Search Results: Lyre

The House of Orpheus at Volubilis (in modern-day Morocco) takes its name from the large mosaic depicting Orpheus playing the lyre to an audience of animals and birds. The mosaic embellished the house's triclinium (dining room), where the...

Sappho and Alcaeus, oil on panel by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1881. The painting illustrates a passage by the ancient Greek poet Hermesianax (active c. 330 BCE) depicting a scene on the island of Lesbos (Mytilene) during the late 7th century...

Marble head of the poetess Sappho, from Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey). Roman copy of a portrait type belonging to the Hellenistic period. (Istanbul Archaeology Museum)

Zeus was the king of the 12 Olympian gods and the supreme god in Greek religion. Zeus is often referred to as the Father, as the god of thunder, and the 'cloud-gatherer'. Zeus controlled the weather and offered signs and omens. Zeus generally...

Spartan women had more rights and enjoyed greater autonomy than women in any other Greek city-state of the Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE). Women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, and were better educated...

Apollo is rendered as a muscular young man. However, the feminine sensuality displayed here is probably caused by his over-emphasized hips. His robe falls below the waist, exposing the external genitals. The fingers (now lost) of the left...

In the ancient Greek world, religion was personal, direct, and present in all areas of life. With formal rituals which included animal sacrifices and libations, myths to explain the origins of mankind and give the gods a human face, temples...

A relaxed scene from a krater (wine-mixing vessel). Ttwo women listen while a third plays the lyre. Attributed to the Danaë Painter, c. 460 BCE. Attica, Greece. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a composer of baroque music who was born in Germany but became an English citizen. His most famous works include his Messiah, Water Music, baroque Italian operas, and English oratorios. A hugely successful...

Satyrs (aka silens) are figures from Greek mythology who were followers of the god of wine Dionysos. Satyrs were often guilty of excessive sexual desires and overindulgence of wine. Men with a horse's tail and ears or men with goat legs...