Mythology

  • Daedalus and Icarus

    Daedalus and Icarus

    Daedalus Dædalus [Δαίδαλος], a descendant of Erechtheus, was an Athenian architect, sculptor, and mechanician. He was the first {212} to introduce the art of sculpture in its higher development, for before his time statues were merely rude representations,…

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  • Ion

    Ion was the son of Crëusa (the beauteous daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens) and the sun-god Phoebus-Apollo, to whom she was united without the knowledge of her father. Fearing the anger of Erechtheus, Crëusa placed her new-born…

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  • Atalanta

    Atalanta was distinguished for her beauty and courage, as well as for her swift-footed. She was nursed by a she-bear, and at last found by some hunters, who reared her and named her Atalanta. Though often wooed, she…

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  • Metope fragment showing Heracles and the Ceryneian Hind

    Heracles (Hercules)

    Heracles (Hercules)

    Heracles [Ἡρακλῆς, also transliterated as Herakles, later romanised as Hercules], the most renowned hero of antiquity, was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the great grandson of Perseus. The Birth of Heracles At the time of his…

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  • Alcmene

    Alcmene

    ALCMENE, the daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae, was betrothed to her cousin Amphytrion; but, during his absence on a perilous undertaking, Zeus assumed his form, and obtained her affections. Heracles (whoseworld-renowned exploits will be related among the…

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  • Theseus and Antiope

    Antiope

    Antiope

    Antiope ANTIOPE, to whom Zeus appeared under the form of a satyr, was the daughter of Nicteus, king of Thebes. To escape the anger of her father she fled to Sicyon, where king Epopeus, enraptured with her wonderful…

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  • Lely's Venus (Aphrodite) statue.

    Aphrodite (Venus)

    Aphrodite (Venus)

    Aphrodite (from aphros, sea-foam, and dite, issued), the daughter of Zeus and a sea-nymph called Dione, was the goddess of Love and Beauty. Dione, being a sea-nymph, gave birth to her daughter beneath the waves; but the child…

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  • Apollo Belvedere

    Apollo

    Apollo

    Phoebus-Apollo, the god of Light, Prophecy, Music, Poetry, and the Arts and Sciences, is by far the noblest conception within the whole range of Greek mythology, and his worship, which not only extended to all the states of…

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  • Detail of sculptures from the north frieze with warriors fighting over a fallen body

    Ares (Mars)

    Ares (Mars)

    As the God of War, Ares was surprisingly not so revered by the ancient Greeks.  God of War He was said to have juxtaposing qualities of cowardice and ruthlessness on the battlefield as opposed to bravery. Even the…

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  • Asclepius

    Asclepius

    Whether Asclepius was or was not a divine figure remains ambiguous in the history of medicine.  He was one of the earliest men to experiment in healing, and if he were mortal, it is thought that he was…

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