Blake's Mythology Blog

I have decided to do my project on the myths of ancient Peru, in the time of the Inca.  Although I spent two years of my life there, I only learned a little bit about the ancient legends of the area and I thought it would be very interesting to learn a great deal more about it. A picture I took at some ancient ruins that predate the Incan Empire The book I selected is called  The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru , by Lewis Spence.  It is not the most exhaustive source for these legends, but it gives me a good basis to start from.  It was published 110 years ago, so it is a bit dated and has some culturally insensitive writing, but I should be able to read past that just fine. One of the stories it recounts is the basic creation story, of how the offspring of the sun and moon came together in a place near Lake Titicaca, which is now near Cusco.  They had been commanded by their parents, the Sun and Moon gods to travel until they found the "hub of the ...

  Photo Source Cold shivers ran the length of Psyche’s spine as she contemplated the crashing waves breaking against the sharp rocks hundreds of feet below her.  Tears streamed down her cheeks, aided by the frigid wind and brought on by the terrible sadness in her heart.  She glanced back at her family, at her loving parents, at her weeping sisters.  This was the last time she would ever see their faces. Her heart stopped as she leapt, every muscle in her body clenched and her vision went black as the rushing air slipped past her small frame.  She was acutely aware of her own beating heart, its dull drumbeat strangely isolated from her own screams and those of the wind.  Then, everything was black. She opened her eyes, not to the sight of the underworld, but to the rushing ocean.  The wind whistled around her and she realized that she was flying through the air, rapidly, propelled by some invisible hand.  She started, and nearly fainted a...

Psyche being idolized above Venus (Source) The last half of the story of Cupid and Psyche gives the resolution to the story.  I thought it was interesting how poor Psyche had to go and care for the altars and shrines at the temples of various gods, but they all rejected her and sided with Venus in her feud with the mortal girl.  I have always found it fascinating in Greco-Roman mythology the almost obsession that the divine beings have with their mortal counterparts. Another interesting plot point was Venus' threatenings to strip Cupid of his power by replacing him with a slave boy.  Strange the lengths to go for immortal and supreme-ply powerful gods. The strangest and most interesting thing that I wanted to read even more about what the whole story with the vial of water from the river styx, and then the vial of the essence of beauty.  I was very confused as to what that was referring to, so I want to know more about the tension between Persephone and Venus a...

Cupid and Psyche (Source) The story of Lucius the donkey begins when a girl is captured.  This first part of the story has definitely piqued my interest.  I like how it starts with Lucius already being a donkey, so the reader does not know how it has happened, only that it has.  This is a writing technique that I like, and have used before. In this next chapter, the plot thickens, so to speak, and we learn that the young kidnapped woman.  It provides an interesting emotional motivation, that of a woman about to be wed.  This same kind of setup is used with "The Count of Monte Cristo" and I am interested to see if there are any further parallels. The old woman then began to tell the tale of Cupid and Psyche to the frightened youth.  This was an extremely interesting story, and made up the bulk of this reading.  I was actually a little confused at first, as to what was happening, but it later made sense.  I really liked the ethereal feel of Cu...