1.
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom and war in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena, Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have fought for just reasons. Athena is portrayed as a companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her city, Athens. Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes, in her role as a protector of the city, many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias. While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name, Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name, because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times. Mycenae was the city where the Goddess was called Mykene, at Thebes she was called Thebe, and the city again a plural, Thebae.
Similarly, at Athens she was called Athena, and the city Athenae, Athena had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city. According to mythical lore, she competed with Poseidon and she won by creating the olive tree, the Athenians would accept her gift and name the city after her. In history, the citizens of Athens built a statue of Athena as a temple to the goddess, which had piercing eyes, a helmet on her head, attired with an aegis or cuirass, and an extremely long spear. It had a shield with the head of the Gorgon on it. A large snake accompanied her and she held Nike, the goddess of victory, Mylonas believes that Athena was a Mycenaean creation. On the other hand, Nilsson claims that she was the goddess of the palace who protected the king, a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja is found in Linear A Minoan, the final part being regarded as the Linear A Minoan equivalent of the Linear B Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja. Divine Athena was a weaver and the deity of crafts, whether her name is attested in Eteocretan or not will have to wait for decipherment of Linear A.
Perhaps, the name Theonoe may mean she who knows divine things better than others. Thus for Plato her name was to be derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα, Plato noted that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess whose Egyptian name was Neith, and which was identified with Athena. Neith was the war goddess and huntress deity of the Egyptians since the ancient Pre-Dynastic period, in addition, ancient Greek myths reported that Athena had visited many mythological places such as Libyas Triton River in North Africa and the Phlegraean plain
2.
Charites
In Greek mythology, a Charis or Grace is one of three or more minor goddesses of charm, nature, human creativity, and fertility, together known as the Charites /ˈkærᵻtiːz/ or Graces. The usual list, from youngest to oldest is Aglaea, Euphrosyne, in Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the Graces. In some variants, Charis was one of the Graces and was not the form of their name. The Charites were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, though they were said to be daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios. Other possible names of their mother by Zeus are Eurydome, Homer wrote that they were part of the retinue of Aphrodite. The Charites were associated with the Greek underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries, the river Cephissus near Delphi was sacred to them. An ancient vase painting attests the following names as five, Eudaimonia, Pandaisia, Pannychis - all referring to the Charites as patronesses of amusement and festivities. Moreover, they are aware that he established three as the number of the Graces, but they have no tradition of the names he gave them.
The Lacedaemonians, say that the Graces are two, and that they were instituted by Lacedaemon, son of Taygete, who gave them the names of Cleta and Phaenna. These are appropriate names for Graces, as are given by the Athenians. It was from Eteocles of Orchomenus that we learned the custom of praying to three Graces, and Angelion and Tectaus, sons of Dionysus, who made the image of Apollo for the Delians, set three Graces in his hand. Again, at Athens, before the entrance to the Acropolis, pamphos was the first we know of to sing about the Graces, but his poetry contains no information either as to their number or about their names. Homer makes one the wife of Hephaestus, giving her the name of Charis and he says that Sleep was a lover of Pasithea, and in the speech of Sleep there is this verse, Verily that he would give me one of the younger Graces. Hence some have suspected that Homer knew of older Graces as well, hesiod in the Theogony says that the three Graces are daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, giving them the names of Aglaia and lovely Thalia.
The poem of Onomacritus agrees with this account, while giving neither the number of the Graces nor their names, says that they are daughters of Aegle and the Sun. The elegiac poet Hermesianax disagrees with his predecessors in that he makes Persuasion one of the Graces, nonnus gives their three names as Pasithea and Aglaia. Sostratus gives the names as Pasithea and Euphrosyne, Pasithea for Aglaia and Cale for Thalia, on the representation of the Graces, Pausanias wrote, Who it was who first represented the Graces naked, whether in sculpture or in painting, I could not discover. During the earlier period, certainly and painters alike represented them draped
3.
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
The Palazzo Medici, called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy. It is the seat of the Metropolitan City of Florence, the palace was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo de Medici, head of the Medici banking family, and was built between 1444 and 1484. It was well known for its masonry, which includes architectural elements of rustication. The tripartite elevation used here expresses the Renaissance spirit of rationality and this tripartite division is emphasized by horizontal stringcourses that divide the building into stories of decreasing height. Michelozzo di Bartolomeo was influenced in his building of this palace by both classical Roman and Brunelleschian principles, during the Renaissance revival of classical culture, ancient Roman elements were often replicated in architecture, both built and imagined in paintings. In the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the masonry and the cornice had precedents in Roman practice, yet in totality it looks distinctly Florentine.
Similarly, the early Renaissance architect Brunelleschi used Roman techniques and influenced Michelozzo, the open colonnaded court that is the center of the palazzo plan has roots in the cloisters that developed from Roman peristyles. The once open corner loggia and shop facing the street were walled in during the 16th century. The new windows are set into what appears to be an infill of the original arched opening. The building reflects the wealth of the Medici family. Then a garden done in the finest of polished marbles, with diverse plants, Cosimo received the young Sforza in the chapel not less ornate and handsome than the rest of the house. Other decorations included two lunettes by Filippo Lippi, depicting Seven Saints and the Annunciation, now at the National Gallery, when the Medici family returned to Florence after their short exile in the early 16th century, they kept a low profile and exercised their power behind the scenes. This is reflected in the exterior of this building, and is said to be the reason why Cosimo de Medici rejected Brunelleschis earlier proposal.
The palace was the site of the wedding reception between Ferdinando de Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany and Violante Beatrice of Bavaria in 1689
4.
Genoa
Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC.
In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phocaeans and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory.
Trades included skins and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
5.
Pazzi conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy was a plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the de Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence. On 26 April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de Medici, Lorenzo was wounded but survived, Giuliano was killed. The failure of the served to strengthen the position of the Medici. The Pazzi were banished from Florence, Francesco della Rovere, who came from a poor family in Liguria, was elected pope in 1471. As Sixtus IV he was wealthy and powerful, and at once set about giving power and wealth to his nephews of the della Rovere. The Salviati, Papal bankers in Florence, were at the centre of the conspiracy, Pope Sixtus IV was an enemy of the Medici. He had purchased from Milan the lordship of Imola, a stronghold on the border between Papal and Tuscan territory that Lorenzo de Medici wanted for Florence, the purchase was financed by the Pazzi bank, even though Francesco de Pazzi had promised Lorenzo they would not aid the Pope. As a reward, Sixtus IV assigned to the Pazzi bank lucrative rights to manage Papal revenues.
Sixtus IV appointed his nephew, Girolamo Riario, as the new governor of Imola, and Francesco Salviati as archbishop of Pisa, Lorenzo had refused to permit Salviati to enter Pisa because of the challenge such an ecclesiastical position offered to his own government in Florence. Girolamo Riario, Francesco Salviati and Francesco de Pazzi put together a plan to assassinate Lorenzo, Pope Sixtus was approached for his support. He made a very carefully worded statement in which he said that in the terms of his office he was unable to sanction killing. He made it clear that it would be of benefit to the papacy to have the Medici removed from their position of power in Florence. He instructed the men to do what they deemed necessary to achieve this aim, on Sunday,26 April 1478, during High Mass at the Duomo before a crowd of 10,000, the Medici brothers were assaulted. Giuliano de Medici was stabbed 19 times by Bernardo Bandi and Francesco de Pazzi, as he bled to death on the cathedral floor, his brother Lorenzo escaped with serious, but non life-threatening wounds.
Lorenzo was locked safely in the sacristy by Angelo Poliziano, a coordinated attempt to capture the Gonfaloniere and Signoria was thwarted when the archbishop and head of the Salviati clan were trapped in a room where the doors were held by a hidden latch. He was tortured, hanged from the Palazzo della Signoria next to the corpse of Salviati. He was buried at Santa Croce, but the body was dug up and it was dragged through the streets and propped up at the door of Palazzo Pazzi, where the rotting head was mockingly used as a door-knocker. Lorenzo did manage to save the nephew of Sixtus IV, Cardinal Raffaele Riario, the main conspirators were hunted down throughout Italy
6.
The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli generally thought to have been made in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as an adult woman, the painting is in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The iconography of The Birth of Venus is similar to a description of the event in a poem by Angelo Poliziano, no single text provides the precise imagery of the painting, which has led scholars to propose many sources and interpretations. Botticelli represented the Neoplatonic idea of love in the form of a nude Venus. Plato further argued that contemplation of physical beauty allowed the mind to better understand spiritual beauty, so, looking at Venus, the most beautiful of goddesses, might at first raise a physical response in viewers which lifted their minds towards the godly. A Neoplatonic reading of Botticellis Birth of Venus suggests that 15th-century viewers would have looked at the painting, in particular, both Primavera and Birth of Venus have been seen as wedding paintings that suggest appropriate behaviors for brides and grooms.
Yet another interpretation of the Birth of Venus is provided here by its author, Mack sees the painting as an allegory extolling the virtues of Lorenzo de Medici. The gold-filleted Horae happily welcomed her and clothed her with heavenly raiment, but something more than a rediscovered Homeric hymn was likely in the mind of the Medici family member who commissioned this painting from Botticelli. Pliny went on to note that Apelles painting of Pankaspe as Venus was dedicated by Augustus in the shrine of his father Caesar, pliny stated that the lower part of the painting was damaged, and it was impossible to find anyone who could restore it. This picture decayed from age and rottenness, and Nero, substituted for it another painting by the hand of Dorotheus. Thus, in a sense, what the mighty Romans could not restore, their worthy successors, pliny noted a second painting by Apelles of Venus superior even to his earlier one, that had been begun by artist but left unfinished. Once again, Botticelli, in his version of the Birth of Venus, might be seen as completing the task begun by his ancient predecessor, even surpassing him.
Was the two-dimensionality of this painting a deliberate attempt to replicate the style of ancient painting as found on Greek vases or on the walls of Etruscan tombs. While Botticelli might well have been celebrated as a revivified Apelles, his Birth of Venus testified to the nature of Florences chief citizen. Although it now seems that the painting was executed for another member of the Medici family, it likely was intended to celebrate and flatter its head, simonetta was, not coincidentally, born in the Ligurian seaside town of Portovenere. Accordingly, by implication, Lorenzo becomes the new Alexander the Great with an implied link to both Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and even to Florences legendary founder, Caesar himself. Lorenzo, furthermore, is not only magnificent but, as was Alexander in Plinys story and these essentially pagan readings of Botticellis Birth of Venus should not exclude a more purely Christian one, which may be derived from the Neoplatonic reading of the painting indicated above.
Viewed from a standpoint, the nudity of Venus suggests that of Eve before the Fall as well as the pure love of Paradise
7.
Routledge
Routledge is a British multinational publisher. The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals &5,000 new books each year, Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences. Following the merger of Informa and T&F in 2004, Routledge become a publishing unit, the firm originated in 1836, when Camden bookseller George Routledge published an unsuccessful guidebook, The Beauties of Gilsand with his brother-in-law W H Warne as assistant. The company was restyled in 1858 as Routledge, Warne & Routledge when George Routledges son, Robert Warne Routledge, Frederick Warne eventually left the company after the death of his brother W. H. Warne in May 1859. Gaining rights to titles, he founded Frederick Warne & Co in 1865. In July 1865, his son Edmund Routledge became a partner, by 1902 the company was running close to bankruptcy. Following a successful restructuring, however, it was able to recover and began to acquire and merge with other publishing companies including J. C.
In 1912 the company merged with Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. the descendant of companies founded by Charles Kegan Paul, Alexander Chenevix Trench, Nicholas Trübner and it was soon particularly known for its titles in the social sciences. In 1985, Routledge & Kegan Paul joined with Associated Book Publishers, just two year later and Routledges directors accepted a deal for Routledges acquisition by Taylor & Francis Group, with the Routledge name being retained as an imprint and subdivision. In 2004, T&F became a division within Informa plc after a merger, Routledge has grown considerably as a result of organic growth and acquisitions of other publishing companies and other publishers titles by its parent company. Humanities and social sciences acquired by T&F from other publishers are rebranded under the Routledge imprint. The famous English publisher Fredric Warburg was an editor at Routledge during the early 20th century. Novelist Nina Stibbe author of Love, Nina worked at the company as a Commissioning Editor in the 1990s, the republished works of these authors have appeared as part of the Routledge Classics and Routledge Great Minds series.
Competitors to the series are Verso Books Radical Thinkers, Penguin Classics and Francis closed down the Routledge print encyclopaedia division in 2006. Some of its publications were, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by Edward Craig, in 10 volumes, Encyclopedia of Ethics, by Lawrence C. Reference Works by Europa Publications, published by Routledge, Europa World Year Book, many of Routledges reference works are published in print and electronic formats as Routledge Handbooks and have their own dedicated Web site, Routledge Handbooks Online. Records of Routledge & Kegan Paul - Correspondence files covering the period 1935 to 1990, as well as review files 1950s-1990s, Special Collections, archives of George Routledge & Company 1853-1902, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd,1973. 6 reels of microfilm and printed index, archives of Kegan Paul, Trench and Henry S. King 1858-1912, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd,1973
8.
San Torpete
San Torpete is a church in central Genoa, northern Italy, dedicated to Saint Torpes. It was founded in the 11th century by local merchants and it was rebuilt in 1730 under designs conceived by Giovanni Antonio Ricca. The interior ceiling is decorated with paintings and stucco by Giovanni Bernardo Carlone depicting scenes of the Life of San Torpete, an altarpiece of Madonna with St Thomas Becket of Canterbury, St Lucia and John the Baptist is attributed to the studio of Luca Cambiaso or Andrea Semini. The small statue of the Virgin of Providence at the altar was completed by Giovanni Battista Drago. The altar of San Filippo Neri has a painting depicting The Saint in ecstasy attributed to the studio of Giovanni Battista Paggi
9.
The Death of Procris
Its date is uncertain, and its subject has been a matter of dispute. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the matter, the painting, which shows a satyr mourning over the body of a young woman, has been one of the most popular works by Piero di Cosimo. Erwin Panofsky was mesmerized by the strange lure emanating from the picture, the story is supposed to have been adapted from Plautus rather than Ovids Metamorphoses and, in contrast to earlier treatments of the story, it ends happily. If so, the painting should be read as a warning to the newlyweds against the dangers of jealousy which brought about the death of Procris. The association with the theme of marriage is reinforced by the unusual dimensions which suggest it was intended for the front of a cassone. Fermor finds it plausible that the painting hung in the marital chamber, the upper part of the painting bears the artists fingerprints. On the back of the panel are a card and a seal with the stemma of the Guicciardini, there is a drawing interpreted as the frame of a pilaster.
Most conspicuously, the woman is mourned by a rather than her husband. The creature is absent from Ovids story but is featured in Correggios play where it acts as the fatal meddler, another controversial figure is the dog looking at the scene. It is tempting to interpret it as Laelaps, the transparent symbol of Procriss fidelity to her jealous husband, by Ovids account and the Teumessian fox had been turned into stone earlier in the story, so the identity of the dog remains problematic. The river in the distance may be one of the three rivers of the Underworld, considering the alchemist background of Cosimo Rosselli, it has been suggested that the painting can be explained in terms of the pictorial language of alchemy. According to this conceit, the dog represents none other than Hermes Trismegistos, the red-and-gold veil of the victim is seen as symbolic of the red-hot philosophers stone, and the entire composition allegedly represents the alchemists longed-for victory over death
10.
Piazza Santa Croce
Piazza Santa Croce is one of the main plazas or squares located in the central neighborhood of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is located near piazza della Signoria and the National Central Library, the most notable features of the basilica are its sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs. On the opposite side to the Basilica of Santa Croce is the Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori, rebuilt in the late 15th century by Giuliano da Sangallo, in the front of the Palazzo, there is a fountain from the 19th century. On the southern side of the square is the Palazzo dellAntella, in front of the Basilica is a marble statue depicting Dante sculpted by Enrico Pazzi, named Monument to Dante. Every year in June, a field of sand is prepared for the annual Calcio Fiorentino games, the game is fairly violent and wrestling is allowed and minor injuries are frequent. In 2006 Roberto Benigni recited Dantes Divine Comedy beside the statue of Dante
11.
Amerigo Vespucci
Colloquially referred to as the New World, this second super continent came to be termed Americas, deriving its name from Americus, the Latin version of Vespuccis first name. Amerigo Vespucci was born and raised in Florence on the Italian Peninsula and he was the third son of Ser Nastagio Vespucci, a Florentine notary, and Lisabetta Mini. The father of Ser Nastagio Vespucci had the name Amerigo Vespucci also, Amerigo Vespucci was educated by his uncle, Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a Dominican friar of the monastery of San Marco in Florence. Vespucci acquired the favor and protection of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici who became the head of the business after the elder Lorenzos death in 1492, just around this time, Vespucci was engaged as the executor of Giannotto Berardi, an Italian merchant who had recently died in Seville. Vespucci organized the fulfillment of Berardis outstanding contract with the Castilian crown to provide twelve vessels for the Indies, after these were delivered, Vespucci continued as a provision contractor for Indies expeditions, and is known to have secured beef supplies for at least one of Columbus voyages.
At the invitation of king Manuel I of Portugal, Vespucci participated as observer in several voyages that explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502. On the first of these voyages he was aboard the ship that discovered that South America extended much further south than previously thought, the expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to Vespucci were published between 1502 and 1504. In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the new continent America after the feminine Latin version of Vespuccis first name. In an accompanying book, Waldseemüller published one of the Vespucci accounts, in 1508, the position of chief of navigation of Spain was created for Vespucci, with the responsibility of planning navigation for voyages to the Indies. Two letters attributed to Vespucci were published during his lifetime, mundus Novus was a Latin translation of a lost Italian letter sent from Lisbon to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici.
It describes a voyage to South America in 1501–1502, mundus Novus was published in late 1502 or early 1503 and soon reprinted and distributed in numerous European countries. Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuovamente trovate in quattro suoi viaggi, printed in 1504 or 1505, it claimed to be an account of four voyages to the Americas made by Vespucci between 1497 and 1504. A Latin translation was published by the German Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 in Cosmographiae Introductio, Vespucci even developed a rudimentary, but fairly accurate method of determining longitude. In the 18th century, three unpublished familiar letters from Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici were rediscovered, one describes a voyage made in 1499–1500 which corresponds with the second of the four voyages. Another was written from Cape Verde in 1501 in the part of the third of the four voyages. The third letter was sent from Lisbon after the completion of that voyage, some have suggested that Vespucci, in the two letters published in his lifetime, was exaggerating his role and constructed deliberate fabrications.
However, many now believe that the two letters were not written by him but were fabrications by others based in part on genuine letters by Vespucci. It was the publication and widespread circulation of the letters that might have led Waldseemüller to name the new continent America on his map of 1507 in Lorraine
