Enraged – Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths by Emily Katz Anhalt – another note on these legends is here - https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/02/gods-and-mortals-ancient-greek-myths.html - Alexey Navalny as Bellerophon 9 out of 10

 

Enraged – Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths by Emily Katz Anhalt – another note on these legends is here - https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/02/gods-and-mortals-ancient-greek-myths.html

Alexey Navalny as Bellerophon

9 out of 10

 

 

Because the leader of the opposition in Russia, Alexey Navalny, has been killed a few days ago, the under signed is under that overwhelming impression, and this note will be from the perspective of the martyr as Bellerophon, listening to the legend, it seemed to me that there are aspects that bring the two together, somewhat

 

Navalny has tried to kill the Chimera of our times, Putin, The Butcher in the Kremlin, but his crashing end looks like what has happened to the Greek figure – it is so good that there is no need to include spoiler alerts here, except to warn a potential reader that he might find the lines dull, and could be better off on other pastures…

Another trait that the martyred politician has in common with Bellerophon is that they have darkness in the past, Navalny has been participating in marches with the extreme right, and has had xenophobic and some racist stands in his history, but he seemed to have grown and with flaws, he got as close to a hero as one (Russian) can get

 

Bellerophon was the grandson of Sisyphus, the one condemned by Zeus to carry a huge rock, in perpetuity, and then the legend of Bellerophon starts with a murder, which is actually stigmatized in his name, he kills his brother, instead of a stag, and has to pay for that, the gates of the city will be closed for a killer

Ergo, the anti-hero (for now) travels to Proetus, a king who is married to Stheneboea, the latter comes to the bed of the guest one night, ready to commit adultery with him, but the exiled man rejects the advances, unwilling to betray his host, hence incurring the wrath of the repudiated woman, who seeks revenge

 

To interpose in here the parallels with the late leader of the opposition – you would be well advised to watch the Oscar Winning Documentary Navalny – he had been poisoned with Novichok, a few years back, and this is a military grade material, nobody has it except the state employed killers, thus this is equivalent with having Putin’s signature on the attempted murder, the investigation proved what happened…

Navalny gets sick on a flight, they land, a doctor injects a substance and saves him, he is taken to a hospital, where the worry is that they need to keep him for as long as it takes for the traces to disappear from the body, only when they release the victim, and allow him to fly to Germany, they discover there what was the poison

 

Bellerophon is accused by Stheneboea that he had tried to kill her, only the king cannot break the law of hospitality and have his guest murdered, he decides to send him to his father-in-law, king Iobates, who spends days with the guest, and then reads the message from Proetus, which instructs the reader to eliminate the visitor

However, the same laws of hospitality work for Iobates, who has other solutions to the conundrum, he asks Bellerophon to murder The Chimera, a monster that was just as abominable as Putin - another reason for the resemblance between the story of the dead Russian hero and the legend…by the way, our city might change the name of the street on which the Russian Consulate is to…Navalny, it would be magnificent!

 

The hero is told that the only way to succeed would be to get the mythical Pegasus, and for that, he has some help, in a dream, coming from Athena, who gives the gift of a golden bridle, that is essential in taming Pegasus, the latter is crucial in the fight with the monster, and in the Greek story, he wins, in Russia, the Tyrant Chimera kills the angel of justice

Bellerophon is sent on other tasks, to fight the Amazons (who were cruel and vile, albeit Woke culture might have that scrapped from the books) and this looks to this reader as the narrative where Alexey Navalny has had to fight against the most powerful enemy, and his demise was not a defeat, as he stated before his death

 

In the fabulous documentary, Navalny says that he could be killed (he was aware of the danger, he was not a stupid fool, as say Orange Jesus, who never condemned the death, did not mention the Kremlin despot, but chose instead to make it about Trump, himself, which is what he always does, this sick bastard, suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder)

‘If I am murdered, then this means that we are extraordinarily strong’ says the martyr, also brave enough to travel back from Germany to Russia – we have had some disputes at the Downtown sauna, where the Kremlin butcher has admirers, like everywhere, there are Satanists, people who worship evil, the Orange Jesus…

 

One young man said that this was stupid (using the word that comes from Yiddish, ‘freier’) coming back, when the outcome was predictable, but the hero could not be at the top of the opposition from a safe distance…we have had this here, right after the fall of Ceausescu, in 1989, and you have a link down here, to show my contribution to the demise of our despot, and when the diaspora came back, they were attacked and verbally abused, but there were masses of the hoi polloi that wanted to kill the exiled, because ‘ they had not eaten the salami with soyabean’, in other words, they had no claim, if they had not shared the depravity, hunger, destitution, abuses of the Ceausescu regime with the rest of the population, which is what would have happened to Navalny, had he decided to stay safe in Germany, where he would still be alive, on the other hand…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”