1.
Henry Howard (artist)
–
Henry Howard RA was an early 19th-century British portrait and history painter. He was born in London and after being educated at a school in Hounslow, in March 1791, Howard traveled to Italy, France, and Switzerland. In Rome, he met and studied sculpture with John Flaxman, in 1792 he painted a Dream of Cain. While abroad he applied to the Royal Academy for a grant after the bankruptcy of his father, two years later, he returned to Britain by way of Vienna and Dresden. He began instructing Reinagle’s daughter Jane in drawing and married her in 1803, together they had four daughters and three sons. From 1806 they lived at 50 Newman Street, Westminster, until his death, in the 1790s Howard painted and drew a variety of subjects from literature, portraits, and drawings of sculpture. In 1795 and 1796, he submitted five pictures to the Royal Academy. He illustrated Sharpe’s British Essayists and Du Roveray’s edition of Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer and he also contributed designs for Josiah Wedgwoods pottery. Between 1799 and 1801, he made a series of drawings of sculpture, one series was published by the Dilettanti Society and one was made for the collector Charles Townley, the sculptor John Flaxman, and the Society of Engravers. Howard was elected a member of the Royal Academy and exhibited there until his death in 1847. In 1811 he became secretary of the Academy and in 1833 he was appointed professor of painting at the Schools, Howard’s diploma work was The Four Angels Loosed from the Great River Euphrates. He painted a series of works from Milton’s Comus and several subjects from the plays of William Shakespeare, in 1809 he exhibited Christ Blessing Young Children, which later became the altarpiece of St. Luke’s, in Berwick St Soho, London. One of Howard’s most important patrons was Lord Egremont, a significant collector and his history paintings are hard to find on public display but his ceiling for the dining-room of the Sir John Soanes Museum, an Aurora adapted from Guido Reni, can be seen obliquely. In addition to his portraiture and historical painting, Howard worked on many decorative works, in 1805, a Mr. Hibbert commissioned him to paint a Cupid and Psyche frieze in 1814, along with several other artists. This was, according to accounts, destroyed by, and according to others only saved by the cavalry from. He also worked on a Solar System for the ceiling of Stafford House in 1835, then housing an art collection open to the public. Howard died in Oxford on 5 October 1847 of paralysis, graves, R. E. and Deborah Graham-Vernon
Henry Howard (artist)
–
Portrait dated 1800 from the National Portrait Gallery
Henry Howard (artist)
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Anne, John Flaxman's wife, by Henry Howard, c.1797
Henry Howard (artist)
–
Timon of Athens: Act I, Scene 2: Timon's prodigality; engraved by R. Rhodes after a painting by Henry Howard (1802), for
John Boydell's Shakespeare edition
2.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
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Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
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regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
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Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
3.
Greek mythology
–
It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
Greek mythology
–
Bust of
Zeus,
Otricoli (Sala Rotonda,
Museo Pio-Clementino,
Vatican).
Greek mythology
–
Greek Mythology
Greek mythology
–
Prometheus (1868 by
Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by
Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of
Prometheus Bound,
Prometheus Unbound, and
Prometheus Pyrphoros.
Greek mythology
–
The Roman poet
Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the
Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.
4.
Odysseus
–
Odysseus, also known by the Latin name Ulysses, was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homers epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homers Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle. Husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility and he is most famous for the Odyssey, ten eventful years he took to return home after the decade-long Trojan War. The name has several variants, in Greek the character was called Olysseus, Oulixeus, Oulixes, hence, there may originally have been two separate figures, one called something like Odysseus, the other something like Ulixes, who were combined into one complex personality. The etymology of the name is unknown, ancient authors linked the name to the Greek verbs odussomai to be wroth against, to hate, or to oduromai to lament, bewail. Homer in references and puns, relates it to various forms of this verb and it has also been suggested that the name is of non-Greek origin, probably not even Indo-European, with an unknown etymology, R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Book 19 of the Odyssey, where Odysseuss early childhood is recounted, Euryclea tries to guide him to naming the boy Polyaretos, for he has much been prayed for. Autolycus apparently in a sardonic mood, decided to give the child a name that would commemorate his own experience in life. Because I got odium upon myself before coming here, let the childs name be Odysseus to signify this. The pun was prophetic as well as commemorative, Odysseus often receives the patronymic epithet Laertiades, son of Laërtes. In the Iliad and Odyssey there are several epithets used to describe Odysseus and his name and stories were adopted into Etruscan religion under the name Uthuze. Hence, Odysseus was the great-grandson of the Olympian god Hermes, according to the Iliad and Odyssey, his father is Laertes and his mother Anticlea, although there was a non-Homeric tradition that Sisyphus was his true father. The rumor went that Laertes bought Odysseus from the conniving king, Odysseus is said to have a younger sister, Ctimene, who went to Same to be married and is mentioned by the swineherd Eumaeus, whom she grew up alongside, in Book 15 of the Odyssey. Homers Iliad and Odyssey portray Odysseus as a hero, but the Romans. In Virgils Aeneid, written between 29 and 19 BC, he is referred to as cruel Odysseus or deceitful Odysseus. Turnus, in Aeneid ix, reproaches the Trojan Ascanius with images of rugged, forthright Latin virtues, declaring, You shall not find the sons of Atreus here, nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear. While the Greeks admired his cunning and deceit, these qualities did not recommend themselves to the Romans, who possessed a rigid sense of honour. His attempts to avoid his sacred oath to defend Menelaus and Helen offended Roman notions of duty, the majority of sources for Odysseus pre-war exploits—principally the mythographers Pseudo-Apollodorus and Hyginus—postdate Homer by many centuries
Odysseus
–
Head of Odysseus from a
Roman period Hellenistic marble group representing Odysseus blinding
Polyphemus, found at the villa of
Tiberius at
Sperlonga
Odysseus
–
Head of Odysseus wearing
pileus depicted on a 3rd-century BC coin from
Ithaca
Odysseus
–
Greek Mythology
Odysseus
–
This is a painting of Odysseus's boat passing between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Scylla has plucked six of Odysseus's men from the boat. The painting is an Italian fresco dating to 1560 C.E.
5.
Penelope
–
In Homers Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, who is known for her fidelity to Odysseus while he was absent, despite having many suitors. Her name has traditionally been associated with marital fidelity, and so it was with the Greeks and Romans and her character is beyond what was available to most women at the time, and she is considered a match for Odysseus due to her immense strength, warmth and intelligence. The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Penelope is the wife of the character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War and she waits twenty years for the final return of her husband, during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108 suitors. On Odysseuss return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful, every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud, until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful serving women, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors. Because of her efforts to put off remarriage, Penelope is often seen as a symbol of connubial fidelity, as Irene de Jong comments, As so often, it is Athena who takes the initiative in giving the story a new direction. She simply feels an impulse to meet the men she so loathes. Adding that she might take this opportunity to talk to Telemachus and she is ambivalent, variously asking Artemis to kill her and, apparently, considering marrying one of the suitors. For the plot of the Odyssey, of course, her decision is the turning point, there is debate as to whether Penelope is aware that Odysseus is behind the disguise. On the other hand, because Odysseus seems to be the person who can actually use the bow. When the contest of the bow begins, none of the suitors are able to string the bow, but Odysseus does, Odysseus protests that this cannot be done since he made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs is a living olive tree. Penelope finally accepts that he truly is her husband, a moment that highlights their homophrosýnē, homer implies, that from then on, Odysseus would live a long and happy life together with Penelope and Telemachus, wisely ruling his kingdom and enjoying wide respect and much success. In some early sources such as Pindar, Pans father is Apollo via Penelope, herodotus, Cicero, Apollodorus and Hyginus all make Hermes and Penelope his parents. Pausanias 8.12.5 records the story that Penelope had in fact been unfaithful to her husband, other sources report that Penelope slept with all 108 suitors in Odysseus absence, and gave birth to Pan as a result. This myth reflects the folk etymology that equates Pans name with the Greek word for all, Latin references to Penelope revolved around the sexual loyalty to her absent husband. It suited the marital aspect of Roman society representing the tranquility of the worthy family and she is mentioned by various classical authors including Plautus, Propertius, Horace, Ovid, Martial and Statius. The use of Penelope in Latin texts provided a basis for her use in the Middle Ages. This was reinforced by her named by Saint Jerome among pagan women famed for their chastity
Penelope
–
Odysseus and Penelope by
Francesco Primaticcio (1563).
Penelope
–
Yea, Verily, thou art Odysseus
Penelope
–
Penelope, bronze by
Emile-Antoine Bourdelle
Penelope
–
Gold
intaglio ring, Syria, last quarter of the 5th century BCE (
Louvre Museum)
6.
Homer
–
Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of Greek literature. The Odyssey focuses on the home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Many accounts of Homers life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a bard from Ionia. The modern scholarly consensus is that these traditions do not have any historical value, the Homeric question - by whom, when, where and under what circumstances were the Iliad and Odyssey composed - continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion on the authorship question falls into two camps, one group holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the work of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the crystallization of a process of working and re-working by many contributors and it is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. Most researchers believe that the poems were transmitted orally. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education, to Plato, the chronological period of Homer depends on the meaning to be assigned to the word Homer. Was Homer a single person, an imaginary person representing a group of poets and this information is often called the world of Homer. The Homeric period would in that cover a number of historical periods, especially the Mycenaean Age. Considered word-for-word, the texts as we know them are the product of the scholars of the last three centuries. Each edition of the Iliad or Odyssey is a different, as the editors rely on different manuscripts and fragments. The term accuracy reveals a belief in an original uniform text. The manuscripts of the work currently available date to no earlier than the 10th century. These are at the end of a missing thousand-year chain of copies made as each generation of manuscripts disintegrated or were lost or destroyed and these numerous manuscripts are so similar that a single original can be postulated. The time gap in the chain is bridged by the scholia, or notes, on the existing manuscripts, librarian of the Library of Alexandria, he had noticed a wide divergence in the works attributed to Homer, and was trying to restore a more authentic copy. He had collected several manuscripts, which he named, the Sinopic, the one he selected for correction was the koine, which Murray translates as the Vulgate. Aristarchus was known for his selection of material
Homer
–
Idealized portrayal of Homer dating to the
Hellenistic period.
British Museum.
Homer
–
Part of an 11th-century manuscript, "the Townley Homer". The writing on the top and right side are
scholia.
Homer
–
Homer and His Guide, by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), portraying Homer on
Mount Ida, beset by dogs and guided by the goatherder Glaucus (as told in
Pseudo-Herodotus)
Homer
–
Raphael 's inspired Homer on
Mount Parnassus.
7.
Odyssey
–
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci. The Odyssey continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into languages around the world. Many scholars believe the poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos, perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance and the conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek. Among the most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, in the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer and it was usually attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta. In one source, the Telegony was said to have stolen from Musaeus by either Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene. The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus protectress, the goddess Athena, requests to Zeus, king of the gods, to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Odysseus enemy, then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality, they observe the suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius theme, the Return from Troy, because it reminds her of her missing husband and that night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena, he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos
Odyssey
–
Charles Gleyre,
Odysseus and
Nausicaä
Odyssey
–
Greek text of the Odyssey' s opening passage
Odyssey
–
Odysseus Overcome by
Demodocus ' Song, by
Francesco Hayez, 1813–15
Odyssey
–
Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the
Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 BC, (
British Museum)
8.
Trojan War
–
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homers Iliad. The Iliad relates four days in the year of the decade-long siege of Troy. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the fairest, in exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helens husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris insult. After the deaths of heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods wrath, few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, in 1868, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was a real city at what is now Hissarlik in Turkey. On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars, whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question. The events of the Trojan War are found in works of Greek literature. There is no single, authoritative text which tells the events of the war. Instead, the story is assembled from a variety of sources, the most important literary sources are the two epic poems traditionally credited to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed sometime between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. Each poem narrates only a part of the war, the Iliad covers a short period in the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey concerns Odysseuss return to his home island of Ithaca, following the sack of Troy. Other parts of the Trojan War were told in the poems of the Epic Cycle, also known as the Cyclic Epics, the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. Though these poems survive only in fragments, their content is known from an included in Proclus Chrestomathy. The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is uncertain, both the Homeric epics and the Epic Cycle take origin from oral tradition. Even after the composition of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Cyclic Epics, events and details of the story that are only found in later authors may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as the Homeric poems
Trojan War
–
Achilles tending the wounded
Patroclus (
Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC)
Trojan War
–
The Burning of Troy (1759/62),
oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann
Trojan War
–
The Judgment of Paris (1904) by
Enrique Simonet
Trojan War
–
Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus (detail of Attic
black-figure hydria, 575–550 BC)
9.
Campania
–
Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
Campania
–
Temple of Hera,
Paestum, built 550 BC
Campania
–
Campania
Campania
–
The Last Day of Pompeii –
Karl Briullov
Campania
–
Early kings ruled from
Castel Nuovo
10.
Krater
–
A krater or crater was a large vase in Ancient Greece, particularly used for watering down wine. At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in the center of the room and they were quite large, so they were not easily portable when filled. Thus, the mixture would be withdrawn from the krater with other vessels. In fact, Homers Odyssey describes a steward drawing wine from a krater at a banquet and then running to, the modern Greek word now used for undiluted wine, krasi, originates from the krasis of wine and water in kraters. Kraters were glazed on the interior to make the surface of the clay more impervious for holding water, at the beginning of each symposium a symposiarch, or lord of the common drink, was elected by the participants. He would then control of the wine servants, and thus of the degree of wine dilution and how it changed during the party. The krater and how it was filled and emptied was thus the centerpiece of the symposiarchs authority, an astute symposiarch should be able to diagnose the degree of inebriation of his fellow symposiasts and make sure that the symposium progressed smoothly and without drunken excess. Drinking ákratos wine was considered a faux pas in ancient Greece, enough to characterize the drinker as a drunkard and someone who lacked restraint. By using dehydrated grapes, and could withstand dilution with water better, such wines would have also withstood time and the vagaries of transportation much better. Nevertheless, the ancient writers offer scant details of ancient vinification methods and this form originated in Corinth in the seventh century BCE but was taken over by the Athenians where it is typically black-figure. They ranged in size from 35 centimetres to 56 centimetres in height and were thrown in three pieces, the body/ shoulder area was one, the base another, and the neck/ lip/ rim a third. These are among the largest of the kraters, supposedly developed by the potter Exekias in black figure though in fact almost always seen in red, the lower body is shaped like the calyx of a flower, and the foot is stepped. The psykter-shaped vase fits inside it so well stylistically that it has suggested that the two might have often been made as a set. It is always made with two robust upturned handles positioned on opposite sides of the body or cul. This type of krater, defined by volute-shaped handles, was invented in Laconia in the early 6th century BC and its production was carried on by Greeks in Apulia until the end of the 4th century BC. This strip would then have been continued downward until the bottom of the handle where the potter would have cut a U-shaped arch in the clay before attaching the handle to the body of the vase and this form looks like an inverted bell. According to most scholars ceramic kraters imitated shapes designed initially for metal vessels, these were common in antiquity, among the largest and most famous metal kraters in antiquity were one in the possession of the Samian tyrant Polycrates, and another one dedicated by Croesus to the Delphic oracle. There are a few extant Archaic bronze kraters, almost exclusively of the volute-type and their main production centres were Sparta, Argos and Corinth, in Peloponnesus
Krater
–
Krater discovered on the
acropolis of
Mycenae, depicting fully armed warriors, date 1200-1100 BC. Located in the
National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
Krater
–
Manner of
Lydos, Black-figured column crater depicting swans, ca. 550 BC, Museum of the
Ancient Agora,
Athens
Krater
–
Euphronios & Euxitheos, Cratère attique à figures rouges, 515-510 B.C.,
Louvre
Krater
–
Darius Painter,
Red-figure volute krater,
Medea at
Eleusis, ca. 340-330 B.C..
Princeton University Art Museum
11.
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, however, 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
Louvre
–
the Richelieu wing (2005)
Louvre
–
The only portion of the medieval Louvre still visible
Louvre
–
Antonio Canova 's
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was commissioned in 1787, donated in 1824.
Louvre
–
The
Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of
Louis XVIII.
12.
Athena
–
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, craft, 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 also had a shield with the head of the Gorgon on it. A large snake accompanied her and she held Nike, the goddess of victory, therefore, 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 also 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 also 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, however, 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 also 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
Athena
–
Mattei Athena at
Louvre. Roman copy from the 1st century BC/AD after a Greek original of the 4th century BC, attributed to Cephisodotos or Euphranor.
Athena
–
Athenian
tetradrachm representing the goddess Athena.
Athena
–
A new
peplos was woven for Athena and ceremonially brought to dress her
cult image (
British Museum).
Athena
–
Marble Greek copy signed “Antiokhos”, a 1st-century BC variant of
Phidias ’ 5th-century
Athena Promachos that stood on the
Acropolis.
13.
Ithaca
–
Ithaca or Ithaka is a Greek island located in the Ionian Sea, off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and to the west of continental Greece. Ithacas main island has an area of 96 square kilometres and had a population in 2011 of 3,231 and it is the second-smallest of seven main Ionian Islands, after Paxi. Ithaca is a regional unit of the Ionian Islands region. Modern Ithaca is generally identified with Homers Ithaca, the home of Odysseus, the fact that classical Greek authors often used eponymous explanations to explain away names through folk etymology makes it more likely that Ithakos derives from Ithaca rather than vice versa. It may have been the capital of Cephalonia during the Mycenaean period, the Romans occupied the island in the 2nd century BC, and later it became part of the Byzantine Empire. The Normans ruled Ithaca in the 13th century, and after a short Turkish rule it fell into Venetian hands, Ithaca was subsequently occupied by France under the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio. It became a French possession again in 1807, until it was taken over by the United Kingdom in 1809, under the 1815 Treaty of Paris, Ithaca became a state of the United States of the Ionian Islands, a protectorate of the British Empire. In 1830 the local community requested to join with the rest of the newly restored nation-state of Greece. Under the 1864 Treaty of London, Ithaca, along with the remaining six Ionian islands, were ceded to Greece as a gesture of friendship to Greeces new Anglophile king. The United Kingdom kept its use of the harbour at Corfu. The origins of the first people to inhabit the island, which occurred during the last years of the Neolithic period, are not clear. The traces of buildings, walls and a road from time period prove that life existed and continued to do so during the Early Hellenic era. In the years some of the migrated to part of the island. The buildings and walls that were excavated showed the lifestyle of this period had remained primitive, during the Mycenaean period, Ithaca rose to the highest level of its ancient history. The Ithacans were characterized as great navigators and explorers with daring expeditions reaching further than the Mediterranean Sea, the epic poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, shed some light on Bronze-Age Ithaca. Recent studies concluded that Homer recorded oral history from elders, after the end of the Mycenaean period Ithacas influence diminished, and it came under the jurisdiction of the nearest large island. During the ancient Hellenic prime, independent organized life continued in the northern and southern part of the island, in the southern part, in the area of Aetos, the town Alalcomenae was founded. From this period, many objects of important historical value have been found during excavations, among these objects are coins imprinted with the name Ithaca and the image of Odysseus which suggest that the island was self-governed
Ithaca
–
View of Vathy
Ithaca
–
Head of
Odysseus wearing a
pileus depicted on a 3rd-century BC coin from Ithaca.
Ithaca
–
Olive tree of Ithaca that is claimed to be at least 1500 years old.
Ithaca
–
Ithaca is to the upper right of the larger
Kefalonia island in this picture. The small island in the top-right corner is the uninhabited
Atokos (
NASA World Wind satellite picture).
14.
Poseidon
–
Poseidon was one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean, and he is called the God of the Sea, additionally, he is referred to as Earth-Shaker due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the tamer of horses. He is usually depicted as a male with curly hair. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology, both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have birth to a colt. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, according to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon. The form Ποτειδάϝων appears in Corinth, the origins of the name Poseidon are unclear. Walter Burkert finds that the second element da- remains hopelessly ambiguous, another theory interprets the second element as related to the word *δᾶϝον dâwon, water, this would make *Posei-dawōn into the master of waters. There is also the possibility that the word has Pre-Greek origin, Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two alternative etymologies, either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a foot-bond, or he knew many things. If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted, the name occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja. A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia, is found, indicating a lost consort goddess. Poseidon carries frequently the title wa-na-ka in Linear B inscriptions, as king of the underworld, the chthonic nature of Poseidon-Wanax is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos, a powerful attribute. In the cave of Amnisos Enesidaon is related with the cult of Eileithyia and she was related with the annual birth of the divine child. During the Bronze Age, a goddess of nature, dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cult, and Wanax was her companion in Mycenean cult. It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription, in Linear B inscriptions found at Pylos, E-ne-si-da-o-ne is related with Poseidon, and Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for the Two Queens, the Two Queens may be related with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. The violated Demeter was Demeter Erinys, in Arcadia, Demeters mare-form was worshiped into historical times. Her xoanon of Phigaleia shows how the local cult interpreted her, a Medusa type with a horses head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water
Poseidon
–
Poseidon from
Milos, 2nd century BC (
National Archaeological Museum of Athens)
Poseidon
–
Poseidon, Paella Museum
Poseidon
–
Poseidon in
Kadriorg Palace,
Tallinn
Poseidon
–
Poseidon holding a
trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia.
15.
Nestor (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris. He became the King of Pylos after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestors siblings and his wife was either Eurydice or Anaxibia, their children included Peisistratus, Thrasymedes, Pisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron, and Antilochus. Nestor was an Argonaut, helped fight the centaurs, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and he and his sons, Antilochus and Thrasymedes, fought on the side of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. Though Nestor was already old when the war began, he was noted for his bravery. In the Iliad, he gives advice to the younger warriors and advises Agamemnon. He is too old to engage in combat himself, but he leads the Pylian troops, riding his chariot and he also had a solid gold shield. Homer frequently calls him by the epithet the Gerenian horseman, at the funeral games of Patroclus, Nestor advises Antilochus on how to win the chariot race. Antilochus was later killed in battle by Memnon, in the Odyssey, Nestor and those who were part of his army had safely returned to Pylos since they did not take part in the looting of Troy upon the Greeks victory in the Trojan War. Odysseuss son Telemachus travels to Pylos to inquire about the fate of his father, Nestor receives Telemachus kindly and entertains him lavishly but is unable to furnish any information on his fathers fate. Also appearing in the Odyssey are Nestors wife Eurydice and their remaining living sons, Echephron, Stratius, Aretus, Thrasymedes, Nestor also had two daughters named Pisidice and Polycaste. Peisistratus readily agrees, although stating that his father is bound to be furious when he learns of Telemachuss departure. Nestors advice in the Iliad has also interpreted to have sinister undertones. For example, when Patroclus comes to Nestor for advice in Book 11, karl Reinhardt argues that this is contrary to what Patroclus really originally wanted – in fact, he is only there to receive information on behalf of Achilles about the wounded Machaon. Reinhardt notes that an unimportant errand left behind by an all-important one, Patroclus role as messenger is crucial and an ironic purpose permeates the encounter. Homer offers contradictory portrayals of Nestor as a source of advice, yet at the same time Nestors advice is frequently ineffective. Yet Nestor is never questioned and instead is frequently praised, heroes are not necessarily viewed as responsible when things go awry. In the Iliad, people are judged not necessarily in the view of results. These are elements that make up Nestor, and they parallel the elements that Homer describes as part of a counselor at Iliad 3. 150–152
Nestor (mythology)
–
According to some, this cup shows
Hecamede mixing
kykeon for Nestor. Tondo of an Attic red-figure cup, c. 490 BC. From
Vulci.
Nestor (mythology)
–
Nestor and his sons sacrifice to
Poseidon on the beach at
Pylos (Attic red-figure calyx-krater, 400–380 BC).
16.
Menelaus
–
In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and Aerope, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and, according to the Iliad, although early authors such as Aeschylus refer in passing to Menelaus’ early life, detailed sources are quite late, post-dating 5th-century BC Greek tragedy. According to these sources, Menelaus father, Atreus, had been feuding with his brother Thyestes over the throne of Mycenae, after a back-and-forth struggle that featured adultery, incest and cannibalism, Thyestes gained the throne after his son Aegisthus murdered Atreus. As a result, Atreus’ sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon, went into exile and they first stayed with King Polyphides of Sicyon, and later with King Oeneus of Calydon. But when they thought the time was ripe to dethrone Mycenae’s hostile ruler, assisted by King Tyndareus of Sparta, they drove Thyestes away, and Agamemnon took the throne for himself. When it was time for Tyndareus’ step-daughter Helen to marry, many kings, among the contenders were Odysseus, Menestheus, Ajax the Great, Patroclus, and Idomeneus. Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them, Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Tyndareus’s niece Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, then it was decreed that straws were to be drawn for Helen’s hand. The suitor who won was Menelaus, the rest of the suitors swore their oaths, and Helen and Menelaus were married, Menelaus becoming a ruler of Sparta with Helen after Tyndareus and Leda abdicated the thrones. Menelaus and Helen had a daughter Hermione as supported, for example, by Sappho and their palace has been discovered in Pellana, Laconia, to the north-west of modern Sparta. Other archaeologists consider that Pellana is too far away from other Mycenaean centres to have been the capital of Menelaus, in a return for awarding her a golden apple inscribed to the fairest, Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in all the world. Homers Iliad is the most expansive source for Menelaus’s exploits during the Trojan War, in Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen’s return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, in Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel’s winner, Athena inspires the Trojan Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus, Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extended aristeia as the hero retrieves the corpse of Patroclus from the battlefield, according to Hyginus, Menelaus killed eight men in the war, and was one of the Greeks hidden inside the Trojan Horse. During the sack of Troy, Menelaus killed Deiphobus, who had married Helen after the death of Paris, there are four versions of Menelaus’ and Helen’s reunion on the night of the sack of Troy, Angry at Helen, Menelaus looked for and found her. In a fit of rage, he decided to kill her for leaving him for Paris, in a split second, Menelaus wrath went away instantly. He took pity on her, and decided to take her back as wife, Menelaus resolved to kill Helen but her striking beauty prompted him to drop his sword and take her back to his ship “to punish her at Sparta”, as he claimed
Menelaus
–
Marble bust of Menelaus
Menelaus
–
Menelaus regains Helen, detail of an Attic red-figure crater, c. 450–440 BC, found in
Gnathia (now Egnazia,
Italy).
Menelaus
–
Lelegids
17.
Helen of Troy
–
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, or simply Helen, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was a sister of Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In Greek myths, she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world, by marriage she was Queen of Laconia, a province within Homeric Greece, the wife of King Menelaus. Her abduction by Prince Paris of Troy brought about the Trojan War, elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides and Homer. In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus, a competition between her suitors for her hand in marriage sees Menelaus emerge victorious. An oath sworn beforehand by all the suitors requires them to military assistance in the case of her abduction. When she marries Menelaus she is very young, whether her subsequent involvement with Paris is an abduction or a seduction is ambiguous. The legends recounting Helens fate in Troy are contradictory, Homer depicts her as a wistful figure, even a sorrowful one, who comes to regret her choice and wishes to be reunited with Menelaus. Other accounts have a treacherous Helen who simulates Bacchic rites and rejoices in the carnage, ultimately, Paris was killed in action, and in Homers account Helen was reunited with Menelaus, though other versions of the legend recount her ascending to Olympus instead. A cult associated with her developed in Hellenistic Laconia, both at Sparta and elsewhere, at Therapne she shared a shrine with Menelaus and she was also worshiped in Attica and on Rhodes. Her beauty inspired artists of all time to represent her, frequently as the personification of ideal beauty, Christopher Marlowes lines from his tragedy Doctor Faustus are frequently cited, Was this the face that launchd a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium. However, in the play this meeting and the ensuing temptation are not unambiguously positive, closely preceding death, images of her start appearing in the 7th century BC. In classical Greece, her abduction by—or elopement with—Paris was a popular motif, in medieval illustrations, this event was frequently portrayed as a seduction, whereas in Renaissance painting it is usually depicted as a rape by Paris. The fact that rape and kidnapping were interchangeable terms lends additional ambiguity to the story, the etymology of Helens name continues to be a problem for scholars. Georg Curtius related Helen to the moon, Émile Boisacq considered Ἑλένη to derive from the noun ἑλένη meaning torch. It has also suggested that the λ of Ἑλένη arose from an original ν. Linda Lee Clader, however, says none of the above suggestions offers much satisfaction. Inversely, others have connected this etymology to a hypothetical proto-indo-european sun goddess, in particular, her marriage myth may be connected to a broader indo-european marriage drama of the sun goddess, and she is related to the divine twins, just as many of these goddesses are. The origins of Helens myth date back to the Mycenaean age, the first record of her name appears in the poems of Homer, but scholars assume that such myths invented or received by the Mycenaean Greeks made their way to Homer
Helen of Troy
–
Helen and Menelaus: Menelaus intends to strike Helen; captivated by her beauty, he drops his sword. A flying
Eros and
Aphrodite (on the left) watch the scene. Detail of an Attic
red-figure krater, c. 450–440 BC (
Paris,
Louvre)
Helen of Troy
–
Leda and the Swan by
Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510,
Wilton). The artist has been intrigued by the idea of Helen's unconventional birth; she and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.
Helen of Troy
–
Theseus pursuing a woman, probably Helen. Side A from an Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 440–430 BC (
Louvre, Paris).
Helen of Troy
–
In this painting by
Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy in Asian Minor. The Walters Art Museum.
18.
Circe
–
Circe (/ˈsɜːrsiː/, is a goddess of magic or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress in Greek mythology. By most accounts, she was the daughter of the sungod Helios, and Perse and her brothers were Aeetes, keeper of the Golden Fleece, and Perses. Her sister was Pasiphaë, the wife of King Minos and mother of the Minotaur, other accounts make her the daughter of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs, through the use of these and a magic wand or staff, she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. Some say she was exiled to the island of Aeaea by her subjects and her father Helios for killing her husband. Later traditions tell of her leaving or even destroying the island and moving to Italy, in Homers Odyssey, Circe is described as living in a mansion that stands in the middle of a clearing in a dense wood. Around the house prowled strangely docile lions and wolves, the victims of her magic, they were not dangerous. Circe worked at a huge loom, thus so she turned them all into swine with her magic wand or staff after they gorged themselves on it. Only drunken Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus, Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted by the messenger god, Hermes, who had been sent by Athena. Hermes told Odysseus to use the holy herb moly to protect himself from Circes wizardry and, having resisted it, to draw his sword, from there, Circe would ask him to bed, but Hermes advised caution, for even there the goddess would be treacherous. She would take his manhood unless he had her swear by the names of the gods that she would not, Odysseus followed Hermes advice, freeing his men and then remained on the island for one year, feasting and drinking wine. She also advised Odysseus to go to the Underworld and gave him directions, towards the end of Hesiods Theogony, it is stated that Circe bore Odysseus three sons, Ardeas or Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus, who ruled over the Tyrsenoi, that is the Etruscans. The Telegony, a now lost, relates the later history of the last of these. Circe eventually informed him who his absent father was and, when he set out to find Odysseus, with this he killed his father unknowingly. Telegonus then brought back his fathers corpse, together with Penelope and Odysseus other son Telemachus, after burying Odysseus, Circe made the others immortal. According to Lycophrons Alexandra and John Tzetzes scholia on the poem, however, Odysseus then gave Telemachus to Circes daughter Cassiphone in marriage. Some time later, Telemachus had a quarrel with his mother-in-law and killed her, on hearing of this, Odysseus died of grief. In a very late Alexandrian epic from the 5th century AD, in the 3rd century BC epic, the Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius relates that Circe purified the Argonauts for the death of Absyrtus, maybe reflecting an early tradition
Circe
–
Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus (1891) by
John William Waterhouse
Circe
–
Woodcut of the Circe episode from a translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (c.1474)
19.
Nausicaa
–
Nausicaa is a character in Homers Odyssey. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia and her name, in Greek, means burner of ships. In Book Six of the Odyssey, Odysseus is shipwrecked on the coast of the island of Scheria, Nausicaä and her handmaidens go to the sea-shore to wash clothes. Awoken by their games, Odysseus emerges from the forest completely naked, scaring the servants away, Nausicaä gives Odysseus some of the laundry to wear, and takes him to the edge of the town. Realizing that rumors might arise if Odysseus is seen with her, she, but first she advises Odysseus to go directly to Alcinous house and make his case to Nausicaäs mother, Arete. Arete is known as even than Alcinous, and Alcinous trusts her judgment. Odysseus follows this advice, approaching Arete and winning her approval, during his stay, Odysseus recounts his adventures to Alcinous and his court. This recounting forms a portion of the Odyssey. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca, Nausicaä is young and very pretty, Odysseus says that she resembles a goddess, particularly Artemis. Nausicaä is known to have several brothers, according to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, Nausicaä later married Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, and had a son named Ptoliporthus. Homer gives an account of love never expressed. Nausicaä is also a figure for Odysseus, she ensures Odysseus return home. Odysseus never tells Penelope about his encounter with Nausicaä, out of all the women he met on his journey home. Some suggest this indicates a level of feeling for the girl. The 2nd century BC grammarian Agallis attributed the invention of games to Nausicaä. An asteroid discovered in the year 1879,192 Nausikaa, is named after her, friedrich Nietzsche, in Beyond Good and Evil, said, One should part from life as Odysseus parted from Nausicaa—blessing it rather than in love with it. His theory that the Odyssey was written by a woman was further developed in his 1897 book The Authoress of the Odyssey, an episode in James Joyces Ulysses echoes the Nausicaa story to a degree, the character Gerty McDowell tempts Bloom. In 1907, the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály wrote the song Nausikaa to a poem by Aranka Bálint, only one song, Nausikaa, survived from this opera plan
Nausicaa
–
Nausicaa,
Frederic Leighton ca. 1878.
Nausicaa
–
Odysseus and Nausicaä, by
William McGregor Paxton.
20.
Latinus
–
Latinus was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus, although his appearance in the Aeneid is irreconcilable with his appearance in Greek mythology, the two pictures are not so different that he cannot be seen as one character. In Hesiods Theogony, Latinus was the son of Odysseus and Circe who ruled the Tyrsenoi, presumably the Etruscans, with his brothers Ardeas, in later Roman mythology, Latinus, or Lavinius, was a king of the Latins. He is sometimes described as the son of Faunus and Marica and he hosted Aeneass army of exiled Trojans and offered them the chance to reorganize their life in Latium. Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, later founded Alba Longa and was the first in a series of kings leading to Romulus and Remus. Latium Latin kings of Alba Longa Aborigines Virgil, Aeneid, VII,45,52,69,96
Latinus
–
Latinus from
Guillaume Rouillé 's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Latinus
–
Latinus in Council, print by
Wenceslas Hollar, 1607-1677
21.
Aeneas
–
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
Aeneas
–
Aeneas flees burning Troy,
Federico Barocci, 1598.
Aeneas
–
Painting Venus and Anchises by
William Blake Richmond (1889 or 90)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas carrying
Anchises, black-figured
oinochoe, ca. 520–510 BC,
Louvre (F 118)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas and Anchises
22.
Hadrian
–
Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests
Hadrian
–
Marble bust of Hadrian at the
Palazzo dei Conservatori,
Capitoline Museums.
Hadrian
–
Castel Sant'Angelo, the ancient Hadrian
Mausoleum.
Hadrian
–
This famous statue of Hadrian in Greek dress was revealed in 2008 to have been forged in the
Victorian era by cobbling together a head of Hadrian and an unknown body. For years the statue had been used by historians as proof of Hadrian's love of Hellenic culture.
Hadrian
–
Statue of Hadrian unearthed at Tel Shalem commemorating Roman military victory over Bar Kochba, displayed at the
Israel Museum
23.
Delphic Oracle
–
The Pythia, was the name of the High Priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who also served as the oracle, commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi. The name Pythia is derived from Pytho, which in myth was the name of Delphi. Pythia was the House of Snakes, the Pythia was established at the latest in the 8th century BC, and was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by being filled by the spirit of the god, in this case Apollo. The Pythian priestess emerged pre-eminent by the end of 7th century BC, during this period the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks, and she was without doubt the most powerful woman of the classical world. The oracle is one of the religious institutions of the classical Greeks. Nevertheless, details of how the Pythia operated are missing as authors from the classical period treat the process as common knowledge with no need to explain and those who discussed the oracle in any detail are from 1st century BC to 4th century AD and give conflicting stories. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC describes the Pythia speaking in dactylic hexameters, the 8th-century reformulation of the Oracle at Delphi as a shrine to Apollo seems associated with the rise in importance of the city of Corinth and the importance of sites in the Corinthian Gulf. The earliest account of the origin of the Delphic oracle is provided in the Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo, which recent scholarship dates within a narrow range, c. It describes in detail how Apollo chose his first priests, whom he selected in their swift ship, but Apollo, who had Delphinios as one of his cult epithets, leapt into the ship in the form of a dolphin. Dolphin-Apollo revealed himself to the terrified Cretans, and bade them follow him up to the place where you will have rich offerings. The Cretans danced in time and followed, singing Iē Paiēon, paean seems to have been the name by which Apollo was known in Mycenaean times. G. L. Huxley observes, If the hymn to Apollo conveys a historical message, an early visitor to these dells of Parnassus, at the end of the eighth century, was Hesiod, who was shown the omphalos. There are also many stories of the origins of the Delphic Oracle. On entering the chasm, he found himself filled with a presence and could see outside of the present into the past. Excited by his discovery he shared it with nearby villagers, many started visiting the site to experience the convulsions and inspirational trances, though some were said to disappear into the cleft due to their frenzied state. A shrine was erected at the site, where people began worshiping in the late Bronze Age, after the deaths of a number of men, the villagers chose a single young woman as the liaison for the divine inspirations. Eventually she spoke on behalf of gods, according to earlier myths, the office of the oracle was initially possessed by the goddesses Themis and Phoebe, and the site was initially sacred to Gaia. Subsequently, it was believed to be sacred to Poseidon, the Earth-shaker god of earthquakes, apparently Poseidon was mollified by the gift of a new site in Troizen
Delphic Oracle
–
Lycurgus Consulting the Pythia (1835/1845), as imagined by
Eugène Delacroix.
24.
Aristotle
–
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
Aristotle
–
Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by
Lysippus,
c. 330 BC. The
alabaster mantle is modern.
Aristotle
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
–
School of Aristotle in
Mieza,
Macedonia, Greece
Aristotle
–
"Aristotle" by
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)
25.
Monarchy
–
The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
Monarchy
–
Richard I of England being anointed during his coronation in
Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle.
Monarchy
–
Thutmose I, the third
Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.
Monarchy
–
King George III of the United Kingdom, Portrait by
Allan Ramsay, 1762
Monarchy
–
King
Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
26.
Opera
–
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
Opera
–
The performers from the Atlanta Opera sing the finale of
Lucia di Lammermoor. The
opera orchestra is visible in the lowered area in front of the stage.
Opera
–
The
Palais Garnier of the
Paris Opéra, one of the world's most famous
opera houses.
Opera
–
Claudio Monteverdi
Opera
–
George Frideric Handel, 1733
27.
Alessandro Scarlatti
–
Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer, especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera and he was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti. Scarlatti was born in Palermo, then part of the Kingdom of Sicily, the production at Rome of his opera Gli Equivoci nell sembiante gained him the support of Queen Christina of Sweden, and he became her Maestro di Cappella. Here he produced a series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness. In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples and did not return until the Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians, after visiting Venice and Urbino in 1707, Scarlatti took up his duties in Naples again in 1708, and remained there until 1717. His last work on a large scale appears to have been the unfinished serenata for the marriage of the prince of Stigliano in 1723 and he died in Naples in 1725. By 1686 he had established the Italian overture form, and had abandoned the ground bass. His best operas of this period are La Rosaura, and Pirro e Demetrio, in which occur the arias Le Violette, in his opera Teodora he originated the use of the orchestral ritornello. Besides the operas, oratorios and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style and his instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works. Diana Moore, Suzana Ograjensek, Nicholas Phan, Clint van der Linde, Douglas Williams, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs. Dorothea Röschmann, Lawrence Zazzo, Veronica Cangemi, Bernarda Fink, Silvia Tro Santafe, ligia digital, 0202176-07 Le parlement de musique. Ambronay editions, AMY004 Ensemble Europa Galante, virgin Classics,5456662 Academia Bizantina. Harmonia Mundi, HMI987045.46 Seattle Baroque, agora, AG249.1 Akademie für alten Musik Berlin, René Jacobs. Dorothea Röschmann, Graciela Oddone, Richard Croft, René Jacobs, Bernarda Fink, opus 111, OPS 30–129 Ensemble Europa Galante. Opus 111, OPS 30–96 Allesandro Stradella Consort, cantata natalizia Abramo, il tuo sembiante. Philips Classics Productions,434 160-2 I Musici, william Bennett, Lenore Smith, Bernard Soustrot, Hans Elhorst. 12 Sinfonie di Concerto Grosso Philips Box 6769066 Emma Kirkby, soprano and Daniel Taylor, countertenor, ATMA Classique, ACD22237 Francis Colpron, recorder, with Les Boréades. ATMA Classique, ACD22521 Nederlands Kamerkoor, with Harry van der Kamp, vespro della Beata Vergine for 5 voices and continuo
Alessandro Scarlatti
–
Scarlatti as a young man.
Alessandro Scarlatti
–
An autograph manuscript of Scarlatti's
Griselda
28.
Giuseppe Gazzaniga
–
Giuseppe Gazzaniga was a member of the Neapolitan school of opera composers. He composed fifty-one operas and is considered to be one of the last Italian opera buffa composers, born in Verona, Gazzaniga was initially intended for the priesthood at the urging of his devout parents. He eventually convinced his father to him to pursue a career in music and began studies first in Venice. While there, he was a pupil of Niccolò Piccinni and Nicola Porpora, Gazzaniga presented his first opera, il Barone di Trocchia, at the Teatro di San Carlo in 1768. He would spend the several decades writing mostly operas in Italy with the exception of a few trips to Dresden, Vienna. His most successful opera was his Don Giovanni Tenorio written in 1787 to a libretto by Giovanni Bertati and his last opera, Martino Carbonaro o sia Gli sposi fuggitivi, was performed at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice in 1801. He also wrote a symphony and three piano concertos, in 1791, he became musical director of Crema Cathedral in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, where he composed numerous sacred works including several cantatas, oratorios, and masses. He remained in position until his death in 1818. His life and works were the subject of a study by the prominent 19th-century German critic Friedrich Chrysander
Giuseppe Gazzaniga
–
Giuseppe Gazzaniga
29.
Simon Mayr
–
Johann Simon Mayr, also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr, was a German composer. He was born in Mendorf near Altmannstein, Landkreis Eichstätt, Bavaria, shortly thereafter, he took music lessons with Carlo Lenzi, and later with Ferdinando Bertoni. He moved to Bergamo in 1802 and was appointed maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Bergamo and he held the post until his death, and became a central figure in the citys musical life, organizing concerts and introducing Ludwig van Beethovens music there. He was music teacher to Gaetano Donizetti, by the end of his life, he was blind. He died in Bergamo and is buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore there, Mayrs works, among which there are almost seventy operas, are rarely performed today. Label, Opera Rara ORC23 Fedra OEHMS Classics 920 La Rosa Bianca e la Rosa Rossa Fonit Cetra RFCD2007 Verter Bongiovanni GB 2343-4. Sisara Accademia I Filarmonici di Verona, Simon Mayr Chor conducted by Franz Hauk Guild GmbH2004 Medea in Corinto Opera Rara ORC11 Konzertmitschnitte von Werken von Johann Simon Mayr,1983 Franz Hauk, Johann Simon Mayr und Venedig. - ISBN 3-87397-153-4 John Stewart Allitt, Giovanni Simone Mayr - Vita, musica,1995 Mahan Esfahani, Giovanni Simone Mayrs Ginevra di Scozia and the Classical Aesthetic in Early Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera Seria. 2005 Martin Pfeil, Der vergessene Musiker, Johann Simon Mayer
Simon Mayr
–
Johann Simon Mayr
30.
Nicholas Rowe (writer)
–
Nicholas Rowe, English dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer, was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1715. Nicholas Rowe was born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire, England, son of John Rowe, barrister and sergeant-at-law and his family possessed a considerable estate at Lamerton in Devonshire. His father John Rowe, practised law, and published Benlows, the future English poet was educated first at Highgate School, and then at Westminster School under the guidance of Dr. Busby. In 1688, Rowe became a Kings Scholar, which was followed by his entrance into Middle Temple in 1691 and his entrance into Middle Temple was decided upon by his father, who felt that Rowe had made sufficient progress to qualify him to study law. On his fathers death, when he was nineteen, he became the master of an independent fortune and he was left to his own direction, and from that time ignored law to try his hand first at poetry, and then later at writing plays. Rowe married first a daughter of a Mr Parsons and left a son John, by his second wife Anne, née Devenish, he had a daughter Charlotte. Rowe acted as under-secretary to the duke of Queensberry when he was secretary of state for Scotland. On the accession of George I he was made a surveyor of customs and he was also appointed clerk of the council to the Prince of Wales, and in 1718 was nominated by Lord Chancellor Parker as clerk of the presentations in Chancery. He died on 6 December 1718, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, to these, so mourn’d in Death, so lov’d in Life. The childless Parent & the widow’d wife With tears inscribes this monument Stone, upon his death his widow received a pension from George I in 1719 in recognition of her husbands translation of Lucan. The Ambitious Stepmother, Rowes first play, produced in 1700 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by Thomas Betterton and this was followed in 1701 by Tamerlane. In this play the conqueror Timur represented William III, and Louis XIV is denounced as Bajazet and it was for many years regularly acted on the anniversary of Williams landing at Torbay. In Dublin in 1712, at a time when political passions were running high, the Fair Penitent, an adaptation of Massinger and Fields The Fatal Dowry, was pronounced by Dr Johnson as one of the most pleasing tragedies ever written in English. In it occurs the famous character of Lothario, whose name passed into current use as the equivalent of a rake, calista is said to have suggested to Samuel Richardson the character of Clarissa Harlowe, as Lothario suggested Lovelace. In 1704, Rowe tried his hand at comedy, producing The Biter at Lincolns Inn Fields, the play is said to have amused no one except the author, and Rowe returned to tragedy in Ulysses. The story was set in England in an obscure and barbarous age, rodogune was a tragic character, of high spirit and violent passions, yet with a wicked with a soul that would have been heroic if it had been virtuous. The Tragedy of Jane Shore, professedly an imitation of Shakespeares style, was played at Drury Lane with Mrs Oldfield in the role in 1714. It ran for nineteen nights, and kept the stage longer than any other of Rowes works, in the play, which consists chiefly of domestic scenes and private distress, the wife is forgiven because she repents, and the husband is honoured because he forgives
Nicholas Rowe (writer)
–
Nicholas Rowe. Guilt is the source of sorrow, 'tis the fiend, Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind, With whips and stings
31.
Ulysses (poem)
–
Ulysses is a poem in blank verse by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, written in 1833 and published in 1842 in his well-received second volume of poetry. An oft-quoted poem, it is used to illustrate the dramatic monologue form. Facing old age, mythical hero Ulysses describes his discontent and restlessness upon returning to his kingdom, Ithaca, despite his reunion with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus, Ulysses yearns to explore again. The character of Ulysses has been explored widely in literature, the adventures of Odysseus were first recorded in Homers Iliad and Odyssey, and Tennyson draws on Homers narrative in the poem. Most critics, however, find that Tennysons Ulysses recalls Dantes Ulisse in his Inferno, in Dantes re-telling, Ulisse is condemned to hell among the false counsellors, both for his pursuit of knowledge beyond human bounds and for his adventures in disregard of his family. For much of this history, readers viewed Ulysses as resolute and heroic, admiring him for his determination To strive, to seek, to find. The view that Tennyson intended a heroic character is supported by his statements about the poem, in the twentieth century, some new interpretations of Ulysses highlighted potential ironies in the poem. As the poem begins, Ulysses has returned to his kingdom, Ithaca, confronted again by domestic life, Ulysses expresses his lack of contentment, including his indifference toward the savage race whom he governs. His son Telemachus will inherit the throne that Ulysses finds burdensome, There is often a marked contrast between the sentiment of Ulysses words and the sounds that express them. Many of the poems clauses carry over into the following line, the poems seventy lines of blank verse are presented as a dramatic monologue. Scholars disagree on how Ulysses speech functions in this format, it is not necessarily clear to whom Ulysses is speaking, if anyone, and from what location. In this interpretation, the direct and honest language of the first movement is set against the more politically minded tone of the last two movements. For example, the paragraph about Telemachus, in which Ulysses muses again about domestic life, is a revised version for public consumption. The ironic interpretations of Ulysses may be the result of the tendency to consider the narrator of a dramatic monologue as necessarily unreliable. According to critic Dwight Culler, the poem has been a victim of revisionist readings in which the reader expects to reconstruct the truth from a misleading narrators accidental revelations. Tennyson completed the poem on 20 October 1833, but it was not published until 1842, unlike many of Tennysons other important poems, Ulysses was not revised after its publication. Tennyson originally blocked out the poem in four paragraphs, broken before lines 6,33 and 44, in this structure, the first and third paragraphs are thematically parallel, but may be read as interior and exterior monologues, respectively. However, the poem is printed with the first paragraph break omitted
Ulysses (poem)
–
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, author of "Ulysses", portrayed by
George Frederic Watts
Ulysses (poem)
–
In one of
William Blake 's
watercolors (1824–1827) illustrating
Dante 's
Inferno,
Ulysses and
Diomedes are condemned to the
Eighth Circle.
Ulysses (poem)
–
"Satan rises from the burning lake" (1866) by
Gustave Doré; a critical interpretation of the poem compares Ulysses' final sentiments with Satan's "courage never to submit or yield" in
John Milton 's
Paradise Lost.
Ulysses (poem)
–
Tennyson, as
Poet Laureate, used verse to promote
Empire: "Ulysses" has been interpreted as anticipating the concept of
imperialism.
32.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
–
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victorias reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as Break, Break, Break, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Tears, Idle Tears, Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including Idylls of the King, Ulysses, and Tithonus. During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success and he is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England and he was born into a middle-class line of Tennysons, but also had a noble and royal ancestry. His father, George Clayton Tennyson, was rector of Somersby, also rector of Benniworth and Bag Enderby, and vicar of Grimsby. Rev. George Clayton Tennyson raised a family and was a man of superior abilities and varied attainments, who tried his hand with fair success in architecture, painting, music. He was comfortably well off for a clergyman and his shrewd money management enabled the family to spend summers at Mablethorpe. Alfred Tennysons mother, Elizabeth Fytche, was the daughter of Stephen Fytche, vicar of St. James Church, Louth and rector of Withcall, Tennysons father carefully attended to the education and training of his children. Tennyson and two of his brothers were writing poetry in their teens and a collection of poems by all three was published locally when Alfred was only 17. One of those brothers, Charles Tennyson Turner, later married Louisa Sellwood, the sister of Alfreds future wife. Another of Tennysons brothers, Edward Tennyson, was institutionalised at a private asylum, Tennyson was a student of Louth Grammar School for four years and then attended Scaitcliffe School, Englefield Green and King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, where he joined a society called the Cambridge Apostles. A portrait of Tennyson by George Frederic Watts is in Trinitys collection, at Cambridge, Tennyson met Arthur Henry Hallam and William Henry Brookfield, who became his closest friends. His first publication was a collection of his rhymes and those of his elder brother Charles entitled Poems by Two Brothers. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellors Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, reportedly, it was thought to be no slight honour for a young man of twenty to win the chancellors gold medal. He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical in 1830, claribel and Mariana, which later took their place among Tennysons most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day. In the spring of 1831, Tennysons father died, requiring him to leave Cambridge before taking his degree and he returned to the rectory, where he was permitted to live for another six years and shared responsibility for his widowed mother and the family
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
–
1869
Carbon print by
Julia Margaret Cameron
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
–
An illustration by
W. E. F. Britten showing Somersby Rectory, where Tennyson was raised and began writing.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
–
Tennyson with his wife Emily (1813–1896) and his sons Hallam (1852–1928) and Lionel (1854–1886).
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
–
Lord Tennyson.
33.
Ulysses (novel)
–
Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature, according to Declan Kiberd, Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking. Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of a day,16 June 1904. The novel imitates registers of centuries of English literature and is highly allusive, Ulysses is approximately 265,000 words in length and is divided into eighteen episodes. Since publication, the book has attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from early obscenity trials to protracted textual Joyce Wars, Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday. Joyce first encountered the figure of Odysseus/Ulysses in Charles Lambs Adventures of Ulysses—an adaptation of the Odyssey for children, at school he wrote an essay on the character, entitled My Favourite Hero. Joyce told Frank Budgen that he considered Ulysses the only character in literature. Leopold Blooms home at 7 Eccles Street - Episode 4, Calypso, Episode 17, Ithaca, sweny’s pharmacy, Lombard Street, Lincoln Place. Episode 15, Circe Cabman’s shelter, Butt Bridge, - Episode 16, Eumaeus The action of the novel takes place from one side of Dublin Bay to the other, opening in Sandycove to the South of the city and closing on Howth Head to the North. Joyce divided Ulysses into 18 episodes, every episode of Ulysses has a theme, technique and correspondence between its characters and those of the Odyssey. The original text did not include these episode titles and the correspondences, instead, they originate from the Linati, Joyce referred to the episodes by their Homeric titles in his letters. It is 8 a. m. Buck Mulligan, a medical student. The three men eat breakfast and walk to the shore, where Mulligan demands from Stephen the key to the tower, departing, Stephen declares that he will not return to the tower tonight, as Mulligan, the usurper, has taken it over. Stephen is teaching a class on the victories of Pyrrhus of Epirus. After class, one student, Cyril Sargent, stays behind so that Stephen can show him how to do a set of arithmetic exercises, Stephen looks at the ugly face of Sargent and tries to imagine Sargents mothers love for him. Stephen then visits school headmaster Garrett Deasy, from whom he collects his pay, the two discuss Irish history and the role of Jews in the economy. As Stephen leaves, Deasy said that Ireland has never persecuted the Jews because the country never let them in. This episode is the source of some of the novels most famous lines, such as Dedaluss claim that history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake and that God is a shout in the street
Ulysses (novel)
–
1922 first edition cover
Ulysses (novel)
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Ulysses,
Egoist Press, 1922
Ulysses (novel)
–
James Joyce's room in the present-day
James Joyce Tower and Museum
Ulysses (novel)
–
Sandymount Strand looking across Dublin Bay to Howth Head
34.
James Joyce
–
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential, other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners, and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegans Wake. His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, occasional journalism and his published letters, Joyce was born in 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin—about half a mile from his mothers birthplace in Terenure—into a middle-class family on the way down. He went on to attend University College Dublin, in 1904, in his early twenties, Joyce emigrated permanently to continental Europe with his partner Nora Barnacle. They lived in Trieste, Paris and Zurich, Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city. In the particular is contained the universal, James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on 2 February 1882 to John Stanislaus Joyce and Mary Jane May Murray, in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar. He was baptised according to the Rites of the Catholic Church in the nearby St Josephs Church in Terenure on 5 February by Rev. John OMulloy and his godparents were Philip and Ellen McCann. He was the eldest of ten surviving children, two of his siblings died of typhoid and his fathers family, originally from Fermoy in County Cork, had once owned a small salt and lime works. Joyces father and paternal grandfather both married into families, though the familys purported ancestor, Seán Mór Seoighe was a stonemason from Connemara. In 1887, his father was appointed rate collector by Dublin Corporation, around this time Joyce was attacked by a dog, which engendered in him a lifelong cynophobia. He also suffered from astraphobia, as an aunt had described thunderstorms to him as a sign of Gods wrath. In 1891 Joyce wrote a poem on the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Party had dropped Parnell from leadership. But the Vaticans role in allying with the British Conservative Party to prevent Home Rule left an impression on the young Joyce. The elder Joyce had the printed and even sent a part to the Vatican Library. In November of that year, John Joyce was entered in Stubbs Gazette. In 1893, John Joyce was dismissed with a pension, beginning the familys slide into poverty caused mainly by his drinking and general financial mismanagement. Joyce had begun his education at Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare and this came about because of a chance meeting his father had with a Jesuit priest who knew the family and Joyce was given a reduction in fees to attend Belvedere. In 1895, Joyce, now aged 13, was elected to join the Sodality of Our Lady by his peers at Belvedere, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas continued to have a strong influence on him for most of his life
James Joyce
–
Joyce in
Zurich, c. 1918
James Joyce
–
Joyce's birth and baptismal certificate
James Joyce
–
Joyce aged six, 1888
James Joyce
–
Bust of Joyce on
St Stephen's Green, Dublin
35.
Thomas Wolfe
–
Thomas Clayton Wolfe was an American novelist of the early twentieth century. Wolfe wrote four novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic and he became widely known during his own lifetime. After Wolfes death, his contemporary William Faulkner said that Wolfe may have had the best talent of their generation, Wolfes influence extends to the writings of beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, and of authors Ray Bradbury and Philip Roth, among others. He remains an important writer in modern American literature, as one of the first masters of autobiographical fiction, Wolfe was born in Asheville, North Carolina, the youngest of eight children of William Oliver Wolfe and Julia Elizabeth Westall. His siblings were sister Leslie E. Wolfe, Effie Nelson Wolfe, Frank Cecil Wolfe, Mabel Elizabeth Wolfe, Grover Cleveland Wolfe, Benjamin Harrison Wolfe, six of the children lived to adulthood. The Wolfes lived at 92 Woodfin Street, where Tom was born and his father, a successful stone carver, ran a gravestone business. His mother took in boarders and was active in acquiring real estate, in 1904, she opened a boarding house in St. Louis, for the Worlds Fair. While the family was in St. Louis, 12-year-old Grover died of typhoid fever, Wolfe lived in the boarding house on Spruce Street until he went to college in 1916. It is now the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, Wolfe was closest to his brother Ben, whose early death at age 26 is chronicled in Look Homeward, Angel. Julia Wolfe bought and sold many properties, eventually becoming a real estate speculator. Wolfe began to study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when he was 15 years old, aspiring to be a playwright, in 1919 Wolfe enrolled in a playwriting course. His one-act play, The Return of Buck Gavin, was performed by the newly formed Carolina Playmakers, then composed of classmates in Frederick Kochs playwriting class, with Wolfe acting the title role. He edited UNCs student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel and won the Worth Prize for Philosophy for an essay titled The Crisis in Industry, another of his plays, The Third Night, was performed by the Playmakers in December 1919. Wolfe was inducted into the Golden Fleece honor society, Wolfe graduated from UNC with a B. A. in June 1920. In September of that year, he entered the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, two versions of his play The Mountains were performed by Bakers 47 Workshop in 1921. In 1922, Wolfe received his masters degree from Harvard and his father died in Asheville in June of that year, an event that would strongly influence his writing. Wolfe continued to study for year with Baker in the 47 Workshop
Thomas Wolfe
–
Wolfe in 1937, photo by
Carl Van Vechten
Thomas Wolfe
–
Thomas Wolfe House 48 Spruce Street in Asheville
36.
Of Time and the River
–
Of Time and the River is a 1935 novel by American author Thomas Wolfe. Francis Starwick was based on Wolfes friend, playwright Kenneth Raisbeck, the novel was published by Scribners and edited by Maxwell Perkins. A Howard Rodman adaptation of story was presented in the Hallmark Hall of Fame on 4 October 1953. The English composer John McCabes Fourth Symphony is subtitled Of Time and the River
Of Time and the River
–
First edition (publ.
Charles Scribner's Sons)
37.
Joseph Brodsky
–
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad in 1940, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, settling in the United States with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters. He taught thereafter at Mount Holyoke College, and at universities including Yale, Columbia, Cambridge, Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity. He was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991, Brodsky was born into a Jewish family in Leningrad. He was a descendant of a prominent and ancient rabbinic family Schorr and his direct male-line ancestor is Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor. His father, Aleksandr Brodsky, was a photographer in the Soviet Navy. They lived in apartments, in poverty, marginalized by their Jewish status. In early childhood Brodsky survived the Siege of Leningrad where he and his parents died of starvation. He later suffered from health problems caused by the siege. Brodsky commented that many of his teachers were anti-Semitic and that he felt like a dissident from an early age. He noted I began to despise Lenin, even when I was in the first grade, not so much because of his philosophy or practice. As a young student Brodsky was a child known for his misbehavior during classes. At fifteen, Brodsky left school and tried to enter the School of Submariners without success and he went on to work as a milling machine operator. Later, having decided to become a physician, he worked at the morgue at the Kresty Prison and he subsequently held a variety of jobs in hospitals, in a ships boiler room, and on geological expeditions. At the same time, Brodsky engaged in a program of self-education and he learned Polish so he could translate the works of Polish poets such as Czesław Miłosz, and English so that he could translate John Donne. On the way, he acquired a deep interest in philosophy, religion, mythology. In 1955, Brodsky began writing his own poetry and producing literary translations and he circulated them in secret, and some were published by the underground journal Sintaksis. By 1958 he was well known in literary circles for his poems The Jewish cemetery near Leningrad
Joseph Brodsky
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Brodsky in 1988
Joseph Brodsky
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Brodsky teaching at University of Michigan, c. 1972
Joseph Brodsky
–
Grave of Brodsky in the Protestant section of the
Cimiterio di San Michele, Venice, Veneto, Italy
38.
Carole King
–
Carole King is an American composer and singer-songwriter. She is the most successful songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005. Kings career began in the 1960s when she, along with her then husband Gerry Goffin and she has continued writing for other artists since then. Kings success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No.1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her most recent non-compilation album was Live at the Troubadour in 2010 and her records sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and she is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honored. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree, King was born Carol Joan Klein in February 1942 in Manhattan, to a Jewish family. Her mother, Eugenia, was a teacher, and her father and they met in an elevator when they were students at Brooklyn College in 1936. He was majoring in chemistry while her mothers major was English and they married in 1937, during the heights of the Great Depression. Her mother dropped out to run the household while her father also quit college, with the economy struggling, he then took a more secure job as a firefighter in New York. After King was born, they remained in Brooklyn, eventually able to buy a small two-story duplex where they could rent the upstairs for income and her mother had learned how to play piano as a child and, after buying a piano, would sometimes practice. When Carol was four years old, her parents discovered she had developed a sense of relative pitch whereby she could name a note by just hearing it. Her father enjoyed showing off his daughters skill to visiting friends, I enjoyed making my father happy and getting the notes right. Carols mother then began giving her real music lessons when she was four years old and she would climb up on the stool and be raised as yet higher by sitting on a phone book. With her mother sitting alongside, Carol was taught music theory and elementary piano technique, including how to read notation, King wanted to learn as much as possible, My mother never forced me to practice. I wanted so much to master the popular songs that poured out of the radio, Carol began kindergarten when she was four years old, but after her first year she was promoted directly to second grade because she had an exceptional facility with words and numbers. In the 1950s she went to James Madison High School and she formed a band called the Co-Sines, changed her name to Carole King, and made demo records with her friend Paul Simon for $25 a session
Carole King
–
King at a ceremony to receive a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2012
Carole King
–
King circa 1977
Carole King
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Carole King performing aboard
USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean in 2000
Carole King
–
King and
James Taylor performing during their 2010
Troubadour Reunion Tour
39.
Tapestry (album)
–
Tapestry is the second album by American singer-songwriter Carole King, released in 1971 on Ode Records and produced by Lou Adler. It is one of the albums of all time, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide. In the United States, it has been certified Diamond by the RIAA with more than 10 million copies sold and it received four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year. The lead single from the album — Its Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move — spent five weeks at one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts. In 2003, Tapestry was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. King wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, several of which had already been hits for artists such as Aretha Franklins A Natural Woman. Three songs were co-written with Kings ex-husband Gerry Goffin, James Taylor, who encouraged King to sing her own songs and who also played on Tapestry, would later have a number one hit with Youve Got a Friend. Two songs were co-written with Toni Stern, Its Too Late, the album was recorded at Studio B, A&M Recording Studios during January 1971 with the support of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, plus various experienced session musicians. Several of the musicians worked simultaneously on Taylors Mud Slide Slim album, the cover photograph was taken by A&M staff photographer Jim McCrary at Kings Laurel Canyon home. It shows her sitting in a frame, holding a tapestry she hand-stitched herself. The album remained on the Billboard charts for 313 weeks and it still holds the record for most consecutive weeks at number one by a female solo artist. The album has been listed on the Billboard 200 for over 300 weeks between 1971 and 2011, the longest by a solo artist. In terms of time on the charts, it ranks fifth overall, of all the albums by female artists to be certified Diamond, it was the first released, although it was not the first being certified. In 2010, Australian recording artist Marcia Hines recorded a tribute album, in March 2016 it was announced that Carole King would perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London on 3 July 2016. All songs written by Carole King except where noted, –4,13 Smackwater Jack –3,42 Tapestry –3,15 A Natural Woman –3,591999 CD reissue The album was reissued in 1999 on CD, with two previously unreleased bonus tracks. Out in the Cold –2,44 Smackwater Jack –3,212008 Legacy Edition In 2008, Sony/BMG, Epic, where You Lead is the song not included on the live disc. List of best-selling albums Tapestry at Radio3Net Tapestry at AllMusic
Tapestry (album)
–
Tapestry
40.
Ulysses 31
–
Ulysses 31 is a French-Japanese animated television series that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus to the 31st century. The show comprised 26 half-hour episodes and was produced by DIC Audiovisuel in conjunction with anime studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha and this is also the first show produced by DiC Entertainment, now Cookie Jar Entertainment and DHX Media. The plot line of the series describes the struggles of Ulysses and his crew against the divine entities that rule the universe, the ancient gods from Greek mythology. The Gods of Olympus are angered when Ulysses, commander of the giant spaceship Odyssey, kills the giant Cyclops to save a group of enslaved children, including his son. Zeus sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived, along the way they encounter numerous other famous figures from Greek mythology who have been given a futuristic twist. The entire series is available in English in a complete DVD box set in the UK released by Contender Entertainment, in the United States, one DVD entitled Ulysses 31, The Mysteries of Time was released, containing only four selected episodes. The first four episodes were available on Jaroo, an online video site operated by Cookie Jar Entertainment. There are currently no plans to add more episodes, Ulysses Main character and captain of the Odyssey. He achieved the peace before becoming the subject of the Olympian gods revenge. His weapon of choice is a pistol that conceals a blade very similar to the lightsabers in George Lucas Star Wars, complemented by an energy shield. Ulysses is brave, noble, determined, and will stop at nothing to defeat the Gods, Telemachus Son of Ulysses and second in command for most of the voyage. Very beautiful, as described by Yumi in their first encounter and he is a skilled pilot, and his weapon of choice is a hi-tech, energy-ball shooting slingshot. Yumi Thémis in the original French dub, a blue-skinned humanoid alien girl from the white planet, Zotra. She is the sister of Numinor and possesses telepathic powers. She is saved from being sacrificed to the Cyclops, along with Telemachus and her older brother and she also exhibits telekinesis to some extent, as shown in the episodes At the Heart of the Universe and The Lotus Eaters, in addition, she is immune to fire. Although physically very frail, she is intelligent and courageous. Zotrians, aside from blue skin, have hair, pointed ears and slanted eyes with cat-like vertical pupils. Numinor Noumaïos in the original French dub, a Zotrian teenager and older brother of Yumi
Ulysses 31
41.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
–
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is one of the largest reference works on Western music, in recent years it has been made available as an electronic resource called Grove Music Online, which is now an important part of Oxford Music Online. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians was first published in four volumes edited by George Grove with an Appendix edited by J. A. Fuller Maitland in the fourth volume, an Index edited by Mrs. E. Wodehouse was issued as a separate volume in 1890. In 1900, minor corrections were made to the plates and the series was reissued in four volumes. The original edition and the reprint are now available online. Grove limited the chronological span of his work to begin at 1450 while continuing up to the present day, the second edition, in five volumes, was edited by Fuller Maitland and published from 1904 to 1910, this time as Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The individual volumes of the edition were reprinted many times. An American Supplement edited by Waldo Selden Pratt and Charles N. Boyd was added in 1920 and this edition removed the first editions beginning date of 1450, though important earlier composers and theorists are still missing from this edition. These volumes are now freely available online. The third edition, also in five volumes, was a revision of the 2nd edition. The fourth edition, also edited by Colles, was published in 1940 in five volumes, in addition to the American Supplement, MacMillan also published a Supplementary Volume edited by Colles. The fifth edition, in nine volumes, was edited by Eric Blom and this was the most thoroughgoing revision of the work since its inception, with many articles rewritten in a more modern style and a large number of entirely new articles. Many of the articles were written by Blom personally, or translated by him, an additional Supplementary Volume, prepared for the most part by Eric Blom, followed in 1961. Blom died in 1959, and the Supplementary Volume was completed by Denis Stevens, the fifth edition was reprinted in 1966,1968,1970,1973, and 1975. The next edition was published in 1980 under the name The New Grove Dictionary of Music and its senior editor was Stanley Sadie with Nigel Fortune also serving as one of the main editors for the publication. It was reprinted with minor corrections each subsequent year until 1995, in the mid-1990s, the hardback set sold for about $2,300. A paperback edition was reprinted in 1995 which sold for $500, the second edition under this title was published in 2001, in 29 volumes. It was also available by subscription on the internet in a service called Grove Music Online
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
–
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
42.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
43.
Eurycleia
–
In Greek mythology, Eurycleia, or Euryclea, is the daughter of Ops and granddaughter of Peisenor, as well as the wet-nurse of Odysseus. As a girl she was bought by Laertes, Odysseus father and he treated her as his wife, but she was never his consummated lover so as not to dishonor his real wife, Anticleia. Eurycleias name means broad fame, while Anticleia means anti-fame, the tension between the meanings of Eurycleias name and Anticleias name reflects the tension between the three pillars of Odysseus life. He was born to Anticleia, a woman, but was nursed by Eurycleia. Odysseus fame comes from his role as a noble hero paralleled to his role as an anonymous beggar. His heroism is essential for capturing Troy, his skills as an orator and schemer as well as his strength, however, he takes on the role of a beggar not once, but twice. He first appears as a beggar to sneak into Troy and kill unsuspecting Trojan soldiers, in many ways, his role as a beggar, especially when he returns to Ithaca is far more meaningful. Eurycleia is the person to recognize him without him first revealing himself after he returns home from the Trojan War. Odysseus stops her from telling Penelope or anyone else in the house of his identity, Gripping her by the throat he says, Nanny. Or. I will not spare even you my nurse, when I kill the women in this house. Eurycleia also informs Odysseus which of his servant girls had been unfaithful to Penelope during his absence, conspiring with Penelopes suitors and his son Telemachus hangs the twelve that Eurycleia identifies. Later, Eurycleia informs Penelope that Odysseus has returned, but Penelope does not believe the maid and she finally accepts that her husband has returned. In addition, it was Eurycleia who gives provisions and supplies to Telemachus from the storehouse before he leaves for Pylos to seek news about Odysseus. She takes an oath not to tell Penelope he had left until 12 days had passed, canada, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.2000. Media related to Euryclea at Wikimedia Commons
Eurycleia
–
Odysseus and Eurycleia, by
Christian Gottlob Heyne
44.
Mentor (Odyssey)
–
In the Odyssey, Mentor was the son of Alcimus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus palace, when Athena visited Telemachus she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachuss mother Penelope. As Mentor, the goddess encouraged Telemachus to stand up against the suitors, when Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena appeared briefly in the form of Mentor again at Odysseus palace. Athenas appearance as Mentor should not be confused with her appearance as Mentes in the first book of the Odyssey. The first recorded usage of the term can be traced to a 1699 book entitled Les Aventures de Télémaque. This book was popular during the 18th century and the modern application of the term can be traced to this publication. Homer’s Mentor, Duties Fulfilled or Misconstrued—An on-line version of Andy Roberts paper
Mentor (Odyssey)
–
Telemachus and Mentor in the Odyssey
45.
Argos (dog)
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In Homers Odyssey, Argos is Odysseus faithful dog. After ten years fighting in Troy, followed by ten more years struggling to get home to Ithaca, in his absence, reckless suitors have taken over his house in hopes of marrying his wife Penelope. In order to secretly re-enter his house to ultimately spring an attack on the suitors, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar. As Odysseus approaches his home, he finds Argos lying neglected on a pile of cow manure, infested with lice, old and this is a sharp contrast to the dog Odysseus left behind, Argos used to be known for his speed and strength and his superior tracking skills. Unlike everyone else, including Eumaios, a friend, Argos recognizes Odysseus at once and he has just enough strength to drop his ears and wag his tail. Unable to greet his beloved dog, as this would betray who he really was, Odysseus passes by and enters his hall, the simplicity of the relationship between Argos and Odysseus allows their reunion to be immediate and sincere. As they were speaking, a dog that had been lying asleep raised his head and this was Argos, whom Odysseus had bred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any enjoyment from him. As soon as he saw Odysseus standing there, he dropped his ears and wagged his tail and this dog, answered Eumaios, belonged to him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Odysseus left for Troy, there was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone, servants never do their work when their masters hand is no longer over them, for Zeus takes half the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him. So saying he entered the mansion, and made straight for the riotous pretenders in the hall. But Argos passed into the darkness of death, now that he had fulfilled his destiny of faith, jurassic Bark — an episode of Futurama with thematic elements similar to those of Odysseus and Argos, involving Fry and his dog waiting for him till his death
Argos (dog)
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Odysseus and Argos
46.
Alcinous
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Alcinous was, in Greek mythology, a son of Nausithous, or of Phaeax, and father of Nausicaa, Halius, Clytoneus and Laodamas with Arete. His name literally means mighty mind and he married his brother Rhexenors daughter after Rhexenor was killed. In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, Alcinous is represented as living with his wife Arete in Drepane, the Argonauts, on their return from Colchis, came to his island, and were hospitably received. The Colchians were obliged, by the contrivance of Arete, to depart without their princess, and he was also the King of the Phaeacians. According to Homer, Alcinous is the ruler of the Phaiacians in the island of Scheria. JC Loudon on the Garden of Alcinous
Alcinous
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Odysseus at the court of Alcinous by
Francesco Hayez.
47.
Scheria
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Before leaving Ogygia, Odysseus builds a raft and sails eastwards, instructed by Calypso to navigate using the stars as a celestial reference point. On the eighteenth day appear the shadowy mountains of the land of the Phaeacians, but Poseidon spots his raft and seeking vengeance for his son Polyphemus who was blinded by Odysseus, produces a storm that torments Odysseus. After three days of struggle with the waves, he is washed up on Scheria. The next morning, Nausicaa and her maids go to the seashore, Odysseus, who was exhausted from his adventure and was sleeping nearby, is awakened by the shouts. He covers his nakedness with leaves and goes to ask for help from the team. Upon seeing the unkempt Odysseus in this state, the run away. To excuse the maids, she admits that the Phaeacians are the farthermost of men, Nausicaa, being hospitable, provides clothes, food and drink to Odysseus, and then directs him to the palace of King Alcinous. Following Nausicaas orders, Odysseus sought to enter the palace of King Alcinous and plead for mercy from the queen, Arete, on his way to the palace, Odysseus meets Athena disguised as a local girl. In her disguised state, Athena advises him about how to enter the palace, Athena, knowledgeable that the Phaeacians were hostile towards men from the outlands, cloaked Odysseus in a mist that hid him from the Phaeacians gaze. Under Athenas protection, Odysseus passes through all of the systems of the palace. Odysseus throws his arms around the legs and supplicates her. Naturally, Alcinous and his court are surprised to see a stranger walking into their secured palace, the walls of the palace are made of bronze that shines like the sun and is secured with gates made of gold. Within the walls, there is a magnificent garden with apple, pear, the palace is even equipped with a lighting system comprising golden statues of young men bearing torches. After Odysseus tells Alcinous and his court the story of his adventures after the Trojan War and they were quite different from the penteconters, the ships used during the Trojan War, and they were steered by thought. King Alcinous says that Phaeacians carried Rhadamanthus to Euboea, which is the furthest of any place and he also explains to Odysseus what sort of information the Phaeacian ships require in order to take him home to Ithaca. Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that our ships may shape their purpose accordingly, Homer describes the Phaeacian ships as fast as a falcon and gives a vivid description of the ships departure. The ship bounded forward on her way as a four in hand chariot flies over the course when the horses feel the whip and her prow curvetted as it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark blue water seethed in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon, swiftest of all birds, many ancient and modern interpreters favour identification of Scheria with the island of Corfu, which is within 110 km of Ithaca
Scheria
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Odysseus before Nausicaa. A 1619 painting by
Pieter Lastman.
Scheria
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Odysseus at the palace of
Alcinous. Painting by
Francesco Hayez
Scheria
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Odysseus departs from the Land of the Pheacians. Painting by
Claude Lorrain
48.
Pylos
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Pylos, historically also known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and it was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Pyla, Elaiofyto, Schinolakka, the town of Pylos has 2,767 inhabitants, the municipal unit of Pylos 5,287. The municipal unit has an area of 143.911 km2, Pylos has a long history, having been inhabited since Neolithic times. It was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called Palace of Nestor excavated nearby, named after Nestor, in Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Pylos is scarcely mentioned thereafter until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea, increasingly known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site. Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, the Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, and built the New Navarino fortress there. It takes that name from the surrounding the place. A Greek one, Avarinos, later shortened to Varinos or lengthened to Anavarinos by epenthesis, in the late 14th/early 15th centuries, when it was held by the Navarrese Company, it was also known as Château Navarres, and called Spanochori by the local Greeks. Under Ottoman rule, the Turkish name was Anavarin, after the construction of the new Ottoman fortress in 1571/2, it became known as Neokastro among the local Greeks, while the old Frankish castle became known as Palaiokastro. The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the production of an abundance of squills, which are used in medicine. The remains of Navarino, consist of a fort, covering the summit of a hill sloping quickly to the south, the Gialova wetland is a regional blessing of nature. It is one of 10 major lagoons in Greece, and has been classified as one of the important bird areas in Europe. It has also listed as a 1500-acre archaeological site, lying between Gialova and the bay of Voidokilia. Its alternative name of Vivari is Latin, meaning fishponds and it is Gialova, too, which plays host to a vary rare species, nearing extinction throughout Europe, the African chameleon. Pylos has evidence of human presence dating back to the Neolithic Age. Bronze Age Pylos was excavated by Carl Blegen between 1939 and 1952 and it is located at modern Ano Englianos, about 9 km north-east of the bay 37. 028°N21. 695°E /37.028,21.695
Pylos
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The bay of Pylos.
Pylos
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Pylos from the north
Pylos
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Mycenean tomb,
Palace of Nestor
Pylos
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The port
49.
Sparta
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Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
Sparta
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Territory of ancient Sparta
Sparta
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Hollow Lacedaemon. Site of the Menelaion, the ancient shrine to Helen and Menelaus constructed in the Bronze Age city that stood on the hill of
Therapne on the left bank of the
Eurotas River overlooking the future site of Dorian Sparta. Across the valley the successive ridges of Mount
Taygetus are in evidence.
Sparta
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Eurotas River
Sparta
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The theater of ancient Sparta with
Mt. Taygetus in the background.
50.
Agamemnon
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Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was taken to Troy by Paris, upon Agamemnons return from Troy, he was murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra herself does the killing, or they act together as accomplices, Atreus, Agamemnons father, murdered the children of his twin brother Thyestes and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes adultery with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter, Pelopia, and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus children, Aegisthus successfully murdered Atreus and restored his father to the throne. Aegisthus took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with Thyestes, during this period Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta. There they respectively married Tyndareus daughters Clytemnestra and Helen, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children, one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brothers assistance, drove out Aegisthus and he extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece. Thus misfortune hounded successive generations of the House of Atreus, until atoned by Orestes in a court of justice held jointly by humans, Agamemnon gathered the reluctant Greek forces to sail for Troy. Preparing to depart from Aulis, which was a port in Boeotia, misfortunes, including a plague and a lack of wind, prevented the army from sailing. Finally, the prophet Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be propitiated by the sacrifice of Agamemnons daughter Iphigenia and her death appeased Artemis, and the Greek army set out for Troy. Several alternatives to the human sacrifice have been presented in Greek mythology, hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate. Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War, during the fighting, Agamemnon killed Antiphus and fifteen other Trojan soldiers. The Iliad tells the story about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the year of the war. Following one of the Achaean Armys raids, Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, Chryses pleaded with Agamemnon to free his daughter but was met with little success. Chryses then prayed to Apollo for the return of his daughter. After learning from the Prophet Calchas that the plague could be dispelled by returning Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon reluctantly agreed, however, as compensation for his lost prize, Agamemnon demanded a new prize. As a result, Agamemnon stole an attractive slave called Briseis, one of the spoils of war, Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, withdrew from battle in response to Agamemnons supposedly evil deed and allegedly put the Greek armies at risk of losing the war. Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon was a representative of kingly authority, as commander-in-chief, he summoned the princes to the council and led the army in battle
Agamemnon
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The
Mask of Agamemnon which was discovered by
Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at
Mycenae, now believed to pre-date the legendary Trojan War.
Agamemnon
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Orestes slaying
Clytemnestra
Media related to Telemachus at Wikimedia Commons
