lions of Ares

mournings glory · 09 May 2003, 08:27 · from urth-v0305.mbox · original

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From: "mournings glory" <mourningsglory at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) lions of Ares
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 08:27:13 +0000
Message-ID: <urth-v0305-3385 at digest.urth.net>
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Marcus having written:

>OK - if you say that the lion was the symbol of Ares, can we explain the
>memory house of Latro that he constructs in 28 of SoA: "What are these
>statues?"  "Lions with the faces of men."  At first, latro thinks that all=20
>the
>statues are lions.  then, he is corrected: the second statue is the sphinx,
>who says, "I am your mother, and your mother's mother."  Well, the Sphinx=20
>is
>the daughter of Hera.  Ares is the son of Hera.  If Latro is the daughter=20
>of
>the Sphinx, and the Sphinx is somehow contiguous with Hera, then Latro's
>mother is Hera.  Jeez.  Ares mother is Hera.

I'm confused here. I always thought that the Sphinx was the daughter of=20
Echidna, along with siblings Hydra, Cerberus, and the Nemean lion--all=20
monsters coincidentally enough encountered by Heracles. Thus my own theory=20
about Latro--that, as a Roman, he's a direct descendant of Heracles and tha=
t=20
many of his adventures are meant to recapitulate those of the great Semidei=
d=20
himself. This, of course, requires you to accept the notion that Latinus wa=
s=20
the son of Heracles by King Faunus' widow or daughter (or a Hyperborean=20
maiden in still another tradition), and that Latinus' daughter, Lavinia,=20
marries Aeneas when he arrives after Troy is sacked. We are also given to=20
understand that Latro hails from Latium--which has been named after Latinus=
.=20
And look how many of the creatures Latro encounters are similar to those=20
encountered by "the Glory of Hera": Drakaina--part Echidna, part hydra;=20
various lions; a griffin (a Stymphalian bird prototype?); a stag; centaurs;=20
Amazons; fabulous horses; a wild boar; a bull (or is that Severian?); plus=20
there's also his indenturement to Kalleos, which recalls that of Heracles t=
o=20
Omphale, and his descent into the underworld. Heracles was also supposed to=20
marry Iole; if little Io had her way Latro would be married to her. And is=20
my memory failing (it's been a while since I read the two books), but isn't=20
Antaeus or someone like him encountered somewhere?

Furthermore, Heracles is the son of a god and and a mortal who is=20
transmogrified at death so perhaps Wolfe is attempting to paint him as=20
another man+god avatar. (Indeed, will Latro be mistaken for/identified as=20
Quetzacoatl if his adventures take him to pre-Columbian America?)

Perhaps further correspondences will yet take place in the future Soldier=20
books (and I'm sure there are some in the first two that I've forgotten or=20
overlooked), but I for one am really looking forward to the resumption of=20
this series.

msg (a small dose)

_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* =20
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--=20

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