Mythistorema - Triceratops Home

68 JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
20
The epigraph of this poem, "Andromeda," did not appear in the
early editions of Mythistorema. Seferis added this key-word in response
to a question by his French translator, Robert Levesque, and it appeared
first in the French translation and in the English of Rex Warner, and
only recently in the last Greek edition of Seferis' poems. The poem would
be much more difficult to explicate without the epigraph, because Seferis
blends in it two myths, those of Prometheus and of Andromeda." What
the two myths have in common is the chaining of their protagonists to
a rock. As in the case of modern Orestes, here again an act of hubris is
implied by the identification of the protagonist with Prometheus, as well
as Andromeda (who did not commit hubris herself but paid for her
mother's arrogance).
The blending of the two myths is evident in the very first lines: "In
my breast the wound opens again" is a reference to Prometheus, whose
liver, as is well known, was eaten by a vulture every time it regenerated,
as he was chained to a rock. The next line, "When the stars are setting
and become conjoined with my body," is an allusion to Andromeda, who
became a constellation. Like the two mythical characters, the protagonist
feels chained to a rock. The stones in the line that follows are not the
same as the rock to which the protagonist is bound, but they are also
part of his tragic predicament.
These stones which are sinking into the years, how far will
they drag me with them?
In "Mycenae," the poet expresses this same motif of the fateful stones
which cause him to sink. 80
"According to Greek mythology, Andromeda was the daughter of the king and
queen of Ethiopia, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Poseidon, in order to punish Cassiopeia,
who bragged that she was prettier than the Nereids, sent a sea monster to destroy
their land. The oracle of Ammon instructed Cepheus to give his daughter as a
scapegoat to the monster in order to save his land. Andromeda was chained to a
rock by the shore as prey for the monster. Perseus, however, returning from the
slaying of the Gorgon Medusa, killed the monster, freed Andromeda and married
her. This enraged Phineus, the brother of Cepheus, who wanted to marry Andromeda
himself. In the ensuing fight, Perseus showed the head of the slain monster
Medusa to Phineus, turning the latter to stone. Later, Athena turned all the characters
of the story into constellations.
"Needs must he sink who carries the great stones;
These stones I have carried as long as I was able,
These stones I have loved as long as I was able,
These stones my fate.
Wounded by my own soil
Tortured by my own garment
Condemned by my own gods,
These stones.