Cyprus: Testing The Extent of My Power
As you can see from my previous tales, I hold great
power amongst mortals and other gods. If you, for whatever reason, are
still in doubt about the infinite abilities of my power, listen to this
next story…
Although I was a goddess, of course, I loved my
hometown, as any child would and it was the only place I
called home for many years.
As I grew up and my beauty began to flourish, people
from miles away would travel just to witness my beauty. I obviously had
no problem with this, but the other people of Amathus became jealous of
the attention I was getting. I couldn’t help the attention, people just
wanted to see me! Can you blame ‘em? At this point, the people of
Amathus
were still doubtful about the extent of my powers and foolishly decided
to
test them. Utterly and completely underestimating my extreme amount of
power, the people of Amathus began to murder the visitors that came to
see me. (Apparently they didn’t quite understand the extent of my
powers!)
At this point, I just didn’t know what to think
about my fellow neighbors. I was completely ashamed of their actions
and debated with myself for days about what punishment I should give
them.
At first, I thought it would be best to have all the citizens of
Amathus killed. After contemplating several revenge tactics, I came
upon the perfect one. I would change the physical forms of all the men
and women in Amathus to have them suffer. I wanted them to suffer just
as they made the visitors suffer. All the visitors wanted to do was see
me and witness my beauty! Did they really deserve to be murdered?
I wanted to embarrass the men and take the dignity
of the women for what they had done to those poor people… and most
importantly, to me!
Even though the people of my city realized how angry
I was,
they only continued to sin and test my willingness to restrain their
sins. They kept murdering visitors and treating me as if I had no power
over them at all. I effortlessly transformed the men into bulls and
the women
into prostitutes - all of them! The men sprouted horns and hoofs while
the women, continuing to doubt my infinite powers, suddenly found
themselves in the beds of men who were paying customers, and not their
husbands!
These women were the first to prostitute their
bodies in history. I stripped them of their dignity and their entire
ability to blush…it only seemed fair!
So you see, my friends, when people underestimate
the
power I hold, they truly get what’s coming to them! I don’t just settle
for revenge- I look for ways to make these people truly regret their
false presuppositions of me, thinking that I am powerless - when of
course I am not! With beauty comes power. With power come
people. And with people comes power. I’ve got it all and well, folks, I
don’t think I’m gonna be losing any of it anytime soon! It sure is a
good life when you’ve got everything you’ve ever wanted.
Author’s Note: I took the beginning story of Pygmalion and transformed
it to center around Aphrodite’s incessant demand for power. Although I
made very few changes to the actual plot, I emphasized certain points
in the story to help the readers focus on what I want them to! In the
original story, Aphrodite was upset that visitors were being murdered
in her city. The reason she was upset was not originally because she
thought the visitors were there to see her, but I made it seem like she
interpreted it that way. In my previous stories, I emphasized her
demand to be recognized for her power, and I continued that in this
story as well. In order to emphasize her self-centeredness, I stressed
Aphrodite’s emotional reactions to the murders in her hometown, which
she
previously was so proud of. I also made sure to stress the importance
of Aphrodite’s power in this story. Because both the original version
and my version are focused around the importance of her power, I
thought it couldn’t hurt to emphasize her anger when she experienced
the lack of recognition from her peers. I really enjoyed transforming
this particular story and putting it into Aphrodite’s and my own words!
Back Home (CoverPage)
Introduction
Image Source: Aprodite
and a Cyprus Prostitute
Story:
Book 10: Orpheus Sings of th ePropoetides and of Pygmalion
Author: Ovid
Book: Metamorphoses
Year Published: English Translation 2000
Web Source: Metamorphoses