The punishment of Niobe and Marsyas
After I made that antivaxx Niobe post, I was thinking how the punishments given to Niobe and Marsyas were very out of proportion, and soon a lot of things started popping up in my mind. So here's my little rambling about how these stories are more than what they seem to be about.
In the myths, Niobe is the one who shows hubris. She is the one to boast and then degrade Leto and her children. Then why did Apollo and Artemis punish her children and not her directly? Because even though Artemis, and especially Apollo punished hubris heavily, it was directed to the person alone and not to anyone else. But in case of Niobe, she is surprisingly completely unharmed, but her family is annihilated. Why is it so? Was there a reason other than just hubris behind the massive bloodshed? And then I realised, there might be another reason indeed.
You know how Leto was running from place to place in order to find a place to give birth to her children? Well, Thebes was one of them. When Thebes refused to give Leto any help, Apollo grows bitter and in his anger tells there and then to Thebes that her land will be filled with bloodshed in the coming days. (it's a prophecy, actually). It also said that after they grew up, Apollo and Artemis went around punishing the lands that had refused to help their mother. And you know who was the royal family of Thebes? Niobe and her children. So it is very likely that the twins killed the children of Niobe not just for the hubris displayed by her, but also a revenge against Thebes itself. They probably wanted to punish Thebes for a long time and Niobe's pride was the final straw.
Next is Marsyas, a satyr who lost a musical contest against Apollo, and was flayed for his hubris. (Apollo played the lyre and Marsyas the aulos or the double flute). This is a very disturbing tale and honestly, one of the instances where Apollo's cruelty gets out of hand. But it is also very unusual for Apollo to punish someone this way. Look at his other myths. Except this case, every other time, Apollo punishes hubris by shooting arrows to kill them. It is death, but at least far less painful than getting skinned alive. So why did Apollo decide to give that punishment to Marsyas when for the rest he had gone with shooting arrows? Did Apollo do it just because Marsyas boasted he was a better musician?
In the most detailed account given by Diodorus Siculus, it goes down like this: Marsyas and his friends come across Apollo being praised for playing the lyre, and Marsyas challenges him to a contest to display their skills. First, Apollo played the lyre without adding his voice. But for the second round, he decided to sing and play the lyre. Marsyas argued that it was unfair since he can't sing while playing his instrument (flute) and accused Apollo of cheating. But Apollo counter argued that it was fair because when Marsyas blew the flute, he was doing almost the same thing as singing. The nymphs (judges) agreed with Apollo and he won. And here comes the important part: Apollo decided to punish him because he was "embittered about the quarrel" and the accusations Marsyas had thrown at him, and not because of the challenge itself. In another version narrated by Apuleius, Marsyas insults Apollo by saying that people listened to his music only because he was so beautiful (he says a bunch of insults but that's the gist of it). So the reason why Apollo was beyond pissed was because not only did this satyr insult him and his music, boast that he was better and challenged to a duel, but on the top of all of it, also accused him of cheating.
But even when Apollo is extremely angry, he uses his arrows to punish the mortals. Why did he decide to give this punishment? Here is why I think: It is said that Athena invented the Aulos. But she soon noticed that playing it made her cheeks puff and look ugly. So she discarded the instrument and placed a curse on it that whoever picks it up will be punished horribly. And I think that curse is the reason why this tale has such a disproportionate punishment. Marsyas was cursed the moment he picked up the aulos. And Apollo was the one to fulfill the curse. This probably the reason why in ancient art Athena appears in so often in the scene of the contest and punishment. (Athena's curse detail is given by Melanippides, a dithyrambic poet from around 500 BC, so it's a pretty old tradition, and Latin writer Hyginus also alludes to this). This also explains two things: why Apollo's punishment was unusual on his part, and why he regretted his excess punishment.
Not trying to make any conclusions here, really - just wanted to share how even though hubris is the main theme of these myths, there are also other themes involved which influenced the outcome. Thoughts?
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