Clash of the Titans (2010): Gorgons and Io

Greeced Lightning

We’re back with more myth soup, and the 2010 reboot of Clash of the Titans! Sara, Luke, and Sam discuss Gorgons, Io, Priapus, and whether the world is ready for an Irish Zeus. CW: This episode’s myths involves a lot of rape.

• Athena with the aegis - Athena Promachos, from Herculaneum, now housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. You can see the aegis (goat skin) draped over her extended arm, with the gorgon head mounted on it.
• Prometheus Bound - An accessible translation of Aeschylus' tragedy Prometheus Bound by George Theodoridis.
• Gorgon kylix by Nikosthenes (Met Museum) - A 6th century BCE drinking cup, called a kylix, with a Gorgon face in the bottom interior of the cup. When you tipped the cup up to drain the wine, this is what you'd see! This cup was painted by Nikosthenes, a successful ceramicist of the day.
• Gorgoneion roof tile (Met Museum) - A 6th century BCE roof tile featuring a scary Gorgon grimace, surrounded by snakes for hair. These Gorgon tiles were apotropaic, meaning they were intended to ward off evil.
• The Priapeia - Sara summarizes Poem 67 in the episode. The syllables highlighted in the first two lines spell out the verb pedicare, which means "to sodomize": Penelopes primam Didonis prima sequatur et primam Cadmi syllaba prima Remi, quodque fit ex illis, mihi tu deprensus in horto, fur, dabis: hac poena culpa luenda tua est. The first syllable of Penelope, followed by the first syllable of Dido, And the first syllable of Cadmus followed by the first syllable of Remus: What's made of these is what you'll get when you're caught in my Garden, you thief: by this punishment, your crime will be paid for. (trans. by Sara)
• Fresco Of Priapus Photos - Getty Images - Fresco which Sam references during the episode: Priapus weighing his impossibly large penis on a scale. Fresco from the Casa dei Vettii in Pompeii.