Tears of Stone..?

January 10, 2011 - 1:31pm — Darling

A bit of Greek mythology.

_{"Niobe, queen of Thebes, once boasted that she was better than Leto because she had many children while the goddess had but two. Artemis and Apollo avenged this insult to their mother by killing all or most of Niobe's children with their arrows. The weeping Niobe was transformed into stone, in which form she continued to weep."}

and another quote

_{"A devastated Niobe fled back to Mount Sipylus and was turned into stone, and, as she wept unceasingly, waters started to pour from her petrified complexion."}

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January 10, 2011 - 2:21pm — Selene38

Awww, thanks for sharing that

I love mythology (especially its ancient names), and Niobe's story fits very well the crying idol. With the ruins, it's one of the forest places that intrigues me more...

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Sira & Ophidia

January 11, 2011 - 7:29am — Siellby

I had forgotten about that

I had forgotten about that myth! Actually I don't even remember the stone part. Just the part about her kids being killed... It bothers me because, even though the gods have been known to do some pretty nasty things when someone makes them mad, but killing someone's children just because of an insult just seems evil...

Well, anyway, I could see this possibly being the inspiration for the crying idol. And now we have a name for it.

January 11, 2011 - 9:02am — eyestrain