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Semele
Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the Phrygians. These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian Greeks, Greek invaders and colonists. Dorians, Doric Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived either 1,000 or 1,600 years prior to his visit to Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre in 450 BC at the end of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC) or around 2050 or 1450 BC. In Rome, the goddess #In Roman culture, Stimula was identified as Semele. Semele was the subject of the now lost Greek tragedy, tragedy by Aeschylus called ''Semele'' (''Σεμέλη'') or ''Wool-Carders'' (''Ξάντριαι''). Etymology According to some linguists the name Seme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Ancient Rome, Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called ''baccheia''. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His ''thyrsus'', a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his Cult of Dionysus, cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thrace, Thracian, others as Greek. In O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jupiter And Semele
(1894–95; English, ''Jupiter and Semele'') is a painting by the French Symbolist artist Gustave Moreau (1826–1898). It depicts a moment from the classical myth of the mortal woman Semele, mother of the god Dionysus, and her lover, Jupiter, the king of the gods. She was treacherously advised by the goddess Juno, Jupiter's wife, to ask him to appear to her in all his divine splendor. He obliged, but, in so doing, brought about her violent death by his divine thunder and lightning. The painting is a representation of "divinized physical love" and the overpowering experience that consumes Semele as the god appears in his supreme beauty which has been called "quite simply the most sumptuous expression imaginable of an orgasm". Of this work, Moreau himself wrote, "Semele, penetrated by the divine effluence, regenerated and purified by this consecration, dies struck by lightning and with her dies the genius of terrestrial love, the genius with the goat hooves." Description Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a prince of Phoenicia, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, the brother of Phoenix (son of Agenor), Phoenix, Cilix and Europa (consort of Zeus), Europa, Cadmus traced his origins back to Poseidon and Libya of Egypt, Libya. Originally, he was sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores of Phoenicia by Zeus. In early accounts, Cadmus and Europa were instead the children of Phoenix (son of Agenor), Phoenix.Scholia on Homer, ''Iliad'' B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in Hellanicus of Lesbos, Hellanicus' ''Boeotica'' Cadmus founded or refounded the Greek city of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes, the acropolis of which was originally named ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydorus Of Thebes
In Greek mythology, Polydorus or Polydoros (; means 'many-gift d) was a king of Thebes. Family Polydorus was the youngest and only male child of Cadmus and Harmonia, his sisters were Autonoë, Ino, Agave and Semele. He was the father of Labdacus by Nycteïs, the daughter of Nycteus. Mythology Upon the death of Cadmus, Pentheus, the son of Echion and Agave, after banishing Polydorus ruled Thebes for a short time until Dionysus prompted Agave to kill Pentheus. Polydorus then succeeded Pentheus as king of Thebes and married Nycteïs. When their son Labdacus was still young, Polydorus died of unknown causes, entrusting his father-in-law Nycteus to care the infant prince and to be his regent. In Pausanias's history, Polydorus' rule began when his father abdicated the throne and together with his mother Harmonia migrated to the Illyrian tribe of the Enchelii, but this is the only source for such a timeline. It is also said that along with the thunderbolt hurled at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.'' Chartwell Books, Inc., Secaucus, New Jersey, 292 pp. He was an influential forerunner of symbolism in the visual arts in the 1860s, and at the height of the symbolist movement in the 1890s, he was among the most significant painters. Art historian Robert Delevoy wrote that Moreau "brought symbolist polyvalence to its highest point in '' Jupiter and Semele''."Delevoy, Robert L. 1978. ''Symbolist and Symbolism.'' Editions D'Art Albert Skira, Geneva//Rizzoli International Publishing, Inc. New York. 247 pp. He was a prolific artist who produced over 15,000 paintings, watercolors, and drawings. Moreau painted allegories and traditional biblical and mythological subjects favored by the fine art academies. J. K. Huysmans wrote, "Gustave Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agave Of Thebes
In Greek mythology, Agave (; or 'high-born'), was the daughter of Cadmus and a princess of Thebes. She is most well known for her role in the myths surrounding her nephew, Dionysus, god of wine. Family Agave was the eldest daughter of Cadmus, a legendary hero, king, and founder of the city of Thebes, and of the goddess Harmonia, goddess of harmony. She had three sisters: Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and a brother, Polydorus.Apollodorus3.4.2/ref> Agave married Echion, one of the five Spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of Thebes, and Epirus. Mythology In Euripides' play '' The Bacchae'', Semele, while pregnant with Dionysus, was tricked by Hera into witnessing the true form of Zeus, and was destroyed by the sight. Agave, Ino, and Autonoë began to spread a rumor that Semele had only been pretending that Zeus was the father of her child in order to conceal the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock with the child of a mortal man, and that her death was a puni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ino (Greek Mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ino ( ; ) was a Theban princess who later became a queen of Boeotia. After her death and transfiguration, she was worshiped as a goddess under her epithet Leucothea, the "white goddess." Alcman called her "Queen of the Sea" ( ''thalassomédousa''), which, if not hyperbole, would make her a goddess parallel to Amphitrite. Family Ino was the second daughter of the King Cadmus and Queen Harmonia of Thebes and one of the three sisters of Semele, the mortal woman of the house of Cadmus who gave birth to Dionysus. Her only brother was Polydorus, another ruler of Thebes. Together with her two sisters, Agave and Autonoë, they were the surrogates and divine nurses of Dionysus: : Ino was a primordial Dionysian woman, nurse to the god and a divine maenad. () Ino was the second wife of the Minyan king Athamas, mother of Learchus and Melicertes and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle. Mythology In the back-story to the heroic tale of Jason and the Golde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea (mythology), Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe (mythology), Hebe, and Hephaestus.Hard 2004p. 79 At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione (Titaness/Oceanid), Dione, by whom the ''Iliad'' states that he fathered Aphrodite. According to the ''Theogony'', Zeus's first wife was Metis (mythology), Metis, by whom he had Athena.Hesiod, ''Theogony'886900 Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring, including Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmonia (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; / harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris and her Roman counterpart is Concordia. Harmonia is most well-known for her marriage to Cadmus and the many misfortunes that haunted her descendants, particularly those related to the fabled Necklace of Harmonia. Family Harmonia's parentage varies between accounts. She has most often been named as a daughter of the gods Ares and Aphrodite. Scholia on Homer, ''Iliad'' B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in Hellanicus' ''Boeotica'' Apollodorus3.4/ref> This would make her the sister of other mythological figures such as Aeneas, Phobos, and Eros. In other accounts, Harmonia was born in Samothrace to Zeus and the Pleiad Electra. In this telling, Harmonia would have been the sister of Dardanus and Iasion, who, under the instruction of Zeus, were the founders of mystic rites on Samothrace.Diodorus Siculus5.48.2/ref> Almost always, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmonia (Greek Goddess)
In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; / harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris and her Roman counterpart is Concordia. Harmonia is most well-known for her marriage to Cadmus and the many misfortunes that haunted her descendants, particularly those related to the fabled Necklace of Harmonia. Family Harmonia's parentage varies between accounts. She has most often been named as a daughter of the gods Ares and Aphrodite.Scholia on Homer, ''Iliad'' B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in Hellanicus' ''Boeotica''Apollodorus3.4/ref> This would make her the sister of other mythological figures such as Aeneas, Phobos, and Eros. In other accounts, Harmonia was born in Samothrace to Zeus and the Pleiad Electra. In this telling, Harmonia would have been the sister of Dardanus and Iasion, who, under the instruction of Zeus, were the founders of mystic rites on Samothrace.Diodorus Siculus5.48.2/ref> Almost always, Harmonia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the Greek chorus, chorus.The remnant of a commemorative inscription, dated to the 3rd century BC, lists four, possibly eight, dramatic poets (probably including Choerilus, Phrynichus, and Pratinas) who had won Dionysia#Known winners of the City Dionysia, tragic victories at the Dionysia before Aeschylus had. Thespis was traditionally regarded the inventor of tragedy. According to another tradition, tragedy was established in Athens in the late 530s BC, but that may simply reflect an absence of records. Major innovations in dramatic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thebes, Greece
Thebes ( ; , ''Thíva'' ; , ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece (administrative region), Central Greece, and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the largest city in Boeotia and a major center for the area along with Livadeia and Tanagra. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. One myth had the city founded by Agenor, which gave rise to the (now somewhat obscure) name "Agenorids" to denote Thebans. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean settlement and clay tablets written in the Linear B script, indicating the importance of the site in the Bronze Age. Thebes was the largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia and was the leader of the Boeotian confederacy. It was a major rival of Classical Athens, ancient Athens, and sided with the Achaemenid Empire, Persians during the Second Persian invasi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
