1.
Heracles
–
Heracles, born Alcaeus or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of clans who claimed to be Heracleidae. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him, together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a figure who used games to relax from his labors. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have made the safe for mankind. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles and his figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known. Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, the core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. Heracles role as a hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling, was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left, in Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, what is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment of Ptolemys descriptions of the island of Malta attempted to link the site at Ras ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles, several ancient cities were named Heraclea in his honor. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, thus, Heracles very existence proved at least one of Zeus many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus mortal offspring as revenge for her husbands infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, was Iphicles, Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus
Heracles
–
One of the most famous depictions of Heracles, originally by
Lysippos (Marble, Roman copy called Hercules Farnese, 216 CE)
Heracles
–
Greek Mythology
Heracles
–
Heracles capturing the
Cretan bull.
Heracles
–
The Origin of the Milky Way by
Jacopo Tintoretto
2.
Cyparissus
–
In Greek mythology, Cyparissus or Kyparissos was a boy beloved by Apollo, or in some versions by other deities. In the best-known version of the story, the companion of Cyparissus was a tamed stag. The boys grief was such that it transformed him into a cypress tree, the myth is thus aetiological in explaining the relation of the tree to its cultural significance. Cyparissus was the son of Telephus, and his story is set in Chios, the subject is mainly known from Hellenized Latin literature and frescoes from Pompeii. No Greek hero cult devoted to Cyparissus has been identified, the myth of Cyparissus, like that of Hyacinthus, has often been interpreted as reflecting the social custom of pederasty in ancient Greece, with the boy the beloved of Apollo. Pederastic myth represents the process of initiation into adult life, with a death. In all these tales, notes Karl Kerenyi, the boys are doubles of himself. The stag as a gift from Apollo reflects the custom in Archaic Greek society of the male giving his beloved an animal. In the initiatory context, the hunt is a preparation for the manly arts of war. The tameness of the deer may be the invention of the Augustan poet Ovid, ovids Cyparissus is so grief-stricken at accidentally killing his pet that he asks Apollo to let his tears fall forever. The god then turns the boy into a tree, whose sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk. Ovid frames the tale within the story of Orpheus, whose failure to retrieve his bride Eurydice from the causes him to forsake the love of women in favor of that of boys. Another Roman tradition makes the lover out to be the woodland god Silvanus, an invocation by Virgil of Silvanus who bears the slender cypress uprooted was explained in the commentary of Servius as alluding to a love affair. When Silvanus unintentionally killed her, the boy was consumed by sorrow, the lover-god turned him into the tree that has his name, which he is said to carry as a consolation. It is unclear whether Servius is inventing an aition, a story to explain why Silvanus was depicted holding an evergreen bough, elsewhere, Servius mentions a version in which the lover of Cyparissus was Zephyrus, the West Wind. The cypress, he notes, was associated with the underworld, either because they dont grow back when pruned too severely, the word Cupressus was used to describe a genus of cypress trees, this genus was first described in the 18th century by the Swedish biologist Linnaeus. In modern times there is a debate regarding which species should be retained in the genus Cupressus. Media related to Cyparissus at Wikimedia Commons
Cyparissus
–
Cyparissus (1670s) by
Jacopo Vignali: the boy mourns his pet deer (
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
Cyparissus
–
Apollo,
Hyacinthus and Cyparissus Making Music and Singing by
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
Cyparissus
–
Three scenes from the myth of Cyparissus on 16th-century
lusterware by
Giorgio Andreoli; the god who embraces the transforming youth holds a branch in his hand
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.
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
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
5.
Tegea
–
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, the municipal unit has an area of 118.350 km2. Its seat was the village Stadio, the reputed prehistoric founder of Tegea was Tegeates, a son of Lycaon. Ancient Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece, containing the Temple of Athena Alea, the temenos was founded by Aleus, Pausanias was informed. Votive bronzes at the site from the Geometric and Archaic periods take the forms of horses and deer, there are sealstones, in the Archaic period the nine villages that underlie Tegea banded together in a synoecism to form one city. Tegea was listed in Homers Catalogue of Ships as one of the cities that contributed ships, in the 4th century Tegea joined the Arcadian League and struggled to free itself from Sparta. The Temple of Athena Alea burned in 394 BC and was rebuilt, to designs by Scopas of Paros. Pausanias visited the city in the 2nd century CE, the tombs he saw there were shrines to the chthonic founding daemones, There are also tombs of Tegeates, the son of Lycaon, and of Maira, his wife. Maira was a daughter of Atlas, and Homer makes mention of her in the passage where Odysseus tells to Alkinous his journey to Hades, the city retained civic life under the Roman Empire, Tegea survived being sacked by the Goths in AD 395–396. In the Middle Ages, through some process, Tegea received the name of Amyklion by the 10th century. In 1082, it became the seat of the Diocese of Amyclae, Nikli and the rest of Arcadia were captured by the Crusaders in c. 1206–09, becoming part of the new Frankish Principality of Achaea, the Chronicle of the Morea depicts Nikli as a site of some importance and fortified, which fell to the Crusaders only after a siege. It became the seat of a barony, while a Roman Catholic bishop was installed in the episcopal see. Nikli was still in Frankish hands in 1280, but was lost to the resurgent Byzantines by 1302, the site of ancient Tegea is now located within the modern village of Alea. Alea is located about 10 kilometers southeast of Tripoli, the municipality of Tegea has its seat at Stadio. Yet the Cretans denied this, instead tried to portray these three characters as the offspring of the local heroes Minos and Rhadamantus. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe, Η μετά της επισκοπής Αμυκλών ένωσις της πατριαρχικής εξαρχίας Τριπολιτζάς. Deltion of the Christian Archaeological Society, Συμβολή στην ιστορική γεωγραφία της Αρκαδίας
Tegea
–
The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea
6.
Eurypylus
–
In Greek mythology, Eurypylus /jᵿˈrɪpᵻləs/ was the name of several different people. Of them the best known are two participants in the Trojan War, one on the side of the Achaeans, and the other on the side of the Trojans, Eurypylus was a Thessalian king, son of Euaemon and Ops. Another source gives his mothers name as either Deipyle or Deityche, alternate genealogies made him a son of Hyperochus and father of Ormenus. Eurypylus led the Thessalians during the Trojan War being a former suitor of Helen and he led one of the larger contingents of ships,40. He fought valiantly and is listed amongst the first rank of Greek heroes such as Idomeneus, Diomedes, Ajax. In the Iliad he was one of several to accept Hectors challenge to single combat and this happened in the same book that all the other major Achaean warriors were wounded and put out of action. When he withdrew from battle, his wounds were tended by Patroclus and he was also one of the Greeks to enter the Trojan Horse. Eurypylus survived the Trojan War, his destiny as described by Pausanias was as follows. After the war, Eurypylus got a chest as part of his victory spoils, the chest was abandoned by Aeneas when he fled from Troy, or was intentionally left behind by Cassandra who placed a curse on it to whichever Greek would open the chest. Inside the chest was an image of Dionysus, made by Hephaestus, when Eurypylus opened the chest he went mad. During a period of sanity he went to Delphi to seek a cure for his malady, the priestess told him to find a people making an unusual sacrifice and settle there. Eventually he came to Aroe, where he found people sacrificing a youth and a maiden to Artemis, to propitiate the goddess for the crime of Comaetho and Melanippus, who had polluted her shrine. The people of the town recognised him as a leader an oracle had said would come to them and bring about an image and cult of a foreign deity, after this Eurypylus regained his sanity and the people of Patrae no longer needed to make human sacrifices. His tomb was in the city, and after the events the people of the area sacrificed to him as a hero at the festival of Dionysus, Eurypylus was son of Telephus and Astyoche. Some write of Astyoche as his rather than mother. At the request of Priam, Astyoche bribed him with a vine to fight on the side of the Trojans during the end of the Trojan War in command of a group of Mysians and Ceteians. Priam himself was encouraging Eurypylus to assist Troy in the war by sending him various precious gifts, Eurypylus was noted both for being one of the most handsome men ever and for fighting valiantly. He killed a number of opponents, including Machaon and Nireus and was killed by Neoptolemus
Eurypylus
–
Neoptolemus killing Eurypylus,
attic black-figure
amphora by the
Antimenes Painter, ca. 510 BC, Martin von Wagner Museum (L 309).
7.
Mysia
–
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia. It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara and it was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north. In ancient times it was inhabited by the Mysians, Phrygians, Aeolian Greeks, the precise limits of Mysia are difficult to assign. The Phrygian frontier was fluctuating, while in the northwest the Troad was only included in Mysia. The northern portion was known as Lesser Phrygia or Phrygia Minor, Mysia was in later times also known as Phrygia Hellespontica or Phrygia Epictetus, so named by the Attalids when they annexed the region to the Kingdom of Pergamon. The Caïcus in the rises in Temnus, and from thence flows westward to the Aegean Sea. In the northern portion of the province are two lakes, Artynia or Apolloniatis and Aphnitis, which discharge their waters into the Macestus from the east and west respectively. The most important cities were Pergamon in the valley of the Caïcus, further south, on the Eleatic Gulf, were Elaea, Myrina and Cyme. A minor episode in the Trojan War cycle in Greek mythology has the Greek fleet land at Mysia, Achilles wounds their king, Telephus, after he slays a Greek, Telephus later pleads with Achilles to heal the wound. This coastal region ruled by Telephus is alternatively named Teuthrania in Greek mythology, in the Iliad, Homer represents the Mysians as allies of Troy, with the Mysian forces led by Ennomus and Chromius, sons of Arsinous. Homeric Mysia appears to have much smaller in extent than historical Mysia. Homer does not mention any cities or landmarks in Mysia, and it is not clear exactly where Homeric Mysia was situated, there are a number of Mysian inscriptions in a dialect of the Phrygian language, in a variant of the Phrygian alphabet. There are also a number of references to a Lutescan language indigenous to Mysia in Aeolic Greek sources. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles Paul, Silas, the narrative suggests that they were uncertain where to travel during this part of the journey, being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Shortly afterwards Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia who invited the apostles to travel westwards to Macedonia
Mysia
–
Coin of Mysia, 4th century BCE.
Mysia
–
Mysia
8.
Asia Minor
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Asia Minor
–
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Asia Minor
–
The location of
Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the
European continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the
Asian part of Turkey, except the eastern parts historically known as the
Armenian Highlands
Asia Minor
–
1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms
Asia Minor
–
Mural of
aurochs, a
deer, and humans in
Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. It was registered as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
9.
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.
10.
Herculaneum
–
Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. Its ruins are located in the commune of Ercolano, Campania and it had been thought until then that the town had been evacuated by the inhabitants. Herculaneum was a town than Pompeii, possessing an extraordinary density of fine houses with, for example. Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles, in fact, it seems that some forefathers of the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BC. Soon after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading post because of its proximity to the Gulf of Naples, the Greeks named the city Ἡράκλειον, Heraklion. In the 4th century BC, Herculaneum again came under the domination of the Samnites. The city remained under Samnite control until it became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having participated in the Social War, it was defeated by Titus Didius, a legate of Sulla. After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the town of Herculaneum was buried under approximately 20 metres of ash, excavations continued sporadically up to the present and today many streets and buildings are visible, although over 75% of the town remains buried. Today, the Italian towns of Ercolano and Portici lie on the site of Herculaneum. Until 1969 the town of Ercolano was called Resina and it changed its name to Ercolano, the Italian modernization of the ancient name in honour of the old city. The inhabitants worshipped above all Hercules, who was believed to be the founder of both the town and Mount Vesuvius, Other important deities worshipped include Venus and Apollo. The catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius occurred on the afternoon of 24 August 79 AD, because Vesuvius had been dormant for approximately 800 years, it was no longer even recognized as a volcano. Based on archaeological excavations and on two letters of Pliny the Younger to the Roman historian Tacitus, the course of the eruption can be reconstructed, at around 1pm on 24 August, Vesuvius began spewing volcanic ash and stone thousands of meters into the sky. When it reached the tropopause, the top of the cloud flattened, the prevailing winds at the time blew toward the southeast, causing the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. Since Herculaneum lay to the west of Vesuvius, it was only affected by the first phase of the eruption. While roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of falling debris, only a few centimetres of ash fell on Herculaneum, causing little damage, during the following night, the eruptive column which had risen into the stratosphere collapsed onto Vesuvius and its flanks. The first pyroclastic surge, formed by a mixture of ash and hot gases, a succession of six flows and surges buried the citys buildings, causing little damage in some areas and preserving structures, objects and victims almost intact. In 1709 the digging of a deep well revealed some exceptional statues at the lowest levels which was found to be the site of the theatre
Herculaneum
–
The excavations of Ercolano
Herculaneum
–
Beginning in 1757, the eight volumes of
Le Antichità di Ercolano brought knowledge of Pompeii and Herculaneum to the fore.
Herculaneum
–
Plan of the excavations of Herculaneum
Herculaneum
–
For the modern Italian commune, see
Ercolano. For the pottery works, see
Herculaneum Works.
11.
Oracle
–
In classical antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination, the word oracle comes from the Latin verb ōrāre to speak and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, oracle may also refer to the site of the oracle, Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense they were different from seers who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, the most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia, priestess to Apollo at Delphi, and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus. Other temples of Apollo were located at Didyma on the coast of Asia Minor, at Corinth and Bassae in the Peloponnese, the Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in frenzied states. Walter Burkert observes that Frenzied women from whose lips the god speaks are recorded in the Near East as in Mari in the second millennium BC, in Egypt the goddess Wadjet was depicted as a snake-headed woman or a woman with two snake-heads. Her oracle was in the temple in Per-Wadjet. The oracle of Wadjet may have been the source for the tradition which spread from Egypt to Greece. Evans linked Wadjet with the Minoan snake goddess, a chthonic deity, in Greece the old oracles were devoted to the Mother Goddess. At the oracle of Dodona she will be called Diōnē, who represents the earth-fertile soil, python, daughter of Gaia was the earth dragon of Delphi represented as a serpent and became the chthonic deity, enemy of Apollo, who slew her and possessed the oracle. The Pythia was the mouthpiece of the oracles of the god Apollo, the Pythia was not conceived to be infallible and in fact, according to Sourvinou-Inwood in What is Polis Religion. The ancient Greeks were aware of this and concluded the unknowability of the divine, in this way, the ‘revelations’ of the Oracles were not seen as ‘objective’ truth. Many wealthy individuals bypassed the hordes of people attempting a consultation by making additional animal sacrifices to please the oracle lest their request go unanswered, as a result, seers were the main source of everyday divination. It is from this institution that the English word, oracle, is derived, the Delphic Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout Hellenic culture. Distinctively, this female was essentially the highest authority both civilly and religiously in male-dominated ancient Greece and she responded to the questions of citizens, foreigners, kings, and philosophers on issues of political impact, war, duty, crime, laws—even personal issues. The semi-Hellenic countries around the Greek world, such as Lydia, Caria, Croesus, king of Lydia beginning in 560 B. C. tested the oracles of the world to discover which gave the most accurate prophecies. He sent out emissaries to seven sites who were all to ask the oracles on the day what the king was doing at that very moment. Croesus proclaimed the oracle at Delphi to be the most accurate, who reported that the king was making a lamb-and-tortoise stew
Oracle
–
Oracle bone of the
Shang Dynasty, ancient China
Oracle
–
Consulting the Oracle by
John William Waterhouse, showing eight priestesses in a temple of prophecy.
12.
Athena Alea
–
Alea was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, prominent in Arcadian mythology, under which she was worshiped at Alea, Mantineia and Tegea. Alea was initially an independent goddess, but was eventually assimilated with Athena, the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, which was the oldest, was said to have been built by Aleus the son of Apheidas, from whom the goddess probably derived this epithet. The statue of the goddess, which was made by Endoeus all of ivory, was carried to Rome by Augustus to adorn the Forum of Augustus. The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea was an ancient and revered asylum, the priestess of Athena Alea at Tegea was always a maiden, who held her office only until she reached the age of puberty. On the road from Sparta to Therapne there was likewise a statue of Athena Alea and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. article name needed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, temple of Athena Alea at Tegea at the Athena Museum
Athena Alea
–
The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea
13.
Pergamon Altar
–
The structure is 35.64 metres wide and 33.4 metres deep, the front stairway alone is almost 20 metres wide. The base is decorated with a frieze in relief showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy. There is a second, smaller and less well-preserved high relief frieze on the inner court walls which surround the fire altar on the upper level of the structure at the top of the stairs. In a set of scenes, it depicts events from the life of Telephus, legendary founder of the city of Pergamon and son of the hero Heracles and Auge. In 1878, the German engineer Carl Humann began official excavations on the acropolis of Pergamon, the excavation was undertaken in order to rescue the altar friezes and expose the foundation of the edifice. Later, other ancient structures on the acropolis were brought to light, upon negotiating with the Turkish government, it was agreed that all frieze fragments found at the time would become the property of the Berlin museums. In Berlin, Italian restorers reassembled the panels comprising the frieze from the thousands of fragments that had been recovered, in order to display the result and create a context for it, a new museum was erected in 1901 on Berlins Museum Island. Because this first Pergamon Museum proved to be inadequate and structurally unsound, it was demolished in 1909 and replaced with a much larger museum. This new museum is open to the public on the island. The exhibit is scheduled to reopen in late 2019 or early 2020, the Pergamene kingdom founded by Philetaerus at the beginning of the 3rd century BC was initially part of the Hellenistic Seleucid empire. Attalus I, successor and nephew of Eumenes I, was the first to achieve independence for the territory. This victory over the Galatians, a threat to the Pergamene kingdom, secured his power, with conquests in Asia Minor at the expense of the weakened Seleucids he could briefly increase the size of his kingdom. A Seleucid counteroffensive under Antiochos III reached the gates of Pergamon, since the Seleucids were becoming stronger in the east, Attalus turned his attention westward to Greece and was able to occupy almost all of Euboea. His son, Eumenes II, further limited the influence of the Galatians and ruled alongside his brother Attalus II, in 188 BC, Eumenes II was able to create the Treaty of Apamea as an ally of Rome, thus reducing the influence of the Seleucids in Asia Minor. The Attalids were thus an emerging power with the desire to demonstrate their importance to the world through the construction of imposing buildings. As is the case with most young dynasties, the Attalids sought to anchor their legitimacy with endowments, the imposing altar accordingly had also a political dimension. In the meantime, later datings relating the altar to archaeological findings, investigation of the altars construction and friezes has led to the conclusion that it was not conceived as a monument to a particular victory. The design of Pergamene victory monuments is known from the literature, the scanty remnants of the dedicatory inscription also seem to indicate that the altar was consecrated to the gods because of favors they had bestowed
Pergamon Altar
–
The western side of the Pergamon Altar as reconstructed in the
Pergamon Museum in
Berlin.
Pergamon Altar
–
Karl Humann's 1881 plan of the Pergamon acropolis
Pergamon Altar
–
Larger-than-life sculptured head presumably of
Attalus I, from early in the reign of
Eumenes II.
Pergamon Altar
–
Model of the 2nd century BC Pergamon acropolis in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which includes the Roman additions. The altar is on a terrace near the center with its stairway facing left (west)
14.
Teuthras
–
In Greek mythology, Teuthras was a king of Mysia, and mythological eponym of the town of Teuthrania. He received Auge, the mother of Telephus, and either married her or adopted her as his own daughter. Later on, Idas was attempting to dethrone Teuthras and take possession of his kingdom. Telephus, who had previously instructed by the Delphian oracle to sail to Mysia if he wanted to find out who his mother was, arrived in time to provide aid for Teuthras. He and Auge then recognized each other, Teuthras gave Telephus his daughter Argiope to wife and, since he had no male children, pronounced him successor to the kingdom of Mysia. In other versions of the myth, Auge and the young Telephus were not separated, there even existed a version that made Teuthras biological father of Telephus by Auge
Teuthras
–
Teuthras finds Auge on the Beach; from the Telephos frieze of the
Pergamon Altar at the
Antikensammlung /
Pergamonmuseum in
Berlin
15.
Thebes, Greece
–
Thebes is a city in Boeotia, central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a Mycenaean settlement and clay tablets written in the Linear B script, Thebes was the largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia and was the leader of the Boeotian confederacy. It was a rival of ancient Athens, and sided with the Persians during the 480 BC invasion under Xerxes. Theban forces ended the power of Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC under the command of Epaminondas, the Sacred Band of Thebes famously fell at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC against Philip II and Alexander the Great. Prior to its destruction by Alexander in 335 BC, Thebes was a force in Greek history. During the Byzantine period, the city was famous for its silks, the modern city contains an Archaeological Museum, the remains of the Cadmea, and scattered ancient remains. Modern Thebes is the largest town of the unit of Boeotia. Thebes is situated in a plain, between Lake Yliki to the north, and the Cithaeron mountains, which divide Boeotia from Attica and its elevation is 215 metres above mean sea level. It is about 50 kilometres northwest of Athens, and 100 kilometres southeast of Lamia, motorway 1 and the Athens–Thessaloniki railway connect Thebes with Athens and northern Greece. The municipality of Thebes covers an area of 830.112 square kilometres, the unit of Thebes 321.015 square kilometres. In 2011, as a consequence of the Kallikratis reform, Thebes was merged with Plataies, Thisvi, and Vagia to form a larger municipality, the other three become units of the larger municipality. Five main cycles of story may be distinguished, The foundation of the citadel Cadmea by Cadmus, the building of a seven-gated wall by Amphion, and the cognate stories of Zethus, Antiope and Dirce. See Theban pederasty and Pederasty in ancient Greece for detailed discussion, the immolation of Semele and the advent of Dionysus. The Greeks attributed the foundation of Thebes to Cadmus, a Phoenician king from Tyre, Cadmus was famous for teaching the Phoenician alphabet and building the Acropolis, which was named the Cadmeia in his honor and was an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed cist graves dated to Mycenaean times containing weapons, ivory, *Tʰēgʷai in LHIIIB lost contact with Egypt but gained it with Miletus and Cyprus. In the late LHIIIB, according to Palaima, *Tʰēgʷai was able to pull resources from Lamos near Mount Helicon, and from Karystos and Amarynthos on the Greek side of the isle of Euboia. As a fortified community, it attracted attention from the invading Dorians, and this centralizing policy is as much the cardinal fact of Theban history as the counteracting effort of the smaller towns to resist absorption forms the main chapter of the story of Boeotia
Thebes, Greece
–
Remains of the Cadmea, the central fortress of ancient Thebes
Thebes, Greece
–
Theban workshop (Oinochoe type), 7th century BC.
Thebes, Greece
–
Map of the Topography of Ancient Thebes.
Thebes, Greece
–
Silver
stater of Thebes (405-395 BC). Obverse: Boeotian shield, reverse: Head of bearded
Dionysus.
16.
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)
17.
Paris (mythology)
–
Paris, also known as Alexander, the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, later in the war, he fatally wounds Achilles in the heel with an arrow as foretold by Achilles’s mother Thetis. The name Paris is probably Luwian and comparable to Pari-zitis attested as a Hittite scribes name, Paris was a child of Priam and Hecuba. Just before his birth, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch and this dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy, and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland. Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall, he was spared by Priam, Hecuba, too, was unable to kill the child, despite the urging of the priestess of Apollo, one Herophile. Instead, Pariss father prevailed upon his chief herdsman, Agelaus, to remove the child, the herdsman, unable to use a weapon against the infant, left him exposed on Mount Ida, hoping he would perish there, he was, however, suckled by a she-bear. Returning after nine days, Agelaus was astonished to find the still alive. He returned to Priam bearing a dogs tongue as evidence of the deeds completion and it was at this time that Oenone became Pariss first lover. She was a nymph from Mount Ida in Phrygia and her father was Cebren, a river-god. She was skilled in the arts of prophecy and medicine, which she had been taught by Rhea and Apollo respectively. When Paris later left her for Helen she told him if he ever was wounded, he should come to her for she could heal any injury. Pariss chief distraction at this time was to pit Agelauss bulls against one another, one bull began to win these bouts consistently, and Paris began to set it against rival herdsmens own prize bulls, it defeated them all. Finally Paris offered a crown to any bull that could defeat his champion. Ares responded to this challenge by transforming himself into a bull, in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Lord Zeus, father of the Greek pantheon, hosted a banquet on Mount Olympus. Every deity and demi-god had been invited, except Eris, the goddess of strife, the goddesses thought to be the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and each one claimed the apple. They started a quarrel so they asked Zeus to choose one of them, knowing that choosing any of them would bring him the hatred of the other two, Zeus did not want to take part in the decision. He thus appointed Paris to select the most beautiful, escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Mount Ida and approached Paris as he herded his cattle. Having been given permission by Zeus to set any conditions he saw fit, Paris chose Aphrodite— and, therefore, Helen
Paris (mythology)
–
Prince Paris with apple by
H.W. Bissen,
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
Paris (mythology)
–
Judgement of Paris,
Capodimonte porcelain (
Capitoline Museums,
Rome)
Paris (mythology)
–
El Juicio de Paris by
Enrique Simonet, ca. 1904. Paris is studying Aphrodite, who is standing before him naked. The other two goddesses watch nearby.
Paris (mythology)
–
Abduction of Helen, ceiling fresco, Venetian, mid-18th century
18.
Achilles
–
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homers Iliad. His mother was the immortal nymph Thetis, and his father, Achilles’ most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan hero Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, later legends state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Alluding to these legends, the term Achilles heel has come to mean a point of weakness, Achilles name can be analyzed as a combination of ἄχος grief and λαός a people, tribe, nation. In other words, Achilles is an embodiment of the grief of the people, Achilles role as the hero of grief forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of Achilles as the hero of κλέος kleos. Laos has been construed by Gregory Nagy, following Leonard Palmer, to mean a corps of soldiers, a muster. With this derivation, the name would have a meaning in the poem, when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring grief to the enemy. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership, R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name. The name Achilleus was a common and attested name among the Greeks soon after the 7th century BC. It was also turned into the female form Ἀχιλλεία attested in Attica in the 4th century BC and, in the form Achillia, Achilles was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, for this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god Nereus, was brought up by Hera. According to the Achilleid, written by Statius in the 1st century AD, and to no surviving previous sources, however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him, his heel. It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier, in another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire, to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage, however, none of the sources before Statius makes any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in the Iliad Homer mentions Achilles being wounded, in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon and he cast two spears at once, one grazed Achilles elbow, drawing a spurt of blood. Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron the Centaur, on Mt. Pelion, Achilles consuming rage is at times wavering, but at other times he cannot be cooled. Thetis foretold that her sons fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long, Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan war
Achilles
–
Achilles and the
Nereid Cymothoe: Attic red-figure
kantharos from
Volci (
Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris)
Achilles
–
Head of Achilles depicted on a 4th-century BC coin from
Kremaste,
Phthia. Reverse:
Thetis, wearing
chiton and holding shield of Achilles with his AX monogram.
Achilles
–
Greek Mythology
Achilles
–
Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx (ca. 1625),
Peter Paul Rubens
19.
Euripides
–
Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He is one of the few plays have survived, with the others being Aeschylus, Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but according to the Suda it was 92 at most, of these,18 or 19 have survived more or less complete and there are also fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, yet he also became the most tragic of poets, focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated towards all victims of society and his contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism, both of them being frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Whereas Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as an influence, Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age. Recent scholarship casts doubt on ancient biographies of Euripides, for example, it is possible that he never visited Macedonia at all, or, if he did, he might have been drawn there by King Archelaus with incentives that were also offered to other artists. Upon the receipt of a saying that his son was fated to win crowns of victory. In fact the boy was destined for a career on the stage and he served for a short time as both dancer and torch-bearer at the rites of Apollo Zosterius. His education was not confined to athletics, he studied painting and philosophy under the masters Prodicus. He had two marriages and both his wives—Melite and Choerine —were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis, there he built an impressive library and pursued daily communion with the sea and sky. Eventually he retired to the court of King Archelaus in Macedonia. However, as mentioned in the introduction, biographical details such as these should be regarded with scepticism and this biography is divided into three sections corresponding to the three kinds of sources. The apocryphal account that he composed his works in a cave on Salamis island was a late tradition, much of his life and his whole career coincided with the struggle between Athens and Sparta for hegemony in Greece but he didnt live to see the final defeat of his city. In an account by Plutarch, the failure of the Sicilian expedition led Athenians to trade renditions of Euripides lyrics to their enemies in return for food. Tragic poets were often mocked by comic poets during the dramatic festivals Dionysia and Lenaia, Aristophanes scripted him as a character in at least three plays, The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae and The Frogs. Yet Aristophanes borrowed rather than just satirized some of the methods, he was once ridiculed by a colleague, Cratinus, as a hair-splitting master of niceties
Euripides
–
Bust of Euripides: Roman marble copy of a 4th-century BC Greek original (
Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome)
Euripides
–
A statue of Euripides,
Louvre,
Paris.
20.
Orestes (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Orestes was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, in the Homeric telling of the story, Orestes is a member of the doomed house of Atreus which is descended from Tantalus and Niobe. Seven years later, Orestes returns from Athens and avenges his fathers death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra, in the Odyssey, Orestes is held up as a favorable example to Telemachus, whose mother Penelope is plagued by suitors. According to Pindar, the young Orestes was saved by his nurse Arsinoe or his sister Electra, in the familiar theme of the heros early eclipse and exile, he escaped to Phanote on Mount Parnassus, where King Strophius took charge of him. In his twentieth year, he was urged by Electra to return home and he returned home along with his friend Pylades, Strophiuss son. The same myth is told differently by Sophocles and Euripides in their Electra plays, graves asserts that the sacrilege for which the Erinyes pursued Orestes was actually the killing of his mother, who represented matriarchy. The story of Orestes was the subject of the Oresteia of Aeschylus, of the Electra of Sophocles, in Aeschyluss Eumenides, Orestes goes mad after the deed and is pursued by the Erinyes, whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. He takes refuge in the temple at Delphi, but, even though Apollo had ordered him to do the deed, at last Athena receives him on the acropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve judges, including herself. The Erinyes demand their victim, he pleads the orders of Apollo, Athena votes last announcing that she is for acquittal, then the votes are counted and the result is a tie, resulting in an acquittal according to the rules previously stipulated by Athena. The Erinyes are propitiated by a new ritual, in which they are worshipped as Semnai Theai, Venerable Ones and he went to Tauris with Pylades, and the pair were at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom was to sacrifice all Greek strangers to Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it was to perform the sacrifice, was Orestes sister Iphigenia. She offered to him if he would carry home a letter from her to Greece, he refused to go. After his return to Greece, Orestes took possession of his fathers kingdom of Mycenae to which were added Argos and he was said to have died of a snakebite in Arcadia. His body was conveyed to Sparta for burial or, according to a Roman legend, to Aricia, before the Trojan War, Orestes was to marry his cousin Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Things soon changed after Orestes committed matricide, Menelaus then gave his daughter to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, according to Euripides play Andromache, Orestes slew Neoptolemus just outside a temple and took off with Hermione. He seized Argos and Arcadia after their thrones had become vacant and his son by Hermione, Tisamenus, became ruler after him but was eventually killed by the Heracleidae. There is extant a Latin epic poem, consisting of about 1000 hexameters, called Orestes Tragoedia, Orestes appears also to be a dramatic prototype for all persons whose crime is mitigated by extenuating circumstances. In one version of the story of Telephus, the infant Orestes was kidnapped by King Telephus, according to some sources, Orestes fathered Penthilus by his half-sister, Erigone
Orestes (mythology)
–
Orestes at
Delphi flanked by
Athena and
Pylades among the Erinyes and
priestesses of the
oracle, perhaps including
Pythia behind the tripod - Paestan
red-figured bell-krater, c. 330 BC
Orestes (mythology)
–
Orestes, Elektra, and Pylades at the tomb of Agamemnon - Campanian
red-figure hydria, c. 330 BC
Orestes (mythology)
–
For other uses, see
Orestes (disambiguation).
Orestes (mythology)
–
Orestes Pursued by the Furies by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
21.
Catharsis
–
Catharsis is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor used by Aristotle in the Poetics. Catharsis is a term in art that describes the effect of tragedy principally on the audience. Nowhere does Aristotle explain the meaning of catharsis as he is using that term in the definition of tragedy in the Poetics, for this reason, a number of diverse interpretations of the meaning of this term have arisen. The term is discussed along with Aristotles concept of anagnorisis. D. W. Lucas, in an edition of the Poetics, comprehensively covers the various nuances inherent in the meaning of the term in an Appendix devoted to Pity, Fear. Lucas himself does not accept any one of interpretations as his own. Purgation and purification, used in centuries, as the common interpretations of catharsis are still in wide use today. In his works prior to the Poetics, Aristotle had used the term catharsis purely in its medical sense, here, however, he employs it as a medical metaphor. F. L. Lucas maintains, therefore, that purification and cleansing are not proper translations for catharsis and it is the human soul that is purged of its excessive passions. Else made the argument against the purgation theory, It presupposes that we come to the tragic drama as patients to be cured, relieved, restored to psychic health. But there is not a word to support this in the Poetics, on the contrary it is evident in every line of the work that Aristotle is presupposing normal auditors, normal states of mind and feeling, normal emotional and aesthetic experience. Tragedy is then a corrective, through watching tragedy, the audience learns how to feel these emotions at proper levels. In the twentieth century a shift took place in the interpretation of catharsis with a number of scholars contributing to the argument in support of the intellectual clarification concept. It is generally understood that Aristotles theory of mimesis and catharsis are responses to Platos negative view of artistic mimesis on an audience. Aristotles concept of catharsis, in all of the major senses attributed to it, the following analysis by E. R. what fascinates us is the spectacle of a man freely choosing, from the highest motives a series of actions which lead to his own ruin. Oedipus might have left the plague to take its course, when Apollos word came back, he might still have left the murder of Laius uninvestigated, but piety and justice required him to act. He need not have forced the truth from the reluctant Theban herdsman, teiresias, Jocasta, the herdsman, each in turn tries to stop him, but in vain, he must read the last riddle, the riddle of his own life
Catharsis
–
Aristotelianism
22.
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
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Head of Odysseus from a
Roman period Hellenistic marble group representing Odysseus blinding
Polyphemus, found at the villa of
Tiberius at
Sperlonga
Odysseus
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Head of Odysseus wearing
pileus depicted on a 3rd-century BC coin from
Ithaca
Odysseus
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Greek Mythology
Odysseus
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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.
23.
Priam
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In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian name Pariya-muwas, which meant “exceptionally courageous” and was attested as the name of a man from Zazlippa, a similar form is attested transcribed in Greek as Paramoas near Kaisareia in Cappadocia. Notable is also Piyama-Radu, a man whose name figures prominently in the Hittite archives. Priam was originally called Podarces and he kept himself from being killed by Heracles by giving him a golden veil embroidered by his sister, after this, Podarces changed his name to Priam. This is a folk etymology based on πριατός priatos, ransomed from πρίασθαι priasthai, in Iliad Book 3, Priam tells Helen of Troy that he once helped King Mygdon of Phrygia defend against the Amazons. When Hector is killed by Achilles, the Greek warrior treats the body with disrespect, Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector’s father and the ruler of Troy, into the Greek camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and he invokes the memory of Achilles’ own father, Peleus. Priam begs Achilles to pity him, saying I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before — I put my lips to the hands of the man who killed my son, deeply moved, Achilles relents and returns Hector’s corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a truce, and Achilles gives Priam leave to hold a proper funeral for Hector. He promises that no Greek will engage in combat for nine days, but on the day of peace. Priam is killed during the Sack of Troy by Achilles son Neoptolemus and his death is graphically related in Book II of Virgils Aeneid. In Virgils description, Neoptolemus first kills Priams son Polites in front of his father as he seeks sanctuary on the altar of Zeus, Priam rebukes Neoptolemus, throwing a spear at him, harmlessly hitting his shield. Neoptolemus then drags Priam to the altar and there kills him too and it has been suggested by Hittite sources, specifically the Manapa-Tarhunta letter, that there is historical basis for the archetype of King Priam. The letter describes one Piyama-Radu as a rebel who overthrew a Hittite client king. There is also mention of an Alaksandu, suggested to be Paris Alexander, in Apollodorus Library, Telamon was almost killed during the siege of Troy. Telamon was the first one to break through the Trojan wall, Hercules was about to cut him down with his sword when Telamon began to quickly assemble an altar out of nearby stones in honor of Hercules. Hercules was so pleased, after the sack of Troy he gave Telamon Hesione as a wife, Hesione requested that she be able to bring her brother Podarces with her. Hercules would not allow it unless Hesione bought Podarces as a slave, Hesione paid for her brother with a veil
Priam
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Priam killed by
Neoptolemus, detail of an Attic black-figure amphora, ca. 520–510 BC
24.
Servius
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These works, In tria Virgilii Opera Expositio, constituted the first incunable to be printed at Florence, by Bernardo Cennini,1471. In the Saturnalia of Macrobius, Servius appears as one of the interlocutors, allusions in that work, the commentary on Virgil has survived in two distinct manuscript traditions. The first is a short commentary, which is attributed to Servius in the superscription in the manuscripts. A second class of manuscripts, all deriving from the 10th and 11th centuries, the added matter is undoubtedly ancient, dating from a time but little removed from that of Servius, and is founded to a large extent on historical and antiquarian literature which is now lost. The writer is anonymous and probably a Christian, although not if, as is often suggested, a third class of manuscripts, written for the most part in Italy, gives the core text with interpolated scholia, which demonstrate the continued usefulness of the Virgilii Opera Expositio. The authentic commentary of Maurus Servius Honoratus is in effect the only complete extant edition of a classic author written before the collapse of the Empire in the West, Servius set his face against the prevalent allegorical methods of exposition of text. For the antiquarian and the historian, the value of his work lies in his preservation of facts in Roman history, religion, antiquities and language. Not a little of the erudition of Varro and other ancient scholars has survived in his pages. The edition of Georg Thilo and Hermann Hagen, remains the only edition of the whole of Servius work. Currently in development is the Harvard Servius, of the five volumes. E. K. Rand, Is Donatuss Commentary on Virgil Lost, Donatuss authorship of the supplementary material. Servio, stratificazioni esegetiche e modelli culturali / Servius, exegetical stratifications, Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article, Maurus Servius Honoratus Commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil is at the Perseus Project in Latin. De Centum Metris at Intratext. com De Centum Metris at Forum Romanorum Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii, Georius Thilo, lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1881-1902, vol. 2, vol.3 part 1, vol.3 part 2
Servius
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Servius commenting Virgil (France, 15th century).
Servius
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16th century edition of Virgil with Servius' commentary printed to the left of the text.
25.
Laomedon
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Tithonus is also described by most sources as Laomedons eldest legitimate son, and most sources omit Ganymedes from the list of Laomedons children, but indicate him as his uncle instead. Laomedons possible wives are Placia, Strymo and Leucippe, by the former he begot Tithonus and he also had a son named Bucolion by the nymph Calybe, as recounted by Homer in the Iliad. Dictys Cretensis added Thymoetes to the list of Laomedons children, Laomedon owned several horses with divine parentage that Zeus had given Tros as compensation for the kidnapping of Ganymedes. Anchises secretly bred his own mares from these horses, according to one story, Laomedons son, Ganymedes, was kidnapped by Zeus, who had fallen in love with the beautiful boy. Sympathetic, Zeus sent Hermes with two horses so swift they could run over water, Hermes also assured Laomedon that Ganymedes was immortal and would be the cupbearer for the gods, a position of much distinction. However, Ganymedes is more usually described as a son of Tros, Laomedon himself was son of Ilus, son of Tros. Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve King Laomedon and he had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them well, a promise he then refused to fulfill. In vengeance, before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy, Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles rescued her at the last minute and killed the monster, telamon took Hesione as a war prize and married her, they had a son called Teucer. Apollodorus and Hyginus Apollodorus Library and Hyginus Fabulae, Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, R. Scott Smith and Stephen Trzaskoma
Laomedon
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Heracles about to kill Laomedon, terra sigillata flask from Southern Gaul, late 1st century–early 2nd century AD
26.
Diodorus Siculus
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Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily was a Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica, much of which survives and it is arranged in three parts. The first covers mythic history up to the destruction of Troy, arranged geographically, describing regions around the world from Egypt, India and Arabia to Greece, the second covers the Trojan War to the death of Alexander the Great. The third covers the period to about 60 BC, Bibliotheca, meaning library, acknowledges that he was drawing on the work of many other authors. According to his own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily, with one exception, antiquity affords no further information about his life and doings beyond in his work. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the year of Abraham 1968, writes, Diodorus of Sicily and it was divided into three sections. In the next section, he recounts the history of the world from the Trojan War down to the death of Alexander the Great, the last section concerns the historical events from the successors of Alexander down to either 60 BC or the beginning of Julius Caesars Gallic Wars. He selected the name Bibliotheca in acknowledgment that he was assembling a composite work from many sources. His account of gold mining in Nubia in eastern Egypt is one of the earliest extant texts on the topic, pappus of Alexandria wrote a Commentary on Diodoruss Analemma. The now lost Analemma applied geometrical constructions in a plane to solve some astronomy related problems of spherical geometry and it contained, for example, a discussion of sundial theory. They are also boasters and threateners and are fond of pompous language, pliny the Elder Strabo Acadine Ambaglio, Dino, Franca Landucci Gattinoni and Luigi Bravi. Diodoro Siculo, Biblioteca storica, commento storico, introduzione generale, aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, A Source-based Approach. Library of History, Loeb Classical Library, Siculus, Diodorus, G. Booth, H. Valesius, I. The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian in Fifteen Books to which are added the Fragments of Diodorus, siculi, Diodori, Peter Wesseling, L. Rhodoman, G. Heyn, N. Eyring. Bibliothecae Historicae Libri Qui Supersunt, Nova Editio, Diodorus Siculus, the manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Historica
Diodorus Siculus
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Diodoro siculo
27.
Amazons
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In Greek mythology, the Amazons were a tribe of women warriors. The Scythian women may have inspired the myth, apollonius Rhodius, at Argonautica, mention that Amazons were the daughters of Ares and Harmonia. They were brutal and aggressive, and their concern in life was war. Later, he says, they established Mitylene a little way beyond the Caïcus, Aeschylus, at Prometheus Bound, places the original home of the Amazons in the country about Lake Maeotis and they later moved to Themiscyra on the Thermodon. Homer tells that the Amazons were sought and found somewhere near Lycia, Diodorus mention that the Amazons traveled from the Libya under Queen Myrina. Amazon warriors were often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in amazonomachies in classical art, the Amazons have become associated with many historical people throughout the Roman Empire period and Late Antiquity. In Roman historiography, there are accounts of Amazon raids in Anatolia. From the early period, their name has become a term for female warriors in general. Greeks also used epithets for them. Herodotus used the Androktones and Androleteirai, in Iliad they also called Antianeirai and Aeschylus in his work, Prometheus Bound, the origin of the word is uncertain. Πέρσαι», where it appears together with the Indo-Iranian root *kar- make, alternatively, a Greek derivation from *ṇ-mṇ-gw-jon-es manless, without husbands has been proposed, an explanation deemed unlikely by Hjalmar Frisk. 19th century scholarship also connected the term to the ethnonym Amazigh, a further explanation proposes Iranian *ama-janah virility-killing as source. The Hittite researcher Friedrich Cornelius assumes that there had been the land Azzi with the capital Chajasa in the area of the Thermodon-Iris Delta on the coast of the Black Sea and he brings its residents in direct relation to the Amazons, namely based on its name and its customs. The location of land as well as his conclusions are controversial. There is no indication of such a practice in ancient works of art, adrienne Mayor suggests the origin of this myth was due to the words etymology. Herodotus and Strabo placed them on the banks of the Thermodon, later, he says, they established Mitylene a little way beyond the Caïcus. Aeschylus, at Prometheus Bound, places the home of the Amazons in the country about Lake Maeotis. According to Pseudo-Plutarch, the Amazons lived in and about the Tanais river, formerly called the Amazonian or Amazon river, the Amazons later moved to Themiscyra on the River Thermodon
Amazons
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Wounded Amazon of the Capitol, Rome.
Amazons
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Amazon preparing for a battle (Queen Antiop or Armed Venus), by
Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert 1860 (
National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.).
Amazons
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Amazon wearing trousers and carrying a shield with an attached patterned cloth and a quiver.
Ancient Greek Attic white-ground
alabastron, c. 470 BCE,
British Museum, London.
Amazons
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Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, visits
Alexander (1696)
