Fun with Classical Mythology

He's a gloomy Italian guy who presides over death.  Though endowed with great supernatural powers, he has few friends and terrible luck with women.  His powerful brother can be a real jerk sometimes.

She's a perky teenager who loves hanging out with her many friends and spending time outside in the sunshine.  Said gloomy Italian guy is her uncle, though she hasn't met him until recently . . .

It's the classical Roman myth of Pluto and Proserpina (or to the Greeks, Hades and Persephone), right?  His brother, and her father, is almighty Zeus.  Pluto will abduct Proserpina and take her to the Underworld to be his queen.  She'll return to her earth-goddess mother for six (or eight) months of the year, in spring and summer when the earth blooms.

But actually, the first two paragraphs describe Peter Petrelli (a hospice nurse who works with dying people) and Claire Bennet (the cheerleader) from the TV show Heroes.  Not that the writers of this show were basing their characters on the myth-- what's cool for Roman gods is really creepy for 21st century Americans.  Sometimes it's fun to note how pop culture resembles myth, though.

Claire and Peter also resemble the myth of the annually-dying-and-returning god or goddess.  These two are always dying and coming back from the dead.  He's been thrown off a building, had a couple of unfortunate encounters with a serial killer, and exploded.  She's thrown herself off buildings, had an unfortunate encounter with a would-be rapist, and was shot to death by her own father.  Yet Claire and Peter live.

This myth is found in many cultures.  Proserpina is one example; Roman myth also gives us Mithras.  The Greeks also had Dionysus and Adonis.  In the Middle East, it was Tammuz or Damuzi.  (The Bible even mentions the women wailing for Tammuz.)  These goddesses and gods represent nature, and plant life, which go through cycles and seem to "die" in the winter.  In spring, nature/plants/the crops are resurrected, and the cycle begins again. 

It's controversial, but some would say that Jesus is another example of the annually-dying-and-returning God.  Every December, Christians and Pagans argue over whether Christmas is a modern-day version of Sol Invictus, the winter solstice celebration that ancient Romans considered the birhtday of Mithras.  (There are arguments for and against.)  So, as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and launch headlong into Christmas/Winter Solstice/Hanukkah season, let's pause for a moment to remember the great myths of our cultural heritage.

Read more from Erin at www.erineschmidtsmith.com