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I liked that round picture of the Gorgon with the strange teeth. I hope it doesn't bite itself. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ftil
It looks like there are a lot of snakes associated with females, but why? I understand the snake was associated with wisdom and lived in the earth, but that is as far as I've got.
Thanks, I will visit your blog. Hm....fantasy but mythology intertwine with all religions and it is present in our lives. You have inspired me to explore Apollo.Quote:
Originally Posted by apollo1234
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Apollo, one of the great divinities of the Greeks, was, according to Homer (Il. i. 21, 36), the son of Zeus and Leto. Hesiod (Theog. 918) states the same, and adds, that Apollo′s sister was Artemis. Neither of the two poets suggests anything in regard to the birth-place of the god, unless we take Lukêgenês (Il. iv. 101) in the sense of "born in Lycia," which, however, according to others, would only mean "born of or in light."
According to some traditions, he was a seven months′ child (heptamênaios). The number seven was sacred to the god; on the seventh of every month sacrifices were offered to him (hebdomagetês, Aeschyl. Sept. 802; comp. Callim. Hymn. in Del. 250, &c.), and his festivals usually fell on the seventh of a month.
1.The god who punishes and destroys(oulios) the wicked and overbearing, and as such he is described as the god with bow and arrows, the gift of Hephaestus. (Hom. Il. i. 42, xxiv.605, Od. xi. 318, xv. 410, &c.; comp. Pind. Pyth. iii. 15, &c.)
The circumstance of Apollo being the destroyer of the wicked was believed by some of the ancients to have given rise to his name Apollo, which they connected with apollumi, "to destroy." (Aeschyl. Agam.1081.)
2. The god of song and music. We find him in the Iliad (i. 603) delighting the immortal gods with his play on the phorminx during their repast ; and the Homeric bards derived their art of song either from Apollo or the Muses. (Od. viii. 488, with Eustath.) Later traditions ascribed to Apollo even the invention.
3. The god of prophecy. Apollo exercised this power in his numerous oracles, and especially in that of Delphi. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Oraculum) The source of all his prophetic powers was Zeus himself (Apollodorus states, that Apollo received the mantikê from Pan), and Apollo is accordingly called "the prophet of his father Zeus." (Aeschyl. Eum. 19); but he had nevertheless the power of communicating the gift of prophecy both to gods and men, and all the ancient seers and prophets are placed in some relationship to him. (Hom. Il. i. 72, Hymn. in Merc. 3, 471.) The manner in which Apollo came into the possession.
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Apollon.html
http://www.theoi.com/image/K45.2Bendis.jpg
BENDIS, APOLLO & HERMES
Musem of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Date: ca 370 - 360 BC
SUMMARY
The Thracian goddess Bendis, dressed in a northern body suit, and wielding a hunting spear, is greeted by the gods Apollon and Hermes. Apollon is seated on a rock, wearing a quiver, and holding in one hand a laurel branch, and the other a hare, which he offers to the goddess. Hermes wears a petasos (traveller's cap) and leans on his caduceus wand.
http://www.theoi.com/image/T61.3Marsyas.jpg
APOLLO & MARSYAS
Museum Collection: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
SUMMARY
The satyr Marsyas challenges Apollon to a musical contest. He sits on a rock playing his double-flute, and is shown with the features common to his kind: pug nose, horse's tail and ears. Beside him stands Apollon holding a laurel branch staff, and to either side a pair of Mousai (Muses), one holding a lyre, the other a scroll box, who have been appointed as judges in the contest.
http://www.theoi.com/image/Z5.1Apollon.jpg
APOLLO & DAPHNE
Antakya Museum, Antakya, Turkey C2nd - C3rd AD
SUMMARY
Daphne is transformed into a laurel tree as she runs fleeing from the amorous pursuit of the god Apollon. The Nymphe is depicted in mid-transformation with laurel-branches rising from the earth to encompass her form. The god reaches out in futility to grasp her. He is shown crowned with a shining aureole.
http://www.theoi.com/image/T40.7Erinyes.jpg
ORESTES AT DELPHOI
British Museum, London, United Kingdom, Date: ca 350 - 340 BC
SUMMARY
Orestes seeks refuge from the avenging Furies (Erinyes) of his mother Klytaimnestra at the shrine of Delphoi. He grasps hold of the omphalos stone beneath the sacred tripod as a suppliant of the god. Apollon receives him, and turns to face one of the pursuing Erinyes. He is wreathed in laurel, and holds a laurel branch staff. On the other side stands Athene, Orestes' patron-goddess, who has guided him to the altar. She wears a helm and her gorgon-headed aigis cloak. Above her is the ghost of Klytaimnestra, who drives the Erinyes against her son to avenge the crime of matricide. The two Erinyes are depicted as huntresses, wearing short-skirts and hunting boots. Their arms and hair are wreathed with poisonous serpents. One of the pair is winged.
An omphalos is an ancient religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Greek, the word omphalos means "navel" (compare the name of Queen Omphale). According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles to fly across the world to meet at its center, the "navel" of the world. Omphalos stones used to denote this point were erected in several areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at the oracle in Delphi. The plant genus Omphalodes in the family Boraginaceae is commonly called navelwort. It is also the name of the stone given to Cronus in Zeus' place in Greek mythology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos
Gustave Moreau Apollo and the Satyrs
http://www.paintinghere.com/Uploadpi...e%20Satyrs.jpg
Eugene Delacroix : Apollo Slays Python
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumb...29-1850-51.jpg
Apollo and Marsyas, Romanelli
http://www.oceansbridge.com/painting...%20marsyas.jpg
Apollo and the python snake, Cornelis De Vos.
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumb...thon-Snake.jpg
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/...o-13-patch.jpg
http://www.casualliving.com/photo/27...loLogo50th.jpg
I am glad that you like it. Please bring any part of Ovid you want to see in art.Quote:
Originally Posted by jersea
We can make connections together. :)
It is true and it is in most cultures. The same applies to frogs that were associated with male gods. I will post frog themes soon. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
I was originally thinking that the snake was a symbol for a female, but perhaps as a symbol the snake is male, one of the female's companions.
Snakes or serpents are present in every culture. I am puzzeled as I find more about it.
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Serpent is a word of Latin origin (from serpens, serpentis "something that creeps, snake") that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_(symbolism)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ineSerpent.jpg
The Maya Vision Serpent
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ed_by_Naga.jpg
This Cambodian statue, dated between 1150 and 1175 A.D., depicts the meditating Buddha being shielded by the naga Mucalinda.
This motif recalls the story of the Buddha and the serpent king Mucalinda: as the Buddha sat beneath a tree engrossed in meditation, Mucalinda came up from the roots of the tree to shield the Buddha from a tempest that was just beginning to arise.
"Naga" (Sanskrit:नाग) is the Sanskrit/Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very large snake, found in Hinduism and Buddhism.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-Naga182.JPG
Naga Figure Gasa Dzong, Bhutan Hoysala sculpture of a Naga couple, Halebidu.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Ningizzida.jpg
The Sumerian deity, Ningizzida, is accompanied by two gryphons; it is the oldest known image of two snakes coiling around an axial rod, dating from before 2000 BCE.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ississip86.png
Ancient North American serpent imagery often featured rattlesnakes.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ata_poster.png
Contemporary poster of a Mami Wata, "serpent priestess" painted by German (Hamburg) artist Schleisinger, ca. 1926, displayed in shrines as a popular image of Mami Wata in Africa and in the Diaspora.
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Mami Wata is venerated in West, Central, Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Caribbean and parts of North and South America. Mami Wata spirits are usually female, but are sometimes male.
]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata
A Horned Serpent is a popular image in Northern American natives' mythology.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...red_figure.jpg
The antlered deity of the Gundestrup cauldron, commonly identified with Cernunnos, holding a ram-horned serpent and a torc.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._palette01.jpg
Horned serpents (rattlesnakes) tied together on a Mississippian sandstone plate from the Moundville Archaeological Site
Johann Urlich Krauss
http://www.latein-pagina.de/ovid/pic...uss%206,11.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...g_shfifonN.jpg
The Flying Serpent, insignia of the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade
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Cosmic serpents
The serpent, when forming a ring with its tail in its mouth, is a clear and widespread symbol of the "All-in-All", the totality of existence, infinity and the cyclic nature of the cosmos. The most well known version of this is the Aegypto-Greek Ourobouros. It is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. The Ancient Egyptians associated it with Wadjet, one of their oldest deities as well as another aspect, Hathor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_(symbolism)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uroboros_1.jpg
Engraving by Lucas Jennis, in alchemical tract titled De Lapide Philosophico.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._alquimica.jpg
Drawing by Theodoros Pelecanos, in alchemical tract titled Synosius (1478).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...a/Emb_logo.png
Emblem of the Theosophical Society
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In Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, or the Green One (Egyptian w3ḏyt; also spelled Wadjit, Wedjet, Uadjet or Ua Zit and in Greek, Udjo, Uto, Edjo, and Buto among other names), was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep,[1] which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of Wadjet, and the Greeks called Buto,[2] a city that was an important site in the Predynastic era of Ancient Egypt and the cultural developments of the Paleolithic. She was said to be the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the joint protector and patron of all of Egypt with the "goddess" of Upper Egypt. The image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus, and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protecter of women in childbirth and kings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...9_mp3h8831.jpg
Wadjet as Wadjet-Bast, depicted as the body of a woman with a lioness head, wearing the uraeus
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ut_temple8.JPG
Relief of Wadjet, Hatshepsut temple, Deir el-Bahari, Theban Necropolis, Egypt
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...0px-Edfu44.JPG
Wall relief of Wadjet and Horus in Cradle chapel, temple of Edfu, Egypt
We have more snake themes in mythology. Cadmus and Harmonia transformed into serpents.
http://www.maicar.com/GML/000Images/cim/cadmus2635.jpg
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Snakes know a thing or two about sex, we learn, from the story of Tiresias in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. There was no more appropriate creature to instruct Eve about it. When Tiresias encountered two snakes having sex, he rapped them with his stick but then he found himself changed into a woman. He deserved this, for he should not have interrupted them. Seven years later he came across another pair of snakes having sex and wondered if he rapped them whether it would reverse him back to a man. It did indeed and whether it was the snakes’ power or the gods’ to effect such changes, Ovid isn’t telling. But Ovid does place it in the context of an argument between Zeus and Hera over who has the greater pleasure from sex, men or women. I don’t know the answer to this question myself, but Zeus said women, Hera said men. Tiresias, having lived as both, agreed with Zeus that it was women. So Hera struck him blind. Zeus tried to compensate by giving him “second sight.” The snakes came out of it unscathed.
Tiresias also appears in Homer’s Odyssey and the classic Greek Oedipus plays, and in Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost, in Tennyson and T.S. Eliot (did The Waste Land in turn inspire Virginia Woolf’s Orlando?). Nowadays Tiresias is an icon of the transgendered community and I’d like to think he is the source of the idea that too much sex can make you go blind.
http://www.sexualfables.com/Why-Snak...-About-Sex.php
http://www.sexualfables.com/images/Tiresias-Krauss.jpg
The engraving of Tiresias, Johann Ulrich Krauss, from a 1690 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
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YesNo wrote:
There is something about this river Styx that seems to have control over these gods.
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The Styx was a river in Greek mythology that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (often called Hades which is also the name of this domain's ruler). It circles the Underworld nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron, and Cocytus all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh, which is also sometimes called the Styx. The other important rivers of the underworld are Lethe, Eridanos, and Alpheus.
The gods were bound by the Styx and swore oaths on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ndr_Kharon.jpg
A 19th-century interpretation of Charon's crossing by Alexander Litovchenko.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ichelagelo.jpg
Charon as depicted by Michelangelo
http://fineartamerica.com/images-med...r-stanhope.jpg
Charon and Psyche, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
Let's look at William Blake paintings. His words are thought provoking as he said, "The promise of the divine in man, made in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, is at last fulfilled"Quote:
Styx was primarily a feature in the afterworld of Greek mythology, and was adopted into the Christian mythology of Hell of Christianity, notably in The Divine Comedy and "Paradise Lost". The ferryman Charon is believed to have transported the souls of the newly dead across this river into the underworld, though in the original Greek and Roman sources, as well as in Dante, it was the river Acheron that Charon plied. Dante put Phlegyas over the Styx and made it the fifth circle of Hell, where the wrathful and sullen are punished by being drowned in the muddy waters for eternity, with the wrathful fighting each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
http://www.william-blake.org/209006/...eves-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XXIV, Thieves
http://www.william-blake.org/209004/...emer-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XIV, 46-72, Capaneus the Blasphemer
http://www.william-blake.org/209011/...rcle-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XXXIV, 22-64, Lucifer at the last section of the nineth circle
http://www.william-blake.org/209005/...Pope-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XIX, 42-120, The simoniac Pope
http://www.leninimports.com/william_...hell_print.jpg
Lucifer and the Pope in Hell
http://www.william-blake.org/209003/...ides-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XIII, 1-45, The Wood of Self-Violators: The Harpies and the Suicides
http://www.william-blake.org/209002/...cle)-large.jpg
Inferno, Canto XII, 12-28, The Minotaur (Seventh Circle)
http://www.william-blake.org/105330/...Hell-large.jpg
Satan, Sin, and Death- Satan Comes to the Gates of Hell
http://www.william-blake.org/171891/...-Sun-large.jpg
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun
http://www.william-blake.org/87061/T...1810-large.jpg
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Blake_006.jpg
The Night of Enitharmon's Joy Blake's vision of Hecate, Greek goddess of black magic and the underworld and Three Fates.
Eugene Delacroix
http://madamepickwickartblog.com/wp-...2-1024x764.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...es_107-108.jpg
Charon collects the spirits into his boat in Dante Alighieri's Inferno Canto 3 lines 107-108, Gustave_Doré
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ne_4_Minos.jpg
Minos stands in judgement in Dante's Inferno Canto, Gustave Doré
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...9_verse_46.jpg
Inferno Canto 9 verse
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...o_Canto_21.jpg
Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends in Inferno Canto 21 between ditches five and six in the eight circle
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rses_73-74.jpg
Inferno Canto 12 verses 73-74
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rses_58-59.jpg
Inferno Canto 12 verses 58-59
There are two paintings of Blake that brought my attention but I don't know the meaning yet.
Purgatorio, Canto XXX, 60-146 Beatrice Addressing Dante, William Blake
http://www.william-blake.org/209013/...ante-large.jpg
The Lovers' Whirlwind, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta
http://www.william-blake.org/240670/...esta-large.jpg
When I looked at this painting, I associated it with Zeus.
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ZEUS was the king of the gods, the god of sky and weather, law, order and fate. He was depicted as a regal man, mature with sturdy figure and dark beard. His usual attributes were a lightning bolt, royal sceptre and eagle.
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html
It is interesting how mythology intertwines with Divine Comedy, isn't it?Quote:
Zeus struck and killed Capaneus with a thunderbolt, and Evadne threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre and died.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capaneus
Inferno, Canto XIV, 46-72, Capaneus the Blasphemer
http://www.william-blake.org/209004/...emer-large.jpg
Another association of Blake painting.
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
http://www.william-blake.org/87061/T...1810-large.jpg
A Gustave Doré wood engraving of Geryon for Dante's Inferno
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...3px-Geryon.jpg
L'Infranchissable Obstacle, Wojtek Siudmak
http://www.museumsyndicate.com/images/3/20466.jpg[/PHP]
YesNo has opened a Pandora box with associations. Mythology and Divine comedy. It is strange, isn't it?
Inferno, Canto XII, 12-28, The Minotaur (Seventh Circle)
http://www.william-blake.org/209002/...cle)-large.jpg
Gustave Moreau,Translated title: The Dead Poet Borne by a Centaur. c.1890
http://alloilpaint.com/moreau/2.jpg
Franz von Stuck, Walking Ride
http://tjweb.org/art-thumbs/small-Wa..._von_Stuck.jpg
Amazon and Centaur, Franz von Stuck
http://a3.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/i...ecda7350/l.jpg
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The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal (Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that the Aztecs had this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen).[10] Horse taming and horseback culture arose first in the southern steppe grasslands of Central Asia, perhaps approximately in modern Kazakhstan.
The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described as the inventors of horse-back riding by Greek writers. The Thessalian tribes also claimed their horse breeds were descended from the centaurs.
Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined monster. Previous authors (Homer) only uses words such as pheres (cf. theres, "beasts") that could also mean ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses. However, contemporaneous representations of hybrid centaurs can be found inarchaic Greek art.
Lucretius in his first century BC philosophical poem On the Nature of Things denied the existence of centaurs based on their differing rate of growth. He states that at three years old horses are in the prime of their life while at three humans are still little more than babies, making hybrid animals impossible
Robert Graves (relying on the work of Georges Dumezil argued for tracing the centaurs back to the Indian gandharva), speculated that the centaurs were a dimly remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as a totem.[15] A similar theory was incorporated into Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea. Kinnaras, another half-man half-horse mythical creature from the Indian mythology, appeared in various ancient texts, arts as well as sculptures from all around India. It is shown as a horse with the torso of a man in place of where the horse's head has to be, that is similar to a Greek centaur.
The Greek word kentauros is generally regarded as of obscure origin. The etymologyfrom ken – tauros, "piercing bull-stickers" was a Euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus' rationalizing text on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales (Περὶ ἀπίστων): mounted archers from a village called Nephele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scourge of Ixion's kingdom. Another possible related etymology can be "bull-slayer".Some[who?] say that the Greeks took the constellation of Centaurus, and also its name "piercing bull", from Mesopotamia, where it symbolized the god Baal who represents rain and fertility, fighting with and piercing with his horns the demon Mot who represents the summer drought. In Greece, the constellation of Centaurus was noted by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the fourth century BC and by Aratus in the third century.
http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentauroiThessalioi.html
http://www.theoi.com/image/Z38.4Kentauroi.jpg
CENTAUR, TIGERS & LEOPARDS
Museum Collection: Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany
Date: ca 118 - 138 AD
Period: Imperial Roman
SUMMARY
A Kentauros (Centaur) casts a rock at the tiger who has slain his mate and infant child. The Kentauris (female centaur) lies dead, bloodied by the raking claws of the beast. The child Kentauris has fallen nearby with its arms stretched out towards the tail of the beast.
http://www.theoi.com/image/Z38.3Kentauros.jpg
CENTAUR
Tzippori Collection, Haifa, Israel
Period: Imperial Roman
SUMMARY
A rearing centaur draped in an animal-skin cloak and holding a bowl in his hands.
http://www.theoi.com/image/S38.1Kentauros.jpg
CENTAUR & EROS
Museum Collection: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
Date: C1st - C2nd AD
Period: Imperial Roman
SUMMARY
The winged godling Eros (love personified) seated on the back of a centaur.
http://www.theoi.com/image/S38.2Kentauros.jpg
"FURIETTI CENTAUR"
Museum Collection: Museo Capitolino, Rome, Italy
Period: Imperial Roman
SUMMARY
A half horse, half man centaur.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Tuileries.jpg
Centaur carrying off a nymphby Laurent Marqueste, marble, 1892, Tuileries Garden, Paris.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nd_Centaur.jpg
Theseus Defeats the Centaur (1805-1819) by Antonio Canova (1857-1822),Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Ricci_045.jpg
Painting by Sebastiano Ricci, of centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae
Let's look at Saturn.
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In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn (Latin: Saturnus) was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. His mother was Terra and his father was Caelus. He was identified in classical antiquity with the Greek deity Cronus, and the mythologies of the two gods are commonly mixed. Saturn's wife was Ops (the Roman equivalent of Rhea) and Saturn was the father ofCeres, Jupiter, Veritas, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno, among others. Saturn had a temple on the Forum Romanum which contained the Royal Treasury. Saturn is the namesake of both Saturn, the planet, and Saturday (dies Saturni). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(mythology)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...tail_right.jpg
Die Früchte der Erde werden Saturn dargereicht
And another association of Divine Comedy and mythology.
Inferno, Canto XIII, 1-45, The Wood of Self-Violators: The Harpies and the Suicides
http://www.william-blake.org/209003/...ides-large.jpg
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The Harpies were the spirits of sudden, sharp gusts of wind. They were known as the hounds of Zeus and were despatched by the god to snatch away (harpazô) people and things from the earth. Sudden, mysterious dissappearances were often attributed to the Harpyiai. The Harpies were once sent by Zeus to plague King Phineus of Thrake as punishment for revealing the secrets of the gods.
Homer mentions one Harpy called Podarge (Swiftfoot). Hesiod mentions two, Aello and Okypete (Stormswift and Swiftwing).
In Greek mythology, a harpy ("snatcher", from Latin: harpeia, originating in Greek:ἅρπυια, harpūia) was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas. The literal meaning of the word seems to be "that which snatches" as it comes from the ancient Greek word harpazein (ἁρπάζειν), which means "to snatch".
A harpy was the mother by the West Wind Zephyros of the horses of Achilles. In this context Jane Ellen Harrison adduced the notion in Virgil's Georgics (iii.274) that mares became gravid by the wind alone, marvelous to say.
Hesiod calls them two "lovely-haired" creatures, and pottery art depicting the harpies featured beautiful women with wings. Harpies as ugly winged bird-women, e.g.in Aeschylus' The Eumenides (line 50) are a late development, due to a confusion with the Sirens. Roman and Byzantine writers detailed their ugliness.
http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Harpyiai.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...77/Harpyie.JPG
http://www.theoi.com/image/P20.2Harpyiai.jpg
PHINEUS & THE HARPY
Museum Collection: Museo Jatta, Ruvo, Italy
Date: ca 360 BC
Period: Late Classical / Early Hellenistic
SUMMARY
Detail of a Harpyia and son of Boreas, from a painting depicting the theft of food from the old blind king Phineus. The Harpyia is depicted as a grotesquely, ugly winged woman dressed in a short maiden skirt. The Boread who pursues her is a handsome youth armed with spear and sword.
NOTEThis image is a dr
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../f9/Harpij.jpg
A harpy in Ulisse Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia, Bologna, 1642
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Suicides_m.jpg
Inferno Forest Of Suicides
http://www.artchive.com/web_gallery/...9767/size1.jpg
Aeneas and his Companions Fighting the Harpies 1646-47
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/up...-NG5467-fm.jpg
Landscape with the Expulsion of the Harpies about 1590,