Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space Oh My!
We’ve found for you an opportunity to present a paper at the upcoming conference, Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical World, 29 June – 1 July 2013, hosted by the Science Fiction Foundation. Those studying the Fantastika (science fiction, fantasy
Read MoreMyth 101 – Hekate in battle
This frieze is from the temple of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, currently housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The scene of Hekate using a torch in the battle of the Gods and Goddesses with the Serpent-Footed Giants that were born of Gaia is described in Apollodorus (The Library)
Read MoreMyth 101: The Battering Ram and the Spiral Tendency
The Ram’s horns are so often associated with a powerful and vigorous vitality displayed in the image of the Ram, who has become a rich symbol for, among many things, power and/or sexual, creative energy. Similar to Pan, the goat-god, the zodiacal sign of Aries, or Amun-Re, Egypt
Read MoreMyth 101 – Melissai, nymphs of honey
The Melissae or Melissai were the Greek nymphs of honey bees. Priestesses at Aphrodite’s temple in Eryx were called Melissai thus conferring to the goddess the title of Queen Bee. It is said that the Melissai priestesses would enter into visionary trances by eating bee pollen.
Read MoreMyth 101 – Athene
“Pallas” They said: she is high and far and blind in her high pride but now that my head is bowed in sorrow, I find she is most kind. ~H.D. (Selected Poems, New York: Grove Press, 1957)
Read MoreMyth 101 – The Tanagran Triton
Tanagran Triton – a sea-monster with the upper body of a man and a fishtail. A solitary creature with an appetite it is said to have red eyes, scaly fish skin, and vicious sharp teeth. Pausanias recounted the legend that “the women of Tanagra before the orgies of Dionysos
Read MoreMyth 101 – Ariadne and Dionysus
Ariadne and Dionysus, the divine couple. Aridane translates to ‘Most Holy’ (ari adnos). Theses’ abandonment of Ariadne on Naxos became her discovery by Dionysus. It is said that Dionysus loved her deeply. Museum Collection: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Nap
Read MoreTreasures in the Archives – The Mythic Bear
This amazing sculpture comes from Campbell’s Historical Atlas of World Mythology: Mythologies of the Great Hunt of the Celtic bear-goddess Artio. This statue shows the goddess feeding a she-bear and interestingly enough there is a slit in the box pedestal wherein coin offerings could
Read MoreMyth 101 – Charities or Graces
The Charities or Graces are divinities whose power is beauty and all the qualities of charis – beauty, grace, goodwill and favor – as it manifests in the world and the cosmos. The Three Graces, Roman fresco from Pompeii C1st A.D., Image from theoi.com Hesiod (Greek epic 8t
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