By Anastasia Kaliabakos
Triumph of Achilles by Franz von Matsch. Photo credit: Chencc67789, via Wikimedia Commons
Reprinted from The national herald
One of the greatest benefits of having Greek heritage is being part of the great legacy of Greek antiquity. Often when we think of ancient art, politics, and mythology, we think of Greece. Of course, this is due to several factors, one of them being the teaching of Greek and Western history in the country’s schools. However, an arguably greater influence on the association of such important things with Greece has to do with what is known as classical reception. Classical reception refers to the way the classical world, particularly ancient Greek and Latin literature, has been received since antiquity. The study of classical reception helps us understand the representation and representation of the ancient world, from antiquity to modern times.
There are many different mediums of classical reception. An obvious one is that of films. Hollywood has produced many films in recent decades that revolve around ancient mythology, particularly the epics of “Homer” (the Iliad and the Odyssey). Examples of these types of films include Clash of the Titans (the 1981 and 2010 films), Troy (2004), O brother, where are you? (2000), and the upcoming film based on the Odyssey called The return (release planned for 2024). There are also a plethora of TV shows inspired by Greek history and mythology, like Blood of Zeus (2020), a show that follows the story of Heron, son of Zeus, and Reign: the conqueror (1999), which is a Japanese anime based on the campaigns of Alexander the Great. There are also many popular books based on Greek mythology, including Percy Jackson and the Olympians And The heroes of Olympus series, both written by renowned author Rick Riordan.
In my quest to discover and appreciate different modes of classical reception, I decided to see what contemporary music I could find inspired by Greek mythology or ancient Greek history. Before I started researching, I only knew a few rock songs that my dad showed me when I was younger, like Flight of Icarus And Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) by Iron Maiden. However, I didn’t expect to find hundreds of songs inspired by Greek mythology and history across all musical genres.
I started with what I knew: Icarus. In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the famous inventor Daedalus who died by flying too close to the sun with wings made of wax and feathers. In addition to the Iron Maiden song that I already knew, I came across by chance Icarus de Bastille, best known for his song Pompeiiarguably another example of classical Roman reception. Icarus the song engages directly with Greek myth through its lyrics (Icarus flies too close to the sun / And Icarus’ life, it’s only just beginning / This is what it feels like to fall / Icarus flies towards an early grave), thus bringing an ancient myth to life in modern times.
There are also a surprising amount of songs about Orpheus, a bard, poet and musician who is said to have traveled with the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece and even traveled to the underworld to find his lost wife, Eurydice. It is ironic that there are so many songs related to Orpheus, given his close relationship with music. A couple that I particularly liked was The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Orpheus under influence by The Buttertones. In addition, Hadestowna popular musical comedy inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, is currently playing on Broadway.
There are also a variety of songs highlighting important women from Greek myths. Antigone by Cave Children, Ismene by Silo’s Choice, and Jocasta of Noah and The Whale are all inspired by characters from the Oedipus cycle by Sophocles, who follows a ruler named Oedpius and his unsuccessful attempts to escape fate. In addition, Persephone in the garden by Aidoneus is arguably a version of the Persephone myth from Hades’ point of view (I didn’t want to bring you down / I didn’t want to bring you down / I thought you’d want to stay / I thought everything would be okay no matter what ‘it’s coming our way). Pandora’s box by MARINA (whose full name is Marina Lambrini Diamandis, and which is actually half Greek) refers to Pandora, who is a mythological figure who is said to have freed all forms of misery and evil found in the world from a box. MARINA actually has some songs inspired by Antiquity: in fact, one of her albums is even titled Ancient dreams in a modern country. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Cassandra by Florence + The Machine and also Cassandra by ABBA, songs both inspired by the figure of Cassandra, endowed with the gift of prophecy but destined never to be believed.
Songs inspired by historical figures are also interesting. There are a surprising number of songs inspired by philosophers, such as Song of Plato by the hero Magnus and Aristotle’s denial by Joe Hawley and Cojum Dip. Sappho By Ruby Shore was obviously composed with the historic Sappho in mind. Sappho was an archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos and is known for her lyrical poetry. From ancient times to modernity, Sappho has been considered one of the greatest lyric poets of all time and has even been called the “tenth muse.” Sappho echoes the nostalgic qualities of Sappho’s current poetry, which we can only read in fragments today.
Finally, there is an abundance of songs about famous heroes from epic tradition and Greek mythology. Perseus by Unknown Brain and Chris Linton and Theseus by The Oh Hellos is about two extremely famous mythological characters who remain popular today. Tales of brave Odysseus by Cream, Patroclus by Anjruw McCarthy, Songs of Achilles: My name will live forever by Deborah Stokol, and Achilles goes down from Gang of Youths are all inspired by characters from Homer Iliad And Odyssey. There is even an entire album by artist Andrew Achilles DiMestico released in 2019 called ILIAD. This is an album of instrumental music marking important segments of the Iliad. My favorite tracks on the album include Appropriate a war prize (in reference to the fight between Agamemnon and Achilles for Briseis), Patroclus meets his destiny (about the death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector of Troy), and Kiss the killer’s hand (Priam’s trip to the Greek camp to beg Achilles for Hector’s body).
Classical reception is an extremely interesting area of study, and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of music I was able to discover in my self-imposed search. I invite you, the reader, to embark on your own journey through classical reception. In the words of classics scholars Anastasia Bakogianni and Ricardo Apostol: “The classics are indeed everywhere and for everyone, while our odyssey never ends. »
Kaliabakos is a graduate of the Brearley School and the College of the Holy Cross. She was featured in Neo Magazine, The national herald, The villagerAnd The village sunand contributed to WestView News since 2018. She will continue her passion for journalism this year as an editorial fellow at the Collegiate Network in Washington, DC.
