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Alecto
Alecto ( grc, Ἀληκτώ, Alēktṓ, the implacable or unceasing anger) is one of the Erinyes (Furies) in Greek mythology. Family and description According to Hesiod, Alecto was the daughter of Gaea fertilized by the blood spilled from Uranus when Cronus castrated him. She is the sister of Tisiphone and Megaera. These three Furies had snakes for hair and blood dripped from their eyes, while their wings were those of bats. Alecto's job as a Fury is castigating the moral crimes (such as anger) of humans, especially if they are against others. Alecto's function is similar to Nemesis, with the difference that Nemesis's function is to castigate crimes against the gods, not mortals. Her punishment for mortals was Madness. In mythology In Virgil's ''Aeneid'' (Book VII), Juno commanded the Fury Allecto (spelled with two l's) to prevent the Trojans from having their way with King Latinus by marriage or besiege Italian borders. Allecto's mission is to wreak havoc on the Trojans an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tisiphone
Tisiphone ( ; grc, Τισιφόνη, Tisiphónē), or Tilphousia, was one of the three Erinyes or Furies. Her sisters were Alecto and Megaera. She and her sisters punished crimes of murder: parricide, fratricide and homicide. In culture Literature * In Book VI of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', she is described as the guardian of the gates of Tartarus, "clothed in a blood-wet dress". * In Book X of the ''Aeneid'', she is described as "pale" and raging "among the warring thousands" during the battle between Mezentius and Aeneas's men. * In Book IV of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', she is described as a denizen of Dis who wears a dripping red robe and who has a serpent coiled around her waist. At the behest of Juno, Tisiphone drives Athamas and Ino mad with the breath of a serpent extracted from her hair and a poison made from froth from the mouth of Cerberus and Echidna's venom. * Tisiphone has a prominent role in Statius' ''Thebaid'', where she spurs on the war between Polynices and Eteocl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome, Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas' wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the ''Iliad''. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas' wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Ancient Rome, Rome and his description as a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous ''pietas'', and fashioned th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Siege Of Sziget
''The Siege of Sziget'' or ''The Peril of Sziget'' ( hu, Szigeti veszedelem, la, Obsidio Szigetiana, hr, Opsada Sigeta) is a Hungarian epic poem in fifteen parts, written by Miklós Zrínyi in 1647 and published in 1651, about the final battle of his great-grandfather Nikola IV Zrinski (also Miklós Zrínyi in Hungarian) against the Ottomans in 1566. The poem recounts in epic fashion the Battle of Szigetvár, in which a vastly outnumbered Croatian- Hungarian army tried to resist a Turkish invasion. The battle concluded when Captain Zrinski's forces, having been greatly depleted, left the fortress walls in a famous onslaught. Approximately four hundred troops forayed into the Turkish camp. The epic concludes with Zrinski killing Sultan Suleiman I, before being gunned down by janissaries. Being in the epic tradition, specifically modeled on the Iliad and the Gerusalemme Liberata, it opens with an invocation of a muse (in this case, the Virgin Mary), and often features supe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megaera
Megaera ( ; grc, Μέγαιρα, Mégaira, the jealous one) is one of the Erinyes, Eumenides or "Furies" in Greek mythology. ''Bibliotheca Classica'' states "According to the most received opinions, they were three in number, Tisiphone, "Megaera ... daughter of Nyx and Acheron", and Alecto". In other versions, she and her sisters, as well as the Meliae, were born of the blood of Uranus (mythology), Uranus when Cronus castrated him. In modern French (), Portuguese (), Modern Greek (), Italian (), Russian (), Ukrainian () and Czech (), this name denotes a jealous or spiteful woman. She is not to be confused with Megara (mythology), Megara, the wife of Heracles. Cultural depictions Minor planet 464 Megaira is named in her honour. The 1964 Hammer horror film ''The Gorgon'' revolves around the re-emergence of Megaera in a Central European village circa 1910. Magaera is one of the main characters in the ''The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series), Twilight Zone'' episode "Ye Gods", wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erinyes
The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath". Walter Burkert suggests that they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology. The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote (ca. 400 AD) that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven. Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called Poenai. According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the Giants and the Meliae) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the Earth ( Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamsyn Muir
Tamsyn Muir (born 14 March 1985) is a New Zealand author of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Muir won the 2020 Locus Award for her first novel, '' Gideon the Ninth'', and has been nominated for several other awards as well. Biography Muir was born March 14, 1985, in New South Wales, Australia. She moved to New Zealand when she was nine months old, and grew up in Howick, New Zealand. In 2010, she earned a degree in education. She is also a 2010 graduate of the Clarion Workshop. She currently lives and works in Oxford, United Kingdom. Muir is a lesbian. Work Muir's short story "The Deepwater Bride", published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in 2015, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, the World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction, the Eugie Award and the Shirley Jackson Award for best novelette. '' Gideon the Ninth'', Muir's first novel and the first book of the Locked Tomb series, was published in 2019. It was awarded the 2020 Locus Award for Bes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music For A While
"Music for a While" is a da capo aria for voice (usually soprano or tenor), harpsichord and bass viol by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Based on a repeating ground bass pattern, it is the second of four movements from his incidental music ( Z 583) to ''Oedipus'', a version of Sophocles' play by John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee, published in 1679. It was composed for a revival of the work in 1692. The aria was published posthumously in ''Orpheus Britannicus'', book 2, 1702. Music The voice is accompanied by an instrumental part featuring an ascending ground bass. Harmonies and suitable counterpoint would have been supplied by the musician playing continuo on the harpsichord or other keyboard. Interestingly, the principal ground bass phrase, played before the entrance of the voice, is three bars long instead of the far more usual four. Text Music for a while Shall all your cares beguile. Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd And disdaining to be pleas'd Till Alecto free ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miklós Zrínyi
Miklós Zrínyi ( hr, Nikola Zrinski, hu, Zrínyi Miklós; 5 January 1620 – 18 November 1664) was a Croatian and Hungarian military leader, statesman and poet. He was a member of the House of Zrinski, a Croatian- Hungarian noble family. Full e-text available at He is the author of the first epic poem, '' The Peril of Sziget'', in Hungarian literature. Biography Miklós was born in Csáktornya, Kingdom of Hungary (now Čakovec, Croatia) to the Croatian Juraj V Zrinski and the Hungarian Magdolna (Magdalena) Széchy. At the court of Péter Pázmány, he was an enthusiastic student of Hungarian language and literature, although he prioritized military training. From 1635 to 1637, he accompanied Szenkviczy, one of the canons of Esztergom, on a long educative tour through the Italian Peninsula. Over the next few years, he learned the art of war in defending the Croatian frontier against the Ottoman Empire, and proved himself one of the most important commanders of the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oedipus Rex
''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply ''Oedipus'' (), as it is referred to by Aristotle in the ''Poetics''. It is thought to have been renamed ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' to distinguish it from ''Oedipus at Colonus'', a later play by Sophocles. In antiquity, the term "tyrant" referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation. Of Sophocles' three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, ''Oedipus Rex'' was the second to be written, following ''Antigone'' by about a dozen years. However, in terms of the chronology of events described by the plays, it comes first, followed by ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and then ''Antigone''. Prior to the start of ''Oedipus Rex'', Oedipus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amata
According to Roman mythology, Amata (also called Palanto) was the wife of Latinus, king of the Latins, and the mother of their only child, Lavinia. In the Aeneid of Virgil, she commits suicide during the conflict between Aeneas and Turnus over which of them would marry Lavinia. When Aeneas asks for Lavinia's hand, Amata objects, because she has already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians. Hiding her daughter in the woods, she enlists the other Latin women to instigate a war between the two. Turnus, and his ally Mezentius, leader of the Etruscans, are defeated by Aeneas with the assistance of the Pelasgian colonists from Arcadia and Italic natives of Pallantium, led by that city's founder, the Arcadian Evander of Pallene. The story of this conflict fills the greater part of the seventh book of Virgil's ''Aeneid''. When Amata believes that Turnus had fallen in battle, she hangs herself. Amata's suicide is also referred to in Canto 17 of ''Purgatorio'', the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dryden
'' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John". Early life Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was the rector of All Saints. He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering, paternal grandson of Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Barone t (1553–1632), and wife Frances Wilkes, Puritan landowning gentry who supported the Puritan cause and Parliament. He was a second cousin once removed of Jonathan Swift. As a boy, Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, where it is likely that he received his first education. In 1644 he was sent to Westminst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: ''Inferno'', ''Purgatorio'', and '' Paradiso''. The narrative takes as its literal subject the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward, and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (''Inferno''), followed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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