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Greek and Roman Myths in Art
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Flora
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see also:
The Odyssey of Homer
illustrations by
John Flaxman
***
Greek and Roman
Myths in Art
***
see also EXPLORATION (in
Russian):
Homer
"Iliad "and "Odyssey"
***
Apuleius "The Golden Asse"
illustrations by Jean de Bosschere and Martin
Van Maele
***
Longus
"The Pastorals, or the Loves of Daphnis and
Chloe"
illustrations by Marc Chagall
***
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Greek and Roman Myths in Art
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Flora,
Selene,
Phaethon,
Circe, Nikta,
Icarus
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Flora
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Flora
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Roman mythology
in Roman religion, the goddess of the flowering of plants. Titus Tatius
(according to tradition, the Sabine king who ruled with Romulus) is said
to have introduced her cult to Rome; her temple stood near the Circus
Maximus. Her festival, called the Floralia, was instituted in 238 bc. A
representation of Flora’s head, distinguished only by a floral crown,
appeared on coins of the republic. Her name survives in the botanical
term for vegetation of a particular environment.
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Titian
1488-1576
Italy
Flora.
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Nicolas Poussin
1594-1665
France
The Triumph of Flora.
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Giovanni
Battista
Tiepolo
1696-1770
Italy
The Triumph of Flora.
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Arnold
Bocklin
1827-1901
Switzerland
Flora.
1875
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Adolphe-
William
Bouguereau
1825-1905
France
Flora and Zephyr.
1875
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Selene
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Selene
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Greek and Roman mythology
Latin Luna,
(Greek: “Moon”)
in Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a
goddess. She was worshipped at the new and full moons. According to
Hesiod’s Theogony, her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; her
brother was Helios, the sun god (sometimes called her father); her
sister was Eos (Dawn). In the Homeric Hymn to Selene, she bears the
beautiful Pandeic to Zeus, while Alcman says they are the parents of
Herse, the dew. She is often linked with Endymion, whom she loved and
whom Zeus cast into eternal sleep in a cave on Mount Latmus; there,
Selene visited him and became the mother of 50 daughters. In another
story she was loved by Pan. By the 5th century bc Selene was sometimes
identified with Artemis, or Phoebe, “the bright one.” She was usually
represented as a woman with the moon (often in crescent form) on her
head and driving a two-horse chariot. As Luna, she had temples at Rome
on the Aventine and Palatine hills.
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Anne-
Louis
Girodet-
Trioson
1767-1824
France
Endymion Asleep.
1793
Musée du Louvre, Paris
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Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA
Selene.
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Phaethon
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Phaethon
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Greek mythology
(Greek: “Shining” or “Radiant”)
in Greek mythology, the son of Helios, the sun god, and a woman or nymph
variously identified as Clymene, Prote, or Rhode. The most influential
extant version of the story, found in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Books I–II,
seems to echo the plot of Euripides’ Phaethon, now partially known from
papyrus discoveries. Taunted with illegitimacy, Phaethon appealed to his
father, who swore to prove his paternity by giving him whatever he
wanted. Phaethon asked to be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun
through the heavens for a single day. Helios, bound by his oath, had to
let him make the attempt. Phaethon set off but was entirely unable to
control the horses of the sun chariot, which came too near to the earth
and began to scorch it. To prevent further damage, Zeus hurled a
thunderbolt at Phaethon, who fell to the earth at the mouth of the
Eridanus, a river later identified as the Po.
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Peter
Paul
Rubens
1577-1640
Belgium
The Fall of Phaeton.
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Gustave
Moreau
1826-1898
France
Phaethon.
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Odilon
Redon
1840-1916
France
Phaeton.
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Nikta
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Henri
Fantin-
Latour
1836-1904
France
Nikta.
1897
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Henri
Fantin-
Latour
1836-1904
France
Nikta.
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Gustave
Moreau
1826-1898
France
Night.
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Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA
Nikta.
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Icarus
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Icarus
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Greek mythology
in Greek mythology, son of the inventor Daedalus who perished by flying
too near the Sun with waxen wings. See Daedalus.
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Daedalus
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Greek mythology
(Greek: “Skillfully Wrought”)
mythical Greek architect and sculptor, who was said to have built, among
other things, the paradigmatic Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete.
Daedalus fell out of favour with Minos and was imprisoned; he fashioned
wings of wax and feathers for himself and for his son Icarus and escaped
to Sicily. Icarus, however, flew too near the Sun, and his wings melted;
he fell into the sea and drowned. The island on which his body was
washed ashore was later named Icaria. Minos pursued Daedalus to Sicily
and was killed by the daughters of Cocalus.
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Pieter
Bruegel
1525-1569
Netherlands
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
1558
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Odilon
Redon
1840-1916
France
The fall of Icarus.
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Circe
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Circe
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Greek mythology
in Greek legend, a sorceress, the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and
of the ocean nymph Perse. She was able by means of drugs and
incantations to change humans into wolves, lions, and swine. The Greek
hero Odysseus visited her island, Aeaea, with his companions, whom she
changed into swine. But Odysseus, protected by the herb moly (a gift
from Hermes), compelled her to restore them to their original shape. He
stayed with her for one year before resuming his journey. The story is
told by Homer in the Odyssey, Books X and XII. Greco-Roman tradition
placed her island near Italy or located her on Mount Circeo.
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Dosso
Dossi
1490-1542
Italy
Circe and Her Lovers in a Landscape.
1525
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Dosso
Dossi
1490-1542
Italy
Circe.
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John
William
Waterhouse
1849-1917
England
Circë offering the Cup to Ulysses.
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Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA
Circe.
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