Saturday, April 27, 2013

X is for Xenia, a Greek Princess With Questionable Morals

Not Xena. Xenia. Two entirely different people, and only one of them comes from mythology.

Xenia (a Greek word for gift) is a mortal princess that has an interesting way of meeting men. Well, one man in particular. His name is Daphnis, and he is one of those merry shepherd boys the Greeks were so fond of, frolicking around and playing music, raised by nymphs, loved by the gods of the countryside. Daphnis apparently also has an ego on him, because he loudly claims he will never fall in love. He should have known from Greek mythology that it's not safe to flaunt that in Aphrodite's face, who goes ahead and makes him fall hard for a nymph called Nais. The nymph eventually agrees to marry him, but only is he swears he will never look at another woman again. That is how marriage works, people.
BUT. Along comes Xenia, a mortal princess, who fancies Daphnis, and fancies him enough to get him drunk and drag him to bed. Sounds like a teenage soap opera yet? Good. Wife finds out, strikes Daphnis blind, who eventually wanders into a river and the nymphs, out of sister solidarity, let him drown.
Don't cheat, peeps. Especially not with a princess called "gift".

4 comments:

  1. I always thought the name Xenia was interesting.

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  2. Interesting story. (Funny coincidence, I'm watching Xena right now. lol)

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  3. those Greeks were something else! I'm writing about a Greek god for my letter Z, so it is fresh in my mind.

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  4. Who wants to trust a guy named Daphnis anyway? Ah, but that Xenia. Wonder how karma hit her for doing such a thing.
    Don't be a Hippie
    Take 25 to Hollister

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