“Both the stories
of Tamar and Tyro begin with the killing of two brothers.
In each case the pair
of brothers die as a prerequisite to explain two things,
why the respective women had
no children, and why they were sent away to the place where each would
eventually become pregnant with, each their own, set of twins.
The two brothers who die in
the tale of Tyro were her own children … while those in the story of Tamar
were her two husbands and represented her chance to have children”.
John R. Salverda
Good friend John R. Salverda writes (and I may
have reservations about some of his name interconnections): http://www.academia.edu/3894949/Sisyphus_the_Joseph_of_Greek_Myth
Sisyphus, the “Joseph” of
Greek Myth
….
Salmoneus as the Patriarch of Judah
The enmity between the House of Joseph … and the House of Judah … is comparable to that between Sisyphus and Salmoneus. Sisyphus keeps trying to establish his stone upon the archetypical mountain, while Salmoneus had appropriated the worship of god to his altars exclusively.
The
story of Salmoneus seems to be based, however loosely, upon the history of the
House of Judah with [its] holy city at Jerusalem … made the capitol because
it’s great Temple was founded there by [its] famous King Solomon.
At
the beginning of Judean history, is the story of Judah and Tamar. Here we have
a tale that has perplexed Biblical scholars for centuries not so much for what
it contains, but rather for where it is located. Right smack in the middle of
the Joseph cycle, just as he is being sold to Potiphar at the end of chapter
37, comes chapter 38 which contains the entire story of Judah and Tamar
with no mention of Joseph throughout, and then, at the start of chapter
39, the narrative returns to the story of Joseph once again right where it left
off, at the selling of Joseph to Potiphar, the continuity of the Joseph cycle
being completely interrupted. This, apparent artificial, location of the Judah
story we are told, in what seems more like a stretch than an explanation, is
positioned to contrast the steadfast virtue of Joseph against the incestuous
unrighteousness of Judah. Regardless of the Judah episode’s placement, studying
the Sisyphus cycle of Greek mythology as it relates to the Joseph cycle in
the Scriptures, testifies in favor of believing, at least, that the
Judah story was already a part of the Joseph cycle, even before the Joseph
cycle was included in the book of Genesis. This is evident because, the
myth of Sisyphus, ostensibly a collection of the Joseph stories that was
current before [its] inclusion in the Genesis narrative, already contains [its]
own version of the birth of Tamar’s twins, as the story of Tyro’s twins.
Before
we get on with the comparison of these two stories let us first compare the
names of the two mothers. The name “Tyro,” we are informed by Robert Graves,
author of, “The Greek Myths,” was the name of “… the Goddess-mother of the
Tyrians …” this was, no doubt, merely a worn down version of the more well
known form of the name for the mother goddess of the Canaanites, “Ashterah,”
omitting the prefix, “Ash-” as perfunctory.
Now,
as is well known, the Greeks referred to the Canaanites as Phoenicians, a name
that derives from the Greek name “Phoenix” which means, in their language,
“palm tree,” however, in Hebrew the word for “palm tree” is “Tamar.” Thus, both
women can be said to have names that associates them with the Phoenicians.
Incidentally, the mother-in-law of Tamar, the wife of Judah, known only as,
“the daughter of Shua” in the Scriptures, is identified as a Canaanitess, while
the wicked step mother of Tyro, whom the Greeks called Sidero is thought
to be the eponym of Sidon the original settlement of the Canaanites. Because,
unlike the name Tyro, the name “Sidero” has retained [its] prefix, it is even
more plausibly derived from the name of the widely known Canaanite goddess
Ashterah. (those who doubt the original identification between the two names
Sidero and Ashterah should consider the two comparable English terms sidereal
and astro-.)
Let
us now continue with the comparison of the two stories, of course, anyone who
studies the two accounts will find many differences between them, no doubt the
differences are as important, if not more important, than are the similarities,
which are also many and are quite comparable. Both the stories of Tamar
and Tyro begin with the killing of two brothers. In each case the pair
of brothers die as a prerequisite to explain two things, why the
respective women had no children, and why they were sent away to the place
where each would eventually become pregnant with, each their own, set of
twins. The two brothers who die in the tale of Tyro were her own children, (by
Sisyphus) while those in the story of Tamar were her two husbands and
represented her chance to have children. Tamar was sent away to live with
her father, while Tyro was banished from Thessaly along with her father.
Tamar’s father-in-law Judah became a widower, while Tyro’s
father Salmoneus became a widower. Each woman, in the land of their exile,
desiring to become pregnant, made a plan that involved waiting at a place
where they each expected their intended to pass, Tyro on the riverbank at the
confluence of two rivers, the Enipeus and the Alphieus, while Tamar waited on
the roadside where the road to Enaim branched off of the road to Timnah. In
each case, the sex act itself was intentionally deceptive, because one of
the partners wore a disguise so as not to be recognized. Of course, as we have
said, twin boys were born, in each case, as a result of the deception.
Furthermore, the paternity of each pair of twins came into question, Salmoneus,
Tyro’s father, doubted the fatherhood of her twins, while Judah, Tamar’s
father-in-law, also had to be convinced in regard to her pregnancy. In each
story, before the respective twins were born, the true father was revealed and
he gave a little speech to the respective women, the intent of which was
to justify, each their own, pregnancies and to legitimize the eventual
progeny of it. Another weird coincidence, is the fact that both tales include a
report, so saying that the first born was marked at birth, and got a colorful
name as a result, the Scriptural “Zerah” was named after the “scarlet” ribbon
that was tied around his wrist to mark his preeminence, while the mythical
firstborn “Pelias,” was named for the “black and blue” mark that he
received when a horse stepped on his face at his birth. As it turned out, with
each set of twins, both children grew up to be the founders of illustrious
houses among the Aeolians and the Judeans respectively.
Well,
so much for the part of the myth of Salmoneus which has to do, however little,
with Sisyphus, we shall now continue with the rest of the saga of Salmoneus.
Besides
having an echo of the earliest history about the nation of Judah, these Greeks
seem to have a few more details to add, such as the name “Salmoneus” itself,
which is an obvious Greek version of the name of that most illustrious
of Judean rulers King Solomon. With this realization, an evolution of the
myth of Salmoneus can be surmised to have occurred in three steps;
firstly, the story about the birth of the Judean twins, Perez and Zerah, whose
story, as we have said, precipitated the birth myth of the Greek twins
Neleus and Pelias; secondly, the addition of the city of “Salem” and the
founding of the Temple by “Solomon,” is ostensibly what lead to the use of the
name “Salmoneus” as well as the notion that he founded a city called
“Salmonia,” and appropriated the worship of Zeus to his altar; and thirdly, in
the end of the myths about Salmoneus, we are told of the divine destruction of
Salmoneus and his city, Salmonia. This third point would appear to have been
too late to have been included in Greek mythology however, as the famous
mythographer, H. J. Rose has pointed out, “It is noteworthy that
Homer knows nothing of any evil reputation of Salmoneus, of whom indeed he
speaks respectfully.” (“A Handbook of Greek Mythology,” p.83). The Homeric
writings are much earlier than the rest of Greek mythologies and it was
probably not until the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC., that an evil
reputation became attached to the character of Salmoneus. The destruction of Jerusalem
was looked upon by some, including the Greeks apparently, to have been an act
of punishment upon the city, brought about by God Himself, this no doubt,
gave rise to the parallel Greek myth about the destruction of Salmonia.-
….
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