Deity
A deity is a concept conceived in diverse ways in various cultures, typically as a natural or supernatural being considered divine or sacred. A male deity is a god, while a female deity is a goddess, the Oxford reference defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God, a plain deity need not be omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or eternal, however an almighty monotheistic God generally does have these attributes. Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways – masculine, androgynous, some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions, deities have been envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living beings body, as sensory organs, but in Indian religions, all deities are subject to death when their merit runs out. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité, the Latin deitatem or divine nature, deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European language origin to *deiwos.
Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, in Old Persian, daiva- means demon, evil god, while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the heavenly, terrestrial things of high excellence, shining ones. The closely linked term god refers to supreme being, which states Douglas Harper, is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan, from PIE *ghut-, guth in the Irish language means voice. The term *ghut- is the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo, Sanskrit huta-, from the root *gheu- An alternate etymology for the term god traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to-, the term *gheu- is the source of the Greek khein to pour. Originally the German root was a noun, but the gender of the monotheistic God shifted to masculine under the influence of Christianity. In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities, the term deity often connotes the concept of sacred or divine, as a god or goddess, in a polytheistic religion.
However, there is no accepted consensus concept of deity across religions and cultures. Huw Owen states that the deity or god or its equivalent in other languages has a bewildering range of meanings. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals, the Venus of Willendorf, a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted as an exemplar of a prehistoric divine feminine. In Buddhist mythology, devas are beings inhabiting certain happily placed worlds of Buddhist cosmology and these beings are mortal and numerous. It is common for iṣṭadevatās to be called deities, although the nature of Yidams is distinct from what is meant by the term. Buddhism does not believe in a creator deity, deities are an essential part of Buddhist cosmology, rebirth and Saṃsāra doctrines
Human
Modern humans are the only extant members of Hominina tribe, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes. Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia and they began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago. In several waves of migration, anatomically modern humans ventured out of Africa, the spread of humans and their large and increasing population has had a profound impact on large areas of the environment and millions of native species worldwide. Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression and the exchange of ideas. Humans create complex structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals. These human societies subsequently expanded in size, establishing various forms of government, today the global human population is estimated by the United Nations to be near 7.5 billion.
In common usage, the word generally refers to the only extant species of the genus Homo—anatomically and behaviorally modern Homo sapiens. In scientific terms, the meanings of hominid and hominin have changed during the recent decades with advances in the discovery, there is a distinction between anatomically modern humans and Archaic Homo sapiens, the earliest fossil members of the species. The English adjective human is a Middle English loanword from Old French humain, ultimately from Latin hūmānus, the words use as a noun dates to the 16th century. The native English term man can refer to the species generally, the species binomial Homo sapiens was coined by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. The generic name Homo is a learned 18th century derivation from Latin homō man, the species-name sapiens means wise or sapient. Note that the Latin word homo refers to humans of either gender, the genus Homo evolved and diverged from other hominins in Africa, after the human clade split from the chimpanzee lineage of the hominids branch of the primates.
The closest living relatives of humans are chimpanzees and gorillas, with the sequencing of both the human and chimpanzee genome, current estimates of similarity between human and chimpanzee DNA sequences range between 95% and 99%. The gibbons and orangutans were the first groups to split from the leading to the humans. The splitting date between human and chimpanzee lineages is placed around 4–8 million years ago during the late Miocene epoch, during this split, chromosome 2 was formed from two other chromosomes, leaving humans with only 23 pairs of chromosomes, compared to 24 for the other apes. There is little evidence for the divergence of the gorilla, chimpanzee. Each of these species has been argued to be an ancestor of hominins
Quarry
A quarry is a place from which dimension stone, construction aggregate, sand, gravel, or slate has been excavated from the ground. A quarry is the thing as an open-pit mine from which minerals are extracted. The only non-trivial difference between the two is that open-pit mines that produce building materials and dimension stone are commonly referred to as quarries, the word quarry can include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone. The surfaces are polished and finished with varying degrees of sheen or luster, polished slabs are often cut into tiles or countertops and installed in many kinds of residential and commercial properties. Natural stone quarried from the earth is considered a luxury and tends to be a highly durable surface. Quarries in level areas with shallow groundwater or which are located close to surface water often have engineering problems with drainage, generally the water is removed by pumping while the quarry is operational, but for high inflows more complex approaches may be required.
For example, the Coquina quarry is excavated to more than 60 feet below sea level, to reduce surface leakage, a moat lined with clay was constructed around the entire quarry. Ground water entering the pit is pumped up into the moat, as a quarry becomes deeper, water inflows generally increase and it becomes more expensive to lift the water higher during removal, this can become the limiting factor in quarry depth. Some water-filled quarries are worked from beneath the water, by dredging, many people and municipalities consider quarries to be eyesores and require various abatement methods to address problems with noise and appearance. One of the effective and famous examples of successful quarry restoration is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. A further problem is pollution of roads from trucks leaving the quarries, to control and restrain the pollution of public roads, wheel washing systems are becoming more common. Many quarries naturally fill with water after abandonment and become lakes, water-filled quarries can be very deep with water, often 50 feet or more, that is often surprisingly cold.
Unexpectedly cold water can cause a swimmers muscles to weaken, it can cause shock. Though quarry water is very clear, submerged quarry stones. Several people drown in quarries each year, many inactive quarries are converted into safe swimming sites
Louvre
The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces.
The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa.
After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
Aphrodite of Knidos
The Aphrodite of Knidos was one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles of Athens. It and its copies are referred to as the Venus Pudica type. Variants of the Venus Pudica are the Venus de Medici and the Capitoline Venus, the statue became famous for its beauty, meant to be appreciated from every angle, and for being the first life-size representation of the nude female form. It was especially shocking as it was commissioned as the statue for a temple. It depicted the goddess Aphrodite as she prepared for the bath that restored her purity, discarding her drapery with one hand. Her hands are placed in a motion that simultaneously shields her womanhood, Lucian said that she wore a slight smile that just revealed her teeth, although most copies do not preserve this. According to an apocryphal account by Pliny, Praxiteles received a commission from the citizens of Kos for a statue of the goddess Aphrodite. Praxiteles created two versions—one fully draped, and the other completely nude, the shocked citizens of Kos rejected the nude statue and purchased the draped version.
The design and appearance of the version is today unknown as it didnt survive, nor did it appear to have merited attention. The rejected nude was purchased by some citizens of Knidos and set up in an open air temple that permitted viewing of the statue from all sides and it quickly became one of the most famous works by Praxiteles for the bold depiction of Aphrodite as proudly nude. Praxiteles was alleged to have used the courtesan Phryne as a model for the statue, the statue became so widely known and copied that in a humorous anecdote the goddess Aphrodite herself came to Knidos to see it. The statue became a tourist attraction in spite of being an image. Nicomedes I of Bithynia offered to pay off the debts of the city of Knidos in exchange for the statue. This story is recorded in the dialogue Erotes, traditionally misattributed to Lucian of Samosata, possibly the statue was removed to Constantinople and was lost in a fire during the Nika riots. For a time in 1969, the archaeologist Iris Love thought she had found the surviving fragments of the original statue.
The prevailing opinion of archaeologists is that the fragment in question is not of the Knidia, probably the most faithful replica of the statue is the Colonna Venus conserved in the Museo Pio-Clementino, part of the collections of the Vatican Museums. The Kaufmann Head, found at Tralles, purchased from the C. M, Kaufmann collection and conserved in the Musée du Louvre, is thought to be a very faithful Roman reproduction of the head of the Knidian Aphrodite. The Venus Felix at the Vatican Museums, a variation of the type
Paros
Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos and it lies approximately 150 km south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling 196.308 square kilometres of land and its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos, which lies to its southwest. Historically, Paros was known for its white marble, which gave rise to the term Parian to describe marble or china of similar qualities. Today, abandoned quarries and mines can be found on the island. Paros geographic co-ordinates are 37° N. lat, and 25°10 E. long and its greatest length from N. E. to S. W. is 21 km, and its greatest breadth 15 km. The island is of a round, plump-pear shape, formed by a single mountain sloping evenly down on all sides to a maritime plain, the island is composed of marble, though gneiss and mica-schist are to be found in a few places. To the west of Paros lies its smaller sister island Antiparos, at its narrowest, the channel between the two islands is less than 2 km wide.
A car-carrying shuttle-ferry operates all day, in addition a dozen smaller islets surround Paros. Paros has numerous beaches including Chrissí Aktí near Drios on the east coast, at Pounda, Piso Livadi, Naousa Bay, the constant strong wind in the strait between Paros and Naxos makes it a favoured windsurfing location. Ancient names of the island are said to have been Plateia, Strongyli, Hyleessa, the island received from Athens a colony of Ionians under whom it attained a high degree of prosperity. It sent out colonies to Thasos and Parium on the Hellespont, in the former colony, which was planted in the 15th or 18th Olympiad, the poet Archilochus, a native of Paros, is said to have taken part. As late as 385 BC the Parians, in conjunction with Dionysius of Syracuse, shortly before the Persian War, Paros seems to have been a dependency of Naxos. In the first Greco-Persian War, Paros sided with the Persians, in retaliation, the capital was besieged by an Athenian fleet under Miltiades, who demanded a fine of 100 talents.
But the town offered a vigorous resistance, and the Athenians were obliged to sail away after a siege of 26 days and it was at a temple of Demeter Thesmophoros in Paros that Miltiades received the wound from which he died. By means of an inscription, Ross was able to identify the site of the temple, it lies, as Herodotus suggests, for their support of the Persians, the islanders were punished by the Athenian war leader Themistocles, who exacted a heavy fine. Under the Delian League, the Athenian-dominated naval confederacy, Paros paid the highest tribute of the members,30 talents annually. This implies that Paros was one of the wealthiest islands in the Aegean, little is known about the constitution of Paros, but inscriptions seem to show that it was modeled on the Athenian democracy, with a boule at the head of affairs
Hermes and the Infant Dionysus
It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. Its attribution is, the object of controversy among art historians. The sculpture is unlikely to have one of Praxiteles famous works. The documentary evidence associating the work with Praxiteles is based on a mention by the 2nd-century AD traveller Pausanias. In 1874, the Greek state signed an agreement with Germany for an exploration of the Olympia site. The German excavations in 1875 were led by Ernst Curtius, on 8 May 1877, in the temple of Hera, he uncovered the body of a statue of a young man resting against a tree trunk covered by a mantle. Protected by the clay layer above it, it was in an exceptionally good state of preservation. It took six more separate discoveries to uncover the rest of the statue as it is displayed today. Hermes is still missing his right forearm, two fingers of his hand, both forearms below the elbow, the left foot and his penis, whilst Dionysus is missing his arms. Much of the trunk and the plinth are lost.
However, an ancient base survives, made of a limestone block between two blocks of marble. The group is sculpted from a block of the best quality of Parian marble, Hermes measures 2. 10/2.12 m,3.70 m with the base. The right foot of Hermes is integral with a section of the base, the face and torso of Hermes are striking for their highly polished, glowing surface, which John Boardman half-jokingly attributed to generations of female temple workers. The back, by contrast, shows the marks of the rasp and chisel, at the time of its discovery, the hair retained slight traces of cinnabar, a form of mercury sulfate with a red color, perhaps a preparation for gilding. Cinnabar tints are retained on the straps of the original foot. The sandal bears the motif of a Heraclean knot, which was extended in paint. Aileen Ajootian, Personal Styles in Greek Sculpture, Cambridge University Press,1998 ISBN 0-521-65738-5, rhys Carpenter, Two Postscripts to the Hermes Controversy, American Journal of Archaeology vol.
La question des originaux », dans Praxitèle, catalogue de lexposition au musée du Louvre,23 mars-18 juin 2007, éditions du Louvre & Somogy,2007, ISBN 978-2-35031-111-1, gisela M. A. Richter, The Hermes of Praxiteles, American Journal of Archaeology vol
Phryne
Phryne was an ancient Greek courtesan, from the fourth century BC. She is best known for her trial for impiety, where she was defended by the orator Hypereides, Phrynes real name was Mnēsarétē, but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phrýnē. This was a nickname given to other courtesans and prostitutes as well. She was born as the daughter of Epicles at Thespiae in Boeotia, the exact dates of her birth and death are unknown, but she was born about 371 BC. In that year Thebes razed Thespiae not long after the battle of Leuctra and she might have outlived the reconstruction of Thebes in 315/316 BC. Athenaeus provides many anecdotes about Phryne and he praises her beauty, writing that on the occasion of the festivals of the Eleusinia and Poseidonia she would let down her hair and step naked into the sea. This would have inspired the painter Apelles to create his famous picture of Aphrodite Anadyomene, supposedly the sculptor Praxiteles, who was her lover, used her as the model for the statue of the Aphrodite of Knidos, the first nude statue of a woman from ancient Greece.
It stood between the statues of Archidamus III and Philip II, when Crates of Thebes saw the statue he called it a votive offering of the profligacy of Greece. Pausanias reports that two statues of Apollo stood next to her statue and that it was made of gilded bronze, pausanias is almost certainly correct in his claim that gilded bronze was used. Diogenes Laërtius narrates a failed attempt Phryne made on the virtue of the philosopher Xenocrates, havelock argues that the story of Phryne swimming naked in the sea is probably a sensationalized fabrication. Because Plutarch saw the statues in Thespiae and Delphi himself Cavallini does not doubt their existence and she does think that the love between Praxiteles and Phryne was an invention of biographers. Thebes was restored in 315 or 316 BC, but it is doubtful if Phryne ever proposed to rebuild its walls, Diodorus Siculus writes that the Athenians rebuilt the greater part of the wall and that Cassander provided more aid later. He makes no mention of Phrynes alleged offer, the best known event in Phrynes life is her trial.
Athenaeus writes that she was prosecuted for a charge and defended by the orator Hypereides. Athenaeus does not specify the nature of the charge, but Pseudo-Plutarch writes that she was accused of impiety, the speech for the prosecution was written by Anaximenes of Lampsacus according to Diodorus Periegetes. When it seemed as if the verdict would be unfavourable, Hypereides removed Phrynes robe and her beauty instilled the judges with a superstitious fear, who could not bring themselves to condemn a prophetess and priestess of Aphrodite to death. They decided to acquit her out of pity, Athenaeus provides a different account of the trial given in the Ephesia of Posidippus of Cassandreia. He simply describes Phryne as clasping the hand of each juror, pleading for her life with tears, craig Cooper argues that the account of Posidippus is the authentic version and that Phryne never bared her breasts before the court during her trial
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology and in Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes and Scylla were once nymphs. Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, nymphs were the frequent target of satyrs. The Greek word νύμφη has bride and veiled among its meanings, other readers refer the word to a root expressing the idea of swelling. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by people in the springs. Among the Roman literate class, their sphere of influence was restricted, the ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as nereids. At that time, John Cuthbert Lawson wrote and they might appear in a whirlwind.
Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, when parents believed their child to be nereid-struck, they would pray to Saint Artemidos. Due to widespread use of the term among lay persons and stereotypes attached, professionals nowadays prefer the term hypersexuality, the word nymphet is used to identify a sexually precocious girl. The term was made famous in the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, the main character, Humbert Humbert, uses the term many times, usually in reference to the title character. Thus the classes of nymphs tend to overlap, which complicates the task of precise classification, rose mentions dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically. She is the consort of Acheron, and the mother of Ascalaphus, lover of Hades Minthe, lover of Hades, rival of Persephone Melinoe Orphic nymph, daughter of Persephone and Zeus disguised as Pluto. Her name is an epithet of Hecate.
Nymphs in such groupings could belong to any of the mentioned above. For lists of Naiads, Dryades etc and this motif supposedly came from an Italian report of a Roman sculpture of a nymph at a fountain above the River Danube
National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool, previously known as National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All museums and galleries in this group have free admission, the museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture and Sport and an exempt charity under English law. National Museums Liverpools origins go back to 1851 and the founding of what is now World Museum and it was established as a national museums group in 1986 and changed its name to National Museums Liverpool in 2003. Currently comprises eight different venues, one of which is outside Liverpool itself — the Lady Lever Art Gallery and it holds in trust multi-disciplinary collections of worldwide origin made up of more than one million objects and works of art. The organisation holds courses, lectures and events and provides workshops and activities for school children, young people. Its venues are open to the seven days a week 361 days a year.
National Museums Liverpool has charitable status and is England’s only national museums group based entirely outside London,20 Forthlin Road 59 Rodney Street 251 Menlove Avenue The Beatles Story Bluecoat Chambers Croxteth Hall Foundation for Art and Creative Technology The Oratory Speke Hall St
Dionysus
Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest and wine, of ritual madness, fertility and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth. Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the religious focus for its unrestrained consumption. He may have been worshipped as early as c, 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks, traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms, some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, in some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner, in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany, the god that comes and his festivals were the driving force behind the development of Greek theatre. The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a male and robed. He holds a staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, naked or half-naked androgynous youth, in its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized.
His procession is made up of female followers and bearded satyrs with erect penises, some are armed with the thyrsus. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers and this procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. He is known as Bacchus, the adopted by the Romans. His thyrsus, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. As Eleutherios, his wine and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care and those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. The cult of Dionysus is a cult of the souls, his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings and he is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god. Some scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity, Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon.
His mother was a woman, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus. Zeus wife, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant, appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semeles mind, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood
Smarthistory – After Praxiteles, Venus (Roman Copy)[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Percy Gardner (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 255–256.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
