It's #InternationalDogDay! There are several #dogs from #GreekMythology that we still know today, like Kerberos guarding the entrance to the underworld, Odysseus' faithful dog Argos who was the only one who recognised him in his disguise, and Hekuba, the Queen of Troy, who became Hekate's constant companion in the shape of a big black bitch.
But what do we know about the ancient Greeks and their dogs? @amayor researched how the dogs were named:
@antiquidons@histodons The ancient Greeks were keen dog breeders and more than 29 distinct breeds are mentioned in #ancientGreek literature, each with their own traits that made them useful for specific tasks. Large mastiff-type dogs guarded flocks and fended off wolves. Hunting dogs were bred for speed, tracking, and tenacity to hunt deer, hares, and boars. And there were also small pet dogs, companions to children and adult women.
This week's #MythologyMonday theme is fire and there are two major Greek gods associated with fire: #Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and #Hephaistos, god of smiths.
They represent #fire in two different forms: the sacrificial flame of the hearth as the sacred centre of domestic life and the flame of Hephaistos, source of all arts, and fuel of the funeral pyre. But both could be invoked for the cooking of sacrificial meat or a good meal:
If it did go out, only sacred fire produced by friction, or by bronze burning mirrors drawing fire from the sun, might be used to rekindle it.
A ritual from #Lemnos, the cult centre of #Hephaistos, has all fires on Lemnos extinguished for nine days until new fire is brought from the island of #Delos:
Join our patrons for a deep dive into the classic reception tour de force that is Disney’s Hercules (1997). We sit down with Professor Alistair Blanchard whose research on this heroic figure is second to none.
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"They say he [#Hermes] was responsible for #profit and an overseer of the businesses: consequently they set up the statue of him weighing a purse." #Suidas, Byzantine Greek lexicon, 10th century CE
🏛️ Hermes, Archaeological Museum of Nikopolis, Greece
Meet this Roman stone statue of the god #Mars, found in #York. It was carved from local sandstone in the 4th century CE. #Eboracum was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia that became the city of York. Eboracum was a busy port and a provincial capital with residents from all over the Roman Empire.
This week's #MythologyMonday theme is work.
Four deities spring to my mind when I think of work: #Demeter, #Hermes, #Hephaistos, and #Athena. #AncientGreece was an agricultural society with 80% of the population being involved in this line of work. In Greek mythology, it was Demeter who invented agriculture but according to Diodorus Siculus she burnt all the grain when her daughter #Persephone vanished out of grief and anger.
Animal husbandry, a sign of power and wealth, was less well developed in #ancientGreece. Goats and sheep were the most common livestock and the flocks were protected (and sometimes stolen) by #Hermes. He cares for and increases the flocks and thus gives wealth.
Before Hermes was born, his brother #Apollon was herder of the flocks. When he was sentenced to a year of servitude as a young god for killing Python, Apollon served the mortal king Admetos as his herdsman.
#Eros adjusts the kottabos stand, a popular game at #ancientGreek symosia. #Dionysos reclines on a couch, his lower body richly draped, holding a thyrsos in his left hand and a wine cup in his right.
🏛️ Red-figure vase painting on a bell krater, dated 395–375 BCE.
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
Terracotta pyxis showing the Judgement of Paris. Paris is seated on a rock with #Hermes approaching him from the left. The goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena are depicted on the opposite side not shown here.
🏛️ Terracotta pyxis with a white-ground vase painting dated 465–460 BCE. Today in the Met, New York
Tetrassarion #coin dated 162/163 CE. The reverse depicts Ares fully dressed in his armour with helmet, shield, and spear. Facing him stands Aphrodite of the Pudicitia type, holding one hand to her genitals and one hand to her breasts.
Daddy Dionysos and #Herakles enjoying each other's company at a symposion. Note the chest hair! Both Dionysos and Herakles were demigod sons of Zeus who were deified and ascended to Olympos later in life. #Dionysos was born before Herakles and thus was a god when he was still mortal.
🏛️ Red-figure vase painting. Today in the British Museum.
This piece is on my mind after coming across it quite unexpectedly in the Baths of Diocletian. It was a feeling of awe to see this beauty with my own eyes.
🏛 Acropolis Museum (usually, but clearly currently on loan!)
"And there grew up from the watery wave this island, and great Helios who begets the fierce rays of the sun, holds her in his dominion, that ruler of the horses breathing fire.
There long ago he lay with Rhodes and begot seven sons, endowed beyond all men of old with genius of thoughtful mind."
Pindar, Olympian Ode 7