In Greek mythology, "Pandora's Box" is well known. But many people don't really know why, so I'll tell you. Legend has it that there was a great god on the Alpine gods, Prometheus, who created mankind, and the original human beings had no pain, no disease, no sorrow, no trouble, and no death, except that they were one size smaller than the gods, and there was no difference in other aspects. Not only that, Prometheus also used torches to steal fire seeds from the sun god Apollo's chariot, causing human beings to become more powerful and have the potential to compete with the gods.
The gods led by Zeus were very panicked, afraid that human beings would unite to occupy the Alpine gods, and the Greek mythical Alps were equivalent to our mythical Kunlun Mountains, and the mountains were inhabited by gods and immortals. So I came up with a dirty idea. They also created a man named Pandora. This Pandora was endowed by the gods with a unique face and seductive seduction, taught her the ability to spin threads and weave fabrics, gave her the most beautiful voice, and taught her lies and cunning. It is really called "thousands of pets in one".
So in Greek, pan means all, dora means gifted, and Pandora means "woman with all talents."
Zeus then sent her down the mountain to Prometheus and seduced Prometheus's brother, Epimetheus. Epimetheus means "hindsighter" in Greek, and Prometheus means "prophet and foresight" in Greece. Epimetheus unsurprisingly fell in love with Pandora at first sight and insisted on marrying Pandora. Prometheus could not stop his brother from marrying his daughter-in-law, but made a request that anything in the house could be touched, except for a jar. Epimetheus agreed.
After the two married, Epimetheus obeyed Pandora by not letting her touch her brother's jar. But the more he didn't let it touch, the more it aroused Pandora's curiosity. Finally, one day, Pandora could not resist her curiosity and opened the jar, which turned out to be full of by-products of Prometheus's creation of man: war, disease, plague, suffering, and so on. Pandora opened the jar, these disasters ran out, Pandora found that the trouble was caused, hurriedly covered the jar, but found that only one disaster did not run out, that is, "hope".
Yes, you read that right, "hope" is also a disaster, because the jar is full of disaster. Lu Xun said: Hope is like disappointment, which is the same as delusion. It often seduces you carelessly, but abandons you mercilessly.
After the human beings were tormented by the disaster, there was rapid pain, aging, and death, and Prometheus had no help, so he was captured by Zeus and taken to the Caucasus Mountains, tied up with chains, and sent eagles to peck at his liver every day.
The story was later alienated. Prometheus's jar became Zeus's magic box, and it was Zeus who caused the disaster, hid it in the magic box, and sent Pandora down the Alps and spread it to the human world. Thus, in the Greek context, Pandora is synonymous with "red face and bad water".
There is also a box in Greek mythology, which was also opened by a beautiful woman, but this time the beauty did not plague human beings, but only harmed herself, called "Psyc's Box". Psyche was a beautiful woman, better looking than Venus, so humans did not worship Venus, but worshipped Psyche. Enraged, Venus asked the local king to marry Psyche to a snake demon on the mountain. The king did not dare to disobey the oracle of Venus and had to do so. When Psyche came to the mountain, Venus sent his son, Cupid, the god of love, down the Alps and asked him to shoot an arrow at Psyc and the Serpent Demon respectively, so that the Serpent Demon and Psyche would fall in love.
Unexpectedly, Psyche was so beautiful that he actually charmed Cupid. Cupid actually shoots himself an arrow, falls in love with Psyc, and takes Psyc to his temple. In order not to spread the news to Venus, Cupid told Psyche, "You can't see me, I can only come at night and go during the day." Psyche agreed, and the two fell in love very much. But women, with love, like to dry, do not dry their ears and scratch their cheeks, do not know how to enjoy alone. So she wrote to her two sisters about her happiness.
When the two sisters came to Cupid's temple, they immediately developed envy and jealousy. Women don't want their friends to be happier than they are, even sisters. The two sisters then said, you must be married to the snake demon, or why doesn't he let you see his true face? I'm afraid of scaring you. Upon hearing this, Psyche was also suspicious, so the two sisters continued to instigate, you can light a candle at night to see if it is a handsome man or a snake demon. Psyche listened, and in the middle of the night he lit a candle to see, only to see That Cupid was handsome and strong, and indeed he was a rich and handsome man who was difficult to find in the world, and he was overjoyed, and accidentally a drop of wax oil dripped on Cupid's wings, waking Cupid up in pain.
Cupid woke up, understood it all at once, said sadly, even the most beautiful love could not resist mutual suspicion, and then flew away in anger.
Remorseful, Psyche finds his mother-in-law Venus and cries how much he and Cupid love each other, hoping that Venus will persuade Cupid to forgive her. Although Venus was very jealous of Psyche's beauty, now that Psyche had become a daughter-in-law, things were a different matter. Venus said, I can help you, but you have to do something for me. When my son fell in love with you against my oracle, and when I had a daughter-in-law and forgot my mother, I was sad for a day, and I lost the beauty of a day, and the beauty of this day is now in a box by the king of Pluto, and you go and get it back for me.
Psyche came to the underworld and told the queen about his love, and the queen sympathized with her, so he gave her the box, but told her that you must not open it, it will bring you disaster. Psyche listened, at first did not dare to open, and finally finally could not help curiosity, thinking, how can beauty be put in a box? So it was opened, and I didn't expect that beauty was sleep, and Venus had insomnia that night, and beauty was taken away by the underworld. But the day of Venus was the life of Psyche, and from then on Psyche did not wake up, Cupid came, sighed in vain, had to kiss his sleeping lover deeply, and left with tears.
This ancient Greek mythological story is introduced to everyone, and friends who like to buy this book to see.
【Childlike Beauty】 Ancient Greek Mythology Complete Collection Hardcover Value Full Color Platinum Edition
