what do Persephone and Eve (yes, that Eve) have in common? 🍏🍏
something's up with fruit (also I have a very exciting announcement!!!!)
Okay let me get my SUPER. EXCITING. ANNOUNCEMENT. out of the way so we can spiral about biblical mythology and fruit metaphors.
I am THRILLED to announce that tickets are officially on sale for my next event, an autumn symposium with the theme garden of earthly delights 🏹
here ^^^ is the poster and HERE is the eventbrite link:
www.eventbrite.com/e/garden-of-earthly-delights-tickets
If you are in London, it is going to be the most gorgeous evening featuring custom cocktails, live music, ridiculous food, poetry readings, paintings and sculpture (also I may have ordered a vintage confession box so guests can write confessions ??). A whole handful of artists, poets, and other creatives are involved but allow me to single out fellow substacker (and creator/host of the award-winning, sell-out event series Sex Talks)
, who has kindly agreed to speak on the night.Even if you yourself are not in London (I’m aware that about 60% of you are living in the US 🤠) please do send the link to people you know in London, whether they’re your nemesis or your niece, this is a real the more the merrier situation.
Now let’s talk about the theme.
I picked garden of earthly delights as the theme because it sounded delicious/vaguely titillating, and because it meant that I could go w i l d when it came to the florals. (Re the florals, I’m getting actual INSTALLATIONS done by Sage Flowers who have literally done flowers for Billie Eilish so 🤯🤯🤯). I did also have some vague thoughts about ancient narratives of temptation, sin, and the idea that our curiosity is what defines us as humans etc. etc. But, honestly, I hadn’t exactly locked in a connection between the theme and the ancient world (surely the fact that I’m even calling it a symposium gets me like 30% of the way there). I was thinking about how exactly to tie a ribbon around the whole thing when the obvious answer hit me. If we’re talking about Eve being tempted by fruit and the fruit having gigantic/disastrous consequences SURELY this rings a bell?? And the bell is Persephone-shaped?? But more on that in a second.
The Garden of Earthly Delights is a massive (and somewhat disturbing) painting by Hiëronymus Bosch, completed around 1490-1500. It depicts the creation of woman (oh no), the temptation, and the Fall (capitalised because it’s a bit more dramatic than a stumble). The painting itself is a triptych—a work of art with three sections or panels—which depicts the Garden of Eden on the left, Hell on the right, and all the frivolity and depravity of the human world in the middle. I love when art historians disagree and a bunch of them bicker about whether or not this painting should be “read” left to right, starting from when it was all rosy and God was a big fan of the situation and ending with a hellish outcome because humans are the worst OR whether you should start by looking at the middle panel and then it’s a sort of choose your own adventure where the agency of the individual viewer is emphasised, their choices in life leading to damnation or salvation. Here’s a link to the Museo Del Prado website so you can zoom in on the painting (I’d highly recommend checking it out, it’s not really my taste but there are some fascinating/absurd details like a pig wearing the veil of a nun which you may enjoy): www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-garden-of-earthly-delights-triptych/.
Now let’s shift our focus back to a different type of mythology that I have always found infinitely more compelling.
The young goddess Persephone, oh-so-famously, got taken to the Underworld by Hades and while she was there she ate some pomegranate seeds which meant that she could never leave, at least not permanently. She had to split her time between the Underworld and the land of the living which is how the ancient Greeks explained the seasons; when Persephone was up top with her mum Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, the sun would shine and a thousand blossoms would bloom (if any Aussies get that reference it will make my day/week/month), and when Persephone waddled back down it would get all dreary/wintry because her mum missed her so much. Now I do not want to wade into what is a weirdly hot-button topic — whether or not there is a version of the story where Persephone was willing / they were actually just star-crossed lovers / OR whether she was just straight up kidnapped by her creepy uncle (people have so many opinions when it comes to this but honestly it’s Greek mythology so let’s all just take a breath and possibly a mild sedative). What I WILL say is that the argument has been made that Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds is a metaphor for sexual initiation. She eats the fruit (has sex) and is permanently changed by it; she can no longer fully return to the life she shared with Demeter, specifically her role as young daughter. Now there truly are 600 rabbit holes with this (I know I say this about every myth but it is particularly true with this one) but let’s focus on the fruit for a second.
As far as deeper meanings go, it feels like relatively low-hanging fruit (HA) to argue that both stories really ram home the idea that women are the worst / more prone to sin, as both Eve and Persephone succumb to their feminine appetites. Eve’s sin obviously has grave consequences for literally all of humankind (also she manages to peer pressure Adam so bonus points for that) and at first glance Persephone’s pomegranate-related indiscretion seems to only impact her yet her annual period of separation from her mother does have a significant impact on the mortals who are just trying to make a go of agriculture. So the hunger or curiosity of women is BAD and also ruins things for everyone else. This is all relatively straightforward—I’m well aware I’m not exactly presenting you with an earth-shattering revelation here—BUT another myth fell out of my brain that does muddle things a bit.
The story of the Land of the Lotus-Eaters comes from Homer’s Odyssey — you can watch a video of me explaining it whilst fiddling with grapes:
Now this complicates the whole idea that eating fruit (and the eating of fruit having destructive consequences) is a distinctly feminine thing as far as ancient mythology goes. Odysseus’ men are, well, men. And eating the lotus-fruit does throw a spanner in the whole journey home (Odysseus complaining about this is just the most absurd pot calling the kettle black situation) BUT the eating of the lotus fruit doesn’t exactly have consequences for all of humankind (or create issues for Greek farmers as far as we know). I do think it’s important to hold this third myth up there when we’re thinking about Persephone and Eve because it does provide an example where MEN are tempted by and submit to physical pleasure.
Overall, all three tales highlight the danger of appetite, whether physical, carnal or intellectual.
Personally, I think 1) true joy can be found in ephemeral pleasures and 2) curiosity should be celebrated and satisfied as often as possible.
On that note, if you have another fruit-related myth for me PLEASE comment or shoot me a message:
And finally, please indulge me as I plug my event one more time:
www.eventbrite.com/e/garden-of-earthly-delights-tickets
(I don’t want to ruin ALL of the surprises but the ticket price does include a custom-made pomegranate charm made by Adele Brydges that you get to take home with you).
Have a lovely Tuesday (and eat some fruit) xxx
I love this. A necessary reflection on how women's choices have been vilified for millennia. This immediately reminds me of a myth that Liv discussed in her podcast a while ago. A young man named Acontius loved a woman named Cydippe, so he wrote "I swear to marry Acontius" on an apple and threw it at her. She picked it up and read the words mehcanically, and by reading them, she became bound to an oath she never meant to swear. Again, woman's agency is called into question. There's so much to dissect about these myths, especially where the apple keeps showing up in similar contexts.
Bob Katter, the one and only ( thank goodness). This Aussie is presently in Sorrento, looking for sirens.