Now it was Jove who had caught sight of Io;
she was returning from her father's stream,
and Jove had said: "O virgin, you indeed
would merit Jove and will make any man
you wed--whoever he may be--most glad.
But now it's time for you to seek the shade
of those deep woods" (and here he pointed toward
a nearby forest); "for the sun is high--
at its midcourse; such heat can't be defied...
The with a veil of heavy fog, the god
concealed a vast expanse of land; Jove stopped
her flight; he raped chaste Io (p26).
The unnamed god in "Chaos and Creation" has been replaced by this new version known as Jove, Jupiter, and Zeus. If you recall, I mentioned in class that at the time Ovid wrote "The Metamorphoses," Christ was alive and the time period seems to reflect a transition even before His ministry began. If we examine why the Greco-Roman religion became a myth, this passage should help us realize why.
Even in Book I, we can see how irrational these gods are. They are lustful and motivated by their id. There does not seem to be any rhyme nor reason in their motives. They behave as children in a candy store with no boundaries. I would imagine that we as humans would behave in that manner as well. If we were immortal, had supernatural powers, and were immune to any form of justice, would we behave well ourselves? Jove is the chief god and what he sees, he wants. Juno, his wife and sister, is preoccupied with Jove's infidelity but cannot punish another god, especially the chief god. Therefore Jove's lust is unchecked and he goes after Io and many, many other women, men, and boys.
The interesting part of this is that Juno's wrath in this poem and in many others is focused on the female victim, not Jove the perpetrator. So in a sense, Io pays twice: first, she is raped by Jove and secondly, she is metamorphosized into a cow and placed with Argos, a monster. The curse is lifted later, but Io's suffering is profound.
If we strip the supernatural elements from this poem and substitute class, the aristocracy versus the commoners, we can see that this is really about power. Io's father has no power to save his daughter and is actually preoccupied with shame. That these are gods with an insatiable lust, no boundaries, and no higher order of justice, made this religion obsolete when Christianity entered the scene. We now have a religion of salvation with a God of purpose, love, wisdom, and infinite justice and mercy. By 500AD, Christianity supplants the Greco-Roman gods forever. Unfortunately, the social constructs that make people weak and victims survive well into the present.
she was returning from her father's stream,
and Jove had said: "O virgin, you indeed
would merit Jove and will make any man
you wed--whoever he may be--most glad.
But now it's time for you to seek the shade
of those deep woods" (and here he pointed toward
a nearby forest); "for the sun is high--
at its midcourse; such heat can't be defied...
The with a veil of heavy fog, the god
concealed a vast expanse of land; Jove stopped
her flight; he raped chaste Io (p26).
The unnamed god in "Chaos and Creation" has been replaced by this new version known as Jove, Jupiter, and Zeus. If you recall, I mentioned in class that at the time Ovid wrote "The Metamorphoses," Christ was alive and the time period seems to reflect a transition even before His ministry began. If we examine why the Greco-Roman religion became a myth, this passage should help us realize why.
Even in Book I, we can see how irrational these gods are. They are lustful and motivated by their id. There does not seem to be any rhyme nor reason in their motives. They behave as children in a candy store with no boundaries. I would imagine that we as humans would behave in that manner as well. If we were immortal, had supernatural powers, and were immune to any form of justice, would we behave well ourselves? Jove is the chief god and what he sees, he wants. Juno, his wife and sister, is preoccupied with Jove's infidelity but cannot punish another god, especially the chief god. Therefore Jove's lust is unchecked and he goes after Io and many, many other women, men, and boys.
The interesting part of this is that Juno's wrath in this poem and in many others is focused on the female victim, not Jove the perpetrator. So in a sense, Io pays twice: first, she is raped by Jove and secondly, she is metamorphosized into a cow and placed with Argos, a monster. The curse is lifted later, but Io's suffering is profound.
If we strip the supernatural elements from this poem and substitute class, the aristocracy versus the commoners, we can see that this is really about power. Io's father has no power to save his daughter and is actually preoccupied with shame. That these are gods with an insatiable lust, no boundaries, and no higher order of justice, made this religion obsolete when Christianity entered the scene. We now have a religion of salvation with a God of purpose, love, wisdom, and infinite justice and mercy. By 500AD, Christianity supplants the Greco-Roman gods forever. Unfortunately, the social constructs that make people weak and victims survive well into the present.
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