The awkwardness of the gods and goddesses: Inflicted Disabilities

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How can human language describe the gods and goddesses and their potent infliction of disabilities on other gods or goddesses? This writing will focus more on the ‘other-inflicted’ disabilities by the gods and goddesses with a few examples from ancient Greek or Roman mythologies. The gods and goddesses seem to punish other gods or goddesses with disabilities for either speaking out or saying their minds or even being cast out for having a disability. Here, we see the confrontation between the powerful and the protected, between the superior and inferior gods and goddesses, between what is normal and what is different, between ability and disability. A god or goddess that is inflicted with disability seems to lose the capacity to revert to ability again.  

Can there be anything like a god or goddess with a disability? To start with, a god is a supernatural being who is viewed as divine or sacred. The word ‘divine’ means a being like a God or god. Something beautiful, lovely, pleasing, or delightful. Something powerful or all-powerful. If we understand disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that greatly reduces or limits their functionality, then a god or goddess with disability is one with limitations. In formal reasoning, a god or goddess with a disability is neither powerful nor all-powerful.

Having said that, below are different gods and goddesses with disabilities who have excelled in their roles, their disabilities notwithstanding. The following gods and goddesses will be examined to bring to the fore the awkwardness of the gods and goddesses and their vengeful waves of anger.

·       Hephaestus

·       Tiresias

·       Larunda

Hephaestus

Hephaestus is popularly known as the god of technology, sculpture, fire, and metalwork. According to legend, he was delivered by Hera (wife of Zeus) of which Zeus was not the responsible father. It was said that Hera conceived of him in revenge to spite Zeus for having Athena without her.

According to Homer, Hephaestus was cast out from Olympus by Hera, his mother because he was lame. Another account by Homer described Hephaestus as thrown away from Olympus by Zeus while defending himself from Hera. These accounts pose one question: was Hephaestus born with disability or was his disability caused by Zeus? His disability could have been from birth, hence Hera, his mother rejected him due to shame that she had a child with a clubfoot. Casting him out is evidence of removing an unwanted child with a disability from what is viewed as a normal environment. Nevertheless, for the shame of being removed from Olympus because of his disability, he avoided both mortals and gods for nine years in the company of Thetis and Eurydome and was later brought back to that normal environment.

 The above is an example of an ‘other-inflicted’ disability. The awkwardness of this incident is that it was a case of mother against son or if you like, a goddess against a god. Hephaestus was ‘cast out’, but he refused to be a ‘castaway’. He was removed from Olympus, but he refused to be without friends or companions.

Tiresias

Another mythological figure is Tiresias, a wise person, and a blind prophet of Apollo. He was a god doomed with misfortunes. Before his blindness, he was cursed to live as a woman for seven years. Then, there was a bet between Zeus and Hera. It goes this way: Who enjoys sex the most, men or women? Zeus bet on women. Hera betted on men. Tiresias said that women enjoy sex the most. He declared Zeus the winner. But that did not go down well with Hera. In anger, Hera made Tiresias blind. In compensation, perhaps for declaring him a winner, Zeus gave Tiresias the power to see the future.

It appears that the gods and goddesses do not sanction ‘freedom of speech.’ Tiresias' punishment for speaking out was blindness. The punishment came from Hera, a goddess, and the victim was a man. His blindness became his daily experience outside the normal environment of Zeus and Hera. However, his blindness, though retribution for doing nothing but speaking out, did not incapacitate him. He was compensated by Zeus. Tiresias is known as the blind prophet of Apollo.

Larunda

She was a character to reckon with. As narrated in one Roman mythology, OVID’s Fasti, Larunda was the famous daughter of Almo, the river god. She was often told to keep her mouth shut by her father. She never listened or obeyed her father’s commands. You can call her a whisperer or a backbiter, she was incredibly outstanding in her campaign for the womenfolk.

With her power of speech, she warned her sister, Juturna about Zeus’ plan to force her into a marriage. She urged her to run away. Then, she exposed Zeus’ infidelity by telling Hera that her husband, Zeus was unfaithful. She was fearless and ready to tell it as it was without fear or favor. But that angered Zeus. As punishment, he cut off her tongue and condemned her to the Underworld as a Nymph of the rivers of hell.

As if her disability was not enough, while on the way to the Underworld, she was raped by Hermes, son of Zeus, and the Pleiad Maia, who was her escort. She protested and struggled but no rescue came. She was not heard because her tongue was cut off. This is another example of ‘other-inflicted’ disability.

Her father, Almo wanted to silence her voice. Her tongue was brutally severed by Zeus. Her virginity was violently violated by Hermes. But she refused to be muzzled not by her father, Zeus, or Hermes. Even when she was raped by Hermes, she screamed, and screamed; no god or goddesses heard her. She fought off Hermes, though no god or goddess came to her rescue.  

Here again is the awkwardness of the gods. Here, it was the power and strength of a god against a goddess. In the case of Larunda, we see sexism or prejudice against women. Larunda was first rebuked by her father for speaking her mind, despised by Zeus for alerting Hera about his infidelity, and violated by Hermes for being a woman. Their malevolence turned her ability into a disability. But one thing is true: Juturna and Hera heard her and acted.

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