1.
Herma
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A herma, commonly in English herm, is a sculpture with a head, and perhaps a torso, above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. The form originated in Ancient Greece, and was adopted by the Romans, in the earliest times Greek divinities were worshiped in the form of a heap of stones or a shapeless column of stone or wood. In many parts of Greece there were piles of stones by the sides of roads, especially at their crossings, and on the boundaries of lands. The religious respect paid to such heaps of stones, especially at the meeting of roads, is shown by the custom of each passer-by throwing a stone on to the heap or anointing it with oil. Later there was the addition of a head and phallus to the column, before his role as protector of merchants and travelers, Hermes was a phallic god, associated with fertility, luck, roads and borders. The surmounting heads were not, however, confined to those of Hermes, those of gods and heroes. In this case a compound was formed, Hermathena, Hermares, Hermaphroditus, Hermanubis, Hermalcibiades, in Athens, where the hermai were most numerous and most venerated, they were placed outside houses as apotropes for good luck. They would be rubbed or anointed with oil and adorned with garlands or wreaths. This superstition persists, for example the Porcellino bronze boar of Florence, in Roman and Renaissance versions, the body was often shown from the waist up. The form was used for portrait busts of famous public figures, especially writers like Socrates. Sappho appears on Ancient Greek herms, and anonymous female figures were used from the Renaissance on. In 415 BC, on a night shortly before the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War and this was a horribly impious act and many people believed it threatened the success of the expedition. Though it was never proven, the Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or Spartan sympathizers from Athens itself, one suspect was the writer Xenophon. The J. Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles has a collection of Roman Herma boundary marker stones in its stored collection. An Aesops fable makes fun of statue of Hermes, when a pious dog offers to anoint it, the god hastily assures his worshipper that this is not necessary
2.
Nationalmuseum
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Nationalmuseum is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museums benefactors include King Gustav III and Carl Gustaf Tessin, the museum also has an art library, open to the public and academics alike. The current building, built between 1844 and 1866, was inspired by North Italian Renaissance architecture and it is the design of the German architect Friedrich August Stüler, who also designed the Neues Museum in Berlin. The relatively closed exterior, save for the entrance, gives no hint of the spacious interior dominated by the huge flight of stairs leading up to the topmost galleries. The museum was enlarged in 1961 to accommodate the museum workshops, the present restaurant was instated in 1996. The museum building closed for renovation in 2013 and is scheduled to reopen in 2018, the Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis by Rembrandt Midvinterblot by Carl Larsson Vid bäcken by Peter Adolf Persson Hallwyl Palace Swedish Museum of National Antiquities Johan Mårtelius. Stockholm, Arkitektur Förlag AB. p.67
3.
Greek terracotta figurines
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Terracotta figurines are a mode of artistic and religious expression frequently found in ancient Greece. These figurines abound and provide a testimony to the everyday life. Modelling is the most common and simplest technique and it is also used for the realization of bronzes, the prototypes are made out of raw clay. The small sizes are directly worked with the hand, for the larger models, the coroplath presses the clay pellets or wads against a wooden restraint. The mould is obtained by application of a bed of clay or plaster on the prototype, simple moulds, used by the Greeks of the continent until the 4th century BC, are simply dried. When the piece becomes complicated, with important projections, the craftsman can cut out the mould in smaller parts, the second phase consists of applying a layer of raw clay inside the mould, which can be incised beforehand in order to obtain effects of relief. The thinness of the layer varies according to the type of object to be realized, the faces of the mould are joined together, the object is then unmoulded, and the craftsman can proceed to the final improvements, typically smoothing the junction. The craftsman also creates an opening, a vent hole that allows steam to escape during the firing. The vent can also be used for assembly, allowing intervention inside the piece, the limbs are then joined to the body either by pasting them with slip, clay mixed with water, or by mortice and tenon joint. The piece is fired in the kiln, with the temperature ranging from 600 to 800 °C. Once the figurine is fired, slip can be applied, the slip is sometimes itself fired at low temperature. In the beginning, the range of colours available was limited, red, yellow, black. From the Hellenistic era on, orange, pink mauve, the pigments are natural mineral dyes, ochre for yellow and red, coal for black, malachite for green, etc. Due to their low cost, the figurines made ideal religious offerings and that is indeed their primary purpose, the decorative aspect coming only later. This explains why the ancient Greek temples host abundant quantities of votive or funerary figurines and these figurines can present identification issues. These attributes make it possible to recognize a particular god in an unquestionable way, moreover, certain types of statuettes correspond to a precise form of worship related to a specific divinity. Sometimes, however, visiting gods complicate matters, these are dedicated to a god who is not of that sanctuary. In addition, the majority of the figurines simply represent a woman upright
4.
Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia
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These are taken together as the museo reggino. Recent studies suggest they may represent Tydeus and Amphiaraus from a group of the Seven against Thebes. Jerome and Abraham panels by Antonello da Messina The building was designed by Marcello Piacentini, characterised by its massive volume and monumentality, it consists of a ground floor in bugnato black lava stone, linking the different heights of the Corso Garibaldi and the Via Vittorio Veneto. On this rest grand travertine pilasters and large windows for the first floor exhibition galleries and these large windows make the galleries open, airy and light and allow smoother and more continuous routes between them. On the main facade is a series of illustrations of the ancient currencies of the cities of Magna Graecia. After the opening many rooms on the floor were also opened to the public as galleries. This formed the Museo Civico di Reggio, based in the seafront Palazzo Arcivescovile and formed of ethnology, medieval art, modern art, Risorgimento art and numismatic departments. The Soprintendenza Archeologica was set up in 1925 in Reggio and in 1932 it initiated construction of the building for the Museo Centrale della Magna Grecia or Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. It was designed by Marcello Piacentini, one of the most famous Italian architects of the first half of the 20th century, laid the first stone of this Museum, whose treasures survived great destructive adversities and perpetuate the Millennial civilisation of the First Italy. The new building opened in 1932 but closed on the outbreak of the Second World War, the new headquarters were inaugurated in 1932 but they had to be closed up because of the war, which forced the transfer of the materials to safer sites. In 1954, the collections of the Museo Civico were reunited with those of the Museo Nazionale, in 1962, the prehistory, protohistory and Locri rooms were opened, whilst the lapidary gallery and art gallery were opened in 1969 and the numismatic gallery in 1973. After the very important find of the Riace Bronzes an underwater archaeology gallery was created in 1981, dedicated to the memory of superintendent Giuseppe Foti, who died just before its opening. In 1982 the galleries on the Greek colonies and Ionic and Tyrrhenian sub-colonies were re-arranged, thus opening the first and second floor to the public and adding 40 more galleries. There are now plans to move the medieval and modern art galleries to another building to make room for thematic archaeological displays which are in preparation, the museum is currently divided into six sections and an art gallery, arranged in chronological and topographic order and spread over 4 floors. The entrance is from Piazza De Nava and the visitor is welcomed by the view of a tuff Telamone, coming from a public building from the 2nd century BC. The most antique objects, coming from the Lower Paleolithic date back to 600,000 years ago, are “choppers”, at the entrance of the room are two large dioramas with life scenes from the people of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Next, there is the reproduction of the representing the Bos Primigenius a bovid dating back around 11,000 years ago. The female skeleton laying underneath slips her left arm, as if in a gesture, around the neck of the young man partially above her who
5.
Bronze statue
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Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures, a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a bronze. It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs and it is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu. Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, then, as the bronze cools, it shrinks a little, making it easier to separate from the mould. Their strength and ductility is an advantage when figures in action are to be created and these qualities allow the creation of extended figures, as in Jeté, or figures that have small cross sections in their support, such as the equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart. As recently as 2007 several life sized bronze sculptures by John Waddell were stolen, there are many different bronze alloys, and the term is now tending to be regarded by museums as too imprecise, and replaced in descriptions by copper alloy, especially for older objects. Typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, alpha bronze consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins, the proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The Benin Bronzes are really brass, and the Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomews Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass. In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were used, classic bronze, about 10% tin, was used in casting. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from bronze, while helmets. On one definition, modern statuary bronze is 90% copper and 10% tin, the great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of the alloy for edged weapons. Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro belonging to Harappan Civilization dating back to 2500 BCE is perhaps the first bronze statue of the world, the Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size. Few examples exist in good condition, one is the seawater-preserved bronze Victorious Youth that required painstaking efforts to bring it to its present state for museum display, far more Roman bronze statues have survived. Over the long period of Egyptian dynastic art, small lost-wax bronze figurines were made in large numbers. Sri Lankan Sinhalese Bronze statue of Buddhist Alakothiveshwara Tara Devi statue now in England is an example of Bronze statues. From the ninth through the century the Chola dynasty in South India represented the pinnacle of bronze casting in India. Making bronzes is highly skilled work, and a number of casting processes may be employed, including lost-wax casting, sand casting. The term bronze is also applied to metal sculptures made by electrotyping, although these sculptures are typically pure copper and their fabrication does not involve metal casting
6.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
7.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
8.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
9.
Aphrodite
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Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, and her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus, as with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiods Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranuss genitals and threw them into the sea, according to Homers Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Plato, these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities, Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and was lover and surrogate mother of Adonis. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite, Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea and Cypris after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, roses, doves, sparrows and swans were sacred to her, the ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Aphrodite had many names such as Acidalia and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite of transcendent principles, and a separate, common Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people, hesiod derives Aphrodite from aphrós sea-foam, interpreting the name as risen from the foam. Michael Janda, accepting this as genuine, claims the birth myth as an Indo-European mytheme. Likewise, Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound *abʰor- very and *dʰei- to shine and it has been argued that etymologies based on comparison with Eos are unlikely since Aphrodites attributes are entirely different from those of Eos or the Vedic deity Ushas. A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have suggested in scholarship. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu, the name of a demon that appears in Middle Babylonian. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing prϑni lord, an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις and this would make the theonym in origin an honorific, the lady. Hjalmar Frisk and Robert Beekes reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru, the medieval Etymologicum Magnum offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos, she who lives delicately, from habrós and díaita. The alteration from b to ph is explained as a characteristic of Greek obvious from the Macedonians. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, however, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, Cytherea
10.
Amathus
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Its ancient cult of Aphrodite was the most important, after Paphos, in Cyprus, her homeland, though the ruins of Amathus are less well-preserved than neighboring Kourion. The pre-history of Amathus mixes myth and archaeology, though there was no Bronze Age city on the site, archaeology has detected human activity that is evident from the earliest Iron Age, c.1100 BC. The citys legendary founder was Cinyras, linked with the birth of Adonis, according to a version of the Ariadne legend noted by Plutarch, Theseus abandoned Ariadne at Amathousa, where she died giving birth to her child and was buried in a sacred tomb. According to Plutarchs source, Amathousians called the grove where her shrine was situated the Wood of Aphrodite Ariadne. More purely Hellenic myth would have Amathus settled instead by one of the sons of Heracles and it was said in antiquity that the people of Amathus were autochthonous, or Pelasgian. Amathus was built on the cliffs with a natural harbor and flourished at an early date. Greeks from Euboea left their pottery at Amathus from the 10th century BC, during the post-Phoenician era of the 8th century BC, a palace was erected and a port was also constructed, which served the trade with the Greeks and the Levantines. A special burial ground for infants, a tophet served the culture of the Phoenicians, the excavators discovered the final stage of the Temple of Aphrodite, also known as Aphrodisias, which dates approximately to the 1st century BC. The earliest remains hitherto found on the site are tombs of the early Iron Age period of Graeco-Phoenician influences, Amathus is identified with Kartihadasti in the Cypriote tribute-list of Esarhaddon of Assyria. Herodotus reports Because he had besieged them, the Amathusians cut off Onesilos’ head and brought it to Amathous, as it hung there empty, a swarm of bees entered it and filled it with honeycomb. The Amathusians did as they were told and still perform these rites in my day and its political importance now ended, but its temple of Adonis and Aphrodite Amathusia remained famous in Roman times. The epithet Amathusia in Roman poetry often means more than Cypriote. The wealth of Amathus was derived partly from its grain partly from its sheep and copper mines, Amathus was a rich and densely populated kingdom with a flourishing agriculture and mines situated very close to the northeast Kalavasos. In the Roman era it became the capital of one of the four regions of Cyprus. Later, in the 4th century AD, Amasus became the see of a Christian bishop, of its bishops, Heliodorus was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and Alexander at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. In the late 6th century, Saint Ioannis Eleimonas, protector of the Knights of St. John, was born in Amathus and after 614 sent Theodorus, bishop of Amathus, anastasius Sinaita, the famous 7th-century prolific monk of Saint Catherines Monastery, was born here. It is thought that he left Cyprus after the 649 Arab conquest of the island, setting out for the Holy Land, anathus declined and was already almost deserted when Richard Plantagenet won Cyprus by a victory there over Isaac Comnenus in 1191. The tombs were plundered and the stones from the beautiful edifices were brought to Limassol to be used for new constructions, much later, in 1869, a great number of blocks of stone from Amathus were used for the construction of the Suez Canal
11.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
12.
Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
13.
Transvestism
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Transvestism is the practice of dressing and acting in a style or manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Though coined as late as the 1910s, the phenomenon is not new and it was referred to in the Hebrew Bible. The word has several changes of meaning since it was first coined and is still used in a variety of senses. Today, the term transvestite is commonly considered outdated and derogatory, Magnus Hirschfeld coined the word transvestite in 1910 to refer to the sexual interest in cross-dressing. He used it to persons who habitually and voluntarily wore clothes of the opposite sex. Hirschfelds group of transvestites consisted of males and females, with heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual orientations. Hirschfeld himself was not happy with the term, He believed that clothing was only a symbol chosen on the basis of various internal psychological situations. In fact, Hirschfeld helped people to achieve the very first name changes, hirschfelds transvestites therefore were, in todays terms, not only transvestites, but a variety of people from the transgender spectrum. Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often associated with transvestism, in more recent terminology, this is sometimes called transvestic fetishism. Hirschfeld also clearly distinguished between transvestism as an expression of a persons contra-sexual feelings and fetishistic behavior, even if the latter involved wearing clothes of the other sex. After all the changes took place during the 1970s, a large group was left without a word to describe themselves. This group was not particularly happy with the term transvestism, in some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional or ceremonial reasons. For example, in India some male devotees of the Hindu god Krishna, especially in Mathura and Vrindavan, dress in attire to pose as his consort. In Italy, the Neapolitan femminielli wear wedding dresses, called the matrimonio dei femminielli, a procession takes place through the streets, cogender Drag I Am My Own Wife List of transgender-related topics Transgender Transsexualism Travesti Dual-role transvestism Ackroyd, Peter. Dressing up, transvestism and drag, the history of an obsession, a Brighter Shade of Pink, Magnus Hirschfeld. Transvestism, Transsexualism in the Psychoanalytic Dimension, cherry Single, A Transvestite Comes of Age Alchemist/Light Publishing,1997, ISBN 0-9600650-5-9 Thanem Torkild, Wallenberg Louise. Transvestism and the power of underdoing gender in everyday life and work, the dictionary definition of transvestite at Wiktionary Transvestism at Britannica Online Encyclopædia
14.
Phallus
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A phallus is a penis, especially when erect, an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus, however, such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the male orgasm. The term is a loanword from Latin phallus, itself borrowed from Greek φαλλός, compare with Old Norse boli bull, Old English bulluc bullock, Greek φαλλή whale. The Hohle phallus, a 28, 000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels cave, in traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, god of boundaries and exchange is considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on herms featuring a phallus. There is no consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god. Pan, son of Hermes, was depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus. Priapus is a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus, the son of Aphrodite and either Dionysus or Adonis, according to different forms of the original myth, he is the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism, the city of Tyrnavos in Greece holds an annual Phallus festival, a traditional phallophoric event on the first days of Lent. The phallus was ubiquitous in ancient Roman culture, particularly in the form of the fascinum, the ruins of Pompeii produced bronze wind chimes that featured the phallus, often in multiples, to ward off the evil eye and other malevolent influences. Statues of Priapus similarly guarded gardens, Roman boys wore the bulla, an amulet that contained a phallic charm, until they formally came of age. According to Augustine of Hippo, the cult of Father Liber, the phallic deity Mutunus Tutunus promoted marital sex. A sacred phallus was among the objects considered vital to the security of the Roman state which were in the keeping of the Vestal Virgins, sexuality in ancient Rome has sometimes been characterized as phallocentric. Evidence of phallic worship in India dates back to prehistoric times, stone Lingams with several varieties of stylized heads, or the glans, are found to this date in many of the old temples, and in museums in India and abroad. The almost naturalistic giant lingam is distinguished by its prominent, bulbous glans, linguistic evidence indicates that the post-Vedic Hindus not only adopted the tradition/ cult of the linga from the pre-Vedic non-Aryans, but even the term itself is of Austric origin. Chakravarti further says that when two words entered Sanskrit, they, along with another word langula were derivations of the same root syllable lang or lng. Stone lingams have been found in several Indus Civilization sites, varying in size from 3 feet in length to very small pieces and these are found to be of steatite, sandstone and burnt clay. Some among these are unmistakably naturalistic in their rendition, Phallic worship was prevalent in India from the Chalcolithic period itself, and it was closely associated with magical rites based religion of that time. The phallus played a role in the cult of Osiris in ancient Egyptian religion, supposedly, Isis made a wooden replacement
15.
Macrobius
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Only in later manuscripts were his names reversed as Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, which James Willis then adopted for his edition of the Commentary. Little is known for certain about Macrobius, but there are many theories and he states at the beginning of his Saturnalia that he was born under a foreign sky, and both of his major works are dedicated to his son, Eustachius. His major works have led experts to assume that he was a pagan, which foreign sky Macrobius was born under has been the subject of much speculation. Terrot Glover considers Macrobius either an ethnic Greek, or born in one of the Greek-speaking parts of the Roman Empire, such as Egypt, J. E. Sandys went further and argued that Macrobius was born in one of the Greek provinces. Scholars have attempted to identify him with a Macrobius who is mentioned in the Codex Theodosianus as a prefect of Spain. The Codex Theodosianus also records a praepositus named Macrobius in 422, a number of older authorities go so far as to identify Macrobius the author with the first, and date his floruit to 399–410. Further, Cameron points out that during his lifetime Macrobius was referred to as Theodosius and it is significant that the only surviving law addressed to this Theodosius sanctions a privilege for Africa Proconsularis on the basis of information received concerning Byzacena, Cameron notes. Macrobiuss most influential one of the most widely cited books of the Middle Ages—was a commentary in two books on the Dream of Scipio narrated by Cicero at the end of his Republic. In astronomy, this work is noted for giving the diameter of the Sun as twice the diameter of the Earth. Of a third work On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb, we possess an abstract by a certain Johannes. See editions by Ludwig von Jan, Franz Eyssenhardt, James Willis, the grammatical treatise will be found in Jans edition and Heinrich Keils Grammatici latini, see also Georg Friedrich Schömann, Commentatio macrobiana. Macrobiuss Saturnalia consists of an account of the held at the house of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus during the holiday of the Saturnalia. It contains a variety of curious historical, mythological, critical, antiquarian. The work takes the form of a series of dialogues among learned men at a fictional banquet. The latter part of the book is taken up with a dissertation upon luxury and the sumptuary laws intended to check it. The seventh book consists largely of the discussion of various physiological questions, the primary value of the work lies in the facts and opinions quoted from earlier writers. Cambridge, MA/ London, Harvard University Press,2011, percival Vaughan Davies, Macrobius, The Saturnalia. New York, Columbia University Press,1969, william Harris Stahl, Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio
16.
Moon
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The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits planet Earth, being Earths only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, following Jupiters satellite Io, the Moon is second-densest satellite among those whose densities are known. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384,400 km, the Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earths sky, after the Sun and its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its prominence in the sky and its cycle of phases have made the Moon an important cultural influence since ancient times on language, calendars, art. The Moons gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and this matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future. The Moons linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ±0.07 centimetres per year, since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by uncrewed spacecraft. The usual English proper name for Earths natural satellite is the Moon, the noun moon is derived from moone, which developed from mone, which is derived from Old English mōna, which ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mǣnōn, like all Germanic language cognates. Occasionally, the name Luna is used, in literature, especially science fiction, Luna is used to distinguish it from other moons, while in poetry, the name has been used to denote personification of our moon. The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, a less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene, from which is derived the prefix seleno-. Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia, the names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion, and selenocentric. The name Diana is connected to dies meaning day, several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moons formation 4.51 billion years ago, and some 60 million years after the origin of the Solar System. These hypotheses also cannot account for the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. This hypothesis, although not perfect, perhaps best explains the evidence, eighteen months prior to an October 1984 conference on lunar origins, Bill Hartmann, Roger Phillips, and Jeff Taylor challenged fellow lunar scientists, You have eighteen months. Go back to your Apollo data, go back to computer, do whatever you have to. Dont come to our conference unless you have something to say about the Moons birth, at the 1984 conference at Kona, Hawaii, the giant impact hypothesis emerged as the most popular. Afterward there were only two groups, the giant impact camp and the agnostics. Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System, computer simulations of a giant impact have produced results that are consistent with the mass of the lunar core and the present angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system
17.
Sacrifice
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Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals to a higher purpose, in particular divine beings, as an act of propitiation or worship. While sacrifice often implies the ritual killing of an animal, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of food or artifacts, for offerings of liquids by pouring, the term libation is used. The Latin term sacrificium derived from Latin sacrificus, which combined the concepts sacra, the Latin word sacrificium came to apply to the Christian eucharist in particular, sometimes named a bloodless sacrifice to distinguish it from blood sacrifices. In individual non-Christian ethnic religions, terms translated as sacrifice include the Indic yajna, the Greek thusia, the Germanic blōtan, the term usually implies doing without something or giving something up. But the word also occurs in metaphorical use to describe doing good for others or taking a short-term loss in return for a greater power gain. Scholars such as René Girard have theorized that scapegoating may account for the origins of sacrifice, animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practiced by adherents of religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. It also served a social or economic function in those cultures where the portions of the animal were distributed among those attending the sacrifice for consumption. Animal sacrifice has turned up in almost all cultures, from the Hebrews to the Greeks and Romans, Ancient Egyptians and it is against their religion for Egyptians to sacrifice animals, except for sheep, bulls, calves, male calves and geese. Animal sacrifice is practiced today by the followers of Santería and other lineages of Orisa as a means of curing the sick. However, in Santeria, such animal offerings constitute a small portion of what are termed ebos—ritual activities that include offerings, prayer. Christians from some villages in Greece also sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a known as kourbània. The practice, while publicly condemned, is often tolerated, according to Walter Burkert, a scholar of sacrifice, Greek sacrifices derived from hunting practices. Hunters, feeling guilty for having killed another living being so they could eat and survive, the primary evidence used to suggest this theory is the Dipolieia, which is an Athenian festival, in limited circulation, during which an ox was sacrificed. The protagonist of the ritual was an ox, which it had, at one point. According to his theory, the killer of the ox eased his conscience by suggesting that everybody should participate in the killing of the sacrificial victim. In the expansion of the Athenian state, numerous oxen were needed to feed the people at the banquets and were accompanied by state festivals, the hecatomb became the general designation for the great sacrifices offered by the state. These sacrificial processions of hundreds of oxen remove the original ties, Human sacrifice was practiced by many ancient cultures
18.
Ritual
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A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community, Rituals are characterized but not defined by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. Rituals are a feature of all human societies. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello may be termed rituals, the field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsiders or etic category for a set activity that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or emic performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker, the English word ritual derives from the Latin ritualis, that which pertains to rite. In Roman juridical and religious usage, ritus was the way of doing something, or correct performance. The word ritual is first recorded in English in 1570, there are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated into a ritual. Catherine Bell argues that rituals can be characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, Ritual utilizes a limited and rigidly organized set of expressions which anthropologists call a restricted code. Maurice Bloch argues that ritual obliges participants to use this formal oratorical style, which is limited in intonation, syntax, vocabulary, loudness, in adopting this style, ritual leaders speech becomes more style than content. Because this formal speech limits what can be said, it induces acceptance, compliance, Bloch argues that this form of ritual communication makes rebellion impossible and revolution the only feasible alternative. Ritual tends to support forms of social hierarchy and authority. Rituals appeal to tradition and are concerned to repeat historical precedents accurately. Traditionalism varies from formalism in that the ritual may not be yet still makes an appeal to historical. An example is the American Thanksgiving dinner, which may not be formal, thus, the appeal to history is important rather than accurate historical transmission. Catherine Bell states that ritual is also invariant, implying careful choreography and this is less an appeal to traditionalism than a striving for timeless repetition. The key to invariance is bodily discipline, as in prayer and meditation meant to mold dispositions. This bodily discipline is frequently performed in unison, by groups, Rituals tend to be governed by rules, a feature somewhat like formalism
19.
Religious festival
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A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar. Feriae were either public or private, state holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding. Feriae privatae were holidays celebrated in honor of individuals or by families. The 1st-century BC scholar Varro defined feriae as days instituted for the sake of the gods, a deitys festival often marked the anniversary of the founding of the deitys temple, or a rededication after a major renovation. Public business was suspended for the performance of religious rites on the feriae, cicero says that people who were free should not engage in lawsuits and quarrels, and slaves should get a break from their labors. On calendars of the Republic and early Empire, the status of days were marked by letters such as F, C, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies). On surviving Roman calendars, festivals that appear in capital letters are thought to have been the most ancient holidays. Some of the oldest festivals are not named for deities, games, such as the Ludi Apollinares, were often dedicated to particular deities, but were not technically feriae, although they might be holidays in the modern sense of days off work. After the mid-1st century AD, there were more frequent spectacles and games held in the venue called a circus, in honor of various deities or for imperial anniversaries. A religious festival held on a day, such as the Floralia, might be expanded with games over multiple days. A major source for Roman holidays is Ovids Fasti, a poem that describes and provides origins for festivals from January to June at the time of Augustus. Probably the best-known Roman festival, some of its customs, such as gift-giving, japanese festivals and Barua festivals often involve Buddhist culture, as do pagoda festivals held as fairs held at Buddhist temples in countries such as Thailand. Features of Buddhist Tibetan festivals may include the traditional cham dance, many festivals of Nepal are religious festivals involving Buddhism. The central festival of Christianity is Easter, on which Christians celebrate their belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the day after his crucifixion. Even for Easter, however, there is no agreement among the various Christian traditions regarding the date or manner of the observance, less for Christmas, Pentecost, both Protestants and Catholics observe certain festivals commemorating events in the life of Christ. Of these, the two most important are Christmas, which commemorates the Birth of Jesus, and Easter, which marks his resurrection, utsava is the Sanskrit word for Hindu festivals, meaning to cause to grow upward. Hindus observe sacred occasions by festive observances, all festivals in Hinduism are predominantly religious in character and significance
20.
Hermaphroditus
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In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos /hərˌmæf. rəˈdaɪ. təs/ was the son of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably handsome boy with whom the water nymph Salmacis fell in love, a god, in answer to her prayer, merged their two forms into one and transformed them into an androgynous form. His name is compounded of his parents names, Hermes and Aphrodite and he was one of the Erotes. Because he was a son of Hermes, and consequently a great-grandson of Atlas, Hermaphroditus father, Hermes, was also called Atlantiades because his mother, Maia was the daughter of Atlas. His name is the basis for the word hermaphrodite, Hermaphroditus, the two-sexed child of Aphrodite and Hermes had long been a symbol of androgyny or effeminacy, and was portrayed in Greco-Roman art as a female figure with male genitals. Theophrastuss account also suggests a link between Hermaphroditus and the institution of marriage, the reference to the fourth day of the month is telling, this is the luckiest day to have a wedding. Hermaphrodituss association with marriage seems to have been that, by embodying both masculine and feminine qualities, he symbolized the coming together of men and women in sacred union, another factor linking Hermaphroditus to weddings was his parents role in protecting and blessing brides. Hermaphrodituss name is derived from those of his parents Hermes and Aphrodite, all three of these gods figure largely among erotic and fertility figures, and all possess distinctly sexual overtones. Sometimes, Hermaphroditus is referred to as Aphroditus, the phallic god Priapus was the son of Hermes in some accounts, and the youthful god of desire Eros of Hermes and Aphrodite. Ovids account relates that Hermaphroditus was nursed by naiads in the caves of Mount Ida, at the age of fifteen, he grew bored with his surroundings and traveled to the cities of Lycia and Caria. It was in the woods of Caria, near Halicarnassus that he encountered the nymph, Salmacis and she was overcome by lust for the boy, who was very handsome but still young, and tried to seduce him, but was rejected. When he thought her to be gone, Hermaphroditus undressed and entered the waters of the empty pool, Salmacis sprang out from behind a tree and jumped into the pool. She wrapped herself around the boy, forcibly kissing him and touching his breast, while he struggled, she called out to the gods that they should never part. Her wish was granted, and their bodies blended into one form, Hermaphroditus prayed to Hermes and Aphrodite that anyone else who bathed in the pool would be similarly transformed, and his wish was granted. In this form the story was not ancient, Karl Kerenyi noted. He compared the myth of the beautiful ephebe with Narcissus and Hyacinthus, who had an archaic hero-cult, the oldest traces of the cult in Greek countries are found in Cyprus. Here, according to Macrobius, there was a statue of a male Aphrodite. Philochorus in his Atthis further identified this divinity, at whose sacrifices men and women exchanged garments, a terracotta plaque from the 7th century BC depicting Aphroditos was found in Perachora, which suggests it was an archaic cult
21.
Theophrastus
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Theophrastus, a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at an age and initially studied in Platos school. After Platos death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus his writings, when Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as at the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants, after his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus, the interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, in philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotles work on logic. He also regarded space as the arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue and he was a native of Eresos in Lesbos. His given name was Tyrtamus, but he became known by the nickname Theophrastus, given to him, it is said. After receiving instruction in philosophy in Lesbos from one Alcippus, he moved to Athens and he became friends with Aristotle, and when Plato died Theophrastus may have joined Aristotle in his self-imposed exile from Athens. When Aristotle moved to Mytilene on Lesbos in 345/4, it is likely that he did so at the urging of Theophrastus. It seems that it was on Lesbos that Aristotle and Theophrastus began their research into science, with Aristotle studying animals. Theophrastus probably accompanied Aristotle to Macedonia when Aristotle was appointed tutor to Alexander the Great in 343/2, around 335 BC, Theophrastus moved with Aristotle to Athens where Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. Aristotle in his will made him guardian of his children, including Nicomachus with whom he was close, Aristotle likewise bequeathed to him his library and the originals of his works, and designated him as his successor at the Lyceum. Eudemus of Rhodes also had claims to this position. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for years, and died at the age of eighty-five according to Diogenes
22.
Attic Greek
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Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of ancient Attica, including of the city of Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek and is the form of the language that is studied in ancient Greek language courses. Attic Greek is sometimes included in the Ionic dialect, together, Attic and Ionic are the primary influences on Modern Greek. Greek is the member of the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European language family. In ancient times, Greek had already come to exist in several dialects, mycenaean Greek represents an early form of Eastern Greek, the group to which Attic also belongs. Later Greek literature wrote about three main dialects, Aeolic, Doric, and Ionic, Attic was part of the Ionic dialect group, ruling from Alexandria, Ptolemy launched the Alexandrian period, during which the city of Alexandria and its expatriate Greek-medium scholars flourished. The earliest Greek literature, which is attributed to Homer and is dated to the 8th or 7th centuries BC, is written in Old Ionic rather than Attic. The first extensive works of literature in Attic are the plays of the dramatists Aeschylus, the military exploits of the Athenians led to some universally read and admired history, as found in the works of Thucydides and Xenophon. Slightly less known because they are technical and legal are the orations by Antiphon, Demosthenes, Lysias, Isocrates. The Attic Greek of the philosophers Plato and his student Aristotle dates to the period of transition between Classical Attic and Koine, Attic Greek, like other dialects, was originally written in a local variant of the Greek alphabet. In other respects, Old Attic shares many features with the neighbouring Euboean alphabet, like the latter, it used an L-shaped variant of lambda and an S-shaped variant of sigma. It lacked the consonant symbols xi for /ks/ and psi for /ps/, expressing these sound combinations with ΧΣ, moreover, like most other mainland Greek dialects, Attic did not yet use omega and eta for the long vowels /ɔ, / and /ɛ, /. Instead, it expressed the vowel phonemes /o, oː, ɔː/ with the letter Ο and /e, eː, moreover, the letter Η was used as heta, with the consonantal value of /h/ rather than the vocalic value of /ɛː/. In the 5th century, Athenian writing gradually switched from this system to the more widely used Ionic alphabet, native to the eastern Aegean islands. This new system, also called the Eucleidian alphabet, after the name of the archon Eucleides, the classical works of Attic literature were subsequently handed down to posterity in the new Ionic spelling, and it is the classical orthography in which they are read today. Proto-Greek long ā → Attic long ē, but ā after e, i, r, ⁓ Ionic ē in all positions. ⁓ Doric and Aeolic ā in all positions, Proto-Greek and Doric mātēr → Attic mētēr mother Attic chōrā ⁓ Ionic chōrē place, country However, Proto-Greek ā → Attic ē after w, deleted by the Classical Period. Proto-Greek korwā → early Attic-Ionic *korwē → Attic korē Proto-Greek ă → Attic ě, Doric Artamis ⁓ Attic Artemis Compensatory lengthening of vowel before cluster of sonorant and s, after deletion of s
23.
Hermes
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Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods. Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries and he is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods and he has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen, thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers. In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind and his attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus, which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a staff with carvings of the other gods. The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās, most scholars derive Hermes from Greek ἕρμα herma, prop, heap of stones, boundary marker, from which the word hermai also derives. The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin. Scholarly speculation that Hermes derives from a primitive form meaning one cairn is disputed. In Greek, a find is a hermaion. It is also suggested that Hermes is a cognate of the Vedic Sarama, homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, he is called the bringer of luck, guide and guardian. He was an ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector and he also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey, Hermes helps his son, the protagonist Odysseus, by informing him about the fate of his companions. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb, when Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades. Hermes was then instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus, aesop featured him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as the god of athletes, of edible roots, and of hospitality. He also said that Hermes had assigned each person his share of intelligence, Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the Titan Prometheus. In addition to the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of wrestling and boxing, in 1820 Shelley translated this hymn
24.
Ancient Agora of Athens
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Some of these included, The Middle stoa which was the most extensive monument built during the 100s B. C. E. A small Roman temple was added in front of the Middle stoa, an Altar of Zeus Agoraios was added just to the east of the Monument to the Eponymous Heroes. The Temple of Ares, dedicated to Ares, the god of war, was added in the north half agora, the Odeon of Agrippa and accompanying gymnasium were added in the centre of the agora. The substantial Stoa of Attalos was built along the edge of the agora. A collection of buildings were added to the south-east corner, the East stoa, the Library of Pantainos, the Nymphaeum, there is evidence of a Synagogue in the Agora of Athens in the 3rd century. A statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian was located near the metroon, the Temple of Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria dated to the 300s B. C. E. and is located near the Temple of Apollo Patroos. The south end of what is believed to be a Basilica has been uncovered near Hadrian Street and is dated to the mid 100s C. E, the Monopteros was located south of the Basilica and also dated to the mid 100s C. E. It had no walls, was a dome supported by columns and was about 8 meters in diameter, the Bema was a speakers platform and was located near the Stoa of Attalos. The ancient Athenian agora has been excavated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens since 1931 under the direction of T and they continue to the present day, now under the direction of John McK Camp. The museum is housed in the Stoa of Attalos, and its exhibits are connected with the Athenian democracy. Ecclesia Roman Agora Church of the Holy Apostles Hellenic Ministry of Culture, The Ancient Agora of Athens – official site with a schedule of its hours, tickets. Agora Excavations – American School of Classical Studies Agora excavation project, map of the Agora of Athens in Socrates and Platos time Agora of Athens in 421 BC The Athenian Agora, A Short Guide in Color The Athenian Agora
25.
Anasyrma
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Anásyrma composed of ana, up or against or back, and syrma, skirt, plural, anasýrmata, also called anasyrmós, is the gesture of lifting the skirt or kilt. It is used in connection with religious rituals, eroticism. The term is used in describing corresponding works of art, Anasyrma is effectively the exposing of the genitals. This is a form of exhibitionism found in religion or artwork, rather than a display for arousal, the act of lifting up ones skirt to display the genitals can be an apotropaic device, it can, in circumstances of war, evoke the fear of the enemy. It can also be an act that evokes surprise and subsequent laughter, what is significant about anasyrma is that it reflects the numinous quality of the female genitals and the genital region through which birth ensues. In several cultures, there is a myth of anasyrma used for emotional healing, Anasyrma may be a deliberately provocative self-exposing of ones naked genitals or buttocks. The famous example of the case is Aphrodite Kallipygos. In many traditions, this also has an apotropaic character, as a mockery or means to ward off a supernatural enemy. Ritual jesting and intimate exposure were common in the cults of Demeter and Dionysus, the mythographer Apollodorus says that Iambes jesting was the reason for the practice of ritual jesting at the Thesmophoria, a festival celebrated in honor of Demeter and Persephone. In other versions of the myth of Demeter, the goddess is received by a woman named Baubo and these appeared as counterparts to the phalluses decorated with eyes, mouth, and sometimes legs, that appeared on vase paintings and were made as statuettes. The anasyromenos pose, however, was not invented in the 4th century BCE, Ancient literature suggests that the figures represent the androgynous Cypriot deity Aphroditus, whose cult was introduced into mainland Greece between the 5th–4th century BCE. The revealed phallus was believed to have magical powers, averting the evil eye or invidia. Many historical references suggest that anasyrma had dramatic or supernatural effect—positive or negative, pliny the Elder wrote that a menstruating woman who uncovers her body can scare away hailstorms, whirlwinds and lightning. If she strips naked and walks around the field, caterpillars, worms, even when not menstruating, she can lull a storm out at sea by stripping. According to folklore, women lifted their skirts to chase off enemies in Ireland, a story from The Irish Times reported a potentially violent incident involving several men, which was averted by a woman exposing her genitals to the attackers. According to Balkan folklore, when it rained too much, women would run into the fields and lift their skirts to scare the gods, in Jean de La Fontaines Nouveaux Contes, a demon is repulsed by the sight of a woman lifting her skirt. Associated carvings, called sheela na gigs, were common on medieval churches in northern Europe, in some nations of Africa, a woman stripping naked and displaying herself is still considered a curse and a means to ward off evil. As women give life, they can take it away, in Nigeria, among other places, women invoked the curse only under the most extreme circumstances, and men who are exposed are considered dead
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Apotropaic magic
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Apotropaic magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charm, amulets. The Greeks made offerings to the gods, chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety. Apotropaic magical rituals were practiced throughout the ancient Near East and Egypt, fearsome deities were invoked via ritual in order to protect individuals by warding away evil spirits. In ancient Egypt, these rituals were embodied by the deity who personified magic itself. The two gods most frequently invoked in these rituals were the hippopotamusiform fertility goddess, Taweret, objects were often used in these rituals in order to facilitate communication with the gods. One of the most commonly found magical objects, the ivory apotropaic wand and these wands were used to protect expectant mothers and children from malevolent forces, and were adorned with processions of apotropaic solar deities. Likewise, protective amulets bearing the likenesses of gods and goddesses like Taweret were commonly worn, water came to be used frequently in ritual as well, wherein libation vessels in the shape of Taweret were used to pour healing water over an individual. The full figure of the Gorgon holds the apex of the oldest remaining Greek temple where she is flanked by two lionesses, the Gorgon head was mounted on the aegis and shield of Athena. Eyes were often painted to ward off the evil eye, an exaggerated apotropaic eye or a pair of eyes were painted on Greek drinking vessels called kylikes from the 6th century BC. The exaggerated eyes may have prevented evil spirits from entering the mouth while drinking, fishing boats in some parts of the Mediterranean region still have stylised eyes painted on the bows. A Turkish budget airline, Fly Havayolu Taşımacılık A. Ş. had adopted the symbol as a motif for the vertical stabilizer of its aeroplanes. The Yiddish expression, Kain ein horeh is apotropaic in nature, people believed that the doorways and windows of buildings were particularly vulnerable to the entry or passage of evil. On churches and castles, gargoyles or other grotesque faces and figures such as sheela na gigs and hunky punks were carved to frighten away witches, figures may also have been carved at fireplaces or chimneys, in some cases, simple geometric or letter carvings were used for these. When a wooden post was used to support a chimney opening, to discourage witchcraft, rowan wood may have been chosen for the post or mantel. Similarly the grotesque faces carved into pumpkin lanterns at Halloween are meant to avert evil, this season was Samhain, as a time between times, it was believed to be a period when souls of the dead and other dangerous spirits walked the earth. Many European peoples had such associations with the following the harvest in the fall. Mirrors and other objects were believed to deflect the evil eye
27.
Venus (mythology)
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Venus is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art, in the later classical tradition of the West, Venus becomes one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. It has connections to venerari and venia through a common root in an Indo-European *wenes- or *u̯enis. Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- or *u̯en- to strive for, wish for, desire, Venus has been described as perhaps the most original creation of the Roman pantheon, and an ill-defined and assimilative native goddess, combined with a strange and exotic Aphrodite. The ambivalence of her persuasive functions has been perceived in the relationship of the root *venes- with Latin venenum, in the sense of a charm, in myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam. Roman theology presents Venus as the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and her male counterparts in the Roman pantheon, Vulcan and Mars, are active and fiery. Venus absorbs and tempers the male essence, uniting the opposites of male and female in mutual affection and she is essentially assimilative and benign, and embraces several otherwise quite disparate functions. She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune, in one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes, in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue. Images of Venus have been found in murals, mosaics. Petronius, in his Satyricon, places an image of Venus among the Lares of the freedman Trimalchios lararium, prospective brides offered Venus a gift before the wedding, the nature of the gift, and its timing, are unknown. Some Roman sources say that girls who come of age offer their toys to Venus, it is unclear where the offering is made, in dice-games, a popular pastime among Romans of all classes, the luckiest, best possible roll was known as Venus. Venus signs were for the most part the same as Aphrodites, Venus statues, and her worshipers, wore myrtle crowns at her festivals. Likewise, Roman folk-etymology transformed the ancient, obscure goddess Murcia into Venus of the Myrtles, myrtle was thought a particularly potent aphrodisiac. The female pudendum, particularly the clitoris, was known as murtos, as goddess of love and sex, Venus played an essential role at Roman prenuptial rites and wedding nights, so myrtle and roses were used in bridal bouquets. Marriage itself was not a seduction but a condition, under Junos authority. Venus was also a patron of the ordinary, everyday wine drunk by most Roman men and women, in the rites to Bona Dea, a goddess of female chastity, Venus, myrtle and anything male were not only excluded, but unmentionable
28.
Sceptre
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A sceptre or scepter is a symbolic ornamental staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty, either right or cruel, the ancient Indian work of Tirukkural dedicates a separate chapter each on the ethics of the right sceptre and the evils of the cruel sceptre. The Was and other types of staffs were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt, for this reason, they are often described as sceptres, even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos, kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff. The staff with the longest history seems to be the heqa-sceptre, the Bronze Age rulers of Mesopotamia are not regularly depicted with sceptres. However, in instances, they are shown armed, with bow and arrow. Use of a rod or staff as representing authority can be traced to the beginning of Classical Antiquity. Among the early Greeks, the sceptre was a staff, such as Agamemnon wielded or was used by respected elders, and came to be used by judges, military leaders, priests. It is represented on painted vases as a staff tipped with a metal ornament. When the sceptre is borne by Zeus or Hades, it is headed by a bird, when, in the Iliad, Agamemnon sends Odysseus to the leaders of the Achaeans, he lends him his sceptre. Among the Etruscans, sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings, many representations of such sceptres occur on the walls of the painted tombs of Etruria. The British Museum, the Vatican, and the Louvre possess Etruscan sceptres of gold, the Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the Republic, a sceptre was a mark of consular rank. It was also used by generals who received the title of imperator. In the First Persian Empire, the Biblical Book of Esther mentions the sceptre of the King of Persia. Esther 5,2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, so Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter. Under the Roman Empire, the sceptrum Augusti was specially used by the emperors, the codes of the right and the cruel sceptre are found in the ancient Tamil work of Tirukkural, dating back to between the first and the third centuries BCE. With the advent of Christianity, the sceptre was tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle
29.
Aristophanes
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Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete and these, together with fragments of some of his other plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, and are used to define it. Also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy and his second play, The Babylonians, was denounced by the demagogue Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. In my opinion, he says through the Chorus in that play, less is known about Aristophanes than about his plays. In fact, his plays are the source of information about him. It was conventional in Old Comedy for the Chorus to speak on behalf of the author during a called the parabasis. However, these facts relate almost entirely to his career as a dramatist, Aristophanes claimed to be writing for a clever and discerning audience, yet he also declared that other times would judge the audience according to its reception of his plays. He sometimes boasts of his originality as a dramatist yet his plays consistently espouse opposition to new influences in Athenian society. He caricatured leading figures in the arts, in politics, such caricatures seem to imply that Aristophanes was an old-fashioned conservative, yet that view of him leads to contradictions. It has been argued that Aristophanes produced plays mainly to entertain the audience, an elaborate series of lotteries, designed to prevent prejudice and corruption, reduced the voting judges at the City Dionysia to just five in number. These judges probably reflected the mood of the audiences yet there is uncertainty about the composition of those audiences. The theatres were certainly huge, with seating for at least 10000 at the Theatre of Dionysus, the conservative views expressed in the plays might therefore reflect the attitudes of the dominant group in an unrepresentative audience. The production process might also have influenced the views expressed in the plays, throughout most of Aristophanes career, the Chorus was essential to a plays success and it was recruited and funded by a choregus, a wealthy citizen appointed to the task by one of the archons. Thus the political conservatism of the plays may reflect the views of the wealthiest section of Athenian society, when Aristophanes first play The Banqueters was produced, Athens was an ambitious, imperial power and the Peloponnesian War was only in its fourth year. His plays often express pride in the achievement of the older generation yet they are not jingoistic, the plays are particularly scathing in criticism of war profiteers, among whom populists such as Cleon figure prominently. However it is whether he led or merely responded to changes in audience expectations. Aristophanes won second prize at the City Dionysia in 427 BC with his first play The Banqueters and he won first prize there with his next play, The Babylonians. Some influential citizens, notably Cleon, reviled the play as slander against the polis, Cleon also seems to have had no real power to limit or control Aristophanes, the caricatures of him continued up to and even beyond his death
30.
Pausanias (geographer)
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Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities of Campania. He was one of the first to write of seeing the ruins of Troy, Alexandria Troas, Pausanias Description of Greece is in ten books, each dedicated to some portion of Greece. He begins his tour in Attica, where the city of Athens, subsequent books describe Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boetia, Phocis and Ozolian Locris. He famously leaves out key portions of Greece such as Crete, the project is more than topographical, it is a cultural geography. Pausanias digresses from description of architectural and artistic objects to review the mythological and historical underpinnings of the society that produced them and his work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece. He is not a naturalist by any means, though he does from time to comment on the physical realities of the Greek landscape. He notices the pine trees on the sandy coast of Elis, the deer and the boars in the oak woods of Phelloe. Pausanias is most at home in describing the art and architecture of Olympia. Yet, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of depictions of gods, holy relics, Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary. Some magnificent and dominating structures, such as the Stoa of King Attalus in the Athenian Agora or the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia are not even mentioned. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he criticizes the myths. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned and they bear the impression of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly frank in his confessions of ignorance, when he quotes a book at second hand he takes pains to say so
31.
Moirai
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In Greek mythology, the Moirai or Moerae /ˈmɪrˌiː/ or /ˈmiːˌriː/, often known in English as the Fates, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny, their Roman equivalent was the Parcae. Their number became fixed at three, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos and they controlled the mother thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, in the Homeric poems Moira or Aisa, is related with the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In the Theogony of Hesiod, the three Moirai are personified, daughters of Nyx and are acting over the gods, later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. In Platos Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke and it seems that Moira is related with Tekmor and with Ananke, who were primeval goddesses in mythical cosmogonies. The ancient Greek writers might call this power Moira or Ananke, the concept of a universal principle of natural order has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures like the Vedic Rta, the Avestan Asha and the Egyptian Maat. In earliest Greek philosophy, the cosmogony of Anaximander is based on these mythical beliefs, the goddess Dike, keeps the order and sets a limit to any actions. Moira may mean portion or share in the distribution of booty, portion in life, lot, destiny, death, portion of the distributed land. The word is used for something which is meet and right It seems that originally the word moira did not indicate destiny but included ascertainment or proof. The word daemon, which was an agent related to unexpected events, the word dike, justice, conveyed the notion that someone should stay within his own specified boundaries, respecting the ones of his neighbour. If someone broke his boundaries, thus getting more than his ordained part, in modern Greek the word came to mean destiny. Kismet, the course of events in the Muslim traditions, seems to have a similar etymology and function, Arabic qismat lot qasama, to divide. As a loanword, qesmat fate appears in Persian, whence in Urdu language, when they were three, the three Moirai were, Clotho spun the thread of life from her Distaff onto her Spindle. Her Roman equivalent was Nona, who was originally a goddess called upon in the month of pregnancy. Lachesis measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod, Atropos was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each death, and when their time was come. In the Republic of Plato, the three Moirai sing in unison with the music of the Seirenes, Lachesis sings the things that were, Clotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be. Pindar in his Hymn to the Fates, holds them in high honour, send us rose-bossomed Lawfulness, and her sisters on glittering thrones, Right and crowned Peace, and make this city forget the misfortunes which lie heavily on her heart
32.
Alcamenes
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Alcamenes was an ancient Greek sculptor of Lemnos and Athens, who flourished in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC. He was a contemporary of Phidias and noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus. Pausanias says that he was the author of one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, pausanias also refers to a statue of Ares by Alcamenes that was erected on the Athenian agora, which some have related to the Ares Borghese. At Pergamum there was discovered in 1903 a Hellenistic copy of the head of the Hermes Propylaeus of Alcamenes and it is safer to judge him by the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, in which he must almost certainly have taken a share under the direction of Phidias. Translated by Jones, W. H. S. Aaron J. Atsma
33.
Mulled wine
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Mulled wine is a beverage of European origins usually made with red wine along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins. It is served hot or warm and is alcoholic, although there are versions of mulled wine. It is a drink during winter, especially around Christmas. Wine was first recorded as spiced and heated in Rome during the 2nd century, the Romans travelled across Europe, conquering much of it and trading with the rest. The legions brought wine and viticulture with them up to the Rhine and Danube rivers and to the Scottish border and this is mixed with red wine and sugar. Mulled wine is popular and traditional in the United Kingdom at Christmas. Mulled cider is served, with a mulled apple juice as a non-alcoholic alternative. Over the years the recipe for mulled wine has evolved with the tastes, one Victorian example of this is Smoking Bishop, mentioned by Charles Dickens but no longer drunk or known in contemporary culture. It is commonly a combination of orange, lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg, fennel seed, cloves, cardamom, the spices may be combined and boiled in a sugar syrup before red wine is added, heated, and served. Variations include adding brandy or ginger wine, a tea bag of spices can be added to the wine, which is heated along with slices of orange as a convenient alternative to a full recipe. Mulled wine is served in small porcelain or glass mugs
34.
Myrtus communis
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Myrtus communis, the common myrtle, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It is a shrub native to southern Europe, north Africa, western Asia, Macaronesia, and the Indian Subcontinent. It is one of the Four Species used by Jews in their religious rituals on the festival of Sukkot, the plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to 5 metres tall. The leaves are 2–5 centimetres long, with a fragrant essential oil, the flowers are white or tinged with pink, with five petals and many stamens that protrude from the flower. The fruit is a berry, blue-black when ripe
35.
Wreath
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For the wreath used in heraldry, see torse. A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, in English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, mainly as an Advent and Christmas decoration. They are also used in events in many cultures around the globe. Wreaths have much history and symbolism associated with them and they are usually made from evergreens and symbolize strength, as evergreens last even throughout the harshest winters. Bay laurel may also be used, and these wreaths are known as laurel wreath, the word wreath comes from Middle English wrethe and from Old English writha, band. Wreaths were a used in ancient times in southern Europe. The most well-known are pieces of Etruscan civilization jewelry, made of gold or other precious metals, symbols from Greek myths often appear in the designs, embossed in precious metal at the ends of the wreath. Ancient Roman writers referred to Etruscan corona sutilis, which were wreaths with their leaves sewn onto a background and these wreaths resemble a diadem, with thin metal leaves being attached to an ornamental band. Wreaths also appear stamped into Etruscan medallions, the plants shown making the wreaths in Etruscan jewelry include ivy, oak, olive leaves, myrtle, laurel, wheat and vines. Wreaths were worn as crowns by Etruscan rulers, the Etruscan symbolism continued to be used in Ancient Greece and Rome. Roman magistrates also wore golden wreaths as crowns, as a testament to their lineage back to Romes early Etruscan rulers. Roman magistrates also used several other prominent Etruscan symbols in addition to a golden crown, fasces, a curule chair, a purple toga. In the Greco-Roman world, wreaths were used as an adornment that could represent a person’s occupation, rank, their achievements, the wreath that was commonly used was the laurel wreath. The use of this comes from the Greek myth involving Apollo, Zeus’ son and the god of life and light. When he pursued her she fled and asked the river god Peneus to help her, Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. From that day, Apollo wore a wreath of laurel on his head, Laurel wreaths were used to crown victorious athletes at the original Olympic Games and are still worn in Italy by university students who just graduated. Other types of plants used to make wreath crowns also had symbolic meaning, for example, oak leaves symbolized wisdom, and were associated with Zeus, who according to Greek mythology made his decisions while resting in an oak grove. The Twelve Tables, dating to 450 BC, refer to funeral wreaths as a long-standing tradition, olive wreath was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games
36.
Frankincense
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The English word is derived from Old French franc encens. There are four species of Boswellia that produce true frankincense. Resin from each of the four is available in various grades, the grades depend on the time of harvesting, the resin is hand-sorted for quality. Frankincense is tapped from the scraggy but hardy trees by slashing the bark, which is called striping and these hardened resins are called tears. There are several species and varieties of trees, each producing a slightly different type of resin. Differences in soil and climate create even more diversity of the resin, Boswellia sacra trees are considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that they sometimes grow out of solid rock. The initial means of attachment to the rock is unknown, but is accomplished by a bulbous swelling of the trunk. This growth prevents it from being ripped from the rock during violent storms and this feature is slight or absent in trees grown in rocky soil or gravel. The trees start producing resin when they are eight to 10 years old. Tapping is done two to three times a year with the final taps producing the best tears due to their higher aromatic terpene, sesquiterpene and diterpene content, generally speaking, the more opaque resins are the best quality. Fine resin is produced in Somalia, from which the Roman Catholic Church purchases most of its stock, recent studies have indicated that frankincense tree populations are declining, partly due to over-exploitation. Heavily tapped trees produce seeds that germinate at only 16% while seeds of trees that had not been tapped germinate at more than 80%, in addition, burning, grazing, and attacks by the longhorn beetle have reduced the tree population. Conversion of frankincense woodlands to agriculture is also a major threat, Frankincense has been traded on the Arabian Peninsula, in North Africa, and Somalia for more than 5000 years. A mural depicting sacks of frankincense traded from the Land of Punt adorns the walls of the temple of ancient Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut, who died circa 1458 BC. Frankincense was one of the consecrated incenses described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud used in Ketoret ceremonies and it was offered on a specialized incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Temples. It is mentioned in the Book of Exodus 30,34 and it was one of the ingredients in the perfume of the sanctuary, and was used as an accompaniment of the meal-offering. It was also mentioned as a commodity in trade from Sheba, when burnt it emitted a fragrant odor, and the incense was a symbol of the Divine name and an emblem of prayer. It was often associated with myrrh, a specially pure kind, lebhonah zakkah, was presented with the showbread
37.
Convolvulus
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Convolvulus /kənˈvɒlvjuːləs/ is a genus of about 200 to 250 species of flowering plants in the bindweed family Convolvulaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include bindweed and morning glory, both shared with other closely related genera. They are annual or perennial herbaceous vines, bines and woody shrubs, the leaves are spirally arranged, and the flowers trumpet-shaped, mostly white or pink, but blue, violet, purple or yellow in some species. Many of the species are invasive weeds, but others are cultivated for their attractive flowers. Chicago, F. E. Compton and Co
38.
Epistle
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An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum, the letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles. Those traditionally attributed to Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic epistles, the ancient Egyptians wrote epistles, most often for pedagogical reasons. Egyptologist Edward Wente speculates that the Fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi—in his many letters sent to his viziers—was a pioneer in the epistolary genre. Its existence is attested during the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. A standardized formulae for epistolary compositions existed by the time of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, the epistolary formulae used in the Ramesside Period found its roots in the letters composed during the Amarna Period of the Twentieth Dynasty. Epistle letters were written to the dead, and, by the Ramesside Period, to the gods. Epistles in prose and verse were a genre of literature among the Greeks. The letters of Cicero are one of the most important sources on the history of the late Roman Republic, the letters of Pliny the Younger likewise are studied as both examples of Latin prose with self-conscious literary qualities and sources for historical information. The epistles of Seneca, with their moral or philosophical ruminations, Epistles are written in strict accordance to formalized, Hellenistic tradition, especially the Pauline epistles. This reflects the amount of Hellenistic influence upon the epistle writers, any deviancy is not the result of accident but indicates an unusual motive of the writer. In contrast to letters, epistles usually named the author at the very beginning. The scribe who wrote down the letter may be named at the end of the episte, in the absence of a postal system, the courier may also be named. After the names of the author and recipient, Pauline epistles often open with the greeting, Grace was a common Hellenistic greeting, while peace was the common Jewish greeting, this reflected Pauls dual identity in Jewish faith and Hellenistic culture. There may also be a word of thanks to the audience, in secular letters, a prayer or wish for health followed. The body begins with a brief statement introducing the main topic of the entire body and they are generally considered to form part of the basis of Christian tradition. In the Roman Catholic Mass and Anglican Eucharist, epistles are read between the Collect and the Gospel reading, the corresponding Gregorian chants have a special tone. When the epistle is sung or chanted at Solemn Mass it is done so by the subdeacon, Epistles are also read by an Elder or Bishop in the Lutheran Divine Service, between the gradual and the Gospel
39.
Agdistis
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Agdistis was a deity of Greek, Roman and Anatolian mythology, possessing both male and female sexual organs, connected with the Phrygian worship of Attis and Cybele. Her androgyny was seen as symbolic of a wild and uncontrollable nature and it was this trait which was threatening to the gods and ultimately led to her destruction. According to Pausanias, on one occasion Zeus unwittingly begot by the Earth a superhuman being which was at man and woman. In other versions, there was a rock, called Agdo, Zeus impregnated the Great Mother, which brought forth Agdistis. The gods were afraid of the multi-gendered Agdistis, one deity put a sleeping draught in Agdistiss drinking well. After the potion had put Agdistis to sleep, Dionysus tied Agdistiss foot to his own male genitalia with a strong rope, when Agdistis awoke and stood, Agdistis ripped his penis off, castrating himself. The blood from his severed genitals fertilized the earth, and from that spot grew an almond tree. Once when Nana, daughter of the river-god Sangarius, was gathering the fruit of tree, she put some almonds into her bosom, but here the almonds disappeared. In some versions, Attis was born out of the almond. Attis was of extraordinary beauty that when he had grown up Agdistis fell in love with him. His relatives, however, destined him to become the husband of the daughter of the king of Pessinus, in some versions, the king betroths Attis to his daughter to punish Attis for his incestuous relationship with his mother. Agdistis now repented her deed, and obtained from Zeus the promise that the body of Attis should not become decomposed or disappear and this is the most popular account of an otherwise mysterious affair, which is probably part of a symbolical worship of the creative powers of nature. A hill of the name of Agdistis in Phrygia, at the foot of which Attis was believed to be buried, is mentioned by Pausanias. A story somewhat different is given by Arnobius, in which Attis is beloved by both Agdistis and Cybele, according to Hesychius and Strabo, Agdistis is the same as Cybele, who was worshiped at Pessinus under that name. In many ancient inscriptions, Agdistis is clearly distinct from Cybele, although primarily an Anatolian goddess, the cult of Agdistis covered a good deal of territory. By 250 BC it had spread to Egypt, and later to Attica, notably it could be found in Piraeus as early as the 3rd or 4th century BC, Rhamnus around 80 BC, inscriptions honoring her have been found at Mithymna and Paros. In the 1st century BC, her shrine in Philadelphia in Asia Minor required a code of behavior. At that location and others she is found with theoi soteres, inscriptions found at Sardis from the 4th century BC indicate that priests of Zeus were not permitted to take part in the mysteries of Agdistis
40.
Ancient history of Cyprus
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The recorded history of Cyprus extends to the 8th century BC. The local town of Kition, now Larnaka, recorded part of the ancient history of Cyprus on a stele that commemorated a victory by Sargon II of Assyria there in 709 BCE. Following a brief period of Egyptian domination in the sixth century BCE, Alexanders conquests only served to accelerate an already clear drift towards Hellenisation in Cyprus. During this period, Phoenician and native Cypriot traits disappeared, together with the old Cypriot syllabic script, the kingdom of Kourion in Cyprus is recorded on an inscription dating to the period of the Pharaoh Ramses III in Egypt. Another early written source of Cypriot history mentions the nation under Assyrian rule, the land of Ia is assumed to be the Assyrian name for Cyprus, and some scholars suggest that the latter may mean the islands of the Danaans, or Greece. There are other inscriptions referring to the land of Ia in Sargons palace at Khorsabad, later inscriptions add Marion, Lapithos and Kerynia. Cyprus gained independence after 627 BCE following the death of Ashurbanipal, cemeteries from this period are chiefly rock-cut tombs. They have been found, among other locations, at Tamassos, Soloi, Patriki, the rock-cut Royal tombs at Tamassos, built in about 600 BCE, imitate wooden houses. Some graves contain the remains of horses and chariots, the main deity of ancient Cyprus was the Great Goddess, the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, and Phoenician Astarte, later known by the Greek name Aphrodite. She was called the Cypriote by Homer, paphian inscriptions call her the Queen. Pictures of Aphrodite appear on the coins of Salamis as well, in addition, the King of Paphos was the High Priest of Aphrodite. Other Gods venerated include the Phoenician Anat, Baal, Eshmun, Reshef, Mikal and Melkart, animal sacrifices are attested to on terracotta-votives. The Sanctuary of Ayia Irini contained over 2,000 figurines, in 570 BCE, Cyprus was conquered by Egypt under Amasis II. This brief period of Egyptian domination left its influence mainly in the arts, especially sculpture, where the rigidity, Cypriot artists later discarded this Egyptian style in favour of Greek prototypes. Statues in stone often show a mixture of Egyptian and Greek influence, in particular, ceramics recovered on Cyprus show influence from ancient Crete. Men often wore Egyptian wigs and Assyrian-style beards, armour and dress showed western Asiatic elements as well. In 526 BCE, the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered Cyprus, under the Persians, the Kings of Cyprus retained their independence but had to pay tribute to their overlord. The city-kingdoms began to strike their own coins in the late-sixth century BCE, coins minted by the kings were required to have the overlords portrait on them
41.
Aphrodite of the Gardens
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Aphrodite of the Gardens is an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. The epithet describes her patronage over vegetation and garden fertility, according to Pausanias, there was a sanctuary of Aphrodite ἐν κήποις at the Acropolis of Athens. It was said to have held a statue of Aphrodite by Alcamenes. It is unsure whether the statue of Aphrodite and the herm of Aphrodite were the sculpture or two separate sculptures. The herm of Aphrodite may be linked to the mythological character. Aphrodite in the Gardens at Perseus Project Ancient texts pertaining to Aphrodite of the Gardens
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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International Standard Serial Number
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An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
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Freese, John Henry (1911). "Aphrodite". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 166.
Freese, John Henry (1911). "
The dictionary definition of Aphroditus at Wiktionary