When I was eight, one of my favorite books was Bernard Evslin’s The Dolphin Rider. I’ve forgotten which other myths it contained, although I suspect that Oedipus’ family troubles weren’t among them. The one that I remember is the myth the book was named for, a story that’s stayed with me all my life. That’s the myth I’d like to share first.
If you’ve been following my rotating “Myth o’ the Month” column on Ancient Greece Odyssey, I apologize for repeating myself; I’m going to archive the old entries first before moving on to Herakles’s next labor. However, what follows is not quite the same tale I posted before, because I’m no longer constrained to 2000 characters. Besides, what bard ever tells a story the same way twice?
Note that this is a loose adaptation of the myth; I’m telling the story as I remember it from childhood, and over the years I’ve embellished it here and there.
[Edit: After posting this, I ventured to check Herodotus, and I see that there’s nothing about Ionia in the original version!]
Arion was a youth in Corinth who played the lyre with such skill that many said he was taught by Orpheus, the greatest musician of all. For Arion had the power to charm birds and beasts, and some said the very earth was moved by his wild tunes. Corinthians pointed proudly to local rings of rocks or trees that had gathered around to listen, they said, where he had stopped to play for a while.
One day word came from the harbor that a great music contest was to be held in Ionia across the sea. The prize a bag of silver. Wealth did not draw Arion, but like many young lads he wanted to make a name for himself, the κλέος that was so important to heroes and the poets who sang about them. And where better to win fame than the birthplace of Homer?
His friend Periander, king of Corinth, warned him of sea-travel’s risks. There were no ferries in those days; one booked passage on any ship and hoped. But Arion was eager and adamant. So at last Periander yielded. For how could Corinth not send its best to compete before Homer’s gods?
