Friday 28 December 2018

Monday 17 December 2018

XMAS BREAK IS HERE

XMAS BREAK IS HERE

I'll try to do at least one Greek font xmas card to share before Xmas Eve

please watch for that

If you have found Metousia helpful or interesting please consider supporting my Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/JVartndesign

or using my paypal

I also have aWestern Classics  Amazon wishlist

 ! Link: http://a.co/7KQJCRj hopefully my amazon wish list

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Ariadne and Dionysios Again

#ariadne #dionysios #wedding

Another wedding of Ariadne and Dionysios scene  this time a mosaic



The color range seems some what limited compared to Renaissance and Baroque treatments of this theme but note the use of the cool grays to contrast with the ochres yellows and reds and flesh tones!

Sunday 9 December 2018

Luke's History Mary's Story

ADVENT and time to think about the Xmas Story.
and yes links to the influence of Greek literature

So how do I explain the differences between Matthew and Luke's versions of the Xmas Events.

Matthew's descriptions suggest stories he heard from people who were in Jerusalem at the end.
He talks about the visit to Herod's court of the 3 Magi and the disturbances that caused.

Luke however ...

Luke seems to be influenced by reading Greek History.

He starts with a prologue declaring his method and intents like a Greek History writer however he needs his readers apart from Theophilos will include Hellenized Jews so he includes a genealogy like Matthew and emphasizes Mary's links to Priestly families before he gets to the Birth.

Unlike a certain Christmas carol Lukes says PLACE NOT ROOM in the inn and focuses on the Shepherds and I do wonder could he have had a relative working as a scribe or some kind of official  in Bethelhem who was an eyewitness or interviewed the shepherds?

We also have verification of a later tradition that Luke had some kind of connection to Mary.

Luke 2:19 says that Mary .."all she remembered the events these thinking about them in her heart

suneteerei and sumballoo are the verbs.

If you're teaching Greek here's a great opportunity to show how adding sun as a prefix changes the meaning of a verb!

So Mary thought about what happened and how to tell the story later.

We have Mary's version  but also someone apparently talked to the innkeeper and the shepherds hence Luke's saying he used eyewitnesses.

Your choice if you think its all fiction but what a story!


Wednesday 5 December 2018

Even more Party God

#dionysios #greekart
Mid week so we're back to the Party God of the Olympians

DIONYSIOS 



This is part of an Hellenistic Mosaic which may be a copy of a painting or an original work.

Its a common theme the god reclining and like earlier paintings on ceramic vessels he's half naked and wearing a wreath however the theme's details have changed ...he's now clean shaven no beard and the use of mosaic allows the artist to show him with pale skin and include a tonal background and foreground not possible with the limited range of colors on Classical ceramics.

The Greeks and Romans did not have stoneware glazes or underglazing under clear glazes.
That gloss you see thats polished terra sigillata not glaze! Contact with glass making cultures expanded the range of colors for painting and mosaic.

The satyrs having darker skin? Why?  Drawing attention to Dionysios having pale skin like an aristo or a woman and emphasizing which figure is the god and by contrast showing the Satyrs are wild rural deities.

Sunday 2 December 2018

Two Tales of Faith and Love

#greeknewtestament #biblestudy #faith

Luke Chapter 7 opens and closes with two contrasting characters who moved Jesus because of their faith in his power but also because of their love for another.

First we have the tale of the Centurion who had a beloved young slave referred to as a pais and doulos

The local synagouge at Capernaum approached Jesus for help for this outsider who was possibly an adult convert because he loved their ethnos - nation / people and had built the synagouge

Jesus however agrees to to help the slave because of the humility and faith of the Centurion.

"not in Israel such faith I have found"

At the end of the chapter we see Jesus dining in the house of a Pharisee called Simon.

Somehow a woman described as a sinner ( the actual sin is not specified) made her way into the house and begun anointing Jesus feet
After some interchange with Simon Jesus says

" set free the sins of her which (are) many that / because she loved much

and the chapter ends with

The faith of you it has saved you Go in peace

So the power of faith and love leading to the power of forgiveness.