tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407624264627208128.post4327737258397341124..comments2024-01-26T21:38:25.924-08:00Comments on Duane's PoeTree: Michael Brownstein writesDuanesPoeTreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053093400086634552noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407624264627208128.post-44094584347098692112018-09-30T13:34:04.693-07:002018-09-30T13:34:04.693-07:00Lucius Apuleius Madaurensi included the story of C...Lucius Apuleius Madaurensi included the story of Cupido and Anima in his "Metamorphoses" in the 2nd century, the only extant complete Roman novel (Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis -- St Augustine -- referred to it as "Asinus aureus," The Golden Ass). Anima is almost universally referred to by her Greek name Psyche (soul, or breath of life). In a fit of jealousy Venus the goddess of love had Psyche whipped and punished by her handmaids Worry and Sadness, then sent her to the underworld with a box to obtain a dose of the beauty of Proserpina (Persephone). She is advised to take 2 coins in her mouth for Charon the ferryman to pay for a round trip voyage across the river into Hades; she was also advised to ignore a dead man swimming in the river, lest she be diverted from her task. According to tradition, the coin was an obol, a spit of copper, bronze, or iron that was traded by weight; 6 obols equalled 1 drachma ("handful," since that was as many obols as could be held in one hand. 1 obol was worth 3 liters [6 pints] of wine, while a prostitute cost 3 obols). Charon, the son of Erebus (darkness) and his sister Nyx (night), the children of Chaos, was the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. Charon pushed those who could not afford the passage out of the boat and they were condemned to wander the far shores of Hades. DuanesPoeTreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17053093400086634552noreply@blogger.com