G365, day 329: 24th Nov 24
Hellenic day
Emm and I are housesitting for the weekend. Today was a down day, and I kicked myself for forgetting to bring a reading book—then figured, well, the house is full of bookshelves, maybe I can find something here I’d like. Most of the books look to have been purchased before my lifetime. But as I scanned the shelves, I saw something that made me gasp aloud—“The King Must Die,” a fictional account of the life of Theseus in ancient Greece. Only my favorite novel in early high school. Back then I read it numerous times, but it’s probably been twenty years now, and oh my gosh, today I have been DEVOURING it. What an absolute delight.
It’s funny to read, because one of the things this fictionalized Theseus does is overthrow worship of the Earth Mother in a neighboring kingdom that is ruled by a queen and run by women, instigating his Greek patriarchal kingship and worship of the Sky God, Zeus, instead. When I first read this book at perhaps 15 years old, I’m sure I nodded in approval for the matriarchy to be destroyed, albeit replaced by heathen deities. Now I find it almost painful to read a narrator’s voice decrying the foolishness of female rule. Yet the voice is so strong and vivid, I can’t help loving the story as much as I ever did. Only that I read it now through a different lens.
On a lazy Sunday with nowhere to go, there could be no better pastime than lying on the couch under the window for hours with a good book. I am so grateful.
