The first is the famous "Bartlett Head," named for Francis Bartlett, who provided the funds for its acquisition by the MFA in 1900. Celebrated in rapturous prose by Henry James within a few years of its first appearance in Boston, it was carved from Continue Reading...
Aphrodite and Venus Aphrodite vs. Venus In many ways the two goddesses were the same person because they were both said to be beautiful and carried the mantle as goddesses of love and fertility. However, the tradition is much different since both w Continue Reading...
Aphrodite Biography Aphrodite was said to have been the most beautiful and sensual of all the goddesses. There are varying stories of her birth. One story holds that she was born from the loins of Uranus, when his sex was severed from him and thrown Continue Reading...
Greek Goddess Aphrodite, the mythology of her birth and how she has interfered in the lives of man and woman throughout key mythological events such as the Trojan war and the journey of Odysseus as he traveled home to Ithaca from the battlefields of Continue Reading...
Statue The marble statue of Aphrodite, goddess of love, is an impressive example of Roman sculpture from the Imperial era. Although it is Roman, the Greek name of the goddess has been preserved because the artist was directly influenced by the Greek Continue Reading...
The poems Catullus wrote to the woman Lesbia are among his best known. How would you characterize their affair? Catallus describes a conflicted and stormy affair with the women of Lesbia. Sexual tension is evident in his poems, which have a strong Continue Reading...
18). In fact, while it incorporated Greek mythology, ancient Rome had a very permissive attitude towards other forms of religion. Even when the state attempted to restrict various religious practices, the atmosphere still provided a very fertile gro Continue Reading...
Venus in Art Introduction to Venus and Aphrodite: Throughout history, Venus has long been a source of inspiration for artists. Her representation of love and beauty has been captured in various mediums, from the visual arts of paintings and sculptu Continue Reading...
With respect to the mythology of the male gods, Zeus, Apollo, and Hephaestus seem to be a combination that matches the dynamism of their female goddess counterparts. These gods represent the good and the bad of males; they also represent the spectr Continue Reading...
In Theogony, Aphrodite's mother is the water of the sea, in which the goddess is "floating." This word choice further illustrates the destructive elements of Homer's tale in contrast to the nurturing of Hesiod. Finally, Aphrodite is called "Philomme Continue Reading...
Euripides' tragedy of "Hippolytus": Phaedra as a plaything of the gods Euripides' tragedy of "Hippolytus" is a tragedy of paganism, at least on its surface. The work details the conflict between Hippolytus, the noble son of Theseus who honors the g Continue Reading...
Greek Mythology When the clay tablets that comprise the Akkadian / Old Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh were first pieced together and translated by scholars in the nineteenth century, some aspects of the ancient text seemed remarkably familiar. There w Continue Reading...
He cannot imagine killing his family and friends. Disloyalty haunts him from both directions. He would deceive his family and friends by fighting against them, but he would also deceive the Kurus by refusing to fight for their cause. He is wracked w Continue Reading...
Free were the Ancient Greeks to Live their Lives as they Chose? The period covered by the term 'Ancient Greece' is a long one, encompassing the Mycenaean period and the subsequent so-called 'Dark Age' (c.1600-900 B.C.), the Archaic Period (c.900-48 Continue Reading...
Trojan Wars and Culture The three epic stories namely, The Iliad, the Trojan Women, Pericle's Funeral Oration are powerfully written master pieces of work, that illustrate the element of horridness of war beautifully. The Iliad The story of Homer' Continue Reading...
And call each man by his name and his father's line, show them all respect. Not too proud now. We should be the ones doing the work. On our backs, from the day we were born, It seems that Zeus has piled on the hardships." With his order clear, Continue Reading...
The two lovers are trapped by Hephaestus' chains and the gods are debating their fates. They contemplate the issue of whether being trapped in the chains is sufficient punishment, to which Hermes quips "...although I might be held by chains that are Continue Reading...
The imagery she uses also reflects the pain that she experiences as she envisions the murder about to take place and the fact that she too will killed: she speaks of Clytemnestra as a lion: "Vengeance broodeth still, a lion's rage, which goes not f Continue Reading...
For the most part women in the Odyssey are essentially one of three things: sexualized monsters, in the form of Circe, Calypso, the Sirens, and even Scylla; asexual helpers and servants, in the form of Athena and Eurycleia; and finally, seemingly h Continue Reading...
She suggests the contest of the bow and the axes, which allows Odysseus to reveal himself and put the fear of Zeus into the suitors. Odysseus gets the credit for his great feat of arms, but it is Penelope's idea. Homer is showing that though man is Continue Reading...
Another work of art using nudes was dated as having been created by the end of the Hellenistic period is that of Laocoon Group. The sculpture was inspired by a legend and it is the depiction of the epic fight between Laoccon, his sons and the snakes Continue Reading...
Like in Euripides, Hippolyte does not desire Phaedra, but he is capable of desire, and like all of Racine's characters, even though love can feel like an uncontrollable force, humans are not merely manipulated by the gods -- they must bear the conse Continue Reading...
" Thus, some may argue that the Sappho's implication for modern gender roles is stunning, suggesting that feminism is not a modern movement, but had its roots as far back as Sappho's time. In addition to its implications for gender and all humanity Continue Reading...
Is it a sign of inconsistency in Athena that at the end of the Odyssey she echoes the sentiment of Zeus and sues for peace whereas in Book 4 of the Iliad she is all too eager to ignore the sentiment of her father and manipulate the warriors into sh Continue Reading...
Even then, Paris did not have to take Helen from her husband. In contrast, Aeneas apparently falls in love with Dido, and spends several years in Carthage as her companion. However, he places his personal emotions aside to go complete his fate, part Continue Reading...
deities -- Gilgamesh -- iliad A Comaprison Of The Deities In the epic of gilgamesh and the iliad In what is now the country of Iraq, part of the great "Fertile Crescent" between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and where Hammurabi created his famo Continue Reading...
Also, this carving is quite sentimental in appearance, for it reflects "the solemn pathos of the Greek citizen, much like some of the sculptures found on the pediment of the Parthenon" (Seyffert, 245). Our last artifact is titled Pair of Armbands w Continue Reading...
art from three different cultures. Specifically it will discuss pieces from the Classical Greek, Indian Civilizations, and Egyptian Civilizations, including the meaning of the work and an art analysis of the work. Each of these different cultures pr Continue Reading...
role of deities in "The Iliad," by Homer, the poetry of Sappho, and "Pericles Funeral Oration," by Thucydides. Specifically it will discuss how significant the deities are in the three pieces, and why deities played such an important part in ancient Continue Reading...
Agamemnon claims that he loves Chryseis more than his own wife, but agrees to give her up as long as he gets another prize. When he demands Briseis from Achilles, it is clear that one sexual being can simply be traded for another in Agamemnon's eyes Continue Reading...
Hesiod's Theogony Male and Female Relationships in Hesiod's Theogony One of the most interesting and complex facets of Greek mythology is how it portrays the relationship between the sexes. At first glance, the celebration of Zeus and his relations Continue Reading...
There were many other gods and goddesses and other supernatural beings in both mythologies (Meeks 2002). There were godlings, demigods, river nymphs and tree dryads and other mythical creatures, such as satyrs, comprising the entire belief systems. Continue Reading...
Mycenaean Greece's relationship to Crete during the two centuries between 1600 and 1400 B.C. is complex, as both civilizations competed for control of the Mediterranean Sea. "To judge from the known tablets, there appear to have been a number of dis Continue Reading...
Plato's Symposium is one of the most widely read of his dialogues. It is said to be a departure from the usual style because except for a brief portion, it is not written in dialectical style. Instead, a variety of speakers have the opportunity to pr Continue Reading...
Persian Wars (490 BCE to 479 BCE) between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire were predicated by various circumstances, ranging from cultural ideologies to political connivances. For the Greeks, particularly the Ionians and the Athenians, Pe Continue Reading...
human form: Paleolithic art through ancient Greece Over the course of human history, the artistic representation of the human form gradually became both more 'realistic' and 'idealistic.' Although this may sound like a contradictory statement, when Continue Reading...
Greek Project 1272 ART204 Formal Research Project Summer Term 2012 Ancient Greek sculpture is one of the most famous historical forms of art. Three main forms of life are represented by this sculpture; war, mythology, and rulers of the land of anci Continue Reading...
Duly do ye worship the goddess, ye Latin mothers and brides, and ye, too, who wear not the fillets and long robe.13 Take off the golden necklaces from the marble neck of the goddess14; take off her gauds; the goddess must be washed from top to toe." Continue Reading...
Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in Roman history. In t Continue Reading...
Love Got to Do With it: A Critical Analysis of Hippolytus and Lysistrata. If one reads Hippolytus and Lysistrata, one may immediately conclude that love has 'nothing' to do with anything. Many Greek plays discuss the subject of love in obtuse ways. Continue Reading...
