article: Mykonos

Mykonos

Mykonos is a mountainous island of Greece in the Aegean Sea. Made mostly of granite, this 35 sq mi (90 sq km) island of about 6,200 people is a popular European tourist destination and has many fisheries. Mykonos is known for its nightlife and is considered one of the top clubbing destinations in the Mediterranean. In Greek mythology, Mykonos was the site of the battle between Zeus and what race of giants? More… Discuss

today’s holiday: Halcyon Days

Halcyon Days

The ancient Greeks called the seven days preceding and the seven days following the Winter Solstice the “Halcyon Days.” Greek mythology has it that Halcyone (or Alcyone), Ceyx‘s wife and one of Aeolus’s daughters, drowned herself when she learned her husband had drowned. The gods took pity on her and transformed them both into kingfishers. Zeus commanded the seas to be still during these days, and it was considered a period when sailors could navigate in safety. Today, the expression “halcyon days” has come to mean a period of tranquility often used as a nostalgic reference to times past. More… Discuss

Saint of the Day for Saturday, November 22nd, 2014: St. Cecilia

Saint of the Day for Saturday, November 22nd, 2014

St. Cecilia

In the fourth century appeared a Greek religious romance on the Loves of Cecilia and Valerian, written, like those of Chrysanthus and Daria, Julian and Basilissa, in glorification of the virginal … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Cecilia Bl. Baldji Oghlou Ohannes St. Devniolin Bl. Dimbalac Oghlou Wartavar St. Lucretia

St. Mark & Stephen St. Maurus St. Philemon St. Tigridia Bl. Toros Oghlou David

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Chapel Interior at Night.

Facade of Santa Cecilia, a 1725 project by Ferdinando Fuga, with the 12th century belltower.

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century church in Rome, Italy, devoted to Saint Cecilia, in the Trastevere rione.

History

The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the Roman martyr Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, by the late fifth century, for in the synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is indicated with the Titulus Ceciliae. Tradition holds that the church was built over the house of the saint.^[1] The baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. On 22 November 545, Pope Vigilius was celebrating the saint in the church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Antemi Scribone, captured him. Pope Paschal I “rebuilt the church in 822, and moved here the relics of St Cecilia from the catacombs of St Calixtus.” More restorations followed in the 18th century. The Cardinal priest assigned to the Titulus S. Caeciliae is Gualtiero Bassetti. Among the previous titulars are Pope Stephen III, Adam Easton (1383), Thomas Wolsey (1515), Michele Mazzarino (1647), Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1785), and Carlo Maria Martini (2012).

Art and architecture

The Last Judgment (detail of the apostles), by Pietro Cavallini (1295-1300).

Ciborium attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.

The church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus (water vessel). Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva d’Aragona. Among the artifacts remaining from the 13th century edifice are a mural painting depicting the Final judgment (1289-93) by Pietro Cavallini in the choir of the monks, and the ciborium (1293) in the presbytery by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Gothic ciborium is surrounded by four marble columns white and black, decorated with statuettes of angels, saints, prophets, and evangelists. The apse has remains of 9th century mosaics depicting the Redeemer with Saints Paul, Cecilia, Paschal I, Peter, Valerian, and Agatha. The ceiling of Cappella dei Ponziani was decorated God the Father with evangelists (1470) by Antonio del Massaro (Antonio da Viterbo or il Pastura). The Cappella delle Reliquie was frescoed and provided with an altarpiece by Luigi Vanvitelli. The nave is frescoed with the Apotheosis of Santa Cecilia (1727) by Sebastiano Conca. The church contains two altarpieces by Guido Reni: Saints Valerian and Cecilia and a Decapitation of Saint Cecilia (1603).^[2]

.Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, by Stefano Maderno, one of the most famous examples of Baroque sculpture.

Among the most remarkable works is the graphic altar sculpture of St. Cecilia (1600) by the late-Renaissance sculptor Stefano Maderno. The pavement in front of the statue encloses a marble slab with Maderno’s sworn statement that he has recorded the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599. The statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom. It also is meant to underscore the incorruptibility of her cadaver (an attribute of some saints), which miraculously still had congealed blood after centuries. This statue could be conceived as proto-Baroque, since it depicts no idealized moment or person, but a theatric scene, a naturalistic representation of a dead or dying saint. It is striking, because it precedes by decades the similar high-Baroque sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (for example, his Beata Ludovica Albertoni) and Melchiorre Caffà (Santa Rosa de Lima). The crypt is also noteworthy, decorated with cosmatesque styles, containing the relics of St. Cecilia and her husband St. Valerian.

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this pressed from WIRED: Measuring Inbreeding in the Greek Gods | Science Blogs | WIRED

 

Measuring Inbreeding in the Greek Gods | Science Blogs | WIRED.

Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone is the goddess of fertility and, having been taken captive by Hades and made his wife, queen of the underworld. Though Hades eventually allowed her to return to Earth, he first tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds—the food of the dead—thus tethering her to the underworld and making it necessary for her to return to him for several months each year. What changes are said to come over the Earth each time she leaves for or returns from the underworld? More… Discuss

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WORD: CORNUCOPIA

cornucopia 

Definition:	(noun) The property of being extremely abundant.
Synonyms:	profuseness, richness
Usage:	The cornucopia of job opportunities overwhelmed the immigrants, who had come from a town with only one employer. Discuss.

 

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ARTICLE: THE MERMAN

The Merman

The male counterpart of the mermaid, the merman is a legendary creature that is human from the waist up but fish-like from the waist down. The most well-known merman is likely Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite in Greek mythology. Triton lived in a golden palace in the ocean’s depths and controlled the waves with a conch shell. Mermen are now a pop culture staple—with Triton famously appearing in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Where can you see a supposedly “real” merman on display? More… Discuss

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HERMAPHRODITISM

A hermaphrodite is an animal or plant that has both male and female reproductive systems. The term derives from Greek mythology—Hermes and Aphrodite‘s son Hermaphroditus possessed physical traits of both sexes after fusing with a nymph. Hermaphroditism is quite common in flowering plants and in invertebrates like snails. “Hermaphrodite” has also been used to describe humans with both male and female genital tissues but is now considered misleading and stigmatizing. What term is preferred? More…

 

Modern Mythology II, poetic thought by George-B

Modern Mythology II, poetic thought by George-B

The Gods have been very inventive-
they invented clubs,
bows and arrows,
spears and the gallows,
yatagans and cutout moons and 

Of course, the atom bomb.

Then humans invented Gods…

And yet, with no God alive inside of US,
Is how we’ve turned…ungodly.

 

DAEDALUS

In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a brilliant craftsman whose inventions often went awry. On Crete, he inadvertently helped create the fearsome Minotaur. At the order of King Minos, he built a labyrinth to contain the monster, but Theseus successfully navigated it to kill the beast. While imprisoned by Minos, Daedalus crafted wings of wax and feathers so he and his son Icarus could escape. Sadly, Icarus fell to his death when the sun melted his wings. Why had Daedalus originally fled to Crete? More… Discuss