Random comment from watching the first part [I an sooooo sorry I fell asleep, meds kicked in but I DVR’d it and promise to watch it shortly…]
When they were showing the kraters … couldnt find the krater online, but I found a hunk o marble …
Anybody else notice that it matches the face of Kali the indian goddess? tongue out and fangs… [and the thug weapon of ritual killing is a fang of Kali…]
Is there perhaps some sort of link? That tongue out thing is interesting…
I assume this isn’t a whoosh. They actually covered that in the show, and it comes straight from my book. Over the years various people have noted similarities between the tongue-protruding face of Medusa and of various other divinities – some books on Indian mythology note the similarity between Smashan Kali and the Gorgon, and posit a link. A famous paper observed the similarity between Humbaba in Mesopotamia and Medusa, and thought that the myth of Gilgamesh and Humbaba inspired that of Perseus and Medusa. A.B. Cook thought that Medusa was perhaps inspired by Bes in Egypt. I think that I was the first to point out that there are significant parallels all over the world – I’m struck, in particular, at how closely the face in the center of the Aztec Calendar Stone (said to be the sun god Tonatiuh, although there are other candidates) resembles the archaic Greek Gorgon, yet no one seriously suggests that these two are culturally related.
Moreover, the gorgon faces all over the world are used in the same functions – Gorgons on tile antefixes in Greece and later in the Roman Empire resemble Gorgon-like antefixes in China and Japan. Gorgons used as shield devices in Greece (probably their most common function) are exactly like Gorgon shield devces used by the Maya, or by the Iatmul living along the Sepik River in New Guinea. You can’t trace a direct line of cultural influence between these people, so widely separated in space and time.
Nevertheless, there IS, I maintain, a connection. They bring it up in the show, but a bit early on.
I believe that’s actually a terra cotta piece. It’s an antefix from an Italian colony in Italy. Antefixes were the semicircular pieces of tile lining the edge of a roof, plugging the semicircular holes left by the roof tiles at the end of a row. I made a reproduction of this one, and it’s hanging in my study. I devote an entire chapter to antefixes in my book – they’re usually decorated, almost always with faces, and the most common one used is a Gorgon. As I noted above, they used antefixes in China and Japan, as well, and their antefixes also often use a very Gorgon-like face. I find this significant, and give my theory about why everyone uses the same face in the same purpose, even when it seems unlikely that there is any direct cultural diffusion. It makes no appeal to Jungian collective subconscious or to time-traveling Van Daniken extraterrestrials.
Poster for the Episode:
Also a brief clip here:
I haven’t posted because I didn’t think I’d get a chance to watch, but I did catch it about halfway through. I was all like, “Yeah, that’s Cal, an old friend of mine…thought about getting married but it didn’t work out…in fact, I think he still owes me money but that’s okay.” 
Seriously, you really came across well. We laughed at the James Bond thing too. Good job!
How much do I owe you?
I think it was like six thousand dollars, but I’d settle for an autograph.
"To my Good Buddy, Dung Beetle
— C A L M E A C H A M"
No whoosh … as I said, I sort of fell asleep and havent managed to watch the rest of episode while awake yet … 
I love reading mythology, and have enjoyed the whole series so far [though I really wonder at the face painting … I really dont think that the athenians painted their faces in random splortches…]
i promise, I will get around to watching the rest of the episode…
I have a chinese antefix with bats on it …
How about an appeal to Velikovsky?<grin duck and run … though I like his Oedipus and Akhnaten … >
Velikovsky – right.
I’m working on a book about the myth of Phaethon right now. There are a lot of respectable people who think the myth might be inspired by a meteorite fall (I’m not one of them), but I have to keep telling people I’m not a Velikovskian.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea that celestial events might have an influence on myths (Heck, I argue for just that, although by a far less spectacular method). But Velikovsky doesn’t know how to build a convincing case, and he assumes readers will readily go along with his prejudices and assumptions.
Yes – they were all visited by aliens! 
(<- See, these things even exist in our cultural sphere…)
I watched it last night. If you write as well as you do here, you can expect at least one more book sale.
Many thanks for the compliment, Maus Magill.
Nobody at work seems to have caught it. Family and friends did, though.
I saw it. Nice job. You looked better than the dweebs wearing ties.
That must cool: to see your theories treated seriously in the mass media.
I’ve had good luck with Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, but I don’t know how dated it is WRT our current knowledge of Greek history.
Need to fire up the DVR and watch Medusa tonight after work.
Sorry i didn’t answerr this earlier. I agree about Edith Hamilton’s [NB]Mythology**. It’s a good basic intro. It’s not dated, because it’s not exactly looking at recent theories on myth, but is simply presenting the myths and telling you the good sources. Thomas Bulfinch’s Mythology is an older compendium. he uses the Roman names, but is a pretty good introduction. He goes into Scandinavian mythology and Charlemagne as well.
John Pinsent’s book Greek Mythology, part of the Paul Hamlyn series of world myth, is pretty good, if slim. It has lots of nice pictures, which I think is essential in understanding myth.
I don’t particularly recommend Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths. Not only is it a disjoint telling of the myths, with many references back to the exact sources (which makes it a good reference), but Graves keeps putting in his own theories, which are frequently pretty off-the-wall. I’m a fine one to talk, you may say. Yeah, but I identify my conjectures as such. Graves doesn’t. If you’re looking for a comprehensive statement of the myths with references, I’d recommend Karl Kerenyi’s The Gods of the Greeks and The Heroes of the Greeks.
You can’t really beat the original myths, though. The Iliad and The Odyssey are both highly readable. I like Fitzgerald’s translations, or Fagles’. I have the latter on audio, and have listened to them more times than I can recall. Try The Voyage of Argo by Apollonius of Rhodes, too. If you want an ancient compendium, get Apollodorus’ The Library. The only translation I know is the Loeb Classical edition. It’s not beautiful, but he tried to make it consistent and complete.
I only managed to watch half of it so far, but what I saw was great.
They had to move the camera into another room to get in focus, and you claim that’s what added 300 lb? 
I forgot just how cold and capricious the gods could be - that whole part just freaked me out, especially given it was the goddess of wisdom (though they only described her as war) who decided to punish the victim.
So Cal, how did the interview process go? Did they ask you leading questions that they wanted you to answer in a certain way? Wide open ones? Could you tell if the interviewers had read your book or not? I’m just wondering if they already had the plot planned, and just spliced in the interview shots that supported/advanced the story, or if they waited till all the interviews were done and then wrote the show.
And what was with all the Greeks wearing facepaint?
That was awesome Cal!
Well done.
