Reflection, Week of December 7, 2009

So we finally finished up with Pyramus and Thisbe (it ended with Thisbe killing herself by falling on the sword with it stabbing into her lower chest), and now we are translating another story, Daedalus and Icarus. It's not nearly as long as the other stories we've done, and I already knew the outcome of the story before we even started to translate.

Some background information on the story that I picked up in class; it took place on Crete, an island south of Greece, c. 1500 B.C., which was the height of the Minoan civilization. King Minos was the king of Crete at the time and Daedalus was a Greek inventor who had been called to Crete to build the labyrinth under the palace to lock the Minotaur away in. At this point though, Daedalus wants to escape from Crete and in order to do this, because King Minos might be able to stop him from leaving, he builds wings, one pair for himself and another for his son Icarus.

So far the story is unwinding nicely, although I already know what is going to happen; Daedalus and Icarus are going to be able to fly away but Icarus is going to fly too close to the sun, and the wax on his pair of wings is going to melt, and he'll fall into what is now known as the Icarian Sea, off the coast of Turkey. I have found that knowing the outcome of the story and what is going to happen has helped me to translate, because if I know the basic vocabulary in the story, I can more easily translate it into a coherent sentence that is consistent with my understanding of the story. I find this story interesting as well, and it's much easier to follow than Daphne and Apollo was, and it's shorter than Pyramus and Thisbe.