The poem ‘Leda and the Swan’ by William Butler Yeats retells a renown story from Greek mythology. According to the myth, Leda, a queen of Sparta, was raped or seduced by Zeus in the guise of a swan. Leda then gave birth to three eggs, one of which did not hatch. The other two gave life to Helen (of Troy) and Pollux, who are assumed to be children of Zeus, and Castor and Clytemnestra, children of Leda’s husband Tyndareus. In the poem, Yeats alludes to the Trojan war and depicts unusually violent…
Augustus came to power in 27BC ‘the first Roman Emperor became a model for his successors including his use of mythical imagery’ ( p.134 block 2). During the middle and late Republic ‘it was fashionable for Roman upper classes to link themselves genealogically with the Gods and Heroes themselves’ (P143 textual sources) Livy said ,It adds dignity to the past, and if any nation deserves the privilege of claiming a divine ancestory, that nation is our own )’ p.17 textual sources)…
Group Members: Amirali Aghnami Zhobin Sadeghi Kevin Rush Wei Qiu Sarah Smurthwaite Art History 1 Professor Meyer 24 October 2014 Peace and Security Art and architecture throughout history has kept alive and allowed expansion of ideas, reality, and emotion. It not only sustained and expanded cultures, but is allowed people to have the freedom to express and honor heroes, religious figures, and the values that societies embraced which were courage, dignity, peace, and security. In art…
I was often annoyed when the soldiers would argue in the midst of a battle. I would think to myself, ‘This is a BATTLE, just throw your spear!’. I believe Patroclus is the one to reprimand Meriones because Patroclus is cool-headed and wise beyond his years. He came as Achilles’ companion, and was there to help him overcome his anger. He may be a weaker fighter than his friend, however, he is a stronger person because he is wise enough to ignore words and put his faith in actions. Save the air in…
Heroism is something that is universal and has been around for a very long time. Allowing the present day world to connect with the past through literature, these connections would not exist without the stories of heroes. Although, written and verbal hero stories were around before the Greeks but the Greeks created a effective style to portray the journey of the hero. In the Greek world there were many documented stories of heroes, one of which included the heroic acts of Perseus. Perseus…
Identity has and will always be an integral part of personal acceptance and societal expectations. The values that one holds dear are of the utmost importance in determining one’s identity as both an individual and member of society. Through believing in the same values, a strong, unified society can be created, however, believing in different values within one society can cause weakness and internal conflicts. Both of the civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Mesopotamia are considered to…
Roman and Greek Mythology What is mythology? According to Merriam-Webster, mythology is: “The myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). The Roman and Greek religions were a central part of the lives of the Roman and Greek peoples. These two vastly different cultures were unified through their similarities in the religions. Both cultures considered themselves as highly religious and thought being highly religious would…
The Greek army was led by Agamemnon of Mycenae and had a handful of Olympic gods, goddesses and demi-gods on their side as well. The gods that aided the Greeks during this war include Athena, Poseidon, Hera, Hephaistos, Hermes and Thetis. Demi-gods are people that are half-god and half-human,…
Akhenaten, the son of Amenhotep III, was an Egyptian king of the 18th Dynasty who brought many cultural reforms to Egypt during his reign. It is generally thought that Akhenaten acted through his reign without any precedent or foreshadowing. However, it has also been speculated that he may have drawn his ideas from the rule of his father. Akhenaten, with his revolutionary focus on Aten and being the first Egyptian king to truly embrace monotheism coupled with henotheism, revealed the importance…
the Council of Elders men had to be sixty years old and from nobility. There was also a board of five called Ephors who balanced the influence between the Council of Elders and the kings. In his text, “An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander”, Thomas Martin describes the Ephors as being the “supremacy of law” (Martin). However, it can be argued that the Spartan government actually contained…