Xmas 2020 freebies

Don't forget to visit my patreon for some FREE Xmas reading 

Also 90 of pre june 2020 n 2019 posts have been unlocked 

Https://www.patreon.com/metousia

New Year Wish

 Hoping you experience JOY and Victory in the New Year 2021 !

This is an image of NIKE from Ephesus !

December Dionysia

 Let us not forget December was probably the month in which the Winter Dionysia were held.

Party safely people and dont spread Covid !

CHRISTOUGENNA

 CHRISTOUGENNA - okay it s  NOT  Classical ! but Happy Christmas Everyone !

December on Metousia Patreon

Coming in December to my Metousua Patreon 

Https://www.patreon.com/metousia 

Gifts for you 

 A Fine mix of free ecards and mini booklets plus everythings going into the open to all patreons settings so you can sample all my tiers fanfic poetry hellenika original fiction 

Do visit ! 

Bacchon in his Cape ?

There is a character in #Plutarchs #Amatorius  called #Bacchon described as a youth or young man in his late teens an ephebe wearing a cape. I saw this image of a statue found at Tralles and thought this could be very similar to the cape Bacchon wore and perhaps his posture and character described as thoughtful and respectful. 

Do read Plutarchs" Amatorious ?

If you can read Greek I'm doing a commentary in instalments over on my Metousia Patreon  in the Hellenika tier.

on reference writers

There are several ancient authors people often cite for references but rarely read all the way through.

Heres my list of Greek Authors that you should try to read completely at least once so you have some context for quotes.

Plutarch 

The Lives n the Moralia 

Athenaios also spelt

Athenaeus 

 the Deiphnosophists 

It will make you realise how much poetry we have lost.

All of Thucydides and Herodotus not just the passages set for an undergrad class 

Likewise Strabo Polybius and other Hellenistic writers

I also recommend Lysias a d the Greek anthology.

All of these are available free online as downloadable pdfs and in other formats if you don't mind reading older translations or flipping pages between the greek n english in loeb reprints 

Finally may I recommend you read or acquire Diogenes Laertius a major source for ancient philosophy.

SIDE SADDLE SIRENS

 #nereids #thetis 

Reviewing my collection of images of Nereids and Thetis it suddenly occurred to me how odd it is that they are shown riding "sidesaddle".

 The Nereids are usually the only examples we see of females swimming and yet they do not ! 

They cling to or ride seahorses or tritons! 

Yet other goddesses and women on land or sea are not shown riding any form of mount except for some Amazons. 

So why the side saddle position perhaps  to show they had feet rather than fins unlike their male cousins the Tritons?

This selection of images covers several centuries and areas of Greek art.

I have never yet seen an image of a nereid on a seahorse or Triton in which they are in an actual riding position. Okay so goddesses have perfect balance but the artists would have seen male riders on cavalry and surely known how impossible the positions they depicted were?

Unless they had seen some women riding side saddle perhaps sitting in a white horse in some kind of procession of priestesses or royalty? I note also hippocampi are rarely dark or speckled usually white.

These may all just be matters of style but possibly what else?

Ideas anyone ? 

Athena the Warrior

 #Athena the Warrior 

No Comments Just Athena on a particularly elegant oil flask sharing so you can admire the beauty.

THETIS THE MOTHER

 #Thetis #Greekgoddess #Achiles #Hephaestus #mythology 

THETIS THE MOTHER

While THETIS obtaining a new Shield and set of armour for her son Achilleus is a popular theme in Greek Roman and later art let us give some thought as to why Hephaestus was so willing to help her.

Art dealing with this topic seems to have been lost but Thetis and her Nereid sisters acted as a foster mother to both Hephaestus and Dionysious.

It may well be that some art thought to depict the return of Hephaestus to Olympus actually are depictions of Hephaestus riding to Thetis' wedding ? 

Note in this image Hephaestus wears a wreath and his half brother Dionysious is next to him?

She's also shown as the Mother mourning her son 

But let us end again with Thetis the Mother riding her seahorse to carry a new shield to her son.

Athena's Birth

 #Athena 

ATHENA'S BIRTH 

This is pre Classical but it serves as a contrast to more finished Classical works

Hermes in his messenger boots is on the left and Poseidon on the far right

Zeus ruler of the gods has a robe with embroidered borders and a stylized thunderbolt. 

Two goddesses act as midwives standing ready to receive the child a miniature Athena. 

So did anyone else notice how one goddess has a pattern of squares on her cloak and a patterned vertical panel on an other wise plain robe whereas the other vice versa ?

And Zeus' look of ... is it horror or surprise at whats happening?

Athena in Contemplation

#Athena #sculpture #classicalgreekart

None of the embroidery often seen on ceramics on this carved image of the goddess just the goddess gazing on a memorial stele probably for a fallen soldier returning the respect and worship given to her.

Here's a closeup showing more detail of the face.

A quiet yet powerful work.

Follow me for more Athena images our theme for October.

 

ATHENA on a Signet Ring.

 #Athena #classicalgreekart #signetring

Here we have Athena's image on a signet ring. 

Why a Signet Ring. Perhaps the owner wanted to indicate that he was an Athenian citizen or that he considered himself to have a special relationship with that goddess? Maybe he was a priest or temple official at Athens or elsewhere? We don't know but we can enjoy the craft and skill of this ring.

I have enlarged the image to show to the details that would have left an impression in wax on documents and to show the Greeks carved both large and small objects. Functional useful tools as well as objects of worship.

Also I really love the way she's holding the owl!

ATHENA as a Warrior

 #Athena 

A series of posts featuring Images of Athena in Classical Greek Art 

Here we see Athena as a warrior defeating Encelados the Giant a child of Gaia who is said to be buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

We can see the shield straps telling us something about how the Greeks used and carried round shields.

She has the elaborate embroidered robe of an upper class woman but the helmet of a warrior.

The battle of Athena and Encelados is depicted on various ceramics and is mentioned by Euripides in his ION, and also Callimachus, Apollodoros, Pausanias, Nonnos,  and the Latin poets Virigil, Statius,Horace, and Claudian, though some writers attribute his defeat to Dionysios or Zeus.

ATHENA - Tetradrachma

 ATHENA THIS OCTOBER -

Our #OCTOBER #2020 theme is #Athena 

This Athenian coin is thought to be based on the face of Phidias' sculpture of the goddess.

I have actually enlarged the image to show every possible detail. 

The Athena Painter and Attic Ceramics styles.

 We think of Classical Ceramics progressing from Geometric through Archaic to Red Figure and Black Figure and Polychrome on White Ground but styles were not quite so neatly divided.

An artist known as the Athena painter seemed to have preferred a very pale almost white clay and used black but almost some red and used incision as well as painting. Note how the fine lines of the robe and details on the horse are incised through black slip but most of the rest of the image is painted. 

On the Importance of Pottery - Four

 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POTTERY - FOUR 

A brief note on how Pottery styles reflect cultural and technological changes 

The Red figure White Ground and Black Figure Vessel of the Attic Classical era dwindled in production disappearing in the Hellenistic era..

The Cause? Probably Alexander's defeat of the Persians! 

Other Causes? Yes. Read on.

With Alexanders defeat of the Persians Ionian and other Greek cities in Asia minor underwent a cultural revival. Athens was no longer the major cultural centre. 

Wealth flowed into Greece. Returned soldiers spent money on metal. 

The specialists who made handles and sprigs and painted the thrown vessels became painters of walls or makers of mosaics and ... an biggie!  ... new developments in using molds allowed for mass production of objects like "Megarian" ware.

The Greek may have used molds prior to this to shape handles but using molds for mass production was something new! 

I have done pottery and while I suck at throwing from what I learnt and bowls I have seen it seems like bowls were being thrown and then placed in molds to dry 

However some potters and workshops in Athens used the "West Slope" style derived from black figure.

If we had just the pots and no literature or history texts we would know something happened in Greece and Asia Minor. Ceramics became less treasured. We know Roman collectors valued something called Corinthinian bronze and other gold and silver or glass objects which have not survived or survived in far lower numbers.

Ceramics however can not be melted down. You can grind them into small pieces for grog to stiffen clays but ... 

Ceramics of course were still being made.

The Athenians and other mainland or Asia Minor Greek studios and workshops also had to compete with workshops in Southern Italy Tuscany and other places. 

But South Italian pottery is a theme for another post!

Athena Disrobing

 

Classical art of various eras Greek and later is often described as humanistic

Here is one example that shows why pottery is as important an expression of Greek Classical culture as literature or drama or history.

This is Athena disrobing from her armored glory!

One tendril of hair has come loose from the headband binding it up to fit under her helmet.

Her robes have slid off her shoulders until we can see her transparent under gown.

One might doubt this is the goddess and perhaps rather a mortal woman dressed as the goddess for she seems so human here but the tiny owl or owlet is perhaps a touch of humor or a reminder this is indeed the patron goddess of Athens depicted.

THe beauty and excelleence of gods and humans alike is praised and depicted in Greek Classical art.

Kamares Ware - Two

 Kamares ware Two 

This is Minoan Kamares Ware.

We know there was a tin trade route exporting ceramics and wine from the Mediterranean up to Britain and British tin and other items vice versa. 

While to my knowledge no Kamares ware has been found in Britain I wonder seeing these spirals if there were metal versions of this that reached Britain or Central Europe and influenced later Celtic art?

Kamares Ware

#minoan #greek #ceramics 

KAMARES WARE

While Minoan Ceramics tend to be treated as being not quite "greek" they are just as "hellenic" as Cycladic or Helladic ceramics. They share the same characteristics of balanced functional forms and geometric decoration. 

But you say its got spirals!

Yes but those spirals are the ancestors of the meander patterns of later art and note the geometry and symmetry! So Hellenic!

 

On the Importance of Pottery - Three

 On the Importance of Pottery - Three 

Lets look at some very EARLY Hellenic ceramics 

Neolithic from Dimini in Northern Greece

Helladic from Aegina 

Helladic again 

Seeing a theme ?

From the earliest times there's an interest in balanced forms and geometrical decoration.

And Handles really good handles! Functional ware with beauty! 

Classical forms BEFORE the Classical era

On the Importance of Pottery - TWO

On the Importance of Pottery - TWO

This vessel shows us the importance of Dionysious in Classical Culture and of course also wine and the cult of the grape vine. Dionysios reclines his couch a ship and its pirate crew have become dolphins and swim along and around it. The mast is sprouting vines with full bunches of grapes. The ship is rendered in exquisite detail including the rigging of the sails full of wind and their cables.

Balance symmetry color form ornament and a story illustrated. And on a functional vessel not just for display but using! The potter who created this masterpiece is not recorded. He did not sign his name. Potters rarely did. He is as much a hero as some Spartan king or Athenian orator.

On the Importance of Pottery - ONE

#greekceramics #pottery

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POTTERY _ONE

Last week I got into a dispute on Twitter with the sort of individuals who want
"History" with the sort of individuals who want Classics and History to be about "Great Characters" by which they seem to mean Heroes.

I argued in defence of social history which they viewed as mundane and awoke.

I enjoy World and General histories as much as Social and Art History and it is also my view Potters are as important as Princes.

Ceramics also tell us something about the societies they come from.

Here's a medley of pots that tell stories or give information about their cultures.

Here's the famous Minoan Octopus Vase. From the earliest time Hellenic art balances simplicity with complexity, observation with fantasy, and decoration that matches form.

This ceramic vessel made several hundred years later on the mainland shows similar characteristics, Yes it is  more formal and decorative and stylised but it has balance and beauty.

Likewise this fully Classical work though here the ornamental banding is limited to two narrow strips that act as a frame and the line work and human figure is as important as the color and form. 

While Greek art of all eras shows an interest in balance and symmetry a special characteristic of the "Classical" era which also saw the rise of various democracies was the emphasis on the human figure.

Finally even the gods become more human for while Zeus holds his thunderbolts he could without them equally be a father sending adult children or servants away on errands. Hermes appears as a human herald and the wings on his boots are almost ornaments and Iris apart from her wings is a well dressed young woman.

Sebastos

#sebastos #augustus

SEBASTOS

Do you know what the Greek Equivalent of AUGUSTUS is ?

Yes it's SEBASTOS

Don't forget to check my https://www.patreon.com/metousia for more sebastos art

KETOS MEDLEY

KETOS MEDLEY

A medley of images of Ketoi

From Sea to Land - More Ketos to Dragons

#CETUS #CETOS #kETOS #Drakon #Dragon

Images of sea Monsters in Greek and Roman Art like the one above often have heads similar to those of dragons in later European Art  such as this one from Galician Spain

or this image of a captured Dacian standard ?

But most of us think of dragons as being more like this ?

There are however transitional forms with the features of the water monsters of the Mediterranean and the flying fire breathers or rain bringers of Northern Eurasia.

St Margaret of Antioch emerging from a dragon which split open after swallowing her.

Carolingian cavalry lead by a rider with a dragon standard.

and of course ST George slaying a dragon 

Most of these images are post Classical but the transition of finned sea monster to winged creature shows the lingering echoes of the effects of Greek and Roman art on later Western Europe ?

Ketos the ancestor of Dragons ?

Are Water monster - Ketos partial ancestors of Dragons
At least in terms of inspiring the images that appear in later European art ?

#cetos #cetus #watermonster #dragon

Note the head of the water monster in this mosaic.

and this image 

and this sculpture from Galicia 

Next time I discuss how a water monster may have become a fire breathing winged creature .