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Itylos
In Greek mythology, Itylus or Itylos (Ancient Greek: Ἴτυλον), was the son of Aedon, daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus and wife of King Zethus of Thebes. Mythology Envious of Niobe, her sister-in-law, who had six sons and six daughters, Aedon formed the plan of killing the eldest of Niobe's sons, but by mistake slew her own son Itylus. Zeus relieved her grief by changing her into a nightingale, whose melancholy tunes are represented by the poet as Aëdon's lamentations about her child. The mythic theme was an ancient one, for Homer's listeners were expected to know the allusion, when Penelope reveals to the still- disguised Odysseus her anguish of a night:I lie on my bed, and the sharp anxieties swarmingthick and fast on my beating heart torment my sorrowing self.As when Pandareos' daughter, the greenwood nightingaleperching in the deep of the forest foliage sings outher lovely sing when springtime is just begun, she varyingthe manifold strains of her voice, pours out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procne
Procne (; grc, Πρόκνη, ''Próknē'' ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology. She was an Athens, Athenian princess as the elder daughter of a king of Athens named Pandion I, Pandion. Family Procne's mother was the naiad Zeuxippe and her siblings were Philomela, Erechtheus, Butes and possibly Teuthras.Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Ethnica'' s.v. Thespeia' She married King Tereus of Thrace and became the mother of Itylus, Itys (Itylos). Mythology Procne's beautiful sister Philomela visited the couple and was raped by Tereus, who tore out her tongue to prevent her revealing the crime. She wove a tapestry which made it clear what had been done, and the two women took their revenge. Procne killed Itys, boiled him and served him as a meal to her husband. After he had finished his meal, the sisters presented Tereus with the severed head of his son, and he realised what had been done.Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 6.424–674 (*Note that the line numbers vary among translations). He s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philomela (princess Of Athens)
Philomela () or Philomel (; grc-gre, , ; ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology who is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary and artistic works in the Western canon. Family Philomela was the younger of two daughters of Pandion I, King of Athens, and the naiad Zeuxippe. Her sister, Procne, was the wife of King Tereus of Thrace. Philomela's other siblings were Erechtheus, Butes and possibly Teuthras. Mythology While the myth has several variations, the general depiction is that Philomela, after being raped and mutilated by her sister's husband, Tereus, obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), a bird renowned for its song. Because of the violence associated with the myth, the song of the nightingale is often depicted or interpreted as a sorrowful lament. In nature, the female nightingale is actually mute, and only the male of the species sings. Ovid and other writers have made the association that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphion And Zethus
Amphion ( ()) and Zethus (; Ζῆθος ''Zēthos'') were, in ancient Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus (or Theobus) by Antiope. They are important characters in one of the two founding myths of the city of Thebes, because they constructed the city's walls. Mythology Childhood Amphion and Zethus were the sons of Antiope, who fled in shame to Sicyon after Zeus raped her, and married King Epopeus there. However, either Nycteus or Lycus attacked Sicyon in order to carry her back to Thebes and punish her. On the way back, she gave birth to the twins and was forced to expose them on Mount Cithaeron. Lycus gave her to his wife, Dirce, who treated her very cruelly for many years.Apollodorus, 3.5.5 Antiope eventually escaped and found her sons living near Mount Cithaeron. After they were convinced that she was their mother, they killed Dirce by tying her to the horns of a bull, gathered an army, and conquered Thebes, becoming its joint rulers. They also either killed Lycus o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Lattimore
Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. Early life and career Born to David and Margaret Barnes Lattimore in Paotingfu, China, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1926. His brother Owen Lattimore was a Sinologist who was blacklisted for his association with China during the McCarthy era, but subsequently rehabilitated when none of the charges against him proved to be true. Their sister Eleanor Frances Lattimore was an author and illustrator of children's books. Richmond was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, and received his B.A. in 1932, and subsequently, under the direction of William Abbott Oldfather, received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1934. He joined the Department of Greek at Bryn Mawr College the following year, and married Alice Bockstahler, with whom he later had two sons, St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
The ''Bibliotheca'' (Ancient Greek: grc, Βιβλιοθήκη, lit=Library, translit=Bibliothēkē, label=none), also known as the ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus, is a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, arranged in three books, generally dated to the first or second century AD. The author was traditionally thought to be Apollodorus of Athens, but that attribution is now regarded as false, and so "Pseudo-" was added to Apollodorus. The ''Bibliotheca'' has been called "the most valuable mythographical work that has come down from ancient times." An epigram recorded by the important intellectual Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople expressed its purpose:Victim of its own suggestions, the epigraph, ironically, does not survive in the manuscripts. For the classic examples of epitomes and encyclopedias substituting in Christian hands for the literature of Classical Antiquity itself, see Isidore of Seville's ''Etymologiae'' and Martianus Capella. It has the follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eustathius Of Thessalonica
Eustathius of Thessalonica (or Eustathios of Thessalonike; el, Εὐστάθιος Θεσσαλονίκης; c. 1115 – 1195/6) was a Byzantine Greek scholar and Archbishop of Thessalonica. He is most noted for his contemporary account of the sack of Thessalonica by the Normans in 1185, for his orations and for his commentaries on Homer, which incorporate many remarks by much earlier researchers. He was officially canonized on June 10, 1988, and his feast day is on September 20.Great Synaxaristes: Ὁ Ἅγιος Εὐστάθιος ὁ Κατάφλωρος Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Θεσσαλονίκης'' 20 Σεπτεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. Life A pupil of Nicholas Kataphloron, Eustathius was appointed to the offices of superintendent of petitions (, ''epi ton deeseon''), professor of rhetoric (), and was ordained a deacon in Constantinople. He was ordained bishop of Myra. Around the year 1178, he was appointed to the archbishopric of Thess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholia
Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient authors, as glosses. One who writes scholia is a scholiast. The earliest attested use of the word dates to the 1st century BC. History Ancient scholia are important sources of information about many aspects of the ancient world, especially ancient literary history. The earliest scholia, usually anonymous, date to the 5th or 4th century BC (such as the ''scholia minora'' to the ''Iliad''). The practice of compiling scholia continued to late Byzantine times, outstanding examples being Archbishop Eustathius' massive commentaries to Homer in the 12th century and the ''scholia recentiora'' of Thomas Magister, Demetrius Triclinius and Manuel Moschopoulos in the 14th. Scholia were altered by successive copyists an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nightingale
The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats. Etymology "Nightingale" is derived from "night" and the Old English ''galan'', "to sing". The genus name ''Luscinia'' is Latin for "nightingale" and ''megarhynchos'' is from Ancient Greek ''megas'', "great" and ''rhunkhos'' "bill". Subspecies *western nightingale (''L. m. megarhynchos'') - Western Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, wintering in tropical Africa *Caucasian nightingale (''L. m. africana'') - The Caucasus and eastern Turkey to southwestern Iran and Iraq, wintering in East Africa *eastern nightingale (''L. m. golzii'') - The Aral Sea to Mongolia, wintering in coastal East Africa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simile
A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "''is''" something else). This distinction is evident in the etymology of the words: simile derives from the Latin word ''similis'' ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word ''metapherein'' ("to transfer"). Like in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle. Author and lexicographer Frank J. Wilstach compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924. Uses In literature * "O My like a red, red rose." "A Red, Red Rose," by Robert Burns. * John Milton, ''Paradise Lost'', a Homeric simile:::As when a prowling Wolf, ::Whom hunger drives to seek new haun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or el, Πηνελόπη, ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius and naiad Periboea. Penelope is known for her fidelity to her husband Odysseus, despite the attention of more than a hundred suitors during his absence. In one source, Penelope's original name was Arnacia or Arnaea. Etymology Glossed by Hesychius as "some kind of bird" (today arbitrarily identified with the Eurasian wigeon, to which Linnaeus gave the binomial ''Anas penelope''), where () is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear. In folk etymology, () is usually understood to combine the Greek word (), "weft", and (), "face", which is considered the most appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher. Robert S. P. Beekes believed the name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odysseus
Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's ''Iliad'' and other works in that same epic cycle. Son of Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus and Acusilaus, Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility (''polytropos''), and is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning ( grc-gre, μῆτις, mêtis, cunning intelligence). He is most famous for his ''nostos'', or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War. Name, etymology, and epithets The form ''Odys(s)eus'' is used starting in the epic period and through the classical period, but various other forms are also found. In vase inscriptions, we find the variants ''Oliseus'' (), ''Olyseus'' (), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
