►Philosophy: “Beauty, according to Plato” / Mythology: “Some Greek Myths, based on Beauty”⭐ .-

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According to Plato, Beauty was an idea or Form of which beautiful things were consequence.

Beauty by comparison begins in the domain of intelligible objects, since there is a Form of beauty. The most important question is: what do all of these beautiful things have in common?. To know that is to know Beauty.

The Theory of Forms maintains that two distinct levels of reality exist: the visible world of sights and sounds that we inhabit and the intelligible world of Forms that stands above the visible world and gives it being. For example, Plato maintains that in addition to being able to identify a beautiful person or a beautiful painting, we also have a general conception of Beauty itself, and we are able to identify the beauty in a person or a painting only because we have this conception of Beauty in the abstract. In other words, the beautiful things we can see are beautiful only because they participate in the more general Form of Beauty. This Form of Beauty is itself invisible, eternal, and unchanging, unlike the things in the visible world that can grow old and lose their beauty.

Plato’s account in the Symposium connects beauty to a response of love and desire, but locate beauty itself in the realm of the Forms, and the beauty of particular objects in their participation in the Form. 

Beauty’s distinctive pedagogical effects show why Plato talks about its goodness and good consequences, sometimes even its identity with “the good” (Laws 841c; Philebus 66a–b; Republic, 401c; Symposium 201c, 205e).

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In Plato´ Symposium, Socrates claims to be quoting his teacher Diotima on the subject of love, and in her lesson she calls beauty the object of every love’s yearning.

She spells out the soul’s progress toward ever-purer beauty, from one body to all, then through all beautiful souls, laws, and kinds of knowledge, to arrive at beauty itself.

By going through these stages, one will ascend from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving Beauty itself, from which all beautiful things derive their nature.

Diotima suggests that a life gazing upon and pursuing this Beauty is the best life one can lead.

In the Symposium, the Form of Beauty is the final stage in the lover of knowledge’s ascent toward Beauty.

He begins by loving particular bodies, moving from there to bodies in general, to particular minds, to minds in general, to laws and practices, to knowledge, and finally to the knowledge of the Form of Beauty. The ascent is one of increasing generalization where one’s love of beauty comes to embrace more and more things.

Ultimately, however, one’s love of beauty will embrace only one thing, the Form of Beauty, but one will recognize in this Form all that is beautiful. 

There is, besides, a sense of what Beauty may be: the signs of measure and proportion signal its presence and it is linked with goodness and justice.

Beauty here is conceived as perfect unity, or indeed as the principle of unity itself. 

Plato´s Beauty Theory, as it appears in the Symposium, holds that the Beautiful is an objective quality which is more or less intensified in and exemplified by beautiful or less beautiful objects respectively. Beauty itself exists independently of the object’s relationship to a perceiver or of its being a means to some end.

The Beautiful, then, regardless of what it is, exists as a thing in itself, separate from and supreme in relation to the beautiful objects which are beautiful by somehow sharing in its being. 

There is something innate and yet external to a beautiful object. Its beauty is there independently of a perceiver, and its being beautiful or not does not depend upon personal evaluations

Plato´s ideas could be considered as a sample of the prevailing classical conception.

According to it, Beauty consists of an arrangement of integral parts into a coherent whole, according to order, proportion and symmetry.

The ancient Roman architec Vitruvius gives as good a characterization of the classical conception in its underlying unity:

Order is the balanced adjustment of the details of the work separately, and as to the whole, the arrangement of the proportion with a view to a symmetrical result.

Proportion implies a graceful semblance: the suitable display of details in their context, when everything has a symmetrical correspondence.

Symmetry also is the appropriate harmony arising out of the details of the work itself: the correspondence of each given detail to the form of the design as a whole.  (Vitruvius, 26–27)

Plato regarded beauty as objective in the sense that it was not localized in the response of the beholder.  

In spite of Plato´s theories, we should now wonder if Beauty is an Universal Quality recognizable per se …  

In other words… Is Beauty a relative assessment, which lies in the eye of the beholder…

If we believe so, then we should conclude that Beauty is created by a subjective judgment, in which each person determines whether something is beautiful or not. 

If we agree with Plato, and therefore state that Beauty is pattern or form from which all beautiful things are derived, then we are assuming that Beauty is an objective feature.

By that our postulate would be that most perceivers would agree when it comes to determine whether something or someone is beautiful or not.

Without needing to take a side, we can say that it is both things…

Beauty couldn´t be entirely subjective—that is, if anything that anyone holds to be or experiences as beautiful is beautiful then it seems that the word has no meaning, or that we are not communicating anything when we call something beautiful except perhaps an approving personal attitude. 

In addition, though different persons can of course differ in particular judgments, it is also obvious that our judgments coincide to a certain extent.

Either way, what we can certainly state is that our attraction to another person’s body increases if that body is symmetrical and in proportion.

In this sense, there are certain aesthetical features which might entail Beauty.

Scientists believe that we perceive proportional bodies to be more healthy. This is suggested in the following famous image showing an idealized human body within a square and a circle.

Leonardo da Vinci‘s drawings of the human body emphasized its proportion. The ratio of the following distances in the above Vitruvian Man image is approximately the Golden Ratio (Φ = 1.618033…).

With the math behind it, the symmetry of your face can be measured. The closer this number is to 1.618, the more beautiful it is…

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The Golden Ratio (Φ = 1.618033…).

The Vitruvian Man, drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci, showing the body dimensiones, according to the Golden Ratio.

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Following up with the previous philosophical introduction, I would like to bring to the spotlight a few greek mythological myths and certain thoughts, with regard to the idea of Beauty.

Firstly, the most well known case of the Judgement of Paris and the story of the Golden Apple of Discord.

The Judgement of Paris was a contest between the three most beautiful goddesses of Olympus–Aphrodite, Hera and Athena–for the prize of a golden apple addressed to “the fairest”.

While Paris inspected them, each of the goddess attempted with her powers to bribe him; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, offered the world’s most beautiful woman.

On a side note, It is worth noting how mant times “Beauty” appears in this myth.

At the end, Paris chose Aphrodite, who was the Goddess of Love and Beauty, and Helen of Troy, who was considered the most beautiful woman, was bestowed on him, in exchange.

As to the beautiful Helen of Troy, she was also known as the face that launched a thousand ships, therefore somehow associated with features such as discord and betrayal.

The reason behind such reputation is that Helen of Troy was married by the time of the deal among the Prince of Troy and Aphrodite.

Hence Paris decided to abduct her, event which would eventually lead to the Trojan War…

In this sense, the Golden Apple was the biggest but also the most controversial prize. Besides and presumably, in the mythology surrounding “the Judgement of Paris”, the goddess of Discord Eris managed to enter The Garden of the Hesperides, which was Hera´s orchard, and plucked one of the fruits . We can therefore see why that golden apple go was also known as the Apple of Discord.

As to other quarrels originated due to similar smug assumptions involving Beauty, I would like to mention two cases, which are very similar when it comes to events and their consequences.

The first one features Myrrha, who was Adonis biological mother.

Myrrha’s mother had said that her daughter was even more beautiful than Aphrodite which angered the Goddess of Love, who cursed Myrrha to fall in love and lust after her father.

Thus, Myrrha became pregnant and gave birth to Adonis, who was raised by Aphrodite. 

Adonis was very handsome, so, further on, Persephone was taken by his beauty, reason which brought a new quarrel among goddesses. In this case, between Aphrodite and Persephone.

Secondly, we have the well known myth of Perseus´beloved, Andromeda.

Her mother, Cassiopeia had offended the Nereids by boasting that Andromeda was more beautiful than they, so in revenge Poseidon sent a sea monster to ravage Andromeda´s father kingdom.

In all cases, Beauty causes troubles. We could say that it puts in the seeds of conflict.

Its counterpoint and collateral effect is jealousy. But also a sense of unnecessary pride and vanity seems to be present here.

Beauty claims to be defined in an extended way beyond itself… It needs to be recognized.

We could say that Beauty is defined by and to the Other.

Thus, in this order of ideas, we could think that Beauty seems to be an existentialist way to experience the Beautiful. 

Intersubjectivity defines Beauty and the Other’s look constitutes the world and the beautiful as objective. This is because the Look tends to objectify what it sees.

Undoubtedly, there are subjective elements which help us define Beauty… But those ones, as Social Constructivists would state, are not necessarily individual but colective and cultural.

On the other hand, one can not deny that certain general and universal features, are linked to the idea of Beauty. 

Therefore and figuratively speaking, I believe that  Beauty would be a sui generis concept, constituted mainly by objective and intersubjective variables, which may vary according to time and contexts.

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►Gallery: “Some Greek Myths based on Beauty”:

(Click on the images for further details)

” Golden Apple of Discord” by Jacob Jordaens (1633).-

“The Judgment of Paris” by Guillaume Guillon Lethière (1812).-

“The Judgement of Paris” by François Xavier Fabre (1808).-

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli (1486).- Aphrodite or Venus was one of the contestants in the Judgement of Paris

“The peacock complaining at Juno” by Jehanne (1913). Juno or Hera was one of the contestants in the Judgement of Paris.

“Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue”, by Andrea Mantegna (1502). Minerva or Atenea was one of the contestants in the Judgement of Paris.

“Myhrra assisted by Lucina, the Goddess of Birth” by Jean de Court (1560). Myhrra was Adonis´biological mother.

“Venus and Adonis” by Francois Lemyone. (1729). Venus or Aphrodite raised the handsome Adonis, who was Myrrha´s son.

“The rape of Proserpina” by Hans von Aachen (1586). Proserpina or Persephone was Hades´wife and Demeter´s daughter. Plus, she was also taken by Adonis´beauty.

“Perseus riding Pegasus” by Paul Joseph Blanc. 19th century. Perseus was Andromeda´s savior and beloved.

“Les Sirenes visitées par les Muses” by Adolphe La Lyre (19th century). The Sirens , better known here as The Nereids were Fifty beautiful Sea Nymphs. Andromeda´s mother, Cassiopeia had offended these nymphs by boasting that Andromeda was more beautiful than they.

“The Return of Neptune” by John Singleton Copley (1754). Neptune or Poseidon was the God of Sea. He sent a sea monster called Cetus to ravage Andromeda´s father kingdom, in defense of the beautiful Nereids.

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►Playtime!:Is your face geometrically beautiful?:

Supposedly, when it comes to Beauty, the simplest measurement is the length of your face divided by the widest part of your face.

As previously mentioned above, the closer this number is to 1.618, i.e Golden Ratio, the more beautiful the person is…

There are countless ratios that can be measured, but the website Anaface will generate a computer calculation online of a few of these ratios, from your uploaded photo for free.

An important detail is that you ought to use the photograph URL. It didn’t work for me when I tried upload he image from my computer…

For that purpose, send yourself an email with the photograph and then copy paste its URL, as shown in the gallery.

Furthermore. keep in mind that the more horizontally your face is placed, the more reliable the results will be.

Use as a model the photograph provided in order to locate the points, especially if your ears don´t show up in the photograph due to your hair… 

Follow up the instructions and you´ll soon get your score. Click on the images in the gallery below for further details …

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►STEP 1 ► Copypaste the URL of the photograph in email

►STEP 2 ► Place the different points as required and shown in the photograph on the right side.

►STEP 3 ► Facial Beauty. Get the Results.

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►Last but not Least: Quote Challenge: Beauty:

Paul from Pal Fitness has nominated me for a so called 3-Day Quote Challenge. Please Check out Paul´s blog. He is a personal trainer and coach, who loves blogging and writing. 

The rules of this challenge are: ♠Post your favorite quotes or your own quotes for three (3) posts in a row. ♠Thank the person who nominated you. ♠Pass it on to three (3) other bloggers per quote, each time you post them. Or pass it to nine (9) bloggers if you choose to post all the quotes together, in the same post.
⚠ Note: I will post the three (3) quotes together. Thus I will nominate nine (9) Bloggers.
Also, I thought It would be pertinent to choose quotes on Beauty, alongside photographs taken by me, which you will be able to see in my Instagram account... All this aims to keep it on with the topic of this post… So that’s how I will do it :D. If you have been nominated, feel free to join the challenge if you feel it is worth it, want to and/or have time to do so. You can to pick out whichever creative license regarding this feature. 

My nominees for the Quote Challenge are: 1. D.G.Kaye Writer 2. Parlor of Horror 3. Course of Mirrors 4. Living the Dream 5. Solveig Werner 6. Scribble and Scrawl  7. Round World and Me 8. The Lonely Author 9. Aidyl93

►Three Quotes on Beauty by John Keats, and some Photographs:

~ Click on the images to read ~

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness”… John Keats .

“Whatever the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth -whether it existed before or not”. John Keats .

“‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”. John Keats.

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►Links Post:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/

http://www.anaface.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauty/#ClaCon

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-aesthetics/

http://asifoscope.org/2013/05/10/on-beauty/

http://www.intmath.com/blog/mathematics/is-she-beautiful-the-new-golden-ratio-4149

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/plato/themes.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/symposium/section11.rhtml

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►Greek Mythology: “Andromeda and Perseus” / Poetry: “On The Sonnet”, by John Keats 💫.-

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Gustave Moreau. 1869.

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Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of  Joppa in Palestine (called Ethiopia).

Cassiopeia had offended the Nereids by boasting that Andromeda was more beautiful than they, so in revenge Poseidon sent a sea monster called Cetus to ravage Cepheus’ kingdom as divine punishment.

Since only Andromeda’s sacrifice would appease the gods, she was chained to a rock and left to be devoured by the monster.

Meanwhile, Perseus had already killed the fearsome Gorgon Medusa .

As he was riding the winged horse, Pegasus over Africa in his return home, he encountered the Titan Atlas, who challenged him. 

In their confrontation, Perseus used Medusa’s head to turn the Titan into stone. 

Later on, he came across the beautiful chained Andromeda, and as he did, he approached Cetus while being invisible (because he was wearing Hades’s helm, which had that power).

He promptly killed the sea monster Cetus. 

Perseus took Andromeda to her father Cepheus and asked for her hand in marriage. That infuriated Andromeda’s uncle Phineus, to whom the maiden was already promised.

During the ensuing quarrel, Perseus turned Phineus into a stone by showing him the head of the Gorgon Medusa.

Grateful for all his victories, Perseus gave his flying sandal, mirror and magical cap to god Hermes.

He also gave his great trophy, the head of Medusa, to goddess Athena. 

Perseus and Andromeda finally married and had seven sons, as well as two daughters.

After the death of King Acrisius, the Kingdom of Argos naturally passed on to Perseus, who thought himself unworthy of it, since he had caused his grandfather’s death, even by accident, while throwing the discus in a sport competition. 

As to Andromeda, when she died, Athena placed her on the sky as a constellation, nearby her beloved husband Perseus and her mother Cassiopeia.

Located north of the celestial equator, the Andromeda constellation is most prominent during autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, along with several other constellations named for characters in the Perseus myth. Because of its northern declination, Andromeda is visible only north of 40° south latitude. Its brightest star, Alpha Andromedae, is a binary star that has also been counted as a part of Pegasus.

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On the Left: Johannes Hevelius’s depiction of Andromeda, from the 1690 edition of his Uranographia. On the Right: Andromeda as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London, in 1825.

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►Gallery: “Andromeda and Perseus”:

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Giorgio Vasari,. 1570.

“Perseus freeing Andromeda” by Emile Bin. 1865.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Georges Antoine Rochegrosse. 20th century.

“Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids” by Théodore Chassériau. 1840.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Giuseppe Cesari. 17 century.

“Andromeda’s parents thank Perseus for freeing her” by Pierre Mignard. 1679.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Frederic Leighton. 1890.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Titian. 1559.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Anton Raphael Mengs. 1776.

“Andromeda Chained to a Rock” by Henry-Pierre Picou. 1874.

“Perseus Rescuing Andromeda” by Paolo Veronese. 1578.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Gustave Moreau. 19th century.

“The Doom Fulfilled” by Edward Burne Jones. 1888.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Louis Matout. 19th century.

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Donato Creti. 1711.

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“Perseus and Andromeda” by Charles Napier Kennedy. 1890.

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►Poetry: “The confinement of Andromeda as an analogy of Sonnet Structure:

►“On The Sonnet”, by John Keats: 

(written in 1819, published in 1848)

If by dull rhymes our English must be chain’d,

   And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet

Fetter’d, in spite of pained loveliness;

Let us find out, if we must be constrain’d,

   Sandals more interwoven and complete

To fit the naked foot of poesy;

Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress

Of every chord, and see what may be gain’d

   By ear industrious, and attention meet:

Misers of sound and syllable, no less

   Than Midas of his coinage, let us be

   Jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown;

So, if we may not let the Muse be free,

   She will be bound with garlands of her own.

 

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 ►Analysis:“On The Sonnet”, by John Keats: 

The poet begins by positing the necessity of “dull rhymes,” which he feels chain “our English” and “fetter” the sonnet. He offers next the image of Andromeda, or “pained loveliness” . Here Keats compares the confinement of the Andromeda with the sweet beauty of poetry being fettered by the demands of rhyme. The poet seems, however, resigned to rhyme’s fetters but insists that rhyme, like an intricate sandal, be more “interwoven and complete/ To fit the naked foot of poesy.”

Keats compares poetry to a foot and the sonnet form to a sandal. A sandal is a shoe that does not fully cover the foot. By suggesting that the sandals should be more interwoven, it is as if he is saying the sonnet form does not fully cover what poetry is.

The poet offers this interweaving as a solution to what Keats in his letters calls “pounding rhymes”.

He wants rhyme to be more subtle and intricate, complementing the content of the poem as a whole and not drawing attention to itself.

Keats believes that if poets follow the specific rhyme scheme of a sonnet, they will be “chained” and not express themselves fully.

He says that poets be “Misers” of “syllable” like King Midas was of gold… he states that they should be “jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown” (as laurel crowns were an emblem of poetic achievement).

Recognition as a traditional value is not what fuly matters, but probably the most important thing is to be original and not to stick to old patterns and formal constrictions

Nevertheless, in the last two verses, Keats says: “if we may not let the Muse be free,/She will be bound with garlands of her own”. And by that he seems to have resigned himself to the fact that for poets are constrained, at least to some extent, by conventional forms. (Source:Brian Register).

Within this rhyme scheme the lines are still written in Iambic Pentameter (*), and the type of sonnet he chose here is known as Petrarchan Sonnet (**). With these means, Keats indicates that he remains within conventions even if he questions them. 

Maybe the ending verses are not just a way to ease up his critique, or just a withdrawal but maybe an opportunity to validate and recognize the merits of the classic poetic form he had chosen to criticize.

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(*) Iambic Pentameter is closely associated with Blank Verse, Iambic is an adjective. Iamb is the noun and is short for Iambus. Iambus is from the Greek and refers to two. Therefore, Iamb refers to a foot, or any two syllable“unit”, referred to as a foot by metrists, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (or ictus).

(**) The Petrarchan Sonnet is named after Petrarch, a 14th century Italian poet who made the form popular throughout Europe. Like all sonnets, the Petrarchan sonnet has 14 lines.

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John Keats (1795 / 1821).-

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►Links Post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_(mythology)

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Andromeda-Greek-mythology

http://www.greeka.com/greece-myths/perseus-andromeda.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_(constellation)

https://brianregister.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/meaning-and-form-in-john-keatss-on-the-sonnet/

http://allpoetry.com/Sonnet.-If-By-Dull-Rhymes-Our-English-Must-Be-Chain’d

•~~~• ⭐ •~~~ • ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~•

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►Last but not Least: Blogger Interview Tag: 

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Holly from House of Heart has invited me to join her on an interview, about (drum roll ): Blogging. 🌠🎇🎆

I thought it would be fun to do so… Thus, here I am … 

Do you follow Holly´s blog?… Make sure to check it out… ‼️😽 She is a wonderful poet and great, active blogger.

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♠Here we go…

•How did you get into blogging?. 🔛It was many years ago… I usually posted reviews on books, films, philosophical subjects, as main topics… I wrote in Spanish by then…
I think I lacked of technical skills… I am not sure if WordPress was so easy to manage or if It was just me… But anyhow, the main purposes were accomplished by then.

•Which advice would you give to a blogger just starting out?.🔛Try to think of your blog as a sort of diary or compilation of archives of your interest…. write, in first place, for yourself. That way the beginning of your journey as a blogger would be loaded with positive expectations, instead of whatever kind of pressures …
Follow along a good amount of blogs… Create an email list with the URLS of the blogs you follow. Leave likes and comments, and you will soon identify bloggers who are reciprocal with you… Cut down your list of bloggers, using the previous criteria. Repeat the same steps for new lists, as many times as you want.
If you are systematic and a quite good blogger… You´ll easily reach a good amount of committed followers who will like your posts and comment in return if you have previously done so…
The number of posts you publish is not directly related to the level of engagement of your followers. It is up to you to find your Golden Mean, so to speak… And that would depend in many circumstances, which might vary according to each one of us. •What would be your dream campaign?.  🔛I will tie in this question to my blogging motto. Which would be this aphorism by Hippocrates: Ars longa vita brevis, i.e Art is long, life is short. Life is rather ephemeral… and there are many things to learn. My aim is to try to approach the classics and particularly Greek Mythology in a quite cohesive way as I believe that many cultural legacies remain there.

•Do you have a plan for your blog?.🔛I plan to keep it up and also would love to dig more deeply into symbolisms of certain myths. And even to consider psychoanalytic, sociological and cultural approaches from a diachronic point of view.

•What do you think about rankings?. 🔛I think there might be valuable if you are planning to upgrade your blog or already did so… Otherwise, numbers of visitors could be considered, not only as a reflection of your level of commitment, but also as a sample of the most appealing topics among your readers.

💥I ´d love to invite these bloggers for The Blogger Interview. Join only if you want or have time: 1. Shehanne Moore 2. The Mockingbird in Me 3. Scattered Thoughts 4. Inesemjphotography 5. Faraday´s Candle 6. Johanna Massey 7. Travels with Choppy.

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So called Wild Orchids blooming. Photographs taken on October 23rd, 2015. ©Amalia Pedemonte.

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►Greek Mythology: “Pegasus, The Winged Horse”🐎.-

Bellerophon, Pegasus and Khimaira. Kylix Laconian Black Figure. Ca 570 – 565 BC.

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Pegasus was a Hippoi Athanatoi, meaning an immortal horse of the Gods. he was a winged horse which sprang forth from the neck of the Gorgon Medusa when she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. 

When Perseus struck off the head of Medusa, with whom Poseidon had once had intercourse in the form of a horse or a bird, there sprang forth from her Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus.

Chrysaor (meaning “Golden Sword”) was usually represented as giant, but may also have been conceived of as a winged boar.

As to Pegasus, he obtained that because he was believed to have made his appearance near the sources (pêgai) of Oceanus.

Liz Greene calls the winged horse the bridge between opposites: “An earthy creature which has the power to ascend into the spiritual realm”. [Source: Symbol Reader].

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“The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor” by Edward Burne-Jones (1885).

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Pegasus was tamed by Bellerophon, a corinthian hero, who rode him into battle against the Chimera.

On a side note, the Chimera was a creature of Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal. 

Usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat  arising from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake´s head. The Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Hydra.

After Pegasus had conquered the Chimera, he endeavoured to rise up to heaven with his winged horse, but fell down upon the earth, either from fear or from giddiness, or being thrown off by Pegasus, who was rendered furious by a gad-fly which Zeus had sent. But Pegasus continued his flight.

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“Bellerophon Rides to Kill the Chimera” by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov 1829.

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The winged horse was also placed amongst the stars as a constellation whose rising marked the arrival of the warmer weather of spring and seasonal rainstorms.

Hence, Pegasus became a constellation in the northern sky, which brightest star is the orange supergiant Epsilon Pegasi. 

Both Hesiod and Plato made reference to this emplacement:

“Pegasus, soaring, left the earth, the mother of sheep flocks, and came to the immortals, and there he lives in the household of Zeus, and carries the thunder and lightning for Zeus of the counsels”. (Hesiod, Theogony).

“A pair of winged horses and a charioteer. Now the winged horses and the charioteers of the gods are all of them noble and of noble descent… Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and taking care of all; and there follows him the array of gods and demigods, marshalled in eleven bands [the twelve Olympians]”.  (Plato, Phaedrus, 246).

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Pegasus with the foal Equuleus next to it, as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London in 1825. The horses appear upside-down in relation to the constellations around them.

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From a symbolic point, Pegasoi or winged horses occur in ancient art drawing the chariots of various gods and goddesses, including Helios, the sun and Selene, the moon.

The hero Pelops was also given a chariot drawn by winged horses by the god Poseidon.

Furthermore, Pegasus is a Pterippus (pteros in Greek means “winged” and hippos means “horse”).

The symbolic meaning of the horse is pretty intense with themes of power and mobility.

The horse alone also carries archetypal themes of unifying grounded stability (four feet on the ground) with higher ideals (from speed and mobility).

This theme really comes to life when the horse is winged. The Pterippus, or winged horse, is a symbol of aspiring to the greatest heights of accomplishment.

Grounded by the stability of its body, yet in flight by the ephemeral power of its wings, Pegasus offers a great analogy because of the dichotomy it offers. 

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“Perseus on Pegasus Slaying Medusa “by John Singer Sargent. 20th century.

Perseus and Andromeda, detail of “Pegasus”, by Peter Paul Rubens. 1622.

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►Gallery: “Creatures, Characters and Gods featured in this post”:

“Perseus and Medusa” by Benvenuto Cellini, 1554. Pegasus was Medusa and Poesidon´s son.

Poseidon sits enthroned. Attic Red Figure. 475 – 470 BC. Poseidon was Pegasus´father.

Chrysaor from the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis on Corcyra (Corfu). Chrysaor was Pegasus´brother.

“Bellerophon, riding Pegasus, slaying the Chimera” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. 18th century.

Chimera, V century b.C. Found in Arezzo, Italy, it represents a monster with a lion face, a goat head coming out from its back, and a tail in the shape of a snake. Florence Archaeological Museum. Bellerophon rode Pegasus in his battle against the Chimera.

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►Gallery: “Pegasus, The Winged Horse”:

“Fame Escorting Pegasus” by Eugène-Louis Lequesne. 1875.

Pegasus, Medusa and the Gorgons. Pyxis. Black Figure (White Ground). ca 525 – 475 BC

Above. Pegasus. Attic Red Figure Attributed to Skythes. C5th B.C. Down. On the left Pegasus and Chimera. Attic Red Figure. C4th B.C. Down. On the right, Pegasus, Apulian red-figure vase. C4th B.C.

Bellerophon riding Pegasus, against Chimera. Attic Black Figure. Ca 560 – 550 BC.

The hero Bellerophon, riding on the back of the winged horse Pegasus, spears the Chimera. Floor Mosaic. Period: Imperial Roman

“Perseus riding Pegasus” by Paul Joseph Blanc. 19th century.

“Pegasus” by Toshiyuki Enoki. 20th century.

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►Anex: A List of More Types of Horses in Greek Mythology (Gallery Below):

•The Centaur, a creature with the head and torso of a man and the lower body of a horse. 

•The Hippocampus, a creature with an upper body that resembles a horse and a dolphin-like lower body.

•The Hippogriff, a beast with a head and front legs of an eagle whilst the rest of its body is that of a horse.

•The Ichthyocentaur, a creature which supposedly was one-third horse, one-third fish, and one-third human. Also known as Sea Centaur.

•The Ipotanes, a being that looked overall human, but had the legs, hindquarters, tail, and ears of a horse.

•The Sileni, bipedal beings that appear human form the waist up and horse the waist down. They were  were rustic spirits in the train of the God of Wine, Dionysus.

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Centaur. Etruscan vase, red figure amphora. c 530 BC.

Hippocampus. Poseidon in a chariot drawn by two Hippocampoi. Imperial Roman Mosaic. C3rd AD.

Hippogriff. The painting Roger délivrant Angélique by Louis-Édouard Rioult (1824) depicts the scene of Orlando Furioso where Ruggiero rescues Angelique while riding on a hippogriff.

Ichthyocentaurs “The Birth of Venus” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1879)The two named ichthyocentaurs were Aphros (“Sea Foam”) and Bythos (“Sea Depths”). They were usually portrayed alongside Aphrodite at her birth, like in this painting.

Ipotane. Copy of a Greek original, circa 4 BC.

Sileni. Amphora. Attic Black Figure. 520 BC.

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►Links Post:

http://www.theoi.com/Ther/HipposPegasos.html

http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Hippoi.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(mythology)

http://www.space.com/16743-constellation-pegasus.html

http://rabirius.me/2016/01/03/feeding-pegasus/

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/meaning-of-wings.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_and_Andromeda_(Rubens)

http://symbolreader.net/2013/08/11/light-and-matter-the-perseid-meteor-shower/

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►Greek Mythology: “The Gorgons”.-

Perseus and Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini, (1554). Perseus with the head of Medusa. Details.

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In Greek Mythology, the Gorgons were three monsters, daughters of Echidna and Typhon. Their names were Stheno (“forceful”), Euryale (“far-roaming”), and the most famous of them, Medusa (“ruler”).  Although the first two were immortal, Medusa was not, and she was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus.

It was said that their  appearance would turn anyone who laid eyes upon it to stone. The name “Gorgon”  is Greek, being derived from “gorgos” and translating as “terrible” or “dreadful”.

Hesiod in his “Theogony” imagines the Gorgons as three sea daemons and makes them the daughters of two sea deities.

Homer speaks only of one Gorgon, whose head is represented in “The Iliad”as fixed in the centre of the aegis (meaning a mirrored shield) of Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom,  and whose counterpart was a device on the shield of Agamemnon.

In Homer´s “Odyssey”, the Gorgon is a monster of the underworld into which the earliest Greek deities were cast.

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Roman mosaic from 4th C. BC found in Palencia, in the year 1869 and currently at the National archaeological Museum of Madrid.

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In most versions of the story, Medusa was killed by Perseus.

According to Ovid (“Metamorphoses”, book IV), the reason for the dispute between Athena and Medusa lay in Poseidon‘s rape of Medusa inside the temple of the virgin goddess.

The goddess of Wisdom was supposed to have punished Medusa by transforming her face, which therefore made Medusa an innocent victim.

As to Perseus, he was  the son of the mortal Danae (the daughter of the King of Argos) and Zeus, the Ruler of Gods.

He would later on become the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Dynasty of Danaans

Perseus had been sent to  fetch Medusa´s head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry his mother.

The gods backed up Perseus. Thus, he received a mirrored shield from Athena, gold, winged sandals from Hermes (the messenger of the Gods), a sword from Hephaestus and Hades´helm of invisibility.

Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, so Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena.

Perseus could safely cut off Medusa’s head without turning to stone, by looking only at her reflection in the shield.

During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon.

When Perseus beheaded Medusa, Medusa and Poseidon´s sons, Pegasus (a winged horse) and Chrysaor (a golden sword-wielding giant), sprang from her body.

According to other accounts, either Perseus or Athena used the head to turn Atlas into stone, transforming him into the Atlas Mountains  that held up both heaven and earth.

Many elements of the myth suggest, through its basic ambiguity, the tragic nature of Medusa.

One of the most revealing of these is the gift from Athena to Asclepius of two drops of the Gorgon’s blood, one of which has the power to cure and even resurrect, while the other is a deadly poison.

In his study “The Mirror of Medusa” (1983), Tobin Siebers has identified the importance of two elements, i.e. the rivalry between Athena and the Gorgon, and the mirror motif.

As to the mirror motif, common features are numerous. For example, snakes are the attribute of Athena, as illustrated by the famous statue of Phidias. 

With regard to symbolisms and equivalents, it is interesting to highlight that in Ancient Greece a Gorgoneion (a stone head, engraving, or drawing of a Gorgon face), frequently was used as a sacred symbol in the hopes of warding off evil.

These symbols were similar to the sometimes grotesque faces on Chinese soldiers’ shields, also used generally as an amulet. Likewise, in Hindu mythology, Kali is often shown with a protruding tongue and snakes around her head. Medusa is, besides, one of the most archaic mythical figures, perhaps an echo of the demon Humbaba who was decapitated by the babylonian hero, Gilgamesh.

David Leeming in his book: “Medusa: In the Mirror of Time” (2013) traces the development of Medusa from her earliest appearances in Archaic art and poetry to her more recent incarnations. Leeming makes reference to Jean Pierre Vernant several times in his book.

Particularly he mentions Vernant´s  essay “In The Mirror of Medusa” (1985), in which he examines Medusa in the context of archaic Greek religious life.

Leeming second Vernant when he states that Medusa is basically “a mask conveying the Ultimate Other”. They both believe that Medusa represented the death power which “wrenches humans away from their lives”. (“To gaze at the Other, which is the Medusa mask is to lose the Self, to be petrified”).

Robert Graves (“Greek Myths”, 1958) believes that the myth of Perseus preserves the memory of the conflicts which occurred between men and women in the transition from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society. 

In fact, the function of the Gorgon’s mask was to keep men at a safe distance from the sacred ceremonies and mysteries reserved for women, meaning, those which celebrated the Triple Goddess, the Moon.

Graves reminds us that the Orphic poems referred to the full moon as the “Gorgon’s head”. The mask was also worn by young maidens to ward off male lust.

Consequently, according to Robert Graves, the episode of Perseus’ victory over Medusa represents the end of female ascendancy and the taking over of the temples by men, who had become the masters of the divine which Medusa’s head had concealed from them.

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“La Méduse” by Jean Delville. 1893

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►Gallery: “The Gorgons”: 

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“Medusa” by Arnold Böcklin (On the Left: 1878. On the Right: 1897).

“The Gorgon Medusa”, by Caravaggio. (1590).

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►Links Post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon

http://www.rwaag.org/medusa

http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2014/2014-08-09.html

https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=vQqIWcgAxhIC&redir_esc=y

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bogan/medusamyth.htm

https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/medusa-inspired-art-on-show/

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 ⭐ Last but not Least: “Three Awards” ⭐

Thank you very much to bloggers from Time for my Thoughts, Jully´s Blog and Dear Kitty for nominating me for a Blogger Recognition Award, a Creative Blogger Award and a Real Neat Blog Award, respectively.

I will follow these basic rules for these three awards: 

♠Thank the person who nominated you. ♠Add the logo to your post. ♠Nominate ten (10) bloggers of your choice and tell them about the nomination. 

I. Nominees Blogger Recognition Award: 1. Natascha’s Palace 2. Art Box 3. Way Station 4. Book lover circumspect4 5. WolfBerryKnits 6. Cheryl “Cheffie Cooks” Wiser 7. Blabberwockying 8. Ricettedicasamia 9. Missameliaandsir 10. Keep The Hope.

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II. Nominees Creative Blogger Award: 1. Dreamspinner Extraordinaire 2. La Luna Escarlata 3. Spiritual Dragonfly 4. Trees of Transition 5. Stephanie’s Book Reviews 6. Collage a la intemperie 7. Breathe In My Touch 8.Time for my Thoughts 9. Dear Kitty 10. Of Means and Ends.

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III. Nominees Real Neat Blog Award:  1. Joys of Joel 2. Soul Synchronicity 3. Be Different Buddy 4. Ionic Bond Blog 5. El Mejor Viaje del Mundo 6. Nearly Dear 7. Jully´s Blog 8. Diana Douglas 9. All Nine 10. Imperfect Happiness.

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►Greek Mythology: Atlas / Poem: “Atlas ♁”, by Eva Xanthopoulos.-

“Atlas holding up a celestial map”. Sculpture by Artus Quellinus. (17th century). Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

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Atlas (which means ‘very enduring’), was one of the Titans. He was son of  Iapetus (a Titan, son of Uranus and Gaia), and the Oceanid Clymene.

Atlas´ brothers were Prometheus (meaning ‘forethought’, the Titan who gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork), Epimetheus (meaning ‘afterthought’. He was Pandora´s husband) and Menoetius (meaning “doomed might”).

Atlas was married to his sister, Phoebe (Titan and Goddess of Prophecy). 

He had numerous children, including  the Pleiades (the stars that announced good spring weather), the Hesperides (the maidens who guarded a tree bearing golden apples), the Hyades, (the stars that announced the rainy season), Hyas (Brother of the Hyades, and spirit of seasonal rains), the nymph Calypso, Dione (Goddess of the Oak and the personification of a more ancient Mother Goddess, and presumably, Aphrodite´s mother) and Maera. 

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“Clymene”, by John William Godward. (19th century). Clymene was Atlas´mother.

“Prometheus” by Gustave Moreau. (1868). Prometheus was Atlas´brother.

“Epimetheus Receiving Pandora”, by Henry Howard (1834). Epimetheus was Atlas´brother.

“The Pleiades” by Elihu Vedder (1885). The Pleiades were daughters of Atlas.

“Garden Of The Hesperides” by Edward Burne-Jones, (19th c). The Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas.

Detail from “Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto” by William Hamilton. (18th century). Calypso was daughter of Atlas.

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During the Titanomachy, the War between the Titans and  the Olympian gods for control of the heavens, Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans, while Prometheus and Epimetheus helped the Olympian gods.

Atlas was the leader in the batttle; however, being on the losing side, Zeus condemned him to eternally stand on the western side of Gaia (the earth) holding Uranus (the sky) on his shoulders.

Homer describes Atlas in his “Odyssey” as ‘deadly-minded’ and as holding the pillars which hold the heavens and earth apart.

Hesiod  in his “Theogony” also describes Atlas as holding up the heavens and locates him in the land of the Hesperides (female deities famed for their singing), which was far to the west, at the edge of the world.

Later tradition, including Herodotus, associates the god with the Atlas Mountains where the Titan was transformed from a shepherd into a huge rock mountain by Perseus (who had behead Medusa), using the head of the Gorgon Medusa with her deadly stare. (Note: the Gorgon Medusa was one of three ugly monsters who had snakes for hair, staring eyes, and huge wings).

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On the Left: “Medusa”, by Carvaggio (1595). On the Right: Statue of Perseus, holding Medusa´s head. Piazza della Signoria, Florence. Italy.

Both sides of The Titan. NYC, St. Patrick’s Cathedral/Rockefeller Center.

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Atlas was considered a source of great wisdom and founder of astronomy, and, according to Plato, in his dialogue “Critias”, he was the original king of Atlantis.

Atlas had been required to fetch the golden apples from the fabled gardens of the Hesperides which were sacred to Zeus´wife, Hera, and guarded by the fearsome hundred-headed dragon Ladon.  

Following the advice of Prometheus, Heracles (the grandson of Perseus) asked Atlas to get him the apples because he was the father of the Hesperides, who guarded the Golden Apples´Garden…

He was also requested to take the world onto his shoulders for a while, with the help of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.

But, Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the load back by asking Atlas to hold it while he shifted the load.

Hercules then took the apples and Atlas again shouldered the weight of the heavens.

Because the place where Atlas stood to perform his task was the westernmost end of the world known to the ancient Greeks, the ocean near him was called the Atlantic, meaning the “Sea of Atlas” in his honor.

Atlas’ best-known cultural association is in cartography / maps. The first publisher to associate the Titan Atlas with a group of maps was Antonio Lafreri, on an engraved title-page in 1572. However, he did not use the word “atlas” in the title of his work. The mapmaker Gerardus Mercator was the first to put a picture of Atlas holding up the world – not the heavens – on the title page of his book.

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On the Left: Atlas bears the world and the cosmos on his shoulders – from a 16th century English woodcut. On The Right: Atlas holding up the world on his back. Drawing by Danckerts, Justus.

“Atlas turned to stone” (The Perseus´Series), by Edward Burne Jones (1878).

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►Gallery: Atlas:

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►Links Post

http://atlascider.com/atlasmythology.html

http://www.greekmythology.com/Titans/Atlas/atlas.html

https://mitologiahelenica.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/perseu-e-atlas/

http://www.mapforum.com/03/lafrscho.htm

http://www.ancient.eu/Atlas/

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I want to be your Atlas, so I can
chisel away at “alas,” and grant you
relief from worries of the past.

I want to create a globe out
of those woes
to carry on my shoulders—
just for a moment.

Just so you can exhale the words:

“At last”.

© 2015 – Eva PoeteX

Originally published on Eva PoeteX.-

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About Eva Xanthopoulos: She is a Greco-American Artist and Mystic Poet. She is also a  Supporter of various causes and Promoter of artists worldwide.

Learn More about Eva here 

Check out her Poetry blog!. Also make sure to follow Eva on Twitter and  Facebook.

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Eva Xanthopoulos AKA Eva Poetex.

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