Neptune (mythology)
Neptune ( ) is the god of freshwater and the sea in the Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the Greek-inspired tradition, he is a brother of Jupiter and Pluto, with whom he presides over the realms of heaven, the earthly world (including the underworld), and the seas. Salacia is his wife. Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those in North Africa, were influenced by Hellenistic conventions. He was likely associated with freshwater springs before the sea; his festival, '' Neptunalia'', took place on July 23, during the peak of summer when water was scarcest. Like Poseidon, he was also worshipped by the Romans as a god of horses, ''Neptunus equestris,'' who was also a patron of horse-racing. Worship The theology of Neptune is limited by his close identification with the Greek god Poseidon, one of many members of the Greek pantheon whose theol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Velificatio
''Velificatio'' is a stylistic device used in Roman art, ancient Roman art to frame a List of Roman deities, deity by means of a billowing garment. It represents "vigorous movement," an theophany, epiphany, or "the vault of heaven," often appearing with celestial, weather, or sea deities. It is characteristic of the iconography of the Aura (mythology), Aurae, the Breezes personification, personified, and one of the elements which distinguish representations of Luna, the Roman Moon goddess, goddess of the Moon, alluding to her astral course. A figure so framed is a ''velificans'' (plural ''velificantes''). Not all deities are portrayed as ''velificantes'', but the device might be used to mark a member of the Roman Emperor, Imperial family who had been divinized (a Divus, ''divus'' or ''diva''). ''Velificatio'' is a frequent device in Roman art, including painting, mosaic, relief, and Roman sculpture, sculpture, though it poses technical difficulties for freestanding sculpture. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lectisternium
The lectisternium was an ancient Roman propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses. The word derives from ''lectum sternere'', "to spread (or "drape") a couch." The deities were represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble. It has also been suggested that the divine images were bundles of sacred herbs tied together in the form of a head, covered by a waxen mask so as to resemble a kind of bust, rather like the straw figures called Argei. A couch (''lectus'') was prepared by draping it with fabric. The figures or sacred objects pertaining to the deity (such as the wreath awarded in a triumph) were laid upon it. Each couch held a pair of deities, sometimes male with female equivalent. If the image was anthropomorphic, the left arms were rested on a cushion (''pulvinus'') in the attitude of reclining to eat. The couches ('' pulvinar'') were set out in the open street, or a temple forecourt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arion (horse)
In Greek mythology, Arion or Areion (;), is a divinely-bred, fabulously fast, black-maned horse. He saved the life of Adrastus, king of Argos, during the war of the Seven against Thebes. Arion was (by most accounts) the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter. When the goddess Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone, she was pursued by Poseidon. To escape Poseidon, Demeter turned herself into a mare and hid among the mares of Oncius, king of Thelpusa in Arcadia. But Poseidon turned himself into a stallion and mated with Demeter, fathering Arion. Other accounts had Arion as the offspring of Gaia (Earth), or of Zephyrus and a harpy. Arion was given to the hero Heracles, who rode Arion into battle during his expedition to Elis, and also during his combat with Ares' son Cycnus. Later Heracles gave Arion to Adrastus, the king of Argos. Adrastus took Arion with him on the disastrous expedition of the Seven against Thebes. On the way to Thebes, Arion competed and finished first ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thelpusa
Thelpusa or Thelpousa (, ), or Telphusa or Telphousa (Τέλφουσα), was a town in the west of ancient Arcadia, situated upon the left or eastern bank of the river Ladon. Its territory was bounded on the north by that of Psophis, on the south by that of Heraea, on the west by the Eleia and Tisatis, and on the east by that of Cleitor, Tripolis, and Theisoa. The town is said to have derived its name from a nymph, the daughter of the Ladon, which nymph was probably the stream flowing through the lower part of the town into the Ladon. It is first mentioned in history in 352 BCE, when the Lacedaemonians were defeated in its neighbourhood by the Thebans. In 222 BCE, it was taken by Antigonus Doson, in the war against Cleomenes III, and it is also mentioned in the campaigns of Philip V of Macedon. Its coins show that it belonged to the Achaean League. When Pausanias visited Thelpusa in the second century, the city was nearly deserted, so that the agora, which was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility (soil), fertility of the earth. Although Demeter is mostly known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage, and had connections to the Greek underworld, Underworld. She is also called Deo ( ''Dēṓ''). In Greek tradition, Demeter is the second child of the Titans Rhea (mythology), Rhea and Cronus, and sister to Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Like her other siblings except Zeus, she was swallowed by her father as an infant and rescued by Zeus. Through Zeus, she became the mother of Persephone, a fertility goddess and Dying-and-rising deity, resurrection deity. One of the most notable ''Homeric Hymns'', the ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', tells the story of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chthonic
In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" are derived from the Ancient Greek word () meaning 'earth' or 'soil'. The Greek adjective () means 'in, under, or beneath the earth', which can be differentiated from (), which refers to the living surface of land on the earth. In Greek, () is a descriptive word for things relating to the underworld, which was in antiquity sometimes applied as an epithet to deities such as Hermes, Demeter, and Zeus. The chthonic deities have been compared to the more commonly referred-to Olympic gods and their associated rites and cults. Olympic gods are understood to reference that which exists above the earth, particularly in the sky. Gods that are related to agriculture are also considered to have chthonic associations as planting and growing tak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hades
Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea (mythology), Rhea, although this also made him the last son to be Cronus#Mythology, regurgitated by his father. He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titan (mythology) , Titans, and claimed joint rulership over the cosmos. Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth (long the province of Gaia (mythology) , Gaia) available to all three concurrently. In artistic depictions, Hades is typically portrayed holding a bident and wearing his cap of invisibility , helm with Cerberus, the Polycephaly, three-headed dogs in religion#Religions, myths, legends, and cultures, guard-dog of the underworld, standing at his side. Roman-era mythographers eventually ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or Incarnation, incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven Entering heaven alive, without dying. Heaven is often described as a "highest place", the Sacred, holiest place, a paradise, in contrast to Hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and History of Christian universalism, universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, good and evil, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or orthodoxy, right beliefs or simply Will of God, divine will. Some believe in the possibility of a heaven on Earth in a ''world to come''. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Interpretatio Graeca
, or "interpretation by means of Greek [models]", refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a Comparative religion, comparative methodology using Religion in ancient Greece, ancient Greek religious concepts and practices, List of Greek deities, deities, and Greek mythology, myths, Comparative mythology, equivalencies, and shared characteristics. The phrase may describe Greek efforts to explain others' beliefs and myths, as when Herodotus describes ancient Egyptian religion, Egyptian religion in terms of perceived Greek analogues, or when Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch document Cult (religious practice), Roman cults, Roman temple, temples, and practices under the names of equivalent Greek deities. may also describe non-Greeks' interpretation of their own belief systems by comparison or assimilation with Greek model ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Book People
The Book People Ltd was a UK online bookseller founded in 1988. It went into administration in 2019 and was formally dissolved in 2022. History The Book People started business in 1988, initially in the Guildford, Surrey area. It expanded rapidly, and by 1990 the company had 140 distributors around the country. A mail-order catalogue was followed by an online store in 1998. In 2002 the company opened offices in Haydock, Merseyside and, with part funding by the Welsh Government, a customer service centre and warehouse in Bangor. In 2007, The Book People won the ''Direct to Consumer Bookselling Company of the Year'' Award at the ''Bookseller'' Retail Awards. The company's founder Ted Smart received the Random House Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling. A management buy-out of the company took place in 2014, with support from Endless LLP, a UK-based equity investor. By February 2016 the company was employing over 600 staff. On 17 December 2019, the BBC re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient Greek religion's view of the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, nature of the world; the lives and activities of List of Greek deities, deities, Greek hero cult, heroes, and List of Greek mythological creatures, mythological creatures; and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' cult (religious practice), cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of mythmaking itself. The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral tradition, oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan civilization, Minoan and Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century&n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Religion In Ancient Rome
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety () in maintaining Pax deorum, good relations with the gods. Their Polytheism, polytheistic religion is known for having honoured List of Roman deities, many deities. The presence of Magna Graecia, Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became fundamental, such as the of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks (), adapting Greek mythology, Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art, as the Etruscans had. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, partic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |