Clytaemnestra Bed and Bath

7 October 2009
Bellerophon never arrived on his destination

Bellerophon never arrived on his destination

Many years ago, I spotted a hotel in Mycenae that tried to attract visitors with the slogan “Clytaemnestra Bed & Bath”. I am quite sure that the owner meant it as a joke. But I am less certain that the owner of the shoeshop named Oedipus in Antwerp, which I noticed on the Groenplaats as long ago as 1982, realized that the name of the Greek hero meant “swollen foot”. Calling a restaurant “Saint Simon”, or travel agencies “Odysseus” or “Xenophon”, is pretty infelicitous too, while a Chimera – well, it is a fantasy shop.

No fellow-traveller of Odysseus returned home 

No one travelling with Odysseus survived

Its front part was a lion, its tail a snake, and in between a goat. 

“A lion, its waist a goat, its tail a snake”

 

Saint Simon fasted more frequently than anyone else 

Saint Simon fasted very often

 

14.000 mercenaries joined Xenophon; 6.000 returned