Psychai

Last updated

Psychai are the diminutive, winged shades of the dead in Greek mythology and some fifth century BC funerary lekythoi. [1] Although commonly translated as "soul" today, in the epics of Homer it meant "life" [2] and did not have any connection to consciousness or psychological functions in the living. It is only later, at the end of the fifth century BC in the works of other poets such as Pindar, that the word acquires its meaning relating to being the principal seat of intellect, emotion, and will. [3] From there, it became possible to translate psyche as "heart" or "soul". [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Bacchylides Ancient Greek lyric poet

Bacchylides was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidean scholarship since at least Longinus. Some scholars have characterized these qualities as superficial charm. He has often been compared unfavourably with his contemporary, Pindar, as "a kind of Boccherini to Pindar's Haydn". However, the differences in their styles do not allow for easy comparison, and translator Robert Fagles has written that "to blame Bacchylides for not being Pindar is as childish a judgement as to condemn ... Marvell for missing the grandeur of Milton". His career coincided with the ascendency of dramatic styles of poetry, as embodied in the works of Aeschylus or Sophocles, and he is in fact considered one of the last poets of major significance within the more ancient tradition of purely lyric poetry. The most notable features of his lyrics are their clarity in expression and simplicity of thought, making them an ideal introduction to the study of Greek lyric poetry in general and to Pindar's verse in particular.

Alpheus (deity) Ancient Greek river god

Alpheus or Alpheios, was in Greek mythology a river and river god.

Giants (Greek mythology) Giants from Greek myth

In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes, were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Gigantomachy, their battle with the Olympian gods. According to Hesiod, the Giants were the offspring of Gaia (Earth), born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by his Titan son Cronus.

Alcyoneus

In Greek mythology, Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus was a traditional opponent of the hero Heracles. He was usually considered to be one of the Gigantes (Giants), the offspring of Gaia born from the blood of the castrated Uranus.

In Greek mythology, Adrastus or Adrestus, , was a king of Argos, and leader of the Seven against Thebes. He was the son of the Argive king Talaus, but was forced out of Argos by his dynastic rival Amphiaraus. He fled to Sicyon, where he became king. Later he reconciled with Amphiaraus and returned to Argos as its king.

Pindar Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes

Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence, characteristics which, as Horace rightly held, make him inimitable." His poems can also, however, seem difficult and even peculiar. The Athenian comic playwright Eupolis once remarked that they "are already reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning". Some scholars in the modern age also found his poetry perplexing, at least until the 1896 discovery of some poems by his rival Bacchylides; comparisons of their work showed that many of Pindar's idiosyncrasies are typical of archaic genres rather than of only the poet himself. His poetry, while admired by critics, still challenges the casual reader and his work is largely unread among the general public.

Orthrus

In Greek mythology, Orthrus or Orthus was, according to the mythographer Apollodorus, a two-headed dog who guarded Geryon's cattle and was killed by Heracles. He was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and the brother of Cerberus, who was also a multi-headed guard dog.

Messapians Iapygian tribe

The Messapians were a Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respectively. All three tribes spoke the Messapian language, but had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC. The Messapians lived in the eponymous region Messapia, which extended from Leuca in the southeast to Kailia and Egnatia in the northwest, covering most of the Salento peninsula. This region includes the Province of Lecce and parts of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto today.

Jean Stengers was a Belgian historian.

The Homeridae were a family, clan or professional lineage on the island of Chios claiming descent from the Greek epic poet Homer.

White ground technique

White-ground technique is a style of white ancient Greek pottery and the painting in which figures appear on a white background. It developed in the region of Attica, dated to about 500 BC. It was especially associated with vases made for ritual and funerary use, if only because the painted surface was more fragile than in the other main techniques of black-figure and red-figure vase painting. Nevertheless, a wide range of subjects are depicted.

Opheltes

In Greek mythology, Opheltes, also called Archemorus, was a son of Lycurgus of Nemea. His mother is variously given as Eurydice, Nemea, or Amphithea. As an infant, he was killed by a serpent at Nemea. Funeral games were held in the boy's honor, and these were supposed to have been the origin of the Nemean Games.

Eros Greek god of love and sex

In Greek mythology, Eros is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire"). In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods.

Charons obol Coin placed in or on the mouth of the dead

Charon's obol is an allusive term for the coin placed in or on the mouth of a dead person before burial. Greek and Latin literary sources specify the coin as an obol, and explain it as a payment or bribe for Charon, the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. Archaeological examples of these coins, of various denominations in practice, have been called "the most famous grave goods from antiquity."

The Journal of Belgian History is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Cegesoma). It focuses on the history of Belgium in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the four yearly issues is published in English, the other three in French and Dutch. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index.

Léon Homo was a 20th-century French historian, a specialist of Roman history.

Paul Hamelius or Hamélius (1868–1922) was a Belgian philologist who produced the two-volume Early English Text Society edition of the Travels of Sir John Mandeville.

<i>Les villes tentaculaires</i>

Les villes tentaculaires is a volume of Symbolist poetry in French by the Belgian Émile Verhaeren, first published in 1895 by Edmond Deman, with a frontispiece by Théo van Rysselberghe. It established the poet's European reputation, and his stature as "a true pioneer of Modernism". The loose theme of the collection is modern urban life and the transformation of the countryside by urban sprawl.

Journal de Bruxelles was a Belgian newspaper, printed 1841-1926. It was one of the leading dailies in late 19th and early 20th-century Brussels, and was aligned with the Catholic interest in public affairs.

Jean-François Marie Joseph Louis Lemarignier was a French medieval historian.

References

  1. Martin, Bridget. "COLD COMFORT: WINGED PSYCHAI ON FIFTH‐CENTURY BC GREEK FUNERARY LEKYTHOI." Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 59.1 (2016): 1.
  2. Dietrich, Bernard C. "Death and afterlife in Minoan religion." Kernos. Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 10 (1997): 25.
  3. Darcus Sullivan, Shirley. "Psyché in Pindar, Nemean 9.32 and 69." Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 81.1 (2003): 5.
  4. Darcus Sullivan, Shirley. "Psyché in Pindar, Nemean 9.32 and 69." Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 81.1 (2003): 9.