EUCLID QUOTES

Some quotes from Euclid

Σημεῖόν ἐστιν, οὗ μέρος οὐθέν.

A point is that which has no part.

Γραμμὴ δὲ μῆκος ἀπλατές.

A line is length without breadth.

Ὅρος ἐστίν, ὅ τινός ἐστι πέρας.

A boundary is that which is the limit of anything.

τὸ ὅλου τοῦ μέρους μεῖζόν

the whole is greater than the part

A Mosaic from Olynthus

A Mosaic from the Olynthus colony in northern Greece.

The motif of 2 griffins attacking a deer originated in Central Asia and came to Greece via the Persian Empire. Perhaps the artist saw a woven carpet ?

The Unswept Floor A Mosaic

Sosus' Unswept Floor

One of the few mosaics master we do know the name of is Sosus of Pergamos famous for his work The Unswept Floor which inspired later copies.

This was said to represent the floor of a dining room after a banquet.

Notice the little mouse and the seashell. Exquisite detail on a simple background of white stones !

Dionysios Mosaic at Delos

One noted site for Mosaics is the Island of Delos. However clearly whoever created this one hadn't seen a leopard unless the cat depicted here is some unknown now extinct sub species? I suspect given some of the depictions of leopards I've seen in other ancient art that  some artists had seen what are now called king cheetahs and given the spots thought they were a kind of leopard.

The Hellenistic master who designed this piece has moved away from the older outline style influenced by vase painting towards a more tonal style.

This may be a copy of a painting however it could also be an original work. Pliny writes about pictors who apparently designed and oversaw the creation of mosaics. My next  post features one such work.

Thanatos

These are the two oldest images of death I could find.

Note that the idea of winged death predates Christianity and that Death is shown as being male.

Heracles fighting death for the life of alkestis from a vase painting possibly depicting the scene from Euripides' play about this legend ?

part of a relief from the temple of ephesus thought to depict death note that he has a sword rather than a scythe

 please note the spelling THANATOS

Thanos in Marvel comics is an alien from Titan with an obsession with Death.

No connection with the Titans of Greek Myth !

Thanatos according to Hesiod (Theogony 212)  is the child of Night who is the daughter of Chaos (Theogony 123)

The Pella Mosaics

The Pella Mosaics

found in Macedonia are a valuable reminder that while the best known ancient mosaics are from the ROMAN era the technique developed elsewhere.

The earliest known use of tiles of clay stone or glass come from Mesopotamia and while the Greeks seem to have preferred frescoes they were also notable mosaic workers .

This image is of a legendary griffin attacking a deer a motif probably taken from Central Asian art via Persia. But notice the Greek touches the delicate shading and the tonal contrasts between the background and foreground.

Beautiful?

Kronos and Zeus The old and the New

Kronos  and Zeus

A quote from Timotheus of Miletus preserved by Athenaeus in Deiphnosophists 3.122 d page 69 vol 2 in the loeb edition.

Οὐκ ἀείδω τὰ παλαιά. Καινὰ γὰρ μάλα κρείσσω.

Νέος ὁ Ζεὺς βασιλεύει. Τὸ πάλαι δ̓ ἦν

Κρόνος ἄρχων. Ἀπίτω μοῦσα παλαιά.

Literally

Not I sing (of) the ancient things new / recent for rather (is) greater /better.

New (is) the Zeus reigning the ancient but was Kronos ruling go away muse ancient