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Cycnus

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The butterfly genus Cycnus is now synonymized with Panthiades.

In Greek mythology, multiple characters were known as Cycnus (Κύκνος) or Cygnus, the literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them ended up being transformed into swans.

Cycnus, son of Ares.^[1]
Cycnus, king of Kolonai.^[2]
Cycnus, friend of Phaethon.^[3]
Cycnus, son of Apollo.^[4]

Cycnus, one of the suitors of Penelope.^[5]
Cycnus, son of King Eredion of Achaea, who, in one version, seduced Leda and made her mother of triplets: the Dioscuri and Helen.^[6] In all other sources, she had these children by Zeus who approached her in the shape of a swan (kyknos).
Cycnus, a blunder for Guneus in the manuscript of Hyginus' Fab. 97 (list of the Achaean leaders against Troy).

According to Pseudo-Eratosthenes and Hyginus' Poetical Astronomy, the constellation Cygnus was the stellar image of the swan Zeus had transformed into in order to seduce Leda^[7] or Nemesis.^[8]

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cycnus.

^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 27. 6
^ Strabo, Geography, 13. 1. 19
^ Ovid, Metamorphoses, 2, 367 sqq.
^ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 12
^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, Epitome of Book 4, 7. 27
^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 506
^ Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi, 25
^ Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy, 2. 8

This article includes a list of Greek mythological figures with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific Greek mythology article referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended Greek mythology article, if one exists.

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Panthiades

1. Panthiades

Greek mythology – 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 cu

1. Bust of Zeus, Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican).

2. Greek Mythology

3. Prometheus (1868 by Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound, and Prometheus Pyrphoros.

4. The Roman poet Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.

Swan – Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus. The swans close relatives include the geese and ducks, Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a subfamily, Cygninae. There are six or seven species of swan in the genus Cygnus, in there is another species known as the coscoroba swan. Swans usually mate for life, though divorce does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight. The English word swan, akin to the German Schwan, Dutch zwaan, an adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe, an adult female is a pen. Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family Anatidae, the largest species, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, and whooper swan, can reach a length of over 1.5 m and weigh over 15 kg. Their wingspans can be over 3.1 m, compared to the closely relate

1. Swans Temporal range: Late Miocene - Holocene

2. An adult trumpeter swan in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

3. Whooper swans migrate from Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Northern Russia to Europe, Central Asia, China, and Japan

4. Mute swan threatens a photographer in Toyako, Japan.

Ares – Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and his sons Phobos and Deimos and his lover, or sister, Enyo accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Iliad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him, an association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. His value as a war god is placed in doubt, during the Trojan War, Ares was on the side, while Athena, often depicted in Greek art as holding Nike in her hand. Ares plays a limited role in Greek mythology as represented in literary narratives, though his numerous love affairs. When Ares does appear in myths, he typically faces humiliation and he is well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was married to Hephaestus, god of craftsmanship. The most famous story related to Ares and Aphrodite shows them exposed to ridicule through the wronged husbands device. The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars,

1. Statue of Ares from Hadrian's Villa

2. Vatican, Rome, Italy. Statue of Ares, Scopas' influence. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

3. The Areopagus as viewed from the Acropolis.

4. The Ludovisi Ares, Roman version of a Greek original c. 320 BC, with 17th-century restorations by Bernini

Apollo – Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apol

1. Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE

2. Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at Bassae in southern Greece

3. Temple of the Delians at Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.

4. Temple of Apollo Smintheus at Çanakkale, Turkey

Suitors of Penelope – The suitors of Penelope are one of the main subjects of Homers Odyssey. In The Odyssey, Homer describes Odysseus journey home from the Trojan War, prior to the Trojan War, Odysseus was King of Ithaca, a Greek island known for its isolation and rugged terrain. When Odysseus departs from Ithaca to fight for the Greeks in the war, he leaves behind a child, Telemachus. Although most surviving Greek soldiers return shortly after the end of the fighting, during Odysseus long absence, unmarried men start to suspect that Odysseus died in Troy or on the journey home. Under the pretense of courting Penelope, these men, called the suitors, take up residence in Odysseus home. Rather than simply rejecting the suitors, Penelope devises a plan to delay their courtship and she claims she will choose a husband after she has finished weaving a funeral shroud to present to Odysseus father, Laertes. For three years, Penelope weaves the shroud during the day and unravels it at night, awaiting her husbands

1. Penelope and the Suitors by John William Waterhouse (1912).

2. Slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and Telemachus, Campanian red-figure bell- krater, c. 330 BC, Louvre (CA 7124)

Achaea – Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaïa, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece and is situated in the part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Since 2001, the population has exceeded 300,000, Achaea is bordered by Elis to the west and southwest, Arcadia to the south, and Corinthia to the east and southeast. The Gulf of Corinth lies to its northeast, and the Gulf of Patras to its northwest, the mountain Panachaiko, though not the highest of Achaea, dominates the coastal area near Patras. Higher mountains are found in the south, such as Aroania, other mountain ranges in Achaea are Skollis, Omplos, Kombovouni and Movri. Its main rivers ordered from west to east are the Larissos, Tytheus, Peiros, Charadros, Selinountas, most of the forests are in the mountain ranges, though several are in the plains including the extreme west. There are grasslands around the areas and barren lands in the highest areas. Achaea has hot summers and m

1. Gulf of Patras

2. Municipalities of Achaea

3. Mount Aroania or Chelmos.

4. Mount Erymanthos

Leda (mythology) – 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 I

1. Leda and the Swan, 16th-century copy after the lost painting by Michelangelo

2. Leda, by Gustave Moreau

3. Leda with the Swan, a restored Roman copy, perhaps after an original by Timotheus (Museo del Prado)

Dioscuri – In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux, or Kastor and Polydeuces, were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers, Castor was the son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters or half-sisters Helen of Troy. In Latin the twins are known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, the pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmos fire, and were also associated with horsemanship. They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus, the best-known story of the twins birth is that Zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced Leda. Thus Ledas children are said to

1. Dioscuri (Pollux or Castor), Rome, Capitol

2. Dioscuri (Castor or Pollux), Rome, Capitol

3. Castor depicted on a calyx krater of ca. 460–450 BC, holding a horse's reins and spears and wearing a pilos -style helmet

4. Pair of Roman statuettes (3rd century AD) depicting the Dioscuri as horsemen, with their characteristic skullcaps (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Helen of Troy – 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 wistfu

1. Helen and Menelaus: Menelaus intends to strike Helen; captivated by her beauty, he drops his sword. A flying Eros and Aphrodite (on the left) watch the scene. Detail of an Attic red-figure krater, c. 450–440 BC (Paris, Louvre)

2. Leda and the Swan by Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510, Wilton). The artist has been intrigued by the idea of Helen's unconventional birth; she and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.

3. Theseus pursuing a woman, probably Helen. Side A from an Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 440–430 BC (Louvre, Paris).

4. In this painting by Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy in Asian Minor. The Walters Art Museum.

Eratosthenes – Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the librarian at the Library of Alexandria. He invented the discipline of geography, including the terminology used today and he is best known for being the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth, which he did by applying a measuring system using stadia, a standard unit of measure during that time period. He was also the first to calculate the tilt of the Earths axis, additionally, he may have accurately calculated the distance from the Earth to the Sun and invented the leap day. He created the first map of the world, incorporating parallels, Eratosthenes was the founder of scientific chronology, he endeavored to revise the dates of the chief literary and political events from the conquest of Troy. In number theory, he introduced the sieve of Eratosthenes, an efficient method of identifying prime numbers and he was a figure of influenc

1. 19th-century reconstruction of Eratosthenes' map of the known world, c. 194 BC

2. Eratosthenes

3. The Burning of the Library at Alexandria in 391 AD, an illustration from "Hutchinsons History of the Nations", c. 1910

Nemesis (mythology) – In the ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia/ Rhamnusia was the goddess who enacted retribution against those who succumb to hubris. Another name was Adrasteia/ Adrestia, meaning the inescapable and her Roman name/ counterpart is Invidia. The name Nemesis is related to the Greek word νέμειν némein, meaning to give what is due, divine retribution is a major theme in the Hellenic world view, providing the unifying theme of the tragedies of Sophocles and many other literary works. Hesiod states, Also deadly Nyx bore Nemesis an affliction to mortals subject to death, Nemesis appears in a still more concrete form in a fragment of the epic Cypria. As the Goddess of Rhamnous, Nemesis was honored and placated in a sanctuary in the isolated district of Rhamnous. There she was a daughter of Oceanus, the primeval river-ocean that encircles the world, pausanias noted her iconic statue there. Her cult may have originated at Smyrna and she is portrayed as a winged goddess wielding

1. Nemesis, by Alfred Rethel (1837)

2. Nemesis on a brass sestertius of Hadrian, struck at Rome AD 136

3. Nemesis, Roman marble from Egypt, second century AD (Louvre)

Pausanias (geographer) – Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities

1. Manuscript (1485), of Pausanias' Description of Greece at the Laurentian Library

Strabo – Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Empe

1. Strabo as depicted in a 16th-century engraving

2. Title page from Isaac Casaubon 's 1620 edition of Geographica.

3. Statue of Strabo in his hometown (modern-day Amasya, Turkey), beside the Iris (Yeşilırmak) River.

4. Map of Europe according to Strabo.

Ovid – Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists and he enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, a poem and a mistake and his poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology, Ovid talks more about his own life than most other Roman poets. Information about his biography is drawn primarily from his poetry, especially Tristia 4.10, other sources include Se

1. Statue (1887) by Ettore Ferrari commemorating Ovid's exile in Tomis (present-day Constanța, Romania)

2. A second statue of Ovid by Ettore Ferrari in the Piazza XX Settembre, Sulmona, Italy.

3. Ovid Banished from Rome (1838) by J.M.W. Turner.

4. Medea in a fresco from Herculaneum.

Metamorphoses – The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple classification by its use of varying themes and tones. One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in acclaimed works of sculpture, painting, and music. The work has been the subject of numerous translations into English, Ovids decision to make myth the dominant subject of the Metamorphoses was influenced by the predisposition of Alexandrian poetry. However, whereas it served in that tradition as the cause for reflection or insight, he made it instead the object of play. There are three

1. Title page of 1556 edition published by Joannes Gryphius (decorative border added subsequently). Hayden White Rare Book Collection, University of California, Santa Cruz.

2. A woodcut from Virgil Solis illustrating the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, the final event of the poem (XV.745–850).

3. A depiction of the story of Pygmalion by Jean Raoux (1717).

4. Apollo and Daphne by Antonio Pollaiuolo, one tale of transformation in the Metamorphoses —he lusts after her and she escapes him by turning into a bay laurel.

Antoninus Liberalis – Antoninus Liberalis was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD100 and 300. This work has more polished parallels in the better-known Metamorphoses of Ovid, like them, its sources, where they can be traced, are Hellenistic works, such as Nicanders Heteroeumena and Ornithogonia ascribed to Boios. The work survives in a manuscript, of the later 9th century, now in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg. John Stojkovič brought it to the Dominican convent at Basel about 1437, in 1553, Hieronymus Froeben gave it to Otto Henry, Elector Palatine, who gave it to the Library. Guilielmus Xylander printed the text in 1568, since some leaves have since disappeared, many of the transformations in this compilation are found nowhere else, and some may simply be inventions of Antoninus

1. Antoninus Liberalis Transformationum congeries, 1676 edition

Tzetzes – John Tzetzes was a Byzantine poet and grammarian, known to have lived at Constantinople during the 12th century. His most important work is the Chiliades, Tzetzes was Greek on his fathers side and Iberian on his mothers side. Tzetzes was described as vain, seems to have resented any attempt at rivalry, owing to a lack of written material, he was obliged to trust to his memory, therefore caution has to be exercised in reading his work. However, he was learned, and made a contribution to the furtherance of the study of ancient Greek literature. The most important of his works is considered to be the Book of Histories. The whole production suffers from a display of learning, the total number of authors quoted being more than 400. The author subsequently brought out an edition with marginal notes in prose and verse. His collection of 107 Letters addressed partly to fictitious personages, and partly to the men and women of the writers time. Tzetzes supplemented Homers Iliad by a work that b

1. 16th-century manuscript of Hesiod 's Theogony with commentaries by John Tzetze

LIST OF IMAGES

1. Greek mythology – 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

Greek mythology – Bust of Zeus, Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican).
Greek mythology – Greek Mythology
Greek mythology – Prometheus (1868 by Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound, and Prometheus Pyrphoros.
Greek mythology – The Roman poet Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.

2. Swan – Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus. The swans close relatives include the geese and ducks, Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a subfamily, Cygninae. There are six or seven species of swan in the genus Cygnus, in there is another species known as the coscoroba swan. Swans usually mate for life, though divorce does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight. The English word swan, akin to the German Schwan, Dutch zwaan, an adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe, an adult female is a pen. Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family Anatidae, the largest species, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, and whooper swan, can reach a length of over 1.5 m and weigh over 15 kg. Their wingspans can be over 3.1 m, compared to the closely related geese, they are much larger and have proportionally larger feet and necks. Adults also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill, the sexes are alike in plumage, but males are generally bigger and heavier than females. The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black, the Australian black swan is completely black except for the white flight feathers on its wings, the chicks of black swans are light grey. The South American black-necked swan has a body with a black neck. The legs of swans are normally a dark grey colour. Bill colour varies, the four species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow. The mute swan and black-necked swan have lumps at the base of their bills on the upper mandible, Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. A group of swans is called a bevy or a wedge in flight, four species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, one species is found in Australia and New Zealand and one species is distributed in southern South America. They are absent from tropical Asia, Central America, northern South America, one species, the mute swan, has been introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand. Several species are migratory, either wholly or partly so, the mute swan is a partial migrant, being resident over areas of Western Europe but wholly migratory in Eastern Europe and Asia. The whooper swan and tundra swan are wholly migratory, and the swans are almost entirely migratory

Swan – Swans Temporal range: Late Miocene - Holocene
Swan – An adult trumpeter swan in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Swan – Whooper swans migrate from Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Northern Russia to Europe, Central Asia, China, and Japan
Swan – Mute swan threatens a photographer in Toyako, Japan.

3. Ares – Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and his sons Phobos and Deimos and his lover, or sister, Enyo accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Iliad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him, an association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. His value as a war god is placed in doubt, during the Trojan War, Ares was on the side, while Athena, often depicted in Greek art as holding Nike in her hand. Ares plays a limited role in Greek mythology as represented in literary narratives, though his numerous love affairs. When Ares does appear in myths, he typically faces humiliation and he is well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was married to Hephaestus, god of craftsmanship. The most famous story related to Ares and Aphrodite shows them exposed to ridicule through the wronged husbands device. The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars, who as a father of the Roman people was given a more important, during the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name of Mars. Greek writers under Roman rule also recorded cult practices and beliefs pertaining to Mars under the name of Ares, thus in the classical tradition of later Western art and literature, the mythology of the two figures becomes virtually indistinguishable. The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the Greek word ἀρή, there may also be a connection with the Roman god of war Mars, via hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *M̥rēs, compare Ancient Greek μάρναμαι, I fight, I battle. Walter Burkert notes that Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name. The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek

Ares – Statue of Ares from Hadrian's Villa
Ares – Vatican, Rome, Italy. Statue of Ares, Scopas' influence. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
Ares – The Areopagus as viewed from the Acropolis.
Ares – The Ludovisi Ares, Roman version of a Greek original c. 320 BC, with 17th-century restorations by Bernini

4. Apollo – Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf

Apollo – Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo – Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at Bassae in southern Greece
Apollo – Temple of the Delians at Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.
Apollo – Temple of Apollo Smintheus at Çanakkale, Turkey

5. Suitors of Penelope – The suitors of Penelope are one of the main subjects of Homers Odyssey. In The Odyssey, Homer describes Odysseus journey home from the Trojan War, prior to the Trojan War, Odysseus was King of Ithaca, a Greek island known for its isolation and rugged terrain. When Odysseus departs from Ithaca to fight for the Greeks in the war, he leaves behind a child, Telemachus. Although most surviving Greek soldiers return shortly after the end of the fighting, during Odysseus long absence, unmarried men start to suspect that Odysseus died in Troy or on the journey home. Under the pretense of courting Penelope, these men, called the suitors, take up residence in Odysseus home. Rather than simply rejecting the suitors, Penelope devises a plan to delay their courtship and she claims she will choose a husband after she has finished weaving a funeral shroud to present to Odysseus father, Laertes. For three years, Penelope weaves the shroud during the day and unravels it at night, awaiting her husbands return, the suitors learn of Penelopes delaying tactic when one of her maidservants, Melantho, reveals it to her lover Eurymachus. Upon finding out, the demand that she choose a husband from among them. The suitors behave badly in Odysseus home, drinking his wine, Odysseus son, Telemachus, now a young man, is frustrated with the suitors. Telemachus laments to Athena about the suitors behavior, in return, Athena urges Telemachus to stand up to the suitors and go search of his father. Once Odysseus returns home, his son Telemachus tells him there are 108 suitors,52 from Dulichium,24 from Same,20 Achaeans from Zacynthus. Together, Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoetius kill the suitors, although there are many suitors, three are particularly important to the narrative of the epic. Although his plan to murder Telemachus is vetoed by Amphinomus, Antinous continues to behave arrogantly, when Odysseus finally returns home, disguised as a beggar, Antinous does not show him hospitality and throws a stool at him. Eurymachus, son of Polybus, is the second of the suitors to appear in the epic, Eurymachus acts as a leader among the suitors because of his charisma. He is noted to be the most likely to win Penelopes hand because her father and brothers support the union, although he is charismatic, Eurymachus is deceitful. Eurymachus discovers Penelopes plot because he is having an affair with one of Penelopes maidservants, further, when Odysseus reveals himself to the suitors, Eurymachus attempts to avoid punishment for the suitors misdeeds by blaming them all on Antinous. Amphinomus, son of King Nisos, is the most sympathetic of the suitors, Amphinomus attempts twice to dissuade the suitors from murdering Telemachus. Odysseus recognizes this and attempts to warn Amphinomus to leave the home before the final battle, despite this, Amphinomus stays and dies along with the other suitors

Suitors of Penelope – Penelope and the Suitors by John William Waterhouse (1912).
Suitors of Penelope – Slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and Telemachus, Campanian red-figure bell- krater, c. 330 BC, Louvre (CA 7124)

6. Achaea – Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaïa, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece and is situated in the part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Since 2001, the population has exceeded 300,000, Achaea is bordered by Elis to the west and southwest, Arcadia to the south, and Corinthia to the east and southeast. The Gulf of Corinth lies to its northeast, and the Gulf of Patras to its northwest, the mountain Panachaiko, though not the highest of Achaea, dominates the coastal area near Patras. Higher mountains are found in the south, such as Aroania, other mountain ranges in Achaea are Skollis, Omplos, Kombovouni and Movri. Its main rivers ordered from west to east are the Larissos, Tytheus, Peiros, Charadros, Selinountas, most of the forests are in the mountain ranges, though several are in the plains including the extreme west. There are grasslands around the areas and barren lands in the highest areas. Achaea has hot summers and mild winters, sunny days dominate during the summer months in areas near the coast, while the summer can be cloudy and rainy in the mountains. Snow is very common during the winter in the mountains of Erymanthos, Panachaiko, winter high temperatures are around the 10 °C mark throughout the low-lying areas. The regional unit Achaea is subdivided into 5 municipalities and these are, Aigialeia Erymanthos Kalavryta Patras West Achaea As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Achaea was created out of the former prefecture Achaea. The prefecture had the territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below, Province of Aigialeia - Aigio Province of Kalavryta - Kalavryta Province of Patras - Patras Note, Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece. The Achaean League was a Hellenistic-era confederation of city states in Achaea and it later grew until it included most of Peloponnese, much reducing the Macedonian rule in the area. After Macedons defeat by the Romans in the late 2nd century BC, however, as the Roman influence in the area grew, the league erupted into an open revolt against Roman domination, in what is known as Achaean War. The Achaeans were defeated at the Battle of Corinth, and the League was dissolved by the Romans, in AD 51/52, Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus was proconsul of Achaea, and presided over the trial of the Apostle Paul in Corinth. This event provides a date for the book of the Acts of the Apostles within the Bible. Achaea remained a province of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the western Roman Empire, in the 6th and 7th centuries, Slavs invaded the Peloponnese, and settled in parts of Achaea as well. By the 9th century, the peninsula was under Byzantine control again

Achaea – Gulf of Patras
Achaea – Municipalities of Achaea
Achaea – Mount Aroania or Chelmos.
Achaea – Mount Erymanthos

7. Leda (mythology) – 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

Leda (mythology) – Leda and the Swan, 16th-century copy after the lost painting by Michelangelo
Leda (mythology) – Leda, by Gustave Moreau
Leda (mythology) – Leda with the Swan, a restored Roman copy, perhaps after an original by Timotheus (Museo del Prado)

8. Dioscuri – In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux, or Kastor and Polydeuces, were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers, Castor was the son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters or half-sisters Helen of Troy. In Latin the twins are known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, the pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmos fire, and were also associated with horsemanship. They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus, the best-known story of the twins birth is that Zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced Leda. Thus Ledas children are said to have hatched from two eggs that she then produced. The Dioscuri can be recognized in vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the pilos, whether the children are thus mortal or half-immortal is not consistent among accounts, nor is whether the twins hatched together from one egg. In some accounts, only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and this explains why they were granted an alternate immortality. It is a belief that one would live among the gods. 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. 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 some early traditions, both were mortal. Their death and shared immortality offered by Zeus was material of the lost Cypria in the Epic cycle, the Dioscuri were regarded as helpers of humankind and held to be patrons of travellers and of sailors in particular, who invoked them to seek favourable winds. Their role as horsemen and boxers also led to them being regarded as the patrons of athletes and they characteristically intervened at the moment of crisis, aiding those who honoured or trusted them. Ancient Greek authors tell a number of versions of the story of Castor, homer portrays them initially as ordinary mortals, treating them as dead in the Iliad, but in the Odyssey they are treated as alive even though the corn-bearing earth holds them. The author describes them as having honour equal to gods, living on alternate days due to the intervention of Zeus, in both the Odyssey and in Hesiod, they are described as the sons of Tyndareus and Leda. In Pindar, Pollux is the son of Zeus while Castor is the son of the mortal Tyndareus, the theme of ambiguous parentage is not unique to Castor and Pollux, similar characterisations appear in the stories of Hercules and Theseus. The Dioscuri are also invoked in Alcaeus Fragment 34a, though whether this poem antedates the Homeric Hymn to the twins is unknown and they appear together in two plays by Euripides, Helen and Elektra

Dioscuri – Dioscuri (Pollux or Castor), Rome, Capitol
Dioscuri – Dioscuri (Castor or Pollux), Rome, Capitol
Dioscuri – Castor depicted on a calyx krater of ca. 460–450 BC, holding a horse's reins and spears and wearing a pilos -style helmet
Dioscuri – Pair of Roman statuettes (3rd century AD) depicting the Dioscuri as horsemen, with their characteristic skullcaps (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

9. Helen of Troy – 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

Helen of Troy – Helen and Menelaus: Menelaus intends to strike Helen; captivated by her beauty, he drops his sword. A flying Eros and Aphrodite (on the left) watch the scene. Detail of an Attic red-figure krater, c. 450–440 BC (Paris, Louvre)
Helen of Troy – Leda and the Swan by Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510, Wilton). The artist has been intrigued by the idea of Helen's unconventional birth; she and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.
Helen of Troy – Theseus pursuing a woman, probably Helen. Side A from an Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 440–430 BC (Louvre, Paris).
Helen of Troy – In this painting by Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy in Asian Minor. The Walters Art Museum.

10. Eratosthenes – Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the librarian at the Library of Alexandria. He invented the discipline of geography, including the terminology used today and he is best known for being the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth, which he did by applying a measuring system using stadia, a standard unit of measure during that time period. He was also the first to calculate the tilt of the Earths axis, additionally, he may have accurately calculated the distance from the Earth to the Sun and invented the leap day. He created the first map of the world, incorporating parallels, Eratosthenes was the founder of scientific chronology, he endeavored to revise the dates of the chief literary and political events from the conquest of Troy. In number theory, he introduced the sieve of Eratosthenes, an efficient method of identifying prime numbers and he was a figure of influence in many fields. According to an entry in the Suda, his critics scorned him, nonetheless, his devotees nicknamed him Pentathlos after the Olympians who were well rounded competitors, for he had proven himself to be knowledgeable in every area of learning. Eratosthenes yearned to understand the complexities of the entire world, the son of Aglaos, Eratosthenes was born in 276 BC in Cyrene. Alexander the Great conquered Cyrene in 332 BC, and following his death in 323 BC, its rule was given to one of his generals, Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Under Ptolemaic rule the economy prospered, based largely on the export of horses and silphium, Cyrene became a place of cultivation, where knowledge blossomed. Eratosthenes went to Athens to further his studies, there he was taught Stoicism by its founder, Zeno of Citium, in philosophical lectures on living a virtuous life. He then studied under Ariston of Chios, who led a more cynical school of philosophy and he also studied under the head of the Platonic Academy, who was Arcesilaus of Pitane. His interest in Plato led him to write his very first work at a level, Platonikos. Eratosthenes was a man of many perspectives and investigated the art of poetry under Callimachus and he was a talented and imaginative poet. He wrote poems, one in hexameters called Hermes, illustrating the life history. He wrote Chronographies, a text that scientifically depicted dates of importance and this work was highly esteemed for its accuracy. George Syncellus was later able to preserve from Chronographies a list of 38 kings of the Egyptian Thebes, Eratosthenes also wrote Olympic Victors, a chronology of the winners of the Olympic Games. It is not known when he wrote his works, but they highlighted his abilities and these works and his great poetic abilities led the pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes to seek to place him as a librarian at the Library of Alexandria in the year 245 BC

Eratosthenes – 19th-century reconstruction of Eratosthenes' map of the known world, c. 194 BC
Eratosthenes – Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes – The Burning of the Library at Alexandria in 391 AD, an illustration from "Hutchinsons History of the Nations", c. 1910

11. Nemesis (mythology) – In the ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia/ Rhamnusia was the goddess who enacted retribution against those who succumb to hubris. Another name was Adrasteia/ Adrestia, meaning the inescapable and her Roman name/ counterpart is Invidia. The name Nemesis is related to the Greek word νέμειν némein, meaning to give what is due, divine retribution is a major theme in the Hellenic world view, providing the unifying theme of the tragedies of Sophocles and many other literary works. Hesiod states, Also deadly Nyx bore Nemesis an affliction to mortals subject to death, Nemesis appears in a still more concrete form in a fragment of the epic Cypria. As the Goddess of Rhamnous, Nemesis was honored and placated in a sanctuary in the isolated district of Rhamnous. There she was a daughter of Oceanus, the primeval river-ocean that encircles the world, pausanias noted her iconic statue there. Her cult may have originated at Smyrna and she is portrayed as a winged goddess wielding a whip or a dagger. In early times the representations of Nemesis resembled Aphrodite, who bears the epithet Nemesis. Later, as the goddess of proportion and the avenger of crime, she has as attributes a measuring rod, a bridle, scales, a sword, and a scourge. The word Nemesis originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, later, nemesis came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice that could not allow it to pass unpunished. O. Gruppe and others connect the name with to feel just resentment, from the fourth century onward, Nemesis, as the just balancer of Fortunes chance, could be associated with Tyche. In the Greek tragedies Nemesis appears chiefly as the avenger of crime and the punisher of hubris, and as such is akin to Atë and the Erinyes. She was sometimes called Adrasteia, probably meaning one from whom there is no escape, her epithet Erinys is specially applied to Demeter, Nemesis has been described as the daughter of Oceanus or Zeus, but according to Hyginus she was a child of Erebus and Nyx. She has also described, by Hesiod as the daughter of Nyx alone. In some metaphysical mythology, Nemesis produced the egg from which hatched two sets of twins, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. While many myths indicate Zeus and Leda to be the parents of Helen of Troy, Nemesis, to avoid Zeus, turns into a goose, but he turns into a swan and mates with her. Nemesis in her bird form lays an egg that is discovered in the marshes by a shepherd and it is in this way that Leda comes to be the mother of Helen of Troy, as she kept the egg in a chest until it hatched. Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of Aegina, Cypria Fragment 8, but Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her

Nemesis (mythology) – Nemesis, by Alfred Rethel (1837)
Nemesis (mythology) – Nemesis on a brass sestertius of Hadrian, struck at Rome AD 136
Nemesis (mythology) – Nemesis, Roman marble from Egypt, second century AD (Louvre)

12. Pausanias (geographer) – Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities of Campania. He was one of the first to write of seeing the ruins of Troy, Alexandria Troas, Pausanias Description of Greece is in ten books, each dedicated to some portion of Greece. He begins his tour in Attica, where the city of Athens, subsequent books describe Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boetia, Phocis and Ozolian Locris. He famously leaves out key portions of Greece such as Crete, the project is more than topographical, it is a cultural geography. Pausanias digresses from description of architectural and artistic objects to review the mythological and historical underpinnings of the society that produced them and his work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece. He is not a naturalist by any means, though he does from time to comment on the physical realities of the Greek landscape. He notices the pine trees on the sandy coast of Elis, the deer and the boars in the oak woods of Phelloe. Pausanias is most at home in describing the art and architecture of Olympia. Yet, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of depictions of gods, holy relics, Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary. Some magnificent and dominating structures, such as the Stoa of King Attalus in the Athenian Agora or the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia are not even mentioned. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he criticizes the myths. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned and they bear the impression of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly frank in his confessions of ignorance, when he quotes a book at second hand he takes pains to say so

Pausanias (geographer) – Manuscript (1485), of Pausanias' Description of Greece at the Laurentian Library

13. Strabo – Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around 17 or 18 AD, the latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD23 of Juba II, king of Maurousia, who is said to have died just recently. He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, on the presumption that recently means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next, when he died. The first of Strabos major works, Historical Sketches, written while he was in Rome, is completely lost. Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his life at different stops along his Mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, Strabo was an admirer of Homers poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, despite Xenarchuss Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, the final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items, his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts, moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which he would not otherwise have known. Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica, which presented a history of people. Although the Geographica was rarely utilized in its antiquity, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469, the first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice

Strabo – Strabo as depicted in a 16th-century engraving
Strabo – Title page from Isaac Casaubon 's 1620 edition of Geographica.
Strabo – Statue of Strabo in his hometown (modern-day Amasya, Turkey), beside the Iris (Yeşilırmak) River.
Strabo – Map of Europe according to Strabo.

14. Ovid – Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists and he enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, a poem and a mistake and his poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology, Ovid talks more about his own life than most other Roman poets. Information about his biography is drawn primarily from his poetry, especially Tristia 4.10, other sources include Seneca the Elder and Quintilian. Ovid was born in Sulmo, in an Apennine valley east of Rome, to an important equestrian family and that was a significant year in Roman politics. He was educated in rhetoric in Rome under the teachers Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro with his brother who excelled at oratory and his father wanted him to study rhetoric toward the practice of law. According to Seneca the Elder, Ovid tended to the emotional, after the death of his brother at 20 years of age, Ovid renounced law and began travelling to Athens, Asia Minor, and Sicily. Ovids first recitation has been dated to around 25 BC, when he was eighteen and he was part of the circle centered on the patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, and seems to have been a friend of poets in the circle of Maecenas. 4.10. 41–54, Ovid mentions friendships with Macer, Propertius, Horace, Ovid was very popular at the time of his early works, but was later exiled by Augustus in AD8. He married three times and divorced twice by the time he was thirty years old and he had one daughter, who eventually bore him grandchildren. His last wife was connected in some way to the influential gens Fabia, the first 25 years of Ovids literary career were spent primarily writing poetry in elegiac meter with erotic themes. The chronology of early works is not secure, tentative dates. 2.18. 19–26 that seems to describe the collection as a published work. The authenticity of some of these poems has been challenged, between the publications of the two editions of the Amores can be dated the premiere of his tragedy Medea, which was admired in antiquity but is no longer extant. Ovid may identify this work in his poetry as the carmen, or song. The Ars Amatoria was followed by the Remedia Amoris in the same year and this corpus of elegiac, erotic poetry earned Ovid a place among the chief Roman elegists Gallus, Tibullus, and Propertius, of whom he saw himself as the fourth member

Ovid – Statue (1887) by Ettore Ferrari commemorating Ovid's exile in Tomis (present-day Constanța, Romania)
Ovid – A second statue of Ovid by Ettore Ferrari in the Piazza XX Settembre, Sulmona, Italy.
Ovid – Ovid Banished from Rome (1838) by J.M.W. Turner.
Ovid – Medea in a fresco from Herculaneum.

15. Metamorphoses – The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple classification by its use of varying themes and tones. One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in acclaimed works of sculpture, painting, and music. The work has been the subject of numerous translations into English, Ovids decision to make myth the dominant subject of the Metamorphoses was influenced by the predisposition of Alexandrian poetry. However, whereas it served in that tradition as the cause for reflection or insight, he made it instead the object of play. There are three examples of the Metamorphoses by later Hellenistic writers, but little is known of their contents, the Heteroioumena by Nicander of Colophon is better known, and clearly an influence on the poem —21 of the stories from this work were treated in the Metamorphoses. However, in a way that was typical for writers of the period, the Metamorphoses was longer than any previous collection of metamorphosis myths and positioned itself within a historical framework. Some of the Metamorphoses derives from literary and poetic treatment of the same myths. This material was of varying quality and comprehensiveness — while some of it was finely worked, scholars have found it difficult to place the Metamorphoses in a genre. However, the handles the themes and employs the tone of virtually every species of literature, ranging from epic and elegy to tragedy. Commenting on the debate, G. Karl Galinsky has opined that. It would be misguided to pin the label of any genre on the Metamorphoses and it begins with the ritual invocation of the muse, and makes use of traditional epithets and circumlocutions. But instead of following and extolling the deeds of a human hero, the recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovids work, is love—be it personal love or love personified in the figure of Amor. Apollo comes in for particular ridicule as Ovid shows how love can confound the god out of reason. The work as a whole inverts the order, elevating humans and human passions while making the gods and their desires. The Metamorphoses ends with an epilogue, one of two surviving Latin epics to do so. Book I – The Creation, the Ages of Mankind, the flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha, Apollo and Daphne, Io, Book II – Phaëton, Callisto, the raven and the crow, Ocyrhoe, Mercury and Battus, the envy of Aglauros, Jupiter and Europa

Metamorphoses – Title page of 1556 edition published by Joannes Gryphius (decorative border added subsequently). Hayden White Rare Book Collection, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Metamorphoses – A woodcut from Virgil Solis illustrating the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, the final event of the poem (XV.745–850).
Metamorphoses – A depiction of the story of Pygmalion by Jean Raoux (1717).
Metamorphoses – Apollo and Daphne by Antonio Pollaiuolo, one tale of transformation in the Metamorphoses —he lusts after her and she escapes him by turning into a bay laurel.

16. Antoninus Liberalis – Antoninus Liberalis was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD100 and 300. This work has more polished parallels in the better-known Metamorphoses of Ovid, like them, its sources, where they can be traced, are Hellenistic works, such as Nicanders Heteroeumena and Ornithogonia ascribed to Boios. The work survives in a manuscript, of the later 9th century, now in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg. John Stojkovič brought it to the Dominican convent at Basel about 1437, in 1553, Hieronymus Froeben gave it to Otto Henry, Elector Palatine, who gave it to the Library. Guilielmus Xylander printed the text in 1568, since some leaves have since disappeared, many of the transformations in this compilation are found nowhere else, and some may simply be inventions of Antoninus

Antoninus Liberalis – Antoninus Liberalis Transformationum congeries, 1676 edition

17. Tzetzes – John Tzetzes was a Byzantine poet and grammarian, known to have lived at Constantinople during the 12th century. His most important work is the Chiliades, Tzetzes was Greek on his fathers side and Iberian on his mothers side. Tzetzes was described as vain, seems to have resented any attempt at rivalry, owing to a lack of written material, he was obliged to trust to his memory, therefore caution has to be exercised in reading his work. However, he was learned, and made a contribution to the furtherance of the study of ancient Greek literature. The most important of his works is considered to be the Book of Histories. The whole production suffers from a display of learning, the total number of authors quoted being more than 400. The author subsequently brought out an edition with marginal notes in prose and verse. His collection of 107 Letters addressed partly to fictitious personages, and partly to the men and women of the writers time. Tzetzes supplemented Homers Iliad by a work that begins with the birth of Paris, in the Antehomerica, Tzetzes recalled the events taking place before Homers Iliad. This work was followed by the Homerica, covering the events of the Iliad, all three are currently available in English translations. For the other works of Tzetzes see J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca, xi.228, litt. monograph by G. Hart, De Tzetzarum nomine, vitis, scriptis, in Jahns Jahrbucher für classische Philologie. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Tzetzes. Gautier, Paul, La curieuse ascendance de Jean Tzetzes, revue des Études Byzantines,28, 207-20

Tzetzes – 16th-century manuscript of Hesiod 's Theogony with commentaries by John Tzetze