The story according to which Persephone spent one part of the year in the lower world, and another with the gods above, made her, even with the ancients, the symbol of vegetation which shoots forth in spring, and the power of which withdraws into the earth at other seasons of the year. (Schol. ad Theocrit. iii. 48.) Hence Plutarch identifies her with spring, and Cicero De Nat. Deor. ii. 26) calls her the seed of the fruits of the field. (Comp. Lydus, De Mes. pp. 90, 284; Porphyr. De Ant. Nymph. p. 118. ed. Barnes.) In the mysteries of Eleusis, the return of Cora from the lower world was regarded as the symbol of immortality, and hence she was frequently represented on sarcophagi. In the mystical theories of the Orphics, and what are called the Platonists, Cora is described as the all-pervading goddess of nature, who both produces and destroys every thing (Orph. Hymn. 29. 16), and she is therefore mentioned along, or identified with, other mystic divinities, such as Isis, Rhea, Ge, Hestia, Pandora, Artemis, Hecate. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 708, 1176; Schol. ad Apollon. Rlod. iii. 467; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 12 ; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 609.) This mystic Persephone is further said to have become by Zeus the mother of Dionysus, Iacchus, Zagreus or Sabazius. (Hesych. s. v. Zagreus; Schol. ad Eurip. Or. 952 ; Aristoph. Ran. 326; Diod. iv. 4; Arrian. Exped. Al. ii. 16; Lydus De Mens. p. 198; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23.) The surnames which are given to her by the poets, refer to her character as queen of the lower world and of the dead, or to her symbolic meaning which we have pointed out above. She was commonly worshipped along with Demeter, and with the same mysteries, as for example, with Demeter Cabeiria in Boeotia. (Paus. ix. 25. 5.) Her worship further is mentioned at Thebes, which Zeus is said to have given to her as an acknowledgment for a favour she had bestowed on him (Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 687): in like manner Sicily was said to have been given to her at her wedding (Pind. Nem. i. 17; Diod. v.2; Schol. ad Theocrit. xv. 14), and two festivals were celebrated in her honour in the island, the one at the time of sowing, and the other at the time of harvest. (Diod. v. 4; Athen. iv. p. 647.) The Eleusinian mysteries belonged to Demeter and Cora in common, and to her alone were dedicated the mysteries celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion. (Comp. Paus. i. 31. 1, &c.) Temples of Persephone are mentioned at Corinth, Megara, Sparta, and at Locri in the south of Italy. (Paus. iii. 13. 2; Liv. xxix. 8, 18; Appian, iii. 12.) In works of art Persephone is seen very frequently: she bears the grave and severe character of an infernal Juno, or she appears as a mystical divinity with a sceptre and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the act of being carried off by Pluto. (Paus. viii. 37. 2.)
Orphic Hymn 71 to Melinoe :"Melinoe, saffron-veiled, terrene, who from Phersephone dread venerable queen, mixt with Zeus Kronion, arose, near where Kokytos' (Cocytus') mournful river flows; when, under Plouton's (Pluton's) [Haides] semblance, Zeus divine deceived with guileful arts dark Phersephone. Hence, partly black thy limbs and partly white, from Plouton dark, from Zeus ethereal bright."
Heroine Legends Return Of The Black Queen
Theognis, Fragment 1.703 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th B.C.) : "Sisyphos (Sisyphus), son of Aiolos (Aeolus), who by his wits came up even from Aides [Haides], after persuading with wily words Persephone who impairs the mind of mortals and brings them forgetfulness. No one else has ever contrived this, once Thanatos' (Death's) dark cloud has enveloped him and he has come to the shadowy place of the dead and passed the black gates which hold back the souls of the dead, for all their protestations. But even from there the hero Sisyphos returned to the light of the sun by his cleverness."
"Have you ever met people who thought Metroid was the name of the game's heroine? Adding Queen to the title would just make it worse. But if you show them what a Queen Metroid REALLY looks like, they won't make that mistake again in a hurry. Metroids are fearsome creatures, and the queen is the nastiest of the lot."
Vara Caspary's novel The White Girl (1929) told the story of Solaria, a beautiful mulatto who passes for white. Her secret is revealed by the appearance of her brown-skinned brother. Depressed, and believing that her skin is becoming darker, Solaria drinks poison. A more realistic but equally depressing mulatto character is found in Geoffrey Barnes' novel Dark Lustre (1932). Alpine, the light-skinned "heroine," dies in childbirth, but her white baby lives to continue "a cycle of pain." Both Solaria and Alpine are repulsed by blacks, especially black suitors.
Peola is the antithesis of the mammy caricature. Delilah knows her place in the Jim Crow hierarchy: the bottom rung. Hers is an accommodating resignation, bordering on contentment. Peola hates her life, wants more, wants to live as a white person, to have the opportunities that whites enjoy. Delilah hopes that her daughter will accept her racial heritage. "He [God] made you black, honey. Don't be telling Him his business. Accept it, honey." Peola wants to be loved by a white man, to marry a white man. She is beautiful, sensual, a potential wife to any white man who does not know her secret. Peola wants to live without the stigma of being black -- and in the 1930s that stigma was real and measurable. Ultimately and inevitably, Peola rejects her mother, runs away, and passes for white. Delilah dies of a broken heart. A repentant and tearful Peola returns to her mother's funeral.
Silas Lynch proposes marriage to Stoneman's daughter, Elsie. He says, "I will build a black empire and you as my queen shall rule by my side." When she refuses, he binds her and decides on a "forced marriage." Lynch informs Stoneman that he wants to marry a white woman. Stoneman approves until he discovers that the white woman is his daughter. While this drama unfolds, blacks attack whites. It looks hopeless until the newly formed Ku Klux Klan arrives to reestablish white rule.
In 1958 Natalie Wood starred in Kings Go Forth (Ross & Daves), the story of a young French mulatto who passes for white. She becomes involved with two American soldiers on leave from World War II. They are both infatuated with her until they discover that her father is black. Both men desert her. She attempts suicide unsuccessfully. Given another chance to live, she turns her family's large home into a hostel for war orphans, "those just as deprived of love as herself" (Bogle, 1994, p. 192). At the movie's end, one of the soldiers is dead; the other, missing an arm, returns to the mulatto woman. They are comparable, both damaged, and it is implied that they will marry.
Kahina's life is only known through later Arab historians writing on the Muslim conquest of Africa. These historians, as well as other legends, claim that she was a Jewish sorceress who descended from the Beta Israel community of Ethiopian Jews. She is said to have been a royal member of the Jarawa tribe within the larger confederacy known as the Zenata Tribe of Mauretania; a princess, who then became queen and ruled over an autonomous state in the area of the Aures Mountains in modern-day northeastern Algeria.
Queen Iden is yet another heroine whose sacrifice helped shape Benin Kingdom. She was the queen during the reign of Oba Ewuape in about 1700 AD. She is known to have volunteered herself as a sacrificial lamb for the welfare of her husband and that of the entire kingdom.Her husband, Oba Ewuape, ascended the throne in very turbulent times. His kingdom and chiefs rebelled against him. He had the kingdom but had no subjects. His palace was deserted, save for Queen Iden. She stood by Oba Ewuape and refused to leave the palace. The oracle divined that for peace to be restored to Benin Kingdom, a human sacrifice was needed. Queen Iden offered herself as a sacrificial lamb for the restoration of the monarchy. She was given a befitting burial and her tomb lies close to Oba market (in Benin City) till date.
In February 2007, a recently discovered coin bearing a portrait of Cleopatra went on display at Newcastle University in England, sparking renewed interest in the queen and a debate about whether she was really as beautiful as we imagine. The coin, dated to 32 B.C., shows a rather homely Cleopatra with a large nose, narrow lips and a sharp chin. She looks nothing like Elizabeth Taylor. But ancient historians never characterized Cleopatra as a great beauty, and in her time she was not considered a romantic heroine. In his A.D. 75 Life of Antony, Plutarch tells us, "Her actual beauty...was not so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence...was irresistible.... The character that attended all she said or did was something bewitching." 2ff7e9595c
Comments