DOCSLIB.ORG

Giorgio Vasari and the Image of the Hour

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Giorgio Vasari and the Image of the Hour The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena VI ASP Conference Series, Vol. 441 Enrico Maria Corsini, ed. c 2011 Astronomical Society of the Pacific Giorgio Vasari and the Image of the Hour Maia Wellington Gahtan Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute, Marist College, Firenze, Italy Universita` di Firenze, Firenze, Italy Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy Abstract. Giorgio Vasari created the first allegories of the twenty-four hours in the mid-16th century. This essay explores Vasari’s novel images in the context of his vi- sual and literary sources, the rising importance of household timepieces, and the artist’s other works and writings. Although a focussed study of a single motif within Vasari’s oeuvre, it has implications for the broader transformation time perception and its psy- chological dimensions then taking place in Early Modern Europe. One significant, but gradual transformation that took place in European society over the course of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance was the adoption of twenty-four clock hours as the usual mode of counting time. With the invention, and then the public diffusion of large tower clocks in the 14th century, followed by table clocks in the later 15th and 16th centuries, the equal hours they measured grew in popularity, eventually replacing the canonical hours and more intuitive modes of time telling (such as the division of the day into four parts or the seasonal hour system), all of which were based on fixed points of time rather than continuous durations. Even sundials which in earlier times had represented seasonal hours, by the late 15th century became calibrated with slanting gnomens to measure clock hours1. By the mid-16th century, table clocks had become typical furnishings of wealthy homes and people began wearing the first watches so that clock time quite literally could be carried with you2. While we know quite a bit about the history of these fascinating objects and their owners, it is harder for us to appreciate how people felt about the hours they measured. Did the broad diffusion of clock hours elicit any special psychological response? One simple way of probing this question is to look at allegorical representations of the hours in the art of the period. This essay will focus on the images of a particularly thoughtful and articulate painter, Giorgio Vasari, whose works cluster in the middle 1A. M, Seasonal-hour Sundials, “Antiquarian Horology”, 19, 2, 1990, pp. 147-174. 2See G. D-V R, History of the Hour. Clocks and Modern Temporal Orders, trans. T. D, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 1996, as well as C. C’s classic, Clocks and Culture, New York and London, W. W. Norton & Co., 1978. The earliest dated watch (1530) exists in the Walters Art Museum and belongs to Philip Melanchthon (on this latter, see M. W G- G. T, “GOTT ALLEIN DIE EHRE”, Engraved on Philip Melanchthon’s Watch of 1530, “Lutheran Quarterly”, 15, Autumn, 2001, pp. 249-272). 169 170 Wellington Gahtan Figure 1. Baldassare Peruzzi, Apollo’s Chariot and 12 Hours shadowed by Sat- urn, detail of frieze, 1520, Sala delle Prospettive, Villa Farnesina, Rome. (Credit: MIBAC Archive) decades of the 16th century–the period when the final and most intensive chapter in the transition to clock hours was taking place. These allegories by Vasari bear witness to a man in the process of working out his attitudes and making peace with hourly time. Giorgio Vasari was not the first to represent the hours in art: that honor goes to the Roman painter and architect, Baldassare Peruzzi. The year was 1520 and the place was the Villa Farnesina in Rome as a part of a frieze in this villa’s famous Sala delle Prospettive. An antiquarian artist serving an antiquarian-minded patron, the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, Peruzzi took his inspiration for the context and form of the hours from ancient literature (Figure 1). According to Homer, Hesiod, and Ovid, the Horae were daughters of Apollo who prepared the horses of his chariot and guarded the gates of Olympus. Associated with the Seasons and the Graces, they numbered three or four, until later mythographers (such as the Pseudo-Hyginus, from the 2nd century and Nonnus, from the 5th century) sometimes offered twelve as an alternative. This alternative was based on real usage after the introduction of the Babylonian twenty-four seasonal hour system into Greece– so says Herodotus–sometime during the classical period3. Renaissance mythographic traditions and commentaries are based on the great poets and mythographers of ancient Greece and Rome, and they repeat the Hours’ association with the Sun, the Graces and the seasonal time, though Boccaccio and Giraldi also distinguish between the three or four mythological Horae (as Apollo’s handmaidens) and the more scientific division of the natural day into twenty-four hourly parts4. Although mentioned in such scholarly 3D-V R, History of the Hour (cit. note 2), p. 18. 4B, Genealogie deorum gentilium libri, Bari, Giuseppe Laterza & Figli, 1951, chap. XIV.xx on Day, Son of Herebo, pp. 63-66, and L G G, De deis gentium, Basel, 1548, Syntagma XIII, Charites, Gratiae, pp. 574-575. Giorgio Vasari and the Image of the Hour 171 literature, before the mid-16th century, the Horae are absent from art and are rarely depicted in poetry5. When they do appear in poetry, they attend Apollo, and usually number three or four6 In appropriate antiquarian fashion, Peruzzi’s Hours surround the Chariot of A- pollo, but here the ancient inspiration stops. Instead of further associating the Hours with the Seasons or Graces, Peruzzi presents his viewers with twelve mythological hours. He also chose to include another unorthodox element: the sinister figure of Saturn, the pagan god most associated in the Renaissance with linear and destructive time. Like a shadow, Saturn lurks behind the radient sungod, Apollo7. It would seem that for Peruzzi, Apollo’s daughters, the Hours, serve more as expressions of time’s shortness and witnesses to its ultimately destructive nature, than as companions to the solar circuit. Peruzzi’s treatment of the hours is more conceptual than antiquarian, not unlike Raphael’s own conceptual vision of hourly time dating from 1515, also produced in Rome. In Raphael’s case which occurs on the borders of a tapestry for the Medici pope, Leo X, Apollo and Diana–the Sun and the Moon–are backed up against an hour- glass, and black and white nudes standing for day and night sit on a twenty-four hour clock8. Raphael’s timepieces most likely refer to the shortness of linear time, a primary meaning that hourglasses and clocks had only recently acquired. Timepieces of various types were familiar in the visual representations of the Mid- dle Ages and early Renaissance as attributes of Temperence. A famous example is Am- brogio Lorenzetti’s allegory of Temperance which forms part of his Good Government 5The Sun as Apollo alone or with Aurora as his companion is frequently represented in both the art and the poetry of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. On medieval and Renaissance visual representations of the Sun and his companions, see C. C V, La Casa del Sole, Fonti e Modelli per un’iconografia mitologica, in S. R-S. V (eds.), Le due Rome del Quattrocento, Roma, La Sapienza, 1996, pp. 245-253, by the same author, I luoghi del mito fra decorazione e collezionismo, in Immagini degli dei. Mitologia e collezionismo tra ’500 e ’600, Roma, Fondazione Memmo, 1996, pp. 29-48, S. P, Le drame de la lumier´ e e de l’ombre: La tradizione iconografica della sequenza notte-aurora-giorno, “Studi romani”, 50, 2002, pp. 279-301, F. N A, L’iconographie du soleil dans la renaissance italienne in Le soleil a` la renaissance. Sciences et mythes, Brussels and Paris, Presses Universitaires de France e de Bruxelles, 1965, p. 538, and also my own, Observations on Apolline Imagery in Italy: 1450-1750 in S. S (ed.), The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena III, “Memorie della Societa` Astronomica Italiana”, 73, 1, 2002, pp. 129-135. An exception to this rule in art (discussed by C V, La Casa del Sole, this note) is Filarete’s description of ideal solar imagery which he felt should include the twenty-four hours. 6In poetry, for example Poliziano describes three Ore in his Stanze per la Giostra (1.92). Dante, however, provides an exception on two occasions in his Purgatorio (XII.80-81 and XXII.118-20) in which the solar chariot is accompanied by six and five handmaidens (“ancelle”) respectively, implying a total of twelve hours. Dante refrains from naming them Horae or hours, perhaps so as not to create too close an association the classical tradition. Since in his Convivio, Dante makes the point that the church uses seasonal hours as a basis for its liturgical hour system (Book 3.6.2), it would appear that he adapted his poetic presentation of the Hours to conform to Christian church practice. This would be consistant with his other adaptations of pagan mythology throughout the Divine Comedy. 7On Saturn as a figure for destructive linear time, see E. P’s still fundamental essay, Father Time in Studies in Iconology. Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance, New York, Harper and Row, 1972, pp. 69-94. C V, La casa del Sole (cit. note 5) and P, Le drame de la lumie´re (cit. note 5) discuss Peruzzi’s unusual image. 8On these tapestry borders, see J. C-R, Dynasty and Destiny in Medici Art: Pontormo, Leo X, and the Two Cosimos, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 30, 1984, p. 52.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 4. Older Olympians.Key
    The Older Olympians LVV4U1 - GRADE 12 CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION - MR. A. WITTMANN UNIT 2 – LECTURE 4 1 6 children of Kronos and Rhea are the first Olympians… Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Hades Aphrodite born of his severed genitals of Uranus 2 God Competence God Competence 1. Zeus Storms 6. Apollo Wisdom 2. Hera Family 7. Artemis Hunt 3. Hestia Hearth 8. Hephaestus Forge 4. Demeter Harvest 9. Athena Knowledge Hades Underworld 10. Ares War 5. Poseidon Sea 11. Hermes Trade 12. Aphrodite Sex 3 Zeus, Lord of the Sky Evolved from Indo-European sky god Dyeus pater (Sky Father) Dyaus pitar (Indian) Dyeus (Iranian) Ju-pitar or Jove (Roman) Tues (Germanic) Sky, high places, thunder/lighting, Bull, eagle, oak, aegis (goat skin) epithets: Nephelegereta (cloud gatherer), Kataibates (descending) 4 5 Zeus, King of Gods & Men Father of all Xenia (guest/host, friendship/ hospitality) Justice, tradition, custom not modern justice heiros gamos sacred marriage with Hera… 1. Uranus + Gaea 2. Kronos + Rhea 3. Zeus + Hera 6 7 Zeus, King of Gods & Men Infidelity with goddess allegorizes the Indo- European male sky god’s triumph over local indigenous female earth goddesses Also illustrates how he organized the natural universe & est. human customs & traditions Metis (cleverness) = Athena (strength and judgment) Themis (established law) = Horae (seasons) Moerae (fates) Eurynomê (Custom) = Eirenê (Peace), Dikê (justice), 3 Graces 8 Zeus, King of Gods & Men Infidelity with mortals explains the origins of heroes & kings Legitimizes local kings and rulering families
    [Show full text]
  • Durham Research Online
    Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 11 April 2016 Version of attached le: Published Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Miles, Sarah (2011) 'Gods and heroes in comic space : a stretch of the imagination?', Dionysus ex machina., 2 . pp. 109-133. Further information on publisher's website: http://www.dionysusexmachina.it/?cmd=articoloid=42 Publisher's copyright statement: Additional information: Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk Sarah Miles Gods and heroes in comic space. A stretch of the imagination? Abstract The article explores the stage movement of gods, heroes and mythical figures in Aristophanic stage space. All four of the Aristophanic comedies that contain these characters ( Peace , Birds , Frogs and Wealth ) are found to adhere to the same patterns of stage movement whereby the comic protagonist must be the first to initiate contact with a divine, heroic or mythical character and will do so by undertaking a journey away from the city to find that character.
    [Show full text]
  • Traces of Greco-Roman Mythology in Classical Turkish Literature: the Thread of Life / B
    532 / RumeliDE Journal of Language and Literature Studies 2020.19 (June) Traces of Greco-Roman mythology in classical Turkish literature: The Thread of Life / B. Alpaydın (pp. 528-540) Traces of Greco-Roman mythology in classical Turkish literature: The Thread of Life Bilal ALPAYDIN1 APA: Alpaydın, B. (2020). Traces of Greco-Roman mythology in classical Turkish literature: The Thread of Life. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (19), 528-540. DOI: 10.29000/rumelide.752507. Abstract It is wholly acknowledged that prior to the Turks’ conquest of Anatolia, this land was inhabited by diverse cultures and civilizations. Following its conquest, however, large segments of the various populations living in Anatolia continued to reside in their native homelands, indicating that the Turks lived together with these indigenous cultures for centuries. Greeks and Romans made up only one aspect of these various cultures. Although nowhere near as pervasive as their Persian and Arab counterparts, the cultures and mythologies of both the Greeks and Romans are discernible in Turkish culture, which is only natural after having shared the same homeland for many years in Anatolia and Europe. One such example is the occasional likening of a beloved’s hair to snakes in classical Turkish literature, reminiscent of Medusa’s own snake-like hair in Greek mythology. Indeed, the poems written in Greek by Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī and Ahmed Pasha demonstrate that Turkish poets were not complete strangers to Western sources. After providing information about the three Moirai sisters known as the goddesses of fate in Greek and Roman mythology, this article will move on to address how they indirectly appear in classical Turkish literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Cosmological Narrative in the Synagogues of Late Roman-Byzantine Palestine
    COSMOLOGICAL NARRATIVE IN THE SYNAGOGUES OF LATE ROMAN-BYZANTINE PALESTINE Bradley Charles Erickson A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies. Chapel Hill 2020 Approved by: Jodi Magness Zlatko Plese David Lambert Jennifer Gates-Foster Maurizio Forte © 2020 Bradley Charles Erickson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Bradley Charles Erickson: Cosmological Narrative in the Synagogues of Late Roman-Byzantine Palestine (Under the Direction of Jodi Magness) The night sky provided ancient peoples with a visible framework through which they could view and experience the divine. Ancient astronomers looked to the night sky for practical reasons, such as the construction of calendars by which time could evenly be divided, and for prognosis, such as the foretelling of future events based on the movements of the planets and stars. While scholars have written much about the Greco-Roman understanding of the night sky, few studies exist that examine Jewish cosmological thought in relation to the appearance of the Late Roman-Byzantine synagogue Helios-zodiac cycle. This dissertation surveys the ways that ancient Jews experienced the night sky, including literature of the Second Temple (sixth century BCE – 70 CE), rabbinic and mystical writings, and Helios-zodiac cycles in synagogues of ancient Palestine. I argue that Judaism joined an evolving Greco-Roman cosmology with ancient Jewish traditions as a means of producing knowledge of the earthly and heavenly realms. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my adviser, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek Gods and Myths – Overview Gaia and Uranus to Reign of the Olympians
    GREEK GODS AND MYTHS – OVERVIEW GAIA AND URANUS TO REIGN OF THE OLYMPIANS ERA SUMMARY – GREEK GODS AND MYTHS The myths and legends of Ancient Greece are such an essential part of Greek culture that the first three units of the Ancient Greece Classical Curriculum are dedicated entirely to myth and folklore. Greek mythology is important, not only because it reflects the pagan religion of the Ancient world, but also because it gives great insight into Greek thought and expression. References to Greek Gods and folklore are present throughout the recorded history of the ancient world, in religious symbols and ceremonies, in literature, in poetry, in art, in archeological artifacts, and in day to day life. The Greeks worshiped Pagan gods but did not credit them with the same qualities of omniscience and goodness that Christians associate with their God. Greeks Gods shared many human foibles so the legends that arose concerning them were almost invariably dramas involving jealousy, indulgence, revenge, debauchery, and misunderstandings. Greek myths were often quite humorous and frequently involved morals applicable to human relations. The myths, heroes and legends of Ancient Greece are too numerous to list, but a few general categories of the types of heroes and stories can be given. The first category of Greek myths involves the Gods, or immortals, who have a human form, and decidedly human personality traits, but possess enormous powers over the earth. The twelve Olympians are the most ATHENE CHANGES ARACHNE INTO A SPIDER important, and they include Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades who rule over the heaven, Sea, and Underworld respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Section Iii Greek and Roman Goddesses of Peace Contents Introduction Greek Goddesses of Peace and Harmony: Eirene and Harmonia R
    SECTION III GREEK AND ROMAN GODDESSES OF PEACE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION GREEK GODDESSES OF PEACE AND HARMONY: EIRENE AND HARMONIA ROMAN GODDESSES OF PEACE AND CONCORDANCE: PAX AND CONCORDIA CLOSING COMMENTS ***** INTRODUCTION Lady Peace has many faces. Pinning down her attributes is no simple enterprise. The simplistic rendition is that Peace is the absence of War. But this definition does not outline how to end on-going war or how to prevent the start of war. The International Community set up peace-based global institutions, the League of Nations and United Nations, to prevent future war. Although both proved irresolute to prevent all wars, they were able to moderate some looming conflicts through the practices of peace-keeping and judicial mediation. There is a growing consensus among spirituality-oriented peace practitioners that the peace institutions that humanity needs will not be developed until humans establish a global system in which all peoples accept or submit to global authority. Until then nations are left to find their way through grievances and possible annihilation given the massive destruction of some of the existing weapon systems. What marks the Homo sapiens species special is its level of consciousness and its analytic thinking. But they are still insufficiently developed to coral the surge toward war (As this paragraph is being written war has broken out in Ethiopia’s Northern border.) Fortunately, humanity carries an archetypal template that points to how to address life issues such as peace. Dreams and mythology are places where the archetypal template projects itself. What follows is a brief review of Greek and Roman Peace Goddesses and their main companions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Prophecy
    THE LAST PROPHECY: BEING AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE LATE REV. E. B. ELLIOTT'S HORiE APOCALYPTICJE. TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED HIS LAST PAPEB ON PROPHECY FULFILLED AND FULFILLING. By H. E. E. THIRD EDITION A3 REVISED BY THE LATE REV. E. B. ELLIOTT. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. MDCCCLXXXIV. THE LAST PKOPHECY. BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON 16DEC84 10 JAMES BATEMAN, Esq., M.A., F.K.S., &c. A FRIEND LONG ESTEEMED AND 10VED BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HORM APOCALYPTICM, SFfji'a abtfosmmt of fr's larger OTarfc IS INSCRIBED, AS A TRIBUTE OF SINCERE REGARD BT H. E. E. PREFACE. The Fifth Edition of the Horce Apocalypticce being almost exhausted,1 it has been suggested that now is a proper time to send out a Third Edition of the Abridgment. It has no merit as to originality or research, being only intended to bring before those persons who have not access to the larger work the views which it con tains in a simple form. Omitting the learned and elaborate arguments, the writer has kept almost ver batim to the text in Mr. Elliott's work. Not many months before his lamented death he looked over the little book, and expressed an approval of it similar to that in his preface to the Second Edition, which is subjoined. 1 Scarcely above a hundred copies remain now with the publishers, Messrs. Seeley & Sons, Fleet Street, London. viii PREFACE It was his express wish that the views he held as to future events should be but briefly touched on in the Abridgment.
    [Show full text]
  • The Female Divine the Great Goddess Theory
    The Female Divine The Great Goddess Theory • What the proponents say: – Look at the art! • Figures found in shrines – Universal religion focused Venus of Laussel Venus of Willendorf 20,000-18,000 BCE on Life, Death, and 24,000-22,000 BCE Regeneration • Represent at minimum a matrifocal society – Product of a morally superior society • Superseded by violent men eventually Venus of Dolni Vestonice Venus of Lespugue 26,000-24,000 BCE 25,000-18,000 BCE Get into groups • The “Great Goddess” in patriarchal myths – Go back and identify the “Great Goddess” in the Enuma Elish and Hesiod’s Theogony – Cite specific events/actions/behaviors which illustrate the influence of the Great Goddess The Great Goddess Theory • Enuma Elish – Tiamat • Primordial mother, gives birth to the gods • (Initially) defends her children from Apsu’s murderous intentions • Theogony – Gaia • Mother Earth – Female Titans • Theia – Goddess of Light • Phoebe – Full Moon • Rhea – Mountains • Tethys – Waves The Great Goddess Theory • What the critics say: – “Ugh, feminists” – Proponents are using the evidence to fit their theory, not making a theory based off the evidence Classifications of Female Divine • Jungian Archetypes – Three “Goddess Dyads” • Based off of Jung’s theory on extraversion and introversion • Two goddesses, each representing one side of the extroversion/introversion spectrum • Uses Greek goddesses as language to describe driving forces behind women’s actions Classifications of Female Divine • Goddess Dyads – Athena/Artemis (Fierce Independence) • Athena: Warrior
    [Show full text]
  • Divine Riddles: a Sourcebook for Greek and Roman Mythology March, 2014
    Divine Riddles: A Sourcebook for Greek and Roman Mythology March, 2014 E. Edward Garvin, Editor What follows is a collection of excerpts from Greek literary sources in translation. The intent is to give students an overview of Greek mythology as expressed by the Greeks themselves. But any such collection is inherently flawed: the process of selection and abridgement produces a falsehood because both the narrative and meta-narrative are destroyed when the continuity of the composition is interrupted. Nevertheless, this seems the most expedient way to expose students to a wide range of primary source information. I have tried to keep my voice out of it as much as possible and will intervene as editor (in this Times New Roman font) only to give background or exegesis to the text. All of the texts in Goudy Old Style are excerpts from Greek or Latin texts (primary sources) that have been translated into English. Ancient Texts In the field of Classics, we refer to texts by Author, name of the book, book number, chapter number and line number.1 Every text, regardless of language, uses the same numbering system. Homer’s Iliad, for example, is divided into 24 books and the lines in each book are numbered. Hesiod’s Theogony is much shorter so no book divisions are necessary but the lines are numbered. Below is an example from Homer’s Iliad, Book One, showing the English translation on the left and the Greek original on the right. When citing this text we might say that Achilles is first mentioned by Homer in Iliad 1.7 (i.7 is also acceptable).
    [Show full text]
  • FRIDAYS 7:45–8:30 from 7:45–8:30
    Learn About Greek and Roman Mythology Share What You Know! Take the Test and Win CASH PRIZES! First Meeting: Friday, Dec 2nd Conrad’s Room MEDUSA MYTHOLOGY CLUB Meets Every Friday Morning FRIDAYS 7:45–8:30 from 7:45–8:30 First Meeting: Friday, December 2nd Meet like-minded students interested in Greek and Roman mythology! Prepare together for The Medusa Mythology Exam, an “International Competition For COACHES: Mythology Enthusiasts”. The 2016 Exam theme is “The Rise and Fall Of the Titans” – get ahead and see the resources on the back! Katrina McLane, GT Come to our first meeting to learn about this exciting opportunity! [email protected] Jocelyn Conrad, Lang Arts [email protected] Fountain Middle School 515 North Santa Fe Ave Jessica Wykstra, P.E. Fountain, CO 80817 [email protected] Phone (719) 382-1580 2016 Medusa Mythology Exam “The Rise and Fall of the Titans” Note Bene: For this exam, Olympians will only be included on a question when they are part of a story that stems from a Titan. The exam will cover the following: The six male Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus and Cronus (the youngest). The six female Titans (Titanides): Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys. Titans and their offspring: Iapetus + Asia (his niece, daughter of Oceanus and Oceanus + Tethys: Tethys) OR Clymene: nautical Oceanids, including Styx, Asia, Electra, Atlas Doris, Eurynome, Metis and others Prometheus Coeus + Phoebe: Epimetheus Asteria Cronos + Rhea: Leto (mother of Artemis and Apollo) the six older Olympians Hyperion + Theia” Themis + her nephew Zeus (his second wife): Eos Moirae Helios Horae Selene Astraea Crius + Eurybia: the River Eridanus' water nymphs Astraeus (perhaps) the Hesperidae Pallas Mnemosyne + her nephew Zeus: Perses The nine Muse Primary sources Secondary sources On-line sources (English translation of these sources are readily available.) Apollodorus, The Library Bulfinch, Thomas, Greek and Classical Mythology, 9th ed.
    [Show full text]
  • An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU Textbooks Open Texts 2017 Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology Jessica Mellenthin Utah State University Susan O. Shapiro Utah State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/oer_textbooks Recommended Citation Mellenthin, Jessica and Shapiro, Susan O., "Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology" (2017). Textbooks. 5. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/oer_textbooks/5 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Texts at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Textbooks by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology JESSICA MELLENTHIN AND SUSAN O. SHAPIRO Mythology Unbound by Susan Shapiro is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 Contents Map vii Aegis 1 Agamemnon and Iphigenia 5 Aphrodite 9 Apollo 15 Ares 25 The Argonauts 31 Artemis 41 Athena 49 Caduceus 61 Centaurs 63 Chthonian Deities 65 The Delphic Oracle 67 Demeter 77 Dionysus/Bacchus 85 Hades 97 Hephaestus 101 Hera 105 Heracles 111 Hermes 121 Hestia 133 Historical Myths 135 The Iliad - An Introduction 137 Jason 151 Miasma 155 The Minotaur 157 The Odyssey - An Introduction 159 The Oresteia - An Introduction 169 Origins 173 Orpheus 183 Persephone 187 Perseus 193 Poseidon 205 Prometheus 213 Psychological Myths 217 Sphinx 219 Story Pattern of the Greek Hero 225 Theseus 227 The Three Types of Myth 239 The Twelve Labors of Heracles 243 What is a myth? 257 Why are there so many versions of Greek 259 myths? Xenia 261 Zeus 263 Image Attributions 275 Map viii MAP Aegis The aegis was a goat skin (the name comes from the word for goat, αἴξ/aix) that was fringed with snakes and often had the head of Medusa fixed to it.
    [Show full text]
  • Symbolism and Imagery in the Story of Cupid and Psyche
    SYMBOLISM AND IMAGERY IN THE STORY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE IN APULEIUS' ~mTAMORPHOSES Dissertation Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS of Rhodes University by SHANNON BOYD BEATTIE January 1979 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Professor B.C. Dietrich, who suggested the topic of my thesis, and who supervised its initial stages. Thank you to Professor D.B. Gain, 'vho took over from Professor Dietrich as my supervisor, and whose assistance has enabled me to complete my thesis. I am especially indebted to Professor Gain for his suggestion regarding Psyche ' s name. Thank you to the other members of the Classics Department of' Rhodes University; lva.rren Snowball, Ken Matier, Professor Hewitt, and John Jackson, whose enthusiasm and support have encouraged me to come this far. Thank you to my many other friends, who both knowingly and unlmm..ringly have helped me. Thrull~ you to my father, who has supported me financially. Tl~ you to Rhodes University, for the opportunities provided me, and for the M.A. scholarship awarded me for 1977. ii ABSTRACT A study of the story of Cupid and Psyche 1vi thin the context of the Metamorphoses as a whole reveals a recurrent pattern of themes, motifs, and images, '\vhich indicates that the story symbolises the experiences of Lucius. The Judaeo-Christian Greek meaning of psyche, "oneself", implies that Psyche is a symbol of Lucius. This is borne out by the similarity of their experiences, and by the fact that they both have the same character traits of simplicitas and curiositas.
    [Show full text]