Steel Tiger
Senior Master
This might seem a little strange, but I think it is kinda interesting too.
I was doing some research into the relationship between the Hittites and the Trojan War when I came across an ancient text called the Telegony written in the 6th or 7th century BC. It tells a version of the journey of Odysseus. In this version though he has a son by Circe (with whom he lived with for a year) who shows up in Ithaca later on. The two of them get into a fight, not knowing each other and the son, Telegonus, kills Odysseus. He then marries Penelope while Telemachus, his half-brother, marries Circe (gets a little too Greek toward the end there).
Very interesting, but I found it strongly parallels a story from the life of the Irish hero Cuchullain in which he kills a son he has by a mysterious sorceress, in this case Scathach. This got me thinking.
Enter the Persian hero Rostam and his son Sohrab. Can you guess what happens? That's right the two of them don't recognise each other, fight, and the son is killed. Rostam has other qualities which are similar to Heracles, but that a whole other thing.
There is something very old going on here which I find very interesting. Oedipus Rex might well be another version of this old story. Interestingly among the Greeks the son seems to be the victor while in other places it is the father who wins. I am going to try to find an Indo-Aryan figure who might fit this pattern.
I guess Freud would say it speaks of some very deep-seated anxieties in the Indo-European peoples. There is clearly something important in the story for it to keep surviving.
Just a little curiosity that I came across that I thought might interest someone.
I was doing some research into the relationship between the Hittites and the Trojan War when I came across an ancient text called the Telegony written in the 6th or 7th century BC. It tells a version of the journey of Odysseus. In this version though he has a son by Circe (with whom he lived with for a year) who shows up in Ithaca later on. The two of them get into a fight, not knowing each other and the son, Telegonus, kills Odysseus. He then marries Penelope while Telemachus, his half-brother, marries Circe (gets a little too Greek toward the end there).
Very interesting, but I found it strongly parallels a story from the life of the Irish hero Cuchullain in which he kills a son he has by a mysterious sorceress, in this case Scathach. This got me thinking.
Enter the Persian hero Rostam and his son Sohrab. Can you guess what happens? That's right the two of them don't recognise each other, fight, and the son is killed. Rostam has other qualities which are similar to Heracles, but that a whole other thing.
There is something very old going on here which I find very interesting. Oedipus Rex might well be another version of this old story. Interestingly among the Greeks the son seems to be the victor while in other places it is the father who wins. I am going to try to find an Indo-Aryan figure who might fit this pattern.
I guess Freud would say it speaks of some very deep-seated anxieties in the Indo-European peoples. There is clearly something important in the story for it to keep surviving.
Just a little curiosity that I came across that I thought might interest someone.