Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Lynne Ewing

Quote by Lynne Ewing

“In the beginning of the ancient world Prometheus stole a glowing ember from the sacred fire of the gods and gave it to all mortals to protect them from the cold of night. But Zeus, the king of the gods, became angry that such a gift had been taken, and in vengeance he decided to balance the blessing of fire with a curse. He ordered Hephaestus to sculpt a woman of exquisite beauty whose destiny was to bring great sorrow upon the human race. She was to be named Pandora. As Hephaestus molded the clay into a stunning female, a primordial evil called the Atrox watched covetously from the shadows. Once she was complete, Hermes took Pandora to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, and offered her to him, as a present from Zeus. When he saw the beautiful Pandora, Epimetheus forgot his brother's warning not to accept any gifts from the great god, and took her for his bride. For her dowry, the gods had given Pandora a huge, mysterious storage jar, but the Atrox knew what lay inside. At the wedding feast, it shrewdly aroused her curiosity and convinced her to open the lid. And when she did, countless evils flew into the world. Only hope remained inside, a consolation for all the evils that had been set free. But no one saw the demon sent by the Atrox to destroy hope and kidnap Pandora. Selene, the goddess of the Moon, however, finally heard Pandora's cries and stopped the demonic creature. The Atrox studied this defeat and envisioned a way to inflict even greater suffering upon the world. It journeyed to the edge of the night and found the three sister Fates, goddesses older than time, who spun threads that predetermined the course of every life. Once they had agreed to the Atrox's plan, their decision became irrevocable. Even great Zeus could not alter their ruling. Only Selene dared to scorn their decree, and she alone vowed to change destiny.”

Quote by Lynne Ewing

Work

The Becoming

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Lynne Ewing
Lynne Ewing

Lynne Ewing, born in 1938, is an accomplished author known for her works in both children's literature and adult fiction. Her writing is celebrated for its rich imagination and emotional depth. more

You May Also Like

“The Psomi Mistresses are the keepers of an agrarian cult. These old ways have their roots in ancient Eleusis and Greece. In the myth of Ceres and Persephone. In the novel, Tales of the Mistress, this myth is told in reverse, where Eleone aka Persephone is looking for her mother, Maman Antaia aka Ceres. *** The Psomi Mistresses represent the source of feminine energy, but not all the Mistresses are women. And so, in Tales of the Mistress, the Bread of Dreams are part of what's called the pharmakon – an ancient Greek word meaning potion or elixir. And The Psomi are the protectors of not only the Bread of Dreams but also the protectors of their agrarian centered way of life. And death.”

“The ancient Greeks devised a term that accurately represented every inexplicable feeling that tormented humanity. Hoping that each word carried some relief within its letters. As if somehow a vague definition of such an intricate concept will fix the feeling of emptiness that follows its experience. But there was a word that the Greeks had not thought of: one that could define the smell of death. Evidently, there were a myriad of adjectives that could define this morbid aroma, yet I wondered if there were any words that could truly capture the revolting feeling that this smell evoked. It was an absolutely gut-wrenching sensation, and it vexed me so much that I couldn't pinpoint it to a single, distinct element of speech. Fuck the Greeks.”