New research is uncovering a richer, more complex picture of women's roles as wives, priestesses, and scholars in ancient Greece.
where one finds rich depictions of land, sea, and air, with manintegratedinto the ambient. Roman writers give repeated evidence that the Etruscans regarded every bird and every berry as a potential source of knowledge of the gods and that they had developed an elaborate lore and attendant ritu...
Depictions of roman sexual activity as debauched and foreign to modern viewers seems to have become the norm for Hollywood producers of late. In nearly every movie that takes place in ancient Rome, viewers can count on seeing a few things: the imperial faction will be covered head to foot i...
Depictions of the oldest stringed instruments (lyres and others) date from the third and second millenniums B.C.—scenes in which the lyre and aulos are being played from the island of Crete, as well as figurines of harpists and flutists from the Cyclades. In Homer’s epics there are ref...
but continued to be used among the literate latin scholars of the early christian church whose literary understanding of paganism was largely based upon Greek and Roman mythology. Given the persistence of much older written and artistic depictions of these gods from mediterranean Europe, it is easy...
Helmeted head of Athena right. Owl standing right, head front, on Panathenaic amphora; to right Demeter standing holding two torches, legend across field Α–ΘΕ / ΦANO – KΛHΣ / AΠOΛ / ΛΩNIΟΣ (ΟΣ written on owl’s wing) / BAK / XIOΣ, E on amphora, ME below; al...
Depictions of the oldest stringed instruments (lyres and others) date from the third and second millenniums B.C.—scenes in which the lyre and aulos are being played from the island of Crete, as well as figurines of harpists and flutists from the Cyclades. In Homer’s epics there are ref...
Pretty much all depictions of dogs from Mesopotamia showed them wearing collars, all of which were wide to protect the animal’s neck. The earliest version of the collar was probably just rope that was wound around the dog’s neck multiple times (as in the image above) or a piece of st...
(2) This town is in the middle of the Egyptian Delta, and in it there is a very great temple of Isis, who is Demeter in the Greek language. (3) The third greatest festival is at Sais in honour of Athena. The fourth is the festival of the sun at Heliopolis. The fifth of Leto ...
suffering is thus a nearly constant theme in narratives concerning the creation of new musical instruments. According to Pindar, Athena constructs the first reed-pipe or aulos in order to recreate the terrifying cries of the Gorgons as Medusa is decapitated by Perseus. Subsequently, when the ...