1.
Labours of Hercules
–
The twelve labours of Heracles or Hercules are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later Romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished over 12 years at the service of King Eurystheus, the episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative. The establishment of a cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander. After Hercules killed his wife and children, he went to the oracle at Delphi and he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Hercules was told to serve the king of Mycenae, Eurystheus, during these 12 years, Hercules is sent to perform twelve difficult feats, called labours. Driven mad by Hera, Hercules slew his son, daughter, after recovering his sanity, Hercules deeply regretted his actions, he was purified by King Thespius, then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions. Hercules despaired at this, loathing to serve a man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, eventually, he placed himself at Eurystheuss disposal. Eurystheus originally ordered Hercules to perform ten labours, Eurystheus set two more tasks, which Hercules also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve. As they survive, the labours of Hercules are not recounted in any single place, Ruck and Staples assert that there is no one way to interpret the labours, but that six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, per Ruck, in each case, the pattern was the same, Hercules was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus a magical animal or plant. A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, in his labours, Hercules was sometimes accompanied by a male companion, according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. Several of the labours involved the offspring of Typhon and his mate Echidna, a traditional order of the labours found in the Bibliotheca is, Slay the Nemean Lion. Clean the Augean stables in a single day, obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon, steal the apples of the Hesperides. The first labour was to slay the Nemean lion, according to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress. After entering the cave, the warrior would see the woman, once he was close, the woman would turn into a lion and kill the warrior, devouring his remains and giving the bones to Hades. Hercules wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae, another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within thirty days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If he did not return within thirty days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Hercules as a mourning offering, while searching for the lion, Hercules fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable
Labours of Hercules
–
Roman relief (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of the Labours of Hercules, representing from left to right the
Nemean lion, the
Lernaean Hydra, the
Erymanthian Boar, the
Ceryneian Hind, the
Stymphalian birds, the
Girdle of Hippolyta, the
Augean stables, the
Cretan Bull and the
Mares of Diomedes
Labours of Hercules
–
Hercules and the Nemean lion (
oinochoe, 520-500 BC, from
Vulci)
Labours of Hercules
–
The
Heracles Papyrus, a fragment of a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Hercules (
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2331)
Labours of Hercules
–
Heracles's first six labours were located in the
Peloponnese.
2.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
–
Lady of Elche
Spain
–
Flag
Spain
–
Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
–
Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
3.
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.
4.
Titan (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, the Titans and Titanesses were members of the second generation of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities. Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia and they were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also comprised the first pantheon of Greek deities. The first twelve Titans comprised the females Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea, and Themis and the males Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius, like Cronus overthrowing his father Uranus, the Titans were overthrown by Cronus children, in the Titanomachy. The Greeks may have borrowed this mytheme from the Ancient Near East, Greeks of the classical age knew of several poems about the war between the Olympians and Titans. The dominant one, and the one that has survived, was in the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. A lost epic, Titanomachia was mentioned in passing in an essay On Music that was attributed to Plutarch. The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus, although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition. Sometimes the elders are supplanted, and sometimes the rebels lose and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the pantheon, the Titanomachy lasted for ten years. The Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus after the war had ended, Tartarus is the deepest spot known in the Underworld, where the most evil beings would be cast into to be tortured for all eternity. Hesiod does not have the last word on the Titans, surviving fragments of poetry ascribed to Orpheus preserve some variations on the myth. In such text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently, instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Cronus so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged—still drunk—to the cave of Nyx, another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus, is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves, they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then him and boil. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt, Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll and this story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this Dionysus Zagreus, and in a number of Orphic texts, which do not. Pindar, Plato, and Oppian refer offhandedly to the Titanic nature of humans, according to them, the body is the titanic part, while soul is the divine part of humans. Other early writers imply that humanity was born out of the malevolent blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus, Martin Litchfield West also asserts this in relation to shamanistic initiatory rites of early Greek religious practices. Beekes connects the word with τιτώ, burket, Walter, The Orientalizing Revolution, Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, Harvard University Press,1995
Titan (mythology)
–
Rhea, a Titan daughter of the earth goddess
Gaia, was both sister and wife to
Cronus.
5.
Twelve Olympians
–
Hades and Persephone were sometimes included as part of the twelve Olympians, although in general Hades was excluded, because he resided permanently in the underworld and never visited Olympus. The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon, were the deities of the Greek pantheon. The Olympians gained their supremacy in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over their predecessor gods. The concept of the Twelve Gods is older than any extant Greek or Roman source, the gods meet in council in the Homeric epics, but the first ancient reference to religious ceremonies for the Olympians collectively is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The Greek cult of the Twelve Olympians can be traced to 6th-century BC Athens, the Altar of the Twelve Gods at Athens is usually dated to the archonship of the younger Pesistratos, in 522/521 BC. In ancient Greek religion, the Olympian Gods and the Cults of Twelve Gods were often relatively distinct concepts, while the number was fixed at twelve, there was considerable variation as to which deities were included. However, the twelve as most commonly portrayed in art and poetry were Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and either Hestia, or Dionysus. Hades, known in the Eleusinian tradition as Pluto, was not usually included among the Olympians because his realm was the underworld. Plato connected the Twelve Olympians with the months, and implies that he considered Pluto one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him. In Phaedrus, Plato seems to exclude Hestia from the rank of the great gods. At Olympia there were six altars dedicated to six pairs of gods, Zeus and Poseidon, Hera and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Charites and Dionysus, Artemis and Alpheus, the historian Herodotus states that Heracles was included as one of the Twelve by some. At Kos, Heracles and Dionysus are added to the Twelve, for Pindar, the Bibliotheca, and Herodorus of Heraclea, Heracles is not one of the Twelve Gods, but the one who established their cult. Lucian includes Heracles and Asclepius as members of the Twelve, without explaining which two had to give way for them, hebe, Helios, Selene, Eos, Eros and Persephone are other important gods and goddesses who are sometimes included in a group of twelve. Eros is often depicted alongside the twelve, especially his mother Aphrodite. Notes ^ Romans also associated Phoebus with Helios and the sun itself, however, ^ According to an alternate version of her birth, Aphrodite was born of Uranus, Zeus grandfather, after Cronus threw his castrated genitals into the sea. This supports the etymology of her name, foam-born, as such, Aphrodite would belong to the same generation as Cronus, Zeus father, and would be Zeus aunt. See the birth of Aphrodite The following gods and goddess are sometimes included as one of the twelve Olympians, the following gods and goddesses were not usually counted as Olympians, although they had close ties to them. Aeolus – King of the winds, keeper of the Anemoi, Alpheus – God of the River Alpheus
Twelve Olympians
Twelve Olympians
–
Zeus
Twelve Olympians
–
Hera
Twelve Olympians
–
Poseidon
6.
Chthonic
–
The translation of meaning discusses deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek religion. The Greek word khthon is one of several for earth, it refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land. These include, but are not strictly limited to, Demeter. Nocturnal ritual sacrifice was a practice in many chthonic cults. When the sacrifice was a creature, the animal was placed in a bothros or megaron. In some Greek chthonic cults, the animal was sacrificed on a raised bomos, offerings were usually burned whole or buried rather than being cooked and shared among the worshippers. C. He does, however, note that this may be somewhat of an overgeneralization, the myths associating the underworld chthonic deities and fertility were not exclusive. Myths about the later Olympian deities also described an association with the fertility, thus Demeter and Persephone both watched over aspects of the fertility of land, yet Demeter had a typically Olympian cult while Persephone had a chthonic one. Also, Demeter was worshiped alongside Persephone with identical rites, and yet occasionally was classified as an Olympian in late poetry, the absorption of some earlier cults into the newer pantheon versus those that resisted being absorbed is suggested as providing the later myths. The categories Olympian and chthonic were not, however, completely separate, some Olympian deities, such as Hermes and Zeus, also received chthonic sacrifices and tithes in certain locations. The deified heroes Heracles and Asclepius might be worshipped as gods or chthonic heroes, depending on the site, moreover, a few deities are not easily classifiable under these terms. Hecate, for instance, was typically offered puppies at crossroads—a practice neither typical of an Olympian sacrifice nor of a sacrifice to Persephone or the heroes. Because of her roles, Hecate is generally classed as chthonic. As well, the chthonic has connotations with regard to gender, in cultural anthropology, men associated with the above, the sky, and women associated with the below, with the earth, water of the underground, and the chthonic deities. This was by no means universal, in Ancient Egypt the main deity of the earth was the male god Geb, his consort was Nut. The term allochthon in structural geology is used to describe a large block of rock which has moved from its original site of formation. From the Greek allo meaning other and chthon designating the process of the mass being moved under the earth. Chthonic law Earth mother Geomancy Life-death-rebirth deities Sky father The dictionary definition of chthonic at Wiktionary
Chthonic
–
Greek Mythology
7.
List of Greek mythological figures
–
The following is a list of gods, goddesses and many other divine and semi-divine figures from Ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion. The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes, a temple would house the statue of a god or goddess, or multiple deities, and might be decorated with relief scenes depicting myths. Divine images were common on coins, drinking cups and other vessels were painted with scenes from Greek myths. The Titans and Titanesses are depicted in Greek art less commonly than the Olympians
List of Greek mythological figures
List of Greek mythological figures
List of Greek mythological figures
List of Greek mythological figures
8.
Nymph
–
A nymph in Greek mythology and in Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes, charybdis and Scylla were once nymphs. Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, nymphs were the frequent target of satyrs. The Greek word νύμφη has bride and veiled among its meanings, other readers refer the word to a root expressing the idea of swelling. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by people in the springs. Among the Roman literate class, their sphere of influence was restricted, the ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as nereids. At that time, John Cuthbert Lawson wrote and they might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, when parents believed their child to be nereid-struck, they would pray to Saint Artemidos. Due to widespread use of the term among lay persons and stereotypes attached, professionals nowadays prefer the term hypersexuality, the word nymphet is used to identify a sexually precocious girl. The term was made famous in the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, the main character, Humbert Humbert, uses the term many times, usually in reference to the title character. Thus the classes of nymphs tend to overlap, which complicates the task of precise classification, rose mentions dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically. She is the consort of Acheron, and the mother of Ascalaphus, leuce, lover of Hades Minthe, lover of Hades, rival of Persephone Melinoe Orphic nymph, daughter of Persephone and Zeus disguised as Pluto. Her name is an epithet of Hecate. Nymphs in such groupings could belong to any of the mentioned above. For lists of Naiads, Oceanids, Dryades etc and this motif supposedly came from an Italian report of a Roman sculpture of a nymph at a fountain above the River Danube
Nymph
–
In this 1896 painting by
John William Waterhouse,
Hylas is abducted by the
Naiads, i.e. fresh water nymphs
Nymph
–
Nymph with morning glory flowers
Nymph
–
Nymphe by Gaston Bussière
Nymph
–
Cave of the Storm Nymphs by
Sir Edward John Poynter
9.
Dryad
–
A dryad is a tree nymph, or tree spirit, in Greek mythology. Thus, dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general, such deities are very much overshadowed by the divine figures defined through poetry and cult, Walter Burkert remarked of Greek nature deities. They were normally considered to be very shy creatures, except around the goddess Artemis, the dryads of ash trees were called the Meliai. The ash-tree sisters tended the infant Zeus in Rheas Cretan cave, gaea gave birth to the Meliai after being made fertile by the blood of castrated Uranus. Nymphs associated with apple trees were the Epimeliad, and those associated with walnut-trees were the Caryatids, Dryads, like all nymphs, were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads who were a part of their trees, such that if the tree died. For these reasons, dryads and the Greek gods punished any mortals who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs, keats addresses the nightingale as light-winged Dryad of the trees, in his Ode to a Nightingale. In the poetry of Donald Davidson they illustrate the themes of tradition, the poet Sylvia Plath uses them to symbolize nature in her poetry in On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad, and On the Plethora of Dryads. Secret of Mana, an action role-playing game released for the Super NES and he is a tree-like creature who provides Earth-based magic when summoned. The Dryad appears as a demon in the Megami Tensei video game series. In the ballet Don Quixote, dryads appear in a vision with Dulcinea before Don Quixote and they also appear in the classical ballet Sylvia. The story Dear Dryad by Oliver Onions features a dryad influencing several romantic couples through history, dryades Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans, running parallel to the former Nyades Street. Sibelius wrote a poem called The Wood Nymph. A character from a 2005 CGI animated film Barbie, Fairytopia named Dahlia, is said to be a dryad and she is depicted living in a tree and having a pair of wings. A Non Player Character in the 2011 action-fantasy survival game Terraria and she is a merchant who possesses magical powers. She specialises in selling seeds and other related goods. Hans Christian Andersen, The Dryad,1868 Andersen, H. C, craigie The Dryad Fairy tales and other stories London, Toronto, Oxford University Press. 1914 Tim Hoke, The Dryad,2002
Dryad
–
The Dryad by
Evelyn De Morgan.
10.
Hamadryad
–
A hamadryad is a Greek mythological being that lives in trees. They are a type of dryad, which are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a certain tree, some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entities, or spirits, of the trees. If the tree died, the associated with it died as well. For that reason, dryads and the gods punished any mortals who harmed trees, the cracker butterfly is more arboreal than most butterflies, as it commonly camouflages itself on trees. It feeds on sap, rotting fruit and dung, the hamadryas baboon is one of the least arboreal monkeys, but was the most common monkey in Hellenic lands. Hamadryad is referenced as a whole in Edgar Allan Poes poem, Hamadryad is referenced in Anthony Ashley Coopers Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Aldous Huxleys Crome Yellow, Anne Wimbush is referred to as the slim Hamadryad whose movements were like the swaying of a tree in the wind. George Eliots character, Philip Wakem, uses the term to describe Maggie Tulliver, in The Mill on The Floss, Book V, william Faulkners character, Januarius Jones, uses this term to describe a young lady in Soldiers Pay, Chapter 2. Both hamadryads and dryads exist in C. S. Lewiss Narnia
Hamadryad
–
Tile mosaic of
Pan and a hamadryad, found in
Pompeii
11.
Leuce (mythology)
–
In Greco-Roman mythology, Leuce or Leuka was the most beautiful of the nymphs and a daughter of Oceanus. Pluto fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld and it was this tree with which Herakles crowned himself to celebrate his return from the underworld. Maurus Servius Honoratus identifies the tree as the poplar, the leaf of which is distinctively two-sided, one white. The double color, Servius says, made a wreath that represented the duality of the heros labors in both the upper and the underworld. In a founding myth of the 1st century BC, Herakles is supposed to have established the Arvernian oppidum of Alesia, celebrants of the Bacchic rites wore a wreath of poplar leaves to honor the chthonic aspect of Dionysus. At Elis, white poplar was the wood used in sacrifices to Zeus, according to Pausanias, because Herakles imported the tree. The oak is the sacred tree of Zeus, and the substitution among the Eleans may simply reflect the more widespread growth habit of the poplar there. The hero was supposed to have discovered the tree growing on the banks of the upperworld Acheron in Thesprotia, Pausanias says this is the reason for the Homeric epithet Acherōïda for the white poplar, which was also called leukē in Greek. The white poplar might be worn as a crown at athletic contests in honor of Herakles and its infernal origin made it appropriate for funeral games, which played an important role in the development of Greek athletics. The white poplar was also sacred to Persephone, for whom Leuce seems to be a doublet, robert Graves used the myth of Leuce in developing his poetic theories of mythology. Graves, for instance, holds that the back of the leaf was turned white by the sweat of Herakles. In The White Goddess, he names the white poplar as one of the three trees of resurrection, along with alder and cypress
Leuce (mythology)
–
The two sides of the white poplar leaf
12.
Melinoe
–
Melinoë /mᵻˈlɪnoʊiː/ is a chthonic nymph or goddess invoked in one of the Orphic Hymns and propitiated as a bringer of nightmares and madness. The name also appears on a tablet in association with Persephone. The hymns, of uncertain date but probably composed in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, in the hymn, Melinoë has characteristics that seem similar to Hecate and the Erinyes, and the name is sometimes thought to be an epithet of Hecate. The terms in which Melinoë is described are typical of moon goddesses in Greek poetry, Melinoë may derive from Greek mēlinos, having the color of quince, from mēlon, tree fruit. The fruits yellowish-green color evoked the pallor of illness or death for the Greeks, a name derived from melas, black, would be melan-, not melin-. In the guise of Plouton Zeus and tricked Persephone and through wiley plots bedded her, O goddess, O queen of those below, I beseech you to banish the souls frenzy to the ends of the earth, show to the initiates a kindly and holy face. Melinoë is the daughter of Persephone, who was visited by Zeus disguised as her husband Hades, although the wording of the hymn is unclear at this point, Pluto becomes angry upon learning of the pregnancy and rends her flesh. The figure called Zeus Chthonios in the Orphic Hymns is either another name for Pluto or Zeus in a chthonic aspect, Melinoë is born at the mouth of the Cocytus, one of the rivers of the underworld, where Hermes in his underworld aspect as psychopomp was stationed. In the Orphic tradition, the Cocytus is one of four underworld rivers, although some Greek myths deal with themes of incest, in Orphic genealogies lines of kinship, express theological and cosmogonical concepts, not the realities of human family relations. The ancient Greek nymphē in the first line can mean nymph, as an underworld queen, Melinoë is at least partially syncretized with Persephone herself. Melinoë is described in the invocation of the Orphic Hymn as krokopeplos, clad in saffron, in the hymns, only two goddesses are described as krokopeplos, Melinoë and Hecate. Melinoës connections to Hecate and Hermes suggest that she exercised her power in the realm of the souls passage, and in that function may be compared to the torchbearer Eubouleos in the mysteries. According to the hymn, she brings night terrors to mortals by manifesting in strange forms, now plain to the eye, now shadowy, now shining in the darkness, and can drive mortals insane. The purpose of the hymn is to placate her by showing that the Orphic initiate understands and respects her nature, the translation of Thomas Taylor has given rise to a conception of Melinoe as half-black, half-white, representing the duality of the heavenly Zeus and the infernal Pluto. This had been the interpretation of Gottfried Hermann in his text of the hymns in 1805. This duality may be implicit, like the explanation offered by Servius for why the poplar leaf has a light and dark side to represent Leuke, the Orphic text poses interpretational challenges for translators in this passage. Melinoë appears on a tablet for use in the kind of private ritual usually known as magic. The style of Greek letters on the tablet, which was discovered at Pergamon, the use of bronze was probably intended to drive away malevolent spirits and to protect the practitioner
Melinoe
–
The Souls of Acheron (1898) by
Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl
13.
Naiad
–
In Greek mythology, the Naiads are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from gods, who embodied rivers. Arethusa, the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the Peloponnesus, the Greek word is Ναϊάς, plural Ναϊάδες It derives from νάειν, to flow, or νᾶμα, running water. Naiad has several English pronunciations, /ˈneɪæd/, /ˈneɪəd/, /ˈnaɪæd/, /ˈnaɪəd/ and they were often the object of archaic local cults, worshipped as essential to humans. Boys and girls at coming-of-age ceremonies dedicated their childish locks to the local naiad of the spring, in places like Lerna their waters ritual cleansings were credited with magical medical properties. Oracles might be situated by ancient springs, Naiads could be dangerous, Hylas of the Argos crew was lost when he was taken by naiads fascinated by his beauty. The naiads were also known to exhibit jealous tendencies, salmacis forced the youth Hermaphroditus into a carnal embrace and, when he sought to get away, fused with him. The loves and rapes of Zeus, according to Graves readings, so, in the back-story of the myth of Aristaeus, Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths, married Chlidanope, a naiad, who bore him Cyrene. Aristaeus had more than ordinary mortal experience with the naiads, when his bees died in Thessaly and his aunt Arethusa invited him below the waters surface, where he was washed with water from a perpetual spring and given advice. St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans was formerly known as Nyades Street, and is parallel to Dryades Street. Crinaeae Eleionomae Limnades or Limnatides Pegaeae Potameides Bibliotheca 2.95,2.11,2.21,2.23,1.61,1.81,1.7.6 Homer. Odyssey 13.355,17.240, Iliad 14.440,20.380 Ovid, theogony Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion, Harvard University Press,1985. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths 1955 Edgar Allan Poe, Sonnet to Science 1829 The Naiades Naiad Nymphs
Naiad
–
A Naiad by
John William Waterhouse, 1893; a water nymph approaches the sleeping
Hylas.
Naiad
–
Undine, by
John William Waterhouse
Naiad
–
Gioacchino Pagliei - The Naiads, 1881
Naiad
–
Fountain of the Naiads,
Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, Italy
14.
Nephele
–
In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who figured prominently in the story of Phrixus and Helle. Nephele was also the goddess of hospitality, Greek myth also has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus created in the image of Hera to trick Ixion to test his integrity after displaying his lust for Hera during a feast as a guest of Zeus. Ixion failed in restraining his lust for Hera, thus fathering the Centaurs, Nephele married Athamas, but he divorced her for Ino. Phrixus and Helle, the son and daughter of Athamas and Nephele, were hated by their stepmother, Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the towns crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked an oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus, before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Phrixus and Helle were instructed to not look down to Earth for the duration of their flight, in gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the Golden Fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom. The Golden Fleece would later be taken by Jason
Nephele
–
Punishment of Ixion: Nephele sitting at Mercury's feet. Roman fresco in Pompeii.
15.
Nereid
–
In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the 50 daughters of Nereus and Doris, sister to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors, Nereids are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father Nereus in the depths within a golden palace. The most notable of them are Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles, Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon, and Galatea and they symbolized everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea. Their melodious voices sang as they danced around their father and they are represented as very beautiful girls, crowned with branches of red coral and dressed in white silk robes trimmed with gold, but who went barefoot. They were part of Poseidons entourage and carried his trident, in Homers Iliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for the slain Patroclus, her sisters appear. The Nereid Opis is mentioned in Virgils Aeneid and she is called by the goddess Diana to avenge the death of the Amazon-like female warrior Camilla. Diana gives Opis magical weapons for revenge on Camillas killer, the Etruscan Arruns, Opis sees and laments Camillas death and shoots Arruns in revenge as directed by Diana. In modern Greek folklore, the term nereid has come to be used for all nymphs, fairies, or mermaids, Nereid, a moon of the planet Neptune, is named after the Nereids. This list is correlated from four sources, Homers Iliad, Hesiods Theogony, the Bibliotheca, because of this, the total number of names goes beyond fifty
Nereid
–
Nereid riding a sea-bull (latter 2nd century BC)
Nereid
–
French Empire mantel clock (1822) depicting the nereid Galatea
velificans
16.
Pegasides
–
Pegasides were nymphs from Greek mythology connected to wells and brooks. They are associated with water holes, in particular those the mythical horse Pegasus made by striking the ground with his hooves, Pegasides are connected with the term Pegasis, which means all that descended from Pegasus or originated from him. As a further relation, Pegasis also is the given to the nymph Oenone by the Roman poet Ovid. Pegasides are related to the divinity Pegasus, as laid on some mythic versions this alated stallion was the son of Poseidon, the sea-god of the Greeks. Pegasus was as sacred to the Roman god Neptune and the rivers. According to the narration, the hero Bellerophon needed the untamed Pegasus to help him defeat the monster Chimera. Hence while the steed satisfied his thirst at the fountain Pirene in Corinth, Greece, Pegasus, alarmed by the sudden assault, struck with his hoof against a rock, which then is said to have produced the fountain Hippocrene on Mount Helicon. This spring, and other wells that rose from the blows of Pegasus, are associated with the Pegasides and this way, nymphs in general from wells and brooks, and sometimes the goddesses Muses are themselves also called Pegasides because the fountain Hippocrene was sacred to them. The faiths of the world, an account of all religions and religious sects, their doctrines, rites, ceremonies, edinburgh, London, A. Fullarton & Co. A classical dictionary, containing an account of all the proper names mentioned in ancient authors. New York, E. Duyckinck, G. Long, a Summary of Geography and History, both Ancient and Modern, with an Abridgment of the Fabulous History of Mythology of the Greeks. London, printed for T. Cadell And W. Davies, walford, Edward, Cox, John C, Apperson, George L. A classical dictionary of biography, mythology, and geography, based on the larger dictionaries, university of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Pegasides
–
The fountain
Hippocrene where the mythological Pegasides live.
Pegasides
–
Mountain
Helicon, a residence of Pegasides and the place where Pegasus created the fountain Hippocrene.
Pegasides
–
Pegasus and Bellerophon by
Gustave Moreau, 19th century.
17.
Pleiades (Greek mythology)
–
The Pleiades, companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. They were the sisters of Calypso, Hyas, the Hyades, the Pleiades were nymphs in the train of Artemis, and together with the seven Hyades were called the Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiades, nursemaids and teachers to the infant Dionysus. They were thought to have translated to the night sky as a cluster of stars, the Pleiades. Classicists debate the origin of the name Pleiades and it ostensibly derives from the name of their mother, Pleione, effectively meaning daughters of Pleione. However, in reality the name of the star-cluster almost certainly came first, Pleiades probably actually derives from πλεῖν because of the clusters importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea, the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising. Several of the most prominent male Olympian gods engaged in affairs with the seven heavenly sisters and these relationships resulted in the birth of their children. Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus, electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion, by Zeus. Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus, alcyone was mother of Hyrieus, Hyperenor and Aethusa by Poseidon. Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Nycteus by Poseidon, and of Eurypylus also by Poseidon, sterope was mother of Oenomaus by Ares. Merope, youngest of the seven Pleiades, was wooed by Orion, in other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. Sometimes they are related to the Hesperides, nymphs of the morning star, after Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders, Orion began to pursue all of the Pleiades, and Zeus transformed them first into doves, and then into stars to comfort their father. The constellation of Orion is said to pursue them across the night sky. One of the most memorable myths involving the Pleiades is the story of how these sisters literally became stars, their catasterism. According to some versions of the tale, all seven sisters committed suicide because they were so saddened by either the fate of their father, Atlas, or the loss of their siblings, the Hyades. In turn Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods, immortalized the sisters by placing them in the sky, there these seven stars formed the star cluster known thereafter as the Pleiades. The Greek poet Hesiod mentions the Pleiades several times in his Works, as the Pleiades are primarily winter stars, they feature prominently in the ancient agricultural calendar. The poet Lord Tennyson mentions the Pleiades in his poem Locksley Hall, Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. The loss of one of the sisters, Merope, in some myths may reflect an astronomical event wherein one of the stars in the Pleiades star cluster disappeared from view by the naked eye
Pleiades (Greek mythology)
–
The Pleiades (1885) by the
Symbolist painter
Elihu Vedder
Pleiades (Greek mythology)
–
Lost Pleiad (1884) by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
18.
Potamides (mythology)
–
Potamides /ˌpoʊˈtæmᵻˌdiːz/, were a type of water nymphs of Greco-Roman mythology. They were assigned as a class of nymphs of water known as naiads. However they had their names and also sometimes could be distinguished by the name of the country in which they inhabited. The rivers were the domains of potamides as well as of the nymphs Fluviales, every creek had its potamide, who as local divinities, and like all the naiads, were daughters of the gods of rivers, also called Potamoi deities. And many of these hellish potamides, the Avernales, were believed to be owners of prophetic ability, like any nymph, potamides were considered subject to mortality but with a long life. Potamides showed themselves very favorably inclined to young girls, and gently removed the freckles from all who bathed in their streams, on the other hand, they had an aggressive behavior directed at young men coming near their watery territories, whom they dragged down to their abodes. Regarded as a class of minor female divinities, they were believed to inspire those that drank of their waters. Thus potamides, and nymphs in general, were conceived to be endowed with power, to inspire men with the same prophetic gift. Accordingly, in parts of Greece, offerings of honey, oil, milk, but never of wine. In Sicily was commemorated an annual celebration in their honor, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. The Encyclopædia Britannica, or Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, selections from the German Poets, with interlinear translations, notes and complete vocabularies, and a dissertation on mythology by F. B. Iconographic encyclopaedia of science, literature, and art, Volume 4, olympus and its inhabitants, a narrative sketch of the classical mythology, with an appendix containing a survey of the Egyptian mythology in its relation to the classical. A manual of classical mythology, or, A companion to the Greek and Latin poets, designed chiefly to explain words, phrases and epithets, from the fables, london, Printed for Baldwin and Cradock, and J. Dowding. Lemprière, John, Lorenzo L Da Ponte, John D Ogilby, bibliotheca classica, or, A dictionary of all the principal names and terms relating to the geography, topography, history, literature and mythology of the ancients. Rose, Herbert J. Gods and heroes of the Greeks, a Commentary, mythological, historical, and geographical on Popes Homer, and Drydens Aeneid of Virgil
Potamides (mythology)
–
The Nymph's Bathing Place by
Edward Poynter, 1904.
Potamides (mythology)
–
Potamides with a shepherd, painting by
Henrietta Rae, 1909.
Potamides (mythology)
–
Potamides in a river. Nymphes au bain by
Auguste G. L. Desnoyers, 1830.
19.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
20.
Sunset
–
Sunset or sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon as a result of Earths rotation. The Sun will set exactly due west at the equator on the spring and fall equinoxes, the time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the trailing edge of the Suns disk disappears below the horizon. Dusk is at the end of astronomical twilight, and is the darkest moment of twilight just before night. Sunset creates unique atmospheric conditions such as the intense orange and red colors of the Sun. The time of sunset varies throughout the year, and is determined by the position on Earth, specified by longitude and latitude. During winter and spring, the days get longer and sunsets occur later every day until the day of the latest sunset, in the Northern Hemisphere, the latest sunset occurs late in June or in early July, but not on the summer solstice of June 21. This date depends on the viewers latitude, likewise, the earliest sunset does not occur on the winter solstice, but rather about two weeks earlier, again depending on the viewers latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs in early December or late November, for a few weeks surrounding both solstices, both sunrise and sunset get slightly later each day. Even on the equator, sunrise and sunset shift several minutes back and forth through the year and these effects are plotted by an analemma. Sunsets occur almost exactly due west on the equinoxes for all viewers on Earth, exact calculations of the azimuths of sunset on other dates are complex, but they can be estimated with reasonable accuracy by using the analemma. As sunrise and sunset are calculated from the leading and trailing edges of the Sun, respectively, and not the center, the duration of a daytime is slightly longer than nighttime. Further, because the light from the Sun is refracted as it passes through the Earths atmosphere, refraction also affects the apparent shape of the Sun when it is very close to the horizon. It makes things appear higher in the sky than they really are, light from the bottom edge of the Suns disk is refracted more than light from the top, since refraction increases as the angle of elevation decreases. This raises the apparent position of the edge more than the top. Its width is unaltered, so the disk appears wider than it is high, the Sun also appears larger on the horizon, an optical illusion, similar to the moon illusion. Because the shorter wavelength components, such as blue and green, scatter more strongly, the remaining reddened sunlight can then be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles to light up the horizon red and orange. The removal of the wavelengths of light is due to Rayleigh scattering by air molecules and particles much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. The scattering by cloud droplets and other particles with diameters comparable to or larger than the sunlights wavelengths is due to Mie scattering and is not strongly wavelength-dependent
Sunset
–
The
Sun, about a minute before sunset.
Portugal, October 2007.
Sunset
–
Click this image to see the full cycle of a Sunset on the High Plains of the
Mojave Desert
Sunset
–
Evening
Twilight in
Joshua Tree, California, USA displaying the separation of orange colors in the direction from the Sun below the
Horizon to the observer; and the blue components scattered from the surrounding sky.
Sunset
–
Illuminated downdraft wind shear
clouds in the eastern sky near
Dusk, mimic
Aurora Borealis in the
Mojave Desert
21.
Atlas Mountains
–
The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb. It stretches around 2,500 km through Algeria, Morocco, the ranges highest peak is Jebel Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,167 metres in southwestern Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert, the Atlas mountains are primarily inhabited by Berber populations. The terms for mountain in some Berber languages are adrar and adras, the mountains are home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa, often more like those of Europe, many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. The basement rock of most of Africa was formed during the Precambrian period, the Atlas was formed during three subsequent phases of Earths geology. The first tectonic deformation phase involves only the Anti-Atlas, which was formed in the Paleozoic Era as the result of continental collisions, North America, Europe and Africa were connected millions of years ago. The Anti-Atlas Mountains are believed to have originally formed as part of Alleghenian orogeny. These mountains were formed when Africa and America collided, and were once a chain rivaling todays Himalayas, today, the remains of this chain can be seen in the Fall Line region in the Eastern United States. Some remnants can also be found in the later formed Appalachians in North America, a second phase took place during the Mesozoic Era. It consisted of an extension of the Earths crust that rifted and separated the continents mentioned above. This extension was responsible for the formation of many thick intracontinental sedimentary basins including the present Atlas, most of the rocks forming the surface of the present High Atlas were deposited under the ocean at that time. Such convergent tectonic boundaries occur where two plates slide towards each other forming a zone, and/or a continental collision. However, there is a lack of evidence for the nature of the subduction in the Atlas region, or for the thickening of the Earths crust generally associated with continental collisions. In fact, one of the most striking features of the Atlas to geologists is the small amount of crustal thickening. Recent studies suggest that deep processes rooted in the Earths mantle may have contributed to the uplift of the High, the Atlas are rich in natural resources. There are deposits of ore, lead ore, copper, silver, mercury, rock salt, phosphate, marble. The range can be divided into four regions, Middle Atlas. The Middle Atlas is a portion of the Atlas mountain range lying completely in Morocco, the Middle Atlas is the westernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large, plateaued basin extending eastward
Atlas Mountains
–
Toubkal Mountain in
Toubkal National Park in the High Atlas
Atlas Mountains
Atlas Mountains
–
Map showing the location of the Atlas Mountains across North Africa
Atlas Mountains
–
View of the mountains
22.
North Africa
–
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa. The United Nationss definition of Northern Africa is, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb, which is the Arabic word for sunset. Egypt lies to the northeast and encompasses part of West Asia, while Sudan is situated on the edge of the Sahel, Egypt is a transcontinental country because of the Sinai Peninsula, which geographically lies in Western Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, the Canary Islands and Madeira in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland are included in considerations of the region. From 3500 BC, following the abrupt desertification of the Sahara due to changes in the Earths orbit. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa is a major part of the Muslim world. Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as the point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the mountain system that also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert, the sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old. Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile Valley and Delta, a wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits, the Nile Valley is particularly fertile, and most of the population in Egypt and Sudan live close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve yields on the desert margins. The inhabitants of Saharan Africa are generally divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa, the Maghreb, the Nile valley. The edge of the Sahel, to the south of Egypt has mainly been inhabited by Nubians, Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber, as well as Nubians from the south. They have contributed to the Arabized Berber populations, the official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak Berber languages and several varieties of Arabic, the Arabic and Berber languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afroasiatic language family. The Tuareg Berber languages are more conservative than those of the coastal cities. Over the years, Berbers have been influenced by contact with cultures, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Europeans
North Africa
–
Market of
Biskra in Algeria, 1899
North Africa
–
Northern Africa (UN subregion)
North Africa
–
The
kasbah of
Aït Benhaddou in Morocco
North Africa
–
The first
Roman emperor native to North Africa was
Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.
23.
Oceanus
–
Strictly speaking, Oceanus was the ocean-stream at the Equator in which floated the habitable hemisphere. Thus, the sun rises from the deep-flowing Oceanus in the east, in Greek mythology, this world-ocean was personified as a Titan, the eldest son of Uranus and Gaia. In Hellenistic and Roman mosaics, this Titan was often depicted as having the body of a muscular man with a long beard and horns. In Roman mosaics, such as that from Bardo he might carry a steering-oar, some scholars believe that Oceanus originally represented all bodies of salt water, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the two largest bodies known to the ancient Greeks. Oceanus consort is his sister Tethys, and from their union came the ocean nymphs, also referred to as the three-thousand Oceanids, and all the rivers of the world, fountains, and lakes. In most variations of this myth, Oceanus also refused to side with Cronus in the revolt against their father. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *-kay-an-, when Odysseus and Nestor walk together along the shore of the sounding sea they address their prayers to the great Sea-god who girdles the world. It is to Oceanus, not to Poseidon, that their thoughts are directed, Heracles forced Helios to lend him his golden bowl, in order to cross the wide expanse of the Ocean on his trip to the Hesperides. When Oceanus tossed the bowl about, Heracles threatened him and stilled his waves, the journey of Heracles in the sun-bowl upon Oceanus became a favored theme among painters of Attic pottery. Oceanus appears in Hellenic cosmography as well as myth, cartographers continued to represent the encircling equatorial stream much as it had appeared on Achilles shield. Apollonius of Rhodes calls the lower Danube the Keras Okeanoio in Argonautica, accion in the fourth century Gaulish Latin of Rufus Avienus, Ora maritima, was applied to great lakes. At the end of the Okeanos Potamos, is the island of Alba, sacred to the Pelasgian Apollo. Hecateus of Abdera refers to Apollos island from the region of the Hyperboreans and it was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that the hero Achilles, in a hilly tumulus, was buried. Leto, the Hyperborean goddess, after nine days and nine nights of labour on the island of Delos gave birth to the god of the antique light. Old Romanian folk songs sing of a monastery on a white island with nine priests, nine singers, nine altars. Oceanid Ogyges Rasā Uranus Aeschylus, Persians, edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press,2009, online version at Harvard University Press. Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1921
Oceanus
–
Oceanus in the
Trevi Fountain,
Rome
Oceanus
–
Oceanus, at right, with scaly tail, in the
Gigantomachy of the
Pergamon Altar.
24.
Stesichorus
–
Stesichorus was the first great lyric poet of the West. As one scholar observed in 1967, Time has dealt more harshly with Stesichorus than with any other major lyric poet, Stesichorus exercised an important influence on the representation of myth in 6th century art and on the development of Athenian dramatic poetry. Stesichorus was born in Metauros in Calabria, Southern Italy c.630 BC, Some say that he came from Himera in Sicily, but that was due to him moving from Metauros to Himera later in life. When exiled from Pallantium in Arcadia he came to Katane and when he died there was buried in front of the gate which is called Stesichorean after him, in date he was later than the lyric poet Alcman, since he was born in the 37th Olympiad. He died in the 56th Olympiad and he had a brother Mamertinus who was an expert in geometry and a second brother Helianax, a law-giver. His poems are in the Doric dialect and in 26 books and they say that he was blinded for writing abuse of Helen and recovered his sight after writing an encomium of Helen, the Palinode, as the result of a dream. He was called Stesichorus because he was the first to establish a chorus of singers to the cithara, aristotle quoted a speech the poet is supposed to have made to the people of Himera warning them against the tyrannical ambitions of Phalaris. The Byzantine grammarian Tzetzes also listed him as a contemporary of the tyrant, according to Lucian, the poet lived to 85 years of age. Hieronymus declared that his poems became sweeter and more swan-like as he approached death, eusebius dated his floruit in Olympiad 42.2 and his death in Olympiad 55.1. The Sudas claim that Hesiod was the father of Stesichorus can be dismissed as yet it is also mentioned by Tzetzes. According to another tradition known to Cicero, Stesichorus was the grandson of Hesiod yet even this verges on anachronism since Hesiod was composing verses around 700 BC, Stesichorus might be regarded as Hesiods literary heir and maybe this was the source of confusion about a family relationship. According to Stephanus of Byzantium and the philosopher Plato the poets father was named Euphemus, the poets mathematically inclined brother was named Mamertinus by the Suda but a scholiast in a commentary on Euclid named him Mamercus. It was also a sympathetic environment for his most famous poem, The Palinode, composed in praise of Helen, on the other hand, the western Greeks were not very different from their eastern counterparts and his poetry cannot be regarded exclusively as a product of the Greek West. His poetry included a description of the river Himera as well as praise for the named after it. His possible exile from Arcadia is attributed by one scholar to rivalry between Tegea and Sparta. Traditional accounts indicate that he was active in Magna Graeca. Aristotle mentions two public speeches by Stesichorus, one to the people of Himera, warning them against Phalaris, philodemus believed that the poet once stood between two armies and reconciled them with a song — but there is a similar story about Terpander. Moreover the name wasnt unique — there seems to have more than one poet of this name
Stesichorus
–
A scene from the
Tabula Iliaca, bearing the inscription "Sack of Troy according to Stesichorus"
25.
Geryon
–
In Greek mythology, Geryon, son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and grandson of Medusa, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean. A more literal-minded later generation of Greeks associated the region with Tartessos in southern Iberia, Geryon was often described as a monster with human faces. According to Hesiod Geryon had one body and three heads, whereas the tradition followed by Aeschylus gave him three bodies, a lost description by Stesichoros said that he has six hands and six feet and is winged, there are some mid-sixth-century Chalcidian vases portraying Geryon as winged. Some accounts state that he had six legs as well while others state that the three bodies were joined to one pair of legs, apart from these bizarre features, his appearance was that of a warrior. He owned a two-headed hound named Orthrus, which was the brother of Cerberus, and a herd of magnificent red cattle that were guarded by Orthrus, and a herder Eurytion, son of Erytheia. In the fullest account in the Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus, Heracles was required to travel to Erytheia, on the way there, he crossed the Libyan desert and became so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun. Helios in admiration of his courage gave Heracles the golden chariot he used to sail across the sea from west to east each night, Heracles used it to reach Erytheia, a favorite motif of the vase-painters. Such a magical conveyance undercuts any literal geography for Erytheia, the red island of the sunset, when Heracles reached Erytheia, no sooner had he landed than he was confronted by the two-headed dog, Orthrus. With one huge blow from his club, Heracles killed the watchdog. Eurytion the herdsman came to assist Orthrus, but Heracles dealt with him the same way, on hearing the commotion, Geryon sprang into action, carrying three shields, three spears, and wearing three helmets. Heracles then had to herd the cattle back to Eurystheus, according to some versions, Heracles drove his remaining cattle past a cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other. In others, Caca, Cacus sister, told Heracles where he was, Heracles then killed Cacus, and according to the Romans, founded an altar where the Forum Boarium, the cattle market, was later held. To annoy Heracles, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them, the hero was within a year able to retrieve them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the level of a river so much and he piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera, in the Aeneid, Vergil may have based the triple-souled figure of Erulus, king of Praeneste, on Geryon and Hercules conquest of Geryon is mentioned in Book VIII. The Herculean Sarcophagus of Genzano features a three headed representation of Geryon, the poet Stesichorus wrote a song of Geryon in the sixth century BC, which was apparently the source of this section in Bibliotheke, it contains the first reference to Tartessus. From the fragmentary papyri found at Oxyrhyncus it is possible that Stesichorus inserted a character, Menoites, Geryon then had an interview with his mother Callirrhoe, who begged him not to confront Heracles. They appear to have expressed doubt as to whether Geryon would prove to be immortal
Geryon
–
Heracles fighting Geryon, amphora by the E Group, ca. 540 BC,
Louvre
Geryon
–
A
Gustave Doré wood engraving of Geryon for
Dante's Inferno
26.
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.
27.
Tartessos
–
Tartessos or Tartessus was a semi-mythical harbor city and the surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian Peninsula, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting during the first millennium BC, herodotus, for example, describes it as beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Archaeological discoveries in the region have built up a picture of a widespread culture, identified as Tartessian. The Tartessians were rich in metal, in the 4th century BC the historian Ephorus describes a very prosperous market called Tartessos, with much tin carried by river, as well as gold and copper from Celtic lands. Trade in tin was very lucrative in the Bronze Age, since it is a component of true bronze and is comparatively rare. Herodotus refers to a king of Tartessos, Arganthonios, presumably named for his wealth in silver, the people from Tartessos became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, whose presence in Iberia dates from the 8th century BC and who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gadir. Several early sources, such as Aristotle, refer to Tartessos as a river, Aristotle claims that it rises from the Pyrene Mountain and flows out to sea outside the Pillars of Hercules, the modern Strait of Gibraltar. No such river traverses the Iberian peninsula, according to Pytheas, in the 4th century BC, as reported by Strabo in the 1st century AD, the Turduli occupied the area that was Tartessos which was the Baetis River. The river, which is the largest in Iberia and tidal, those of a day called Baetis and there are some who think that Tartessus was the ancient name of Carpia. The river known in his day as the Baetis is now the Guadalquivir, thus, Tartessos may be buried, Schulten thought, under the shifting wetlands. The river delta has gradually been blocked by a sandbar that stretches from the mouth of the Rio Tinto, near Palos de la Frontera, the area is now protected as the Parque Nacional de Doñana. In the 2nd century AD Appian thought that Karpessos was previously known as Tartessos, subsequent discoveries were widely reported, in September 1923 archaeologists discovered a Phoenician necropolis in which human remains were unearthed and stones found with illegible characters. It may have been colonized by the Phoenicians for trade because of its richness in metals, J. M. Luzón was the first to identify Tartessos with modern Huelva, based on discoveries made in the preceding decades. Alluvial tin was panned in Tartessian streams from an early date, the spread of a silver standard in Assyria increased its attractiveness. The invention of coinage in the 7th century BC spurred the search for bronze, henceforth trade connections, formerly largely in elite goods, assumed an increasingly broad economic role. By the Late Bronze Age, silver extraction in Huelva Province reached industrial proportions, pre-Roman silver slag is found in the Tartessian cities of Huelva Province. Cypriot and Phoenician metalworkers produced 15 million tons of pyrometallurgical residues at the vast dumps of Riotinto, tartessic artifacts linked with the Tartessos culture have been found, and many archaeologists now associate the lost city with Huelva. In excavations on spatially restricted sites in the center of modern Huelva, Huelva contains the largest accumulation of imported elite goods and must have been an important Tartessian center
Tartessos
–
Treasure of El Carambolo, exhibited in the
Archaeological Museum of Seville
Tartessos
–
Tartessos cultural area.
Tartessos
–
The Tartessian Fonte Velha inscription (Bensafrim, (Lagos))
28.
Iberian peninsula
–
The Iberian Peninsula /aɪˈbɪəriən pəˈnɪnsjᵿlə/, also known as Iberia /aɪˈbɪəriə/, is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is divided between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory. With an area of approximately 582,000 km2, it is the second largest European peninsula, at that time, the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabos Iberia was delineated from Keltikē by the Pyrenees and included the land mass southwest of there. The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the Phoenicians, hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with. According to Strabo, prior historians used Iberia to mean the country side of the Ἶβηρος as far north as the river Rhône in France. Polybius respects that limit, but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, elsewhere he says that Saguntum is on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia. Strabo refers to the Carretanians as people of the Iberian stock living in the Pyrenees, according to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use Hispania and Hiberia as synonyms. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political, the Latin word Hiberia, similar to the Greek Iberia, literally translates to land of the Hiberians. This word was derived from the river Ebro, which the Romans called Hiberus, hiber was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro. The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet Ennius in 200 BC. Virgil refers to the Ipacatos Hiberos in his Georgics, the Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania. As they became interested in the former Carthaginian territories, the Romans began to use the names Hispania Citerior. At the time Hispania was made up of three Roman provinces, Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, Strabo says that the Romans use Hispania and Iberia synonymously, distinguishing between the near northern and the far southern provinces. Whatever language may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the Vascones, the Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the Ebro, Ibēros in ancient Greek and Ibērus or Hibērus in Latin. The association was so known it was hardly necessary to state, for example. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called the whole of Spain Hiberia because of the Hiberus River, the river appears in the Ebro Treaty of 226 BC between Rome and Carthage, setting the limit of Carthaginian interest at the Ebro. The fullest description of the treaty, stated in Appian, uses Ibērus, with reference to this border, Polybius states that the native name is Ibēr, apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin -os or -us termination
Iberian peninsula
–
Satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula.
Iberian peninsula
–
Iberian Peninsula and southern France, satellite photo on a cloudless day in March 2014
Iberian peninsula
–
Map of Spain and Portugal, Atlas historique, dated approximately 1705–1739, of H.A. Chatelain.
Iberian peninsula
–
An 18th-century map of the peninsula depicting various topographical features of the land, as published in Robert Wilkinson's General Atlas, circa 1794.
29.
Ancient Roman
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
Ancient Roman
–
Senātus Populus que Rōmānus
Ancient Roman
–
According to legend,
Rome was founded in 753 BC by
Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Ancient Roman
–
This bust from the
Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of
Lucius Junius Brutus.
Ancient Roman
–
Gaius Marius, a Roman general and politician who dramatically reformed the
Roman military
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