PANDORA´S BOX

From The Robber Baby:

Stories from the Greek Myths

By Anne Rockwell

The ancient Greeks believed in many gods and goddesses. Greek myths told stories about how the actions of gods and goddesses affected people on Earth. Read on to discover one of the best-known Greek myths. Particularly, I love this one a lot.

Pandora was made, not born as other people are. Hephaestus modeled her out of clay. He made her a young woman as beautiful as his wife, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.

Each of the gods and goddesses gave Pandora a gift. Then Athene, the goddess of wisdom, breathed life into her. Most of the gifts the gods gave her were good ones. But unfortunately, Hermes, as always full of tricks and mischief, gave her more curiosity than was good for her.

the tricky Hermes

Pandora was sent to live on earth. She had no trouble finding a good husband, for the gods and goddesses had given her the gifts of smiles and sweetness and wit and winning ways. Besides that, she was rich, for as a wedding gift the gods and goddesses gave her a box that had been made by Hephaestus. It was as beautiful as Pandora and very valuable, too.

“Never open that box!” all the gods and goddesses warned Pandora. She promised to obey them, but as time went on Pandora grew more and more curious about what was in the box that she had promised never to open.

In those days, there was no sadness among the mortals on earth. And should it have been otherwise? There was not sickness, no hunger, no jealousy, no laziness, no greed, no anger, no cruelty. Even death was like a long and gentle sleep when people were very tired. There was no suffering of any kind.

Perhaps things would have remained that way if tricky Hermes had not given Pandora so much curiosity. But every day Pandora grew more and more curious about just what was in the box. At last, when she could no longer sleep for wondering what her box contained, she said to herself early one morning, “I will just take a peek!”

So she opened the box, just to take a little peek. And out of that box flew dreadful things. Greed and Envy came out first and soared up into the clean, bright air. Pandora tried to slam the box shut, but she could not. Out flew Hatred and Cruelty with terrible force. Hunger and Poverty followed. Then Sickness came, and Despair, and all other terrible things that the gods and goddesses knew should remain safely hidden in the box. Pandora had set them all free.

“Come back! Come back where you belong!” Pandora called out to the terrible things as they flew around her. She grabbed at them in the air, but they soared out of her reach and up into the sky. None came back. they are still out there bringing misery and trouble to people on earth.

But the gods and goddesses had not put only dreadful things in Pandora´s box. Hidden in among the terrible things was something small and fragile-winged and good. This thing was Hope. Who was the kindly god or goddess who thought to put Hope in among all the miseries and misfortunes? No one knows.

But because Hope was hidden in Pandora´s box, whenever there is too much trouble and sadness among us mortals, Hope makes us think that tomorrow will be better.

And soon Pandora dried her tears. “I hope I will never be too curious again!” she said. And she never was.

 

Analyze the Literature:

1.   What caused Pandora to open the box?

2.   In what ways does the story explain how the actions of the gods affected people on Earth?

3.   Why do you think myths were important to ancient Greeks?

THE REAL 300 SPARTANS AND KING LEONIDAS

The Spartans, Lionized as Warrior Martyrs in Frank Miller's Production, Weren't as Noble as They Appear on Film

The Battle of Thermopylae is the inial major event of the Second Persian War, the Persian invasion, led by King Xerxes (son of Darius I who was defeated by theAthenians) into the Greek city-states (480 BC).

 

A Spartan contingent of 300 of their finest, led by King Leonidas, led a Greek allied force of approximately 2700-5500 hoplites and Helots (Spartan slaves) to the mountain pass of Thermopylae. The strategy behind this move was to stall the Persian advance long enough for the Atheinian fleet to destroy the much larger Persian naval force.

 The Spartan force did their job and the Athenians eventually tricked the Persian fleet into a trap and reduced the Persian fleet to militarly insignificance. The Sparta-led force would have received reinforcements, but Greek religious beliefs prevented them from sending troops during the festival of Karnea.

 

The Persian forces ranged between 200,000-300,000 troops of various kinds. None of which, however, were ready for the far superior tactics of the Greeks. After three days of intense battle, suppossedly a Greek who was a Persian sympathizer, revaled a secret moutain path behind the Greek forces, whereby the Persians surrounded the Greeks, killing them to the last man. The Persians, however, sustained heavy losses, proving the superiority of the Greek method of warfare. The Persians did enter the Greek city-sates, but after their failure and defeat at the naval battle of Salamis, they were unable to maintain a significance force in the Greek lands. As a result, the 

Spartan-led force played a hugely significant role in undermining the Persian invasion.

The movie, despite what many here are saying, is hardly accurate at all. Most of what the movie portrays, including details about daily life, military personnel, battle techniques, and timelines, is either inaccurate, anachronistic, exaggerated, or purely fanciful.

PS: The elite Persian troops were called "The immortals" ,a force of 10,000. The Immortals had a reputation of being an unstoppable force who were the most efficient killers the known world had ever seen. They were not immortal and they were easily stoppable, as the 300 spartans and their Boeothian allies sliced and diced them til they were no more.