UVM: CLAS 42 MYTHOLOGY: Ambrose Art Lecture 1 (slides)

University of Vermont
Classics Department
Mythology (Classics 42)

Art Lecture I: Cosmogony and Succession of Divine Rulers

Slide description

Female figure seated on leopard throne; Anatolia, c. 6000 B.C.E.
Terra-cotta figure; mother and child, middle to end 5th millennium B.C.E. (Iraq)
Nut, goddess of the sky, papyrus, Egypt, New Kingdom
Slate triad: symbol of province; Hathor; Pharaoh Mycerinus, Egypt: Dynasty IV (Old Kingdom)
Ivory snake goddess, Knossos (Crete) c. 1600 B.C.E. (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
Shore where Aphrodite was born; Paphos (Cyprus)
Painting of Venus on seashell, Pompeii first century C.E.
Attic red-figure vase (pelike): Birth of Aphrodite, 460 B.C.E.
Artemis, Ephesus, first century C.E. (= modern interpretation of old Anatolian 'mother-goddess'; cf. slide #1)
Artemis, detail of skirt: symbols of power (lion, bull, etc.) and fertility (bee and breasts/eggs in full view)
Botticelli, Birth of Venus; Florence: Uffizi c. 1485
Cliff relief, Yazilikaya (Anatolia): weather-god of heaven (Teshub); sun goddess of Arinna (Hepat); son Sharruma; 2 unidentified goddesses, Hittite, 1275-50 B.C.E.
Hagia Triada sarcophagus, Crete, c. 1400: worshipers, double-axe standards (Herakleion Museum)
Gold ring from grave; Mycenae, 15th century B.C.E.; double axe, worshipers
Zeus krater, Enkomi (Cyprus), Mycenaean style, 14th century B.C.E.
Zeus krater, detail: Zeus with scales of destiny
Zeus? of Artemisium, c. 470 B.C.E. (Athens: National Museum)
Weather-god (Teshub), Neo-Hittite, ninth century B.C.E. (Istanbul)
Weather-god (Teshub), Neo-Hittite, killing dragon Illuyanka, 1050-850 B.C.E. (Ankara Museum)
Gigantomachy, Athens, c. 520 B.C.E.: Athena and the giant, Enceladus (Athens: Acropolis Museum)
Hecatompedon pediment, Athens, c. 570-550 B.C.E.; Herakles vs. Triton; Typhon (Athens: Acropolis Museum)
"Blue-beard" (= Typhon), Athens, 570-550 B.C.E.
Siphnian Frieze: Dionysus and Cybele
Siphnian Frieze, Delphi, pre-525 B.C.E.: Apollo and Artemis
Altar of Zeus, Pergamum 180-159 B.C.E.: east frieze: Hekate and Artemis vs. snake-bodied giants (East Berlin: Pergamum Museum)
Last Judgment, Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, 1539-1541

Art Lecture I
Art Lecture II
Art Lecture III
Art Lecture IV
Art Lecture V
Art Lecture VI
Art Lecture VII