Greek-Roman Gods & More

A blog dedicated to the Greek & Roman gods, goddesses, heroes, and more. My other blogs and Facebook Pages »

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Athena

1–330 AD

Carrara marble

Boncompagni Ludovisi Collection

Museo Nazionale Romano di Palazzo Altemps

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Psyche

Around 1870

Alabaster marble

Altenstein

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Tyche

Second half of the 5th century BC

Marble

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

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Panel with Hephaestus

Italian; Mid-19th century

White marble

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Artemis of Gabii

1920

Plaster

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Kylix with Dionysos and a satyr

Greek; Late Archaic Period, ca. 490–480 BC

Makron Painter

Greece, Attica, Athens (Place of Manufacture)

Ceramic, Red Figure

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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Dionysos

Greek; Classical or Hellenistic Period, ca. 340 BC

Marble probably from the Greek island of Paros

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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Visit my other blog dedicated to Aphrodite & Venus.

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Visit my other blog dedicated to Dionysos & Bacchus.

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Visit my other blog dedicated to Eros & Cupid.

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Stamnos with Athena between Hera and Zeus

Greek, Attic; Archaic, ca. 490 BC

Attributed to the Berlin Painter

Terracotta; red-figure

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Head of Dionysos

Late Hellenistic or Late Republican, 1st century BC

Greek or Roman (Culture)

Terracotta

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Echo

1874

Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889)

Oil on canvas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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In Greek mythology, the beautiful nymph Echo is cursed by the goddess Hera and can only repeat the last words said to her. Unable to communicate with the man she loves, Echo retreats to the mountains and pines away until just her voice remains. This painting depicts the nymph with her mouth agape and her hands at her ears as if startled by reverberating sounds. The mannered elegance and polished handling of the figure epitomize the style promoted by the influential French Académie des Beaux-Arts. Nineteenth-century critics often deemed such idealized portrayals of the nude unconvincing, but many viewers preferred them to more realistic depictions, which seemed shockingly indecorous.

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Aphrodite holding winged Eros

Cypriot; Classical, Late 4th century BC

Culture: Cypriot

Limestone

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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From the eighth century B.C. the Greek poets associated the goddess Aphrodite with Cyprus, but on the island itself the local Great Goddess did not become assimilated with Aphrodite until the fourth century B.C., when the worship of many Greek divinities was introduced. In this work the goddess is clearly identified as Aphrodite by the small figure of her son Eros, winged god of love, who perches on her shoulder. The Cypriots did not adopt a conventional Greek way to represent Aphrodite but transferred their own iconography for the Great Goddess of the island to their images of Aphrodite. From the ninth to the sixth century B.C. images of the Cypriot Great Goddess were inspired by Eastern art, especially that of the Syro-Phoenician goddess Astarte, who appeared nude. From the fifth century the local goddess was shown with a high round headdress decorated with vegetal and floral motifs, as befits a fertility goddess. Here Aphrodite wears such a crown decorated with palmettes alternating with nude females—recalling the figures of Astarte. She has long locks falling over her shoulders, a motif taken from early Greek sculpture, and she wears a chiton with himation (cloak) drawn up over the back of the headdress.

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Oedipus and the Sphinx

1864

Gustave Moreau (1826–1898)

Oil on canvas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The legendary Greek prince Oedipus confronts the malevolent Sphinx, who torments travelers with a riddle: What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? Remains of victims who answered incorrectly litter the foreground. (The solution is the human, who crawls as a baby, strides upright in maturity, and uses a cane in old age.) Moreau made his mark with this painting at the Paris Salon of 1864. Despite the growing prominence of depictions of everyday life, he portrayed stories from the Bible, mythology, and his imagination. His otherworldly imagery inspired many younger artists and writers, including Odilon Redon and Oscar Wilde.

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Bacchus and a Panther

Italian; 16th–17th century

Bronze

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Terracotta Lekythos: Dionysos with a Satyr and Goat

Greek, Attic; Classical, ca. 480 BC

Attributed to the Workshop of the Bowdoin Painter

Terracotta; black-figure, white-ground

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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