Perhaps
I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but this question has been
bugging me for a few days now, so I thought I'd pose my quandary to
others to get their thoughts.
I'm
writing a novel using Greek Mythology. I was writing a line about
what makes someone immortal, when I realized I don't know. Throughout
Greek Mythology there seems to be no clear answers. For example, some
mortals could be made immortal by great feats, such as Heracles, who
was man but became a god. (In some texts he is set on fire, and all
that is mortal in him burns away, leaving only the godly parts).
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| CC BY 2.5 Paul Stevenson Here is Ganymede and Zeus in the form of the eagle. Many consider Ganymede to be a parallel to the soul, rising to the heavens |
Another example would be Ganymede, who Zeus found so beautiful he
swooped down from the heavens in the form of an eagle, gave him
ambrosia so he would live forever, and made him the cup bearer to the
gods. Clearly, it's possible for a mortal to be made immortal. But
what about another option? Is it possible to be from an immortal and
be mortal? The answer is decidedly yes. For example, Linus --a son of
Apollo-- was killed by Heracles, as was The Nemean Lion, a child of
Zeus. Orion, son of Zeus was killed and placed in the heavens. Medusa
is the most annoying to me, though. Medusa had two immortal parents
(Phorcys and Cleto) and two immortal sisters, but yet, most texts
consider her mortal. In some Greek Myths (understand most Greek Myths
have variations) Perseus beheads Medusa, using his shield to see her
so as to avoiding looking into her eyes. Normally decapitation would
kill just about anything. However, one of the things that nags at me
is that Medusa's head, which was said to be affixed to Athena's
shield, still turned people into stone. What? How on Earth would that
work? If she's dead, her eyes should no longer be magical? She's
dead! All the magic should just drain away, right? I think there is a
good argument to be made that Medusa isn't mortal, she's merely in
two pieces. If someone were to, say, put her back together (that is,
if she existed in the first place) she could come back to life. Not
that anyone would want that.
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| CC BY 2.5 robin.elaine Perseus beheading Medusa |
As I
dug deeper into Greek Mythology, and who could and could not die, I
asked a friend what he thought. He postulated that gods, goddesses,
demi-gods, etc... were immortal until someone found a way to kill
them. For example, vampires, although not in Greek Mythology, are
often considered immortal, yet they can be killed with a stake
through the heart. While I understand the rational, somehow this
seems silly to me. It's like saying we're immortal until we die. I
guess I don't view vampires as immoral just more Death-resistant than
humans.
I
understand that this is just idle speculation, and in the end none of
this matters. Accept to me, who is trying to build a world in my
novel that makes some sense.
Tell
me what you think. Do you think that an immortal being could be
killed? Or, like me, do you think that if someone is truly immortal
they could never die?
