So if you've spent any amount of time poking around this blog's comments sections you've likely run across the name Jakob Dailes once or twice. Jakob has been one of this site staunchest supporters since it began. As I've gotten to know him, I've discovered he's also one of the most knowledgeable people I've encountered, online or off, on the subject of Greek mythology. In fact, Jakob runs a blog,
The Classical Club with his own spotlights and ruminations on all things classical. Please check it out:
As you can see from the above picture, the illustrious Mr. Dailes is also quite the artist ( I especially dig his Sphinx, and what I assume to be his self portrait. We've never met in the flesh, so it's hard to be sure;) It was in this capacity, as an illustrator, that I asked him to contribute a piece to the Guest Artist Gallery of the Gods. However, when the time came, a mere Guest Artist Gallery spot didn't seem to properly convey the full scope of Jakob's zest for mythology. This wasn't just a guy who was rattling off a drawing of a character they half-remembered from grade school. THIS WAS HIS PASSION! When you've been a mythophile as long as I have, you can recognize the signs in another person. Hence, I decided to create the heretofore unseen new category, FELLOW MYTHOPHILE PROFILE. It even kind of rhymes!
Without further ado, here's the piece Jakob contributed:
Here's what the man sometimes known as Jakob Dailes has to say:
Here's my pic. It's of Eros and Psykhe.
Psykhe is definitely one of my favorite Greek mythological figures (next to Apollo and Perseus). The ancient Greeks weren't exactly feminists, so the rare female heroine is intriguing to me. Psykhe was ready to risk it all to either get Eros back or break his heart, and was determined not to be broken by Aphrodite. In a way, the scene of the Lamp is the climax of the story, since mostly everything afterward couldn't possibly happen if not for it.
Lucas Haight (turns out Jakob Dailes is a screen name! Trickster!) was born in Atlanta, Ga. but now resides in Panama City Beach, Florida. He is alleged to be a high school student, but as established already, he is tricksy and anything he says should be taken with a grain of salt of two. His hobbies include creating art, writing, reading, and laying around doing nothing (his words!). Whoever he is, he's currently working on a book called LEGENDARY: QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN FLEECE (if you wanna know more on that just send him an email at mythlover@comcast.net). His Top Ten Myth figures are: Apollo, Athene, Perseus, Psykhe, Herakles, Theseus, Medousa, Poseidon, Dionysos, Aphrodite. You'll notice that he uses different spellings than I do for many of the characters that appear in Greek Myth, and one day, if I ever meet him in person, I will challenge him to a thumb wrestling competition to see whose spellings are better.
