2018-12-25

A Christmas Message (per Stephen Fry)

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by Neil Godfrey

The interesting characters are all the fruit of two parents, not one

The silent emptiness of this world was filled when Gaia bore two sons all on her own* The first was PONTUS, the sea, and the second was OURANOS, the sky — better known to us as Uranus, the sound of whose name has ever been the cause of great delight to children from nine to ninety.

* This trick of virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, can be found in nature still. In aphids, some lizards and even sharks it is a reasonably common way to have young. There won’t be the variation that two sets of genes allow; this is the same in the genesis of the Greek gods. The interesting ones are all the fruit of two parents, not one.

Fry, Stephen. 2017. Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold. London, England: Penguin. p. 5

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Neil Godfrey

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