KatarinaNavane
Posts: 462
12/23/2011
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(I put a spoiler warning in the title so I'm not going to use the tags here, be forewarned.)
I believe it was in the storyline associating with Radical Academics, but some time ago I was privileged enough to visit the infamous Museum of Mistakes. Two of the exhibits within I was able to identify easily (though I may continue to doubt these higher profile exhibits are genuine) , but a third has perplexed me to no end. The "scrap of black sailcloth labeled 'Achaean c. 1200 BC'" is clearly from Theseus' ill fated venture. The unlabeled half-eaten fig at the centerpiece of the museum is clearly intended to be the very fruit that caused the fall of Man. However, what of the "two locks of hair, one dark, one amber coloured"? I haven't been able to make any sense of this exhibit and it continues to pique my curiosity, particularly considering the monumental import (if genuine) of the other two exhibits.
Any insights?
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Storynexus sn Katarina Navane.
My art page (much of which is dark, Victorian, and/or full of tentacles): http://www.facebook.com/demonkittydesigns
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Rupho Schartenhauer
Posts: 787
1/5/2012
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KatarinaNavane wrote:
Clearly, this has been bothering me for a long time and I've probably over-thought it.
Maybe it was right there before our eyes all the time... Actually, I should've thought about this earlier:
The Ancient Greek name for amber was electron (ήλεκτρον). Theophrastus was possibly the first to ever mention the material, in the 4th century B.C.
The given name Electra was directly derived from this word. There were quite a few Electras in Greek mythology and literature, possibly because the name alone was enough to evoke a vibrant image of the woman thus named. I think it quite safe to assume that "Electras" were imagined as having amber-colored hair (just like you would immediately imagine a literary character named "Ginger" as having red hair).
The most famous Electra, of course, was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes took bloody revenge against their mother and stepfather for the murder of their father, Agamemnon. I don't remember Orestes' hair color ever being mentioned in the original texts, but he is usually depicted with dark hair (like here, for example).
The story itself is quite famous, so I won't repeat it here. I think it fits, and the locks of hair should be Electra's and Orestes'.
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015
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Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it.
Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely.
Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated.
Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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KatarinaNavane
Posts: 462
1/5/2012
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Certainly until something better is offered, but I don't intend to stop looking for better. I think my skepticism is with the other two big examples, the object on display IS the mistake. The black sail is the mistake in Theseus' story and the fruit is the mistake in Genesis, I'm just not convinced that the hair itself is relevant enough to the 'mistake' of the story to be definitive here. Does it fit better than most of the other things we've thought of so far? Yes. Does it fit this story as well as the other two items fit theirs? Not really, I don't think.
In any rate I am enjoying the journey to discovery here and certainly learning in the process! I feel this discussion should be happening in the drawing room over tea or perhaps a good greyfields vintage, don't you?
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Storynexus sn Katarina Navane.
My art page (much of which is dark, Victorian, and/or full of tentacles): http://www.facebook.com/demonkittydesigns
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streetfelineblue
Posts: 1459
1/10/2012
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Wieland Burandt wrote:
The two-headed bat could be another Lovecraftian reference, as it's one of Nyarlathotep's many avatars...
Or it was just Glimworm - the mistake being killing and stuffing the poor fella XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkO1Ear_JuQ
(Just joking... Can't be, the bat in the exhibit is man-sized).
EDIT: Wait, wasn't there a two-headed bat in Kingdom of Loathing?
edited by streetfelineblue on 1/10/2012
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Twitter: @streetfelineblu
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Brythain
Posts: 13
4/6/2012
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More evidence for the Dido and Aeneas theory.
If you traded Compromising Documents for Stolen Kisses you might get this:
A damp alley two streets from the Museum of Mistakes. At last, the Muffled Intriguer.
'...took longer than I'd planned. Sorry. Most of the coins are gone. But look at these.
The kisses that built Rome and killed the queen of Carthage. Romance, eh?
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Maddyanne
Posts: 67
4/12/2012
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Or it could be the eye of the Graeae that Perseus stole and kept from them till they showed him the way to the Hesperides.
edited by Maddyanne on 4/12/2012
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Parthenia in Fallen London http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Parthenia
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