1.
Demigod
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The term demigod or demi-god can refer to a minor deity, a mortal or immortal who is the offspring of a god and a human being, or a figure who has attained divine status after death. The English term demigod is a calque of the Latin semideus, half-god, in the ancient Greek and Roman world, the word did not have a consistent definition and was rarely used. The earliest recorded use of the term is by the archaic Greek poets Homer, both describe dead heroes as hemitheoi, or half gods. In these cases, the word did not mean that these figures had one parent who was divine and one who was mortal. Instead, those who demonstrated strength, power, good family, and good behavior were termed heroes, and after death they could be called hemitheoi, pindar also used the term frequently as a synonym for hero. According to the Roman author Cassius Dio, Julius Caesar was declared a demigod by the Roman Senate after his victory at Thapsus. However, Dio was writing in the third century — centuries after the death of Caesar —, the first Roman to employ the term demigod may have been the poet Ovid, who used the Latin semideus several times in reference to minor deities. The poet Lucan also uses the term to speak of Pompey attaining divinity upon his death, the term demigod first appeared in English in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, when it was used to render the Greek and Roman concepts of semideus and daemon. Since then, it has frequently been applied figuratively to people of extraordinary ability, john Milton states in Paradise Lost that angels are demigods. Demigods are important figures in Rick Riordans Percy Jackson books, where many of the characters, in Riordans work, a demigod is defined as an individual born of one human and one divine parent. In Hinduism, the term demigod is used to refer to deities who were once human, there are three very notable demigods in Vedic Scriptures, Hanuman, Nandi, and Garuda. Examples of demigods worshiped in South India are Madurai Veeran and Karuppu Sami, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the five Pandava brothers, fit the Western definition of demigods though they are generally not referred to as such. Queen Kunti, the wife of King Pandu, was given a mantra that, when her husband was cursed to die if he ever engaged in sexual relations, Kunti used this mantra to provide her husband with children fathered by various deities. These children were Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna and she taught this mantra to Madri, King Pandus other wife, and she immaculately conceived twin boys named Nakula and Sahadeva. Queen Kunti had previously conceived another son, Karna, when she had tested the mantra out, despite her protests, Surya the sun god was compelled by the mantra to impregnate her. Bhishma is another figures who fits the definition of demigod, as he was the son of king Shantanu. The Vaishnavites cite various verses that speak of the subordinate status. For example, the Rig Veda reads, oṃ tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ, thus the Devas are stated to be subordinate to Vishnu, or God
2.
Greek mythology
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It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
3.
Roman mythology
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Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Romes legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. Roman mythology may also refer to the study of these representations. The Romans usually treated their traditional narratives as historical, even when these have miraculous or supernatural elements, the stories are often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individuals personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are concerned with ritual, augury. Romes early myths and legends also have a relationship with Etruscan religion. In particular, the versions of Greek myths in Ovids Metamorphoses, written during the reign of Augustus, because ritual played the central role in Roman religion that myth did for the Greeks, it is sometimes doubted that the Romans had much of a native mythology. This perception is a product of Romanticism and the scholarship of the 19th century. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, however, Roman myths were an inspiration particularly for European painting, the Roman tradition is rich in historical myths, or legends, concerning the foundation and rise of the city. These narratives focus on human actors, with only occasional intervention from deities, in Romes earliest period, history and myth have a mutual and complementary relationship. As T. P. Wiseman notes, The Roman stories still matter, as they mattered to Dante in 1300 and Shakespeare in 1600, what does it take to be a free citizen. Can a superpower still be a republic, how does well-meaning authority turn into murderous tyranny. Major sources for Roman myth include the Aeneid of Vergil and the first few books of Livys history as well as Dionysius s Roman Antiquities. Other important sources are the Fasti of Ovid, a six-book poem structured by the Roman religious calendar, scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall painting, coins, and sculpture, particularly reliefs. The Aeneid and Livys early history are the best extant sources for Romes founding myths, material from Greek heroic legend was grafted onto this native stock at an early date. By extension, the Trojans were adopted as the ancestors of the Roman people. Rape of the Sabine women, explaining the importance of the Sabines in the formation of Roman culture, numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome who consorted with the nymph Egeria and established many of Romes legal and religious institutions. Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, whose mysterious origins were freely mythologized. The Tarpeian Rock, and why it was used for the execution of traitors, lucretia, whose self-sacrifice prompted the overthrow of the early Roman monarchy and led to the establishment of the Republic
4.
Leda (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Leda was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of king Tyndareus of Sparta. Her myth gave rise to the motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda. She was the mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and Castor, Leda was admired by Zeus, who seduced her in the guise of a swan. As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle and their consummation, on the same night as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus, resulted in two eggs from which hatched Helen, Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux. Which children are the progeny of Tyndareus the mortal king, the split is almost always half mortal, half divine, although the pairings do not always reflect the childrens heritage pairings. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine, one consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. It is also stated that Helen is the daughter of Zeus. Leda also had daughters by Tyndareus, Timandra, Phoebe. In Homers Iliad, Helen looks down from the walls of Troy, the narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in the Homeric tradition, both were mortal. Another account of the states that Nemesis was the mother of Helen. A shepherd found the egg and gave it to Leda, who kept it in a chest until the egg hatched. When the egg hatched, Leda adopted Helen as her daughter, Zeus also commemorated the birth of Helen by creating the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, in the sky. Leda and the swan and Leda and the egg were popular subjects in ancient art, in the post-classical arts, it became a potent source of inspiration. It is the subject of William Butler Yeats poem Leda and the Swan, march, J. Cassells Dictionary Of Classical Mythology. Peck, H. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, media related to Leda at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
5.
Tyndareus
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Tyndareus had a brother named Hippocoon, who seized power and exiled Tyndareus. He was reinstated by Heracles, who killed Hippocoon and his sons, tyndareus’ other brother was Icarius, the father of Penelope. Tyndareus’ wife Leda was seduced by Zeus, who disguised himself as a swan and she laid two eggs, each producing two children. When Thyestes seized control in Mycenae, two exiled princes, Agamemnon and Menelaus came to Sparta, where they were received as guests, the princes eventually married Tyndareus daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen respectively. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, and when it was time for her to marry, many Greek kings, among the contenders were Odysseus, Ajax the Great, Diomedes, Idomeneus, and both Menelaus and Agamemnon. All but Odysseus brought many and rich gifts with them, Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Penelope. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married, eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favour of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king. Some years later, Paris, a Trojan prince came to Sparta to marry Helen, Menelaus attempted to retrieve Helen by calling on all her former suitors to fulfil their oaths, leading to the Trojan War
6.
Zeus
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Zeus /ˈzjuːs/ is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter and his mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, in most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses. He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe That Zeus is king in heaven is a common to all men. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak, in addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical cloud-gatherer also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses, standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his right hand. The gods name in the nominative is Ζεύς Zeús and it is inflected as follows, vocative, Ζεῦ Zeû, accusative, Δία Día, genitive, Διός Diós, dative, Διί Dií. Diogenes Laertius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς, Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr. The god is known under this name in the Rigveda, Latin, Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek
7.
Helen of Troy
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In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, or simply Helen, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was a sister of Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In Greek myths, she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world, by marriage she was Queen of Laconia, a province within Homeric Greece, the wife of King Menelaus. Her abduction by Prince Paris of Troy brought about the Trojan War, elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides and Homer. In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus, a competition between her suitors for her hand in marriage sees Menelaus emerge victorious. An oath sworn beforehand by all the suitors requires them to military assistance in the case of her abduction. When she marries Menelaus she is very young, whether her subsequent involvement with Paris is an abduction or a seduction is ambiguous. The legends recounting Helens fate in Troy are contradictory, Homer depicts her as a wistful figure, even a sorrowful one, who comes to regret her choice and wishes to be reunited with Menelaus. Other accounts have a treacherous Helen who simulates Bacchic rites and rejoices in the carnage, ultimately, Paris was killed in action, and in Homers account Helen was reunited with Menelaus, though other versions of the legend recount her ascending to Olympus instead. A cult associated with her developed in Hellenistic Laconia, both at Sparta and elsewhere, at Therapne she shared a shrine with Menelaus and she was also worshiped in Attica and on Rhodes. Her beauty inspired artists of all time to represent her, frequently as the personification of ideal beauty, Christopher Marlowes lines from his tragedy Doctor Faustus are frequently cited, Was this the face that launchd a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium. However, in the play this meeting and the ensuing temptation are not unambiguously positive, closely preceding death, images of her start appearing in the 7th century BC. In classical Greece, her abduction by—or elopement with—Paris was a popular motif, in medieval illustrations, this event was frequently portrayed as a seduction, whereas in Renaissance painting it is usually depicted as a rape by Paris. The fact that rape and kidnapping were interchangeable terms lends additional ambiguity to the story, the etymology of Helens name continues to be a problem for scholars. Georg Curtius related Helen to the moon, Émile Boisacq considered Ἑλένη to derive from the noun ἑλένη meaning torch. It has also suggested that the λ of Ἑλένη arose from an original ν. Linda Lee Clader, however, says none of the above suggestions offers much satisfaction. Inversely, others have connected this etymology to a hypothetical proto-indo-european sun goddess, in particular, her marriage myth may be connected to a broader indo-european marriage drama of the sun goddess, and she is related to the divine twins, just as many of these goddesses are. The origins of Helens myth date back to the Mycenaean age, the first record of her name appears in the poems of Homer, but scholars assume that such myths invented or received by the Mycenaean Greeks made their way to Homer
8.
Clytemnestra
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Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon and queen of Mycenae in ancient Greek legend. Her Greek name Klytaimnḗstra is also sometimes latinized as Clytaemnestra and it is commonly glossed as famed for her suitors. However, this form is a later misreading motivated by an erroneous etymological connection to the verb mnáomai, the original name form is believed to have been Klytaimḗstra without the -n-. The present form of the name does not appear before the middle Byzantine period, Aeschylus, in certain wordplays on her name, appears to assume an etymological link with the verb mḗdomai. Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, the King, according to the myth, Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, seducing and impregnating her. Leda produced four offspring from two eggs, Castor and Clytemnestra from one egg, and Helen and Polydeuces from the other, therefore, Castor and Clytemnestra were fathered by Tyndareus, whereas Helen and Polydeuces were fathered by Zeus. Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were in exile at the home of Tyndareus, in due time Agamemnon married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Helen. In a late variation, Euripidess Iphigenia at Aulis, Clytemnestras first husband was Tantalus, King of Pisa, Agamemnon kills him and his infant son, in another version, her first husband was King of Lydia. The kings of Lydia, according to Plutarchs The Greek Questions,45, having succeeded Omphale who had received from Herakles Hippolytes axe, after Helen went from Sparta to Troy, her husband, Menelaus, asked his brother Agamemnon for help. However, consistently weak winds prevented the fleet from sailing, through a subplot involving the gods and omens, the priest Calchas said the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Agamemnon persuaded Clytemnestra to send Iphigenia to him, telling her he was going to marry her to Achilles, when Iphigenia arrived at Aulis, she was sacrificed, the winds turned, and the troops set sail for Troy. The Trojan War lasted ten years, during this period of Agamemnons long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair with Aegisthus, her husbands cousin. Whether Clytemnestra was seduced into the affair or entered into it independently differs according to the author of the myth. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus began plotting Agamemnons demise, Clytemnestra was enraged by Iphigenias murder. Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnons father Atreus, in old versions of the story, on returning from Troy, Agamemnon is murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra helps him or does the killing herself in his own home, Clytemnestra waited until he was in the bath, and then entangled him in a cloth net and stabbed him. Trapped in the web, Agamemnon could neither escape nor resist his murderer, meanwhile, Cassandra saw a vision of herself and Agamemnon being murdered. Her attempts to elicit help failed and she realized she was fated to die, and resolutely walked into the palace to receive her death
9.
Gemini (constellation)
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Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century AD astronomer Ptolemy and its name is Latin for twins, and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. Gemini lies between Taurus to the west and Cancer to the east, with Auriga and Lynx to the north and Monoceros, the Sun resides in the astrological sign of Gemini from June 20 to July 20 each year. By mid August, Gemini will appear along the horizon in the morning sky prior to sunrise. The best time to observe Gemini at night is overhead during the months of January and February, by April and May, the constellation will be visible soon after sunset in the west. The easiest way to locate the constellation is to find its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux eastward from the familiar “V” shaped asterism of Taurus and the three stars of Orion’s belt. Another way is to draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus. In doing so, you are drawing a line that is relatively close to the ecliptic. The constellation contains 85 stars visible to observation on Earth without a telescope, the brightest star in Gemini is Pollux, and the second brightest is Castor. Castors Bayer designation as Alpha is attributable to a mistake by Johann Bayer, α Gem is a sextuple star system 52 light-years from Earth, which appears as a magnitude 1.6 blue-white star to the unaided eye. Two spectroscopic binaries are visible at magnitudes 1.9 and 3.0 with a period of 470 years. A wide-set red dwarf star is also a part of the system, β Gem is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 1.2,34 light-years from Earth. Pollux has an extrasolar planet revolving around it, as do two other stars in Gemini, HD50554, and HD59686, γ Gem is a blue-white hued star of magnitude 1.9,105 light-years from earth. δ Gem is a binary star 59 light-years from Earth. The primary is a star of magnitude 3.5. The period is over 1000 years, it is divisible in amateur telescopes. ε Gem, a star, includes a primary yellow supergiant of magnitude 3.1,900 light-years from Earth. The optical companion, of magnitude 9.2, is visible in binoculars and small telescopes
10.
St. Elmo's fire
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St. Elmos fire is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge from a sharp or pointed object in a strong electric field in the atmosphere. St. Elmos fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formia, the phenomenon sometimes appeared on ships at sea during thunderstorms and was regarded by sailors with religious awe for its glowing ball of light, accounting for the name. Sailors may have considered St. Elmos fire as a good omen, St. St. Elmos fire can also appear on leaves and grass, and even at the tips of cattle horns. Often accompanying the glow is a distinct hissing or buzzing sound and it is sometimes confused with ball lightning. In 1751, Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that an iron rod would light up at the tip during a lightning storm. St. Elmos fire is a form of plasma, the electric field around the object in question causes ionization of the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Conditions that can generate St. Elmos fire are present during thunderstorms, a local electric field of approximately 100 kV/m is required to induce a discharge in air. The magnitude of the field depends greatly on the geometry of the object. Sharp points lower the necessary voltage because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, the nitrogen and oxygen in the Earths atmosphere cause St. Elmos fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light, this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon lights to glow. In ancient Greece, the appearance of a one was called Helene, literally meaning torch. Welsh mariners knew it as canwyll yr ysbryd or canwyll yr ysbryd glân, references to St. Elmos fire can be found in the works of Julius Caesar, Pliny the Elder, Alcaeus frag. 34, and Antonio Pigafettas journal of his voyage with Ferdinand Magellan, St. Elmos fire, also known as corposants or corpusants from the Portuguese corpo santo, was a phenomenon described in The Lusiads. This refers to the voyage made by Mikołaj Krzysztof the Orphan Radziwiłł in 1582–1584, as, thanked be God, we had better weather after it. Elmos fire with perhaps some ball lightning and even a direct lightning strike to the ship thrown into the mix, Saint Elmos fire appeared as static discharges on roof peaks, fence posts, and the hats and fingers of people. Thunderstorms prevailed over central New England, charles Darwin noted the effect while aboard the Beagle. It reportedly was seen emitting from the top of the Hippodrome, the Byzantines attributed it to a sign that the Christian God would soon come and destroy the conquering Muslim army. According to George Sphrantzes, it disappeared just days before Constantinople fell, in Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. describes seeing a corposant in the Horse latitudes of the northern Atlantic Ocean. However, he may have been talking about ball lightning, as mentioned earlier it is often identified as St
11.
Calyx krater
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A krater or crater was a large vase in Ancient Greece, particularly used for watering down wine. At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in the center of the room and they were quite large, so they were not easily portable when filled. Thus, the mixture would be withdrawn from the krater with other vessels. In fact, Homers Odyssey describes a steward drawing wine from a krater at a banquet and then running to, the modern Greek word now used for undiluted wine, krasi, originates from the krasis of wine and water in kraters. Kraters were glazed on the interior to make the surface of the clay more impervious for holding water, at the beginning of each symposium a symposiarch, or lord of the common drink, was elected by the participants. He would then control of the wine servants, and thus of the degree of wine dilution and how it changed during the party. The krater and how it was filled and emptied was thus the centerpiece of the symposiarchs authority, an astute symposiarch should be able to diagnose the degree of inebriation of his fellow symposiasts and make sure that the symposium progressed smoothly and without drunken excess. Drinking ákratos wine was considered a faux pas in ancient Greece, enough to characterize the drinker as a drunkard and someone who lacked restraint. By using dehydrated grapes, and could withstand dilution with water better, such wines would have also withstood time and the vagaries of transportation much better. Nevertheless, the ancient writers offer scant details of ancient vinification methods and this form originated in Corinth in the seventh century BCE but was taken over by the Athenians where it is typically black-figure. They ranged in size from 35 centimetres to 56 centimetres in height and were thrown in three pieces, the body/ shoulder area was one, the base another, and the neck/ lip/ rim a third. These are among the largest of the kraters, supposedly developed by the potter Exekias in black figure though in fact almost always seen in red, the lower body is shaped like the calyx of a flower, and the foot is stepped. The psykter-shaped vase fits inside it so well stylistically that it has suggested that the two might have often been made as a set. It is always made with two robust upturned handles positioned on opposite sides of the body or cul. This type of krater, defined by volute-shaped handles, was invented in Laconia in the early 6th century BC and its production was carried on by Greeks in Apulia until the end of the 4th century BC. This strip would then have been continued downward until the bottom of the handle where the potter would have cut a U-shaped arch in the clay before attaching the handle to the body of the vase and this form looks like an inverted bell. According to most scholars ceramic kraters imitated shapes designed initially for metal vessels, these were common in antiquity, among the largest and most famous metal kraters in antiquity were one in the possession of the Samian tyrant Polycrates, and another one dedicated by Croesus to the Delphic oracle. There are a few extant Archaic bronze kraters, almost exclusively of the volute-type and their main production centres were Sparta, Argos and Corinth, in Peloponnesus
12.
Pileus (hat)
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The pileus was a brimless, felt cap worn in Ancient Greece and surrounding regions, later also introduced in Ancient Rome. The Greek πιλίδιον and Latin pilleolus were smaller versions, similar to a skullcap, the pileus was especially associated with the manumission of slaves, who wore it upon their liberation. It became emblematic of liberty and freedom from bondage, the pileus, is very common in Albania and Kosovo even today. The pilos was a common conical travelling hat in Illyria and Ancient Greece, the pilos is the brimless version of the petasos. It could be made of felt or leather, pilos caps often identify the mythical twins, or Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, as represented in sculptures, bas-reliefs and on ancient ceramics. Their caps were supposedly the remnants of the egg from which they hatched, the pilos appears on votive figurines of boys at the sanctuary of the Cabeiri at Thebes, the Cabeirion. In warfare, the pilos helmet was often worn by the peltast light infantry, in conjunction with the exomis. The pilos helmet was made of bronze in the shape as the pilos which was presumably sometimes worn under the helmet for comfort. The first widespread adoption of the pilos helmet occurred in Sparta towards the end of the 5th century BC, in Ancient Rome, a slave was freed in a ceremony in which a praetor touched the slave with a rod called a vindicta and pronounced him to be free. The slaves head was shaved and a pileus was placed upon it, both the vindicta and the cap were considered symbols of Libertas, the goddess representing liberty. This was a form of extra-legal manumission considered less legally sound than manumission in a court of law, one 19th century dictionary of classical antiquity states that, Among the Romans the cap of felt was the emblem of liberty. When a slave obtained his freedom he had his head shaved, hence the phrase servos ad pileum vocare is a summons to liberty, by which slaves were frequently called upon to take up arms with a promise of liberty. The figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus Pius, struck A. D.145, holds this cap in the right hand. ISBN 1-85532-867-4 Institute of France – Greek Costume Antiquitas – Casque corinthien et pilos A Brief History of Greek Helmets by Jesse Obert – AncientPlanet Online Journal Vol.2,48 –59
13.
Phrygian cap
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The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia and the Balkans. In early modern Europe it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty through a confusion with the pileus, accordingly, the Phrygian cap is sometimes called a liberty cap, in artistic representations it signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty. It is used in the coat of arms of certain Republics or of republican State institutions in the place where otherwise a Crown would be used and it thus came to be identified as a symbol of the republican form of government. A number of national personifications, in particular Frances Marianne, are depicted wearing the Phyrgian cap. By the 4th century BC the Phrygian cap was associated with Phrygian Attis, the consort of Cybele, at around the same time, the cap appears in depictions of the legendary king Midas and other Phrygians in Greek vase-paintings and sculpture. Such images predate the earliest surviving references to the cap. By extension, the Phrygian cap came to be applied to several other non-Greek-speaking peoples as well, other Greek earthenware of antiquity also depict Amazons and so-called Scythian archers with Phrygian caps. Although these are military depictions, the headgear is distinguished from Phrygian helmets by long ear flaps, the headgear also appears in 2nd-century BC Boeotian Tanagra figurines of an effeminate Eros, and in various 1st-century BC statuary of the Commagene, in eastern Anatolia. Greek representations of Thracians also regularly appear with Phrygian caps, most notably Bendis, the Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt, and Orpheus, a legendary Thracian poet and musician. While the Phrygian cap was of wool or soft leather, in times the Greeks had already developed a military helmet that had a similarly characteristic flipped-over tip. These so-called Phrygian helmets were usually of bronze and in prominent use in Thrace, Dacia, Magna Graecia and the rest of the Hellenistic world from the 5th century BC up to Roman times. Due to their similarity, the cap and helmet are often difficult to distinguish in Greek art unless the headgear is identified as a soft flexible cap by long earflaps or a long neck flap. The Greek concept passed to the Romans in its sense, and thus encompassed not only to Phrygians or Trojans. On Trajans Column, which commemorated Trajans epic wars with the Dacians, parthians appear with Phrygian caps in the 2nd-century Arch of Septimius Severus, which commemorates Roman victories over the Parthian Empire. Likewise with Phrygians caps, but for Gauls, appear in 2nd-century friezes built into the 4th century Arch of Constantine, the Phrygian cap reappears in figures related to the first to fourth century religion Mithraism. This astrology-centric Roman mystery cult projected itself with pseudo-Oriental trappings in order to distinguish itself from both traditional Roman religion and from the mystery cults. In the artwork of the cult, the figures of the god Mithras as well as those of his helpers Cautes and Cautopates are routinely depicted with a Phrygian cap. The function of the Phrygian cap in the cult are unknown, early Christian art build on the same Greco-Roman perceptions of Zoroaster and his Magi as experts in the arts of astrology and magic, and routinely depict the three wise men with Phrygian caps
14.
Iliad
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The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Then the epic narrative takes up events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles imminent death and the fall of Troy, although the narrative ends before these events take place. However, as events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly. The Iliad is paired with something of a sequel, the Odyssey, along with the Odyssey, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the 8th century BC. Recent statistical modelling based on language evolution gives a date of 760–710 BC, in the modern vulgate, the Iliad contains 15,693 lines, it is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek and other dialects. Note, Book numbers are in parentheses and come before the synopsis of the book, after an invocation to the Muses, the story launches in medias res towards the end of the Trojan War between the Trojans and the besieging Greeks. Chryses, a Trojan priest of Apollo, offers the Greeks wealth for the return of his daughter Chryseis, held captive of Agamemnon, although most of the Greek army is in favour of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chryses prays for Apollos help, and Apollo causes a plague to afflict the Greek army, after nine days of plague, Achilles, the leader of the Myrmidon contingent, calls an assembly to deal with the problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father, angered, Achilles declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon but will go home. Odysseus takes a ship and returns Chryseis to her father, whereupon Apollo ends the plague, in the meantime, Agamemnons messengers take Briseis away. Achilles becomes very upset, sits by the seashore, and prays to his mother, Achilles asks his mother to ask Zeus to bring the Greeks to the breaking point by the Trojans, so Agamemnon will realize how much the Greeks need Achilles. Thetis does so, and Zeus agrees, Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon heeds the dream but decides to first test the Greek armys morale, the plan backfires, and only the intervention of Odysseus, inspired by Athena, stops a rout. Odysseus confronts and beats Thersites, a soldier who voices discontent about fighting Agamemnons war. After a meal, the Greeks deploy in companies upon the Trojan plain, the poet takes the opportunity to describe the provenance of each Greek contingent. When news of the Greek deployment reaches King Priam, the Trojans too sortie upon the plain, in a list similar to that for the Greeks, the poet describes the Trojans and their allies. The armies approach each other, but before they meet, Paris offers to end the war by fighting a duel with Menelaus, urged by his brother and head of the Trojan army, Hector. While Helen tells Priam about the Greek commanders from the walls of Troy, Paris is beaten, but Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus can kill him
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Epic cycle
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Aside from the Iliad and the Odyssey, the cyclic epics only survive in fragments and summaries from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period. The epics were composed in dactylic hexameter verse, the epic cycle was the distillation in literary form of an oral tradition that had developed during the Greek Dark Age, which was based in part on localised hero cults. The traditional material from which the epics were drawn treats Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age. In modern scholarship the study of the historical and literary relationship between the Homeric epics and the rest of the Cycle is called Neoanalysis, modern scholars do not normally include the Theban Cycle when referring to the Epic Cycle. Herodotus knew of the Cypria and the Epigoni when he wrote his History in mid-5th century BCE and he rejected the Homeric authorship for the former, and questioned it for the latter. As a result, only one tragedy is made out of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but from the Cypria many, the Library attributed to Apollodorus and the 2nd century CE Latin Genealogia attributed to Hyginus also drew on them. Furthermore, there is also the Tabula iliaca inscriptions that cover the same myths, most knowledge of the Cyclic epics comes from a broken summary of them which serves as part of the preface to the famous 10th century CE Iliad manuscript known as Venetus A. This preface is damaged, missing the Cypria, and has to be supplemented by other sources, the summary is in turn an excerpt from a longer work, Chrestomathy, written by a Proclus. This is known from evidence provided by the later scholar Photius, Photius provides sufficient information about Proclus Chrestomathy to demonstrate that the Venetus A excerpt is derived from the same work. Little is known about Proclus, except that he is not the philosopher Proclus Diadochus. The non-Homeric epics are usually regarded as later than the Iliad, there is no reliable evidence for this, however, and some Neoanalyst scholars operate on the premise that the Homeric epics were later than the Cyclic epics and drew on them extensively. Other Neoanalysts make the claim that the Homeric epics draw on legendary material which later crystallized into the Epic Cycle. In antiquity the Homeric epics were considered to be the greatest works in the Cycle, how and when the eight epics of the Cycle came to be combined into a single collection and referred to as a cycle is a matter of ongoing debate. More recent scholars have preferred to push the date slightly earlier, the nature of the relationship between the Cyclic epics and Homer is also bound up in this question. As told by Proclus, the plots of the six non-Homeric epics look very much as though they are designed to integrate with Homer and it is probable that at least some editing or stitching was done to edit epics together. For the last line of the Iliad, ὣς οἵ γ᾽ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο, in this way they performed the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses. An alternative reading is preserved which is designed to directly into the Aethiopis, ὣς οἵ γ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος· ἦλθε δ Ἀμαζών. In this way they performed the funeral of Hector, then the Amazon Penthesileia came, there are contradictions between epics in the Cycle
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Metropolitan Museum of Art
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially the Met, is located in New York City and is the largest art museum in the United States, and is among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the edge of Central Park along Manhattans Museum Mile, is by area one of the worlds largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains a collection of art, architecture. On March 18,2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side, it extends the museums modern, the Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, Indian, and Islamic art. The museum is home to collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day and it opened on February 20,1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, the museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Mets galleries. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Met organizes and hosts traveling shows throughout the year. The director of the museum is Thomas P. Campbell, a long-time curator and it was announced on February 28th,2017 that Campbell will be stepping down as the Mets director and CEO, effective June. On March 1st,2017 the BBC reported that Daniel Weiss shall be the acting CEO until a replacement is found, Beginning in the late 19th century, the Met started to acquire ancient art and artifacts from the Near East. From a few tablets and seals, the Mets collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. The highlights of the include a set of monumental stone lamassu, or guardian figures. The Mets Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museums most popular collections. Among the collections 14,000 objects are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry VIII of England, Henry II of France, Rockefeller donated his more than 3, 000-piece collection to the museum. The Mets Asian department holds a collection of Asian art, of more than 35,000 pieces, the collection dates back almost to the founding of the museum, many of the philanthropists who made the earliest gifts to the museum included Asian art in their collections
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Homer
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Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of Greek literature. The Odyssey focuses on the home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Many accounts of Homers life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a bard from Ionia. The modern scholarly consensus is that these traditions do not have any historical value, the Homeric question - by whom, when, where and under what circumstances were the Iliad and Odyssey composed - continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion on the authorship question falls into two camps, one group holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the work of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the crystallization of a process of working and re-working by many contributors and it is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. Most researchers believe that the poems were transmitted orally. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education, to Plato, the chronological period of Homer depends on the meaning to be assigned to the word Homer. Was Homer a single person, an imaginary person representing a group of poets and this information is often called the world of Homer. The Homeric period would in that cover a number of historical periods, especially the Mycenaean Age. Considered word-for-word, the texts as we know them are the product of the scholars of the last three centuries. Each edition of the Iliad or Odyssey is a different, as the editors rely on different manuscripts and fragments. The term accuracy reveals a belief in an original uniform text. The manuscripts of the work currently available date to no earlier than the 10th century. These are at the end of a missing thousand-year chain of copies made as each generation of manuscripts disintegrated or were lost or destroyed and these numerous manuscripts are so similar that a single original can be postulated. The time gap in the chain is bridged by the scholia, or notes, on the existing manuscripts, librarian of the Library of Alexandria, he had noticed a wide divergence in the works attributed to Homer, and was trying to restore a more authentic copy. He had collected several manuscripts, which he named, the Sinopic, the one he selected for correction was the koine, which Murray translates as the Vulgate. Aristarchus was known for his selection of material
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Odyssey
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The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci. The Odyssey continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into languages around the world. Many scholars believe the poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos, perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance and the conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek. Among the most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, in the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer and it was usually attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta. In one source, the Telegony was said to have stolen from Musaeus by either Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene. The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus protectress, the goddess Athena, requests to Zeus, king of the gods, to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Odysseus enemy, then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality, they observe the suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius theme, the Return from Troy, because it reminds her of her missing husband and that night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena, he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos
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Hesiod
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Hesiod was a Greek poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded as the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as a persona with an active role to play in his subject. Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs, modern scholars refer to him as a major source on Greek mythology, farming techniques, early economic thought, archaic Greek astronomy and ancient time-keeping. The dating of his life is an issue in scholarly circles. Epic narrative allowed poets like Homer no opportunity for personal revelations, however, Hesiods extant work comprises didactic poems in which he went out of his way to let his audience in on a few details of his life. There are three references in Works and Days, as well as some passages in his Theogony that support inferences made by scholars. Some scholars have seen Perses as a creation, a foil for the moralizing that Hesiod develops in Works and Days. Gregory Nagy, on the hand, sees both Persēs and Hēsiodos as fictitious names for poetical personae. The family association with Cyme might explain his familiarity with eastern myths, evident in his poems, however, while his poetry features some Aeolisms there are no words that are certainly Boeotian—he composed in the main literary dialect of the time, Ionian. Pausanias asserted that Boeotians showed him an old tablet made of lead on which the Works were engraved. If he did write or dictate, it was perhaps as an aid to memory or because he lacked confidence in his ability to produce poems extempore and it certainly wasnt in a quest for immortal fame since poets in his era had no such notions. However, some suspect the presence of large-scale changes in the text. Possibly he composed his verses during idle times on the farm and he was in fact a misogynist of the same calibre as the later poet, Semonides. He resembles Solon in his preoccupation with issues of good versus evil and how a just and he resembles Aristophanes in his rejection of the idealised hero of epic literature in favour of an idealised view of the farmer. Yet the fact that he could eulogise kings in Theogony and denounce them as corrupt in Works, two different—yet early—traditions record the site of Hesiods grave. This tradition follows a familiar ironic convention, the oracle that predicts accurately after all, the other tradition, first mentioned in an epigram by Chersias of Orchomenus written in the 7th century BC claims that Hesiod lies buried at Orchomenus, a town in Boeotia. Eventually they came to regard Hesiod too as their hearth-founder, later writers attempted to harmonize these two accounts. Greeks in the fifth and early 4th centuries BC considered their oldest poets to be Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod
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Pindar
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Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved and his poems can also, however, seem difficult and even peculiar. The Athenian comic playwright Eupolis once remarked that they are reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning. His poetry, while admired by critics, still challenges the casual reader, Pindar was the first Greek poet to reflect on the nature of poetry and on the poets role. A dream of a shadow Is our mortal being, but when there comes to men A gleam of splendour given of heaven, Then rests on them a light of glory And blessed are their days. His poetry illustrates the beliefs and values of Archaic Greece at the dawn of the classical period, five ancient sources contain all the recorded details of Pindars life. One of them is a short biography discovered in 1961 on an Egyptian papyrus dating from at least 200 AD and it has been claimed that biographical interpretations of the poems are due to a fatal conjunction of historicism and Romanticism. In other words, we know almost nothing about Pindars life based on traditional sources or his own poems. However, the pendulum of fashion has begun to change direction again. He was probably born in 522 BC or 518 BC in Cynoscephalae and his fathers name is variously given as Daiphantus, Pagondas or Scopelinus, and his mothers name was Cleodice. It is reported that he was stung on the mouth by a bee in his youth, Pindar was about twenty years old in 498 BC when he was commissioned by the ruling family in Thessaly to compose his first victory ode. He studied the art of poetry in Athens, where his tutor was Lasos of Hermione. The early-to-middle years of Pindars career coincided with the Persian invasions of Greece in the reigns of Darius and it is possible that Pindar spent much of this time at Aegina. Thrasybulus had driven the winning chariot and he and Pindar were to form a lasting friendship, Pindar seems to have used his odes to advance his, and his friends, personal interests. In 462 BC he composed two odes in honour of Arcesilas, king of Cyrene, pleading for the return from exile of a friend, Demophilus. In the latter ode Pindar proudly mentions his own ancestry, which he shared with the king, as an Aegeid or descendent of Aegeus, the historian Herodotus considered the clan important enough to deserve mention. Pindar might not actually claim to be an Aegeid since his I statements do not necessarily refer to himself. He was possibly the Theban proxenos or consul for Aegina and/or Molossia, as indicated in another of his odes, Nemean 7, in which he glorifies Neoptolemus, a national hero of Aegina and Molossia
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Hercules
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Hercules is the Roman adaptation of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures, the Romans adapted the Greek heros iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition, Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the Twelve Labours, one traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows, Slay the Nemean Lion. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis, clean the Augean stables in a single day. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. Steal the apples of the Hesperides, Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope, a mild oath invoking Hercules was a common interjection in Classical Latin. Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman, one of these is Hercules defeat of Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus, Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor Commodus. Roman brides wore a belt tied with the knot of Hercules. The comic playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon, during the Roman Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul. Tacitus records a special affinity of the Germanic peoples for Hercules, in chapter 3 of his Germania, Tacitus states. They say that Hercules, too, once visited them, and they have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of this barditus as they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm, some have taken this as Tacitus equating the Germanic Þunraz with Hercules by way of interpretatio romana. In the Roman era Hercules Club amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over the empire, mostly made of gold, a specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears the inscription DEO HER, confirming the association with Hercules
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Theseus
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Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was a hero, considered by Athenians as their own great reformer, his name comes from the same root as θεσμός. The myths surrounding Theseus—his journeys, exploits, and family—have provided material for fiction throughout the ages, Theseus was responsible for the synoikismos —the political unification of Attica under Athens, represented emblematically in his journey of labours, subduing ogres and monstrous beasts. Because he was the king, Theseus built and occupied a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis that may have been similar to the palace that was excavated in Mycenae. Pausanias reports that after the synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite Pandemos, Plutarchs vita of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus escape, and the love of Ariadne for Theseus. Plutarchs sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes, Demon, Philochorus, Aegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked the oracle at Delphi for advice and her cryptic words were Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief. Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed and he asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen. Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra, but following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezens shore. There she poured a libation to Sphairos and Poseidon, and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature, such double paternity, with one immortal, after Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne, priestess and consort together represented the old order in Athens. Thus Theseus was raised in his mothers land, when Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his fathers tokens. His mother then told him the truth about his fathers identity, young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated a great many bandits along the way. At the Isthmian entrance to the Underworld was a robber named Sinis and he would capture travelers, tie them between two pine trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go, tearing his victims apart. Theseus killed him by his own method and he then became intimate with Siniss daughter, Perigune, fathering the child Melanippus. In another deed north of the Isthmus, at a place called Crommyon, he killed an enormous pig, some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. The Bibliotheca described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring of Typhon, near Megara, an elderly robber named Sciron forced travellers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet
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Alcaeus of Mytilene
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Alcaeus of Mytilene was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria and he was an older contemporary and an alleged lover of Sappho, with whom he may have exchanged poems. He was born into the governing class of Mytilene, the main city of Lesbos. The broad outlines of the life are well known. Alcaeus and his brothers were passionately involved in the struggle. Sometime before 600 BC, Mytilene fought Athens for control of Sigeion and it is thought that Alcaeus travelled widely during his years in exile, including at least one visit to Egypt. His older brother, Antimenidas, appears to have served as a mercenary in the army of Nebuchadnezzar II, Alcaeus reference to Sappho in terms more typical of a divinity, as holy/pure, honey-smiling Sappho, may owe its inspiration to her performances at the festival. Alexandrian scholars numbered him in their canonic nine, among these, Pindar was held by many ancient critics to be pre-eminent, but some gave precedence to Alcaeus instead. Even the private reflections of Alcaeus, ostensibly sung at dinner parties, critics often seek to understand Alcaeus in comparison with Sappho, The Roman poet, Horace, also compared the two, describing Alcaeus as more full-throatedly singing — see Horaces tribute below. The works of Alcaeus are conventionally grouped according to five genres, commenting on Alcaeus as a political poet, the scholar Dionysius of Halicarnassus once observed that. if you removed the meter you would find political rhetoric. Drinking songs, According to the grammarian Athenaeus, Alcaeus made every occasion an excuse for drinking, the latter poem in fact paraphrases verses from Hesiod, re-casting them in Asclepiad meter and Aeolian dialect. Hymns, Alcaeus sang about the gods in the spirit of the Homeric hymns, to entertain his companions rather than to glorify the gods, there are for example fragments in Sapphic meter praising the Dioscuri, Hermes and the river Hebrus. According to Porphyrion, the hymn to Hermes was imitated by Horace in one of his own sapphic odes, love songs, Almost all Alcaeus amorous verses, mentioned with disapproval by Quintilian above, have vanished without trace. There is a reference to his love poetry in a passage by Cicero. Horace, who wrote in imitation of Alcaeus, sketches in verse one of the Lesbian poets favourite subjects — Lycus of the black hair. It is possible that Alcaeus wrote amorously about Sappho, as indicated in an earlier quote, miscellaneous, Alcaeus wrote on such a wide variety of subjects and themes that contradictions in his character emerge. — possibly imitated by Horace in an ode in the same meter and he also wrote Sapphic stanzas on Homeric themes but in unHomeric style, comparing Helen of Troy unfavourably with Thetis, the mother of Akhilles. Like many of his poems, it begins with a verb, Alcaeus rarely used metaphor or simile and yet he had a fondness for the allegory of the storm-tossed ship of state
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Euripides
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Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He is one of the few plays have survived, with the others being Aeschylus, Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but according to the Suda it was 92 at most, of these,18 or 19 have survived more or less complete and there are also fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, yet he also became the most tragic of poets, focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated towards all victims of society and his contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism, both of them being frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Whereas Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as an influence, Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age. Recent scholarship casts doubt on ancient biographies of Euripides, for example, it is possible that he never visited Macedonia at all, or, if he did, he might have been drawn there by King Archelaus with incentives that were also offered to other artists. Upon the receipt of a saying that his son was fated to win crowns of victory. In fact the boy was destined for a career on the stage and he served for a short time as both dancer and torch-bearer at the rites of Apollo Zosterius. His education was not confined to athletics, he studied painting and philosophy under the masters Prodicus. He had two marriages and both his wives—Melite and Choerine —were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis, there he built an impressive library and pursued daily communion with the sea and sky. Eventually he retired to the court of King Archelaus in Macedonia. However, as mentioned in the introduction, biographical details such as these should be regarded with scepticism and this biography is divided into three sections corresponding to the three kinds of sources. The apocryphal account that he composed his works in a cave on Salamis island was a late tradition, much of his life and his whole career coincided with the struggle between Athens and Sparta for hegemony in Greece but he didnt live to see the final defeat of his city. In an account by Plutarch, the failure of the Sicilian expedition led Athenians to trade renditions of Euripides lyrics to their enemies in return for food. Tragic poets were often mocked by comic poets during the dramatic festivals Dionysia and Lenaia, Aristophanes scripted him as a character in at least three plays, The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae and The Frogs. Yet Aristophanes borrowed rather than just satirized some of the methods, he was once ridiculed by a colleague, Cratinus, as a hair-splitting master of niceties
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Helen (play)
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Helen is a drama by Euripides about Helen, first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia in a trilogy that also contained Euripides lost Andromeda. The play has much in common with Iphigenia in Tauris, one of the later works. Helen was written soon after the Sicilian Expedition, in which Athens had suffered a massive defeat, concurrently, the sophists – a movement of teachers who incorporated philosophy and rhetoric into their occupation – were beginning to question traditional values and religious beliefs. Within the plays framework, Euripides starkly condemns war, deeming it to be the root of all evil, about thirty years before this play, Herodotus argued in his Histories that Helen had never in fact arrived at Troy, but was in Egypt during the entire Trojan War. The Archaic lyric poet Stesichorus had made the assertion in his Palinode. The play Helen tells a variant of this story, beginning under the premise that rather than running off to Troy with Paris, the Helen who escaped with Paris, betraying her husband and her country and initiating the ten-year conflict, was actually an eidolon, a phantom look-alike. Thus, the real Helen has been languishing in Egypt for years, while the Greeks, in Egypt, king Proteus, who had protected Helen, has died. His son Theoclymenus, the new king with a penchant for killing Greeks, intends to marry Helen and her fears are allayed when a stranger arrives in Egypt and turns out to be Menelaus himself, and the long-separated couple recognize each other. At first, Menelaus does not believe that she is the real Helen, however, the woman he was shipwrecked with was in reality, only a mere phantom of the real Helen. Before the Trojan war even began, a judgement took place and he gave the Goddess Aphrodite the award of the fairest since she bribed him with Helen as a bride. To take their revenge on Paris, the goddesses, Athena and Hera. However, Menelaus did not know better, but luckily one of his sailors steps in to inform him that the false Helen has disappeared into thin air. The couple still must figure out how to escape from Egypt, but fortunately, thus, Helen tells Theoclymenus that the stranger who came ashore was a messenger there to tell her that her husband was truly dead. She informs the king that she may marry him as soon as she has performed a ritual burial at sea, the king agrees to this, and Helen and Menelaus use this opportunity to escape on the boat given to them for the ceremony. Theoclymenus is furious when he learns of the trick and nearly murders his sister Theonoe for not telling him that Menelaus is still alive, however, he is prevented by the miraculous intervention of the demi-gods Castor and Polydeuces, brothers of Helen and the sons of Zeus and Leda
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Electra (Euripides play)
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Euripides Electra is a play probably written in the mid 410s BC, likely before 413 BC. It is unclear whether it was first produced before or after Sophocles version of the Electra story, years before the start of the play, near the start of the Trojan War, the Greek general Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia in order to appease the goddess Artemis. While his sacrifice allowed the Greek army to set sail for Troy, it led to a deep resentment in his wife, upon Agamemnons return from the Trojan War ten years later, Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered him. The play begins with the introduction of Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra, several years after Agamemnon’s death suitors began requesting Electra’s hand in marriage. Out of fear that Electra’s child might seek revenge, Clytemnestra, the peasant is kind to her and has respected her family name and her virginity. In return for his kindness, Electra helps her husband with the household chores, despite her appreciation for her husband’s kindness, Electra resents being cast out of her house and laments to the Chorus about her struggles with her drastic change in social status. Now grown, Orestes and Pylades travel to Electra and her husband’s house, Orestes keeps his identity hidden from Electra, claiming to be messengers of Orestes. He uses his anonymity to determine Electra’s loyalty to him and Agamemnon before he reveals his plans for revenge, after some time it is clear that Electra is passionate about avenging the death of their father. At this point the aged servant who brought Orestes to Phocis years before enters the play and he recognizes Orestes because of the scar on his brow and the siblings are reunited. They begin to plot how they will murder both Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, the aged servant explains that Aegisthus is currently in his stables, preparing to sacrifice oxen for a feast. Orestes goes to confront Aegisthus while Electra sends the servant to tell Clytemnestra that she had a son ten days ago. A messenger arrives and describes Orestes’ successful murder of Aegisthus, Orestes and Pylades return bearing Aegisthus’ body. As Clytemnestra approaches, Orestes begins to waver on his decision to murder their mother, Electra convinces Orestes that he must fulfill his duty to Agamemnon and murder their mother. When Clytemnestra arrives, Orestes and Electra lure her into the house, the two leave the house, filled with grief and guilt. As they lament, Clytemnestras deified brothers, Castor and Pollux, the enduring popularity of Aeschylus Oresteia trilogy is evident in Euripides construction of the recognition scene between Orestes and Electra. Euripides own recognition scene clearly parodies Aeschylus account, Orestes is instead recognized from a scar he received on the forehead while chasing a doe in the house as a child. This is an allusion to a scene from Homers Odyssey. In Odyssey 19. 428-54, the nurse Eurycleia recognizes a newly returned Odysseus from a scar on his thigh that he received as a child while on his first boar hunt
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Cicero
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Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family of the Roman equestrian order. According to Michael Grant, the influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature, Cicero introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary distinguishing himself as a translator and philosopher. Though he was an orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. During the chaotic latter half of the 1st century BC marked by civil wars, following Julius Caesars death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. His severed hands and head were then, as a revenge of Mark Antony. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, according to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity. Cicero was born in 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and his father was a well-to-do member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being a semi-invalid, he could not enter public life, although little is known about Ciceros mother, Helvia, it was common for the wives of important Roman citizens to be responsible for the management of the household. Ciceros brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife, Ciceros cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was given to one of Ciceros ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is likely that Ciceros ancestors prospered through the cultivation. Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames, the family names of Fabius, Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this name when he entered politics. During this period in Roman history, cultured meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek, Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite, according to Plutarch, Cicero was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Ciceros fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the latter two became Ciceros friends for life, and Pomponius would become, in Ciceros own words, as a second brother, with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. Cicero wanted to pursue a career in politics along the steps of the Cursus honorum
28.
Simonides of Ceos
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Simonides of Ceos was a Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets, along with Bacchylides, both Bacchylides and Pindar benefited from his innovative approach to lyric poetry and he was more involved than either of them in the major events and personalities of their times. Such accounts include fanciful elements yet he had a influence on the sophistic enlightenment of the classical era. His fame as a poet rests largely on his ability to present basic human situations with affecting simplicity, few clear facts about Simonides life have come down to modern times in spite of his fame and influence. Ancient sources are uncertain even about the date of his birth, according to the Byzantine encyclopaedia, Suda, He was born in the 56th Olympiad or according to some writers in the 62nd and he survived until the 78th, having lived eighty-nine years. Other ancient sources also have awkward consequences, however, the Parian Marble is known to be unreliable and possibly it was not even the grandfather but a grandson that won the aforementioned victory in Athens. According to the Suda, this grandson was yet another Simonides, Simonides is identified in the Suda as the son of a Leoprepes. He was born in Ioulis on Ceos, the outermost island of the Cyclades, the innermost island, Delos, was the reputed birthplace of Apollo, where the people of Ceos regularly sent choirs to perform hymns in the gods honour. Carthaea, another Cean town, included a choregeion or school where choirs were trained, indeed, the grandfather of Simonides nephew, Bacchylides, was one of the islands notable athletes. These were two of the most powerful families in the Thessalian feudal aristocracy yet they seemed notable to later Greeks such as Theocritus only for their association with Simonides, thessaly at that time was a cultural backwater, remaining in the Dark Ages until the close of the 5th century. According to an account by Plutarch, the Ionian poet once dismissed the Thessalians as too ignorant to be beguiled by poetry, among the most colourful of his ignorant patrons was the head of the Scopadae clan, named Scopas. Simonides embellished his ode with so many references to the twins Castor, Simonides however ended up getting much more from the mythical twins than just a fee, he owed them his very life. According to this story he was called out of the feast hall to see two visitors who had arrived and were asking for him – presumably Castor and Pollux, as soon as he left the hall, it collapsed, killing everyone within. These events were said to have inspired him to develop a system of mnemonics based on images and places called the method of loci, the method of loci is one component of the Art of memory. According to Plutarch, the Cean had a statue of himself made about this time, the last years of the poets life were spent in Sicily where he became a friend and confidant of Hieron of Syracuse. According to a scholiast on Pindar, he acted as peace-maker between Hieron and another Sicilian tyrant, Theron of Acragas, thus ending a war between them. Scholiasts are the authority for stories about rivalry between Simonides and Pindar at the court of Hieron, traditionally used to explain some of the meanings in Pindars victory odes. However, Pindar scholiasts are generally considered unreliable and there is no reason to accept their account, the Hellenistic poet Callimachus revealed in one of his poems that Simonides was buried outside Acragas and that his tombstone was later mis-used in the construction of a tower
29.
Chariot racing
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Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was dangerous to drivers and horses as they often suffered serious injury and even death, but these dangers added to the excitement. Chariot races could be watched by women, who were barred from watching other sports. In the Roman form of racing, teams represented different groups of financial backers. As in modern sports like soccer, spectators generally chose to support a team, identifying themselves strongly with its fortunes. The rivalries were sometimes politicized, when teams became associated with competing social or religious ideas and this helps explain why Roman and later Byzantine emperors took control of the teams and appointed many officials to oversee them. The sport faded in importance in the West after the fall of Rome and it survived for a time in the Byzantine Empire, where the traditional Roman factions continued to play a prominent role for several centuries, gaining influence in political matters. Their rivalry culminated in the Nika riots, which marked the decline of the sport. It is unknown exactly when chariot racing began, but it may have been as old as chariots themselves, the participants in this race were Diomedes, Eumelus, Antilochus, Menelaus, and Meriones. The race, which was one lap around the stump of a tree, was won by Diomedes, who received a slave woman and a cauldron as his prize. In the ancient Olympic Games, as well as the other Panhellenic Games, the chariot racing event was first added to the Olympics in 680 BC with the games expanding from a one-day to a two-day event to accommodate the new event. The races themselves were held in the hippodrome, which held both chariot races and riding races, the single horse race was known as the keles. The hippodrome was situated at the south-east corner of the sanctuary of Olympia, on the flat area south of the stadium. Until recently, its location was unknown, since it is buried by several meters of sedimentary material from the Alfeios River. In 2008, however, Annie Muller and staff of the German Archeological Institute used radar to locate a large, rectangular structure similar to Pausaniass description. Pausanias, who visited Olympia in the second century AD, describes the monument as a large, elongated, flat space, the elongated racecourse was divided longitudinally into two tracks by a stone or wooden barrier, the embolon. All the horses or chariots ran on one track toward the east, then turned around the embolon, distances varied according to the event. The racecourse was surrounded by natural and artificial banks for the spectators, the race was begun by a procession into the hippodrome, while a herald announced the names of the drivers and owners
30.
Calydonian Boar
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The Calydonian or Aetolian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. This outraged some of the men, with tragic results, strabo was under the impression that the Calydonian Boar was an offspring of the Crommyonian Sow vanquished by Theseus. The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters in Greek mythology. Like the quest for the Golden Fleece or the Trojan War that took place the following generation, King Oeneus of Calydon, an ancient city of west-central Greece north of the Gulf of Patras, held annual harvest sacrifices to the gods on the sacred hill. It rampaged throughout the countryside, destroying vineyards and crops, forcing people to refuge inside the city walls. Oeneus sent messengers out to look for the best hunters in Greece, offering them the boars pelt and it was the smitten Meleager who convinced them. Nonetheless it was Atalanta who first succeeded in wounding the boar with an arrow, although Meleager finished it off, and offered the prize to Atalanta, outraged by this, Meleager slew the sons of Thestios and again gave the skin to Atalanta. Thus Artemis achieved her revenge against King Oeneus, during the hunt, Peleus accidentally killed his host Eurytion. The Calydonian Hunt was the theme of the main pediment. The heroes who participated assembled from all over Hellas, according to Homer, the table lists, Those seen by Pausanias on the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. Those listed by Latin mythographer Hyginus, they include Deucalion, whose connection is unlikely and those noted in Ovids list from the 8th Book of his Metamorphoses. Those who appear in Book I of the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, ternerdos, Iolcos, Sparta, Pleurone, Messene, Perrhaebia, Phthia, Magnesia, Salamin, Calydon, Thessalia, Oechialia, Ithaca, Tegea, Crete, Dolopia, Athens, and Arcadia. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca I, VIII, 2–3, Homer, Iliad, ix Kerenyi, the Heroes of the Greeks pp114ff, et passim Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII, 267–525. Ruck, Carl A. P. and Danny Staples,1994, the World of Classical Myth p 196 Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Atalanta in Calydon Theioi. com, Hus Kaydonios, Literary quotes
31.
Jason
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Jason was an ancient Greek mythological hero who was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea and he was also the great-grandson of the messenger god Hermes, through his mothers side. Jason appeared in literary works in the classical world of Greece and Rome, including the epic poem Argonautica. In the modern world, Jason has emerged as a character in various adaptations of his myths, such as the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, Jason has connections outside the classical world, being the mythical founder of the city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Jasons father is invariably Aeson, but there is great variation as to his mothers name, Pelias was power-hungry and wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Pelias was the product of a union between their mother, Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus, and the sea god Poseidon. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson, killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could and he spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Alcimede I already had an infant son named Jason whom she saved from being killed by Pelias, by having women cluster around the newborn and cry as if he were still-born. Alcimede sent her son to the centaur Chiron for education, for fear that Pelias would kill him — she claimed that she had been having an affair with him all along. Pelias, still fearful that he would one day be overthrown, many years later, Pelias was holding games in honor of Poseidon, when Jason arrived in Iolcus and lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros, while helping an old woman to cross. She blessed him for she knew, as goddesses do, what Pelias had planned, when Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Jason, knowing that he was the king, told Pelias that and Pelias said, To take my throne. Jason assembled for his crew, a number of heroes, known as the Argonauts after their ship, the group of heroes included the Boreads who could fly, Heracles, Philoctetes, Peleus, Telamon, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta, Meleager and Euphemus. The isle of Lemnos is situated off the Western coast of Asia Minor, the island was inhabited by a race of women who had killed their husbands. The women had neglected their worship of Aphrodite, and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands could not bear to be near them. The men then took concubines from the Thracian mainland opposite, the king, Thoas, was saved by Hypsipyle, his daughter, who put him out to sea sealed in a chest from which he was later rescued. The women of Lemnos lived for a while without men, with Hypsipyle as their queen, during the visit of the Argonauts the women mingled with the men creating a new race called Minyae
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Argo
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In Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. She was named after her builder, Argus, the Argo was constructed by the shipwright Argus, and its crew were specially protected by the goddess Hera. The best source for the myth is the Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius, according to a variety of sources of the legend, the Argo was said to have been planned or constructed with the help of Athena. According to certain sources, the Argo was the first ship to sail the seas and it was Athena who taught Tiphys to attach the sails to the mast, as he was the steersman and would need an absolute knowledge of the workings of the ship. According to other legends, she contained in her prow a magical piece of timber from the sacred forest of Dodona, after her successful journey, the Argo was consecrated to Poseidon in the Isthmus of Corinth. She was then translated into the sky and turned into the constellation Argo Navis, several authors of antiquity discussed the hypothetical shape of the ship. Generally she was imagined like a Greek warship, a galley, voyage of the Argo – slideshow by The First Post
33.
Argonauts
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The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War, around 1300 BC, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder and they were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area. After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson, because of this unlawful act, an oracle warned him that a descendant of Aeolus would seek revenge. Pelias put to death every prominent descendant of Aeolus he could, instead, Pelias kept Aeson prisoner and forced him to renounce his inheritance. Aeson married Alcimede, who bore him a son named Jason, Pelias intended to kill the baby at once, but Alcimede summoned her kinswomen to weep over him as if he were stillborn. She faked a burial and smuggled the baby to Mount Pelion and he was raised by the centaur Chiron, the trainer of heroes. When Jason was 20 years old, an oracle ordered him to dress as a Magnesian, while traveling Jason lost his sandal crossing the muddy Anavros river while helping an old woman. The goddess was angry with King Pelias for killing his stepmother Sidero after she had sought refuge in Heras temple, another oracle warned Pelias to be on his guard against a man with one shoe. Pelias was presiding over a sacrifice to Poseidon with several neighboring kings in attendance, among the crowd stood a tall youth in leopard skin with only one sandal. Pelias recognized that Jason was his nephew and he could not kill him because prominent kings of the Aeolian family were present. Instead, he asked Jason, What would you do if an oracle announced that one of your fellow-citizens were destined to kill you, Jason replied that he would send him to go and fetch the Golden Fleece, not knowing that Hera had put those words in his mouth. Jason learned later that Pelias was being haunted by the ghost of Phrixus, Phrixus had fled from Orchomenus riding on a divine ram to avoid being sacrificed and took refuge in Colchis where he was later denied proper burial. According to an oracle, Iolcus would never prosper unless his ghost was taken back in a ship and this fleece now hung from a tree in the grove of the Colchian Ares, guarded night and day by a dragon that never slept. Pelias swore before Zeus that he would give up the throne at Jasons return while expecting that Jasons attempt to steal the Golden Fleece would be a fatal enterprise, however, Hera acted in Jasons favour during the perilous journey. There is no definite list of the Argonauts, H. J. Rose explains this was because an Argonautic ancestor was an addition to even the proudest of pedigrees. The following list is collated from several lists given in ancient sources, several more names are discoverable from other sources. Amyrus, eponym of a Thessalian city, is given by Stephanus of Byzantium as one of the Argonauts, he is said to have been a son of Poseidon. Azorus was the helmsman of Argo according to Hesychius of Alexandria, atalanta is included on the list by Pseudo-Apollodorus, but Apollonius claims that Jason forbade her because she was a woman and could cause strife in the otherwise all-male crew
34.
Amykos
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For the centaur of this name see Amycus, and other meanings see Amycus. In Greek mythology, Amykos, Latinized as Amycus, was the son of Poseidon and he was a boxer and King of the Bebryces, a mythical people in Bithynia. Polydeuces killed him in a match when the Argonauts passed through Bithynia. He was also a prominent Trojan during the Trojan War and he married Theona and had one son named Mimas, who followed Aeneas to Italy, where he was killed by Turnus
35.
Bithynia
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Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, Bithynia was an independent kingdom from the 4th century BC. Its capital Nicomedia was rebuilt on the site of ancient Astacus in 264 BC by Nicomedes I of Bithynia. Bithynia fell to the Roman Republic in 74 BC, and became united with the Pontus region as the province of Bithynia et Pontus and it became a border region to the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1330s. Several major cities sat on the shores of the Propontis, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius. Bithynia also contained Nicaea, noted for being the birthplace of the Nicene Creed, on the west and southwest it was separated from Mysia by the river Rhyndacus and on the south it adjoined Phrygia and Galatia. It is occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys, the most important mountain range is the Mysian Olympus, which towers above Bursa and is clearly visible as far away as Istanbul. Its summits are covered with snow for a part of the year. East of this the range extends for more than 100 miles, both of these ranges are part of the border of mountains which bound the great tableland of Anatolia, Turkey. At its extremity is situated the town of Gemlik at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the lake of Iznik. The Parthenius, the boundary of the province, is a much less considerable stream. The valleys towards the Black Sea abound in fruit trees of all kinds, such as oranges, while the valley of the Sangarius, extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the silk for which Bursa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large scale. Bithynia is named for the Thracian tribe of the Bithyni, mentioned by Herodotus alongside the Thyni, the Thraco-Phrygian migration from the Balkans to Asia Minor would have taken place at some point following the Bronze Age collapse or during the early Iron Age. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as settling side by side, but the last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself in power against Mithridates VI of Pontus. After being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom through his will to the Roman republic, the coinage of these kings show their regal portraits, which tend to be engraved in an extremely accomplished Hellenistic style. As a Roman province, the boundaries of Bithynia changed frequently, during this period, Bithynia was commonly united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. Under the Byzantine Empire, Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarius, only the area to the west of the river retained the name of Bithynia. Bithynia attracted much attention because of its roads and its position between the frontiers of the Danube in the north and the Euphrates in the south-east
36.
Peleus
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In Greek mythology, Peleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs and he married the sea-nymph Thetis with whom he fathered Achilles. Peleus and his brother Telamon were friends of Heracles, and served in Heracles expedition against the Amazons, his war against King Laomedon, though there were no further kings in Aegina, the kings of Epirus claimed descent from Peleus in the historic period. Peleus and his brother Telamon killed their half-brother Phocus, perhaps in an accident and certainly in an unthinking moment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by Eurytion and married Antigone, Eurytions daughter, by whom he had a daughter, Peleus was purified of the murder of Eurytion in Iolcus by Acastus. Astydameia, Acastus wife, fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her, bitter, she sent a messenger to Antigone to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus daughter. As a result, Antigone hanged herself, Astydameia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her. Acastus took Peleus on a trip and hid his sword then abandoned him right before a group of centaurs attacked. Chiron, the centaur, or, according to another source, Hermes, returned Peleus sword with magical powers. He pillaged Iolcus and dismembered Astydameia, then marched his army between the rended limbs, Acastus and Astydamia were dead and the kingdom fell to Jasons son, Thessalus. After Antigones death, Peleus married the sea-nymph Thetis and he was able to win her with the aid of Proteus, who told Peleus how to overcome Thetis ability to change her form. Their wedding feast was attended by many of the Olympian gods, as a wedding present, Poseidon gave Peleus two immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus. During the feast, Eris, in revenge for not being invited, produced the Apple of Discord, the marriage of Peleus and Thetis produced seven sons, six of whom died in infancy. The only surviving son was Achilles, Thetis attempted to render her son Achilles invulnerable. In the well-known version, she dipped him in the River Styx, holding him by one heel, which remained vulnerable. In an early and less popular version of the story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and she was interrupted by Peleus and she abandoned both father and son in a rage, leaving his heel vulnerable. Later on in life, Achilles is killed by Paris when he is shot in his vulnerable spot and this is where the term Achilles heel is derived from. Peleus gave Achilles to the centaur Chiron, to raise on Mt. Pelion, in the Iliad, Achilles uses Peleus immortal horses and also wields his fathers spear
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Iolcus
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Iolcos is an ancient city, a modern village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Volos and it is located in central Magnesia, north of the Pagasitic Gulf. Its land area is 1.981 km², the municipal unit is divided into three communities, Agios Onoufrios, Anakasia and Ano Volos, with a total population of 2,138. The seat of the municipality was the village of Ano Volos. According to ancient Greek mythology, Aeson was the king of Iolcos. It was Pelias who sent Aesons son Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece, the ship Argo set sail from Iolcos with a crew of fifty demigods and princes under Jasons leadership. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece. She is a figure whose trials and tribulations were artfully dramatized in the much-staged play by Euripides. The place of ancient Iolcos is believed to be located in modern-day nearby Dimini, where a Mycenaean palace was excavated recently
38.
Pelias
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Pelias was king of Iolcus in Greek mythology, the son of Tyro and Poseidon. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia, daughter of Bias, or Phylomache and he was the father of Acastus, Pisidice, Alcestis, Pelopia, Hippothoe, Amphinome, Evadne, Asteropeia, and Antinoe. Tyro was married to Cretheus, with whom she had three sons, Aeson, Pherês, and Amythaon, but she loved Enipeus, a river god and she pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union were born Pelias and Neleus, twin boys. Tyro exposed her sons on a mountain to die, but they were found by a herdsman who raised them as his own, as one story goes, when they reached adulthood, Pelias and Neleus found Tyro and killed her stepmother Sidero, for having mistreated her. Pelias was power-hungry and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly, to this end, he banished Neleus and Pherês, and locked Aeson in the dungeons in Iolcus. While in the dungeons, Aeson married and had children, most famously. Aeson sent Jason away from Iolcus in fear that Pelias would kill him as an heir to the throne. Jason grew in the care of Chiron the centaur, on Mount Pelium, to be educated while Pelias, many years later, Pelias offered a sacrifice by the sea in honor of Poseidon. Jason, who was summoned with many others to take part in the sacrifice, in Virgils Aeneid, Hera had disguised herself as an old woman, whom Jason was helping across the river when he lost his sandal. When Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal, paranoid, Pelias asked Jason what he would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the Golden Fleece, Pelias took Jasons advice and sent him to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It would be found at Colchis, in a sacred to Ares. Though the Golden Fleece simply hung on an oak tree, this was an impossible task. Jason made preparations by commanding the shipwright Argus to build a large enough for fifty men. These heroes who would join his quest were known as the Argonauts, upon their arrival Jason requested the Golden Fleece from the King of Colchis, Aeëtes. Aeëtes demanded that Jason must first yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls to a plough, Medea, daughter of Aeëtes, fell in love with Jason, and being endowed with magical powers, aided him in his completion of the difficult task. She cast a spell to put the dragon to sleep, enabling Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece from the oak tree, Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts fled Colchis and began their return journey to Thessaly
39.
Attica
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Attica is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea, the modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region and includes the Saronic Islands, Cythera, and the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. The history of Attica is tightly linked with that of Athens, Attica is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi long Cithaeron mountain range, to the west, it is bordered by the sea and the canal of Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south, and the island of Euboea lies off the north, mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogaia, and Thriasion. The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus, the portion of the Geraneia, the Parnitha, the Aigaleo. Four mountains—Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus —delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens-Piraeus metroplex now spreads, Athens water reservoir, Lake Marathon, is an artificial lake created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha, Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Laurium are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. The Kifisos is the longest river of Attica, according to Plato, Atticas ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right, during antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being autochthonic, which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in the classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages, Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians, who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans, supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, during the Mycenaean period, the Atticans lived in autonomous agricultural societies. The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon, Rafina, Nea Makri, Brauron, Thorikos, Agios Kosmas, Eleusis, Menidi, Markopoulo, Spata, Aphidnae, all of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops, strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelea, Eleusis, Aphidna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of Theseus. Modern historians consider it likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs, only after Peisistratoss tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens
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Aethra (Greek mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Aethra or Aithra was a name applied to four different individuals, Aethra was a daughter of King Pittheus of Troezen and the mother of Theseus. Aegeus went to Troezen, a city southwest of Athens that had as its patrons Athena and Poseidon, following the instructions of Athena in a dream, she left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezens shore. There she poured a libation to Sphairos, Pelops charioteer, and was raped by Poseidon in the night, when she was thus doubly pregnant, Aegeus decided to go back to Athens. Aethra did as she was told, and Theseus, recovering the weapons that were his birthright, grew to be a hero, killing the Minotaur. Later, when Theseus kidnapped Helen, he gave her to Aethra for safekeeping, helens brothers, the Dioscuri, took Helen back and kidnapped Aethra in revenge. She went to Troy with Helen and remained there until found by her grandson, Acamas, with significant alterations to the character, a version of this Aethra appears, a sorceress and concubine of Poseidon, in Richard Strausss famous opera Die ägyptische Helena. Aethra is also the name of one of the Oceanids, the 3000 daughters of Oceanus and she is sometimes called the wife of Atlas and mother of the Pleiades and the Hyades. A figure called Aethra is, in one source, called the wife of Hyperion, rather than Theia, and mother of Helios, Eos, another Aethra was the wife of the Spartan Phalanthus. She fulfilled the prophecy given to her husband by her tears, after which he conquered Tarentum for himself
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Demophon of Athens
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Demophon was a king of Athens, according to Pindar, son of Theseus and Phaedra, brother of Acamas. Some say that Demophons mother was Iope, daughter of Iphicles and he fought in the Trojan War and was among those who entered the city in the Trojan Horse. The brothers freed their grandmother Aethra, who had captured by the Dioscuri and served Helen as a handmaid for a while. Demophon married Phyllis, daughter of a Thracian king, while he stopped in Thrace on his home from the Trojan war. On the next day after the wedding, however, he had to leave, promising to return and she gave him a casket and told not to open it unless he should lose every hope to return to Thrace. Demophon eventually settled in Cyprus and forgot about Phyllis and she would come to the sea shore every day, expecting to see the sails of his ship, but in vain. After the appointed date was past, she died of grief or hanged herself. One day Demophon opened the casket out of curiosity, what he saw there was so horrifying that he jumped onto his horse and rode like wild till he fell off the horse on his own sword and died. Not all sources, however, accepted the tradition of Demophons death in Cyprus, in Euripides play Heracleidae, Demophon was the king of Athens, having succeeded to his fathers power. He granted the children of Heracles, who were fleeing from Eurystheus, as Eurystheus prepared to attack, an oracle told Demophon that he would win if and only if a noble virgin was sacrificed to Persephone. Macaria volunteered for the sacrifice and a spring was named the Macarian spring in her honor, however, he accidentally killed a fellow Athenian in the battle, and was tried in court for that. Lucian relates the story concerning Phyllis not of Demophon, but of his brother Acamas, probably because the character of his work was supposed to be ignorant, Acamas is better known for having been loved by Laodice, daughter of Priam
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Troy
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The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, a new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually in the Byzantine era and these excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Troy VII has been identified with the city that the Hittites called Wilusa, the origin of the Greek Ἴλιον. Today, the hill at Hisarlık has given its name to a village near the ruins. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, the map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998, Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC, Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, in the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the River Scamander, where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, recent geological findings have permitted the identification of the ancient Trojan coastline, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. In November 2001, the geologist John C, kraft from the University of Delaware and the classicist John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin, presented the results of investigations, begun in 1977, into the geology of the region. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the major work attributed to Homer. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid, the Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and there made sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. After the 1995 find of a Luwian biconvex seal at Troy VII, with the rise of critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were, for a long time, consigned to the realms of legend. However, the location of ancient Troy had from classical times remained the subject of interest. The Troad peninsula was anticipated to be the location, leChavaliers location, published in his Voyage de la Troade, was the most commonly accepted theory for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known, the hill, near the city of Çanakkale, was known as Hisarlık. In 1868, Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık, in 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period
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Phoebe (Leucippid)
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In Greek mythology, Phoebe was a daughter of Leucippus and Philodice. She and her sister Hilaera are commonly referred to as Leucippides, Phoebe and Hilaera were priestesses of Athena and Artemis, and betrothed to Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus. Castor and Pollux were charmed by their beauty and carried them off, when Idas and Lynceus tried to rescue their brides-to-be they were both slain, but Castor himself fell. Pollux persuaded Zeus to allow him to share his immortality with his brother, Phoebe married Pollux and bore him a son, named either Mnesileos or Mnasinous
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Hilaeira
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In Greek mythology, Hilaera was a daughter of Leucippus and Philodice. She and her sister Phoebe are commonly referred to as Leucippides, Hilaera and Phoebe were priestesses of Artemis and Athena, and betrothed to Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus. Castor and Pollux were charmed by their beauty and carried them off, when Idas and Lynceus tried to rescue their brides-to-be they were both slain, but Castor himself fell. Pollux persuaded Zeus to allow him to share his immortality with his brother, Hilaera married Castor and bore him a son, named either Anogon or Anaxis. Hilaera and Phoebe are both portrayed in The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus painting, media related to Phoebe and Hilaera at Wikimedia Commons Theoi Project - Leukippides
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Leucippus (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Leucippus was a name attributed to multiple characters, the most prominent of whom was Leucippus, father of the two Leucippides. Leucippus, son of Gorgophone and Perieres, was the father of Phoebe and Hilaera, and also of Arsinoe, mother of Asclepius, Castor and Polydeuces abducted and married Phoebe and Hilaera, the daughters of Leucippus. In return, Idas and Lynceus, nephews of Leucippus and rival suitors, Polydeuces was granted immortality by Zeus, and further persuaded Zeus to share his gift with Castor. Leucippus, the son of Heracles and Eurytele, daughter of Thespius, Leucippus, a Calydonian hunter, son of Hippocoon. Leucippus, the daughter of Lamprus and Galatea, who was turned by Leto into a son, Leucippus, the son of Oenomaus and companion of Daphne, whom he was in love with and tried to approach in the disguise of a fellow nymph of hers. Because of Apollos jealousy, his gender was revealed by the nymphs. Leucippus, the son of Poemander who was killed accidentally by his father, Leucippus, the son of Thurimachus and king of Sicyon. Leucippus, the son of Xanthius who consorted with his own sister, Leucippus, one of the sons of Macareus, and the leader of a colony at Rhodes Leucippus, son of Naxos and king of the island. Leucippus, son of Eurypylus and Sterope, brother of Lycaon
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