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Oneiros
In Greek mythology, dreams were sometimes personified as Oneiros () or Oneiroi (). In the ''Iliad'' of Homer, Zeus sends an Oneiros to appear to Agamemnon in a dream, while in Hesiod's ''Theogony'', the Oneiroi are the sons of Nyx (Night), and brothers of Hypnos (Sleep). Sources For the ancient Greeks, dreams were not generally personified. However, a few instances of the personification of dreams, some perhaps solely poetic, can be found in ancient Greek sources. In Homer's ''Iliad'', Zeus decides to send a "baleful dream" to Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek army during the Trojan War. An Oneiros is summoned by Zeus, and ordered to go to the camp of the Greeks at Troy and deliver a message from Zeus urging him to battle. The Oneiros goes quickly to Agamemnon's tent, and finding him asleep, stands above Agamemnon's head; taking the shape of Nestor, a trusted counselor to Agamemnon, the Oneiros speaks to Agamemnon, as Zeus had instructed him. The ''Odyssey'' locates a " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Of Dreams (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Land of dreams (or District of dreams; ) is a location in the Greek underworld mentioned by Homer in the ''Odyssey''. Homer locates the land past the streams of Oceanus, the world-encircling river, and the gates of the Sun, close to the Fields of Asphodel, where the spirits of the dead reside.Homer, ''Odyssey'24.11-14/ref> Described as "the land where reality ends and everything is fabulous", the district of dreams is situated by the stream of Oceanus, the physical boundary in cosmic space, beyond which lies the realm of images and ghosts. Mythology ''Oneiros'' Personifications of dreams, called ''Oneiros'' (, pl. ''Oneiroi''), had several minor references in ancient sources and would sometimes appear in myths delivering messages to mortals in their sleep. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', the "tribe of Dreams" was descended from Nyx and were, among others, brothers of Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death), also residents of the underworld. The Oneiroi, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theogony
The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one of the most important sources for the understanding of early Greek cosmology. Descriptions Hesiod's ''Theogony'' is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greece, Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos. It is the first known Greece, Greek mythical cosmogony. The initial state of the universe is Chaos (mythology), chaos, a dark indefinite void considered a divine primordial condition from which everything else appeared. Theogonies are a part of Greek mythology which embodies the desire to articulate reality as a whole; this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first later projects of speculative theorizing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somnus
In Roman mythology, Somnus ("sleep") is the personification of sleep. His Greek counterpart is Hypnos. Somnus resided in the underworld. According to Virgil, Somnus was the brother of Death ( Mors), and according to Ovid, Somnus had a 'thousand' sons, the Somnia ('dream shapes'), who appear in dreams 'mimicking many forms'. Ovid named three of the sons of Somnus: Morpheus, who appears in human guise, Icelos / Phobetor, who appears as beasts, and Phantasos, who appears as inanimate objects. Greek tradition In the Greek tradition, Hypnos (Sleep) was the brother of Thanatos (Death), and the son of Nyx (Night). According to Hesiod, Sleep, along with Death, live in the underworld, while in the Homeric tradition, although "the land of dreams" was located on the road to the underworld, near the great world-encircling river Oceanus, nearby the city of Cimmerians, Sleep himself lived on the island of Lemnos. Virgil Following the Greek tradition, Virgil makes Sleep and Death brothers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gates Of Horn And Ivory
The gates of horn and ivory are a literary image used to distinguish true dreams (corresponding to factual occurrences) from false. The phrase originated in the Greek language, in which the word for "horn" is similar to that for "fulfill" and the word for "ivory" is similar to that for "deceive". On the basis of that play on words, true dreams are spoken of as coming through the gates of horn, false dreams as coming through those of ivory. The ''Odyssey'' The earliest appearance of the image is in the ''Odyssey'', book 19, lines 560–569. There Penelope, who has had a dream that seems to signify that her husband Odysseus is about to return, expresses by a play on words her conviction that the dream is false. She says: :Stranger, dreams verily are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfillment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of ''horn'' and one of ''ivory''. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epidotes
In Greek mythology, Epidotes (Ancient Greek: Ἐπιδώτης) was a divinity who was worshipped at Lacedaemon, and averted the anger of Zeus Hicesius () for the crime committed by the Spartan general Pausanias. Epidotes, meaning the "liberal giver" or "bountiful", occurs also as an epithet of other divinities, such as Zeus at Mantineia and Sparta, and of Hypnos and Oneiros at Sicyon, who had a statue in the temple of Asclepius there, which represented them in the act of sending a lion to sleep, and lastly of the beneficent gods, to whom a second-century senator, Antoninus, built a sanctuary at Epidaurus Epidaurus () was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epi ....Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'2.27.7(cited by Schmitz) Notes References * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works Hyginus may have originated either from Spain, or from the Egyptian city of Alexandria. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammaticis'', 20. Suetonius remarks that Hyginus fell into great poverty in his old age and was supported by the historian Clodius Licinus. Hyginus was a voluminous author: his works included topographical and biographical treatises, commentaries on Helvius Cinna and the poems of Virgil, and disquisitions on agriculture and bee-keeping. All these are lost. Attributed works Two Latin works which have survived under the name of Hyginus are a mythological handbook, known as the ''Genealogiae'' or the '' Fabulae'', and an astronomical work, entitled '' D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oizys
In Greek mythology, Oizys (; ), or Oezys (Οἰζύς), is the personification of pain or distress. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Oizys is one of the offspring of Nyx (Night), produced without the assistance of a father. Oizys has no distinct mythology of her own. According to the Roman authors Cicero and Hyginus, "Miseria" (Misery) is one of the offspring of the Nox (Night, the Roman equivalent of Nyx) and Erebus.Hyginus, ''Fabulae'Preface Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'3.44 (pp. 328, 329) See also * Achlys * Hybris (mythology) * Ponos * Algos Notes References * Cicero, Marcus Tullius, ''De Natura Deorum'' in ''Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. Academics'', translated by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library No. 268, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, first published 1933, revised 1951. Online version at Harvard University Press [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemesis (mythology)
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek word , ''némein'', meaning "to give what is due", from Proto-Indo-European *''nem-'' "distribute". Family According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Nemesis was one of the children of Nyx alone. Nemesis has been described as the daughter of Oceanus, Erebus, or Zeus, but according to Hyginus she was a child of Erebus and Nyx. Some made her the daughter of Zeus by an unnamed mother. In several traditions, Nemesis was seen as the mother of Helen of Troy by Zeus, adopted and raised by Leda and Tyndareus. According to the Byzantine poet Tzetzes, Bacchylides had Nemesis as the mother of the Telchines by Tartarus. Mythology Fortune and retribution The word ''nemesis'' originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eris (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Eris () is the goddess and personification of strife and discord, particularly in war, and in the ''Iliad'' (where she is the "sister" of Ares the god of war). According to Hesiod she was the daughter of primordial Nyx (Night), and the mother of a long list of undesirable personified abstractions, such as Ponos (Toil), Limos (Famine), Algea (Pains) and Ate (Delusion). Eris initiated a quarrel between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, which led to the Judgement of Paris and ultimately the Trojan War. Eris's Roman equivalent is Discordia. According to Hesiod, there was another Eris, separate and distinct from Eris the daughter of Nyx, who was beneficial to men. Etymology The name derives from the noun ''eris'', with stem ''erid-'', which means "strife, discord" and is of uncertain etymology; connections with the verb "to raise, stir, excite" and the proper name have been suggested. R. S. P. Beekes sees no strong evidence for this relation and excludes th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the ''Suda'' says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (''Rhesus (play), Rhesus'' is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declinedMoses Hadas, ''Ten Plays by Euripides'', Bantam Classic (2006), Introduction, p. ixhe became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.L.P.E.Parker, ''Euripides: Alcestis'', Oxford University Press (2007), Introduction p. lx Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabulae
The ''Fabulae'' is a Latin handbook of mythology, attributed to an author named Hyginus, who is generally believed to have been separate from Gaius Julius Hyginus. The work consists of some three hundred very brief and plainly, even crudely, told myths (such as Agnodice) and celestial genealogies. Date, authorship, and composition In the earliest published edition of the ''Fabulae'', produced in 1535 by Jacob Micyllus, the work is attributed to "Gaius Julius Hyginus, freedman of Augustus", an ascription which may have been present in the manuscript itself, or may have added by Micyllus himself. There were numerous works which were attributed in antiquity to Gaius Julius Hyginus, and, though the work may not have been composed after his lifetime (1st century BC/AD), modern scholarship, for the most part, rejects the idea that this Hyginus was the author of the work. According to R. Scott Smith, it is reasonable to suppose that the Hyginus who authored the work lived during the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thanatos
In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; , ''Thánatos'', pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the Personifications of death, personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person. His name is transliterated in Latin as ''Thanatus'', but his counterpart in Roman mythology is Mors (mythology), Mors or Letum. In myth and poetry The Greece, Greek poet Hesiod established in his ''Theogony'' that Thánatos has no father, but is the son of Nyx (mythology), Nyx (Night) and brother of Hypnos (Sleep).Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 758 ff, trans. Evelyn-White, Greek epic 8th or 7th century BC Homer earlier described Hypnos and Thanatos as twin brothers in his epic poem, the ''Iliad'', where they were charged by Zeus via Apollo with the swift delivery of the slain hero Sarpedon (Trojan War hero), Sarpedon to his homeland of Lycia. Counted among Thanatos' siblings were other negative personifica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
