January 23: Wedding Month

The wedding of Harmonia and Kadmos was spectacular, not surprisingly, as she was the daughter of Olympian royalty, Aphrodite herself. The bride looked as lovely as her mother and wore the most exquisite jewelry. Her necklace in particular, crafted by her father Hephaistos, out of gold and ivory and every sparkling gemstone in the universe, caused quite a stir. And also quite some gossip, as it was a well known secret that Harmonia was really Ares’daughter. They chuckled: “Isn’t the husband always the last to find out?” In fact, Hephaistos knew. He had always known. He had accepted the girl in his household, but he had carried a grudge. So, he had forged the necklace. It was breathtakingly beautiful. And cursed. It would cause grief to Harmonia, tragedy to Semele, blindness to Oidipous, and ultimately the Theban Wars. It should have ended up in a temple at Delphi, but it got stolen in Roman times, to cause even more doom and misery. Since then, it’s been lost. Whatever you do, don’t try to find it.