Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta.
As the story goes, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped or seduced Leda on the same night she slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris.
The motif was rarely seen in the large-scale sculpture of antiquity, although Timotheos is known to have represented Leda in sculpture; small-scale examples survive showing both reclining and standing poses, in cameos and engraved gems, rings, and terracotta oil lamps. Thanks to the literary renditions of Ovid and Fulgentius it was a well-known myth through the Middle Ages, but emerged more prominently as a classicizing theme, with erotic overtones, in the Italian Renaissance. (Wiki)
As for Black Swans, there ain't much.
Black Swan is a German mutant in the Marvel Universe, raised in the Bavarian circus and highly trained in hand-to-hand, swordplay and gunmanship.
The Black Swan is also of spiritual significance in the traditional histories of many Australian Aboriginal peoples across southern Australia.
The Roman satirist Juvenal wrote in 82 AD of rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno ('a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan'). He meant something whose rarity would compare with that of a black swan, or in other words, as a black swan did not exist, neither did the supposed characteristics of the ‘rare bird’ with which it was being compared.
The phrase passed into several European languages as a popular proverb, including English, in which the first four words (a rare bird in the land) are often used ironically. For some 1500 years the black swan existed in the European imagination as a metaphor for that which could not exist. (all from Wiki)
So what are we to make of this? If a black swan is a metaphor for something that doesn't exist, then does it mean the statement in the video acusing people of cheating is a farce? Could it mean it's rare for people to cheat?
Or do I have this backwards? Zeus turned into a white swan and cheated - seduced or raped Leda. But I didn't cheat on the tests.
Curious.
1 comment:
Excellent post RB. Very interesting.
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