Written in the Stars·Stand — Wonder Wheel
Arno Will, December 19, 2023, revised May 21, June 2, 2024
A man happened to see a beautiful maiden bathing, an impulse that could guide him to amazing love or disaster for himself. It depends on the maiden you meet, whether she aspires to love or amuses herself and treats life as a game. Legend said that of the seven beautiful girls in heaven, both in the East and the West. In the East, a love poem in which burning flames of desire once is better than countless others on earth, and the West is a sad song of the endless cycle in the day and night.
Sexual Revenge
Coeus (Ancient Greek: Κοῖος, romanized: Koîos) was one of the Titans whose name means “query, questioning” or “intelligence.” His wife was the Titanides (αἱ Τῑτᾱνῐ́δες, hai Tītānídes) Phoebe (Ancient Greek: Φοίβη, romanized: Phoíbē), which means “shining.” Their eldest daughter, Leto (Ancient Greek: Λητώ, romanized: Lētṓ), was described by Hesiod (Greek: Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) as “always mild, kind to men and to the deathless gods, mild from the beginning,” the gentlest goddess in all Olympus.
Zeus seduced Leto, resulting in the pregnancy of the “gentlest goddess.” Hera (Greek: Ἥρα, translit. Hḗrā;), Zeus’ wife, forbade any land to receive her in labor. So, Leto had to search the world for a place to take her.
While Leto was miserably searching for a place to give birth, Zeus resumed his pursuit of Leto’s sister, Asteria (Ancient Greek: Ἀστερία), whose name means “of the stars, starry one.” To escape Zeus’ rape, Asteria turned into a quail and flung herself into the sea.
Zeus had to give up his quest. But by plunging into the sea, Asteria attracted the greedy sea king Poseidon. He began his erotic quest after Zeus’ departure, so Asteria had to transform herself a second time into an island, Delos (Greek: Δήλος; Attic Greek: Δῆλος, Doric Greek: Δᾶλος). Which was the only floating island that did not border any land and disconnected to the bottom of the sea. It thus became the only place that could host Leto.
The goddess of childbirth and midwifery, Eileithyia or Ilithyia (Greek: Εἰλείθυια; Ἐλεύθυια), was on Mount Olympus with the jealous Hera. Therefore, Leto could not give birth to her twins even after nine days and nine nights of labor at Delos.
We know that, in the biological world, only human women give birth with a singularly high risk — the main reason is humans have evolved with an ever-increasing brain volume that contributes to difficulties in labor. The solution to this danger did not get a breakthrough until 1734, when the secret of the modern forceps, invented by British obstetrician Peter Chamberlen (or Pierre, 1572–1626) in 1600, was made public. Before this time, well-developed full-term babies were more likely to die, while underdeveloped premature babies were more likely to be born. Arno Will, studying praxeology, proposed a theory of “suboptimal evolution.” Human evolution has been accomplished primarily by suboptimal elimination of the optimal. For example, premature babies eliminate optimal full-born babies. In social practice, the first innovator usually fails and becomes a stepping stone for those who come after him, while the second best is more likely to succeed. In political ecology, the phenomenon of “the best martyrs and the second best soldiers” is also present.
The union of Thaumas (Ancient Greek: Θαύμας; gen.: Θαύμαντος), who represented the dangers of the sea, and Electra (Ancient Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, romanized: Ēléktra, lit. “amber”), one of the three thousand water nymphs Oceanids, gave birth to Iris (Greek: Ἶρις, translit. Îris, lit. “rainbow”), the goddess of the rainbow as well as a messenger of gods. Iris sends a necklace to Eileithyia and then persuades her to assist Leto. After all, “gifts blind eyes,” Eileithyia traveled with Iris to Delos. The goddess of childbirth allowed Leto to give birth to her children, and Leto gave birth to the twins Artemis (Greek: Ἄρτεμις) and Apollo. Themis (Ancient Greek: Θέμις, romanized: Themis), meaning “justice, law, custom,” represented justice, divine order, law, and custom, brought Ambrosia (Ancient Greek: ἀμβροσία “immortality”), the immortal beverages that gods drank. So, the twins did not drink milk but grew up with the beverages of gods.
Another legend is that Leto disguised herself as a she-wolf to search for the “wolf-country” of Lycia, and thus took twelve days and twelve nights to give birth to her cubs. In any case, a god with such a difficult birth would be the best of gods on Mount Olympus.
In the section Predestined Fate·Girl Insulted and Castrated, we also told the story that Poseidon raped Medusa (Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα, romanized: Médousa) and Perseus (Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) overcome Medusa. Because Cassiopeia (Ancient Greek: Κασσιόπεια Kassiópeia, Modern Greek: Κασσιόπη Kassiópē) boasted the beauty of her daughter, Andromeda (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδρομέδα, romanized: Androméda or Ἀνδρομέδη, Andromédē), she aroused the jealousy of Amphitrite (Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιτρίτη, romanized: Amphitrítē), who asked Poseidon, her husband, to punish Andromeda. But Andromeda was also rescued by Perseus, who took her as his wife.
But for the immortal gods, they had plenty of time. They could wait patiently, even if they were overcome by mortals, due to gods owning the future. Perseus had two sons: the first son, Mestor (Ancient Greek: Μήστωρ), and the second son, Electryon (Ancient Greek: Ἠλεκτρύων).
Mestor, meaning “adviser” or “counsellor,” married Lysidice (or Lysidike; Ancient Greek: Λυσιδίκη). They had a daughter, Hippothoe (Ancient Greek: Ἱπποθόη Hippothoê), whose name means “swift as a mare.” Hippothoe became a new prey of Poseidon.
Smart ones know how to bide one’s time and wait for the right opportunity to seek vengeance. Poseidon took Hippothoe captive to Echinades (Greek: αἱ Ἐχινάδες) Islands, where he gave birth to his son, Taphius (Ancient Greek: Τάφιος). Taphius founded Taphos (Ancient Greek: Τάφος) and became the first king, becoming the ancestor of its Taphians (Ancient Greek: Τάφιοι). They were seafarers and pirates and engaged in the slave trade.
The younger brother of Mestor, Electryon, means “amber, shining, incandescent.” He married Eurydice (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη), whose name derived from ευρυς eurys “wide” and δικη dike “justice.” Eurydice has an unusual origin.
Chastity Bath
When Leto gave birth to her daughter Artemis, Zeus took great pity on his beautiful illegitimate daughter, and presumably also to make up for the suffering of his lover, Leto, in childbirth, granted whatever Artemis wanted. So Artemis became the goddess of hunting, wilderness, wildlife, nature, vegetation, childbirth, childcare, and chastity. She made another final request to her father that she wanted the moon. Zeus immediately gave her the moon, and Artemis became the goddess of the moon. In Greek mythology, Selene (Greek: Σελήνη, meaning “Moon”) is the personification of the moon, also known as Mene, and Artemis is the goddess of the moon. Helios (Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος; Homeric Greek: Ἠέλιος, meaning “Sun”) was the personification of the sun, and Apollo was the god of the sun.
Another of Tantalus’ sons, Broteas, was a good hunter, but he refused to respect Artemis and bragged that nothing could hurt him, not even fire. So Artemis drove Broteas mad, causing him to walk into the fire and end his life. At the ancient Greek festival of the hunters’ goddess, people piled a pyre to burn a human effigy, dramatizing the punishment that Broteas had received.
Siproites (Greek: Σιπροίτης, translit. Siproítēs) was a Cretan hero. While hunting, he saw Artemis bathing. For her chastity, Artemis turned Siproites into a woman. It is another transgender incident in Greek mythology, the other being the rape of Caenis (Ancient Greek: Καινίς, romanized: Kainís) by the sea king Poseidon, who turned her into a man.
In contrast to Siproites, Actaeon (Ancient Greek: Ἀκταίων Aktaiōn) was not so fortunate. He was the son of Aristaeus (Greek: Ἀρισταῖος Aristaios), a priestly herdsman in Greek mythology, and Autonoë (Ancient Greek: Αὐτονόη), a princess of Thebes. Actaeon was hunting on Mount Cithaeron (or Kithairon; Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) when he saw Artemis bathing unintentionally. He stopped and gazed at her, marveling at her mesmerizing beauty.
Artemis forbade him to speak, cursing him and turning him into a stag if he attempted to speak. At that moment, Actaeon’s fellow hunters called out to him, and he could not help but answer and immediately turned into a stag. The 50 hounds that Actaeon kept did not recognize their master and hunted down and devoured Actaeon as a stag, tearing him to pieces.
Another unlucky person was Astynome (Ancient Greek: Ἀστυνόμη, romanized: Astynóme), the son of Ares (Ancient Greek: Ἄρης, Árēs) from Calydon (Ancient Greek: Καλυδών, Kalydōn). Note that Ares from Calydon is female, not the god of war. Astynome also saw Artemis bathing and was turned into a stone by the goddess. The goddess of chastity seems to have been particularly fond of letting men see her naked.
Niobe, Tantalus’ daughter, also had a tragic end. And Artemis killed Her daughters. We will have to recount this in more detail in later chapters.
Love River
Artemis seems to have a particular fondness for letting men see her naked. Thus, she could fall into bathing as a punishment for love, perhaps a form of self-stimulation for chastity. Compared to her cruelty for love, the bathing of the daughter of the emperor of heaven in the Han Chinese mythologies has a much warmer ending.
Legend has it that the Emperor of Heaven had seven daughters who often fled to bathe in the rivers of the mortal world. A cowherd boy, later known as the Niulang (Chinese: 牛郎), meaning “cowherd man,” happened to see seven birds flying to the river and shedding their feathers to become beautiful women bathing in the water. He secretly hid the feathered clothes of the youngest woman. When the seven women realized a man was spying on them, they dressed and flew away. Only the youngest of the seven fairies could not find her clothes and had to stay in the river. Niulang begged the maiden to marry him. The maiden had no choice but to agree. So Niulang put his own clothes on the woman and took her home.
After marriage, the man plows the woman weaving. Villagers called the woman Zhinü (Chinese: 織女), meaning “weaving girl.” They have a few children later. They love each other and have a happy life. After a long while, Zhinü misses her parents, so she secretly asks Niulang’s mother and learns that her feathered clothes are under the rice in the barn, so she puts on her clothes and flies back to heaven.
Returning to heaven, Zhinü chastised by her father, the Emperor of Heaven, who forbade her to return to earth. But she often missed her husband and children. So the Emperor of Heaven stipulated that every year on the night of July 7, let magpies build a bridge in the Milky Way. Carrying his children on a stretcher, Niulang meets Zhinü at the center of the bridge. At this time, people can look up from the mortal world and see the stars Altair and Vega.
Han Chinese people call this day The Qixi Festival (Chinese: 七夕), also called “The Festival to Plead for Skills” (Chinese: 乞巧). The festival was introduced to Japan by the Empress Kōken (孝謙天皇, Kōken-tennō, 718 — August 28, 770) in 755 and called Tanabata (Japanese: たなばた or 七夕), meaning “Evening of the Seventh,” also known as the Star Festival (Japanese: 星祭り, Hoshimatsuri).
Gan Bao (or Kan Pao; Chinese: 干寶, fl. 315, died March or April 336), courtesy name Lingsheng (令升), was a historian and literary scholar during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (Chinese: 东晉, 317–420). He wrote the 30-volume In Search of the Supernatural (Chinese: 搜神記), only 20 volumes survive, and became the founder of the novel about tales of the miraculous.
He lived at a time of great Christian debate about the identity of the Father and the Son. Eventually, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (Latin: Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, February 27 c. 272 — May 22, 337), in the year 325, called a meeting of more than 300 Christian bishops from all over the country in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor, in present-day İznik, Turkey. That produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed (Koinē Greek: Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας, romanized: Sýmvolon tis Nikéas), also called the Creed of Constantinople.
A man from Xinyu County, Yuzhang, saw six or seven women in a field, all dressed in feathered garments, not knowing if they were birds. He crept to one of the women, took the sweater, hid it, and went to the birds. All the birds flew away, but one bird could not fly (without feathered garments). The man took her as his wife. He gave birth to three daughters.
The woman later asked her mother-in-law where her clothes were, and her mother-in-law asked her father-in-law. Then, she learned that the clothes were under a pile of rice, and the woman got them, put them on, and flew away. After some days, the woman flew back to take her three daughters.
— Gan Bao, In Search of the Supernatural
The legend of Niulang and Zhinu was first recorded in The Classic of Poetry (Chinese: 詩經) in the early Western Zhou dynasty (Chinese: 西周, c. 1046 BC– 771 BC), which is supposed to be a very early Chinese mythological story. There were many evolutions in the course of transmission, combined with the legends of Dong Yong (Chinese: 董永).
The Han Chinese Emperor of Heaven is the supreme leader of gods, similar to Zeus’ position. But it seems that Chinese gods rarely intervene on earth. His own daughter was “hijacked” by a mortal, and he did not come out to interfere.
Although angry when his daughter returned home, he acquiesced in the marriage. Finally, He let the young couple reunite for one night on the eve of every year. Compared to the gods of ancient Greece, the Han Chinese gods are simply like the neighboring grandfather, at most, leaning on the old to make some temper, as if there is nothing for mortals to be afraid of. I wonder if this results from the “separation of Earth and Heaven” by the Zhuanxu (Chinese: 顓頊) emperor — a story we’ve told.
Love is the eternal theme of humans. As we have already said, in Greek mythology, Anteros (Ancient Greek: Ἀντέρως, romanized: Antérōs) was the god who punished those who scorned love and rejected the advances of others. But his presence seemed to be if nothing else, and he seems even more powerless against Artemis, the goddess who rejected love.
Break One’s Oath
Beauty and cruelty can arouse greater sexual desire. Being destroyed by beauty or destroying beauty can bring the ultimate pleasure. The more cruel, the more beautiful; the more beautiful, the more cruel.
Once, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon visited Hyrieus (Ancient Greek: Ὑριεύς) of Tanagra (Greek: Τανάγρα). Hyrieus was the illegitimate son of Poseidon and Alcyone (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκυόνη, romanized: Alkyóne). He roasted a whole bull for the three gods. In gratitude for his hospitality, the gods granted him a wish. Hyrieus was childless and asked the gods to grant him a son. The gods filled a sacrificial bull’s hide with their urine, then told Hyrieus to bury it and told him to dig it up in ten months. When the time came, Hyrieus dug up the hide and got a son, Orion (Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or Ὠαρίων; Latin: Orion). So Orion was also conceived by Gaia of the earth.
Orion was a famous hunter who claimed to be able to hunt any existing animal. He fell in love with Merope (Greek: Μερόπη) on the island of Chios (Greek: Χίος, romanized: Chíos), for which he killed the beasts of Chios and plundered the inhabitants to prepare a bride price for Merope. Melope’s father, King Oenopion (Ancient Greek: Οἰνοπίων, Oinopíōn), does not want to marry his daughter to him. A frustrated Onopion gets drunk, breaks into Merope’s bedroom, and rapes her. An enraged Oenopion stabs the drunken Orion in the eye.
Orion stumbled went to the island of Lemnos (or Limnos; Greek: Λήμνος; Ancient Greek: Λῆμνος). Hephaestus (Greek: Ἥφαιστος, translit. Hḗphaistos) built a forge on the island. Hephaestus told his servant Cedalion (or Kedalion; Classical Greek: Κηδαλίων) to guide Orion to the easter point of the island, where the sun Helios (Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος) would restore him to the light. Orion returned to Chios to take revenge on King Oenopion. Oenopion had to hide underground to escape.
Orion fits the image of a man-god in all women’s minds. He is strong, potent, and handsome. Meeting Leto and Artemis at Crete, they hunted together. Artemis fell in love with him. After some hesitation, Artemis confided in her fellow brother Apollo that she was determined to renege on her promise to marry Orion and would no longer hold fast to her vow of chastity. Apollo probably had a problem with this but did not openly oppose it.
The goddess and personification of the dawn, Eos (Ionic and Homeric Greek Ἠώς Ēṓs, Attic Ἕως Héōs）, also fell in love with Orion. She and Helios (Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος, “Sun”), Selene (Greek: Σελήνη, “Moon”) were sisters. They were both descendants of the Titan Hyperion (Greek: Ὑπερίων, “he who goes before”) and Theia (Ancient Greek: Θεία, romanized: Theía, “divine”). Hyperion was responsible for supporting the eastern sky. As a result, his children, sun, moon, and dawn always rose from the east. Note that Helios is the personification of the sun, and Apollo is the god who reigns over the sun. Selene is the personification of the moon, and Artemis is the goddess who governs the moon.
Eos brought Orion to the island of Delos. While Orion was swimming, Apollo, who secretly wanted to keep his sister’s virginity, pointed to a dark spot in the distant sea and said to his sister, “Sister, you boast that you are a godly archer, so can you shoot that distant reef?” Without any hesitation, Artemis bent her bow and shot, and an arrow pierced Orion’s heart. The waves carried Orion’s body to the shore, and Artemis realized she had made a great mistake. She clung to the cold body of her lover and cursed never to see her brother Apollo again. Then Orion was elevated to the sky and became the constellation Orion. From then on, Artemis decreed that the moon could not rise simultaneously with the sun and would never again frolic together in the sky.
Seven Sisters
In another legend, Orion chased the seven sisters of the Pleiades for seven years until Zeus elevated them all into the sky to become the constellation Pleiades.
Atlas (Greek: Ἄτλας, Átlas) and Pleione (Ancient Greek: Πληιόνη or Πλειόνη) had seven daughters called Pleiades (Greek: Πλειάδες), meaning “daughters of Pleione.” Pleione was also an Oceanid, one of the 3,000 water nymphs.
Similar to the seven daughters of the emperor of heaven in the Han Chinese mythologies, only the youngest daughter of Pleiades married a mortal, and the other Pleiades were all seduced by the Olympian gods and became supporting characters in the gods’ poetic and passionate.
Maia (Ancient Greek: Μαῖα) and Zeus gave birth to Hermes (Greek: Ἑρμῆς).
Electra (Greek: Ἠλέκτρα), meaning “amber,” was seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Dardanus (Ancient Greek: Δάρδανος, Dardanos) and Iasion (Ancient Greek: Ἰασίων, Iasíōn), by Zeus.
Taygete (Ancient Greek: Ταϋγέτη) and Zeus gave birth to Lacedaemon (Ancient Greek: Λακεδαίμων Lakedaímōn).
Alcyone (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκυόνη, Alkyóne) and Poseidon gave birth to Hyrieus (Ancient Greek: Ὑριεύς), Hyperenor (Ancient Greek: Ὺπερήνωρ means “man who comes up”), and Aethusa (Ancient Greek: Αἵθουσα); another version was the mother of Hyperes (Ancient Greek: Ὑπέρης, gen. Ὑπέρητος) and Anthas (or Anthes; Ancient Greek: Ἄνθας, Ἄνθης, romanized: Ánthas, Ánthes); or Epopeus (Ancient Greek: Ἐπωπεύς, romanized: Epōpeús, “all-seer”).
Celaeno (Ancient Greek: Κελαινώ Kelaino), meaning “the dark one,” and Poseidon gave birth to Lycus (or Lykos, Lycos, Ancient Greek: Λύκος, lit. ‘wolf’) and Nycteus (Greek: Νυκτεύς, romanized: Nukteús, “nocturnal”). Or of Eurypylus (Ancient Greek: Εὐρύπυλος Eurypylos) and Euphemus (Ancient Greek: Εὔφημος, Eὔphēmos, “reputable”), also by Poseidon.
Sterope (Ancient Greek: Στερόπη), meaning “lightning,” also Asterope, and Ares give birth to Oenomaus (also Oenamaus; Greek: Οἰνόμαος, Oinómaos), or the wife of Oenomaus instead.
Merope (Greek: Μερόπη), the youngest of the seven Pleiades, is not the same one Merope from Chios who was raped by Orion. Merope, daughter of Pleione, married Sisyphus (Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος Sísyphos), king of Corinth (Greek: Κόρινθος, Kórinthos), and had a son, Glaucus (Ancient Greek: Γλαῦκος Glaukos), meaning “greyish blue” or “bluish green” and “glimmering.” She was the only one of Pleiades to marry a mortal, so she lost her ability to be immortal. The seven sisters later became the constellation Pleiades in the sky. Pleiades V, which Merope incarnated, is the dimmest star and hard to recognize. In contrast to her sister, seduced by the gods, she was ashamed of her marriage and thus hid her face from the world.
Qin Guan (Chinese: 秦觀, 1049 — September 17, 1100), courtesy name Taixu (太虛), changed to Shaoyou (少遊) and known as Hangou Jushi (邗溝居士) and Mr. Huaihai (淮海先生), was a native of Gaoyou, Yangzhou (present-day Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province), China, and a literati of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was honored as one of the “Four Scholars of Sumen” (蘇門四學士), along with Huang Tingjian (Chinese: 黃庭堅), Zhang Lei (張耒) and Chao Buzhi (晁補之). He lived at a time when the Norman Conquest took place. His lyrics are the best ode to the story of Niulang and Zhinu and fit in well with the mortals and gods who love but cannot be loved.
纖雲弄巧，飛星傳恨，銀漢迢迢暗度。
金風玉露一相逢，便勝卻人間無數。柔情似水，佳期如夢，忍顧鵲橋歸路。
兩情若是久長時，又豈在朝朝暮暮。— 秦觀，鵲橋仙
Clouds are constantly changing,
as flowers blooming.
Meteors cross the sky,
Carrying a message of love,
quietly flying over thousands of miles.
The winds blow in autumn,
and the dew quietly creeps at night.
The flame of love kindled,
even once, is better than the mediocre couples
together every day.Their love flows tenderly like a stream,
entwined with each other happily,
as if in a dream.
Too short a time,
how to look back at the bridge
that magpies connected.
Endless love burning in their heart,
Why complain
can’t be together day and night?—Qinguan, Magpie Bridge Over Milkway. Translated by Arno Will
Arno Will, December 19, 2023, revised May 21, June 2, 2024
Ideas and Myths·Awakening
Ideas and Myths·Purpose For Man
Ideas and Myths·Written in the Stars
Written in the Stars·Predestined Fate
Written in the Stars·Destinies
Written in the Stars·Stand
Stand — Thunderbolt
Stand — Eternal Fountain
Stand — Truth in Black
Stand — Feast of Human Flesh
Stand — Wonder Wheel
Stand — Blood Sword
Written in the Stars·Curses
Ideas and Myths·Liberation
