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 conc ...

, Astrape () and Bronte () are personifications of

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

and

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

, respectively.

Iconographic representations

On an

Apulian Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian name Puglia (), is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Otranto and Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Gulf ...

loutrophoros A loutrophoros (; Greek etymology: λουτρόν/loutron and φέρω/pherō, English translation: "bathwater" and "carry") is a distinctive type of Greek pottery vessel characterized by an elongated neck with two handles. The loutrophoros wa ...

dating to around 330 BC, Astrape stands beside the throne of Zeus bearing the armaments of the sky-god. She also wields a torch and is a crowned with a shining aureole. According to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, Astrape and Bronte were among the figures depicted by the 4th-century BCE painter

Apelles Apelles of Kos (; ; fl. 4th century BC) was a renowned Painting, painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of this artist is owed (''Natural History (Pliny), Naturalis Historia'' 35.36.79–97 and '' ...

. The 3rd-century BCE writer

Philostratus the Elder Philostratus of Lemnos (; c. 190 – c. 230 AD), also known as Philostratus the Elder to distinguish him from Philostratus the Younger who was also from Lemnos, was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. He was probably a nephew of the sop ...

, in his '' Imagines'', mentions that the two figures are featured in a painting of the death of

Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...

Literary references

Bronte is mentioned (as , "Thunder") among the figures listed in the proem of the ''

Orphic Hymns The ''Orphic Hymns'' are a collection of eighty-seven ancient Greek hymns addressed to various deities, which were attributed in antiquity to the mythical poet Orpheus. They were composed in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey), most likel ...

'', a 2nd- or 3nd-century AD collection of hymns originating from

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

; in spite of this, the collection contains hymns to "Zeus the Thunderbolt" ( Zeus Keraunos) and "Zeus of the Lightning" ( Zeus Astrapeus) but not "Zeus of the Thunder", with both Thunderbolt and Lightning going unmentioned in the proem. Astrape is also, in a

scholium Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammar, grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of a ...

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 ...

, the name of one of the horses of

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

.'' RE'', s.v. Astrape; Scholia on

' ''

The Phoenician Women ''The Phoenician Women'' (, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies '' Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this trilogy, Euripides wo ...

'', 3.

Notes

References

* Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, ''The Orphic Hymns'', Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
Internet Archive
* Montanari, Franco, ''The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek'', edited by Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden, Brill, 2015. . *

, '' Imagines'', in ''Philostratus the Elder, Imagines. Philostratus the Younger, Imagines. Callistratus, Descriptions'', translated by

Arthur Fairbanks Arthur Fairbanks (November 13, 1864 – January 13, 1944) was an American art historian and administrator who lived and worked in the United States. From 1908 to 1925, he was director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Biography Fairbanks was ...

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 256, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 1931.
Harvard University PressInternet Archive (1926 edition)
* ''

Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'', Band II, Halbband 2, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1896
Wikisource
* ''

'', Band III, Halbband 1, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1897
Wikisource
* Ricciardelli, Gabriella, ''Inni Orfici'', Milan, Mondadori, 2000. .

External links

Greek goddesses Thunder goddesses Sky and weather goddesses Personifications of weather Personifications in Greek mythology {{Greek-deity-stub

Iconographic representations

Literary references

Notes

References

Further reading

External links