I need it to be Greek to me just this once

December 12, 2006 7:42 PM

I want to use the myth of Pandora's box for a project. I was hoping to find some text written out in the Greek alphabet to use as part of the project.

It doesn't even have to be accurate, I just need something that will look like it could be it. It's basically an art project, and no one seeing it knows Greek.

Can the hive mind help me out by pointing me to an example online of such a thing? Googling doesn't bring up anything useful and I don't have enough time to go to a library to make a copy, because I procrastinated far too much.

Thanks in advance.

Also, if you're still reading this, and you're bored, could you tell me what your thoughts about Pandora's box may be? When did you first hear about that myth, and what do you remember about it? Which version of the story do you know?

posted by eggplantia5 to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Best answer: Go to Wikipedia, search for 'Pandora'. Over on the left under "in other languages", click the one that looks Greek. You will be taken to the Greek version of the Wikipedia page (how small it seems...), assume that the title of the page is 'Pandora' in Greek, cut and paste that word into Google. Presto, more Greek than you could ever need.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:08 PM on December 12, 2006

Response by poster: thanks zengargoyle!
posted by eggplantia5 at 8:51 PM on December 12, 2006

(probably more, much more than you asked for...)

Το κουτί της Πανδώρας

I am Greek by birth although residing in the US so I have been raised with the mythological version of Pandora's sad fate which maintains that it was Pandora and not Epimetheus who opened the box. Wikipedia (english) has a lot about the tale itself. (I love Wikipedia)

Progressively, the expression "Pandora's box" has come to signify all that is evil and destructive that we, humans, unwittingly bring to ourselves. An example is biotechnology or cloning.

Occasionally (mostly through artistic license) it is identified with more or less (note the detail on this excellent Klee painting) misogynistic views (Pandora's box is the Vagina and all the evils that come from it or because of it). Other interpretations (conjectures?) exist today, you might find Derrida's (and Steiner's) views interesting.

Personally, I do not really care. The myth, is just that. A myth. A story less sophisticated people made up long, long time ago to explain phenomena around them and to carry their imagination even further. In modern art, and in semiotics, fortunately, this is still the case. Pandora inspired not only Klee, but Rossetti too and the Greek Melissinos and a gorgeous play by Wedekind loosely based on the mythical tale (the movie is good too).

I will end with an excellent poem by a Greek futurist poet Nikos Eggonopoulos who has his own take. I would love to translate it for you but I am afraid I will make a fool of myself. The point of the poem is that we have all been cheated, neither Pandora nor the gods put anything in the box, and when we opened it, no presents escaped, because simply there were(are) no presents.

Η ιστορία!
τι αβασάνιστες πληροφορίες συνεκράτησε
τι λανθασμένες φήμες μάς μετέδωσε!
Πόσα χουνέρια και τι πλεκτάνες:
Α! η Κλειώ! Μα βέβαιο
πως εσημείωνε ό,τι κι αν άκουγε:
φαίνεται πως πολύ λίγο θα την σκότιζε
ν' αντιληφθή
τι ήτανε αλήθεια
και τι δεν ήταν!
Μια ολόκληρη ζωή σπουδής και προσοχής και έρευνας
μας επιτρέπει σήμερα
ν' αποκαλύψουμε - να πούμε -
πως όλα τα περί Πανδώρας
και του κουτιού της
είναι ανάξια λόγου παραμύθια...
Ούτε η Πανδώρα ούτε οι θεοί
βάλανε τίποτα μες στο κουτί
κι ούτε με τ' άνοιγμα
φύγαν τα δώρα
(που δεν υπήρχαν).
Προσποιήσεις ψευτιές (φτηνές ψευτιές)
ανέντιμες υποσχέσεις και προδοσίες
μας κάναν να
πιστέψουμε πως κάτι έκλεινε μέσα στο
κουτί
που είχε η Πανδώρα!
Κι αν υπήρξαμε μωρόπιστοι
άνθρωποι και κουτοί
(πρώτος εγώ)
πάντως είμαι σε θέση σήμερα
να βεβαιώσω
πως και κουτί
(ν' ανήκη στην Πανδώρα)
ακόμη δεν υπήρχε!
posted by carmina at 10:14 PM on December 12, 2006

I'd love to see your translation of it, carmina.
posted by paduasoy at 11:23 AM on December 13, 2006

paduasoy, my english is not good enough. And lately, my greek too...

bleh, I am an idiot. Eggonopoulos is a surrealist not a futurist poet. Ugh...
posted by carmina at 8:22 PM on December 14, 2006