Erysichthon the Thessalian o a man who ate his own flesh and the current Elite who destroy the flesh of our planet.
What does the name "Erysichthon" mean?
It comes from the union of the words “year” and “yesterday”:
“Erysis” means wound(pulling-attraction) and “yesterday” means earth-soil.
So Erysichton can also mean wound of the earth ή the one who wounds the earth
- this root, the relentless “ego”, which was persistently and with many variations highlighted by the ancient Greeks
Ο Erysichthon the Thessalian was a mythical son of Myrmidon or his Triopa and grandson of God Neptune.
Erysichthon was known for his impiety. One day he took 20 of his slaves with him and went to the grove that the Πελασγοί to the goddess DemeterThere he ordered the slaves to cut down the trees so that he could build a palace there in which he would feast with his friends. Among the other trees was a towering one whites which was Demeter's favorite tree. Around this poplar the Dryads Nymphs They sang their beautiful songs and danced their magical dances.The impious Erysichthon did not stop his destructive work even in front of this sacred tree.But with the first axe he gave him, the priestess of Demeter Nikippe appeared before him, who was none other than the goddess herself transformed.The priestess tried to stop the cutting of the trees, but Erysichthon threatened her with pickaxe The goddess then threw off the priestess' disguise and appeared in all her divine splendor. The slaves scattered here and there, and were ready to die from their fear.But Demeter took pity on them and let them go without harming them, while she punished the impious Erysichthon with unbearable hunger.
From that moment on, Erysichthon began to eat whatever he found in front of him. After he had eaten everything edible in his house and all his animals, he began to roam the streets and seize the offerings from the people. altars. His unhappy parents did not know how to help him. His father resorted to Poseidon, but he was equally unable to cure his grandson of the evil that had befallen him. Meanwhile, Erysichthon was increasingly tormented by hunger. He sold his daughter Trowel to buy food. But Mistra, who was witch, returned to her home and pleaded with Poseidon again. The god, unable to help Erysichthon, gave Mistra the ability to transform into various animals and escape from her father.One version states that Mistra, on her own initiative, took advantage of her gift of transformation to constantly sell herself as a slave and thus help her father. But in the end, Erysichthon, having nothing left to eat, began to eat his own flesh until he died.
Many ancient poets and mythographers dealt with the myth of Erysichthon, such as Callimachus in his sixth hymn to Demeter, the Lycophron, The Nikandros and Ovid.
Ovid in his eighth book entitled Metamorphoses: from verse 738 -884 tells the myth of Erysichthon
Ovid's Erysichthon is an adult, married, father, a deliberately evil figure, sacrilegious and a starving demon, a man possessed by the fury of are you hungry as a punishment from the goddess of food Demeter and who gradually descends into begging and self-eating. From this situation he is saved by his daughter Mistra who had the ability to transforms constantly. The passion of father Erysichthon neutralized paternal affection and did not prevent Mistra from being sold again and again, each time in a different form and to a new master, in order to provide her father with the money from the new purchase. (Fig. 1445, 1446, 1447, 1448) And not only did he not prevent it, but he even promoted it in the buying and selling. But even that did not save him. His end came from his autophagy -he nourished his body by depleting it.
Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VIII 738-884
Translated from Latin by Theodoros Tsochalis
No less powerful is the union of Autolycus, the daughter
of Erysichthon; her parent was he who gave birth to the heavenly
740 He despised and did not make any sacrifices on the altars above.
He is said to have destroyed the forest of Demeter with an axe and to have desecrated the ancient grove with iron.
In it stood an oak tree, long-lived, solid and magnificent, alone in the forest;
ribbons of this and signs with epigrams and wreaths
745 They surrounded her, being proof of the success of their prayers.
Under this, the duets often danced festive dances,
often the hands as they joined in this row the trunk around
They surrounded it, and the circumference was fifteen orgies wide.
of the oak tree and so many were the other bushes under it,
750 whatever grass there was under them.
Despite all this, Erysichthon did not keep his iron at a distance.
from her and immediately orders the servants to protect this sanctuary
to cut down the oak tree and when he saw those he had ordered standing still,
Then the impious man, seizing his axe from a slave, said:
755 Not only is the oak a friend of the goddess, but she herself
If she were a goddess, she would now touch the earth with her leafy top.'
He said, and while he struck with a side blow with the axe,
Then the Deoian oak was frightened and immediately let out a sigh;
At the same time, leaves and acorns began to turn pale.
760 and its long branches take on a pale color.
When the unholy, impious hand made a wound in her trunk, blood flowed from the torn skin, not in any other way but as usual blood. fromHe runs after the severed neck of a huge bull when he falls before it on the altar, sacrificed.
765 Everyone was surprised, someone from all of them then dared to prevent the unholy work and stop the double-edged axe..
The Thessalian sees this and says: Accept the labors of your pious mind and immediately turns the axe from the tree against the man and cuts off his head and rushing again strikes the tree,
770 Then from the middle of the tree came such a voice: "Something from this wood, nymph, I am dear to the Goddess Demeter. As I die, I foretell that the punishment of your actions will fall on you. A consolation for my death."
But he continues his unholy work, and finally, defeated
775 The oak tree falls from the countless blows, as they tied it with ropes and so on; they pulled it. And with the weight it laid down a surplus forest.
And then the dryads, astonished at their own harm and all the sisters of the groves, go straight to Divine Demeter in black garments, mourning, and seek the punishment of Erysichthon.
780 The beautiful Goddess agreed with these and immediately, moving her head, she sowed the fields that were full of wheat and devised a cruel punishment - if only he himself would not become worthy of pity for such actions by others - to consume him with a deadly Hunger. Since in the goddess herself she
785 did not come (because the fates do not allow the divine Demeter and Hunger to be together) then a mountain deity on this agricultural mountain range urged her with these words: In the last borders of Scythia is a cold place, the soil is miserable, the land is always barren, without fruits or trees;
790 there dwell the sluggish Chill and the Paleness but also the Terror and the insatiable Hunger - bid her hide herself in the unholy entrails of the sacred, lest the abundance of many things overcome her, and, inseparable from me, let my strength pass - but so that the distance does not frighten you or the treacherous road,
795 take the chariot, take the dragons, which you will direct aloft with reins.'
And he gave this. With that given chariot, as it was carried through the air, it finally reached Scythia on the peak of the cold mountain (it is called Caucasus), and the
He immediately snatched the dragons' necks, then he sees Hunger, which he was seeking, in a stony field.
800 to pluck grass with sparse teeth and claws.
Her hair was coarse, her eyes were sunken, her face was pale, her lips were positively stained with dirt, her throat was rough with crust, her skin was hard, so that her entrails could be seen through it; the bones beneath her curved hips always protruded dryly;
805 Instead of a belly, was it the place? Only the belly; you thought that the chest hung and was held together only by the back; and the joints were enlarged by thinness; her knees were swollen, and her ankles presented a very large bulge.
As soon as he saw her from beyond (because he didn't dare to come near her),
810 of the goddess Demeter, her commands, he tells her, and he hesitates a little, although he was far from her, although he had recently come there, | it seemed to her that he felt hunger, and he led her, being in a state of
the dragons back to Aemonia, quickly turning the reins.
Hunger obeys the commands of the goddess Demeter, even though she is always against them.
815 in her work, she carries them out and with the wind in the air she arrives at the appointed house and immediately enters the chambers of the sanctuary and, as he was given over to a deep sleep (for it was night time), with both hands she embraces him and inspires herself into the man, and blows into his throat
820 and in the chest and in the mouth and hunger sows in the empty veins) and having executed the orders, he leaves the fruitful world and returns to the poor houses and the usual strange men. Erysichthon was still attracted by gentle sleep with gentle wings.
In his dream, in his sleep, he asks for food to eat.
825 and moves his entire mouth empty and wears down tooth upon tooth and with nonexistent food he exercises his pharynx, mocking it, and instead of delicacies he in vain devours the thin breezes.
However, when sleep is gone, rage and the burning of bulimia take over his immense intestines and his voracious throat.
830 He immediately asks for what the earth, the sea and the air provide,
and at the full table before him he complains of hunger and during the dinner he asks for dinner, and whatever was in the cities and whatever could suffice for the whole people is not enough for one, and he desires as much excess as he puts in his belly.
835 And just as the sea receives all the rivers of the earth into itself and is never satisfied with their waters and swallows up foreign rivers, and just as the devouring flame never renounces its food, yet it burns countless firebrands and as much excess abundance as there is, it seeks so much more and with all the multitude it becomes more voracious.
840 Thus the mouth of the impious Erysichthon accepts all foods and demands them all at the same time - every food becomes for him an occasion for more food and there is always an empty place left to eat more.
Due to hunger and his excessive gluttony, his father's wealth diminished, but the harsh hunger remained undiminished at that time.
845 and the glutton's throat was filled with gluttony. In the end, when all the wealth had gone down into his belly, the daughter who was worthy of having another good father remained.
Then, utterly destitute, he sells her too. But the brave girl does not accept her master and spreads her palms over the neighboring sea:
850 "Free me from my master, you who possess the old man of my stolen virginity," she says; this was what Poseidon had; who does not overlook Iketis, although the master, who was following, already saw her, and changes her form and gives her the appearance of a man and immediately dresses her in the appropriate clothing of a man who catches fish.
855 Seeing this, the master said: 'You who hide the hook hung with a small bait of yours, you who direct the rod, may the sea be calm, may the fish in the water be trusting and not feel the hook until you hook it; the one who a little while ago with cheap clothes and unruly hair
860 On this shore she stood (for as she stood on the shore I saw her), tell me where she is; for her traces did not go further. She felt the divine gift that went well and rejoiced because she was asking from herself and said to the one who asked her:
Whoever you are, I apologize; I haven't set my eyes on a place:
865 other than this here depth, but I was only paying attention to my work.
So that you may doubt less, may the sea god thus help this art, as it is true that no one has been on this shore before, woman or man, except me.' The master believed; his step turns and, stepping straight on the sand, he leaves.
870 deceived, and she was given the appearance she had before.
When he realized how the daughter had changed body, her parent sold Triopeis to masters many times, but she, now a mare, now a bird, now an ox, now a deer, always escaped and provided her insatiable parent with unfair food.
875 Since the power of that passion had consumed every supply and the grave disease needed new nourishment, he bit the limbs, tearing them apart, and the disease nourished itself by digesting his entire body.
But what do I care about foreign things? I, young people, have strength.
880 I often change my body, but in a fixed number.
I am who I am, I appear now; sometimes I change back into a snake, sometimes being a leader in a pack I take strength in my horns, strong? I was in my horns - now I am deprived of my one weapon on my forehead, as you see" The words were drowned out by his sighs.
(To be continued)
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