"Those in love are in pain. And so are we. They forget to eat. So did we. They can't sleep, and neither can we. They seem to be on fire, and fire is upon us...." What is love? Pleasure or pain? And apart from desire, what other types of love are there? We have selected a few passages to illustrate the range of love and passion. Read more
The subject of the birth of Aphrodite or Venus has always been a favorite in artwork. Since the goddess represents desire and physical attraction, and given the way the female form has often been objectified and sexualized, it is perhaps not surprising she has often depicted nude, but there are also modern examples of how her birth might be represented visually in a way that does not objectify women. Read more
I had not previously paid much attention to the shorter Homeric Hymns. I became curious to look at examples to examine the wording more closely and to see if there were clues about the sort of stories that might have been associated with them, or at least formulaic phrases that occur in epic or in the longer hymns, and I chose to look this time at the Homeric Hymns to… Read more
"Long time has Thetis been scanning every corner with silent glance: then, impatient of delay, she cries: “Tell me, Chiron, where is my darling? Why spends the boy any time apart from thee? Is it not with reason that my sleep is troubled, and terrible portents from the gods and fearful panics – would they were false! – afflict his mother’s heart? For now I behold swords that threaten to… Read more
"Hippolytus... says that I am the most kakē of the daimones. He scorns the nuptial bed and takes no notice of marriage, but to Artemis, the sister of Phoebus and daughter of Zeus, he gives tīmē and believes that she is the greatest of the daimones." In Euripides’ Hippolytus, Aphrodite (Venus) and Artemis (Diana) are rivals. This Gallery shows how some sculptors and painters represented the two beautiful goddesses. They… Read more
