see also:

The Odyssey of Homer

illustrations by John Flaxman

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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

***
 

Greek and Roman Myths in Art
 

Flora, Selene, Phaethon, Circe, Nikta, Icarus

 

Flora
 

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.

Titian
1488-1576
Italy

Flora.

Nicolas Poussin
1594-1665
France
The Triumph of Flora.

Giovanni
Battista
Tiepolo
1696-1770
Italy

The Triumph of Flora.

Arnold
Bocklin
1827-1901
Switzerland

Flora.
1875

Adolphe-
William
Bouguereau 
1825-1905
France

Flora and Zephyr.
1875

Selene
 

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.

Anne-
Louis
Girodet-
Trioson
1767-1824
France

Endymion Asleep.
1793
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA

  Selene.

Phaethon

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.

Peter
Paul
Rubens
1577-1640
Belgium

The Fall of Phaeton.

Gustave
Moreau
1826-1898
France

Phaethon.

Odilon
Redon
1840-1916
France

Phaeton.

Nikta
 

Henri
Fantin-
Latour
1836-1904
France

Nikta.
1897

Henri
Fantin-
Latour
1836-1904
France

Nikta.

Gustave
Moreau
1826-1898
France

Night.

Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA

  Nikta.

 

Icarus

 

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.

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.

Pieter
Bruegel
1525-1569
Netherlands

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
1558

Odilon
Redon
1840-1916
France

The fall of Icarus.

 

Circe

 

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.

Dosso
Dossi
1490-1542
Italy

Circe and Her Lovers in a Landscape.
1525

Dosso
Dossi
1490-1542
Italy

Circe.

John
William
Waterhouse
1849-1917
England

Circë offering the Cup to Ulysses.

Boris
Vallejo
1964-
USA
  Circe.