1.
Greek mythology
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It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
2.
Thessaly
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Thessaly is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule. Since 1987 it has formed one of the countrys 13 regions and is further sub-divided into 5 regional units and 25 municipalities, the capital of the region is Larissa. Thessaly lies in central Greece and borders the regions of Macedonia on the north, Epirus on the west, Central Greece on the south, the Thessaly region also includes the Sporades islands. In Homers epic, the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus visited the kingdom of Aeolus, the Plain of Thessaly, which lies between Mount Oeta/Othrys and Mount Olympus, was the site of the battle between the Titans and the Olympians. According to legend, Jason and the Argonauts launched their search for the Golden Fleece from the Magnesia Peninsula, Thessaly was home to extensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures around 6000–2500 BC. Mycenaean settlements have also discovered, for example at the sites of Iolcos, Dimini. In Archaic and Classical times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial families, in the summer of 480 BC, the Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the Vale of Tempe evacuated the road before the enemy arrived, not much later, Thessaly surrendered to the Persians. The Thessalian family of Aleuadae joined the Persians subsequently, in the 4th century BC, after the Greco-Persian Wars had long ended, Jason of Pherae transformed the region into a significant military power, recalling the glory of Early Archaic times. Shortly after, Philip II of Macedon was appointed Archon of Thessaly, the Avars had arrived in Europe in the late 550s. They asserted their authority over many Slavs, who were divided into numerous petty tribes, many Slavs were galvanized into an effective infantry force, by the Avars. In the 7th century the Avar-Slav alliance began to raid the Byzantine Empire, laying siege to Thessalonica, relations between the Slavs and Greeks were probably peaceful apart from the initial settlement and intermittent uprisings. Being agriculturalists, the Slavs probably traded with the Greeks inside towns and it is likely that the re-Hellenization had already begun by way of this contact. This process would be completed by a newly reinvigorated Byzantine Empire, with the abatement of Arab-Byzantine Wars, the Byzantine Empire began to consolidate its power in those areas of mainland Greece occupied by Proto-Slavic tribes. Following the campaigns of the Byzantine general Staurakios in 782–783, the Byzantine Empire recovered Thessaly, apart from military expeditions against Slavs, the re-Hellenization process begun under Nicephorus I involved transfer of peoples. Many Slavs were moved to other parts of the such as Anatolia. In return, many Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought to the interior of Greece, to increase the number of defenders at the Emperors disposal, even non-Greeks such as Armenians were transferred to the Balkans
3.
Pelion
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Pelion or Pelium is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea. Its highest summit, Pourianos Stavros, is 1,610 metres amsl, the Greek National Road 38 runs through the southern portion of the peninsula and GR-38A runs through the middle. The mountain is forested, with both deciduous and perennial forests, mainly of beech, oak, maple and chestnut trees. The higher elevations of the mountain receive enough snowfall so as to host skiing facilities that operate from Christmas to Easter, there is also wide cultivation of plums, especially mirabelles and greengages. In Greek mythology, Mount Pelion was the homeland of Chiron the Centaur, tutor of many ancient Greek heroes, such as Jason, Achilles, Theseus and it was in Mount Pelion, near Chirons cave, that the marriage of Thetis and Peleus took place. The uninvited goddess Eris, to revenge for having been kept outside the party. The dispute that arose between the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena resulted in events leading to the Trojan War. When the twins Otus and Ephialtes attempted to storm Olympus, they piled Mount Pelion upon Mount Ossa, the Pelion railway, dating back to 1892–1903, was the first serious public investment in the area. Electricity, radio and automobiles were first introduced in the 1950s except for Volos, television arrived in the 1970s and the 1980s and computers and Internet in the late 1990s. The northern part of the Pelion mountains was struck by a forest fire on Wednesday, June 26,2007, the fire lasted for several days and stopped on July 1. As of late August, however, a rebirth of the forest was already being noticed, with several trees gradually turning green again. The mountain has a tower that broadcasts radio and television including ANT1, Mega, ERT, Star Channel, Alter, TRT and more and radio including ERA, ANT1 FM. Modern Pelions twenty-four villages retain traditional Pelian architecture and construction, with buildings made out of expertly carved local grey, blue, or green slate. They are built on terraces on the slopes and offer stunning vistas of the surrounding slopes, houses are usually multi-storied and feature the characteristic Pelian oriel construction, with tall windows and abundant painted ornamentation. Pelian tradition calls for three-level houses, with the floor used for work, the middle floor used for socializing. Heat is provided by fireplaces, the chimneys of which run through the walls to provide heat to the levels, whereas the top level, being well ventilated. Interior construction is usually of timber, stained dark brown. Many of the larger Pelian mansions have been converted into hotels and hostels
4.
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
5.
Apollo
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Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
6.
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
7.
Pirithous
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Pirithous was a son of heavenly Dia, fathered either by Ixion or by Zeus. No trace of such a tradition, which Homers listeners would have recognized in Nestors allusion. In disjointed episodes that have survived, Pirithous had heard rumors about Theseus courage and strength in battle and he rustled Theseus herd of cattle from Marathon, and Theseus set out to pursue him. Pirithous took up arms and the pair met, then became so impressed by each other took a oath of friendship. They were among the company of heroes that hunted the Calydonian Boar, later, Pirithous was set to marry Hippodamia. The centaurs were guests at the party, but they got drunk and tried to abduct the women, the Lapiths won the ensuing battle, the Centauromachy, a favorite motif of Greek art. Theseus and Pirithous pledged to carry off daughters of Zeus, Theseus chose Helen of Sparta and together they kidnapped her when she was 13 years of age and decided to hold on to her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose a more dangerous prize, Persephone herself and they left Helen with Theseus mother, Aethra, and traveled to the underworld domain of Persephone and her husband Hades. When they stopped to rest, they found themselves unable to stand up from the rock as they saw the Furies appear before them, Heracles freed Theseus from the stone, but the earth shook when he attempted to liberate Pirithous. He had committed too great a crime for wanting the wife of one of the gods as his own bride. Homer, Odyssey XXI, 295-305, XI,631, Bibliotheca 2.5.12, virgil, Aeneid VI.393, Ovid, Metamorphoses, XII.218. Hyginus, Fabulae,79 Horace, Odes, IV,7 Pirithous appears in the Class of the Titans episode Recipe for Disaster voiced by Michael Donovan. His mythology of being trapped in the Underworld and being unable to be freed by Heracles remains unchanged in the series, Pirithous appears in the video game God of War III voiced by Simon Templeman. His name is spelled Peirithous here, Peirithous is shown as a prisoner of Hades for trying to make off with Persephone. Peirithous offers Kratos to free him in exchange for giving him the Bow of Apollo, Kratos ends up burning him to a skeleton with a Cerberus Mongrel and claims the Bow of Apollo
8.
Iliad
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The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Then the epic narrative takes up events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles imminent death and the fall of Troy, although the narrative ends before these events take place. However, as events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly. The Iliad is paired with something of a sequel, the Odyssey, along with the Odyssey, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the 8th century BC. Recent statistical modelling based on language evolution gives a date of 760–710 BC, in the modern vulgate, the Iliad contains 15,693 lines, it is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek and other dialects. Note, Book numbers are in parentheses and come before the synopsis of the book, after an invocation to the Muses, the story launches in medias res towards the end of the Trojan War between the Trojans and the besieging Greeks. Chryses, a Trojan priest of Apollo, offers the Greeks wealth for the return of his daughter Chryseis, held captive of Agamemnon, although most of the Greek army is in favour of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chryses prays for Apollos help, and Apollo causes a plague to afflict the Greek army, after nine days of plague, Achilles, the leader of the Myrmidon contingent, calls an assembly to deal with the problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father, angered, Achilles declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon but will go home. Odysseus takes a ship and returns Chryseis to her father, whereupon Apollo ends the plague, in the meantime, Agamemnons messengers take Briseis away. Achilles becomes very upset, sits by the seashore, and prays to his mother, Achilles asks his mother to ask Zeus to bring the Greeks to the breaking point by the Trojans, so Agamemnon will realize how much the Greeks need Achilles. Thetis does so, and Zeus agrees, Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon heeds the dream but decides to first test the Greek armys morale, the plan backfires, and only the intervention of Odysseus, inspired by Athena, stops a rout. Odysseus confronts and beats Thersites, a soldier who voices discontent about fighting Agamemnons war. After a meal, the Greeks deploy in companies upon the Trojan plain, the poet takes the opportunity to describe the provenance of each Greek contingent. When news of the Greek deployment reaches King Priam, the Trojans too sortie upon the plain, in a list similar to that for the Greeks, the poet describes the Trojans and their allies. The armies approach each other, but before they meet, Paris offers to end the war by fighting a duel with Menelaus, urged by his brother and head of the Trojan army, Hector. While Helen tells Priam about the Greek commanders from the walls of Troy, Paris is beaten, but Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus can kill him
9.
Trojan War
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In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homers Iliad. The Iliad relates four days in the year of the decade-long siege of Troy. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the fairest, in exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helens husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris insult. After the deaths of heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods wrath, few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, in 1868, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was a real city at what is now Hissarlik in Turkey. On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars, whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question. The events of the Trojan War are found in works of Greek literature. There is no single, authoritative text which tells the events of the war. Instead, the story is assembled from a variety of sources, the most important literary sources are the two epic poems traditionally credited to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed sometime between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. Each poem narrates only a part of the war, the Iliad covers a short period in the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey concerns Odysseuss return to his home island of Ithaca, following the sack of Troy. Other parts of the Trojan War were told in the poems of the Epic Cycle, also known as the Cyclic Epics, the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. Though these poems survive only in fragments, their content is known from an included in Proclus Chrestomathy. The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is uncertain, both the Homeric epics and the Epic Cycle take origin from oral tradition. Even after the composition of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Cyclic Epics, events and details of the story that are only found in later authors may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as the Homeric poems
10.
Bridle
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A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the bridle includes both the headstall that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit. Headgear without a bit that uses a noseband to control a horse is called a hackamore, or, in some areas, a bitless bridle. The bridle consists of the elements, Crownpiece, The crownpiece, headstall or headpiece goes over the horses head just behind the animals ears. It is the strap that holds the remaining parts of the bridle in place. Cheekpieces, On most bridles, two cheekpieces attach to either side of the crownpiece and run down the side of the face, along the cheekbone. On some designs, the crownpiece is a strap that includes the right cheek and crownpiece as a single unit. Throatlatch, the throatlatch or throatlash is usually part of the piece of leather as the crownpiece. It runs from the right ear, under the horses throatlatch. Browband, The crownpiece runs through the browband, the browband runs from just under one ear of the horse, across the forehead, to just under the other ear. In certain sports, such as dressage and Saddle seat, decorative browbands are sometimes fashionable, noseband, the noseband encircles the nose of the horse. It is often used to keep the mouth closed, or to attach other pieces or equipment. Because it has a separate headstall, a cavesson can be adjusted with greater precision, in Saddle seat riding, the cavesson is often brightly colored and matches the browband. Variations on the standard English-style bridle are often named for their style of noseband, for use in polo, a gag bridle usually has a noseband plus a cavesson. Frentera, a running from the browband to the noseband. Fiador, a form of throatlatch, is used with a hackamore, reins, The reins of a bridle attach to the bit, below the attachment for the cheekpieces. The reins are the link to the horse, and are seen on every bridle. Reins are often laced, braided, have stops, or are made of rubber or some other material to provide extra grip
11.
Piero di Cosimo
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Piero di Cosimo, also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was a Florentine painter of the Italian Renaissance. Vasari has many stories of his eccentricity, and the subjects have an individual. He trained under Cosimo Roselli, whose daughter he married, and he was also influenced by Early Netherlandish painting, and busy landscapes feature in many works, often forests seen close at hand. Several of his most striking secular works are in the landscape format used for paintings inset into cassone wedding chests or spalliera headboards or panelling. He was apparently famous for designing the temporary decorations for Carnival, from him, most probably, Cosimo acquired the love of landscape and the intimate knowledge of the growth of flowers and of animal life. The manner of Hugo van der Goes is especially apparent in the Adoration of the Shepherds and he journeyed to Rome in 1482 with his master, Rosselli. Inspired to the Vitruvius account of the evolution of man, Pieros mythical compositions show the presence of hybrid forms of men and animals, or the man learning to use fire. The multitudes of nudes in these shows the influence of Luca Signorelli on Pieros art. He also resisted any cleaning of his studio, or trimming of the trees of his orchard, he lived, wrote Vasari. The death of his master Roselli may also have affected Pieros morose elder years, the Immaculate Conception with Saints, at the Uffizi, and the Holy Family, at Dresden, illustrate the religious fervour to which he was stimulated by Savonarola. With the exception of the background in Rossellis fresco of the Sermon on the Mount, in the Sistine Chapel. Piero di Cosimo exercised considerable influence upon his fellow pupils Albertinelli and Bartolomeo della Porta, Vasari gave Pieros date of death as 1521, and this date is still repeated by many sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica. However, contemporary documents reveal that he died of plague on 12 April 1522, madonna and Child Enthroned with Sts. Peter, John the Baptist, Dominic, and Nicholas of Bari tempera and oil on panel, St. Louis Art Museum, media related to Piero di Cosimo at Wikimedia Commons Italian Paintings, Florentine School, a collection catalog containing information about di Cosimo and his works
12.
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
