Ancient Greek Myth of Cassandra

Sometimes the distant past seems exotic and remote, and sometimes it feels like today’s news headlines. The Ancient Greek myth of the prophetess Cassandra brings out both tendencies. Born into the Trojan royalty, beautiful Cassandra was cursed by the God Apollo after she changed her mind about sleeping with him. Although every utterance she predicted would come true, no one would believe her. As the Ancient city of Troy was falling to the invading Greeks, buildings were lit afire, screams of the dying joined with the chaotic noise of fleeing refugees, and non-combatants died en masse. Descriptions of the last battle for Troy mimic the sad experiences of so many places brought down by warfare. The fate of Cassandra in this episode is also horrifyingly similar to many, as she was brutally raped before being taken away. The fresco from the Roman city of Pompeii shown here illustrates the moment when Cassandra ran to the temple of Athena, throwing herself upon the statue of the Goddess in vain for protection. In the version of the tale by the fourth-century CE author Quintus Smyrnaeus, the Goddess was so horrified by the rape that “groaned the holy image, and the hallowed floor quaked mightily.” And here we can recognize the chasm between the Ancient Greek tale and our own world-view — Athena was not reacting to the plight of Cassandra so much as the fact that the rape was polluting to her sacred space. For this, the rapist was punished by the Gods. For us today, to be a Cassandra is to issue warnings that no one listens to.