Myth and history collide in my novel, The Merkabah Recruit. Often times, they are rooted and merged so deeply in ancient history and culture we can’t figure where one ends and the other begins. Add modern science to the mix and those fantastical myths are now explainable!
I’m not pushing my novel today, but just want to remind you how deeply ingrained our earliest mythology is.
What’s your favorite mythological creatures? Don’t know any? Sure, you do!
Here is one of my favorites.
The Harpy! Hailing back to ancient Greece, these creatures were a fusion of bird and woman—portrayed either as ugly or beautiful.
They were ravenously hungry (aren’t all women on diets?) and stole food before fouling the area with their excrement (really hope that’s some kind of Greek metaphor).
To call a woman a “harpy” today is a total slam! Instantly a nagging, scolding, annoying ugly woman comes to mind!
I took a poll of under-thirty somethings–to my surprise they all knew what a harpy was–although they claimed they hated Greek mythology in high school and–even more surprising–laughed or snickered when they heard the word used to describe a woman.
Which is the worse insult? Biddy or harpy?
