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Swan Song
The swan song (; ) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been silent (or alternatively not so musical) for most of their lifetime. The belief, whose basis has been long debated, had become proverbial in ancient Greece by the 3rd century BCE and was reiterated many times in later Western culture, Western poetry and art. In reality, swans learn a variety of sounds throughout their lifetime; their sounds are more distinguishable during courting rituals and not correlated with death. Origin and description In Greek mythology, the swan was a bird consecrated to Apollo, and it was therefore considered a symbol of harmony and beauty and its limited capabilities as a singer were sublime (philosophy), sublimated to those of songbirds. Aesop's fable of "The Swan and the Goose" incorporates the swan song lege ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravure Door Reinier Van Persijn
Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it uses a rotary printing press. Once a staple of newspaper photo features, the rotogravure process is still used for commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and corrugated (cardboard) and other product packaging. History and development In the 19th century, a number of developments in photography allowed the production of photo-mechanical printing plates. Henry Fox Talbot mentions in 1852 the use of a textile in the photographic process to create half-tones in the printing plate. A French patent in 1860 describes a reel-fed gravure press. A collaboration between Karel Klič and Samuel Fawcett, in Lancaster resulted in the founding of the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company in 1895, which company produced art prints. In 1906 they m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He influenced all the major areas of theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in History of Athens, Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms, theory of forms (or ideas), which aims to solve what is now known as the problem of universals. He was influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself. Along with his teacher Socrates, and his student Aristotle, Plato is a central figure in the history of Western philosophy. Plato's complete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliny The Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic (''Natural History''), a comprehensive thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field. Among Pliny's greatest works was the twenty-volume ''Bella Germaniae'' ("The History of the German Wars"), which is Lost literary work, no longer extant. ''Bella Germaniae'', which began where Aufidius Bassus' ''Libri Belli Germanici'' ("The War with the Germans") left off, was used as a source by other prominent Roman historians, including Plutarch, Tacitus, and Suetonius. Tacitus may have used ''Bella Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mute Swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to the largest populations outside of its native range, with additional smaller introductions in Australasia and southern Africa. The name "mute" derives from it being less vocal than other swan species. Measuring in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange beak bordered with black. It is recognisable by its pronounced knob atop the beak, which is larger in males. Taxonomy The mute swan was first formally named by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin as ''Anas olor'' in 1789 and was transferred by Johann Matthäus Bechstein to the new genus ''Cygnus'' in 1803. Both ''cygnus'' and ''olor'' mean "swan" in Latin; ''cygnus'' is a variant form of ''cycnus'', borrowing from Greek language, Greek ''kyknos'', a wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliades
In Greek mythology, the Heliades (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιάδες means 'daughters of the sun') also called Phaethontides (meaning "daughters of Phaethon") were the daughters of Helios and Clymene, an Oceanid nymph. Names According to one version recorded by Hyginus, there were seven Heliades: Merope, Helie, Aegle, Lampetia, Phoebe, Aetherie and Dioxippe. Aeschylus's fragmentary ''Heliades'' names Phaethousa and Lampetia, who are otherwise called daughters of Neaera. A scholiast on the ''Odyssey'' gives their names as Phaethusa (Φαέθουσα), Lampetia (Λαμπετίην) and Aegle (Αἴγλην). Mythology Their brother, Phaëthon, died after attempting to drive his father's chariot (the sun) across the sky. He was unable to control the horses and fell to his death (according to most accounts, Zeus struck his chariot with a thunderbolt to save the Earth from being set afire). The Heliades grieved for four months and the gods turned them into poplar trees a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works Hyginus may have originated either from Spain, or from the Egyptian city of Alexandria. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammaticis'', 20. Suetonius remarks that Hyginus fell into great poverty in his old age and was supported by the historian Clodius Licinus. Hyginus was a voluminous author: his works included topographical and biographical treatises, commentaries on Helvius Cinna and the poems of Virgil, and disquisitions on agriculture and bee-keeping. All these are lost. Attributed works Two Latin works which have survived under the name of Hyginus are a mythological handbook, known as the ''Genealogiae'' or the '' Fabulae'', and an astronomical work, entitled '' D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clymene (mother Of Phaethon)
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Clymene or Klymene (; ) is an Oceanid nymph who was loved by the sun-god Helios and became the mother by him of Phaethon and the Heliades. In most versions, Clymene is the one to reveal to Phaethon his divine parentage and encourage him to seek out his father, and even drive his solar chariot to catastrophic results. Etymology The Greek proper name (''Kluménē'') is the feminine form of (''Klúmenos''), meaning "famous". In turn, derives from the verb ', meaning 'to hear, to understand', itself from the Proto-Indo-European root ''wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱlew-, *ḱlew-'', which means 'to hear'. It thus shares the same root and meaning as "Clytie (Oceanid), Clytie", another Oceanid nymph whom Helios loved. Family Clymene is one of the three hundred Oceanid nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys (mythology), Tethys. Although she shares name and parentage with Clymene (wife of Iapetus), Clymene, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining"). Helios is often depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The Roman Emperor Julian (emperor), Julian made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of Religion in ancient Rome, traditional Roman religious practices in the 4th century AD. Helios figures prominently in several works of Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, in which he is often described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phaethon
Phaethon (; , ), also spelled Phaëthon, is the son of the Oceanids, Oceanid Clymene (mother of Phaethon), Clymene and the solar deity, sun god Helios in Greek mythology. According to most authors, Phaethon is the son of Helios who, out of a desire to have his parentage confirmed, travels to the sun god's palace in the east. He is recognised by his father and asks for the privilege of driving his chariot for a single day. Despite Helios' fervent warnings and attempts to dissuade him, counting the numerous dangers he would face in his celestial journey and reminding Phaethon that only he can control the horses, the boy is not dissuaded and does not change his mind. He is then allowed to take the chariot's reins; his ride is disastrous, as he cannot keep a firm grip on the horses. As a result, he drives the chariot too close to the Earth, burning it, and too far from it, freezing it. In the end, after many complaints, from the stars in the sky to the Earth itself, Zeus strikes Pha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycnus Of Liguria
In Greek mythology, Cycnus (Ancient Greek: Κύκνος "swan"), Cygnus or Cidnus was a king of Liguria, a beloved and lover of Phaethon, who lamented his death and was subsequently turned into a swan and then a constellation. History Cycnus was the founder of the first settlement of Brescia on the hill Cidneo in 1200 BCE. The hill was named after him. Mythology Family Cycnus was the son of Sthenelus and the lover of Phaethon (Servius explicitly writes "amator", or lover). According to Ovid, he was a distant relative of Phaethon on his mother's side. Servius also mentions that Cycnus had a son named Cupavo.Servius on ''Aeneid'10.189/ref> It is also possible that he had two sons, Cupavo and Cinyras. Transformation After Phaethon died, Cycnus sat by the river Eridanos mourning his death. The gods turned him into a swan to relieve him of his sorrow. Even then he retained memories of Phaethon's death, and would avoid the sun's heat because of that. Swans are known for mournin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three Western canon, canonical poets of Latin literature. The Roman Empire, Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegy, elegists.Quint. ''Inst.'' 10.1.93 Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus Exile of Ovid, exiled him to Constanța, Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars. Ovid is most famous for the ''Metamorphoses'', a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Animals
''History of Animals'' (, ''Ton peri ta zoia historion'', "Inquiries on Animals"; , "History of Animals") is one of the major texts on biology by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. It was written in sometime between the mid-fourth century BC and Aristotle's death in 322 BC. Generally seen as a pioneering work of zoology, Aristotle frames his text by explaining that he is investigating the ''what'' (the existing facts about animals) prior to establishing the ''why'' (the causes of these characteristics). The book is thus an attempt to apply philosophy to part of the natural world. Throughout the work, Aristotle seeks to identify differences, both between individuals and between groups. A group is established when it is seen that all members have the same set of distinguishing features; for example, that all birds have feathers, wings, and beaks. This relationship between the birds and their features is recognized as a universal. The ''History of Animals'' contains many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
