OVID - Metamorphoses

Minerva (Pallas Athena) and Arachne ,   René-Antoine Houasse, 1706 In Greek mythology (and later Roman mythology), Arachne (/əˈrækniː/; from Greek: ἀράχνη "spider", cognate with Latin araneus) was a talented mortal weaver who challenged Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts, to a weaving contest; this hubris** resulted in her being transformed into a spider. There are many versions of the story's weaving contest, with each saying that one or the other won. Athena (Minerva) was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, and the crafts. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the "owl of Minerva", which symbolised her association with wisdom and knowledge as well as, less frequently, the snake and the olive tree. Confederate 100 Dollar Bill displays a image of Athena (Minerva) and her sacred creature, an owl. Athena traps Arachne by disguising herself as an old lady ...

OVID - Delacroix 1859 - Met - New York In 8 AD Caesar Augustus banished Ovid to the Black Sea where he drank mare's milk and languished having finished writing  Metamorphoses before he left Rome Photo by Tom Ferguson, Scribe 2018 Niobe's story also involves the now familiar theme that the gods are quick to wreak vengeance on human pride and arrogance ( hubris** ). Niobe, however, is the subject of lost tragedies by both Aeschylus and Sophocles. Is it her grieving tears that drew the interest of those early and most forward tragedians? Not likely in my view. Then, too, why all the interest in the grisly results (14 of her children are slain by the gods) when she ignores this imperative? A 1772 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting Niobe attempting to shield her children from Artemis and Apollo. She fails and all 14, seven sons and seven daughters are mortally wounded, the sons by Apollo and the daughters by Artemis. Let's attempt a close (or at...

Leto (aka Latona) with the infants Apollo and Artemis, by Francesco Pozzi (1824) Sent by his father who: "Had charged me to retrieve some special steers And given me a Lycean for guide, With him I traversed those far pasture-lands, When, standing in the middle of a mere (lake), And black with ash of sacrifice, behold An ancient altar, ringed with waving reeds. Inquiring as to who build the altar: "no mountain deity Enjoys this altar; it is claimed by her Whom the queen of heaven barred from the world, Whom drifting Delos scarcely dared consent To harbour, when that island swam the sea. Latona (Leto) in spite of Juno (Hera) bore her twins; If you are wondering how Leto got her bad temper, that story unfolds here. Recall, if you will,  Artemis & Apollo, the children of Leto, methodically kill Niobe's children. Latona and her babies (both divine) got thirsty; spied a mere The flaming sun beat down upon the fields; The goddess, tir...

Someone recalled Marsyas (a satyr) lost to Leto's son: The contest when he played Minerva's pipe, And paid the penalty. 'No! No' he screamed, Why tear me from myself? Oh, I repent! Apollo stripped his skin; the whole of him Was one huge wound, blood streaming everywhere, Sinews laid bare, veins naked, quivering And pulsing. The tears of all the country folk, and Olympus, too Their fertile tears fell deep into the veins of Earth where: "thence a river hurries to the sea Through falling banks, the river Marsyas, The freshest, clearest stream of Phrygia." The Torment of Marsyas-Louvre Museum-Paris

The gods rejoined the parts and all were found Save one between the neck and upper arm, An ivory block was inset to replace The missing piece, and that made Pelops whole. In Greek mythology, Pelops (/ˈpiːlɒps, ˈpɛlɒps/; Greek: Πέλοψ), was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. His father, Tantalus, was the founder of the House of Atreus through Pelops's son of that name. He was venerated at Olympia ,  ( < == click to see our 2014 visit to Olympia) where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "island of Pelops", but for all Hellenes. At the sanctuary at Olympia, chthonic night-time libations were offered each time to "dark-faced" Pelops in his sacrificial pit (bothros) before they were offered in the following daylight to the sky-god Zeus (Burkert 1983:96).