Rambling Readers

The Partial Historians

While there are many fables of Aesop’s to enjoy, we’re particularly enamoured of the story of the bear and the bees. May the weak stand united against the strong!

#AncientGreece #History

Illustration of the bear and bees fable showing a brown bear who has tried to steal some honey and found himself on the receiving end of quite a number of angry bees.

A figure who has influenced countless stories, poetry, and art. The question about Homer’s historicity may never be settled, but the inspiration left behind is undeniable. Just one example is ‘The Suitors’ by Gustave Moreau:

#AncientGreece #History

This painting shows the suitors in complete disarray. Description from the Musée National Gustave Moreau: “Ulysses, on his return to Ithaca, massacres the young princes who had been courting his wife Penelope during his absence. He is depicted holding his bow in the background of the painting, with an owl on his head, the animal attribute of Minerva. The goddess appears, towering over this scene of carnage, her body surrounded by a halo, like a Christ at the Last Judgment. In this profusion of bodies, several figures stand out: on the right, the androgynous figure of a young man dressed in blue (inspired by a classical sculpture of the god Atys, copied at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1858); in the centre, a figure of the prince-poet kneeling down and leaning on a lyre personifying Phemios, the aed (singer of epic poetry), whom Ulysses spared at the request of his son Telemacus.”

Erotic Mythology 🌷

I'm still immensely proud of my article on ancient (and medieval) sex jokes.

Read it here if you want to find out what hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before 😉

https://eroticmythology.com/ancient-greek-sex-jokes/

@smutstodon @antiquidons
#ancientGreece #ancientRome #nonfiction

Erotic Mythology 🌷

Do you live in ancient Athens and have a son or daughter to marry off?

With this handy guide you'll make a great match in no time!

https://eroticmythology.com/wedding-guide-ancient-athens/

@antiquidons @histodons
#nonfiction #humour #ancientGreece #wedding

Erotic Mythology 🌷

How do cyou know a character is male? He's wearing phallus trunks, of course!

#PhallusThursday #GreekRomanArt #ancientGreece

@antiquidons @phistorians

Black-and-white image of a red-figure vase painting depicting a satyr as an actor wearing phallus trunks. He also has the pointed ears and horse tail of an ancient Greek satyr.

The Partial Historians

The Tralles Artemis ~ c. 120 BCE

This beautiful marble head is thought to depict a goddess, potentially Artemis or Aphrodite. There’s indications that the bust originally was fitted with a crown. The work is exceptional with comparisons made to the Venus de Milo.

🏛 KM, Vienna

#AncientAsiaMinor #AncientGreece #History

Description from the museum: “The marble head of a female goddess comes from ancient Tralles, a city in western Asia Minor. The well-preserved bust was originally set in a robe statuette. Part of the back of the head with the tuft of hair and the crown decoration, which the drill hole indicates, are missing. The finely crafted facial features and the hairstyle with the pinned-up hair are typical of depictions of the Greek goddesses Aphrodite or Artemis. For stylistic reasons, the head has often been compared to the famous statue of the Venus de Milo. The velvety-soft reproduction of the skin and the finely drawn details characterize our head as a high-quality work, which was modeled on a statue by the great Greek sculptor Praxiteles in the 4th century BC. In ancient times, Praxiteles was considered a master in the depiction of Charis, charm and spiritual feelings.”

The Partial Historians

#PhallusThursday

Nothing quite says phallic monument than the outsized remnants at Delos! Complete with chicken plinth just to enhance the mood.

#AncientGreece #History @AimeeMaroux

A large set of balls with the base of a shaft broken off part way through sits on a plinth with what looks like chicken facing the viewing straight on. Both phallus and plinth are marble. Photo by PhattyFatt via Wikimedia Commons.

The Partial Historians

Attic Greek terracotta oinochoe ~ C4th BCE

This scene depicts the personification of procession Pompe standing between Dionysos and Eros. Dionysos is recognisable on account of his thyrsus and scene is likely to be the lead up to a sacrifice to him.

🏛The Met

#AncientGreece #History

Description from the museum: “Pompe, whose mantle only accentuates her nudity, holds a wreath and looks toward Dionysos, seated and wearing a diadem. The winged Eros adjusts his sandals as though preparing to depart. The gilt openwork basket on the ground is the type used in religious processions to carry sacrificial implements to the place of sacrifice. This procession must be part of an Athenian festival in honor of Dionysos, probably the Anthesteria, which culminated in the sacred marriage of the god to the wife of the archon basileus, a high official representing the ancient Athenian kings. This is one of the most refined vase-paintings in the entire collection. The graceful figure of Pompe reflects full-scale statues of Aphrodite in the nude that were being carved in the wake of the first nude statue of the goddess created by Praxiteles in the mid-fourth century B.C.”

The Partial Historians

Reclining woman from the Hieron at Samothrace ~ c. 150 BCE

The significance of the ‘Sanctuary of the Great Gods’ is thought to relate to a mystery cult. This figure was part of exterior and one theory is she personifies the highest mountain on the island.

🏛 KM, Vienna

#AncientGreece #History

Description from the museum: “The reclining female figure supports itself with its right hand on a rock. The cloak has slipped down to the hips, in the left hand the figure originally held a drinking vessel. According to one interpretation, the gable showed the handing over of the founder of the Samothracian mysteries, Aetion, which would make the female figure the personification of the main mountain of the island.”

The Wild Hunt News

Archeologists have discovered a 4,000 year old structure believed to be from the Minoan civilization while surveying a hilltop in Crete intended to serve as the site of a new airport’s radar tower.

https://wildhunt.org/2024/06/airport-survey-uncovers-a-4000-year-old-structure-on-crete.html

#archaeology #ancientgreece #crete #knossos #minoan #pagan

The Partial Historians

Greek bronze statue of an athlete ~ c. 330 BCE

This bronze was discovered in fragments in 1896. The pieces revealed a classic pose of scraping off the sweat after a heavy session at the palaestra!

📍Ephesus
🏛 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

#AncientGreece #History

Description from the museum: “It depicts an athlete who, after completing his workout in the gymnasium’s palaestra, is shown scraping off sweat, sand and the oil he had slathered himself with with a στλεγγίς (strigilis). We see him running his left thumb over the (now lost) scraper to clean it. Both the apparently spontaneous “snapshot” of someone lost in thought, and stylistic details point to a 4th-century BC model. Recently it has been suggested that the statue is a copy of Lysippos’ celebrated “Apoxymenos” (the scraper).”

Erotic Mythology 🌷

Priapos isn't just a god of dicks, bees, and abundant orchards. He was also a patron god for navigators on the sea, of merchant sailors in #ancientGreece and Rome. Apotropaic items carried on board by mariners in the forms of a terracotta phallus and a wooden #Priapos figure were found in shipwrecks, coinciding with the use of wooden Priapic markers erected in areas of dangerous passage or particular landing areas for sailors.

#PhallusThursday #MerMay
@phistorians @antiquidons

A terracotta statuette of the god Priapos with a huge erection. He is depicted with a full beard and seems fully dressed, the phallus emerging from below his chiton.

The Partial Historians

#WorldBeeDay

We’re celebrating the amazingness of bees with this beautiful golden bee thought to date to the Hellenistic period of Greece. At only 1.5 cm in length, it’s about the size of a bee as well!

🏛 Yale University Art Gallery

#AncientGreece #History

A small gold bee ornament. It’s not clear whether it was part of a wreath of another larger jewellery set.

The Partial Historians

#ReliefWednesday

Greek Grave Stele of Melisto, a young girl ~ c. 340 BCE

This is a commemoration of a young girl lost too young. She holds a small bird, a votive figurine, and seems to be attended by her pet dog. The mourning is palpable.

🏛 Harvard Art Museum

#AncientGreece #History @histodons @antiquidons

Description from museum: “An inscription written on a narrow architrave below the pediment reads: MEΛIΣTΩ KTHΣIKPATOYΣ ΠOTAMIOY, “Melisto, daughter of Ktesikrates, from the Demos of Potamos”. Melisto, daughter of Ktesikrates, holds a doll in her left hand and a bird in the right, and looks down toward the furry little dog springing up at her from the right. She wears a simple girt chiton, like a nightgown.”

Atlas Obscura

Aphrodite's Rock in Kouklia, Cyprus

This sea stack in Cyprus is traditionally seen as the birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite.#beaches #love #rocks #goddess #mythology #ancientgreece #section-Atlas
Aphrodite's Rock