1.
Seduction
–
Strategies of seduction include, conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual features, non-verbal communication and short term behavioural strategies. The word seduction stems from Latin and means literally leading astray, as a result, the term may have a positive or negative connotation. Famous seducers from history or legend include Lilith, Giacomo Casanova, the emergence of the Internet and technology has supported the availability and the existence of a seduction community, which is based on discourse about seduction. This is predominately by pickup artists, Seduction is also used within marketing to increase compliance and willingness. Seduction is a motif in history and fiction, both as a warning of the social consequences of engaging in the behaviour or becoming its victim. In the Bible, Eve offers the forbidden fruit to Adam, Eve herself was verbally seduced by the serpent, believed in Christianity to be Satan, later, Chapter 7 of Proverbs warns of the pitfalls of seduction. Sirens of Greek mythology lured sailors to their death by singing them to shipwreck, famous male seducers, their names synonymous with sexual allure, range from Genji to James Bond. If her father refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. The Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament describes King David seducing Bathsheba, King David has sexual relations with this woman, and then sends her husband to the front lines of battle with near certainty of death. Once Uriah is dead, King David takes Bathsheba as his wife, males and females both implement the strategy of seduction as a method of negotiating their sexual relationships. This can often involve manipulation of other individuals and this is primarily based on desire, normally physical, as well as attraction towards them. Popular phrases often used include, ‘the language of love is universal’ and these phrases help to demonstrate the extensively pervasive and ubiquitous strategy use within love and relationships amongst humans. Research has indicated that seduction could substitute or equate to a form of collapsed or condensed courtship, evolutionary psychology suggests that this form of sexual enticement can be used in order to cajole desired individuals to engage in sexual intercourse and ultimately reproduce. This behaviour is also aimed at persuading someone to develop a short-term or long-term sexual relationship with them, males declare that they adopt the strategy of seduction statistically more frequently than females. From an evolutionary perspective this is due to higher parental investment. Females therefore need to be seduced more prior to engaging in sexual intercourse, men more commonly wish to engage in more frequent short-term mating, which may require this strategy of seduction used to access the female for intercourse. However, this finding has been contradicted by non-verbal seduction results which indicate that females have more control within this area, other potential strategies individuals employ to gain access to a mate include courting or having relatives select mates for socioeconomic reasons. Ultimately, both males and females have reported preferring seduction above all other strategies, such as the use power or aggression, Seduction is related to human mate poaching
Seduction
–
Don Juan in
Mozart's opera
Don Giovanni, a painting by
Max Slevogt
2.
Vampire
–
A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and they wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from todays gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, porphyria was also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited. However, it is Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula which is remembered as the vampire novel. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, the vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre. Vampires had already discussed in French and German literature. After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the practice of exhuming bodies. These reports, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity, among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *ǫpyrь and *ǫpirь. Another, less widespread theory, is that the Slavic languages have borrowed the word from a Turkic term for witch. Czech linguist Václav Machek proposes Slovak verb vrepiť sa, or its hypothetical anagram vperiť sa as an etymological background, and thus translates upír as someone who thrusts, bites. An early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise Word of Saint Grigoriy, dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, the notion of vampirism has existed for millennia. Cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour, these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin and its left eye was often open. It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, although vampires were generally described as undead, some folktales spoke of them as living beings. The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore, in Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead
Vampire
–
The Vampire, by
Philip Burne-Jones, 1897
Vampire
–
Vampyren, "The Vampire", by
Edvard Munch
Vampire
–
“The Vampire”, lithograph by R. de Moraine (1864).
Vampire
–
Lilith (1892), by
John Collier
3.
Sleeping gas
–
Sleeping gas is an oneirogenic general anaesthetic that is used to put subjects into a state in which they are not conscious of what is happening around them. Incapacitating agent is a general term for knockout gases or KO gas that ideally render a person unable to harm themselves or others. Most sleeping gases have undesirable effects, or are effective at doses that approach toxicity. Possible side effects might not prevent use of sleeping gas by criminals willing to murder, there are reports of thieves spraying sleeping gases on campers, or in train compartments in some parts of Europe. Alarms are sold to detect and alert to such attacks, so people believe sleeping gas is dangerous to health. The perpetrators would then wait for the women to be incapacitated, later, the women would awaken to a pounding headache, find blood, semen or dirt on their sheets, and would sometimes discover their extremities had also been bound. Most did not remember the attacks, although a few had vague, several men and boys were also suspected of having been raped. While additional actors were thought to have participated, they were never identified nor prosecuted, in fact, the rapes did not stop with the incarceration of the original eight men
Sleeping gas
–
Picture of a sleeping gas alarm on sale in
Finland.
4.
The Lady from Shanghai
–
The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 film noir directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King, although The Lady from Shanghai initially received mixed reviews, it has grown in stature over the years, and many critics have praised its set designs and camerawork. Irish sailor Michael OHara meets the beautiful blonde Elsa as she rides a horse-drawn coach in Central Park, Michael rescues Elsa and escorts her home. Michael reveals he is a seaman and learns Elsa and her husband and they are on their way to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Michael, attracted to Elsa despite misgivings, agrees to sign on as a seaman aboard Bannisters yacht. They are joined on the boat by Bannisters partner, George Grisby and he promises Michael $5,000 and explains that since he would not really be dead and since there would be no corpse, Michael could not be convicted of murder. Michael agrees, intending to use the money to run away with Elsa, Grisby has Michael sign a confession. On the eve of the crime, Sydney Broome, an investigator who has been following Elsa on her husbands orders. Broome has learned of Grisbys plan to actually murder Bannister, frame Michael, Grisby shoots Broome and leaves him for dead. Unaware of what has happened, Michael proceeds with the nights arrangement, meanwhile, Broome, injured but alive, asks Elsa for help. He warns her that Grisby intends to kill her husband, Michael makes a phone call to Elsa, but finds Broome on the other end of the line. Broome warns Michael that Grisby was setting him up, Michael rushes to Bannisters office in time to see Bannister is alive, but that the police are removing Grisbys body from the premises. The police find evidence implicating Michael, including his confession, at trial, Bannister acts as Michaels attorney. He feels he can win the case if Michael pleads justifiable homicide, during the trial, Bannister learns of his wifes relationship with Michael. He ultimately takes pleasure in his suspicion that they lose the case. Bannister also indicates that he knows the killers identity. Before the verdict, Michael escapes by feigning a suicide attempt, Michael and she hide in a Chinatown theater. Elsa calls some Chinese friends to meet her, as Michael and Elsa wait and pretend to watch the show, Michael realizes that she killed Grisby
The Lady from Shanghai
–
Theatrical release poster
The Lady from Shanghai
–
Welles as Michael O'Hara in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
The Lady from Shanghai
–
The
Zaca in 2006
5.
Film noir
–
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly such that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywoods classical film noir period is regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression. Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively, before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic films noir were referred to as melodramas. Whether film noir qualifies as a genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars. Although film noir was originally associated with American productions, films now so described have been made around the world, many pictures released from the 1960s onward share attributes with film noir of the classical period, and often treat its conventions self-referentially. Some refer to such works as neo-noir. The clichés of film noir have inspired parody since the mid-1940s, the questions of what defines film noir, and what sort of category it is, provoke continuing debate. They emphasize that not every film noir embodies all five attributes in equal measure—one might be more dreamlike, another, while many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. Because of the diversity of noir, certain scholars in the field, such as film historian Thomas Schatz, treat it as not a genre but a style. Other critics treat film noir as a mood, characterize it as a series, there is no consensus on the matter. By 1931, Curtiz had already been in Hollywood for half a decade, the Universal horror that comes closest to noir, in story and sensibility is The Invisible Man, directed by Englishman James Whale and photographed by American Arthur Edeson. Edeson later photographed The Maltese Falcon, widely regarded as the first major film noir of the classic era, josef von Sternberg was directing in Hollywood at the same time. Films of his such as Shanghai Express and The Devil Is a Woman, with their hothouse eroticism and baroque visual style, the commercial and critical success of Sternbergs silent Underworld was largely responsible for spurring a trend of Hollywood gangster films. Successful films in that such as Little Caesar, The Public Enemy. An important, possibly influential, cinematic antecedent to classic noir was 1930s French poetic realism, with its romantic, fatalistic attitude, the movements sensibility is mirrored in the Warner Bros. drama I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, a forerunner of noir. Among films not considered films noir, perhaps none had an effect on the development of the genre than Citizen Kane
Film noir
–
Two silhouetted figures in
The Big Combo (1955). The film's
cinematographer was
John Alton, the creator of many of film noir's stylized images.
Film noir
–
It was not until February 1973 that
The New York Times first used the term, describing how the "moods and tensions" in the British private-eye parody
Pulp came "out of the collective depths of the film noir ".
Film noir
–
Marlene Dietrich, an actress frequently called upon to play a
femme fatale, in a publicity shot for
Josef von Sternberg 's melodrama
Morocco (1930)
Film noir
–
The October 1934 issue of
Black Mask featured the first appearance of the detective character whom
Raymond Chandler would develop into the famous
Philip Marlowe.
6.
Folklore
–
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes and they include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations like Christmas and weddings, folk dances, each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next, for folklore is not taught in a formal school curriculum or studied in the fine arts. Instead these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstration, the academic study of folklore is called folkloristics. To fully understand folklore, it is helpful to clarify its component parts and it is well-documented that the term was coined in 1846 by the Englishman William Thoms. He fabricated it to replace the contemporary terminology of popular antiquities or popular literature, the second half of the compound word, lore, proves easier to define as its meaning has stayed relatively stable over the last two centuries. Coming from Old English lār instruction, and with German and Dutch cognates, it is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group, the concept of folk proves somewhat more elusive. When Thoms first created this term, folk applied only to rural, frequently poor, a more modern definition of folk is a social group which includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. Folk is a concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family. This expanded social definition of folk supports a view of the material, i. e. the lore. These now include all things people make with words, things they make with their hands, Folklore is no longer circumscribed as being chronologically old or obsolete. The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a group and how they are transmitted. Transmission is a part of the folklore process. Without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, for folklore is also a verb. These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, the folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, in direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within the social group. Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the significance of these beliefs, customs, for these cultural units would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group
Folklore
–
Horse and Sulky weathervane, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Folklore
–
Hansel and Gretel,
Arthur Rackham, 1909
Folklore
–
The story of
Jahangir and
Anarkali is popular folklore in the former territories of the
Mughal Empire.
7.
Lilith
–
Lilith is a figure in Jewish mythology, developed earliest in the Babylonian Talmud. Evidence in later Jewish materials is plentiful, but little information has survived relating to the original Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian view of these demons. In Hebrew-language texts, the term lilith or lilit first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34,14, in the Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q510-511, the term first occurs in a list of monsters. In Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century CE onwards, Lilith is identified as a female demon and the first visual depictions appear. In Jewish folklore, from the satirical book Alphabet of Sirach onwards, Lilith appears as Adams first wife, the legend developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. The resulting Lilith legend continues to serve as material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy. The semitic root L-Y-L served as derivative for the Hebrew layil and Arabic layl, the Talmudic and Yiddish use of Lilith cognates with the Hebrew. In the Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia the terms lili, some uses of līlītu are listed in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, in Wolfram von Sodens Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, and Reallexikon der Assyriologie. The Sumerian female demons lili have no relation to Akkadian lilu. Archibald Sayce considered that Hebrew lilit Hebrew, לילית, and the earlier Akkadian, charles Fossey has this literally translating to female night being/demon, although cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia exist where Līlīt and Līlītu refers to disease-bearing wind spirits. Samuel Noah Kramer translated ki-sikil-lil-la-ke as Lilith in Tablet XII of the Epic of Gilgamesh dated c.600 BCE. Tablet XII is not part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but is a later Assyrian Akkadian translation of the part of the Sumerian poem of Gilgamesh. The ki-sikil-lil-la-ke is associated with a serpent and a zu bird, in Gilgamesh and the Netherworld, a huluppu tree grows in Inannas garden in Uruk, whose wood she plans to use to build a new throne. After ten years of growth, she comes to harvest it and finds a serpent living at its base, a Zu bird raising young in its crown, and that a ki-sikil-lil-la-ke made a house in its trunk. Gilgamesh is said to have smitten the snake, and then the zu bird flew away to the mountains with its young, while the ki-sikil-lil-la-ke fearfully destroys its house, identification of ki-sikil-lil-la-ke as Lilith is stated in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include ki-sikil as sacred place, lil as spirit, but also simply owl, given that the lil is building a home in the trunk of the tree. A connection between the Gilgamesh ki-sikil-lil-la-ke and the Jewish Lilith was rejected by Dietrich Opitz and rejected on grounds by Sergio Ribichini. The terracotta plaque depicts a beautiful, naked goddess-like sylph with bird-like features who stands atop two lions and between two owls
Lilith
–
Lilith (1892) by
John Collier in
Southport Atkinson Art Gallery
Lilith
–
Burney Relief, Babylon (1800-1750 BCE). Some scholars (e.g.
Emil Kraeling) identified the figure in the relief with Lilith, based on a misreading of an outdated translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Modern research has identified the figure as one of the main goddesses of the Mesopotamian pantheons, most probably
Ishtar or
Ereshkigal.
8.
Siren (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on small islands called Sirenum scopuli. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks, although a Sophocles fragment makes Phorcys their father, when Sirens are named, they are usually as daughters of the river god Achelous, with Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon. In Euripides play, Helen, Helen in her anguish calls upon Winged maidens, although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their meadow starred with flowers and not as sea deities. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys, Sirens are found in many Greek stories, notably in Homers Odyssey. Their number is reported as from two to five. In the Odyssey, Homer says nothing of their origin or names, according to Ovid, the Sirens were the companions of young Persephone. They were given wings by Demeter to search for Persephone when she was abducted, however, the Fabulae of Hyginus has Demeter cursing the Sirens for failing to intervene in the abduction of Persephone. Their song is continually calling on Persephone, the term siren song refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad conclusion. As Jane Ellen Harrison notes of The Ker as siren, It is strange and beautiful that Homer should make the Sirens appeal to the spirit, not to the flesh. The siren song is a promise to Odysseus of mantic truths, with a promise that he will live to tell them, they sing, Once he hears to his hearts content, sails on. We know all the pains that the Greeks and Trojans once endured on the plain of Troy when the gods willed it so— all that comes to pass on the fertile earth. They are mantic creatures like the Sphinx with whom they have much in common and their song takes effect at midday, in a windless calm. The end of song is death. That the sailors flesh is rotting away, suggests it has not been eaten and it has been suggested that, with their feathers stolen, their divine nature kept them alive, but unable to provide food for their visitors, who starved to death by refusing to leave. According to Hyginus, sirens were fated to live only until the mortals who heard their songs were able to pass by them, Sirens were believed to combine women and birds in various ways. In early Greek art, Sirens were represented as birds with womens heads, bird feathers. Later, they were represented as female figures with the legs of birds, with or without wings, playing a variety of musical instruments, especially harps
Siren (mythology)
–
The Siren,
Edward Armitage, 1888
Siren (mythology)
–
The Siren, by
John William Waterhouse (c. 1900), depicted as a fish-chimera
Siren (mythology)
–
Roman mosaic: Odysseus and the Sirens (
Bardo National Museum)
Siren (mythology)
–
Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the
Siren Painter, c. 480–470 BC, (
British Museum)
9.
Sphinx
–
A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion and it is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such stories, as they are killed. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus, unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man. In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a revival during the Renaissance. Sphinxes are generally associated with structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. The oldest known sphinx was found near Gobekli Tepe at another site, Nevali Çori, or possibly 120 miles to the east at Kortik Tepe, Turkey, and was dated to 9,500 BCE. The largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River, the sphinx is located southeast of the pyramids. Although the date of its construction is uncertain, the head of the Great Sphinx now is believed to be that of the pharaoh Khafra, what names their builders gave to these statues is not known. At the Great Sphinx site, a 1400 BCE inscription on a stele belonging to the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose IV lists the names of three aspects of the sun deity of that period, Khepera–Rê–Atum. The theme was expanded to form great avenues of guardian sphinxes lining the approaches to tombs, nine hundred with ram heads, representing Amon, were built in Thebes, where his cult was strongest. Perhaps the first sphinx in Egypt was one depicting Queen Hetepheres II and she was one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of that dynasty. The Great Sphinx has become an emblem of Egypt, frequently appearing on its stamps, coins, from the Bronze Age, the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt, the Greek name, the historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about Egyptian culture. Herodotus called the ram-headed sphinxes Criosphinxes and called the hawk-headed ones Hieracosphinxes, the word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, apparently from the verb σφίγγω, meaning to squeeze, to tighten up. This name may be derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride of lions are the lionesses, There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Orthrus and either Echidna or the Chimera, or perhaps even Ceto, according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are figures from the earliest of Greek myths
Sphinx
–
The
Great Sphinx of Giza, with the
Pyramid of Khufu in the background
Sphinx
–
Perhaps the first Egyptian sphinx, Queen
Hetepheres II from the fourth dynasty (Cairo Museum).
Sphinx
–
Views, Objects: Egypt. Gizeh [selected images]. View 01: Great Sphinx Before Clearance. Giza. 4th Dynasty., n.d. Brooklyn Museum Archives
Sphinx
–
Back of Sphinx, Giza Egypt
10.
Scylla
–
In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within a range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla. Scylla made her first appearance in Homers Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew encounter her, later myth gave her an origin story as a beautiful nymph who gets turned into a monster. The strait where Scylla dwelled has been associated with the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, the idiom between Scylla and Charybdis has come to mean being forced to choose between two equally dangerous situations. The parentage of Scylla varies according to author, Other authors have Hecate as Scyllas mother. The Hesiodic Megalai Ehoiai gives Hecate and Phorbas as the parents of Scylla, while Acusilaus says that Scyllas parents were Hecate and Phorkys. Perhaps trying to reconcile these accounts, Apollonius of Rhodes says that Crataeis was another name for Hecate. Likewise, Semos of Delos says that Crataeis was the daughter of Hecate and Triton, Stesichorus names Lamia as the mother of Scylla, possibly the Lamia who was the daughter of Poseidon, while according to Hyginus, Scylla was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. A similar story is found in Hyginus, according to whom Scylla was loved by Glaucus and her body consisted of 12 tentacle-like legs and a cats tail, while four to six dog-heads ringed her waist. In this form, she attacked the ships of passing sailors, in a late Greek myth, recorded in Eustathius commentary on Homer and John Tzetzes, Heracles encountered Scylla during a journey to Sicily and slew her. Her father, the sea-god Phorcys, then applied flaming torches to her body, in Homers Odyssey XII, Odysseus is advised by Circe to sail closer to Scylla, for Charybdis could drown his whole ship, Hug Scyllas crag—sail on past her—top speed. Better by far to lose six men and keep your ship than lose your entire crew, She also tells Odysseus to ask Scyllas mother, the river nymph Crataeis, to prevent Scylla from pouncing more than once. According to Ovid, the fisherman-turned-sea-god Glaucus fell in love with the beautiful Scylla, when he went to Circe to ask for a love potion to win her, the sorceress herself fell in love with him. Meeting with no success, she became jealous of her rival, prepared a vial of poison and poured it in the sea-pool where Scylla bathed. In vain she offers herself to run And drags about her what she strives to shun. The story was adapted into a five-act tragic opera, Scylla et Glaucus. In John Keats loose retelling of Ovids version of the myth of Scylla and Glaucus in Book 3 of Endymion, Glaucus then takes her corpse to a crystal palace at the bottom of the ocean where lie the bodies of all lovers who have died at sea. After a thousand years, she is resurrected by Endymion and reunited with Glaucus, at the Carolingian abbey of Corvey in Westphalia, a unique ninth-century wall painting depicts, among other things, Odysseus fight with Scylla, an illustration not noted elsewhere in medieval arts
Scylla
–
The Rock of
Scilla, Calabria
Scylla
–
Scylla. Detail from a red-figure bell-crater in the Louvre, 450–425 BC
Scylla
–
J. M. W. Turner 's painting of Scylla flying inland from the advances of Glaucus, 1841
11.
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, and her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus, as with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiods Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranuss genitals and threw them into the sea, according to Homers Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Plato, these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities, Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and was lover and surrogate mother of Adonis. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite, Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea and Cypris after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, roses, doves, sparrows and swans were sacred to her, the ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Aphrodite had many names such as Acidalia and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite of transcendent principles, and a separate, common Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people, hesiod derives Aphrodite from aphrós sea-foam, interpreting the name as risen from the foam. Michael Janda, accepting this as genuine, claims the birth myth as an Indo-European mytheme. Likewise, Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound *abʰor- very and *dʰei- to shine and it has been argued that etymologies based on comparison with Eos are unlikely since Aphrodites attributes are entirely different from those of Eos or the Vedic deity Ushas. A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have suggested in scholarship. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu, the name of a demon that appears in Middle Babylonian. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing prϑni lord, an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις and this would make the theonym in origin an honorific, the lady. Hjalmar Frisk and Robert Beekes reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru, the medieval Etymologicum Magnum offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos, she who lives delicately, from habrós and díaita. The alteration from b to ph is explained as a characteristic of Greek obvious from the Macedonians. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, however, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, Cytherea
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite Pudica (Roman copy of 2nd century AD),
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Aphrodite
–
Petra tou Romiou ("The rock of the
Greek "), Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in
Paphos, Cyprus.
Aphrodite
–
The Birth of Venus by
Sandro Botticelli, circa 1485.
Aphrodite
–
Venus and Adonis by
Titian, circa 1554.
12.
Circe
–
Circe (/ˈsɜːrsiː/, is a goddess of magic or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress in Greek mythology. By most accounts, she was the daughter of the sungod Helios, and Perse and her brothers were Aeetes, keeper of the Golden Fleece, and Perses. Her sister was Pasiphaë, the wife of King Minos and mother of the Minotaur, other accounts make her the daughter of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs, through the use of these and a magic wand or staff, she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. Some say she was exiled to the island of Aeaea by her subjects and her father Helios for killing her husband. Later traditions tell of her leaving or even destroying the island and moving to Italy, in Homers Odyssey, Circe is described as living in a mansion that stands in the middle of a clearing in a dense wood. Around the house prowled strangely docile lions and wolves, the victims of her magic, they were not dangerous. Circe worked at a huge loom, thus so she turned them all into swine with her magic wand or staff after they gorged themselves on it. Only drunken Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus, Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted by the messenger god, Hermes, who had been sent by Athena. Hermes told Odysseus to use the holy herb moly to protect himself from Circes wizardry and, having resisted it, to draw his sword, from there, Circe would ask him to bed, but Hermes advised caution, for even there the goddess would be treacherous. She would take his manhood unless he had her swear by the names of the gods that she would not, Odysseus followed Hermes advice, freeing his men and then remained on the island for one year, feasting and drinking wine. She also advised Odysseus to go to the Underworld and gave him directions, towards the end of Hesiods Theogony, it is stated that Circe bore Odysseus three sons, Ardeas or Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus, who ruled over the Tyrsenoi, that is the Etruscans. The Telegony, a now lost, relates the later history of the last of these. Circe eventually informed him who his absent father was and, when he set out to find Odysseus, with this he killed his father unknowingly. Telegonus then brought back his fathers corpse, together with Penelope and Odysseus other son Telemachus, after burying Odysseus, Circe made the others immortal. According to Lycophrons Alexandra and John Tzetzes scholia on the poem, however, Odysseus then gave Telemachus to Circes daughter Cassiphone in marriage. Some time later, Telemachus had a quarrel with his mother-in-law and killed her, on hearing of this, Odysseus died of grief. In a very late Alexandrian epic from the 5th century AD, in the 3rd century BC epic, the Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius relates that Circe purified the Argonauts for the death of Absyrtus, maybe reflecting an early tradition
Circe
–
Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus (1891) by
John William Waterhouse
Circe
–
Woodcut of the Circe episode from a translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (c.1474)
13.
Medea
–
In Greek mythology, Medea was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason. In Euripides play Medea, Jason abandons Medea when Creon, king of Corinth, the play tells of Medea avenging her husbands betrayal by killing their children. Medea figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, a known best from a late literary version worked up by Apollonius of Rhodes in the 3rd century BC. Medea is known in most stories as an enchantress, and is depicted as a priestess of the goddess Hecate or a witch. The myth of Jason and Medea is very old, originally written around the time Hesiod wrote the Theogony, Medeas role began after Jason came from Iolcus to Colchis, to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece. In a familiar mythic motif, Aeëtes promised to him the fleece. Next, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the field, and the teeth sprouted into an army of warriors, Jason was forewarned by Medea, however. Unable to determine where the rock had come from, the attacked and killed each other. Finally, Aeëtes made Jason fight and kill the dragon that guarded the fleece. Jason then took the fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised, Apollonius says that Medea only helped Jason in the first place because Hera had convinced Aphrodite or Eros to cause Medea to fall in love with him. Medea distracted her father as they fled by killing her brother Absyrtus, during the fight, Atalanta, a member of the group helping Jason in his quest for the fleece, was seriously wounded, but Medea healed her. According to some versions, Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circes island so that she could be cleansed after murdering her brother, relieving her of blame for the deed. On the way back to Thessaly, Medea prophesied that Euphemus, the helmsman of Jasons ship and this came true through Battus, a descendant of Euphemus. The Argo then reached the island of Crete, guarded by the bronze man, Talos had one vein which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by a single bronze nail. According to Apollodorus, Talos was slain either when Medea drove him mad with drugs, deceived him that she would make him immortal by removing the nail, or was killed by Poeass arrow. In the Argonautica, Medea hypnotized him from the Argo, driving him mad so that he dislodged the nail, ichor flowed from the wound, after Talos died, the Argo landed. Jason, celebrating his return with the Golden Fleece, noted that his father Aeson was too aged, Medea withdrew the blood from Aesons body, infused it with certain herbs, and returned it to his veins, invigorating him. The daughters of king Pelias saw this and wanted the same service for their father, while Jason searched for the Golden Fleece, Hera, who was still angry at Pelias, conspired to make Jason fall in love with Medea, whom Hera hoped would kill Pelias
Medea
–
Medea by
Evelyn De Morgan
Medea
–
Medea by
Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (painted 1866-68); its rejection for exhibition at the
Royal Academy in 1868 caused a storm of protest
Medea
–
Jason and Medea by
John William Waterhouse (1907)
Medea
–
Medea (about to murder her children) by
Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862)
14.
Clytemnestra
–
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
Clytemnestra
–
Clytemnestra trying to awake the
Erinyes while her son is being purified by
Apollo,
Apulian red-figure
krater, 480–470 BC,
Louvre (Cp 710)
Clytemnestra
–
After the murder (1882), by
John Collier, Guildhall Art Gallery (London)
Clytemnestra
–
Murder of Agamemnon, painting by
Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
Clytemnestra
–
Orestes Pursued by the Furies by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Clytemnestra was killed by Orestes and the
Furies torment him for this killing
15.
Lesbia
–
Lesbia was the literary pseudonym used by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus to refer to his lover. The name evokes the poet Sappho and this could well be Catullus Lesbia before she became his own lover. What makes this more likely is that the poem is an elegant translation of a poem by Sappho herself and she may have been a poet in her own right, included with Catullus in a list of famous poets whose lovers often helped them write their verses. The name Lesbia was chosen for reasons, including its metrical match with her real name
Lesbia
–
Lesbia and Her Sparrow (
Catullus 2), by Sir
Edward John Poynter
Lesbia
–
John Reinhard Weguelin. "Lesbia"
Lesbia
–
Lawrence Alma-Tadema. "Catullus at Lesbia's"
Lesbia
–
Lawrence Alma-Tadema. "Favourite Poet: ancient Roman woman reading a scroll of poems.
16.
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.
17.
Cleopatra
–
Cleopatra VII Philopator, known to history simply as Cleopatra, was the last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, briefly survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of the recently established Roman Empire, Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Greats death during the Hellenistic period. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis, as queen, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated Caesarion, her son with Caesar, to co-ruler in name, after Caesars assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesars legal heir Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, Antony committed suicide after losing the Battle of Actium to Octavians forces, and Cleopatra followed suit. According to tradition, she killed herself by means of an asp bite on August 12,30 BC and she was outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, but he was soon killed on Octavians orders. Egypt then became the Roman province of Aegyptus, Cleopatras father Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Greats general Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lagus, both of Macedon. Centralization of power and corruption led to uprisings in and the losses of Cyprus and Cyrenaica, Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena seized the crown but died shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances. It is believed that Berenice IV poisoned her so that she could assume sole rulership, regardless of the cause, she ruled until Ptolemy Auletes returned in 55 BC with Roman support, capturing Alexandria aided by Roman general Aulus Gabinius. Berenice was imprisoned and executed afterwards, her head allegedly being sent to the royal court on the decree of her father. Cleopatra now became joint regent and deputy to her father at age 14, Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC. His will made 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs, the first three years of their reign were difficult due to economic failures, famine, deficient floods of the Nile, and political conflicts. Cleopatra was married to her brother, but she quickly made it clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him. In August 51 BC, relations broke down between Cleopatra and Ptolemy. Cleopatra dropped Ptolemys name from official documents and her face appeared on coins. The Gabiniani killed the sons of the Roman governor of Syria Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus when they came to ask the Gabiniani to assist their father against the Parthians, Cleopatra handed the murderers over to Bibulus in chains, whereupon the Gabiniani became bitter enemies of the queen. This conflict was one of the causes of Cleopatras fall from power shortly afterward. The sole reign of Cleopatra was finally ended by a cabal of courtiers led by the eunuch Pothinus, in connection with half-Greek general Achillas, circa 48 BC, Cleopatras younger brother Ptolemy XIII became sole ruler
Cleopatra
–
Bust believed to be of Cleopatra VII,
Altes Museum, Berlin
Cleopatra
–
Ptolemaic Queen (Cleopatra VII?), 50-30 B.C., 71.12,
Brooklyn Museum
Cleopatra
–
Cleopatra and Caesar (1866). Painting by
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Cleopatra
–
Cleopatra VII and her son
Caesarion at the
Temple of Dendera
18.
Messalina
–
Valeria Messalina, sometimes spelled Messallina, was the wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. She was a cousin of the Emperor Nero, a second-cousin of the Emperor Caligula. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation arguably results from political bias, but works of art, Messalina was the daughter of Domitia Lepida the Younger and her first cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. Her mother was the youngest child of the consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Messalinas grandmothers Claudia Marcella and Antonia Major were half sisters. Claudia Marcella, Messalinas paternal grandmother, was the daughter of Augustus sister Octavia the Younger by her marriage to Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor, Antonia Major, Messalinas maternal grandmother, was the elder daughter of Octavia by her marriage to Mark Antony, and was Claudius maternal aunt. There was, therefore, an amount of inbreeding in the family. Little is known about Messalina’s life prior to her marriage in 38 to Claudius, her first cousin once removed, who was then about 48 years old. Two children were born as a result of their union, a daughter Claudia Octavia, an empress, stepsister and first wife to the emperor Nero. When the Emperor Caligula was murdered in 41, the Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius the new emperor, with her accession to power, Messalina enters history with a reputation as ruthless, predatory and sexually insatiable. Her husband is represented as easily led by her and unconscious of her many adulteries, in 48 AD, he went away on a trip and was informed when he returned that Messalina had gone so far as to marry her latest lover, Senator Gaius Silius. While many would have ordered her death, the Emperor offered her another chance, seeing that as weakness, one of his head officers went behind the Emperors back and ordered Messalinas death. Upon hearing the news, the Emperor did not react and simply asked for another chalice of wine, the Roman Senate then ordered a damnatio memoriae so that Messalinas name would be removed from all public and private places and all statues of her would be taken down. The historians who relay such stories, principally Tacitus and Suetonius and it has been argued that what passes for history is largely a result of the political sanctions that followed her death. Accusations of sexual excess were a tried and tested smear tactic, two accounts especially have added to her notoriety. The poet Juvenal gives a well known description in his sixth satire of how the Empress used to work clandestinely all night in a brothel under the name of the She-Wolf. He also alludes to the story of how she compelled Gaius Silius to divorce his wife, to call a woman a Messalina indicates a devious and sexually voracious personality. The historical figure and her fate were often used in the arts to make a moral point, in modern times, that has led to exaggerated works which have been described as romps
Messalina
–
Valeria Messalina
Messalina
–
Messalina holding her son Britannicus,
Louvre
Messalina
–
Messalina working in a brothel. Etching by
Agostino Carracci, late 16th century.
Messalina
–
Peder Severin Krøyer, Messalina, 1881,
Gothenburg Museum of Art
19.
Delilah
–
Delilah is a woman in the Book of Judges, where she is the woman in the valley of Sorek whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall. Judges 13–16 portrays Samson as a man who was given strength by God. Samson was born into an Israelite family, the son of Manoah, both were visited by the Angel of the Lord and told that their child would be a Nazirite from birth. Delilah was approached by the lords of the Philistines, to discover the secret of Samsons strength, three times she asked Samson for the secret of his strength, and all three times he gave her a false answer. The first time, he told her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then he told her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, the third time, he told her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. The toponym Sorek or soreq is identified only in connection with the Samson story, in the fourth century AD, Jerome mentions a Capharsorec that was near Saraa. Modern Israel has a Soreq Valley and even a Sorek Vineyard producing Merlot, Soreq, however, is the grapevine itself in Genesis 49,11, Isaiah 5,2, and Jeremiah 2,21. Samson had been dedicated as a Nazirite, from the womb to the day of his death, petrarch instanced Samson and Delilah in his Trionfi, as a victim in his allegorical depiction of the Triumph of Love. In art the subject is one of the most commonly shown in the Power of Women topos, somewhat inappropriately it would seem to a modern eye, the theme was depicted on more than one fifteenth-century Tuscan painted marriage tray. S. Might be a scene of love, Madlyn Kahr has remarked. In Northern Europe the Delilah theme was prominent among painters like Lucas van Leiden and Maerten van Heemskerck. Tintoretto followed Titian in introducing a female accomplice of Delilahs, Rubens added further females, with a suggestion of a brothel, no major seventeenth-century artist approached the subject more often than Rembrandt. John Milton personified her as the misguided and foolish but sympathetic temptress, much like his view of Eve, by the time of Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila Delilah had become the eponym of a Delilah, a treacherous and cunning femme fatale. Most movie and film versions of Delilah cater to Miltons more sympathetic view, in one, from 1984 based on a book by Erik Linklater, she ends up as the heroine and almost true protagonist. Delilah at DMOZ Hebrew concordance with Strongs Dictionary, soreq International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Sorek, Valley of, asserting connections with specific sites
Delilah
–
Samson and Delilah by
Guercino (
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
Delilah
–
Delilah cutting
Samson 's hair, c. 1460
Delilah
–
Popular culture
20.
Jezebel
–
Jezebel was a queen, identified in the Book of Kings as the daughter of Ithobaal I of Sidon and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Jezebel incited her husband King Ahab to abandon the worship of Yahweh and encourage worship of the deities Baal and Asherah instead. Jezebel persecuted the prophets of Yahweh, and fabricated evidence of blasphemy against an innocent landowner who refused to sell his property to King Ahab, Jezebel became associated with false prophets. In some interpretations, her dressing in finery and putting on makeup led to the association of the use of cosmetics with painted women or prostitutes, Jezebel is the Anglicized transliteration of the Hebrew אִיזָבֶל. The Oxford Guide to People & Places of the Bible states that the name is best understood as meaning Where is the Prince, a ritual cry from worship ceremonies in honor of Baal during periods of the year when the god was considered to be in the underworld. Jezebels story is told in the Books of Kings and she was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre. According to genealogies given in Josephus and other sources, she was the great-aunt of Dido. Jezebel married King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom and this marriage was the culmination of the friendly relations existing between Israel and Phoenicia during Omris reign, and possibly cemented important political designs of Ahab. Jezebel, like the foreign wives of Solomon, required facilities for carrying on her form of worship, so Ahab made an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, Jezebel went so far as to require that her religion should be the national religion of Israel. She organized and maintained guilds of prophets,450 of Baal and she also destroyed such prophets of Israel as she could reach. Obadiah, the overseer of Ahabs house, rescued one hundred of these, hid them. Bromiley points out that it was Phoenician practice to install a woman as a priestess of Astarte. As such she would have an active role in temple. The prophet Elijah confronted Ahab and charged him with the sin of following Baal, Ahab had two altars set up at Carmel, one dedicated to Baal, one to Yahweh, and a bull sacrificed upon each altar. The supporters of Baal called upon their god to send fire to consume the sacrifice, when Elijah called on Yahweh, fire came down from heaven immediately and consumed the offering. Elijah ordered the people to seize the prophets of Baal and Asherah, the superiority of Elijah and of his God in the test at Carmel, and the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, fired the vengeance of Jezebel. Elijah fled for his life to the wilderness, where he mourned the devotion of Israel to Baal, Naboth owned a vineyard near the royal palace in the city of Jezreel. When Jezebel saw that her husband was depressed by this, she arranged for the elders to falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy, three years later, Ahab died in battle
Jezebel
–
19th-century painting by
John Liston Byam Shaw
Jezebel
–
Jezebel from "
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "
Jezebel
–
The death of Jezebel, by
Gustave Doré
Jezebel
–
Andrea Celesti - Queen Jezebel Being Punished by Jehu
21.
Daji
–
Daji, was the favorite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in ancient China. She is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit in legends as well as novels and her identification as a fox spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang dynasty. These accounts have been popularized in such as the Wu Wang Fa Zhou Pinghua, the Fengshen Yanyi. She is considered an example of how a beauty causes the downfall of a dynasty in Chinese culture. In the Song dynasty, fox spirit cults, including dedicated to Daji, became outlawed. For example, in 1111, an edict was issued for the destruction of many spirit shrines within Kaifeng, including those of Daji. Daji was from a family called Su from the state of Yousu. Hence, she is known as Su Daji. In 1047 BC, King Zhou of Shang invaded Yousu and took Daji as his prize. In Feng Shen Yan Yi, she was a daughter of Su Hu, in the early chapters, King Zhou became extremely infatuated with Daji and started to neglect state affairs in order to keep her company. He used any means necessary to ingratiate himself with her and to please her, Daji liked animals so he built her a zoological Xanadu with several rare species of birds and animals. He also ordered artists to compose music and choreograph bawdy dances to satisfy her musical taste. He gathered 3000 guests at one party to indulge in his pond of wine and he allowed the guests to play a cat and mouse game nude in the forest to amuse Daji. When one of King Zhous concubines, the daughter of Lord Jiu, protested and her father was ground in pieces and his flesh fed to King Zhous vassals. Dajis greatest joy was to hear people cry in physical torment, once, she saw a farmer walking barefoot on ice and ordered his feet cut off so she could study them and figure out why they were so resistant to low temperatures. On another occasion, she had a pregnant womans belly cut open so it satisfied her curiosity to find out what happened inside. To verify an ancient saying that a mans heart has seven apertures, she even had the heart of the minister Bi Gan dug out. Daji was best known for her invention of a method of torture known as Paolao, a bronze cylinder covered with oil was heated like a furnace with charcoal beneath until its sides became extremely hot
Daji
–
Left:
Wen Zhong and
Bi Gan; Right:
King Zhou and Daji
Daji
–
King Zhou of Shang and his consort Daji as depicted in Faits mémorables des empereurs de la Chine, tirés des annales chinoises (1788)
Daji
–
Depiction of Daji in the
Hokusai Manga
Daji
–
Da Ji as she appears in
Koei 's
Warriors Orochi.
22.
Franz von Stuck
–
Franz Stuck was a German painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect. In 1906, Stuck was awarded the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and was known as Franz Ritter von Stuck. Born at Tettenweis near Passau, Stuck displayed an affinity for drawing, to begin his artistic education he relocated in 1878 to Munich, where he would settle for life. From 1881 to 1885 Stuck attended the Munich Academy and he first became well known by cartoons for Fliegende Blätter, and vignette designs for programmes and book decoration. In 1889 he exhibited his first paintings at the Munich Glass Palace, in 1892 Stuck co-founded the Munich Secession, and also executed his first sculpture, Athlete. The next year he won acclaim with the critical and public success of what is now his most famous work. Also during 1893, Stuck was awarded a medal for painting at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1895 he began teaching painting at the Munich Academy, in 1897 Stuck married an American widow, Mary Lindpainter, and began work designing his own residence and studio, the Villa Stuck. His designs for the villa included everything from layout to interior decorations, having attained much fame by this time, Stuck was ennobled on December 9,1905 and would receive further public honours from around Europe during the remainder of his life. He continued to be respected among young artists as professor at the Munich Academy. Notable students of his over the years include Paul Klee, Hans Purrmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Alf Bayrle and he was a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. Franz von Stuck died on August 30,1928 in Munich and he is buried in the Munich Waldfriedhof next to his wife Mary. Stucks subject matter was primarily from mythology, inspired by the work of Arnold Böcklin, large forms dominate most of his paintings and indicate his proclivities for sculpture. His seductive female nudes are an example of popular Symbolist content. Ritter von Stucks Kämpfende Amazone, created in 1897, graced Hermann Görings Carinhall, the number of Stucks pupils who achieved great success served to enhance the teachers own fame. Yet by the time of his death, Stucks importance as an artist in his own right had almost been forgotten, his art seemed old-fashioned, Stucks reputation languished until the late 1960s when a renewed interest in Art Nouveau brought him to attention once more. In 1968 the Villa Stuck was opened to the public, it is now a museum, in Robert Waites book The Psychopathic God, Adolph Hitler and numerous other sources it is noted that Franz Stuck was Hitlers favorite painter from childhood on. Stucks paintings were mentioned by Carl Jung, who wrote, Art nouveau Symbolism Adam, collection of Works by Franz von Stuck Museum Villa Stuck The Gallery of Franz von Stuck Franz von Stuck, Living Images Grave of Mary and Franz von Stuck
Franz von Stuck
–
Franz von Stuck, self-portrait.
Franz von Stuck
–
The Sin (Die Sünde), 1893.
Franz von Stuck
–
External video
Franz von Stuck
–
Sisyphus, 1920
23.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
24.
Morgan le Fay
–
Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or sorceress. To the former, in early chivalric romances by Chrétien de Troyes and her character may be partially derived from that of the Welsh goddess Modron and other myths. She is often said to be the daughter of Arthurs mother Lady Igraine and her first husband Gorlois, so that Arthur, the son of Igraine and Uther Pendragon, is her half-brother. She becomes an apprentice of Merlin and an adversary of Arthur. In Thomas Malorys Le Morte dArthur and elsewhere, she is married to King Urien, with whom she has the son Ywain. She is also wanton and sexually aggressive, with many lovers including Merlin and Accolon, the earliest spelling of the name is Morgen, which is likely derived from Old Welsh or Old Breton Morgen, meaning Sea-born. The name is not to be confused with the Modern Welsh masculine name Morgan, while later works make her specifically human, she retains her magical powers. Inspiration for her character came from earlier Welsh mythology and literature. Additional speculation sometimes connects Morgan with the Irish goddess Morrígan, though there are few similarities between the two beyond the spelling of their names. Morgan has been more substantially linked with the goddess Modron, a derived from the continental Dea Matrona. Arthurian legends version of Urien is Morgan le Fays husband in the continental romances, the hystorical Urien had a treacherous ally named Morcant Bulc who plotted to assassinate him, similar to how Morgan attempts to kill Urien in the later version of Arthurian myth. This is similar to Avalon, the Isle of Apples with which Morgan le Fay has been associated since her earliest appearances. According to the chronicler Gerald of Wales, Morganis was a cousin of King Arthur who carried him to her island of Avalon. Writing in his Latin encyclopedic work Otia Imperialia, around the time and with similar derision for this belief. Morgan first appears by name in Vita Merlini, written by Norman-Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth about 1150, purportedly an account of the wizard Merlins later adventures, it elaborates some episodes from Geoffreys more famous earlier work, Historia Regum Britanniae. In Historia, Geoffrey relates how King Arthur, seriously wounded by Mordred at the Battle of Camlann, is taken off to the blessed Isle of Apple Trees, Avalon and her sisters names are Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thiten and Thiton. Prior to the cyclical Old French prose, the appearances of Morgan are few, the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes mentions her in his first romance Erec and Enide, completed around 1170. In it, a love of Morgan is Guinguemar, the Lord of the Isle of Avalon and a nephew of King Arthur and she is later mentioned in the same poem when Arthur provides the wounded hero Erec with a healing balm made by his sister Morgan
Morgan le Fay
–
Morgan le Fay by
Frederick Sandys (1864)
Morgan le Fay
–
Voyage of King Arthur and Morgan le Fay to the Isle of Avalon by Frank William Warwick (1888)
Morgan le Fay
–
A detail of
The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon by
Edward Burne-Jones (1898)
Morgan le Fay
–
Morgan le Fay by Edward Burne-Jones (1862)
25.
The Magic Flute
–
The Magic Flute, K.620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneders theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his female companion Papagena. The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneders theatrical troupe, Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack, and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozarts participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen, like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor, it employed much the same cast in similar roles. The libretto for The Magic Flute, written by Schikaneder, is thought by scholars to be based on many sources, especially for the role of Papageno, the libretto draws on the Hanswurst tradition of the Viennese popular theatre. Many scholars also acknowledge an influence of Freemasonry, for detailed discussion of sources see Branscombe, as well as Libretto of The Magic Flute. In composing the opera, Mozart evidently kept in mind the skills of the intended for the premiere. Thus, the lines for Papageno—sung by Schikaneder himself—and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch. In contrast, Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed little such help, in ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels. The vocal ranges of two of the singers for whom Mozart tailored his music have posed challenges for many singers who have since recreated their roles. Both arias of the Queen of the Night, O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn and Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen require high F6, rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro, premiered by Franz Xaver Gerl, the opera was premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791 at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, while the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, as Mozarts letters show, he was very pleased to have achieved such a success. Solomon continues, Mozarts delight is reflected in his last three letters, written to Constanze, who with her sister Sophie was spending the week of October in Baden. I have this moment returned from the opera, which was as full as ever, he wrote on 7 October, but what always gives me the most pleasure is the silent approval. You can see how this opera is becoming more and more esteemed, … He went to hear his opera almost every night, taking along relatives
The Magic Flute
–
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Magic Flute
–
Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of Die Zauberflöte, shown performing in the role of Papageno. The object on his back is a birdcage; see below.
The Magic Flute
–
Playbill for the premiere, 30 September 1791. For text, see footnote.
The Magic Flute
–
The arrival of the Queen of the Night. Stage set by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841) for an 1815 production
26.
Age of Enlightenment
–
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, The Century of Philosophy. In France, the doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy. French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes of the widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church, a variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution, earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza. The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence, others like James Madison incorporated them into the Constitution in 1787. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, the ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789. After the Revolution, the Enlightenment was followed by an intellectual movement known as Romanticism. René Descartes rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking and his attempt to construct the sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by John Lockes 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his dualism was challenged by Spinozas uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus and Ethics. Both lines of thought were opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines, the political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher, described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words. Much of what is incorporated in the method and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his protégés David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the sphere through private
Age of Enlightenment
–
German philosopher
Immanuel Kant
Age of Enlightenment
–
History of
Western philosophy
Age of Enlightenment
–
Cesare Beccaria, father of classical criminal theory (1738–1794)
Age of Enlightenment
–
Like other Enlightenment philosophers,
Rousseau was critical of the
Atlantic slave trade.
27.
Romanticism
–
Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was embodied most strongly in the arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of heroic individualists and artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art, there was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a Zeitgeist, in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism, the decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes and the spread of nationalism. Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on emotion is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that the feeling is his law. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were laws that the imagination—at least of a good creative artist—would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. As well as rules, the influence of models from other works was considered to impede the creators own imagination, so that originality was essential. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism. This idea is called romantic originality. Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief, however, this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. Romantic art addressed its audiences with what was intended to be felt as the voice of the artist. So, in literature, much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves. In both French and German the closeness of the adjective to roman, meaning the new literary form of the novel, had some effect on the sense of the word in those languages. It is only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, the period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place roughly between 1770 and 1848, and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter a very typical view, and about 1830, however, in most fields the Romantic Period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier
Romanticism
–
Caspar David Friedrich,
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818
Romanticism
–
Eugène Delacroix,
Death of Sardanapalus, 1827, taking its
Orientalist subject from a play by
Lord Byron
Romanticism
–
Philipp Otto Runge, The Morning, 1808
Romanticism
–
William Blake,
The Little Girl Found, from
Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1794
