Cassandra

Cassandra from Greek Mythology. (I got her from Divination)


Cassandra (Cassandra means "she who entangles men,") was the daughter of the Trojan King Priam and daughter of the Queen Hecuba. It was said that she was very beautiful, the most beautiful out of all Priam's daughters. However people do not remember her, because she was beautiful, but because she was a seer.

There are two theories on to how she got her powers. Some say her and her twin brother Helenus slept overnight at the temple of Apollo, and in the morning the parents found them with snakes entwining both; their tongues flicking in their ears so that they were able to see the future.

The more known story is, that one night Cassandra slept at Apollo's temple alone, and he came to her filled with lust. He had told her that he could teach her how to be a seer, if she would become his lover. She had agreed, and she was taught how to foresee the future, but when Apollo asked her for the rest of their bargain, she refused him. So he cursed her and made it so no one believed her prophecies, even though they were all true. Then he asked for one last kiss, and she agreed, but he spat in her mouth instead.

Later in life, near the end of the Trojan War, she had told the them that their were armed forces in the Wooden Horse. No one paid heed, and brought the horse with them to the shrine of Athena at the center of the city. However Athena was the goddess that was misleading the them, so later that night the armed forces came out, opened the gates for the rest of the army, and slaughtered and burned all the houses in their paths, except for the traitor's houses. And everyone screamed and ran, and Cassandra ran into Athena's temple and she grabbed Athena's image, but a man grabbed her by the hair and raped her. Athena had witnessed this, but did nothing to help as she was not on the Trojan's side, but as sher saw her priestess (Cassandra) being taken away she swore to avenge her, because if you want to anger a God, one thing to do is to violate someone in their temple.

And it is said that since Cassandra was raped, that is why the Greeks never got back to Greece, because Athena had avenged Cassandra. She had even asked Zeus for permission, as to where he gave her one of his own thunderbolts. And so Athena destoyed the man who raped Cassandra,and ended up destroying the Greeks as well, for they saw Cassandra being raped in her temple and did nothing to help.

And later in her life Cassandra was murdered. Clytaemnestra had killed both Cassandra and her husband. Her husband had killed Clytaemnestra's former husband and her child and he forced her to wed him, and it was also said that Cassandra had her husband's twins in her stomach.

The life of Cassandra is very confusing to read since no one is exactly sure what happened. She must have had a hard life, because half the time people thought her to be a raving lunatic. It amazes me that despite all that she still told people her prophecies even though she must have figured no one would believe her. But Cassandra was an interesting figure in Greek Mythology, and I was glad to be studying her.



http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/mythology/names/cassandra.htm
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Cassandra.html
http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/fittoncassandra/cass2.html
http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/fittoncassandra/cass5.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/WOODENHORSE.html[/img]