150 Aston, E. Mixanthropoi. Animal-Human Hybrid Deities

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

150 Aston, E. Mixanthropoi. Animal-Human Hybrid Deities 150 De novis libris iudicia Aston, E. Mixanthropoi. Animal-human Hybrid Deities in Greek Religion (Kernos Suppl. 25). Liège, Centre International d’Étude de la Religion Grecque Antique, 2011. 383 pp. Pr. €40.00. ISBN 9782960071788. According to common perception―ancient and modern alike―Greek antiq- uity knew no animal gods. And yet, Greek mythology and imagery is full of divine mixed creatures. In her book, originally a PhD thesis completed at the University of Exeter, Emma Aston (henceforth EA) sets out to understand how these contradictory strands of tradition go together. In line with more recent scholarship she places ‘oddities’ such as human-animal gods at the center of Greek religion and not in its periphery, be it chronological or spatial. And she does so by an ambitious agenda: “it is time to close the gap between myth, art and cult” (p. 12). The study is organized in three sections with three to four chapters each. EA presents a large corpus of evidence regarding the myths, cult (sites) and visual representations of the deities with textual sources prevailing. She relies particularly on Homer, Nonnos, mythographers such as Apollodorus and Antoninus Liberalis, and, most importantly, the travel writer Pausanias. The extensive introduction (pp. 11-51) touches upon many aspects of the theme, from historiography (pp. 11-2) and terminology (pp. 12-6), to animal-human interactions in ancient Greece (pp. 16-21), the different impact of Egyptian and Near Eastern traditions (pp. 21-7), images, texts, and objects of animal-human hybrids (pp. 27-43), and ancient views on mixanthropoi (pp. 43-9). Unlike mon- sters, which consist of different animal parts, mixanthropoi―a term EA borrows from late antique authors―combine human and animal bodies. Moreover, they are a form of representing the divine; almost all of the figures EA discusses received cult. Is mixanthropy related to the mythological and religious person- ality of the gods? Their anthropomorphic side inevitably connects them to the broader discourse on human―animal relationships, a variation on the theme of Greek self-definition, but which in myth mainly consist of combat, bestiality and metamorphosis (p. 19). The first section (pp. 53-148), devoted to “Cults and compositions of mix- anthropic deities”, presents the evidence on which EA bases her argument. It is mainly concerned with sources on the existence of cults and the mytho- logical personae of the respective deities. The three subchapters treat hybrid deities of the sea and rivers (Proteus, Thetis, Eurynome, the Sirenes, Glaukos, Acheloos; ch. 1, pp. 55-89), the earth (Cheiron, Demeter Melaina, Pan, Kek- rops, Dionysos; ch. 2, pp. 91-132) and “winged and horned gods” (Eos, Erinyes, Apollo Karneios, Zeus Ammon; ch. 3, pp. 133-43). The somewhat inconsistent © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���4 | doi �0.��63/�5685�5X-��34�590 De novis libris iudicia 151 division―winged and horned gods, if with a more theriomorphic body, appear also in chs. 1 and 2―reflects what EA states earlier: there is no coherent con- cept of mixanthropy in antiquity (p. 15). However, while each deity has his or her own particularities in myth, art and cult, there are some basic similarities and affinities. Shape-shifting, metamorphosis and/or masking form one of the threads, the connection to plenty, fertility, but also sexual assault and marriage another. Some of the mixanthropic deities act as cultural heroes, prophets or healers. Mixanthropes are also imagined as belonging to a much older genera- tion. Many of them live and are worshipped in extra-urban sites or, such as Kekrops or Pan at Athens, in sanctuaries, that albeit located in the city cen- ter evoke the countryside. Several mixanthropes are connected in inclusive or contrasting ways to related deities or mythological figures: Pan and Acheloos are often depicted and worshipped with nymphs, Hermes and other gods. The centaur Cheiron, on the other hand, stands out as a wise individual against the brutal and uncouth “group-centaurs” (p. 97). This unclear position of mixan- thropes between remote and present, rural and urban, plural and individual finds its counterpart in their ambiguous relation to a specific form of anthro- pomorphism: mortality. Despite of their divine status, some of them die. The main themes of this complicated web of relations are more fully explored in Section II on “Movement, absence and loss” (pp. 149-251). Here, EA focuses on ritual and the real and mythic landscape of cult settings (ch. 4, pp. 153-92). Central to her arguments are the river god Acheloos, and the ter- restrian mixanthropes Cheiron, Demeter Melaina and Pan. Many of them live and are worshipped in caves. The symbolic meaning of these “proto-houses” (p. 145) helps to define the deities as liminal: they stand in between unculti- vated primeval times and present civilization or life and death, the wild and the tamed. In all cases, the motif of absence and loss comes to the fore in vari- ous ways. Comparable to cults for dead heroes, sacred sites of mixanthropes are situated at the spot of their disappearance. The horse-headed Demeter Melaina hides in a cave after having been raped by Poseidon. The cult remem- bers her leaving the place to return to agriculture and thus reassuring life for humankind, liberating it from famine and impending cannibalism. But once her cult image is burnt, and ultimately destroyed, worship at the cave ceases. Cheiron is imagined as dead and gone from his cave. A god’s removal is not always self-inflicted (pp. 175-88). In a ritual parallel to that of expelling a phar- makos from the city, Pan’s cult image is flogged by hunters when the kill is poor. Sometimes, the expulsion results in burial of the deity. Unlike that of the scape-goat―a figure rejected because of its symbolical animality―, or that of a defeated monster, the mixanthrope’s absence, however, ultimately has a neg- ative effect on humans. The history of mixanthropy cannot be understood in mnemosyne 67 (�0�4) �50-�54.
Recommended publications
  • University of Groningen Greek Pottery on the Timpone Della Motta and in the Sibaritide from C. 780 to 620 BC Kindberg Jacobsen
    University of Groningen Greek pottery on the Timpone della Motta and in the Sibaritide from c. 780 to 620 BC Kindberg Jacobsen, Jan IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2007 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Kindberg Jacobsen, J. (2007). Greek pottery on the Timpone della Motta and in the Sibaritide from c. 780 to 620 BC: reception, distribution and an evaluation of Greek pottery as a source material for the study of Greek influence before and after the founding of ancient Sybaris. [s.n.]. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal.
    [Show full text]
  • Kernos Revue Internationale Et Pluridisciplinaire De Religion Grecque Antique
    Kernos Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 20 | 2007 Varia Pherekydes’ Daktyloi Ritual, technology, and the Presocratic perspective Sandra Blakely Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/161 DOI: 10.4000/kernos.161 ISSN: 2034-7871 Publisher Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique Printed version Date of publication: 1 January 2007 ISSN: 0776-3824 Electronic reference Sandra Blakely, “Pherekydes’ Daktyloi”, Kernos [Online], 20 | 2007, Online since 15 March 2011, connection on 26 February 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/161 ; DOI: https:// doi.org/10.4000/kernos.161 This text was automatically generated on 26 February 2021. Kernos Pherekydes’ Daktyloi 1 Pherekydes’ Daktyloi Ritual, technology, and the Presocratic perspective Sandra Blakely Introduction: Classics and the Evolutionary paradigm 1 Western culture is traditionally ill equipped to understand the intersection of ritual and technology. Pfaffenberger, Killick, and Lansing have observed the causes, and what is lost by failing to shake these off.1 Because these activities occupy different categories in the industrialized world, attempts to interpret their coincidence in other cultures lean to the dismissive. They are regarded as a reflection of the earliest stages of invention, compensatory appeals to the divine that reflect incomplete mastery of technological processes. The combination is often called magic by both practitioners and academics. Magic has been traditionally synonymous with primitivism; an evolutionary model suggests that such superstitions evaporate as technology is mastered, and linger only in folk tales and half-remembered superstitions.2 The cost of this paradigm is substantial. Emphasizing the movement into subsequent intellectual paradigms, it reduces attention to symbols in context.
    [Show full text]
  • Naming the Extrasolar Planets
    Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Months (De Mensibus) (Lewiston, 2013)
    John Lydus On the Months (De mensibus) Translated with introduction and annotations by Mischa Hooker 2nd edition (2017) ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations .......................................................................................... iv Introduction .............................................................................................. v On the Months: Book 1 ............................................................................... 1 On the Months: Book 2 ............................................................................ 17 On the Months: Book 3 ............................................................................ 33 On the Months: Book 4 January ......................................................................................... 55 February ....................................................................................... 76 March ............................................................................................. 85 April ............................................................................................ 109 May ............................................................................................. 123 June ............................................................................................ 134 July ............................................................................................. 140 August ........................................................................................ 147 September ................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Hesiod Theogony.Pdf
    Hesiod (8th or 7th c. BC, composed in Greek) The Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are probably slightly earlier than Hesiod’s two surviving poems, the Works and Days and the Theogony. Yet in many ways Hesiod is the more important author for the study of Greek mythology. While Homer treats cer- tain aspects of the saga of the Trojan War, he makes no attempt at treating myth more generally. He often includes short digressions and tantalizes us with hints of a broader tra- dition, but much of this remains obscure. Hesiod, by contrast, sought in his Theogony to give a connected account of the creation of the universe. For the study of myth he is im- portant precisely because his is the oldest surviving attempt to treat systematically the mythical tradition from the first gods down to the great heroes. Also unlike the legendary Homer, Hesiod is for us an historical figure and a real per- sonality. His Works and Days contains a great deal of autobiographical information, in- cluding his birthplace (Ascra in Boiotia), where his father had come from (Cyme in Asia Minor), and the name of his brother (Perses), with whom he had a dispute that was the inspiration for composing the Works and Days. His exact date cannot be determined with precision, but there is general agreement that he lived in the 8th century or perhaps the early 7th century BC. His life, therefore, was approximately contemporaneous with the beginning of alphabetic writing in the Greek world. Although we do not know whether Hesiod himself employed this new invention in composing his poems, we can be certain that it was soon used to record and pass them on.
    [Show full text]
  • Wonder, Space, and Place in Pausanias' Periegesis
    Axion Theas: Wonder, Space, and Place in Pausanias’ Periegesis Hellados by Jody Ellyn Cundy A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto © Copyright by Jody Ellyn Cundy 2016 Axion Theas: Wonder, Space, and Place in Pausanias’ Periegesis Hellados Jody Ellyn Cundy Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto 2016 Abstract The Periegesis Hellados presents a description of the sites and sights of Roman Greece in ten carefully constructed books. These books present the fruits of author’s extensive travels and careful textual research over the course of several decades (between the 130’s and ca. AD 175-80) and compiled into a unified composite itinerary. There is no doubt that Pausanias travels through an “already written landscape,” and his travel experience is necessarily informed by and sometimes clearly motivated by his literary encounters. This project investigates Pausanias’ engagement with literary antecedents, with a particular focus on the antiquarian impulse to excerpt and compile anecdotes in thematic catalogues, which broadly resemble wonder-texts (paradoxographies). The organizing principle of these thematic catalogues contrasts with the topographical (spatial) structure of the frame narrative of the Periegesis. In part, this study aims to resolve the perceived tension between the travel account and the antiquarian mode in Pausanias’ project in order to show that they serve complementary rather than competing ends. Resolution of these competing paradigms allows in turn for a more coherent understanding of the Periegesis as unified subject. This study argues that wonder (thauma) is a unifying theme ii of Periegesis Hellados.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mysteries of the Goddess of Marmarini
    Kernos Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 29 | 2016 Varia The Mysteries of the Goddess of Marmarini Robert Parker and Scott Scullion Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/2399 DOI: 10.4000/kernos.2399 ISSN: 2034-7871 Publisher Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique Printed version Date of publication: 1 October 2016 Number of pages: 209-266 ISSN: 0776-3824 Electronic reference Robert Parker and Scott Scullion, « The Mysteries of the Goddess of Marmarini », Kernos [Online], 29 | 2016, Online since 01 October 2019, connection on 10 December 2020. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/kernos/2399 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/kernos.2399 This text was automatically generated on 10 December 2020. Kernos The Mysteries of the Goddess of Marmarini 1 The Mysteries of the Goddess of Marmarini Robert Parker and Scott Scullion For help and advice of various kinds we are very grateful to Jim Adams, Sebastian Brock, Mat Carbon, Jim Coulton, Emily Kearns, Sofia Kravaritou, Judith McKenzie, Philomen Probert, Maria Stamatopoulou, and Andreas Willi, and for encouragement to publish in Kernos Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge. Introduction 1 The interest for students of Greek religion of the large opisthographic stele published by J.C. Decourt and A. Tziafalias, with commendable speed, in the last issue of Kernos can scarcely be over-estimated.1 It is datable on palaeographic grounds to the second century BC, perhaps the first half rather than the second,2 and records in detail the rituals and rules governing the sanctuary of a goddess whose name, we believe, is never given.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Turhan Yörükân | Yunan Mitolojisinde Aşk
    Dr. Turhan Yörükân | Yunan Mitolojisinde Aşk TÜRKİYE İŞ BANKASI Kültür Yayınları Dr. Turhan Yörükân 29 Aralık 1927'de İstanbul'da doğdu. Lise öğrenimini Latince eğitim veren çeşitli okullarda tamamladı. Dil ve Tarih Coğrafya Fakültesi Felsefe Bölümü'nü bitirdi; sonraları aynı fakültede psikoloji ve pedagoji -slstanı olarak görev yaptı. Gençliğinden başlayarak klasik filolojiyle İlgilenen Dr Yörükân Yunan mitosuna, felsefesine ve bilimine olan merakını hep canlı tuttu. Çeşitli bilimsel dergilerde makaleleri yayım lanan Dr. Yörükân yazar ve editör olarak otuzun üzerinde kitap yayımladı. Dr. Yörükân halen Ankara'da yaşıyor, çalışmalarını sürdürüyor. T Ü R K İY E İŞ B A N K A S I Kültür Yayınları Genel Yayın: 457 Edebiyat Dizisi: 115 Datça / Knidos’daki Aphrodite Euploia tapınağında yer alan Aphrodite heykeli için, Gaius Plinius Secundus (İ.S. 23- 79), yazdığı tabiî ilimler ansiklopedisinde (Naturalis Historia, 36, 20), “Praksiteles, bu eseriyle, mermer işleyen bir sanatçı olarak, kendisini bile aşmıştır... Onun bu eseri, sadece kendi yaptığı eserler içerisinde değil, bütün dünyadaki eserler içeri­ sinde en üstün olanı idi. Birçok kimse, denizler aşarak onu Knidos’ta görmeye geliyordu", diyor. Samsatlı (Samosatalı) Lukianos (İ.S. 120-200), Aşklar (13-14) adlı eserinde, “Bahçedeki bitkilerden yeterince haz duyduktan sonra, tapmağa girdik. Tanrıçanın Paros merme­ rinden yapılmış olağanüstü güzellikteki heykeli, tapmağın or­ tasında duruyordu... Vücudunun bütün güzelliği, herhangi bir örtü ile gizlenmiş değildi. Sadece bir eliyle, iffetini korumak istercesine önünü kapatıyordu. Sanatçının sergilediği üstün­ lük, taşın katı ve inatçı tabiatını kırmış, onu, her uzvun şekli­ ne uyum sağlamak zorunda bırakmıştı", diyor. Praksiteles’in yapmış olduğu Aphrodite heykelinin sikke­ ler üzerine darp edilmiş görüntüsü, aradan asırlar geçmiş ol­ masına rağmen, Roma Dönemi’nde etkisini sürdürmeye de­ vam etmiştir.
    [Show full text]
  • Ritual Surprise and Terror in Ancient Greek Possession-Dromena
    Kernos Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 2 | 1989 Varia Ritual Surprise and Terror in Ancient Greek Possession-Dromena Ioannis Loucas Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/242 DOI: 10.4000/kernos.242 ISSN: 2034-7871 Publisher Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique Printed version Date of publication: 1 January 1989 Number of pages: 97-104 ISSN: 0776-3824 Electronic reference Ioannis Loucas, « Ritual Surprise and Terror in Ancient Greek Possession-Dromena », Kernos [Online], 2 | 1989, Online since 02 March 2011, connection on 21 April 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/kernos/242 ; DOI : 10.4000/kernos.242 Kernos Kernos, 2 (1989), p. 97-104. RITUAL SURPRISE AND TERROR INANCIENT GREEK POSSESSION·DROMENA The daduch of the Eleusinian mysteries Themistokles, descendant of the great Athenian citizen of the 5th century RC'!, is honoured by a decree of 20/19 RC.2 for «he not only exhibits a manner of life worthy of the greatest honour but by the superiority of his service as daduch increases the solemnity and dignity of the cult; thereby the magnificence of the Mysteries is considered by all men to be ofmuch greater excitement (ekplexis) and to have its proper adornment»3. P. Roussel4, followed by K. Clinton5, points out the importance of excitement or surprise (in Greek : ekplexis) in the Mysteries quoting analogous passages from the Eleusinian Oration of Aristides6 and the Platonic Theology ofProclus7, both writers of the Roman times. ln Greek literature one of the earlier cases of terror connected to any cult is that of the terror-stricken priestess ofApollo coming out from the shrine of Delphes in the tragedy Eumenides8 by Aeschylus of Eleusis : Ah ! Horrors, horrors, dire to speak or see, From Loxias' chamber drive me reeling back.
    [Show full text]
  • Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta Type III S Conical, Boxer Rhyton (651)
    Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta Type III S Conical, Boxer Rhyton (651). Reconstruction drawing by R. Porter (see also Fig. 29). PREHISTORY MONOGRAPHS 19 Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta by Robert B. Koehl Published by INSTAP Academic Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2006 Design and Production INSTAP Academic Press Printing CRWGraphics, Pennsauken, New Jersey Binding Hoster Bindery, Inc., Ivyland, Pennsylvania Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koehl, Robert B. Aegean Bronze Age rhyta / by Robert B. Koehl. p. cm. — (Prehistory monographs ; 19) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-931534-16-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Aegean Sea Region—Antiquities. 2. Rhyta—Aegean Sea Region. 3. Bronze age—Aegean Sea Region. I. Title. II. Series. DF220.K64 2006 938’.01—dc22 2006027437 Copyright © 2006 INSTAP Academic Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America In honor of my mother, Ruth and to the memory of my father, Seymour Table of Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT . ix LIST OF TABLES . xi LIST OF FIGURES . xiii LIST OF PLATES . xv PREFACE . xix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . xxiii LIST OF DRAWING CREDITS . xxvii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS . xxix ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS . xxxi INTRODUCTION . 1 1. TYPOLOGY, HISTORY, AND DEVELOPMENT . 5 Principle of Typology and Definition of Types . 5 Definition of Classes and Their Nomenclature . 7 Rhyton Groups: Typology of Rims, Handles, and Bases . 7 Exclusions and Exceptions . 9 Organization and Presentation . 12 Aegean Rhyta . 13 Type I . 13 Type II . 21 Type III . 38 Type IV . 53 Type Indeterminate . 64 Foreign Imitations of Aegean Rhyta . 64 viii AEGEAN BRONZE AGE RHYTA 2.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Examination of Feminist Vvri Tings on the Matriarchy. a Thesis
    CALIFORNIA STATE Ul'HV.ERSITY, NORTHRIDGE CHILDREN,, OF THE GODDESS: A Critical Examination of Feminist vvri tings on the Matriarchy. A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for ·the degree of tllaster of l'~rts in An ·thropo logy by Lynne Bean // June, 1976 The Thesis of Lynne Bean is approved: California S-tate University, Northridge ii l ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS l This paper is the result of the invaluable I I assistance and support of many individuals. I wish to I thank, particularly, Dr. Evalyn Michaelson, teacher and friend, for her patience and editorial advice. I am I also extremely grateful to Dr. Liucija Baskauskas and ! Dr. Jacqueline Lindenfeld for their useful and pertinent criticisms. Finally, to Shirley Anderson, Eliot Bean, r.inda and Bill Waters and Rudy Schneider, whose belief t.hat it could be done made this work possible, thank you. I 1 i I i i I I I l i l I i I ~ i ! l i I ! I l I i ______ Ij ~--~·---- ·-····--·---··---··-------~·--·-.-~----·-------··---- --~- iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. 1''-CKNOWLEDGEMENTS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• iii 1 2 .. ABS'IRACT •..... (J •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• v 3. INTRODUCTION •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • 1 4. MYTH AS HISTORY: FOUNDATIONS OF' THE r'lATRIARCHY •••••••••••••••••••••• 9 5.. MY'I'I-I AND SYMBOL: A JUNGIAN VIEV\f OF WOMEN AND ~'lATRIARCHY •••••••••••• 20 6. N.YTI-IOLOGY AND !'"lA.TRIARCHY: EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED NYTHS •••••••••••••••••••••• 38 7 . .['.IJ...l\'I'RIARCHY AND WOMAN: A .FEMINIST VIEW ••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~ ••••••••• 61 8. SHrvJMl\RY AND CONCLUSIONS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 85 9. "BIBLIOGRAPHY •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 91 iv ···-· --~---····- ...... ·-~----~----~·---~- -·-·~---~ .. ----·-·--- ········--- --··--- ~ --~--~ --· ·--- .---·~-·-·-· --·-------------h-•h--~---·-··-----··----~---------'-·----~-~-~-: i ABSTRACT CHILDREN OF THE GODDESS: . ~. A Critical Examination of Feminist Writings on the I Matriarchy.
    [Show full text]
  • Exhibition "Art and Myth. Gods at the Prado" at Caixaforum Barcelona
    Press Release CaixaForum Barcelona From 15 October 2020 to 14 March 2021 Press Release The exhibition Art and Myth. Gods at the Prado was produced under the strategic alliance established between the Prado National Museum and ”la Caixa” Foundation CaixaForum Barcelona invites visitors to the Olympus of the gods Art and Myth. Gods at the Prado takes a wide-ranging look at Greco- Roman mythology and its representation throughout art history in paintings, sculptures and objects from the mid-first century BC to the mid-nineteenth century. Organised diachronically and based on 64 works from the collections of the Prado Museum, the exhibition features such key figures in art history as Rubens, Ribera and Zurbarán, among many others. This journey around the Olympus of the gods is divided into eight thematic sections and presents different representations of gods and interpretations of the same mythological episodes, enabling the visitor to appreciate the iconographic, geographic and chronological wealth of the Prado’s collections. Moreover, a number of elements, including an audiovisual featuring various voices from today’s world, seen in Barcelona for the first time, suggest comparisons between the classical discourse of the works on show with contemporary twenty-first-century myths. Art and Myth. Gods at the Prado. Dates: From 15 October 2020 to 14 March 2021 (open to the public from 4 pm on October 15). Place: CaixaForum Barcelona (Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8). Organised and produced by: ”la Caixa” Foundation and the Prado National Museum. Curator: Fernando Pérez Suescun, Head of Educational Content, Education Department, Prado National Museum.
    [Show full text]