1.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
Roman glass
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Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles, Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions, initially concentrating on the production of intensely coloured cast glass vessels. However, during the 1st century AD the industry underwent rapid growth that saw the introduction of glass blowing. However, glass was being produced in Roman contexts using primarily Hellenistic techniques and styles by the late Republican period, the majority of manufacturing techniques were time-consuming, and the initial product was a thick-walled vessel which required considerable finishing. This, combined with the cost of importing natron for the production of raw glass, contributed to the use of glass and its position as an expensive. Still, Roman glasswares were already making their way from Western Asia to the Kushan Empire in Afghanistan and India, the first Roman glass found in China came from an early 1st-century BC tomb at Guangzhou, ostensibly via the South China Sea. In addition to this a new technique in glass production had been introduced during the 1st century AD. Glassblowing allowed glass workers to produce vessels with considerably thinner walls, Glass blowing was also considerably quicker than other techniques, and vessels required considerably less finishing, representing a further saving in time, raw material and equipment. Although earlier techniques dominated during the early Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods, as a result of these factors, the cost of production was reduced and glass became available for a wider section of society in a growing variety of forms. By the mid-1st century AD this meant that glass vessels had moved from a valuable, high-status commodity, to a commonly available. This growth also saw the production of the first glass tesserae for mosaics, at the same time, the expansion of the empire also brought an influx of people and an expansion of cultural influences that resulted in the adoption of eastern decorative styles. They are also linked to the fashions and technologies developed in the trade, from which a number of forms. Glass making reached its peak at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the primary production techniques of blowing, and to a lesser extent casting, remained in use for the rest of the Roman period, with changes in vessel types but little change in technology. The use of coloured glass as an addition to pale and colourless glasses also increased. After the conversion of Constantine, glass works began to more quickly from depicting Pagan religious imagery towards Christian religious imagery. The movement of the capital to Constantinople rejuvenated the Eastern glass industry, by the mid-4th century mould-blowing was in use only sporadically. Roman glass production relied on the application of heat to two primary ingredients, silica and soda. Technical studies of archaeological glasses divide the ingredients of glass as formers, fluxes, stabilisers, former, The major component of the glass is silica, which during the Roman period was sand, which contains some alumina and nearly 8% lime
4.
Cameo glass
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Glass allowed consistent and predictable colored layers, even for round objects. From the mid-19th century there was a revival of cameo glass, suited equally to Neo-Grec taste and the French Art Nouveau practiced by Émile Gallé, only about 200 fragments and 15 complete objects of early Roman cameo glass survive. The best and most famous example of these, and also among the best preserved, is the Portland Vase in the British Museum, other fine examples, such as the Morgan Cup, are drinking cups. Both of these named pieces show complex multi-figured mythological scenes, whose iconography has been much debated, the Getty Villa has another cup, and a perfume bottle with scenes of Egyptian deities, apparently an early instance of Orientalism. The latter period also saw a brief revival of the art of gem-carving. All these dates are tentative, and it is possible that smaller gem-like pieces of cameo glass continued to be produced between these periods. Glass from the period is even rarer than from the earlier, with only a handful of complete pieces known. Its use was restricted to the elite, the Portland Vase is said to have been excavated from the tomb of the Emperor Septimius Severus. In the early period usually all layers are opaque, by contrast, in the later period, there is a translucent colored overlay over a virtually colorless background, perhaps imitating rock crystal. The surface of the top layer elements is flat rather than carved as in the group of pieces. The technique was used in Islamic art in the 9th and 10th centuries, but then lost until the 18th century in Europe, like Wedgwoods designers, they usually worked in a more or less neoclassical style. The French medalist Alphonse Eugène Lecheverel, whose work for Richardsons was exhibited in Paris in 1878, outstanding English cameo glass artisans were Philip Pargeter and John Northwood, who first successfully reproduced the Portland Vase in cameo glass. Cameo glass, roughed out by the process provided a popular substitute for genuine cameos in brooches and plaques and similar uses. Cameo glass Louis Comfort Tiffany made only a number of cameo pieces. The detailed work is then done with wheels and drills, before finishing, in the case of three-layer cameo, there is another layer of glass on top of the white opaque one, and further layers are possible. One Roman piece uses a record six layers and it is not known where the Roman pieces were produced, but for want of any better suggestion most scholars think in the capital itself. It appears likely that at least the making of the blanks was initially in the hands of imported Syrian glass-workers, hugh Honour and John Fleming, A World History of Art,1982 & revised eds, Macmillan, London Lightfoot, Christopher. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, new York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–
5.
Porcelain
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Porcelain /ˈpɔːrsəlᵻn, ˈpɔːrslᵻn/ is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. Porcelain was first developed in China around 2,000 years ago, then spread to other East Asian countries, and finally Europe. It combines well with both glazes and paint, and can be modelled very well, allowing a range of decorative treatments in tablewares, vessels. It also has uses in technology and industry. The European name, porcelain in English, come from the old Italian porcellana because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell, Porcelain is also referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as it was first seen in imports from China. Porcelain has been described as being completely vitrified, hard, impermeable, white or artificially coloured, translucent, however, the term porcelain lacks a universal definition and has been applied in a very unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds which have only certain surface-qualities in common. Terms such as porcellaneous or near-porcelain may be used in such cases, a high proportion of modern porcelain is made of the variant bone china. Kaolin is the material from which porcelain is made, even though clay minerals might account for only a small proportion of the whole. The word paste is an old term for both the unfired and fired material, a more common terminology these days for the unfired material is body, for example, when buying materials a potter might order an amount of porcelain body from a vendor. The composition of porcelain is highly variable, but the mineral kaolinite is often a raw material. Other raw materials can include feldspar, ball clay, glass, bone ash, steatite, quartz, petuntse, the clays used are often described as being long or short, depending on their plasticity. Long clays are cohesive and have high plasticity, short clays are cohesive and have lower plasticity. Clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity and are shorter than many other pottery clays and they wet very quickly, meaning that small changes in the content of water can produce large changes in workability. Thus, the range of content within which these clays can be worked is very narrow. The following section provides information on the methods used to form, decorate, finish, glaze. Many types of glaze, such as the iron-containing glaze used on the wares of Longquan, were designed specifically for their striking effects on porcelain. Porcelain wares may be decorated under the glaze using pigments that include cobalt and copper or over the glaze using coloured enamels. Like many earlier wares, modern porcelains are often biscuit-fired at around 1,000 °C, coated with glaze, another early method is once-fired where the glaze is applied to the unfired body and the two fired together in a single operation
6.
Cameo (carving)
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Cameo is a method of carving an object such as an engraved gem, item of jewellery or vessel made in this manner. It nearly always features a relief image, contrast with intaglio. Today the term may be used loosely for objects with no colour contrast. This derives from another generalized meaning that has developed, the cameo as an image of a head in a frame in any medium. In cheaper modern work, shell and glass are more common, glass cameo vessels, such as the famous Portland Vase, were also developed by the Romans. Modern cameos can be produced by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait and this is called an assembled cameo. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colours, sir Wallis Budge alleged that the noun Cameo apparently comes from Kameo, a word used in kabbalistic slang to signify a magical square, i. e. A kind of talisman whereupon magical spells was carved, stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece dating back as far as the 3rd century BC. The Farnese Tazza is the oldest major Hellenistic piece surviving and they were very popular in Ancient Rome, especially in the family circle of Augustus. Roman Cameos became less common around in the leading up to 300AD although production continued at a much reduced rate right through the Middle Ages. The technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early Renaissance, the Neoclassical revival began in France with Napoleons support of the glyptic arts, and even his coronation crown was decorated with cameos. In 1852 Théophile Gautier titled a collection of his highly polished, during the Roman period the cameo technique was used on glass blanks, in imitation of objects being produced in agate or sardonyx. Cameo glass objects were produced in two periods, between around 25 BC and 50/60 AD, and in the later Empire around the mid-third and mid-fourth century. Roman glass cameos are rare objects, with only two hundred fragments and sixteen complete pieces known, only one of which dates from the later period. Blanks could be produced by fusing two separately cast sheets of glass, or by dipping the base glass into a crucible of molten overlay glass during blowing, the most famous example of a cameo from the early period is the Portland Vase. Although occasionally used in Roman cameos, the earliest prevalent use of shell for carving was during the Renaissance. Before that time, cameos were carved from hardstone, the Renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a mussel or cowry, the latter a tropical mollusk. In the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties, helmet shells from the West Indies, and queen conch shells from the Bahamas and West Indies, arrived in Europe
7.
Paris (mythology)
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Paris, also known as Alexander, the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, later in the war, he fatally wounds Achilles in the heel with an arrow as foretold by Achilles’s mother Thetis. The name Paris is probably Luwian and comparable to Pari-zitis attested as a Hittite scribes name, Paris was a child of Priam and Hecuba. Just before his birth, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch and this dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy, and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland. Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall, he was spared by Priam, Hecuba, too, was unable to kill the child, despite the urging of the priestess of Apollo, one Herophile. Instead, Pariss father prevailed upon his chief herdsman, Agelaus, to remove the child, the herdsman, unable to use a weapon against the infant, left him exposed on Mount Ida, hoping he would perish there, he was, however, suckled by a she-bear. Returning after nine days, Agelaus was astonished to find the still alive. He returned to Priam bearing a dogs tongue as evidence of the deeds completion and it was at this time that Oenone became Pariss first lover. She was a nymph from Mount Ida in Phrygia and her father was Cebren, a river-god. She was skilled in the arts of prophecy and medicine, which she had been taught by Rhea and Apollo respectively. When Paris later left her for Helen she told him if he ever was wounded, he should come to her for she could heal any injury. Pariss chief distraction at this time was to pit Agelauss bulls against one another, one bull began to win these bouts consistently, and Paris began to set it against rival herdsmens own prize bulls, it defeated them all. Finally Paris offered a crown to any bull that could defeat his champion. Ares responded to this challenge by transforming himself into a bull, in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Lord Zeus, father of the Greek pantheon, hosted a banquet on Mount Olympus. Every deity and demi-god had been invited, except Eris, the goddess of strife, the goddesses thought to be the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and each one claimed the apple. They started a quarrel so they asked Zeus to choose one of them, knowing that choosing any of them would bring him the hatred of the other two, Zeus did not want to take part in the decision. He thus appointed Paris to select the most beautiful, escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Mount Ida and approached Paris as he herded his cattle. Having been given permission by Zeus to set any conditions he saw fit, Paris chose Aphrodite— and, therefore, Helen
8.
Priam
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In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian name Pariya-muwas, which meant “exceptionally courageous” and was attested as the name of a man from Zazlippa, a similar form is attested transcribed in Greek as Paramoas near Kaisareia in Cappadocia. Notable is also Piyama-Radu, a man whose name figures prominently in the Hittite archives. Priam was originally called Podarces and he kept himself from being killed by Heracles by giving him a golden veil embroidered by his sister, after this, Podarces changed his name to Priam. This is a folk etymology based on πριατός priatos, ransomed from πρίασθαι priasthai, in Iliad Book 3, Priam tells Helen of Troy that he once helped King Mygdon of Phrygia defend against the Amazons. When Hector is killed by Achilles, the Greek warrior treats the body with disrespect, Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector’s father and the ruler of Troy, into the Greek camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and he invokes the memory of Achilles’ own father, Peleus. Priam begs Achilles to pity him, saying I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before — I put my lips to the hands of the man who killed my son, deeply moved, Achilles relents and returns Hector’s corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a truce, and Achilles gives Priam leave to hold a proper funeral for Hector. He promises that no Greek will engage in combat for nine days, but on the day of peace. Priam is killed during the Sack of Troy by Achilles son Neoptolemus and his death is graphically related in Book II of Virgils Aeneid. In Virgils description, Neoptolemus first kills Priams son Polites in front of his father as he seeks sanctuary on the altar of Zeus, Priam rebukes Neoptolemus, throwing a spear at him, harmlessly hitting his shield. Neoptolemus then drags Priam to the altar and there kills him too and it has been suggested by Hittite sources, specifically the Manapa-Tarhunta letter, that there is historical basis for the archetype of King Priam. The letter describes one Piyama-Radu as a rebel who overthrew a Hittite client king. There is also mention of an Alaksandu, suggested to be Paris Alexander, in Apollodorus Library, Telamon was almost killed during the siege of Troy. Telamon was the first one to break through the Trojan wall, Hercules was about to cut him down with his sword when Telamon began to quickly assemble an altar out of nearby stones in honor of Hercules. Hercules was so pleased, after the sack of Troy he gave Telamon Hesione as a wife, Hesione requested that she be able to bring her brother Podarces with her. Hercules would not allow it unless Hesione bought Podarces as a slave, Hesione paid for her brother with a veil
9.
Phrygian cap
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The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia and the Balkans. In early modern Europe it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty through a confusion with the pileus, accordingly, the Phrygian cap is sometimes called a liberty cap, in artistic representations it signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty. It is used in the coat of arms of certain Republics or of republican State institutions in the place where otherwise a Crown would be used and it thus came to be identified as a symbol of the republican form of government. A number of national personifications, in particular Frances Marianne, are depicted wearing the Phyrgian cap. By the 4th century BC the Phrygian cap was associated with Phrygian Attis, the consort of Cybele, at around the same time, the cap appears in depictions of the legendary king Midas and other Phrygians in Greek vase-paintings and sculpture. Such images predate the earliest surviving references to the cap. By extension, the Phrygian cap came to be applied to several other non-Greek-speaking peoples as well, other Greek earthenware of antiquity also depict Amazons and so-called Scythian archers with Phrygian caps. Although these are military depictions, the headgear is distinguished from Phrygian helmets by long ear flaps, the headgear also appears in 2nd-century BC Boeotian Tanagra figurines of an effeminate Eros, and in various 1st-century BC statuary of the Commagene, in eastern Anatolia. Greek representations of Thracians also regularly appear with Phrygian caps, most notably Bendis, the Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt, and Orpheus, a legendary Thracian poet and musician. While the Phrygian cap was of wool or soft leather, in times the Greeks had already developed a military helmet that had a similarly characteristic flipped-over tip. These so-called Phrygian helmets were usually of bronze and in prominent use in Thrace, Dacia, Magna Graecia and the rest of the Hellenistic world from the 5th century BC up to Roman times. Due to their similarity, the cap and helmet are often difficult to distinguish in Greek art unless the headgear is identified as a soft flexible cap by long earflaps or a long neck flap. The Greek concept passed to the Romans in its sense, and thus encompassed not only to Phrygians or Trojans. On Trajans Column, which commemorated Trajans epic wars with the Dacians, parthians appear with Phrygian caps in the 2nd-century Arch of Septimius Severus, which commemorates Roman victories over the Parthian Empire. Likewise with Phrygians caps, but for Gauls, appear in 2nd-century friezes built into the 4th century Arch of Constantine, the Phrygian cap reappears in figures related to the first to fourth century religion Mithraism. This astrology-centric Roman mystery cult projected itself with pseudo-Oriental trappings in order to distinguish itself from both traditional Roman religion and from the mystery cults. In the artwork of the cult, the figures of the god Mithras as well as those of his helpers Cautes and Cautopates are routinely depicted with a Phrygian cap. The function of the Phrygian cap in the cult are unknown, early Christian art build on the same Greco-Roman perceptions of Zoroaster and his Magi as experts in the arts of astrology and magic, and routinely depict the three wise men with Phrygian caps
10.
Roundel
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A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. Other symbols also often use round shapes, in heraldry, a roundel is a circular charge. Roundels are among the oldest charges used in coats of arms, roundels in British heraldry have different names depending on their tincture. One special example of a roundel is the fountain, depicted as a roundel barry wavy argent and azure. The French Air Service originated the use of roundels on military aircraft during the First World War, the chosen design was the French national cockade, whose colours are the blue-white-red of the Flag of France. After the First World War, many air forces adopted roundel insignia. Military aircraft insignia, such as that of the Philippine Air Force, among flags which display a roundel are the flag of Bangladesh and the flag of Japan. Flags for British overseas dependencies are often a British Blue Ensign defaced with a white roundel displaying the arms or badge of the dependency, the same pattern is used for some of the states of Australia. The roundel, especially used by the Royal Air Force, has been associated with pop art of the 1960s. It became part of the pop consciousness when British rock group The Who wore RAF roundels as part of their stage apparel at the start of their career, subsequently it came to symbolise Mods and the Mod revival. Some of Paul Wellers material involves the use of a roundel in psychedelic colours, ben Harpers album Fight For Your Mind uses roundels from several air forces as graphics in the liner notes. In the British television series Doctor Who, the decorations on the interior walls of the TARDIS control room are known as roundels. Some corporations and organizations use of roundels in their branding. Flags, Through the Ages and Around the World, the pocket guide to Military Aircraft and the Worlds Air Forces
11.
Amphora
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An amphora is a type of container of a characteristic shape and size, descending from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products and they are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. The amphora complements the large container, the pithos, which makes available capacities between one-half and two and one-half tons. In contrast, the amphora holds under a half-ton, typically less than 100 pounds, the bodies of the two types have similar shapes. Where the pithos may have small loops or lugs for fastening a rope harness. The necks of pithoi are wide for scooping or bucket access, the necks of amphorae are narrow for pouring by a person holding it by the bottom and a handle. The handles might not be present, the size may require two or three handlers to lift. For the most part, however, an amphora was tableware, or sat close to the table, was intended to be seen, stoppers of perishable materials, which have rarely survived, were used to seal the contents. Two principal types of amphorae existed, the amphora, in which the neck and body meet at a sharp angle. Neck amphorae were used in the early history of ancient Greece. Most were produced with a base to allow upright storage by embedding in soft ground. The base facilitated transport by ship, where the amphorae were packed upright or on their sides in as many as five staggered layers. If upright, the bases probably were held by some sort of rack, heather and reeds might be used as packing around the vases. Racks could be used in kitchens and shops, the base also concentrated deposits from liquids with suspended solid particles, such as olive oil and wines. Amphorae are of use to maritime archaeologists, as they often indicate the age of a shipwreck. They are occasionally so well preserved that the content is still present, providing information on foodstuffs. Amphorae were too cheap and plentiful to return to their origin-point and so, amphora is a Greco-Roman word developing in ancient Greek during the Bronze Age. The Romans acquired it during the Hellenization that occurred in the Roman Republic, cato is the first known literary person to use it
12.
Pompeii
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Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash. Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, by the time of its destruction,160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port. The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash, the site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and these artefacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies and this allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years, today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year. Pompeii in Latin is a second declension plural, the ruins of Pompeii are located near the modern suburban town of Pompei. It stands on a formed by a lava flow to the north of the mouth of the Sarno River. Today it is some distance inland, but in ancient times was nearer to the coast, Pompeii is about 8 km away from Mount Vesuvius. It covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares and was home to approximately 11,000 to 11,500 people on the basis of household counts and it was a major city in the region of Campania. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of bone, pottery shards. Carbon dating has placed the oldest of these layers from the 8th–6th centuries BC, the other two strata are separated either by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement, and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. It is theorized that the layers of the sediment were created by large landslides. The town was founded around the 7th-6th century BC by the Osci or Oscans and it had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, in the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered it, the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town
13.
Augustus
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Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
14.
Engraved gem
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An engraved gem is a small gemstone, usually semi-precious, that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a luxury art form in the ancient world. Strictly speaking, engraving means carving in intaglio, but relief carvings are covered by the term. This article uses cameo in its sense, to denote a carving exploiting layers of differently coloured stone. The activity is also called gem carving, and the artists gem-cutters, vessels like the Cup of the Ptolemies and heads or figures carved in the round are also known as hardstone carvings and similar terms. Glyptics, or glyptic art, covers the field of small carved stones, including seals and inscriptions. A finely carved seal was practical, as it made more difficult – the distinctive personal signature did not really exist in antiquity. Gems were mostly cut by using abrasive powder from harder stones in conjunction with a hand-drill, emery has been mined for abrasive powder on Naxos since antiquity. Some early types of seal were cut by hand, rather than a drill, there is no evidence that magnifying lenses were used by gem cutters in antiquity. A medieval guide to gem-carving techniques survives from Theophilus Presbyter, byzantine cutters used a flat-edged wheel on a drill for intaglio work, while Carolingian ones used round-tipped drills, it is unclear where they learnt this technique from. In intaglio gems at least, the cut surface is usually very well preserved. The colour of several gemstones can be enhanced by a number of methods, using heat, sugar. Many of these can be shown to have used since antiquity – since the 7th millennium BC in the case of heating. The technique has an ancient tradition in the Near East, and is represented in all or most early cultures from the area, and these were made in various types of stone, not all hardstone. The Greek tradition emerged in Ancient Greek art under Minoan influence on mainland Helladic culture, pre-Hellenic Ancient Egyptian seals tend to have inscriptions in hieroglyphs rather than images. The Biblical Book of Exodus describes the form of the hoshen, round or oval Greek gems are found from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, usually with animals in energetic geometric poses, often with a border marked by dots or a rim. Early examples are mostly in softer stones, Gems of the 6th century are more often oval, with a scarab back, and human or divine figures as well as animals, the scarab form was apparently adopted from Phoenicia. The forms are sophisticated for the period, despite the small size of the gems
15.
Gemma Augustea
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The Gemma Augustea is a low-relief cameo engraved gem cut from a double-layered Arabian onyx stone. It is commonly agreed that the gem cutter who created the Gemma Augustea was either Dioscurides or one of his disciples, the Gemma Augustea is a low-relief cameo engraved gem cut from a double-layered Arabian onyx stone. One layer is white, while the other is bluish-brown, the painstaking method by which the stone was cut allowed minute detail with sharp contrast between the images and background, also allowing for a great deal of shadow play. The size of the gem also made for easier manipulation and a grander scene and it stands 7.5 inches tall with a width of 9 inches and an average thickness of 0.5 inches. It is commonly agreed that the gem cutter who created Gemma Augustea was either Dioscurides or one of his disciples, Dioscurides was Caesar Augustus’ favorite gem cutter, and his work and copies of it are seen from all over the ancient Roman world. The gem is set as though in the period c, AD 10–20, although some scholars believe it to have been created decades later because of their interpretation of the scene. If Dioscurides, or cutters following his example, made it, at some time in antiquity it moved to Byzantium, perhaps after Constantine I had officially moved the capital of the empire there. If this gem was made during his lifetime, it would perhaps have been made as a gift to a family in a Roman province or client kingdom. Alternatively, if the gem was made after Augustus’ death, the identity of one or more of the portraits may be different from the usual identification. Another viewpoint is that the gem does portray Augustus as a god in his lifetime, similar issues arise with other Imperial cameos such as the Blacas Cameo in the British Museum. In 1533, Francis I of France appropriated it and moved it to Paris, not long thereafter it was sold for 12,000 ducats to Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor. During the 17th century, it was set in German gold and this setting shows that the gem must have been damaged, the upper left side being broken with at least one other figure missing, probably before Rudolph II bought it, but definitely before 1700. The gem is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the throned figure, #1 in the numbered illustration, is usually taken to be Augustus, although in some interpretations, it could represent a later Roman ruler. Figure #3 is the most readily identifiable, having characteristics held by no other, the woman is Oikoumene - the personification of the inhabited world. This inhabited or civilized world is either that of the early Roman Empire and she wears upon her head a mural crown and veil. She is crowning figure #1 with the corona civica of oak leaves - used to someone for saving the life of a Roman citizen. In this grand scale depiction, however, it is given to figure #1 because he saved a multitude of Roman citizens, Figure #5 and #6 seem to be closely related. Figure #5 is Oceanus or Neptune whose significance is often seen as one balancing the scene across from #4 and #7, below him is a reclined personification of either Gaia or Italia Turrita
16.
Great Cameo of France
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The Great Cameo of France is a five-layered sardonyx cameo of c.23 AD. It appears to have come to France from the treasury of the Byzantine Empire and it was then known as the Triumph of Joseph at the Court of the Pharaoh. It entered the Cabinet des Médailles on the order of Louis XVI on 1 May 1791, stolen during the French Revolution, it was recovered in Amsterdam but without its original gold frame, which was replaced by a bronze one that in turn was lost until 1912. It now resides in Paris at the Bibliothèque Nationale and it is the largest Roman imperial cameo to have survived. It is engraved with figures, divided into three levels. The general meaning and iconographic intent of the work are debated but generally clear, in the upper level are its deceased or deified members including Divus Augustus, surrounded by Drusus the Younger and Drusus the Elder flying on Pegasus. Agrippina the Youngers hairstyle confirms a date for the cameo between her marriage to Claudius in 49 and the accession of her son Nero as the emperor of Rome in 54. In the lowest level are captive barbarians, catalogue des Camées antiques et modernes de la Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris, E. Leroux,1897, n°264, trésors de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, I, Mémoires et merveilles. Le grand camée de France, Paris,1998 Giuliani, Luca and Gerhard Schmidt, das Geheimnis des großen Kameo, Verlag C. H. Beck, Munich 2010. Jucker, HNA Der Grosse Pariser Kameo, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts 91 211-50,1789, Le Patrimoine libéré,200 trésors entrés à la Bibliothèque nationale de 1789 à1799. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale,1989, n°83
17.
Blacas Cameo
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The Blacas Cameo is an unusually large Ancient Roman cameo,12.8 cm high, carved from a piece of sardonyx with four alternating layers of white and brown. It shows the head of the Roman emperor Augustus and probably dates from shortly after his death in AD14. Normally it is on display in Room 70 and these include the Gemma Augustea in Vienna and the Great Cameo of France in Paris. Augustus is depicted as always as a young man, whose appearance is greatly idealized when compared with descriptions of him in literature. Here he is seen from behind, but with his head turned in profile and he has thrown the aegis, an attribute of Jupiter, over his shoulder, much of this is in the upper brown layer of the stone. The aegis is here imagined as a kind of decorated goatskin cloak with a hole for the head, which appears at Augustus shoulder. The head of the Gorgon is depicted in the centre of the brown section. This may be Phobos, the personification of fear, who is said in Greek literature to decorate the shields of heroes. The pose and these details compare closely to a cameo in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Augustus wears a royal diadem, perhaps originally just shown as the band of cloth whose ends are tied at the back of the head. This addition may indicate that it was incorporated in a reliquary or some other medieval object, a staff of some kind, perhaps a sceptre or spear shaft, runs diagonally to the left, and the strap over the right shoulder is presumably for a sword at his waist. Similar poses with an aegis are found in Hellenistic art, and the intention was probably to suggest a fighting ruler, in the tradition of Alexander the Great, mark Antony was also depicted wearing it. The existence of a State workshop producing these gems has been inferred, the cameo appears to have been cut from a larger work. BM online catalogue The Blacas Cameo Boardman, John ed. R. R. 335, pp. 18–35, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, JSTOR Walker, Susan, masterpieces of Classical Art,2009, British Museum Press, ISBN9780714122540
18.
Charles Townley
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Charles Townley FRS was a wealthy English country gentleman, antiquary and collector. He travelled on three Grand Tours to Italy, buying antique sculpture, vases, coins, manuscripts and Old Master drawings and paintings, many of the most important pieces from his collection, especially the Townley Marbles are now in the British Museums Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities. The marbles were overshadowed at the time, and still today, Charles Townley was born in England at Towneley Hall, the family seat, near Burnley in Lancashire, on 1 October 1737. He also made excursions to the south of Italy and Sicily. His solitary publication was an account of the Ribchester Helmet in Vetusta Monumenta, a Roman cavalry helmet found near Towneley Hall and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1791. He became a member of the Society of Dilettanti 1786, a large archive of Townleys papers, including diaries, account books, bills, correspondence, and catalogues, was acquired by the British Museum in 1992. A bust of Townley was made in Carrara marble in 1807 by his associate and friend and it shows Townley in herm form – head and neck only, without full shoulders or arms – with a bare neck, dishevelled hair and a pensive expression. The trustees of the museum obtained a parliamentary grant specifically for the purpose, the smaller antiquities, including coins, engraved gems, and pottery, followed in 1814. Townley fully intended to leave this collection to the British Museum, engaged in discussion with him are three fellow connoisseurs, the palaeographer Charles Astle, Hon. Charles Francis Greville, F. R. S. and Pierre-François Hugues DHancarville. Prominent in front are Townleys Roman marble of the Discobolos, the Nymph with a Shell, of which the most famous variant was also in the Borghese collection and a Faun of the Barberini type. On a pedestal in front of the fireplace, the Boys Fighting from the Barberini collection had been Towneleys first major purchase, in 1768. In point of fact, Towneleys only Greek original appears to have been the relief on the left wall above the Bust of a Maenad posed on a wall bracket. The so-called Bust of Clytie perches on the small writing-table, in Zoffanys assembly of the Townley marbles and it was extensively reproduced in marble, plaster, and the white bisque porcelain called parian ware for its supposed resemblance to Parian marble. Goethe owned two casts of this, the Bust of Clytie was apparently Townleys favourite sculpture and the one he took with him when he was forced to flee his home during the anti-Catholic riots of 1780. The Townley Venus on a Roman well-head that serves as drum pedestal had been discovered by Gavin Hamilton at Ostia, the marble Townley Vase, also furtively exported, stands on the bookcase at the rear, it was excavated about 1774 by Gavin Hamilton at Monte Cagnolo. Townley at the B. M. and Cavaceppi at the Clarendon Gallery, B. F. Cook, The Townley Marbles London, The British Museum Press,1985
19.
Iconography
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The word iconography comes from the Greek εἰκών and γράφειν. A secondary meaning is the production of images, called icons, in the Byzantine and Orthodox Christian tradition. In art history, an iconography may also mean a depiction of a subject in terms of the content of the image, such as the number of figures used, their placing. Sometimes distinctions have been made between iconology and iconography, although the definitions, and so the distinction made, varies, when referring to movies, genres are immediately recognizable through their iconography, motifs that become associated with a specific genre through repetition. Gian Pietro Bellori, a 17th-century biographer of artists of his own time, describes and analyses, not always correctly, many works. Lessings study of the classical figure Amor with a torch was an early attempt to use a study of a type of image to explain the culture it originated in. These early contributions paved the way for encyclopedias, manuals, mâles lArt religieux du XIIIe siècle en France translated into English as The Gothic Image, Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century has remained continuously in print. In the United States, to which Panofsky immigrated in 1931, students such as Frederick Hartt, the period from 1940 can be seen as one where iconography was especially prominent in art history. These are now being digitised and made online, usually on a restricted basis. For example, the Iconclass code 71H7131 is for the subject of Bathsheba with Davids letter, whereas 71 is the whole Old Testament and 71H the story of David. A number of collections of different types have been classified using Iconclass, notably types of old master print, the collections of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. These are available, usually on-line or on DVD, the system can also be used outside pure art history, for example on sites like Flickr. Central to the iconography and hagiography of Indian religions are mudra or gestures with specific meanings, the symbolic use of colour to denote the Classical Elements or Mahabhuta and letters and bija syllables from sacred alphabetic scripts are other features. Under the influence of art developed esoteric meanings, accessible only to initiates. The art of Indian Religions esp, for example, Narasimha an incarnation of Vishnu though considered a wrathful deity but in few contexts is depicted in pacified mood. Conversely, in Hindu art, narrative scenes have become more common in recent centuries, especially in miniature paintings of the lives of Krishna. Eventually the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, after the period of Byzantine iconoclasm iconographical innovation was regarded as unhealthy, if not heretical, in the Eastern Church, though it still continued at a glacial pace. More than in the West, traditional depictions were often considered to have authentic or miraculous origins, the Eastern church also never accepted the use of monumental high relief or free-standing sculpture, which it found too reminiscent of paganism
20.
Peleus
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In Greek mythology, Peleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs and he married the sea-nymph Thetis with whom he fathered Achilles. Peleus and his brother Telamon were friends of Heracles, and served in Heracles expedition against the Amazons, his war against King Laomedon, though there were no further kings in Aegina, the kings of Epirus claimed descent from Peleus in the historic period. Peleus and his brother Telamon killed their half-brother Phocus, perhaps in an accident and certainly in an unthinking moment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by Eurytion and married Antigone, Eurytions daughter, by whom he had a daughter, Peleus was purified of the murder of Eurytion in Iolcus by Acastus. Astydameia, Acastus wife, fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her, bitter, she sent a messenger to Antigone to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus daughter. As a result, Antigone hanged herself, Astydameia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her. Acastus took Peleus on a trip and hid his sword then abandoned him right before a group of centaurs attacked. Chiron, the centaur, or, according to another source, Hermes, returned Peleus sword with magical powers. He pillaged Iolcus and dismembered Astydameia, then marched his army between the rended limbs, Acastus and Astydamia were dead and the kingdom fell to Jasons son, Thessalus. After Antigones death, Peleus married the sea-nymph Thetis and he was able to win her with the aid of Proteus, who told Peleus how to overcome Thetis ability to change her form. Their wedding feast was attended by many of the Olympian gods, as a wedding present, Poseidon gave Peleus two immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus. During the feast, Eris, in revenge for not being invited, produced the Apple of Discord, the marriage of Peleus and Thetis produced seven sons, six of whom died in infancy. The only surviving son was Achilles, Thetis attempted to render her son Achilles invulnerable. In the well-known version, she dipped him in the River Styx, holding him by one heel, which remained vulnerable. In an early and less popular version of the story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and she was interrupted by Peleus and she abandoned both father and son in a rage, leaving his heel vulnerable. Later on in life, Achilles is killed by Paris when he is shot in his vulnerable spot and this is where the term Achilles heel is derived from. Peleus gave Achilles to the centaur Chiron, to raise on Mt. Pelion, in the Iliad, Achilles uses Peleus immortal horses and also wields his fathers spear
21.
Thetis
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Thetis, is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as a Nereid in Classical myths, Thetis was the daughter of Nereus and Doris, often she seems to lead the Nereids as they attend to her tasks. Sometimes she also is identified with Metis, some sources argue that she was one of the earliest of deities worshipped in Archaic Greece, the oral traditions and records of which are lost. Only one written record, a fragment, exists attesting to her worship, worship of Thetis as the goddess is documented to have persisted in some regions by historical writers such as Pausanias. In the Trojan War cycle of myth, the wedding of Thetis, the pre-modern etymology of her name, from tithemi, to set up, establish, suggests a perception among Classical Greeks of an early political role. Walter Burkert considers her name a transformed doublet of Tethys and you, goddess, went and saved him from that indignity. You quickly summoned to high Olympus the monster of the hundred arms whom the gods call Briareus, but mankind Aegaeon and he squatted by the Son of Cronos with such a show of force that the blessed gods slunk off in terror, leaving Zeus free —E. V. M. Willcock, have understood the episode as an ad hoc invention of Homers to support Achilles request that his mother intervene with Zeus, thus, she is revealed as a figure of cosmic capacity, quite capable of unsettling the divine order. These accounts associate Thetis with a divine past—uninvolved with human events—with a level of divine invulnerability extraordinary by Olympian standards. In order to ensure a mortal father for her offspring, Zeus and his brother Poseidon made arrangements for her to marry a human, Peleus, son of Aeacus. Proteus, an early sea-god, advised Peleus to find the sea nymph when she was asleep and she did shift shapes, becoming flame, water, a raging lioness, and a serpent. Subdued, she consented to marry him. Thetis is the mother of Achilles by Peleus, who became king of the Myrmidons, apollo played the lyre and the Muses sang, Pindar claimed. At the wedding Chiron gave Peleus an ashen spear that had been polished by Athene and had a blade forged by Hephaestus, Poseidon gave him the immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus. Eris, the goddess of discord, had not been invited and she threw, in spite, a golden apple into the midst of the goddesses that was to be awarded only to the fairest. In most interpretations, the award was made during the Judgement of Paris, in the later classical myths Thetis worked her magic on the baby Achilles by night, burning away his mortality in the hall fire and anointing the child with ambrosia during the day, Apollonius tells. When Peleus caught her searing the baby, he let out a cry, in a variant of the myth, Thetis tried to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the waters of the Styx. However, the heel by which she held him was not touched by the Styxs waters, in the story of Achilles in the Trojan War in the Iliad, Homer does not mention this weakness of Achilles heel
22.
Cupid
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In classical mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and he is also known in Latin as Amor. Although Eros is generally portrayed as a winged youth in Classical Greek art. During this time, his iconography acquired the bow and arrow that represent his source of power, a person, or even a deity, in myths, Cupid is a minor character who serves mostly to set the plot in motion. He is a character only in the tale of Cupid and Psyche. Although other extended stories are not told him, his tradition is rich in poetic themes and visual scenarios, such as Love conquers all. In art, Cupid often appears in multiples as the Amores, or amorini in the terminology of art history. Cupids are a frequent motif of both Roman art and later Western art of the classical tradition, in the 15th century, the iconography of Cupid starts to become indistinguishable from the putto. Cupid continued to be a figure in the Middle Ages. In the Renaissance, a renewed interest in classical philosophy endowed him with complex allegorical meanings, in contemporary popular culture, Cupid is shown drawing his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentines Day. The Romans reinterpreted myths and concepts pertaining to the Greek Eros for Cupid in their own literature and art, in the Greek tradition, Eros had a dual, contradictory genealogy. He was among the gods who came into existence asexually, after his generation. In Hesiods Theogony, only Chaos and Gaia are older, before the existence of gender dichotomy, Eros functioned by causing entities to separate from themselves that which they already contained. At the same time, the Eros who was pictured as a boy or slim youth was regarded as the child of a divine couple, in Latin literature, Cupid is usually treated as the son of Venus without reference to a father. Seneca says that Vulcan, as the husband of Venus, is the father of Cupid and this last Cupid was the equivalent of Anteros, Counter-Love, one of the Erotes, the gods who embody aspects of love. The multiple Cupids frolicking in art are the manifestation of these proliferating loves and desires. During the English Renaissance, Christopher Marlowe wrote of ten thousand Cupids, in Ben Jonsons wedding masque Hymenaei, in the later classical tradition, Cupid is most often regarded as the son of Venus and Mars, whose love affair represented an allegory of Love and War. The duality between the primordial and the sexually conceived Eros accommodated philosophical concepts of Heavenly and Earthly Love even in the Christian era, Cupid is winged, allegedly, because lovers are flighty and likely to change their minds, and boyish because love is irrational
23.
Silenus
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In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue, the original Silenus resembled a folkloric man of the forest with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse. The later sileni were drunken followers of Dionysus, usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses, later still, the plural sileni went out of use and the only references were to one individual named Silenus, the teacher and faithful companion of the wine-god Dionysus. A notorious consumer of wine, he was drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by a donkey. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said in Orphic hymns to be the young gods tutor. This puts him in a company of phallic or half-animal tutors of the gods, a group that include Priapus, Hermaphroditus, Cedalion and Chiron, but also includes Pallas, when intoxicated, Silenus was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy. The Phrygian King Midas was eager to learn from Silenus and caught the old man by lacing a fountain from which Silenus often drank, as Silenus fell asleep, the kings servants seized and took him to their master. Silenus shared with the king a pessimistic philosophy, That the best thing for a man is not to be born, an alternative story was that when lost and wandering in Phrygia, Silenus was rescued by peasants and taken to King Midas, who treated him kindly. In return for Midas hospitality Silenus told him some tales and Midas, enchanted by Silenus’s fictions, entertained him for five days, Dionysus offered Midas a reward for his kindness towards Silenus, and Midas chose the power of turning everything he touched into gold. Another story was that Silenus had been captured by two shepherds, and regaled them with wondrous tales, in Euripidess satyr play Cyclops, Silenus is stranded with the satyrs in Sicily, where they have been enslaved by the Cyclops. They are the elements of the story, a parody of Homers Odyssey IX. Silenus refers to the satyrs as his children during the play, Silenus commonly figures in Roman bas-reliefs of the train of Dionysus, a subject for sarcophagi, embodying the transcendent promises of Dionysian cult. The Papposilenus is a representation of Silenus that emphasizes his old age, in vase painting, his hair is often white, and as in statuettes he has a pot belly, flabby breasts and shaggy thighs. In these depictions, it is clear that the Papposilenus is an actor playing a part. His costuming includes a body stocking tufted with hair that seems to have come into use in the mid-5th century BC. This thought is indeed so old that the one who first uttered it is no known, it has been passed down to us from eternity. Moreover, you know what is so often said and passes for a trite expression and he answered, It is best not to be born at all, and next to that, it is better to die than to live, and this is confirmed even by divine testimony. Pertinently to this say that Midas, after hunting, asked his captive Silenus somewhat urgently
24.
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
25.
Mark Antony
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Antony was a supporter of Julius Caesar, and served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul and the Civil War. Antony was appointed administrator of Italy while Caesar eliminated political opponents in Greece, North Africa, the Triumvirs defeated Caesars murderers, the Liberatores, at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, and divided the government of the Republic between themselves. Antony was assigned Romes eastern provinces, including the client kingdom of Egypt, then ruled by Cleopatra VII Philopator, relations among the Triumvirs were strained as the various members sought greater political power. Civil war between Antony and Octavian was averted in 40 BC, when Antony married Octavians sister, Octavia, despite this marriage, Antony carried on a love affair with Cleopatra, who bore him three children, further straining Antonys relations with Octavian. Lepidus was expelled from the association in 36 BC, and in 33 BC disagreements between Antony and Octavian caused a split between the remaining Triumvirs. Their ongoing hostility erupted into war in 31 BC, as the Roman Senate, at Octavians direction, declared war on Cleopatra. Later that year, Antony was defeated by Octavians forces at the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they committed suicide. With Antony dead, Octavian was the master of the Roman world. In 27 BC, Octavian was granted the title of Augustus, marking the stage in the transformation of the Roman Republic into an empire. A member of the plebeian Antonia gens, Antony was born in Rome on January 14,83 BC. His father and namesake was Marcus Antonius Creticus, son of the noted orator by the name who had been murdered during the Marian Terror of the winter of 87–86 BC. His mother was Julia Antonia, a distant cousin of Julius Caesar, Antony was an infant at the time of Lucius Cornelius Sullas march on Rome in 82 BC. According to the Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, Antonys father was incompetent and corrupt, in 74 BC he was given military command to defeat the pirates of the Mediterranean, but he died in Crete in 71 BC without making any significant progress. Lentulus, despite exploiting his political success for financial gain, was constantly in debt due to the extravagance of his lifestyle and he was a major figure in the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy and was summarily executed on the orders of the Consul Cicero in 63 BC for his involvement. His death resulted in a feud between the Antonia and the famous orator, Antonys early life was characterized by a lack of proper parental guidance. According to the historian Plutarch, he spent his teenage years wandering through Rome with his brothers and friends gambling, drinking, Antonys contemporary and enemy, Cicero, claimed he had a homosexual relationship with Gaius Scribonius Curio. There is little information on his political activity as a young man, although it is known that he was an associate of Publius Clodius Pulcher. He may also have involved in the Lupercal cult as he was referred to as a priest of this order later in life
26.
Cleopatra
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Cleopatra VII Philopator, known to history simply as Cleopatra, was the last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, briefly survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of the recently established Roman Empire, Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Greats death during the Hellenistic period. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis, as queen, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated Caesarion, her son with Caesar, to co-ruler in name, after Caesars assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesars legal heir Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, Antony committed suicide after losing the Battle of Actium to Octavians forces, and Cleopatra followed suit. According to tradition, she killed herself by means of an asp bite on August 12,30 BC and she was outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, but he was soon killed on Octavians orders. Egypt then became the Roman province of Aegyptus, Cleopatras father Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Greats general Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lagus, both of Macedon. Centralization of power and corruption led to uprisings in and the losses of Cyprus and Cyrenaica, Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena seized the crown but died shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances. It is believed that Berenice IV poisoned her so that she could assume sole rulership, regardless of the cause, she ruled until Ptolemy Auletes returned in 55 BC with Roman support, capturing Alexandria aided by Roman general Aulus Gabinius. Berenice was imprisoned and executed afterwards, her head allegedly being sent to the royal court on the decree of her father. Cleopatra now became joint regent and deputy to her father at age 14, Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC. His will made 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs, the first three years of their reign were difficult due to economic failures, famine, deficient floods of the Nile, and political conflicts. Cleopatra was married to her brother, but she quickly made it clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him. In August 51 BC, relations broke down between Cleopatra and Ptolemy. Cleopatra dropped Ptolemys name from official documents and her face appeared on coins. The Gabiniani killed the sons of the Roman governor of Syria Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus when they came to ask the Gabiniani to assist their father against the Parthians, Cleopatra handed the murderers over to Bibulus in chains, whereupon the Gabiniani became bitter enemies of the queen. This conflict was one of the causes of Cleopatras fall from power shortly afterward. The sole reign of Cleopatra was finally ended by a cabal of courtiers led by the eunuch Pothinus, in connection with half-Greek general Achillas, circa 48 BC, Cleopatras younger brother Ptolemy XIII became sole ruler
27.
Asp (reptile)
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Asp is the modern Anglicisation of the word aspis, which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region. It is believed that aspis referred in Egyptian mythology to what is now known as the Egyptian cobra, throughout dynastic and Roman Egypt, the asp was a symbol of royalty. Moreover, in both Egypt and Greece, its potent venom made it useful as a means of execution for criminals who were deserving of a more dignified death than that of typical executions. In some stories of Perseus, after killing Medusa, the hero used winged boots to transport her head to Mount Olympus, as he was flying over Egypt some of her blood fell to the ground, which transformed into asps and amphisbaenae. The asp is perhaps most famous for its role in Cleopatras suicide after Mark Antony killed himself by falling on his sword due to a false report of Cleopatra killing herself. —Cleopatra, Act V, scene II Antony and Cleopatra Othello also famously compares his hatred for Desdemona as being full of aspics tongues in Shakespeares play Othello
28.
Venomous snake
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Venomous snakes are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which is used primarily for immobilizing prey and defense mostly via mechanical injection by fangs. Common venomous snakes include the families Elapidae, Viperidae, Atractaspididae, the toxicity of them is mainly indicated by murine LD50, while multiple factors are considered to judge their potential danger to humans. The evolutionary history of snakes can be traced back to as far as 25 million years ago. There is not a single or special group for venomous snakes which comprise species from different families. This has been interpreted to mean venom in snakes originated more than once as the result of convergent evolution, around a quarter of all snake species are identified as being venomous. Venomous snakes are said to be poisonous, but poison. Poisons must be ingested, inhaled or absorbed, while venom must be injected into the body by mechanical means and it is, for example, harmless to drink snake venom as long as there are no lacerations inside the mouth or digestive tract. This ability to sequester toxins and store them for defense renders these certain snakes both poisonous and venomous, LD50, mostly on rodents, is a common indicator of snakes toxicity with a smaller resultant value indicating a higher level of toxicity. There have been studies on snake venom with a variability of potency estimates. There are four methods in which the LD50 test is conducted, which are injections to subcutis, vein, muscle, testing using dry venom mixed with 0. 1% bovine serum albumin in saline, gives more consistent results than just saline alone. Prominent venom expert Associate Professor Bryan Grieg Fry has clarified the error, in there, all the toxicity testing results were lumped in together, regardless of the mode of testing. As the mode can influence the number, venoms can only be compared within a mode. Belchers sea snakes actual LD50 is 0.24 mg/kg and 0.155 mg/kg, studies on mice and human cardiac cell culture shows that venom of the inland taipan, drop by drop, is the most toxic among all snakes. Toxicity of snake venom is used to gauge the extent of their danger to humans. Many venomous snakes are specialized predators whose venom may be adapted specifically to incapacitate their preferred prey, a number of other factors are also critical in determining the potential hazard of any given venomous snake to humans, including their distribution and behavior. For example, while the inland taipan is regarded as the worlds most venomous snake based on LD50 tests on Mice, it is a shy species and rarely strikes, and has not caused any known human fatalities
29.
Death of Cleopatra
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The Death of Cleopatra, also known simply as Cleopatra, is an 1881 painting made by the Filipino painter Juan Luna. The famous painting was a silver medalist or second prize winner during the 1881 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid, the 1881 Madrid painting contest was Lunas first art exposition. Because of the exposure, Luna received a scholarship at the Ayuntamiento de Manila. After the painting competition, Luna sold it for 5,000 Spanish pesetas, as Lunas graduation work, The Death of Cleopatra was acquired by the Spanish government for one thousand duros
30.
Olympias
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Olympias was a daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the fourth wife of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great. She was a member of the orgiastic snake-worshiping cult of Dionysus, and it is suggested by the 1st century AD biographer, Plutarch. Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe in Epirus and her family belonged to the Aeacidae, a well-respected family of Epirus, which claimed descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. The name Olympias was the third of four names by which she was known and she probably took it as a recognition of Philips victory in the Olympic Games of 356 BC, the news of which coincided with Alexanders birth. She was finally named Stratonice, which was probably an epithet attached to Olympias following her victory over Eurydice in 317 BC, when Neoptolemus I died in 360 BC, his brother Arymbas succeeded him on the Molossian throne. In 358 BC, Arymbas made a treaty with the new king of Macedonia, Philip II, the alliance was cemented with a diplomatic marriage, when Arymbas niece Olympias became Philips wife in 357 BC and, consequently, queen consort of Macedonia. Philip had first fallen in love with Olympias when both were initiated into the mysteries of Cabeiri at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, on the island of Samothrace. One year later, in 356 BC, Philips race horse won in the Olympic Games, for this victory his wife, in the summer of the same year, Olympias gave birth to her first child, Alexander. In ancient Greece people believed that the birth of a man was accompanied by portents. After the marriage Philip dreamed that he put a seal upon his wifes womb, aristanders interpretation was that Olympias was pregnant of a son whose nature would be bold and lion-like. Philip and Olympias also had a daughter, Cleopatra and their marriage was very stormy, Philips volatility and Olympias jealous temper had led to a growing estrangement. Things got even worse in 337 BC when Philip married a noble Macedonian woman, Cleopatra, who was given the name Eurydice by Philip, the marriage caused great tensions between Philip, Olympias and Alexander. Olympias went into exile in Epirus along with her son Alexander, who sided with her, staying at the Molossian court of her brother Alexander I. After the death of Philip II, Olympias ordered the execution of Eurydice and her child, during Alexanders campaigns, she regularly corresponded with him and may have confirmed her sons claim in Egypt that his father was not Philip but Zeus. The relationship between Olympias and Alexander was cordial, but her son tried to keep her away from politics, however, she wielded great influence in Macedonia and caused troubles to Antipater, the regent of the kingdom. In 330 BC, she returned to Epirus and served as a regent to her cousin Aeacides in the Epirote state, after Alexander the Greats death in Babylon in 323 BC, his wife Roxana bore him a posthumous son who was called Alexander IV. At the same time, Olympias offered Perdiccas the hand of her daughter Cleopatra, Perdiccas chose Cleopatra, which angered Antipater, who invaded Macedon, deposed Perdiccas, and declared himself regent, only to die within the year. Polyperchon succeeded Antipater in 319 BC as regent, but Antipaters son Cassander established Philip II’s simpleminded son Philip III as king and he fled to Epirus, taking Roxana and her son Alexander IV with him
31.
Alexander the Great
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Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history. He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
32.
Hecuba
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Hecuba was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War, with whom she had 19 children. These children included several characters of Homers Iliad such as the warriors Hector and Paris. Ancient sources vary as to the parentage of Hecuba, according to Homer, Hecuba was the daughter of King Dymas of Phrygia, but Euripides and Virgil write of her as the daughter of the Thracian king Cisseus. According to Suetonius in The Twelve Caesars, the emperor Tiberius pestered scholars with obscure questions about ancient mythology, Hecuba appears six times in the Iliad. In Book 6. 326–96, she meets Hector upon his return to the polis and offers him the cup, instructing him to offer it to Zeus. Taking Hectors advice, she chooses a gown taken from Alexanders treasure to give as an offering to the goddess, in Book 22, she pleads with Hector not to fight Achilles, for fear of never get to mourn you laid out on a bier. In Book 24. 201–16, she is stricken with anxiety upon hearing of Priams plan to retrieve Hectors body from Achilles hut. Further along in the episode, at 24. 287–98, she offers Priam the libation cup. Unlike in the first episode in which Hector refuses her offer of the cup, finally, she laments Hectors death in a well-known speech at 24. 748–59. The Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus states that Hecuba had a son named Troilus with the god Apollo, an oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated if Troilus reached the age of twenty alive. Hecuba is a character in two plays by Euripides, The Trojan Women and Hecuba. The Trojan Women describes the aftermath of the fall of Troy, Hecuba also takes place just after the fall of Troy. Polydorus, the youngest son of Priam and Hecuba, is sent to King Polymestor for safekeeping, Hecuba learns of this, and when Polymestor comes to the fallen city, Hecuba, by trickery, blinds him and kills his two sons. A third story says that when she was given to Odysseus as a slave, she snarled and cursed at him, so the gods turned her into a dog, in another tradition, Hecuba went mad upon seeing the corpses of her children Polydorus and Polyxena
33.
Judgement of Paris
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The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War and to the foundation of Rome. As with many tales, details vary depending on the source. The later writers Ovid, Lucian, The Bibliotheca and Hyginus, retell the story with skeptical and it appeared wordlessly on the ivory and gold votive chest of the 7th-century BC tyrant Cypselus at Olympia, which was described by Pausanias as showing. It is recounted that Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus, however, Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, for it was believed she would have made the party unpleasant for everyone. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration with an apple from the Garden of the Hesperides. According to some versions, upon the apple was the inscription καλλίστῃ. Three goddesses claimed the apple, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, thus it happened that, with Hermes as their guide, the three candidates bathed in the spring of Ida, then confronted Paris on Mount Ida in the climactic moment that is the crux of the tale. After failing to judge their beauty with their clothing on, the three goddesses stripped nude to convince Paris of their worthiness and this was Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodites gift and awarded the apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks, the Greeks expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War. The bribery involved is ironic and a late ingredient, according to a tradition suggested by Alfred J. Van Windekens, objectively, cow-eyed Hera was indeed the most beautiful, not Aphrodite. However, Hera was the goddess of the order and of cuckolded wives. She was often portrayed as the shrewish, jealous wife of Zeus and she had fidelity and chastity in mind and was careful to be modest when Paris was inspecting her. Aphrodite, though not as beautiful as Hera, was the goddess of sexuality. Thus, she was able to sway Paris into judging her the fairest, athenas beauty is rarely commented in the myths, perhaps because Greeks held her up as an asexual being, being able to overcome her womanly weaknesses to become both wise and talented in war. Her rage at losing makes her join the Greeks in the battle against Paris Trojans, the subject became popular in art from the late Middle Ages onwards. All three goddesses were usually shown nude, though in ancient art only Aphrodite is ever unclothed, the opportunity for three female nudes was a large part of the attraction of the subject. It appeared in illuminated manuscripts and was popular in art, including 15th-century Italian inkstands and other works in maiolica. As a subject for paintings, it was more common in Northern Europe
34.
Troy
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The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, a new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually in the Byzantine era and these excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Troy VII has been identified with the city that the Hittites called Wilusa, the origin of the Greek Ἴλιον. Today, the hill at Hisarlık has given its name to a village near the ruins. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, the map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998, Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC, Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, in the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the River Scamander, where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, recent geological findings have permitted the identification of the ancient Trojan coastline, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. In November 2001, the geologist John C, kraft from the University of Delaware and the classicist John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin, presented the results of investigations, begun in 1977, into the geology of the region. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the major work attributed to Homer. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid, the Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and there made sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. After the 1995 find of a Luwian biconvex seal at Troy VII, with the rise of critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were, for a long time, consigned to the realms of legend. However, the location of ancient Troy had from classical times remained the subject of interest. The Troad peninsula was anticipated to be the location, leChavaliers location, published in his Voyage de la Troade, was the most commonly accepted theory for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known, the hill, near the city of Çanakkale, was known as Hisarlık. In 1868, Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık, in 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period
35.
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
36.
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
37.
Octavia the Younger
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Octavia the Younger, also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the elder sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. One of the most prominent women in Roman history, Octavia was respected and admired by contemporaries for her loyalty, nobility and humanity, full sister to Augustus, Octavia was the only daughter born of Gaius Octavius second marriage to Atia Balba Caesonia, niece of Julius Caesar. Octavia was born in Nola, Italy, her father, a Roman governor and senator and her mother later remarried, to the consul Lucius Marcius Philippus. Octavia spent much of her travelling with her parents. Marcius was in charge of educating Octavia and her brother Augustus, before 54 BC her stepfather arranged for her to marry Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. Marcellus was a man of rank, a man who was considered worthy of her and was consul in 50 BC. He was also a member of the influential Claudian family and descended from Marcus Claudius Marcellus, in 54 BC, her great uncle Caesar is said to have been anxious for her to divorce her husband so that she could marry Pompey who had just lost his wife Julia. The couple did not want to get a divorce so instead Pompey declined the proposal, so Octavias husband continued to oppose Julius Caesar including in the crucial year of his consulship 50 BC. Civil war broke out when Caesar in Gaul invaded Italy in 49 BC, in 47 BC he was able to intercede with Caesar for his cousin and namesake, also a former consul, then living in exile. Presumably, Octavia continued to live with her husband from the time of their marriage to her husbands death when she was about 29 and they had three children, Claudia Marcella Major, Claudia Marcella Minor and Marcus Claudius Marcellus. All three were born in Italy and her husband Marcellus died in May 40 BC. By a Senatorial decree, Octavia married Mark Antony in October 40 BC, between 40 and 36 BC, she travelled with Antony to various provinces and lived with him in his Athenian mansion. There she raised her children by Marcellus as well as Antonys two sons, the two daughters of her marriage to Antony, Antonia Major and Antonia Minor, were born there. The alliance was severely tested by Antonys abandonment of Octavia and their children in favor of his former lover Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, after 36 BC, Octavia returned to Rome with the daughters of her second marriage. On several occasions she acted as an advisor and negotiator between her husband and brother. Mark Antony divorced Octavia in 32 BC, after she had supplied him with men and troops, in 35 BC, Augustus adored, but never adopted, her son Marcellus. When Marcellus died of illness in 23 BC unexpectedly, Augustus was thunderstruck, revived only with difficulty, she sent Vergil ten-thousand sesterces for each of the verses. She may have never recovered from the death of her son and retired from public life
38.
Venus Genetrix (sculpture)
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Through this historical chance, a Roman designation is applied to an iconological type of Aphrodite that originated among the Greeks. On the night before the battle of Pharsalus, Julius Caesar vowed to dedicate a temple at Rome to Venus. In fulfilment of his vow he erected a temple of Venus Genetrix in the new forum he constructed, contemporary references identify the cult statue in the temple as by a certain Greek sculptor, Arkesilaos. Two types, represented in many Roman examples in marble, bronze, besides the type described further below, is another, in which Venus carries an infant Eros on her shoulder. Venus was depicted holding the apple won in the Judgement of Paris in her left hand, from the lost bronze original are derived all surviving copies. The composition was frontal, the bodys form monumental, and in the surviving Roman replicas its proportions are close to the Polyclitean canon. In 46 BC, the statue of Venus Genetrix made by a certain Arkesilaos was set up by Julius Caesar in his new forum, probably in the cella of his temple of Venus Genetrix. This now-lost statue, or Sabina in the pose, is represented on the reverse of a denarius above the legend VENERI GENETRICI. A Venus Genetrix in the Museo Pio-Clementina has been completed with a Roman portrait head of Sabina and it was in part to flatter this connection that Virgil wrote the Aeneid. His public cult expressed the unique standing of Caesar at the end of the Roman Republic and in that sense of a personal association expressed as public cult was the innovation in Roman religion. A1. 64m high Roman statue, dating from the end of the 1st century BC to the start of the 1st century AD and it is considered as the best Roman copy of the lost Greek work. The neck, the hand, the fingers of the right hand, the plinth. It was present in the palace of the Tuileries in 1678 and it was seized on the Revolution, and has thus been in the Louvre since 1803, as Inventaire MR367. The statue was restored in 1999 thanks to the patronage of FIMALAC, the head does not belong to this statue, which must originally have had a portrait head. In Rome, a figure of a divinity might often be adapted slightly. Evidence that this was the case here can be seen in the locks of hair falling onto the shoulders and these are also seen in posthumous portraits of Agrippina the Elder, which enables us to date this statue to the second quarter of the 1st century AD. Charles Waldstein, Pasiteles and Arkesilaos, the Venus Genetrix and the Venus of the Esquiline, The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, Vol.3, No. 1/2, pp. 1-13 Cornelia G. Harcum, A Statue of the Type Called the Venus Genetrix in the Royal Ontario Museum, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol.31, No
39.
Julia (gens)
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The gens Julia or Iulia was one of the most ancient patrician families at Ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic, the first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The nomen Julius became very common in times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history. The Julii were without doubt of Alban origin, and it is mentioned as one of the leading Alban houses and it is not impossible that some of the Julii may have settled at Bovillae after the fall of Alba Longa. Aeneas was, in turn, the son of Venus and Anchises, in order to prove the identity of Ascanius and Iulus, recourse was had to etymology, some specimens of which the reader curious in such matters will find in Servius. Other traditions held that Iulus was the son of Aeneas by his Trojan wife, Creusa, while Ascanius was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia, daughter of Latinus. Though it would seem that the Julii first came to Rome in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, in the later Empire, the distinction between praenomen, nomen, and cognomen was gradually lost, and Julius was treated much like a personal name, which it ultimately became. The Latin form is common in languages, but other familiar forms exist, including Giulio, Julio, Jules, Júlio, Iuliu. The Julii of the Republic used the praenomina Lucius, Gaius, there are also instances of Vopiscus and Spurius in the early generations of the family. The earliest of the Julii appearing in legend bore the praenomen Proculus, in the later Republic and imperial times, Vopiscus and Proculus were generally used as personal cognomina. The name was revived as a praenomen by Marcus Antonius, the triumvir. Classical Latin did not distinguish between the letters I and J, which were written with I, and for this reason the name is sometimes written Julus, just as Julius is also written Iulius. The many Julii of imperial times, who were not descended from the gens Julia, on coins the only names which we find are Caesar and Bursio, the latter of which does not occur in ancient writers. Iulus, also written as Iullus and Julus, was the surname of the eldest branch of the Julii to appear in Roman history, the gens claimed descent from Iulus, who was in some manner connected with Aeneas, although the traditions differed with respect to the details. In some accounts, Iulus was the son of Aeneas and Creüsa, in others, Ascanius was the son of Creüsa, while Iulus was the son of Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, the king of Latium with whom Aeneas made peace after landing in Italy. In still different accounts, Iulus was the son not of Aeneas, perhaps an indigenous origin of the name is suggested by De Origo Gentis Romanae, in which Iulus and Ascanius are identical. Described as the son of Jupiter, he was known as Jobus. This calls to mind the use of Jove for Jupiter, and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology suggests that Iulus might be a diminutive of Dius, furthermore, Livy reports that after his death Aeneas was worshiped as Jupiter Indiges, the local Jove
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Julius Caesar
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Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
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Aeneas
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In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Venus. His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy and he is a character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homers Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgils Aeneid and he became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse Æsir Vidarr, Aeneas is the Latin spelling of Greek Αἰνείας. In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aeneas is first introduced with Aphrodite naming him Αἰνείας for the αὶνóν ἄχος he caused her and it is a popular etymology for the name, apparently exploited by Homer in the Iliad. Later in the Medieval period there were writers who held that, as such, in the natural order, the meaning of Aeneas name combines Greek ennos and demas, which becomes ennaios, meaning in-dweller. However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name, in imitation of the Iliad, Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including, Anchisiades, magnanimum, magnus, heros, and bonus. Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own in the Aeneid, pater and pius. The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of a different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is poikilios, Aeneas is described as pius. Likewise, Aeneas is called pater when acting in the interest of his men, the story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the Hymn to Aphrodite, one of the major Homeric Hymns. Aphrodite has caused the other gods Zeus, to fall in love with mortal women, in retaliation, Zeus puts desire in her heart for Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near Mount Ida. When Aphrodite sees him she is smitten and she adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, after they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected, and tells him that she bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that he must never tell anyone that he has lain with a goddess, when Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the nymphs of Mount Ida. She directs them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises, according to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy. Aeneas is a character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny
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Crucible
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A crucible is a container that can withstand very high temperatures and is used for metal, glass, and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes. While crucibles historically were made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperatures high enough to melt or otherwise alter its contents. The form of the crucibles has varied through time, with designs reflecting the process for which they are used, the earliest crucible forms derive from the sixth/fifth millennium B. C. in Eastern Europe and Iran. Crucibles used for copper smelting were generally wide shallow vessels made from clay that lacks refractory properties which is similar to the types of clay used in ceramics of the time. During the Chalcolithic period, crucibles were heated from the top by using blow pipes, ceramic crucibles from this time had slight modifications to their designs such as handles, knobs or pouring spouts allowing them to be more easily handled and poured. Early examples of this practice can be seen in Feinan, Jordan and these crucibles have added handles to allow for better manipulation, however due to the poor preservation of the crucibles there is no evidence of a pouring spout. The main purpose of the crucible during this period was to keep the ore in the area where the heat was concentrated to separate it from impurities before shaping. The use of crucibles in the Iron Age remains very similar to that of the Bronze Age with copper, the Iron Age crucible designs remain the same as the Bronze Age. The Roman period shows technical innovations, with crucibles for new methods used to produce new alloys, the smelting and melting process also changed with both the heating technique and the crucible design. The crucible changed into rounded or pointed bottom vessels with a conical shape. These designs gave greater stability within the charcoal and these crucibles in some cases have thinner walls and have more refractory properties. During the Roman period a new process of metalworking started, cementation and this process involves the combination of a metal and a gas to produce an alloy. Brass is made by mixing solid copper metal with zinc oxide or carbonate which comes in the form of calamine or smithsonite and this is heated to about 900 °C and the zinc oxide vaporises into a gas and the zinc gas bonds with the solid copper. This reaction has to place in a part-closed or closed container otherwise the zinc vapour would escape before it can react with the copper. Cementation crucibles therefore have a lid or cap which limits the amount of gas loss from the crucible, the crucible design is similar to the smelting and melting crucibles of the period utilizing the same material as the smelting and melting crucibles. The conical shape and small mouth allowed the lid to be added and these small crucibles are seen in Colonia Ulpia Trajana, Germany, where the crucibles are around 4 cm in size, however these are small examples. The ceramic vessels which are used are important as the vessel must be able to lose gas through the otherwise the pressure would break the vessel. Smelting and melting of copper and its alloys such as leaded bronze were smelted in crucibles similar to those of the Roman period which have thinner walls and flat bases to sit within the furnaces
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Duke of Devonshire
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Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. Although modern usage outside of the county itself now rarely refers to Devon as Devonshire, despite the title of the dukedom and the subsidiary title, the earldom of Devonshire, the family estates are centred in Derbyshire. The title Duke of Devonshire should not be confused with the earlier title, uniquely, every Duke of Devonshire has been made a Knight of the Garter, except the present one. The Cavendish family descends from Sir John Cavendish, who took his name from the village of Cavendish, Suffolk and he served as Chief Justice of the Kings Bench from 1372 to 1381, and was killed in the Peasants Revolt in 1381. Two of his great-grandsons were George Cavendish, Thomas Cardinal Wolseys biographer, Sir William gained great wealth from his position in the Exchequer and also from unfairly taking advantage of the dissolution of the Monasteries. He married as his wife the famous Bess of Hardwick. One of their sons, Sir Charles Cavendish, was the father of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, while another son, yet another son, William Cavendish, was a politician and a supporter of the colonialization of Virginia. In 1605 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cavendish, of Hardwicke in the County of Derby, both titles are in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire, on his early death in 1628 the titles passed to his son, William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, who also served as Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Earl and he was a strong supporter of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and later served under William III and Mary II as Lord Steward of the Household. In 1694 he was created Marquess of Hartington and Duke of Devonshire in the Peerage of England and he was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Duke, who held political office as Lord President of the Council and Lord Privy Seal and was also Lord-Lieutenant of Devonshire. His eldest son, the third Duke, served as Lord Privy Seal, as Lord Steward of the Household, on his death the titles passed to his eldest son, the fourth Duke, who was a prominent politician. Devonshire married Charlotte Boyle, 6th Baroness Clifford, daughter of the famous architect Richard Boyle and their third and youngest son Lord George Cavendish was created Earl of Burlington in 1831. Devonshire was succeeded by his eldest son, William Cavendish, who became the fifth Duke of Devonshire and he had already succeeded his mother as seventh Baron Clifford in 1754. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire from 1782 to 1811 but is best remembered for his first marriage to Lady Georgiana Spencer and their only son, the sixth Duke, served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household from 1827 to 1828 and from 1830 to 1834. Known as the Bachelor Duke, he never married and on his death in 1858 the barony of Clifford fell into abeyance between his sisters and he was succeeded in the other titles by his first cousin once removed, the second Earl of Burlington, who became the seventh Duke. He was the son of William Cavendish, eldest son of the aforementioned first Earl of Burlington and he was Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire and Derbyshire and Chancellor of the University of London and of the University of Cambridge. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the eighth Duke and he was a noted statesman and the most famous member of the Cavendish family
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Corning Museum of Glass
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The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning, New York dedicated to the art, history and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works and currently has a collection of more than 45,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old. Thomas S. Buechner, who would become director of the Brooklyn Museum, was the founding director of the glass museum, serving in the post from 1951 to 1960. The original Museum and library were housed in a low, glass-walled building designed by Harrison & Abramovitz in 1951, by 1978, the Museum had outgrown its space. Gunnar Birkerts designed a new addition, creating a series of galleries with the library at their core. With memories of the 1972 hurricane still fresh, the new galleries were raised high above the line on concrete pillars. The new Museum opened to the public on May 28,1980, by the early 1990s, the Corning Museum of Glass was once more overflowing its exhibition space, and increasing visitation put a strain on guest facilities. In 1996, the Museum embarked upon the first phase of a planned five-year, under the directorship of Dr. David Whitehouse, the first element to be added was The Studio. This state-of-the-art teaching facility for glassblowing and coldworking opened for classes in 1996, architects Smith-Miller + Hawkinson designed an addition to the main Museum building, using glass wherever possible to convey the beauty and elegance of the art form in the building itself. A redesigned 18, 000-square-foot GlassMarket, one of the largest Museum shops in the country, the Rakow Library was relocated to new quarters across the Museum campus. Over the past decade, the Museum’s collection, programs, at the beginning of 2012, the Museum announced a $64 million expansion project, designed by Thomas Phifer, to expand contemporary gallery and Hot Glass Show space. The new contemporary wing is slated to open in March 2015, in June 1972, disaster struck as Hurricane Agnes emptied a weeks worth of rain into the surrounding Chemung River Valley. On June 23, the Chemung River overflowed its banks and poured five feet four inches of floodwater into the Museum, when the waters receded, staff members found glass objects tumbled in their cases and crusted with mud, the librarys books swollen with water. The case holding 600 rare books tipped over, and the books were covered by mud, half of the entire Library collection was damaged in the flood. Conservation was a concern and staff moved quickly to freeze the flooded materials. Museum staff members, under the directorship of Robert H, during the extensive recovery efforts, the Library occupied an abandoned Acme grocery store across the street from the Museum. Altogether, staff and volunteers dried, cleaned, and restored over 7,000 water-logged, the rare books were sent to Carolyn Horton, a leading restoration expert, who disassembled, washed, deacidified and rebound them. On August 1,1972, the Museum reopened with restoration work still underway, the Museums Glass Collection showcases more than 35 centuries of glass artistry
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Victoria and Albert Museum
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The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is the worlds largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and these include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. The museum is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum has been free since 2001, the V&A covers 12.5 acres and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum owns the worlds largest collection of sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea, the East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of the largest museums in the world, New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9 December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815, at this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection, by February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive. The site was occupied by Brompton Park House, this was extended including the first refreshment rooms opened in 1857, the official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857. In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting, in these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of High Art at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum. George Wallis, the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of art education through the museum collections. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road. In 1893 the Science Museum had effectively come into existence when a director was appointed. The laying of the stone of the Aston Webb building on 17 May 1899 was the last official public appearance by Queen Victoria. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from the South Kensington Museum to the Victoria, the exhibition which the museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, A Grand Design, first toured in North America from 1997, returning to London in 1999
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Sarcophagus
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A sarcophagus is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξ sarx meaning flesh, since lithos is Greek for stone, lithos sarcophagos means, flesh-eating stone. The word also came to refer to a kind of limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses trapped within it. Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground, in Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus acted like an outer shell. They are made of clay in shades of brown to pink. Added to the basin-like main sarcophagus is a broad, rectangular frame, often covered with a white slip and then painted. The huge Lycian Tomb of Payava, now in the British Museum, is a tomb monument of about 360 BC designed for an open-air placing. However, there are many important Early Christian sarcophagi from the 3rd to 4th centuries, most Roman examples were designed to be placed against a wall and are decorated on three of the sides only. More plain sarcophagi were placed in crypts, of which the most famous include the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna. The term tends to be often used to describe Medieval, Renaissance. They continued to be popular into the 1950s, at time the popularity of flat memorials made them obsolete. Nonetheless, a 1952 catalog from the industry still included 8 pages of them, broken down into Georgian and Classical detail, a Gothic and Renaissance adaptation. Shown on the right are sarcophagi from the late 19th century located in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the one in the back, the Warner Monument created by Alexander Milne Calder, features the spirit or soul of the deceased being released. In Sulawesi, Indonesia, waruga are a form of sarcophagus. Mont Allen, Sarcophagus, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Michael Gagarin, R. R. R. Smith, Sculptured for Eternity, Treasures of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Art from Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Ewald, Living with Myths, The Imagery of Roman Sarcophagi, egyptian sarcophagi sarcaphagi in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Sarcophagus
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Severus Alexander
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Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235 and the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus acclamation as emperor by the famous Third Gallic Legion and it was the rumor of Alexanders death that triggered the assassination of Elagabalus and his mother. As emperor, Alexanders peace time reign was prosperous, however, Rome was militarily confronted with the rising Sassanid Empire and growing incursions from the tribes of Germania. He managed to check the threat of the Sassanids, but when campaigning against Germanic tribes, Alexander attempted to bring peace by engaging in diplomacy and bribery. This alienated many in the Roman Army and led to a conspiracy to assassinate, under the influence of his mother, Alexander did much to improve the morals and condition of the people, and to enhance the dignity of the state. He employed noted jurists to oversee the administration of justice, such as the famous jurist Ulpian and his advisers were men like the senator and historian Cassius Dio, and it is claimed that he created a select board of 16 senators, although this claim is disputed. He also created a council of 14 who assisted the urban prefect in administering the affairs of the 14 districts of Rome. The following year he decreased the amount of metal in the denarius while adding more silver, raising the silver purity. In religious matters, Alexander preserved an open mind and it is said that he was desirous of erecting a temple to Jesus but was dissuaded by the pagan priests. He allowed a synagogue to be built in Rome, and he gave as a gift to this synagogue a scroll of the Torah known as the Severus Scroll, in legal matters, Alexander did much to aid the rights of his soldiers. He confirmed that soldiers could name anyone as heirs in their will, Alexander also confirmed that soldiers could free their slaves in their wills. On the whole, Alexanders reign was prosperous until the rise, in the east, of the war that followed there are various accounts. Making Antioch his base, he marched at the head of his troops towards Ctesiphon, but an army was destroyed by the Persians. Nevertheless, although the Sassanids were checked for the time, the conduct of the Roman army showed a lack of discipline. In 232 there was a mutiny in the Syrian legion, who proclaimed Taurinus emperor, Alexander managed to suppress the uprising, and Taurinus drowned while attempting to flee across the Euphrates. The emperor returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph in 233, after the Persian war, Alexander returned to Antioch with the famous Origen, one of the greatest Fathers of the Christian Church. Alexanders mother, Julia Mammaea, asked for Origen to tutor Alexander in Christianity, while Alexander was being educated in the Christian doctrines, the northern portion of his empire was being invaded by Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. A new and menacing enemy started to emerge directly after Alexanders success in the Persian war, in A. D234, the barbarians crossed the Rhine and Danube in hordes that even caused panic at the gates of Rome
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