Week 4 Reading A: Cupid and Psyche

There are so many ways I can add chain tales in here based on chain-of-requests for people who have to complete tasks. To focus on the characters I might involve in those tasks, I am keeping track of the gods and goddesses plus any animated inanimate objects. :-)

The Captive Woman

the robbers toasted their dead fellow and sang songs to Mars

Psyche's Beauty

Venus refers to the judgment of Paris which she won because she was the most beautiful! but she does not mention Juno and Minerva by name

Venus commands the ocean: that means Nereids, Portunus the harbor god, Neptune's wife Salacia (with fish in her lap), and "Palaemon the dolphins’ little charioteer," plus Tritons: "One blew softly on a melodious conch; another with a silk parasol shielded her from the sun’s hostile blaze; another held a mirror to his mistress’ eyes; while yet more swam harnessed in pairs to her chariot" ... there are lots of details here I can use for tasks!
Venus suspects that Cupid's lover must have been one of the Nymphs, or the Hours, the Muses, or the Graces

The Oracle of Apollo

father goes to Miletian oracle of Apollo at Didyma where he gets the order to send Psyche to her doom

Hymen is part of the mournful funeral: "the tune of Hymen’s flute sounded in plaintive Lydian mode"

The Magical Palace

a Zephyr carries Psyche from the cliff into the valley; later she begs Cupid to have the Zephyr bring her sisters for a visit

The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters

her sisters are like Furies, they are like Sirens with fatal songs, they are harpies

Psyche's Despair

Pan and Echo both make an appearance: "teaching her to repeat tunes in a thousand modes"

(Pan and Psyche, by Edward Burne-Jones)