel aliter: Iuppiter, ne infamiam virentis, id est masculini, concubitus subiret, versus in aquilam ex Ida monte rapuit eum et fecit eum pincernam in caelo. 

--Vatican Mythographers 1.181

 

Ganymede, the son of Priam's son Troilius, was the most beautiful youth and the most talented hunter among the Trojans. When he was training on Mt. Ida, he was snatched up by Jupiter's thunderbird, [the eagle that once bore the god's thunderbolt].   The youth was taken up into heaven and assigned to be the Cupbearer of the Gods, a position that had previously been filled by Hebe, the daughter of Jupiter's son Minos.  Others say that Jupiter  turned into an eagle, stole him from Mt. Ida, and made him the Cupbearer in heaven, lest the king of the gods get mocked for being in an affair with a man  

VATICAN MYTHOGRAPHERS

MAP:

Name:  ???

Date:  10th c. CE (?)

Works:  Mythographi Vaticani*

 

REGION  UNKNOWN

Map of Roman Empire Divided into Regions


BIO:

Timeline:

Little is known about the author or origin of the collection of myths known as the Vatican Mythographers, but the work’s first editor Angelo Mai found the collection on a manuscript dating back to the 10th century CE. This volume is a collection of three different mythographers who have assembled various Greco-Roman myths; although many of these myths are basic summaries in Latin, some of them are either analyzed as allegories or compared to Christian thought. 

 LATE LATIN (10th c. CE ?)

Early Roman Lit: through 2nd c BCE: Republican Rome: through 1st c. BCE; Golden Age: 70 BCE to 18 CE; Silver Age: 18 CE to 150 CE; Age of Conflict: 150 CE - 410 CE; Byzantine and Late Latin: after 410 CE




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