The Hungry Myth

"Hunger knows no friends but its feeder."-Aristophanes

This subject may be one we've beaten to death, but giving respect to the upcoming holiday, I think hunger needs its due via blog form.

Hunger, in its most basic form, represents the most basic of needs; it should come as little surprise then that over time it has come to take near-center stage in the mythic. The various forms hunger assumes range from its original physical manifestation to the symbolic and even to the obscure.

The physical form of hunger is easily observable in the Ovidian account of Erysichthon. The all-consuming hunger  he bears empties him of coin and house and eventually leads him to consume his own flesh. The consumption of human flesh has for most of history been considered a strict taboo, such as with the cases of Lycaon and Tereus. And there is a strict punishment for the consumption of human flesh, but in the case of Eryichthon the consumption of his own flesh only swerves to fulfill a punishment. This strange contradiction can be explained using Christianity.


 As a creation of the god(s), human flesh is sacred, having been formed by the divine. To Christanins, harming the flesh is akin to sinning against god, as the flesh was created by god; this is why suicide is considered a grave sin worthy of eternal damnation. To consume another's flesh is to take the creation of god away from the divine creator, it is also a perversion of the taking of Eucharist(this may not directly relate to poor Eryichthon's tale); and as most of us know, the gods do not like to be mocked. Therefore, cannibalism is traditionally taboo in order to prevent the wrath of the gods. But in the case of Erysichton, the self-cannibalism is all the more fitting, he not only falls prey to gluttony and loses all he has to own, he commits an even bigger fault by consuming his (sacred) flesh. His insult to himself is so large as to serve as an acceptable punishment in Demeter's eyes. He has been robbed of his his own flesh by his own hand. And therein lies the mythical power of physical hunger; it is a thief and a burden that leads to direct actions and punishments. 

The symbolic presence of hunger can be seen in fire. Fire could be seen as a mythical form of hunger due to its ability to consume endlessly, usually towards either the goal of destruction or recreation. For poor Phaethon, his hunger to assume the responsibilities of his father drove the very world to a fiery brink. The boy's greed thus led to his destruction by Jove. Fire can be seen here as the hunger that consumes those who disobey or ask too much, a scene often portrayed with most criminals and sinners from history. "Naturally enough the people who continued to burn his image came in time to identify it as the effigy of persons whom, on various grounds, they regarded with aversion, such as Judas Iscariot, Luther, and a witch."-page 781, The Burning of Effigies in a Fire. Fire consumes the wicked in a hunger parallel to the various acts of greed the wicked committed. But in the rare mythical case, fire serves to both destroy and create, such as with the case of Hercules. As he lay writhing on his funeral pyre, the flames from his shirt destroyed the mortal half of Hercules, but then allowed his divine half to take a place in the stars, allowing him to become a god. The flames also helped to destroy the mortal mistake of Deinera in her acceptance of Nessus's  venom-encrusted shirt. Her fault in her husband led to his death, a fault which the fire burned away. Fire is thus able to cleanse in its hunger as it is able to destroy. For physical proof of the mythical fire, simply look at today's volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Untold destruction followed by untold fertility.

I would very much like to continue this blog, but a helpful classmate has ever so kindly reminded me that I have a 10 a.m exam tomorrow, so until later, I shall have to forfeit the need to finish this blog and try to pick up the need to study. But some hungers don't come so easily...