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Palinurus Delagoae
Palinurus (''Palinūrus''), in Roman mythology and especially Virgil's ''Aeneid'', is the coxswain of Aeneas' ship. Later authors used him as a general type of navigator or guide. Palinurus is an example of human sacrifice; his life is the price for the Trojans landing in Italy. Palinurus in the ''Aeneid'' In Book 3, which tells of the Trojans' wanderings after The Fall of Troy, he is singled out as an experienced navigator. In Book 5, when the Trojans have left Carthage, he advises Aeneas to forestall sailing to Italy and to wait out a terrible storm on Sicily, where they hold the funeral games honoring Aeneas's father, Anchises. After they leave Sicily for Italy, Palinurus, at the helm of Aeneas's ship and leading the fleet, is singled out by Virgil in second person when it becomes clear that he is the one whom the gods will sacrifice to guarantee safe passage to Italy for the Trojans: ''unum pro multis dabitur caput'', "one single life shall be offered to save many." Drugged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elpenor
In Greek mythology, Elpenor (; Ancient Greek: Ἐλπήνωρ, gen.: Ἐλπήνορος), also spelled Elpinor , was the youngest comrade of Odysseus. While on the island of Circe, he became drunk and decided to spend the night on the roof. In the morning he slipped on the ladder, fell, and broke his neck, dying quickly. Odyssey, Book X Mythology Elpenor was not especially notable for his intelligence or strength, but he survived the Trojan War, and appears in the ''Odyssey''. He is the youngest man to survive the Laestrygonians. While Odysseus was staying on Aeaea, Circe's island, Elpenor became drunk and climbed onto the roof of Circe's palace to sleep. The next morning, waking upon hearing his comrades making preparations to travel to Hades, he forgot he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck, and died in the act. Odysseus and his men apparently noticed his absence, but they were too busy to look for him. When Odysseus arrived in Hades, Elpenor was the first shade to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purgatorio
''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the ''Inferno (Dante), Inferno'' and preceding the ''Paradiso (Dante), Paradiso''; it was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory, allegorical telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Virgil—except for the last four cantos, at which point Beatrice Portinari, Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide. Allegorically, ''Purgatorio'' represents the penitent Christian life.Dorothy L. Sayers, ''Purgatory'', notes on Canto VII. In describing the climb Dante discusses the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the Church. The poem posits the theory that all sins arise from love—either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things. Overview of Purgatory Dante portrays Purgatory as an island-mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient philosophy, Stoicism made the greatest claim to being utterly systematic. The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, constructed from ideals of logic, monistic physics, and naturalistic ethics. These three ideals constitute virtue which is necessary for 'living a well reasoned life', seeing as they are all parts of a logos, or philosophical discourse, which includes the mind's rational dialogue with itself. Stoicism was founded in the ancient Agora of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC, and flourished throughout the Greco-Roman world until the 3rd century AD, and among its adherents was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Along with Aristotelian term logic, the system of propositional logic developed by the Stoics was one of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charon (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and the dead. Archaeology confirms that, in some burials, low-value coins known generically as Charon's obols were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased, or next to the cremation urn containing their ashes. This has been taken to confirm that at least some aspects of Charon's mytheme are reflected in some Greek and Roman funeral practices, or else the coins function as a viaticum for the soul's journey. In Virgil's epic poem, ''Aeneid'', the dead who could not pay the fee, and those who had received no funeral rites, had to wander the near shores of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river. Charon also ferried the living mortals Heracles and Aeneas to the underworld and back again. Name origins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstition, religious practices, and belief in the paranormal. Although his native language was probably Syriac, all of his extant works are written entirely in ancient Greek (mostly in the Attic Greek dialect popular during the Second Sophistic period). Everything that is known about Lucian's life comes from his own writings, which are often difficult to interpret because of his extensive use of sarcasm. According to his oration ''The Dream'', he was the son of a lower middle class family from the city of Samosata along the banks of the Euphrates in the remote Roman province of Syria. As a young man, he was apprenticed to his uncle to become a sculptor, but, after a failed attempt at sculpting, he ran away to pursue an educati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maffeo Vegio
Maffeo Vegio () (1407–1458) was an Italian poet who wrote in Latin; he is regarded by many as the finest Latin poet of the fifteenth century. Born near Lodi, Lombardy, Lodi, he studied at the University of Pavia, and went on to write some fifty works of both prose and poetry. His greatest reputation came as the writer of brief epic poetry, epics, the most famous of which was his continuation of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', known variously as the ''Supplementum'' (Supplement) or ''Aeneidos Liber XIII'' (Book 13 of the ''Aeneid''). Completed in 1428, this 600-line poem starts immediately after the end of Virgil's epic, and describes Aeneas's marriage to Lavinia and his eventual deification. Its combination of classical learning and piety made it very popular in its day; it was often included in editions of the ''Aeneid'' in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. An electronic text can be found at thLatin Library Vegio also wrote an epic, ''Astyanax'' (1430), on the death of the son of He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William The Breton
William the Breton (c. 1165c. 1225), French chronicler and poet, was a contemporary and dependent of French king Philip Augustus for whom he served in diplomatic missions and for whom he wrote a Latin prose chronicle and a Latin epic poem. William the Breton was, as his name indicates, born in Brittany, probably in the town of Saint-Pol-de-Léon. He was educated at Mantes and at the University of Paris. William gained the status of "Master" and was recorded by his contemporary Giles of Paris as one of the fifteen sages of Paris of his day. Later, he became chaplain to the French king Philip Augustus, who employed him on diplomatic errands, and entrusted him with the education of his natural son, Pierre Charlot. William is supposed to have been present at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. His works are the ''Philippide'' and the ''Gesta Philippi H. regis Francorum''. The former, a classicizing Latin epic poem in 12 books and composed in three redactions, gives some very interesting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In these poems he satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. He wrote a total of 1,561 epigrams, of which 1,235 are in elegiac couplets. Martial has been called the greatest Latin epigrammatist, and is considered the creator of the modern epigram. He also coined the term plagiarism. Early life Knowledge of his origins and early life are derived almost entirely from his works, which can be more or less dated according to the well-known events to which they refer. In Book X of his ''Epigrams'', composed between 95 and 98, he mentions celebrating his fifty-sevent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posidippus
Poseidippus or Posidippus ( or ) is a Greek theophoric name. It may refer to a number of individuals from classical antiquity, including: * Poseidippus or Posidippus (comic poet), c. 316–250 BC, a celebrated poet of the New Comedy at Athens, known for his novel use of language, and influence on the Latin poets.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, pp. 504, 505 ("Poseidippus or Posidippus", Nos. 1–3). * Poseidippus or Posidippus of Pella, c. 310–240 BC, an epigrammatic poet at Samos and Alexandria, some of whose poems are included in the ''Greek Anthology''. * Poseidippus, a historian who wrote about Cnidus, and whose work discusses the ''Venus'' of Praxiteles. He may be identical with the epigrammatist. * Poseidippus, a priest of Persephone at Pella. * Poseidippus, son of Eupolis, ''stephanophorus'' (chief magistrate) of Miletus during the reign of Seleucus I.Grainger, ''A Seleukid Prosopography'', pp. 546, 661. References Bibliography * ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milan Papyrus
The Milan Papyrus is a papyrus roll inscribed in Alexandria in the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty. It is currently held by the University of Milan (inventory no. 1295 R), and it is also known in scholarship under its label P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309. History Originally discovered by anonymous tomb raiders as part of a mummy wrapping, it was purchased in the papyrus "grey market" in Europe in 1992 by the University of Milan. As the earliest surviving example of a Greek poetry book as well as the largest addition to the corpus of classical Greek poetry in many years, the tale of the discovery made ''The New York Times'' and ''National Geographic.'' Labelled the "Milan Papyrus," it was published in a scholarly edition in 2001, edited by Guido Bastianini, Claudio Gallazzi, and Colin Austin, with contributions by other scholars. The edition included the complete transcription of the recto of the papyrus, with extensive commentary, and high-qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia. The presence of wit or sarcasm tends to distinguish non-poetic epigrams from aphorisms and adages, which typically do not show those qualities. Ancient Greek The Greek tradition of epigrams began as poems inscribed on votive offerings at sanctuariesincluding statues of athletesand on funerary monuments, for example "Go tell it to the Spartans, passersby...". These original epigrams did the same job as a short prose text might have done, but in verse. Epigram became a literary genre in the Hellenistic period, probably developing out of scholarly collections of inscriptional epigrams. Though modern epigrams are usually thought of as very short, Greek literary epigram was not always as short as later examples, and the divide between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
