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The Course of Life |
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· Like in Greek mythology the Celtic river Tweed was “was credited with human descendants” (Squire 414). Again, rivers play an important role in mythology as the bearers of life and the removers of life. If the rivers are unsatisfied they “are believed to snatch by stealth the human lives for which they crave” (Squire 414). One such river was the River Ribble--likened to Minerva, or Athena. This river required a victim every seven years (Squire 413-414). This is an etiological way of explaining why the river currents are so strong and unforgiving. · In Russian mythology there is the etiology of why the river Dnieper flows so swiftly. Dnieper was a boy with two sisters and all three were poor orphans who had to work very hard to live. One day the three decide to travel the world and find a place to turn into rivers, because life would be much easier if they were indeed rivers. So, they find a place to flow and decide to sleep one final night as humans. Dnieper's two sisters decide to go on without him and flowed away. In the morning Dnieper is angered and tries to find where they stop, but decides to turn into a river himself. Dnieper is so angry that he creates rapids, his anger scares his sisters who race off toward the sea. When Dnieper finally reaches the Black Sea he is calm. This story is a good example of an etiology because it explains why the Dnieper river is there, why there are rapids, and why the two streams are divided and go different ways (Dalal 14-15). This is also another example of a river being portrayed as being male. Why the children chose to turn into rivers will be discussed in the symbology section. · Achilles, as an infant, was dipped into the river Styx to be protected by its immortal waters. Legend has it that his mother held him by the ankle, so his only vulnerability was his heel. This is not so much an example of an etiology as it is a survival. Modern medicine refers to the tendon that runs from the knee to its attachment in the heel the Achilles tendon. There is an exposed area on our ankles where muscle gives way and bone doesn't quite reach where we can feel that tendon. · The rivers of the underworld in Graeco-Roman mythology served as an etiological way of explaining where the souls of people who have passed away disappear to when their physical bodies die. The river Styx is an immortal river that is basically the channel to the underworld--"the river of Unbreakable Oath" by which the gods swear (Dante). The river Lethe clears away the memories of the souls' past life once they drink from its waters (Hughes). -=- :Water in General: -=- · Humans are about 97% percent water. The idea that water has maternal attributes supports that water is life bearing and explains--etiologically--why we as humans are mostly water. · On a side note: Cyane's transformation may have served an etiological purpose in science. In Yellowstone there are these thermal pools that are a beautiful blue--cyan--color. This color is given to them by a finite but large number of cyanobacteria that create brilliant colors but are so hot that they could kill any living organism that fell into them. ° Rivers as Symbols °  ° Flow Back ° |
