Atalanta's Loyal Companion, [from Andrea Navagero]

 Author: Andrea Navagero

Region: [modern Italy]

Date: 16th century CE

Citation: [Picta Poesis Ovidiana [1580], p. 89

Often Atalanta would travel through the quiet glades

Safely, with her trusty dog at her side.

Whether she routed her prey through the hills

Or if she wanted to tackle the savage beasts head-on

Her pup companion was always by her side,

And never more than an inch away from her at all times.

 

 

Saepe pererrabat tacitos Atalanta recessus:

tuta tamen fido Menalione fuit.

Cingeret obsessos seu curva indagine colles:

seu cuperet saevas cominus ire feras.

Haerebat lateri semper comes ille: nec umquam,

a domina lato longius ungue fuit.

I am the Unmarried Daphne: a poem from Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

I am the unmarried Daphne

I am friend to harp and bow [1] 

I provide visions to prophets [2]

I am an imperial honor. [3]

I am always blooming,

I can always repel lightning. [4]

Apollo wears my crown in triumphal ceremonies.

But: what if I hadn’t been so hard-hearted

To the man I rejected

To the man I fled?

I was pretty,

But a stupid girl

And powerless against him.

 

[1]  a reference to the different types of things made from wood from the bay tree 

[2] bay leaves were used in religious ceremonies during divination

[3] in Roman cultures, crowns made of laurel / bay trees were symbols of victory

[4] bay trees were thought to repel lightning

 

--Faustus Sabaeus, Picta Poesis Ovidiania

Innuba sum Laurus: Cytharis & amica pharetrae:

Somnia vaticainans: imperialis honor.

Usque virens, ac usque valens depellere fulmen:

Meque triumphail cinxit honore Deus;

Quem sprevi, & fugi, quid si non dura fuissem?

Pulchra, sed insipiens virgo, et inepta fui.

 

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

The Death of Hippolytus and the Rebirth of Virbius, [Lactantius, Div. Inst.1.17]

 

Name:  Lactantius Date:  3rd century CE Region:  Numidia [modern Tunisia] Citation:    Div. Inst. 1.17

[Condemning the love affairs of the gods, Lactantius criticizes the relationship between Artemis and Hippolytus, insinuating that it was impure. He follows this passage with wild accusations that will not be published here.] When another goddess [Diana] nearly lost her lover [Hippoluytus / Virbius] who was “torn apart by spooked horses,” she begged the most famous healer Asclepius to heal him. And, once he was healed, she “took him away safely to a remote location, Entrusted him to the nymph Egeria, And abandoned him to the grove, Where he, alone and forgotten in the woods of Italy Would spend the rest of his life Under the changed name Virbius.”

Altera cum pene amatorem suum perdidisset,qui erat "turbatis distractus equis," praestantissimum medicum Asclepium curando iuveni advocavit, eumque sanatum: "Secretis alma recondit / sedibus, et nymphaea Egeriae, nemorique relegate: / solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevum / exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset."

 

Too Little, Too Late, Narcissus! Ausonius, fragment 99

Name:  Ausonius Date:  4th century CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation:    Epigram 99

In this poem, Narcissus is coded as an asexual youth instead of gay:  Narcissus, if you wanted to date someone, You would have been successful. But now that you’re abounding in love There’s no one to reciprocate.

Si cuperes alium, posses, Narcisse, potiri. Nunc tibi amoris adest copia, fructus abest.

 

Britomartis, Deified by Artemis: Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.30.3

Britomartis, Deified by Artemis

Name:  Pausanias Date:        110 – 180 CE Region:    Lydia [modern Turkey] Citation:      Description of Greece 2.30.3

Zeus’ daughter Carme and Eubulus was named Britomartis. She enjoyed hunting and running, and was especially dear to Artemis. While fleeing Minos’ romantic advances, she threw herself into [the sea, right into] a fishing net.  Artemis made her a god. She is worshipped not only by the Cretans, but also by the Aeginians, who say that Britomartis walks among them on their island. The Aeginians call her Aphaea, but among the Cretans, her name is Dictynna.

ἐν Αἰγίνῃ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ Πανελληνίου Διὸς ἰοῦσιν, ἔστιν Ἀφαίας ἱερόν, ἐς ἣν καὶ Πίνδαρος ᾆσμα Αἰγινήταις ἐποίησε. φασὶ δὲ οἱ Κρῆτες— τούτοις γάρ ἐστι τὰ ἐς αὐτὴν ἐπιχώρια—Καρμάνορος τοῦ καθήραντος Ἀπόλλωνα ἐπὶ φόνῳ τῶ Πύθωνος παῖδα Εὔβουλον εἶναι, Διὸς δὲ καὶ Κάρμης τῆς Εὐβούλου Βριτόμαρτιν γενέσθαι: χαίρειν δὲ αὐτὴν δρόμοις τε καὶ θήραις καὶ Ἀρτέμιδι μάλιστα φίλην εἶναι: Μίνω δὲ ἐρασθέντα φεύγουσα ἔρριψεν ἑαυτὴν ἐς δίκτυα ἀφειμένα ἐπ᾽ ἰχθύων θήρᾳ. ταύτην μὲν θεὸν ἐποίησεν Ἄρτεμις, σέβουσι δὲ οὐ Κρῆτες μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Αἰγινῆται, λέγοντες φαίνεσθαί σφισιν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τὴν Βριτόμαρτιν. ἐπίκλησις δέ οἱ παρά τε Αἰγινήταις ἐστὶν Ἀφαία καὶ Δίκτυννα ἐν Κρήτῃ.

Jove & Carme Eubuli filia Britomartin genitam: quae quum se totam in currendi venandique studia tradidisset, fuisse eam Dianae multo carissimam. Verum quum Minoem prae amorem insequentem fugeret, ac se in mare abiecisset, in retia, quae ad pisces capiendos in mare missa fuerant, incidisse: a Diana in deorum numerum relatam. Colunt eam non soli Cretenses,sed ipse etiam Aeginetae, quod in insula visam Britomartin autumant. Et eadem sane Aegenetis Aphaea est, quae apud Cretenses Dictynna.  Translated into Latin by Romulus Amaseus

Pausanias [110 -180 CE, modern Turkey] was a Greek writer from Lydia who lived during the era of the “Five Good Emperors.” His work, the Description of Greece, is an important source for geographical, historical, archaeological, and cultural information about ancient Greece.

Camilla, Warrior Woman in Battle! Vergil, Aeneid , 11.648 - 663

Camilla in Battle

Name:  Vergil Date:  70 – 19 BCE Region:  Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation:  Aeneid 11.648 – 663

The Amazon Camilla was reveling in the midst of battle

With half her chest bare and a quiver on her back.

First, she’s rapid-firing spears by hand.

Next, she’s deftly wielding her battle-ax

With boundless energy.

Her golden bow, the weapon of Diana,

Twanged from her shoulder.

And now, attacked from behind,

Even while in retreat, Camilla kept firing her arrows.

Surrounded by her elite companions,

The maiden Larina, Tulla, and bronze-ax wielding Tarpeia,

Italian-born women whom divine Camilla

Chose for herself to be her honor-guard,

Were excellent companions in peace and war.

These women fought the way that Amazons

Wearing their multi-color armor

On the banks of the Thermodon River fought,

Battling alongside Hippolyte

Or accompanying Penthesilea’s chariot

As she returned from battle

With a great war-cry

They reveled, an army of women,

Lifting their half-moon shaped shields.

 

 

Camilla in Battle

At medias inter caedes exsultat Amazon
unum exserta latus pugnae, pharetrata Camilla,
et nunc lenta manu spargens hastilia denset,
nunc validam dextra rapit indefessa bipennem;

aureus ex umero sonat arcus et arma Dianae.

illa etiam, si quando in tergum pulsa recessit,

spicula converso fugientia derigit arcu.

At circum lectae comites, Larinaque virgo    

Tullaque et aeratam quatiens Tarpeia securim,

Italides, quas ipsa decus sibi dia Camilla

delegit pacisque bonas bellique ministras:

quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis

pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis, 

seu circum Hippolyten seu cum se Martia curru

Penthesilea refert, magnoque ululante tumultu

feminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis.

Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70 – 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period, including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.

The Death of Hippolytus & the Rebirth of Virbius, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.530-546

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 15.530-546

"You think you can compare your grief to mine, nymph?

I saw the kingdom where no light shines

I soaked my wounded body in the Stygian waves,

And would have died without the intervention of Apollo’s son

Who brought me back to life;

Against He-Who-Rules the Underworld’s wishes

I was revived through Asclepius’ strong medicines

And with the help of Apollo’s skill.

In order to not attract attention to myself

Diana lifted me up into a cloud

And aged my form so I wouldn’t be recognized

In order to keep me safe.

For a while, she debated on whether she should

Give me a new home in Crete or Delos,

But then put me here [in Italy]

And ordered me to change my name

So I wouldn’t be reminded of my old life.

She told me, “You who were once Hippolytus,

Will now be Virbius!”

From that point on, I’ve dwelled in this grove,

One of the minor gods,

Safe under my lady’s protection

I attend her will.”

 

num potes aut audes cladi conponere nostrae,               
nympha, tuam? vidi quoque luce carentia regna
et lacerum fovi Phlegethontide corpus in unda,
nec nisi Apollineae valido medicamine prolis
reddita vita foret; quam postquam fortibus herbis
atque ope Paeonia Dite indignante recepi,               
tum mihi, ne praesens augerem muneris huius
invidiam, densas obiecit Cynthia nubes,
utque forem tutus possemque inpune videri,
addidit aetatem nec cognoscenda reliquit
ora mihi Cretenque diu dubitavit habendam               
traderet an Delon: Delo Creteque relictis
hic posuit nomenque simul, quod possit equorum
admonuisse, iubet deponere "qui" que "fuisti
Hippolytus," dixit "nunc idem Virbius esto!"
hoc nemus inde colo de disque minoribus unus               
numine sub dominae lateo atque accenseor illi.'

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

Hippolytus Reborn: A Christian Author's Account of Hippolytus

Hippolytus perished by the savage accusation of his stepmother

& was ripped to shreds by his own chariot

When sea monsters were stirring up the waves.

Diana’s wrath refused to tolerate the assault on his purity*;  

She brought Hippolytus back from the dead,

But now he exists with the name Virbius.

  -- Theodolus, Eclogue 125-128 [dated to the 10th century CE]

* pudicitia refers both to his physical chastity as well as his reputation.

Hippolytus saeva perit accusante noverca

Discerptus bigis, focas agitantibus undis.

Damna pudicitiae non pertulit ira Dianae:

Hippolytum revocat; modo nomine Virbius extat.

The Amazons, As Explained by a Christian Writer: Orosius, Historia 1.15

 

Challenging Gender Roles: The Amazons

Name:  Orosius Date:   385 – 420 CE Region:    Gallaecia [modern Portugal] Citation: History Against the Pagans 1.15

While all that was happening, this was happening in Scythia: there were two princes named Plynos and Scolopetius who were expelled from their throne by a coup of the nobles. They migrated with a large group of youths to the shores of Cappadocia on the Black Sea by the Thermodon River. They conquered the territory of Themiscyra and settled there. They stayed there until ultimately being killed by treachery by their neighboring countries.

Moved by exile and their widowhood, their wives took up arms and, in order to rival their husbands’ courage, killed the remaining men in their group and repaid their enemy neighbors in blood for the blood of their slaughtered husbands. Then, after imposing peace through threat of violence, they used their neighbors for breeding purposes, killing the boys they birthed, and nursing their girls with their right breast [for they burn off their left breast in order to shoot arrows unimpeded]. This is why they are called “breastless,” [A-mazons].

Of these Amazons, there were two queens, Marpesia and Lampeto, who divided the group into two parts: one group would take care of war, while the other group would stay home to guard their home. When they had conquered a great part of Europe, even capturing some nations in Asia, they founded the city of Ephesos and other cities.

While a large part of the army was returning home with splendid treasure, and the rest of the army remaining behind to guard their territory in Asia, Queen Marpesia was killed in a skirmish with the enemy. Her daughter, Sinope, who cherished her lifelong chastity, took control of this region.

There was so much admiration and respect for these Amazons that even Hercules, when he was ordered by his lord [1] to bring back the armor of the Amazon queen, realized the terrible danger he was in. He assembled all of the nobles of Greece, prepared nine longboats, yet still was unimpressed with his swarm of men warriors, and instead strategized to catch the Amazons off guard. At that time, two sisters were in power named Antiope and Orithya. Hercules came ashore, and caught the Amazons off guard, attacking them unarmed, and without a thought to diplomacy. Among these casualties who were captured and killed were two sisters of Antiope. Melanippe was captured by Hercules, and Hippolyte was captured by Theseus. Theseus married his captive Hippolyte, but Hercules returned Melanippe to her sister, ransoming her for the queen’s armor.

Penthesilea ruled after Orithyia [died], and we all know the story of her glorious deeds during the Trojan War.

Orosius [Paulus Orosius; 385 – 420 CE, modern Portugal] was a Christian author famous for his history of ancient Rome. He was originally from Gallaecia Hispania [modern Portugal], but traveled extensively to the Holy Lands for scholarly and religious purposes. His seven-volume History Against the Pagans recounts Roman history with a Christian lens. 

---

[1]  A reference to the myth of Hercules’ twelve labors.

Challenging Gender Roles: The Amazons

Medio autem tempore apud Scythas duo regii iuvenes Plynos et Scolopetius, per factionem optimatium domo pulsi, ingentem iuventutem secum traxere et in Cappadociae Ponticae ora iuxta amnem Thermodontem consederunt campis Themiscyriis sibi subiectis; ubi diu proxima quaeque populati conspiratione finitimorum per insidias trucidantur. Horum uxores exilio ac viduitate permotae arma sumunt et, ut omnibus par ex simili condicione animus fieret, viros qui superfuerant interficiunt atque accensae in hostem sanguine suo ultionem caesorum coniugum finitimorum excidio consequuntur. Tunc pace armis quaesita externos concubitus ineunt, editos mares mox enecant, feminas studiose nutriunt inustis infantium dexterioribus mammillis, ne sagittarum iactus impedirentur; unde “Amazones” dictae. Harum duae fuere reginae, Marpesia et Lampeto, quae agmine diviso in duas partes vicissim curam belli et domus custodiam sortiebantur.

Igitur cum Europam maxima e parte domuissent, Asiae vero aliquantis ciuitatibus captis, ipsae autem Ephesum aliasque urbes condidissent, praecipuam exercitus sui partem onustam opulentissima praeda domum revocant, reliquae ad tuendum Asiae imperium relictae cum Marpesia regina concursu hostium trucidantur. Huius locum Sinope filia capessit, quae singularem virtutis gloriam perpetua virginitate cumulavit. Hac fama excitas gentes tanta admiratio et formido invaserat, ut Hercules quoque cum iussus fuisset a domino suo exhibere arma reginae quasi ad inevitabile periculum destinatus, universam Graeciae lectam ac nobilem iuventutem contraxerit, novem longas naves praepararit, nec tamen contentus examine virium ex inproviso adgredi et insperatas circumvenire maluerit.

Duae tunc sorores regno praeerant, Antiope et Orithyia. Hercules mari advectus incautas inermesque et pacis incuria desides oppressit. Inter caesas captasque complurimas duae sorores Antiopae, Melanippe ab Hercule, Hippolyte a Theseo retentae. Sed Theseus Hippolyten matrimonio adscivit, Hercules Melanippen sorori reddidit et arma reginae pretio redemptionis accepit. Post Orithyiam Penthesilea regno potita est, cuius Troiano bello clarissima inter viros documenta virtutis accepimus.

Married to Her Passion: the Ace Roman Painter Iaia, Pliny the Elder Nat. Hist. 35.147-148

Iaia, The Best of Women Artists

Name: Pliny the Elder Date: 23 – 79 CE Region:  Como [modern Italy]; Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Natural History, 35.147-148

There were also women painters:

·         Timarete, the daughter of Micon, [the creator of] Diana, a painting in Ephesus that is among the oldest

·         Irene, the daughter and protégé of the painter Cratinus, [the creator of] Proserpina (which is on display at Eleusis), as well as a painting of Calypso, an old man, and the juggler Theodorus, as well as the dancer Alcisthenes

·         Aristarete, the daughter and protégé of Nearchus, [the creator of] Aesculapius

·         Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married, was a painter at Rome during the time of Marcus Varro’s youth, did both paintings and engravings in ivory. Her specialty was portraits of women, the most famous of which is on display at Naples, a huge portrait of an old woman, as well as a self portrait in a mirror. No painter was faster at the art, and she was so skilled that her works were more valuable than even very famous artists of the time period, Sopolis and Dionysius, whose paintings litter our modern museums.

·         Some woman named Olympias, but the only thing we really still know about her was that she had a protégé named Autobulus.

Pinxere et mulieres:

·        Timarete, Miconis filia, Dianam, quae in tabula Ephesi est antiquissimae picturae;

·        Irene, Cratini pictoris filia et discipula, puellam, quae est Eleusine, Calypso, senem et praestigiatorem Theodorum, Alcisthenen saltatorem;

·        Aristarete, Nearchi filia et discipula, Aesculapium.

·        Iaia Cyzicena, perpetua virgo, M. Varronis iuventa Romae et penicillo pinxit et cestro in ebore imagines mulierum maxime et Neapoli anum in grandi tabula, suam quoque imaginem ad speculum. Nec ullius velocior in pictura manus fuit, artis vero tantum, ut multum manipretiis antecederet celeberrimos eadem aetate imaginum pictores Sopolim et Dionysium, quorum tabulae pinacothecas inplent.

Pinxit et quaedam Olympias, de qua hoc solum memoratur, discipulum eius fuisse Autobulum.

Pliny the Elder [Gaius Plinius Secundus; 23 – 79 CE, modern Italy] was an Italian-born Roman statesman and author who lived during the reigns of the early Roman emperors. He spent most of his life in service of his country; he ultimately gave his life in arranging the evacuation of the regions devastated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. His work, the Natural History, is a 37-volume collection of art, history, and science of the ancient world.