The Sugar Creek launch date is fast approaching! This one-shot, 32-page story will see its debut at not one but two shows: Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) and Gem City Comic Con on April 27-28! The book will be made available for purchase on Amazon shortly thereafter.
Looking forward to having new art to show you sooner than later on this one. As excited as I am to see this project reach fruition, and to explore the prospects of a potential short film version (very much in early days at this point), there are other places I plan to discuss this further. For now, I want to dedicate this space to the next comic project on the horizon, the oft-aformentioned Pythia. In a past posting, I explored the possible sources of the Oracle of Delphi's prophetic power. Here, I'd like to begin a new Fun Fact Feature series exploring the prophecies themselves. In researching the hundreds of oracular premonitions recorded over 1500 years, it surprised me to learn that so many of them are considered legend, and cannot be corroborated by history. Many of these are the most famous Pythian legends. Does this bother me? Not especially. The Greeks believed them wholeheartedly, just as they did in the Trojan War, and the kernels of truth in that legend was revealed when Troy's ruins were found in 1869. Besides, a great story is just a great story.
Fun Fact Feature!
Prophecies of the Oracle of Delphi, Part I
"Also, if you don't pay for your prophecy on the way out, the priests will destroy a great set of kneecaps." If there is a story of the Pythia that is the most famous, it is her prophecy to King Croesos of Lydia, the world's richest man at the time (c. 550 B.C.). Crapulent with wealth and power, Croesos was nonetheless concerned about the aggressive actions of his eastern neighbor, Persia. He wondered if he should attack them preemptively, but was uncertain. So he sent a messenger to Delphi to ask the Pythia what he should do. Her response was that if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. Croesos went ahead with his attack, was routed in battle, and the Persians marched into his kingdom and took it over. The empire he destroyed ended up being his own.
"Could you send my chains to the Pythia, along with a flaming bag of dog poo?" Croesos surrenders to Cyrus. At least, that's the shorthand version, a version that on its face seems...kinda lame. Like a first draft of a Rod Serling script that he wisely chose not to include in The Twilight Zone. And it's barely a prophecy. Of course it will destroy a great empire! That's a key factor of war, after all; someone's gotta lose. It also begs a few questions, such as "Why the hell didn't Croesos ask which empire? How dumb was this guy?"
Actually, Croesos wasn't satisfied with this answer, and he did try to confirm this, in a roundabout way. He asked the Pythia if his reign would be long. She told him that when a mule became king of the Medes, he should run for his life. (The Medes were an Iranian people related to the Persians that Persia had just conquered.) This was of great comfort to Croesos, who couldn't imagine any kingdom being so idiotic as to crown a mule king.
Ah, but that's where things take an Obi-Wan Kenobi "from-a-certain-point-of-view" twist. The Persian king who had just conquered the Medes, Cyrus the Great, was the product of a Persian father and a Median mother, essentially a hybrid of the two. A "mule," if you will.
Actually, Croesos wasn't satisfied with this answer, and he did try to confirm this, in a roundabout way. He asked the Pythia if his reign would be long. She told him that when a mule became king of the Medes, he should run for his life. (The Medes were an Iranian people related to the Persians that Persia had just conquered.) This was of great comfort to Croesos, who couldn't imagine any kingdom being so idiotic as to crown a mule king.
Ah, but that's where things take an Obi-Wan Kenobi "from-a-certain-point-of-view" twist. The Persian king who had just conquered the Medes, Cyrus the Great, was the product of a Persian father and a Median mother, essentially a hybrid of the two. A "mule," if you will.
"Submitted for your approval: a man too smart for his own good who learns too late that a horse is not always a horse, of course of course, and is now riding off into the sunset of...The Twilight Zone." All of this is something of a long way round to saying that this type of prophecy was a specialty of the Pythia: the "gotcha" ironic punishment type. Versions of this oracle appeared dozens of times throughout the centuries, of recipients being hoisted on the petard of their own misunderstanding. Usually, it seemed to be reserved for the most hubristic ones, such as big-shot-moneybags Croesos, as an appropriate punishment for pride or arrogance before the gods. One slightly-better Twilight Zone prophecy was the one to Daphidas of Telmessos, a sophist who took a dim view of the Pythia and wanted to humiliate her. He went to her to ask if he would find his lost horse, which was a trick question, since he didn't own a horse. The Pythia told him that he would find it, but that it would throw him to his death. Daphidas left thinking he'd gotten one over on the old girl, but the joke was on him. Years later, he would run afoul of King Attalos of Pergamon, who had him tossed from a high cliff known locally as the Cliff of the Horse.
However, it's worth noting that some of these creative word-play prophecies were delivered to poor schmucks who didn't deserve their fates, and were handed bad luck just because they weren't able to suss out a really obscure word puzzle. The Phocaeans were told to "found Kyrnos," which they took to mean found a colony on the island of Kyrnos (modern Corsica). The colony was a disaster, and had to be abandoned. Later, it was revealed that they were being told to set up a shrine to the Greek hero Kyrnos (obviously, right???). In cases like these, it kinda seems like the Pythia was just being a dick to people. But who knows the mysterious ways of the gods and their human mouthpieces?
Not to say that the Pythia herself didn't get comeuppance every once in awhile from unhappy customers. Next time, we'll look at the fates of some of the Pythiai.
However, it's worth noting that some of these creative word-play prophecies were delivered to poor schmucks who didn't deserve their fates, and were handed bad luck just because they weren't able to suss out a really obscure word puzzle. The Phocaeans were told to "found Kyrnos," which they took to mean found a colony on the island of Kyrnos (modern Corsica). The colony was a disaster, and had to be abandoned. Later, it was revealed that they were being told to set up a shrine to the Greek hero Kyrnos (obviously, right???). In cases like these, it kinda seems like the Pythia was just being a dick to people. But who knows the mysterious ways of the gods and their human mouthpieces?
Not to say that the Pythia herself didn't get comeuppance every once in awhile from unhappy customers. Next time, we'll look at the fates of some of the Pythiai.
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