1.
Domus
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In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It could be found in almost all the cities throughout the Roman territories. The modern English word domestic comes from Latin domesticus, which is derived from the word domus, the word dom in modern Slavic languages means home and is a cognate of the Latin word, going back to Proto-Indo-European. Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a country house known as a villa. The elite classes of Roman society constructed their residences with elaborate decorations, inlaid marble paneling, door jambs and columns as well as expensive paintings. Many poor and lower-middle-class Romans lived in crowded, dirty and mostly rundown rental apartments and these multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than the private homes of the prosperous. The homes of the early Etruscans were simple, even for the wealthy or ruling classes and they were small familiar huts constructed on the axial plan of a central hall with an open skylight. It is believed that the Temple of Vesta was, in form, the huts were probably made of mud and wood with thatched roofs and a centre opening for the hearths smoke to escape. This could have been the beginnings of the atrium, which was common in later homes, as Rome became more and more prosperous from trade and conquest, the homes of the wealthy increased in both size and luxury emulating both the Etruscan atrium house and Hellenistic peristyle house. The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens and beautifully painted walls that were laid out. The vestibulum led into a central hall, the atrium. Leading off the Atrium were cubicula a dining room triclinium where guests could recline on couches and eat dinner whilst reclining, in cities throughout the Roman Empire, wealthy homeowners lived in buildings with few exterior windows. Glass windows werent readily available, glass production was in its infancy, thus a wealthy Roman citizen lived in a large house separated into two parts, and linked together through the tablinum or study or by a small passageway. To protect the family from intruders, it would not face the streets, only its entrance providing more room for living spaces, surrounding the atrium were arranged the masters families main rooms, the small cubicula or bedrooms, the tablinum or study, and the triclinium or dining-room. Roman homes were like Greek homes, only two objects were present in the atrium of Caecilius in Pompeii, a small bronze box that stored precious family items and the lararium, a small shrine to the household gods, the Lares. In the master bedroom was a wooden bed and couch which usually consisted of some slight padding. As the domus developed, the took on a role similar to that of the study. In each of the other bedrooms there was usually just a bed, the triclinium had three couches surrounding a table
2.
Mount Vesuvius
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Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc, Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, more than 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown. The only surviving account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Vesuvius has a historic and literary tradition. An inscription from Capua to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter and it was inhabited by bandits, the sons of the Earth, who were giants. With the assistance of the gods he pacified the region and went on, the facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether Herculaneum was named after it. An epigram by the poet Martial in 88 AD suggests that both Venus, patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the devastated by the eruption of 79. Mount Vesuvius was regarded by the Romans as being devoted to the hero, Vesuvius was a name of the volcano in frequent use by the authors of the late Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Its collateral forms were Vesaevus, Vesevus, Vesbius and Vesvius, writers in ancient Greek used Οὐεσούιον or Οὐεσούιος. Many scholars since then have offered an etymology, as peoples of varying ethnicity and language occupied Campania in the Roman Iron Age, the etymology depends to a large degree on the presumption of what language was spoken there at the time. Naples was settled by Greeks, as the name Nea-polis, New City, the Oscans, a native Italic people, lived in the countryside. The Latins also competed for the occupation of Campania, etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors. Some theories about its origin are, From Greek οὔ = not prefixed to a root from or related to the Greek word σβέννυμι = I quench, from Greek ἕω = I hurl and βίη violence, hurling violence, *vesbia, taking advantage of the collateral form. From an Indo-European root, *eus- < *ewes- < *wes-, shine sense the one who lightens, the Gran Cono was produced during the A. D.79 eruption. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesuvius or Somma-Vesuvio, the caldera started forming during an eruption around 17,000 years ago and was enlarged by later paroxysmal eruptions, ending in the one of AD79
3.
Freedman
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A freedman or freedwoman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed either by manumission or emancipation, a fugitive slave is one who escaped slavery by fleeing. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become plebeian citizens, the act of freeing a slave was called manumissio, from manus, hand, and missio, the act of releasing. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only freedom from ownership. A slave who had acquired libertas was known as a libertus in relation to his former master, as a social class, freed slaves were liberti, though later Latin texts used the terms libertus and libertini interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to public office or state priesthoods. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. The Claudian Civil Service set a precedent whereby freedmen could be used as servants in the Roman bureaucracy. In addition, Claudius passed legislation concerning slaves, including a law stating that sick slaves abandoned by their owners became freedmen if they recovered, the emperor was criticized for using freedmen in the Imperial Courts. Some freedmen enjoyed enormous success and became quite wealthy, the brothers who owned House of the Vettii, one of the biggest and most magnificent houses in Pompeii, are thought to have been freedmen. A freedman who became rich and influential might still be looked down on by the aristocracy as a vulgar nouveau riche. Trimalchio, a character in the Satyricon of Petronius, is a caricature of such a freedman, for centuries Arab slave traders took and transported an estimated 10 to 15 million sub-Saharan Africans to slavery in North Africa and the Middle East. They also enslaved Europeans from coastal areas and the Balkans, many Arabs took women slaves as concubines in their harems. In the patrilineal societies, mixed-race children of concubines and Arab men were considered free and were given inheritance rights related to their fathers property. In the United States, the freedmen and freedwomen refer chiefly to former slaves emancipated during and after the American Civil War, by the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves freed before the war, usually by individual manumissions, often in wills, were referred to as Free Negroes or free blacks. There were numerous such families formed in the Upper South before the Revolution, for the first two decades after the Revolution, thousands of slaves were freed in the Upper South, and most northern states abolished slavery, some on a gradual basis. In Louisiana and other areas of the former New France, free people of color were classified in French as gens de couleur libres and they were born to African or African-European mothers and white fathers of mixed-race African and French or other European ancestry
4.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
5.
Pompeian Styles
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The Pompeian Styles are four periods which are distinguished in ancient Roman mural painting. In the succession of styles, there is a reiteration of stylistic themes, the paintings also tell a great deal about the prosperity of the area and specific tastes during the times. The main purpose of these frescoes was to reduce the claustrophobic interiors of Roman rooms, the paintings, full of color and life, brightened up the interior and made the room feel more spacious. The First style, also referred to as structural, incrustation or masonry style, was most popular from 200 BC until 80 BC. It is characterized by the simulation of marble, with other simulated elements, mural reproductions of Greek paintings are also found. This style divided the wall into various, multi-colored patterns that took the place of extremely expensive cut stone, the First Style was also used with other styles for decorating the lower sections of walls that were not seen as much as the higher levels. An example would be the painting in the Samnite House in Herculaneum. The Second style, architectural style, or illusionism dominated the 1st century BC, early on, elements of this style are reminiscent of the First Style, but this slowly starts to be substituted element by element. It is characterized by use of perspective to create trompe loeil in wall paintings. The picture plane was pushed back into the wall by painted architectonic features such as Ionic columns or stage platforms. These wall paintings counteracted the claustrophobic nature of the small, windowless rooms of Roman houses, images and landscapes began to be introduced to the first style around 90 BC, and gained ground from 70 BC onwards, along with illusionistic and architectonic motives. Decoration had to give the greatest possible impression of depth, imitations of images appeared, at first in the higher section, then in the background of landscapes which provided a stage for mythological stories, theatrical masks, or decorations. During the reign of Augustus, the style evolved, false architectural elements opened up wide expanses with which to paint artistic compositions. A structure inspired by stage sets developed, whereby one large central tableau is flanked by two smaller ones, in this style, the illusionistic tendency continued, with a breaking up of walls with painted architectural elements or scenes. The landscape elements eventually took over to cover the wall, with no framing device. Basically, the more developed Second Style was the antithesis of the First Style, instead on confining and strengthening the walls, the goal was to break down the wall to show scenes of nature and the outside world. Much of the depth of the mature Second Style comes from the use of perspective that blurred the appearance of objects further away. Thus, the foreground is rather precise while the background is somewhat indistinctly purple, blue, one of the most recognized and unique pieces representing the Second Style is the Dionysiac mystery frieze in the Villa of the Mysteries
6.
Triclinium
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A triclinium is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek τρικλίνιον, triklinion, from τρι-, tri-, the triclinium was characterized by three klinai on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position, the fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table. Usually the open side faced the entrance of the room, in Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, triclinia were common and the hosts and guest would recline on pillows while feasting. The Museum of Archeology in Arezzo, Italy, or the House of Caro in Pompeii offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of triclinia, the custom of using klinai while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among the Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From here it spread to their colonies in southern Italy and was adopted by the Etruscans. The Romans may have seen the first dining klinai as used by the Etruscans, dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, 9-20 guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status, as static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings. Dionysus, Venus, and still lifes of food were popular, middle class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two triclinia, its not unusual to find four or more. Here, the triclinium maius would be used for dinner parties. Smaller triclinia would be used for dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia, as in the larger triclinia, wine, food, and love were always popular themes. As in many houses in Pompeii, here the smaller dining room forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum, accubita Stibadium Triclinium Galleries and plans of Roman triclinia
7.
Atrium (architecture)
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In architecture, an atrium is a large open air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building. Atria were a feature in Ancient Roman dwellings, providing light. Modern atria, as developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, are several stories high and having a glazed roof or large windows. Atria are a design feature because they give their buildings a feeling of space. The atrium has become a key feature of buildings in recent years. Atria are popular with building users, building designers and building developers, users like atria because they create a dynamic and stimulating interior that provides shelter from the external environment while maintaining a visual link with that environment. Designers enjoy the opportunity to new types of spaces in buildings. Fire control is an important aspect of contemporary atrium design due to criticism that poorly designed atria could allow fire to spread to a buildings upper stories more quickly. The Latin word atrium referred to the central court from which enclosed rooms led off. The impluvium was a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch rainwater from the roof, some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool called for some means of support for the roof, as the centrepiece of the house, the atrium was the most lavishly-furnished room. Also, it contained the chapel to the ancestral spirits. The term was used for a variety of spaces in public and religious buildings, mostly forms of arcaded courtyards. Byzantine churches were often entered through such a space, the 19th century brought the industrial revolution with great advances in iron and glass manufacturing techniques. Courtyards could then have horizontal glazing overhead, eliminating some of the elements from the space. One of the public spaces at Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, is called The Atrium and is a street-like space, five storeys high with glazed walls. The structure and glazing pattern follow the system of fractals used to arrange the panels on the rest of the facades at Federation Square, as of 2016, the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, has the worlds tallest atrium at 590 feet. The Luxor Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, has the largest atrium in the world at 29 million cubic feet, cavaedium Courtyard Quadrangle Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture, Its Elements History and Meaning
8.
Vestibule (architecture)
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The term applies to structures in both modern and historical architecture since ancient times. In modern architecture, vestibule typically refers to a room next to the outer door. In ancient Roman architecture, vestibule referred to an enclosed area between the interior of the house and the street. In contemporary usage, a vestibule constitutes an area surrounding the exterior door and it acts as an antechamber between the exterior and the interior structure. Often it connects the doorway to a lobby or hallway and it is the space one occupies once passing the door, but not yet in the main interior of the building. The residence of the White House in the United States is such an example, the difference in sizes between a vestibule and the following space is better illustrated by the - so called - entrance to the main gallery in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright. Many government buildings mimic the architecture from which the vestibule originates. A purely utilitarian use of vestibules in modern buildings is to create an air lock entry. Such vestibules consist of merely a set of doors and a set of outer doors. An ATM vestibule is an area with automated teller machines that is accessible from the outside of a building. There may be an entrance to the vestibule which requires a card to open. Entrance to and exit from the car is through the side doors, in British usage the term refers to the part of the carriage where the passenger doors are located, this can be at the ends of the carriage or at the 1/4 and 3/4 of length positions. Vestibules were common in ancient Greek temples, due to the construction techniques available at the time, it was not possible to build large spans. Consequently, many ways had two rows of columns that supported the roof and created a distinct space around the entrance. In ancient Roman architecture, where the term originates, a vestibule was a space between the interior of a building and the street, the structure was a mixture between a modern hall and porch. Upon entering a Roman house or domus, one would have to pass through the vestibule before entering the atrium, from the 5th century on vestibules were used in churches in both the east and west. Genkan Propylaeum Antarala, vestibule in certain Hindu temples
9.
Taberna
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A taberna was a single room shop covered by a barrel vault within great indoor markets of ancient Rome. Each taberna had a window above it to let light into an attic for storage and had a wide doorway. A famous example is the Markets of Trajan in Rome, built in the early 1st century by Apollodorus of Damascus, Tabernae probably first appeared in Greece in locations that were important for economic activities around the end of the fifth and fourth centuries B. C. Many of these cities were major areas where imported luxury. Tabernae functioned as the buildings that facilitated the sale of goods. Livy writes about an encounter that Marcus Furius Camillus, a Roman general present during the expansion of the Roman Republic in the 5th and 4th centuries B. C, there were mainly two forms of tabernae within the Roman empire, those found in domestic and public settings. Domestic houses had shops fronting their premises, Tabernae were also established in residential multi-storey apartment blocks called insulae, which were heavily occupied by freedmen. Insulae were constructed, with tabernae located on the levels of them. The class of people who ran the tabernae are called tabernari, ardyle Mac Mahon writes about tabernae in the Roman empire in Britain, “Tabernae were located so that they fulfilled the purpose of providing goods and services to customers. Many social, economic and other factors may have had an influence on this, but, in general, it must be assumed that retailers in Roman Britain wished to sell their products. A good site will have helped to maximize a retailer’s net selling potential and for reason, tabernae will normally be located within reach of their markets. ”Tabernae revolutionized the Roman economy because they were the first permanent retail structures within cities. Tabernae provided places for a variety of agricultural and industrial products to be sold, like wheat, bread, wine, jewelry and it is likely that tabernae were also the structures where free grain would be distributed to the public. Moreover, tabernae were used as measures to gain upward social mobility for the freedmen class. In Italy, they survive in a number of place names. IX The Last Age of the Roman Republic 146-43 B. C, 2nd ed. Edited by JA Crook, Andrew Linott, and Elizabeth Rawson,1994 p. 656-688. Livy, The History of Rome, Book VI. v.25 Cambridge Ancient History, IX The Last Age of the Roman Republic 146-43 B. C. 2nd ed. Edited by JA Crook, Andrew Linott, Mahon, Ardle Mac “FIXED-POINT RETAIL LOCATION IN THE MAJOR TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN, ” Oxford Journal of Archaeology,2006. Mahon article Tabernae on Penelope Image from Perseus Project Image of actual Roman shops Image of Reconstructive model of a taberna
10.
Triclinia
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A triclinium is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek τρικλίνιον, triklinion, from τρι-, tri-, the triclinium was characterized by three klinai on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position, the fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table. Usually the open side faced the entrance of the room, in Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, triclinia were common and the hosts and guest would recline on pillows while feasting. The Museum of Archeology in Arezzo, Italy, or the House of Caro in Pompeii offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of triclinia, the custom of using klinai while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among the Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From here it spread to their colonies in southern Italy and was adopted by the Etruscans. The Romans may have seen the first dining klinai as used by the Etruscans, dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, 9-20 guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status, as static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings. Dionysus, Venus, and still lifes of food were popular, middle class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two triclinia, its not unusual to find four or more. Here, the triclinium maius would be used for dinner parties. Smaller triclinia would be used for dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia, as in the larger triclinia, wine, food, and love were always popular themes. As in many houses in Pompeii, here the smaller dining room forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum, accubita Stibadium Triclinium Galleries and plans of Roman triclinia
11.
Priapus
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For the ancient city in Asia Minor, see Karabiga. In Greek mythology, Priapus was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He became a figure in Roman erotic art and Latin literature. Priapus was described as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus, or the son of Dionysus and Chione, perhaps as the father or son of Hermes, and the son of Zeus or Pan, depending on the source. The other gods refused to him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him down to Earth. He was eventually found by shepherds and was brought up by them, Priapus joined Pan and the satyrs as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid, he attempted to rape the goddess Hestia but was thwarted by an ass, whose braying caused him to lose his erection at the critical moment and woke Hestia. The episode gave him a hatred of asses and a willingness to see them destroyed in his honour. The emblem of his nature was his permanent erection and his large penis. Another myth states that he pursued the nymph Lotis until the gods took pity on her, the first extant mention of Priapus is in the eponymous comedy Priapus, written in the 4th century BC by Xenarchus. Originally worshipped by Greek colonists in Lampsacus in Asia Minor, the cult of Priapus spread to mainland Greece and eventually to Italy during the 3rd century BC. Lucian tells that in Bithynia Priapus was accounted as a god, a rustic tutor to the infant Ares. Arnobius is aware of the importance accorded Priapus in this region near the Hellespont, in later antiquity, his worship meant little more than a cult of sophisticated pornography. Outside his home region in Asia Minor, Priapus was regarded as something of a joke by urban dwellers, however, he played a more important role in the countryside, where he was seen as a guardian deity. He was regarded as the god of sailors and fishermen and others in need of good luck. Priapus does not appear to have had a cult and was mostly worshiped in gardens or homes. His sacrificial animal was the ass, but agricultural offerings were very common. Long after the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity, Priapus continued to be invoked as a symbol of health and fertility
12.
Ixion
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Ixion married Dia, a daughter of Deioneus and promised his father-in-law a valuable present. However, he did not pay the price, so Deioneus stole some of Ixions horses in retaliation. Ixion concealed his resentment and invited his father-in-law to a feast at Larissa, when Deioneus arrived, Ixion pushed him into a bed of burning coals and wood. Thereafter, Ixion lived as an outlaw and was shunned, by killing his father-in-law, Ixion was reckoned the first man guilty of kin-slaying in Greek mythology. That alone would warrant him a terrible punishment, however, Zeus had pity on Ixion and brought him to Olympus and introduced him at the table of the gods. Instead of being grateful, Ixion grew lustful for Hera, Zeuss wife, Zeus found out about his intentions and made a cloud in the shape of Hera, which became known as Nephele and tricked Ixion into coupling with it. Ixion was expelled from Olympus and blasted with a thunderbolt, Zeus ordered Hermes to bind Ixion to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning. Therefore, Ixion is bound to a burning solar wheel for all eternity, at first spinning across the heavens, only when Orpheus played his lyre during his trip to the Underworld to rescue Eurydice did it stop for a while. The details are very odd, the narrative motivation creaks at every juncture, observes Robert L. Fowler, the myth smacks of aetiology. Ixion was a figure known to the Etruscans, for he is depicted bound to the spoked wheel, engraved on the back of a bronze mirror, ca 460-450 BCE. The figure on the mirror-back is shown as winged, a characteristic shared with Etruscan daimones, in Guillaume Apollinaires poem Vendémiaire. open-air chimneys impregnate the clouds/As once did the mechanical Ixion Wanyūdō Sisyphus Pindar. Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues of the Gods Graves, Robert,1960, the Greek Myths, Section 63 passim. Greek Mythology Link - Ixion Gaelle Ginestet, Ixion in A Dictionary of Shakespeares Classical Mythology, ed. Yves Peyré
13.
Zeus
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Zeus /ˈzjuːs/ is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter and his mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, in most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses. He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe That Zeus is king in heaven is a common to all men. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak, in addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical cloud-gatherer also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses, standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his right hand. The gods name in the nominative is Ζεύς Zeús and it is inflected as follows, vocative, Ζεῦ Zeû, accusative, Δία Día, genitive, Διός Diós, dative, Διί Dií. Diogenes Laertius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς, Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr. The god is known under this name in the Rigveda, Latin, Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek
14.
Hera
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Hera is the goddess of women and marriage in Greek mythology and religion. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. One of her characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeuss other lovers and offspring, Hera is commonly seen with the animals she considers sacred including the cow, lion and the peacock. Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, Nevertheless, there are memories of an aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno, According to Plutarch, Hera was an allegorical name and an anagram of aēr. So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkerts Greek Religion, in a note, he records other scholars arguments for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to Heros, Master. John Chadwick, a decipherer of Linear B, remarks her name may be connected with hērōs, ἥρως, hero, a. J. van Windekens, offers young cow, heifer, which is consonant with Heras common epithet βοῶπις. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin and her name is attested in Mycenaean Greek written in the Linear B syllabic script as
15.
Nephele
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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
16.
Centaur
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A centaur, or occasionally hippocentaur, is a mythological creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. The centaurs were usually said to have born of Ixion. Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus and this Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the later version of the story his twin brother was Lapithes, ancestor of the Lapiths, Centaurs were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. Another tribe of centaurs was said to have lived on Cyprus, according to Nonnus, they were fathered by Zeus, who, in frustration after Aphrodite had eluded him, spilled his seed on the ground of that land. Unlike those of mainland Greece, the Cyprian centaurs were horned, there were also the Lamian Pheres, twelve rustic daimones of the Lamos river. They were set by Zeus to guard the infant Dionysos, protecting him from the machinations of Hera, the Lamian Pheres later accompanied Dionysos in his campaign against the Indians. Centaurs subsequently featured in Roman mythology, and were familiar figures in the medieval bestiary and they remain a staple of modern fantastic literature. The strife among these cousins is a metaphor for the conflict between the lower appetites and civilized behavior in humankind, theseus, a hero and founder of cities, who happened to be present, threw the balance in favour of the right order of things, and assisted Pirithous. The Centaurs were driven off or destroyed, another Lapith hero, Caeneus, who was invulnerable to weapons, was beaten into the earth by Centaurs wielding rocks and the branches of trees. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as wild as untamed horses, like the Titanomachy, the defeat of the Titans by the Olympian gods, the contests with the Centaurs typify the struggle between civilization and barbarism. The Centauromachy is most famously portrayed in the Parthenon metopes by Phidias, a painted terracotta centaur was found in the Heros tomb at Lefkandi, and by the Geometric period, centaurs figure among the first representational figures painted on Greek pottery. An often-published Geometric period bronze of a warrior face-to-face with a centaur is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Greek art of the Archaic period, centaurs are depicted in three different forms. Some centaurs are depicted with a human torso attached to the body of a horse at the withers, where the neck would be. Class B centaurs are depicted with a body and legs, joined at the waist with the hindquarters of a horse. A third type, designated Class C, depicts centaurs with human forelegs terminating in hooves, Baur describes this as an apparent development of Aeolic art, which never became particularly widespread. At a later period, paintings on some amphoras depict winged centaurs, Centaurs were also frequently depicted in Roman art. The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world
17.
Hermes
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Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods. Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries and he is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods and he has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen, thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers. In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind and his attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus, which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a staff with carvings of the other gods. The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās, most scholars derive Hermes from Greek ἕρμα herma, prop, heap of stones, boundary marker, from which the word hermai also derives. The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin. Scholarly speculation that Hermes derives from a primitive form meaning one cairn is disputed. In Greek, a find is a hermaion. It is also suggested that Hermes is a cognate of the Vedic Sarama, homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, he is called the bringer of luck, guide and guardian. He was an ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector and he also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey, Hermes helps his son, the protagonist Odysseus, by informing him about the fate of his companions. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb, when Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades. Hermes was then instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus, aesop featured him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as the god of athletes, of edible roots, and of hospitality. He also said that Hermes had assigned each person his share of intelligence, Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the Titan Prometheus. In addition to the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of wrestling and boxing, in 1820 Shelley translated this hymn
18.
Wheel of fire
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In a literary context, the Wheel of Fire may refer to the chain of tortuous or dire consequences that result from a single action. The Wheel of Fire originates in Greek Mythology as the punishment for Ixion, the Wheel of Fire is part of the Aristotelian reading of a tragedy, which includes the central flaw within a character. In Shakespeares tragedy Othello, the flaw in Othello himself is his vulnerability to jealousy and his tendency to believe Iago, as a result of this flaw Othello loses a loyal friend, murders his wife, and is driven insane before eventually committing suicide. In this scenario the Wheel of Fire begins with the action of Othello trusting Iago, the Wheel of Fire is also the title of G. Wilson Knights book on Shakespearean tragedy. “I begin to see it in my all the time. -- A description of Gollum and Frodo, respectively, as seen by Samwise
19.
Caduceus
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The caduceus is the staff carried by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology and Hermes in Greek mythology. The same staff was also borne by heralds in general, for example by Iris and it is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings. C. to 3000 B. C. As a symbolic object, it represents Hermes, and by extension trades, occupations, in later Antiquity, the caduceus provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury. Thus, through its use in astrology and alchemy, it has come to denote the elemental metal of the same name and it is said the wand would wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle, if applied to the dead and this association is ancient, and consistent from the Classical period to modern times. The caduceus is also used as a symbol representing printing, again by extension of the attributes of Mercury, the term kerukeion denoted any heralds staff, not necessarily associated with Hermes in particular. In his study of the cult of Hermes, Lewis Richard Farnell assumed that the two snakes had simply developed out of ornaments of the crook used by heralds as their staff. This view has been rejected by later authors pointing to parallel iconography in the Ancient Near East and it has been argued that the staff or wand entwined by two snakes was itself representing a god in the pre-anthropomorphic era. Like the herm or priapus, it would thus be a predecessor of the anthropomorphic Hermes of the classical era, william Hayes Ward discovered that symbols similar to the classical caduceus sometimes appeared on Mesopotamian cylinder seals. He suggested the symbol originated some time between 3000 and 4000 BCE, and that it might have been the source of the Greek caduceus. From this perspective, the caduceus was originally representative of Hermes himself, in his form as the Underworld god Ningishzida. The caduceus is mentioned in passing by Walter Burkert as really the image of copulating snakes taken over from Ancient Near Eastern tradition, in Egyptian iconography, the Djed pillar is depicted as containing a snake in a frieze of the Dendera Temple complex. The caduceus also appears as a symbol of the coins of the Maurya Empire in India. Numismatic research suggest that this symbol was the symbol of the Buddhist king Ashoka, the Homeric hymn to Hermes relates how Hermes offered his lyre fashioned from a tortoise shell as compensation for the cattle he stole from his half brother Apollo. Apollo in return gave Hermes the caduceus as a gesture of friendship, the association with the serpent thus connects Hermes to Apollo, as later the serpent was associated with Asclepius, the son of Apollo. The association of Apollo with the serpent is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif, one Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later and this staff later came into the possession of the god Hermes, along with its transformative powers. Another myth suggests that Hermes saw two serpents entwined in mortal combat, separating them with his wand he brought about peace between them, and as a result the wand with two serpents came to be seen as a sign of peace
20.
Hephaestus
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Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, in another version, he was Heras parthenogenous child, rejected by his mother because of his deformity and thrown off Mount Olympus and down to earth. As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus and he served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos, Hephaestus symbols are a smiths hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs. The name of the god in Greek has a root which can be observed in names of places of Pre-Greek origin, Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding. Hephaestus crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, in later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic Cyclopes—among them his assistants in the forge, Brontes, Steropes and Pyracmon. Hephaestus built automatons of metal to work for him and this included tripods that walked to and from Mount Olympus. He gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide, in some versions of the myth, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestuss forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, being a skilled blacksmith, Hephaestus created all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus. The Greek myths and the Homeric poems sanctified in stories that Hephaestus had a power to produce motion. He made the golden and silver lions and dogs at the entrance of the palace of Alkinoos in such a way that they could bite the invaders, the Greeks maintained in their civilization an animistic idea that statues are in some sense alive. This kind of art and the animistic belief goes back to the Minoan period, when Daedalus, a statue of the god was somehow the god himself, and the image on a mans tomb indicated somehow his presence. Homers Odyssey and Iliad have Hephaestus being born of the union of Zeus, in another tradition, attested by Hesiod, Hera bore Hephaestus alone. In Hesiods Zeus-centered cosmology, Hera gave birth to Hephaestus as revenge for Zeus giving birth to Athena without her, several later texts follow Hesiods account, including Bibliotheke, Hyginus, and the preface to Fabulae. In the account of Attic vase painters, Hephaestus was present at the birth of Athena, in the latter account, Hephaestus is there represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect. In one branch of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because he was shrivelled of foot and he fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis and the Oceanid Eurynome. In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus advances, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. He fell for a day and landed on the island of Lemnos
21.
Daedalus
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Alfred Darlington, better known by his stage name Daedelus, is a producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is a part of the groups The Long Lost and Adventure Time and he is affiliated with the internet radio station Dublab. He attended the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music studying Jazz on Double Bass, Daedelus released the album, Invention, on Plug Research in 2002. The Household EP was released on Eastern Developments in 2003 and he also released The Weather, a collaborative album with Busdriver and Radioinactive, on Mush Records that year. He released the solo album, Of Snowdonia, on Plug Research in 2004. It was followed by another album, A Gent Agent. His 2005 album, Exquisite Corpse, featured guest appearances from MF Doom, Mike Ladd, in the following year, he released Denies the Days Demise on Mush Records. His 2008 album, Love to Make Music To, and 2011 album and he released the Righteous Fists of Harmony EP in 2010. Followed by The Light Brigade LP in 2014 both on Brainfeeder and his studio album, Drown Out, was released on Anticon in 2013. 2016 released Labyrinths an LP with vocal features and guest instrumentation on his own imprint Magical Properties, axe Murderation Remixes Throw a Fit Fair Weather Friends Touchtone & FWF Remixes Friends of Friends Vol. M
22.
Poseidon
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Poseidon was one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean, and he is called the God of the Sea, additionally, he is referred to as Earth-Shaker due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the tamer of horses. He is usually depicted as a male with curly hair. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology, both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have birth to a colt. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, according to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon. The form Ποτειδάϝων appears in Corinth, the origins of the name Poseidon are unclear. Walter Burkert finds that the second element da- remains hopelessly ambiguous, another theory interprets the second element as related to the word *δᾶϝον dâwon, water, this would make *Posei-dawōn into the master of waters. There is also the possibility that the word has Pre-Greek origin, Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two alternative etymologies, either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a foot-bond, or he knew many things. If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted, the name occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja. A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia, is found, indicating a lost consort goddess. Poseidon carries frequently the title wa-na-ka in Linear B inscriptions, as king of the underworld, the chthonic nature of Poseidon-Wanax is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos, a powerful attribute. In the cave of Amnisos Enesidaon is related with the cult of Eileithyia and she was related with the annual birth of the divine child. During the Bronze Age, a goddess of nature, dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cult, and Wanax was her companion in Mycenean cult. It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription, in Linear B inscriptions found at Pylos, E-ne-si-da-o-ne is related with Poseidon, and Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for the Two Queens, the Two Queens may be related with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. The violated Demeter was Demeter Erinys, in Arcadia, Demeters mare-form was worshiped into historical times. Her xoanon of Phigaleia shows how the local cult interpreted her, a Medusa type with a horses head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water
23.
Minotaur
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In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being part man and part bull. The Minotaur dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, the Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Μῑνώταυρος, a compound of the name Μίνως, in Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion, a name shared with Minos foster-father. Minotaur was originally a noun in reference to this mythical figure. The use of minotaur as a noun to refer to members of a generic species of bull-headed creatures developed much later. After he ascended the throne of the island of Crete, Minos competed with his brothers to rule, Minos prayed to Poseidon, the sea god, to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of support. He was to kill the bull to show honor to the deity and he thought Poseidon would not care if he kept the white bull and sacrificed one of his own. To punish Minos, Poseidon made Pasiphaë, Minoss wife, fall deeply in love with the bull, Pasiphaë had craftsman Daedalus make a hollow wooden cow, and climbed inside it in order to mate with the white bull. The offspring was the monstrous Minotaur, Pasiphaë nursed him, but he grew and became ferocious, being the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, he had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured humans for sustenance. Minos, after getting advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos palace in Knossos, the Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. One of the figurations assumed by the river spirit Achelous in seducing Deianira is as a man with the head of a bull, from Classical times through the Renaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth. This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and still figures in modern depictions. Androgeus, son of Minos, had killed by the Athenians. Others say he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan bull, his mothers former taurine lover, the common tradition is that Minos waged war to avenge the death of his son and won. Catullus, in his account of the Minotaurs birth, refers to another version in which Athens was compelled by the plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeos. Aegeus had to avert the plague caused by his crime by sending young men at the time as the best of unwed girls as a feast to the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, when the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster
24.
Icarus
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In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Often depicted in art, Icarus and his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers. Icarus father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, Icarus ignored his fathers instructions not to fly too close to the sun, when the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. This tragic theme of failure at the hands of hubris contains similarities to that of Phaëthon. Minos imprisoned Daedalus himself in the labyrinth because he gave Minoss daughter, Ariadne, a clew in order to help Theseus, Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Daedalus tried his wings first, but before trying to escape the island, he warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea, but to follow his path of flight. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared into the sky, but in the process he came too close to the sun, heracles erected a tomb for him. Icarus flight was often alluded to by Greek poets in passing, in the literature of ancient Rome, the myth was of interest to Augustan writers. Hyginus narrates it in Fabula 40, beginning with the love affair of Pasiphaë, daughter of the Sun. Ovid narrates the story of Icarus at some length in the Metamorphoses, auden and Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams. Literary interpretation has found in the myth the structure and consequence of personal over-ambition, an Icarus-related study of the Daedalus myth was published by the French hellenist Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux. In psychology there have been studies of the Icarus complex with respect to the alleged relationship between fascination for fire, enuresis, high ambition, and ascensionism. In the psychiatric mind features of disease were perceived in the shape of the pendulous emotional ecstatic-high, the Greek Myths, section 92 passim Smith, William, ed. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Pinsent, J. Greek Mythology
25.
Dionysus
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Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth. Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the religious focus for its unrestrained consumption. He may have been worshipped as early as c, 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks, traces of Dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancient Minoan Crete. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms, some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, in some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner, in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany, the god that comes and his festivals were the driving force behind the development of Greek theatre. The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a male, bearded and robed. He holds a staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth, in its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession is made up of female followers and bearded satyrs with erect penises, some are armed with the thyrsus. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers and this procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. He is also known as Bacchus, the adopted by the Romans. His thyrsus, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. As Eleutherios, his wine, music and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care and those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. The cult of Dionysus is also a cult of the souls, his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings and he is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god. Some scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity, Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus. Zeus wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant, appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semeles mind, curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood
26.
Ariadne
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Ariadne, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, Son of Zeus and his queen Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios. She is mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and her father put her in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made as part of reparations, later, she helped Theseus overcome the Minotaur and save the potential sacrificial victims. In other stories, she became the bride of the god Dionysus, since ancient Greek myths are passed down through oral tradition, many variations of this and other myths exist. According to an Athenian version of the legend, Minos attacked Athens after his son was killed there, the Athenians asked for terms, and were required to sacrifice seven young men and seven maidens to the Minotaur every seven or nine years. One year, the party included Theseus, the son of King Aegeus. Ariadne fell in love at first sight, and helped him by giving him a sword and a ball of thread, so that he could find his way out of the Minotaurs labyrinth. She eloped with Theseus after he achieved his goal, but according to Homer he had no joy of her, for ere that, Artemis slew her in seagirt Dia because of the witness of Dionysus. Homer does not expand on the nature of Dionysuss accusation, in Hesiod and most other accounts, Theseus abandoned Ariadne sleeping on Naxos, and Dionysus rediscovered and wedded her. The vase-painters of Athens often showed Athena leading Theseus from the sleeping Ariadne to his ship. With Dionysus, she was the mother of Oenopion, the personification of wine, Staphylus, Thoas, Peparethus, Phanus, Eurymedon, Enyeus, Ceramus, Maron, Euanthes, Latramys and her wedding diadem was set in the heavens as the constellation Corona Borealis. Ariadne remained faithful to Dionysus but was killed by Perseus at Argos. In other myths she hanged herself from a tree, like Erigone and the hanging Artemis, some scholars have posited, due to her thread-spinning and winding associations, that she was a weaving goddess, like Arachne, supporting this theory with the mytheme of the Hanged Nymph. Dionysus descended into Hades and brought her and his mother Semele back and they then joined the gods in Olympus. Karl Kerenyi and Robert Graves theorize that Ariadne was a Great Goddess of Crete, Kerenyi notes a Linear B inscription from Knossos, to all the gods, honey. To the mistress of the honey in equal amounts, suggesting to him that the Mistress of the Labyrinth was a Great Goddess in her own right. Professor Barry Powell has suggested she was Minoan Cretes Snake Goddess, in a kylix by the painter Aison Theseus drags the Minotaur from a temple-like labyrinth, but the goddess who attends him, in this Attic representation, is Athena. Theseus, attempting to secure the ship, was swept out to sea. The Cypriote women cared for Ariadne, who died in childbirth and was memorialized in a shrine, Theseus, overcome with grief upon his return, left money for sacrifices to Ariadne and ordered two cult images, one of silver and one of bronze, set up
27.
Theseus
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Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was a hero, considered by Athenians as their own great reformer, his name comes from the same root as θεσμός. The myths surrounding Theseus—his journeys, exploits, and family—have provided material for fiction throughout the ages, Theseus was responsible for the synoikismos —the political unification of Attica under Athens, represented emblematically in his journey of labours, subduing ogres and monstrous beasts. Because he was the king, Theseus built and occupied a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis that may have been similar to the palace that was excavated in Mycenae. Pausanias reports that after the synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite Pandemos, Plutarchs vita of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus escape, and the love of Ariadne for Theseus. Plutarchs sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes, Demon, Philochorus, Aegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked the oracle at Delphi for advice and her cryptic words were Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief. Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed and he asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen. Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra, but following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezens shore. There she poured a libation to Sphairos and Poseidon, and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature, such double paternity, with one immortal, after Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne, priestess and consort together represented the old order in Athens. Thus Theseus was raised in his mothers land, when Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his fathers tokens. His mother then told him the truth about his fathers identity, young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated a great many bandits along the way. At the Isthmian entrance to the Underworld was a robber named Sinis and he would capture travelers, tie them between two pine trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go, tearing his victims apart. Theseus killed him by his own method and he then became intimate with Siniss daughter, Perigune, fathering the child Melanippus. In another deed north of the Isthmus, at a place called Crommyon, he killed an enormous pig, some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. The Bibliotheca described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring of Typhon, near Megara, an elderly robber named Sciron forced travellers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet
28.
Naxos
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Naxos is a Greek island—at 429 km2 the largest of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture, the island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern time was one of the best abrasives available. The largest town and capital of the island is Chora or Naxos City, the main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glinado. Climate is Mediterranean, with mild winters and very warm summers. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Csa, according to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas. Homer mentions Dia, literally the sacred island of the Goddess, dionysus who was the protector of the island, met Ariadne and fell in love with her. But eventually Ariadne, unable to bear her separation from Theseus, either killed herself, the Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the Richard Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos. Zas Cave, inhabited during the Neolithic era, contained objects of stone from Melos and copper objects including a dagger, the presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant. Emery was sourced during the time to other islands, during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades. Naxos was the first Greek city-state to attempt to leave the Delian League circa 476 BC, Athens quickly squashed the notion, Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid. Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island, under the Byzantine Empire, Naxos was part of the thema of the Aegean Sea, which was established in the mid-9th century. Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo, to steel his bands resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys and bade his companions to conquer or die. The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks siege, Naxos became the seat of Sanudos realm, which he ruled with the title of Duke of Naxia, or Duke of the Archipelago. Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566, Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714, under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, Nasso. The Ottoman administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians, very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island is slight. Under Ottoman rule the island was known as Turkish, Nakşa, Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted, Naxos finally became a member of the Greek state in 1832. Naxos is a popular tourist destination, with several ruins and it has a number of beaches, such as those at Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Alikos, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them near Chora. As other cycladic islands, Naxos is considered a place perfect for windsurfing
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Hypnos
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In Greek mythology, Hypnos is the personification of sleep, the Roman equivalent is known as Somnus. In the Greek Mythology, Hypnos is the son of Nyx and his brother is Thanatos, both siblings live in the underworld or in Erebus, another valley of the Greek underworld. According to rumors, Hypnos lives in a big cave, which the river Lethe comes from and his bed is made of ebony, on the entrance of the cave grow a number of poppies and other hypnotic plants. No light and no sound would ever enter his grotto, according to Homer, he lives on the island Lemnos, which later on has been claimed to be his very own dream-island. His children Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos are the gods of the dream and it is claimed that he has many more children, which are also Oneiroi. He is said to be a calm and gentle god, as he helps humans in need and, due to their sleep, Hypnos lived next to his twin brother, Thanatos in the underworld. Hypnos mother was Nyx, the deity of Night, and his father was Erebus, Nyx was a dreadful and powerful goddess, and even Zeus feared entering her realm. His wife, Pasithea, was one of the youngest of the Graces and was promised to him by Hera, Pasithea is the deity of hallucination or relaxation. Hypnos three brothers or sons were known as the Oneiroi, which is Greek for dreams, Morpheus is the Winged God of Dreams and can take human form in dreams. Phobetor is the personification of nightmares and created frightening dreams, he could take the shape of any animal including bears and tigers, Phantasos was known for creating fake dreams full of illusions. Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos appeared in the dreams of kings, the Oneiroi lived in a cave at the shores of the Ocean in the West. The cave had two gates with which to send people dreams, one made from ivory and the other from buckhorn, however, before they could do their work and send out the dreams, first Hypnos had to put the recipient to sleep. Hypnos used his powers to trick Zeus, Hypnos was able to trick him and help the Danaans win the Trojan war. During the war, Hera loathed her brother and husband, Zeus and she decided that in order to trick him she needed to make him so enamoured with her that he would fall for the trick. So she washed herself with ambrosia and anointed herself with oil and she wove flowers through her hair, put on three brilliant pendants for earrings, and donned a wondrous robe. She then called for Aphrodite, the goddess of love, in order to procure the charm, however, she lied to Aphrodite because they sided on opposites sides of the war. She told Aphrodite that she wanted the charm to help herself, Hera was almost ready to trick Zeus, but she needed the help of Hypnos, who had tricked Zeus once before. Hera called on Hypnos and asked him to help her by putting Zeus to sleep, Hypnos was reluctant because the last time he had put the god to sleep, he was furious when he awoke
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Thyrsus
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A thyrsus or thyrsos was a wand or staff of giant fennel covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone. The thyrsus, associated with Dionysus and his followers, the Satyrs and Maenads, is a symbol of prosperity, fertility, hedonism, and pleasure/enjoyment in general. It has been suggested that this was specifically a fertility phallus, with the representing the shaft of the penis. The thyrsus was tossed in the Bacchic dance, Pentheus, The thyrsus— in my hand shall I hold it. Or thus am I more like a Bacchanal, Dionysus, In thy right hand, and with thy right foot raise it. Sometimes the thyrsus was displayed in conjunction with a wine cup, another symbol of Dionysus, forming a male-and-female combination like that of the royal scepter. In Greek religion, the staff was carried by the votaries of Dionysus, euripides wrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the Bacchic maenads carried. The thyrsus was an instrument at religious rituals and fêtes. The fabulous history of Bacchus relates that he converted the thyrsi carried by himself and his followers into dangerous weapons, hence his thyrsus is called a spear enveloped in vine-leaves, and its point was thought to incite to madness. Euripides also writes, Theres a brute wildness in the fennel-wands—Reverence it well, for many, as they say in the mysteries, are the thyrsus bearers, but few are the mystics, --meaning, as I interpret the words, the true philosophers. The bas-relief in bronze ye promised me, /Those Pans and nymphs ye wot of, Thrysus at Encyclopædia Britannica Online Thrysus at The Ancient Library Thyrsus at Perseus Project
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Satyr
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In Greek mythology, a satyr is one of a troop of ithyphallic male companions of Dionysus with goat-like features and often permanent erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but in 6th-century BC black-figure pottery human legs are the most common, in Roman Mythology there is a concept similar to satyrs, with goat-like features, the faun, being half-man, half-goat, who roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are associated with pipe-playing. Greek-speaking Romans often used the Greek term saturos when referring to the Latin faunus, the satyrs chief was Silenus, a minor deity associated with fertility. These characters can be found in the complete remaining satyr play, Cyclops, by Euripides. The satyr play was a short, lighthearted tailpiece performed after each trilogy of tragedies in Athenian festivals honoring Dionysus, there is not enough evidence to determine whether the satyr play regularly drew on the same myths as those dramatized in the tragedies that preceded. The groundbreaking tragic playwright Aeschylus is said to have especially loved for his satyr plays. Mature satyrs are depicted in Roman art with goats horns. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups. Attic painted vases depict mature satyrs as being built with flat noses, large pointed ears, long curly hair. Satyrs often carry the thyrsus, the rod of Dionysus tipped with a pine cone, in earlier Greek art, Silenos appear as old and ugly, but in later art, especially in Hellenistic art, he is softened into a more youthful and graceful aspect. This transformation or humanization of the Satyr appears throughout late Greek art, another example of this shift occurs in the portrayal of Medusa and in that of the Amazon, characters who are traditionally depicted as barbaric and uncivilized. A humanized Satyr is depicted in a work of Praxiteles known as the Resting Satyr, Praxiteles gives a new direction to the satyr in art. Although not mentioned by Homer, in a fragment of Hesiods works satyrs are called brothers of the nymphs and Kuretes. In the Dionysus cult, male followers are known as satyrs, in Attica there was a species of drama dealing with the legends of gods and heroes, and the chorus was composed of satyrs and sileni. In the Athenian satyr plays of the 5th century BC, the chorus commented on the action and this satyric drama burlesqued the serious events of the mythic past with lewd pantomime and subversive mockery. One complete satyr play from the 5th century survives, the Cyclops of Euripides, the Satyr and the Traveller, one of Aesops Fables, features the satyr as the benevolent host for a traveler in the forest in winter. The satyr is bewildered by the claim to be able to blow hot and cold with the same breath, first to warm his hands, then to cool his porridge
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Maenad
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In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the gods retinue. Their name literally translates as raving ones, often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus and they would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes. They went into the mountains at night and practiced strange rites, according to Plutarchs Life of Alexander, maenads were called Mimallones and Klodones In Macedon, epithets derived from the feminine art of spinning wool. Nevertheless, these warlike parthenoi from the hills, associated with a Dionysios pseudanor fake male Dionysus, in southern Greece they were described with Bacchae, Bassarides, Thyiades, Potniades and other epithets. The term maenad has come to be associated with a variety of women, supernatural, mythological. In Euripides play The Bacchae, maenads of Thebes murder King Pentheus after he bans the worship of Dionysus, Dionysus, Pentheus cousin, himself lures Pentheus to the woods, where the maenads tear him apart. His corpse is mutilated by his own mother, Agave, who tears off his head, a group of maenads also kill Orpheus. In ceramic art, the frolicking of Maenads and Dionysus is often a theme depicted on kraters, used to mix water and these scenes show the maenads in their frenzy running in the forests, often tearing to pieces any animal they happen to come across. They strike rocks with the thyrsus, and water gushes forth and they lower the thyrsus to the earth, and a spring of wine bubbles up. If they want milk, they scratch up the ground with their fingers, honey trickles down from the thyrsus made of the wood of the ivy, they gird themselves with snakes and give suck to fawns and wolf cubs as if they were infants at the breast. No weapon of iron can wound them, and the snakes harmlessly lick up the sweat from their heated cheeks, fierce bulls fall to the ground, victims to numberless, tearing female hands, and sturdy trees are torn up by the roots with their combined efforts. Having symbolically eaten his body and drunk his blood, the celebrants became possessed by Dionysus, Maenads are found the later references as priestesses of the Dionystic cult. They will give to you both the rites and good practices, and they will establish dance groups of Bacchus in your city. Dionysus came to his birthplace, Thebes, where neither Pentheus, his cousin who was now king, nor Pentheus’ mother Agave, Dionysus punished Agave by driving her insane, and in that condition, she killed her son and tore him to pieces. From Thebes, Dionysus went to Argos where all the women except the daughters of King Proetus joined in his worship, Dionysus punished them by driving them mad, and they killed the infants who were nursing at their breasts. He did the same to the daughters of Minyas, King of Orchomenos in Boetia, according to Opian, Dionysus delighted, as a child, in tearing kids into pieces and bringing them back to life again. He is characterized as the one, and the mad one
33.
Pentheus
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In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes. His father was Echion, the wisest of the Spartoi and his mother was Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia. Much of what is known about the character comes from the interpretation of the myth in Euripides tragic play, the story of Pentheus resistance to Dionysus and his subsequent punishment is presented by Euripides as follows. Cadmus, the king of Thebes, abdicated due to his old age in favor of his grandson Pentheus. Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, an angered Dionysus caused Pentheus mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoë, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in a Bacchic frenzy. Because of this, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off, Dionysus lured Pentheus out to spy on the Bacchic rites disguised as a woman, and Pentheus expected to see sexual activities. The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal and they pulled Pentheus down and tore him limb from limb. When his true identity was discovered, officials exiled the women from Thebes. Some say that his own mother was the first to him, tearing his arm off. She placed the head on a stick and took it back to Thebes, but only realized whose head it was after meeting her father Cadmus. The name Pentheus, as Dionysus and Tiresias both point out, means Man of Sorrows and derives from πένθος, pénthos, sorrow or grief and his name appeared to mark him for tragedy. Pentheus was succeeded by his uncle Polydorus, before or possibly after Pentheus was killed, his wife gave birth to a son named Menoeceus, who became the father of Creon and Jocasta. He became the grandfather of Oedipus, the story of Pentheus is also discussed by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. Ovids version diverges from Euripides work in several areas, in Ovids Metamorphoses, King Pentheus is warned by the blind seer Tiresias to welcome Bacchus or else Your blood poured out and defile the woods and your mother and her sisters. Pentheus dismisses Tiresias and ignores his warnings, as Thebes succumbs to the dementia and the delirium of the new god, Pentheus laments the fall of his kingdom and demands the arrest of Bacchus. Pentheus, convinced that Acoetes is lying, tries to him in jail. But when the try to shackle Acoetes, the chains fall off. When Pentheus heard this it caused something insane behind his eyes tear off its straightjacket, in a rage, Pentheus ran to deal with Bacchus himself
34.
Thebes, Greece
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Thebes is a city in Boeotia, central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a Mycenaean settlement and clay tablets written in the Linear B script, Thebes was the largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia and was the leader of the Boeotian confederacy. It was a rival of ancient Athens, and sided with the Persians during the 480 BC invasion under Xerxes. Theban forces ended the power of Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC under the command of Epaminondas, the Sacred Band of Thebes famously fell at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC against Philip II and Alexander the Great. Prior to its destruction by Alexander in 335 BC, Thebes was a force in Greek history. During the Byzantine period, the city was famous for its silks, the modern city contains an Archaeological Museum, the remains of the Cadmea, and scattered ancient remains. Modern Thebes is the largest town of the unit of Boeotia. Thebes is situated in a plain, between Lake Yliki to the north, and the Cithaeron mountains, which divide Boeotia from Attica and its elevation is 215 metres above mean sea level. It is about 50 kilometres northwest of Athens, and 100 kilometres southeast of Lamia, motorway 1 and the Athens–Thessaloniki railway connect Thebes with Athens and northern Greece. The municipality of Thebes covers an area of 830.112 square kilometres, the unit of Thebes 321.015 square kilometres. In 2011, as a consequence of the Kallikratis reform, Thebes was merged with Plataies, Thisvi, and Vagia to form a larger municipality, the other three become units of the larger municipality. Five main cycles of story may be distinguished, The foundation of the citadel Cadmea by Cadmus, the building of a seven-gated wall by Amphion, and the cognate stories of Zethus, Antiope and Dirce. See Theban pederasty and Pederasty in ancient Greece for detailed discussion, the immolation of Semele and the advent of Dionysus. The Greeks attributed the foundation of Thebes to Cadmus, a Phoenician king from Tyre, Cadmus was famous for teaching the Phoenician alphabet and building the Acropolis, which was named the Cadmeia in his honor and was an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed cist graves dated to Mycenaean times containing weapons, ivory, *Tʰēgʷai in LHIIIB lost contact with Egypt but gained it with Miletus and Cyprus. In the late LHIIIB, according to Palaima, *Tʰēgʷai was able to pull resources from Lamos near Mount Helicon, and from Karystos and Amarynthos on the Greek side of the isle of Euboia. As a fortified community, it attracted attention from the invading Dorians, and this centralizing policy is as much the cardinal fact of Theban history as the counteracting effort of the smaller towns to resist absorption forms the main chapter of the story of Boeotia
35.
Erinyes
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In Greek mythology the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, were female chthonic deities of vengeance, they were sometimes referred to as infernal goddesses. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as the Erinyes, walter Burkert suggests they are an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath. They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology, the Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote that they are called Eumenides in hell, Furiae on earth, and Dirae in heaven. According to variant accounts, they emerged from a more primordial level—from Nyx. Their number is usually left indeterminate, Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three, Alecto or Alekto, Megaera, and Tisiphone or Tilphousia, all of whom appear in the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes, the word Erinys in the singular and as a theonym is first attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in Linear B, in the following forms,
36.
Dirce
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For the geometer moth genus, see Dirce Dirce was the wife of Lycus in Greek mythology, and aunt to Antiope whom Zeus impregnated. Antiope fled in shame to King Epopeus of Sicyon, but was back by Lycus through force, giving birth to the twins Amphion. Dirce hated Antiope and treated her cruelly after Lycus gave Antiope to her, until Antiope, in time, in Euripides lost play Antiope, Antiope flees back to the cave where Amphion and Zethus were born, now living there as young men. They kill Dirce by tying her to the horns of a bull, Dirce was devoted to the god Dionysus. He caused a spring to flow where she died, either at Mount Cithaeron or at Thebes, in Statius Thebaid the spring is a symbol of Thebes and its name is often used metonymically to refer to the city itself. The colossal piece was first excavated in the 16th century in the Baths of Caracalla, some scholars identify it with the Dirce bull mentioned in Plinys Natural History, but this is disputed. This scene was recreated in spectacles in the Roman arena, clement, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, recounts how Christian women were martyred. New York, Thomas Crowell Press,1970, images of Dirce in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
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Amphion and Zethus
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Amphion /ˈæmfiən/ and Zethus /ˈziːθəs/ were, in ancient Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus by Antiope. They are important characters in one of the two founding myths of the city of Thebes, because they constructed the citys walls, Amphion and Zethus were the sons of Antiope, who fled in shame to Sicyon after Zeus raped her, and married King Epopeus there. However, either Nycteus or Lycus attacked Sicyon in order to carry her back to Thebes, on the way back, she gave birth to the twins and was forced to expose them on Mount Cithaeron. Lycus gave her to his wife, Dirce, who treated her very cruelly for many years, Antiope eventually escaped and found her sons living near Mount Cithaeron. After they were convinced that she was their mother, they killed Dirce by tying her to the horns of a bull, gathered an army, Amphion became a great singer and musician after Hermes taught him to play and gave him a golden lyre. Zethus became a hunter and herdsman, with a great interest in cattle breeding and they built the walls around the Cadmea, the citadel of Thebes. While Zethus struggled to carry his stones, Amphion played his lyre and his stones followed after him, Amphion married Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus, the Lydian king. Because of this, he learned to play his lyre in the Lydian mode, Zethus married Thebe, after whom the city of Thebes was named. Amphions wife Niobe had many children, but had become arrogant and because of this she insulted the goddess Leto, letos children killed Niobes children in retaliation. In Ovid, Amphion commits suicide out of grief, according to Telesilla, Artemis, hyginus, however, writes that in his madness he tried to attack the temple of Apollo, and was killed by the gods arrows. Zethus had only one son, who died through a mistake of his mother Thebe, in the Odyssey, however, Zethuss wife is called a daughter of Pandareus in book 19, who killed her son Itylos in a fit of madness and became a nightingale. After the deaths of Amphion and Zethus, Laius returned to Thebes, compare with Castor and Polydeuces of Greece, and with Romulus and Remus of Rome. Divine twins This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Amphion
38.
Antiope (mother of Amphion)
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She was the mother of Amphion and Zethus. Her beauty attracted Zeus, who, assuming the form of a satyr, a. B. Cook noted that her myth took on a Dionysiac colouring, Antiope being represented as a Maenad and Zeus as a Satyr. This is the sole mythic episode in which Zeus is transformed into a satyr, after this she was carried off by Epopeus, who was venerated as a hero in Sicyon, he would not give her up till compelled by her uncle Lycus. On the way home she gave birth, in the neighbourhood of Eleutherae on Mount Cithaeron, to the twins Amphion and Zethus, of whom Amphion was the son of the god, both were left to be brought up by herdsmen. This is the situation in Euripides Antiope, which turns upon the recognition of mother and sons, here she was discovered by Dirce, who had come to celebrate a Bacchic festival, she ordered the two young men to tie Antiope to the horns of a wild bull. In Euripides, the descent of Hermes stops the brothers from putting their uncle to death, Amphion became a great singer and musician after Hermes taught him to play and gave him a golden lyre, Zethus was a hunter and herdsman. Together they built and fortified Thebes, huge blocks of stone forming themselves into walls at the sound of Amphions lyre, Amphion married Niobe, and killed himself after the loss of his wife and children. Zethus married Aedon, or sometimes Thebe, the brothers were buried in one grave. At Sicyon, Antiope was important enough that a cult image was created of her. Only one priestess, a woman, was permitted to enter the cella of the temple, with a young girl chosen each year. Euripides Antiope, presented about 408 BCE, was quoted, in Platos Gorgias and many other authors. The modern comprehensive reconstruction of all the fragments is that of Jean Kambitsis, ed. and commentator, the myth of Amphion, the legendary founder of Thebes, and Antiope inspired a lot of other similar myths in several areas of Greece. Amphion was son of Zeus and of Antiope, daughter of the Boeotian river god Asopus, the myth took a Dionysiac colour because Zeus was transformed into a satyr in a sole mythic event and Antiope into a maenad. After this she was carried off by Epopeus in Sicyon, where he was venerated later as a hero in the temenos of Athena, burkert notices the similarity with the myth of Athena Polias and Erechtheus in Athens. Returning to Thebes, on Mount Cithaeron she gave birth to the twins Amphion, son of the god, the story is mentioned in fragments of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Asius of Samos. Other twins of similar dual parentage are the Greek Dioscuri who often appear as snakes, protecting the temples. Amphion, the founder of Thebes, became a singer and musician with a golden lyre, and huge blocks of stone formed themselves into the walls of Thebes. His brother Zethus became a hunter and a herdsman and the two represent the contrast between two different lifestyles
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