The 11 December Ziggy had a funny ( [craigferguson] I know! [/craigferguson]) strip. The spastic swan made me laugh and laugh! Strangely enough, at least two other comics referenced swans in some manner; they don’t have anything to do with our PBS moment.
Here’s the Ziggy strip. Its creator is Tom Wilson:
Dennis from Comics Curmudgeon wrote: “I’m a classicist, and so “the battle of the swans” juxtaposed with the diminutive Ziggy naturally put me in mind of a motif from classical Greek and Latin poetry: the battle of the Cranes and Pygmies. “. It’s true! The story is referenced in the Iliad. It was evidently a popular tale, and it’s even reproduced in art of the period:
This is an Attic red-figure chous, 430–420 BC, in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain. A chous is a jug. Classy, huh? Not much is funnier than a Pygmy. Unless, of course, he’s riding on a goat, which the story says Pygmies would ride upon when they went to war against the Cranes. Kinda like those little rodeo monkeys that ride on border collies.
Of course, leave it to me to sully classy name of ancient Greek literature and art with a recent acquistion of the Getty — the Estelle Getty Tea-cup Museum and Motor Lodge:
We now return you to WWF Smackdown! Thank you, and good night.
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