A Collection of Images: Part 19

Below: 77. Dance around the Dionysos idol in the Lenaion, on an Attic cup fromVulci by Makron. Berlin, Staatliche Museen.

Below: 78. Cult around the Dionysos idol in the Lenaion, on an Attic stamnos from Vulci. London, British Museum.

Halloween: My Problem With It

I don't know how long this post is going to be, but I thought that I should talk about this day. Tonight, according to Wiccan calendars, is Samhain. It's called Halloween today. Most Hellenists that come from a Wiccan background remembers when they honored the dead only once, which is today. The problem with this is that it makes the dead feel as though their not important enough.

What's the whole point of only honoring your ancestors once a year? I really don't get it. What I love about Hellenism is that we honor the dead every month. They are remembered, they are given offerings, and they are talked about. I do have a problem with Samhain, Halloween, and it's not the candy giving. Though I really wonder what the point of pot laced candy given to kids this year. Anyway, if any Hellenist out there is celebrating then have a good one.

It's just not a holiday that I will be doing.

A Collection of Images: Part 18

Below: Dionysos idol with an ithyphallic satyr and a maenad, on an Attic skyphos with black figures on a white ground. Athens, National Museum.

Below: 76B/76C. In the same scene, two men approach the idol, leading a half-naked hetaira and a he-goat.

A Collection of Images: Part 17

Below: 72. The uncovering of the phallus. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. Paris, Louvre.

Below: 73. Birth of Dionysos from the thigh of Zeus, on an amphora by the Diosphos painter. Paris, Biibliotheque Nationale.

A Collection of Images: Part 16

Below: 70. Maenad with snake and satyr with panther. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Below: 71. The child awaks in the liknon, swung by a maenad and a satyr. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. London, British Museum.

A Collection of Images: Part 15

68. Dancing satyrs and flute-playing maenad. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. Paris, Louvre.

Below: 69. Satyr with mirror, and a dancing maenad. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Collection of Images: Part 14

This is going to be a short blog post.

Below: 67. Epiphany of the Divine Child out of a vine. Terra-cotta relief from a Roman building. London, British Museum.

A Collection of Images: Part 13

66 A-E: Scenes from the life of Dionysus: birth, enthronement, the boy riding away on a he-goat, and the youth driving a team of panthers to his marriage with Ariadne. Relief on an ivory pyxis. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico.

A Collection of Images: Part 12

Below: The dying Semele, on a silver vessel from Pompeii (with transcript). Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

Maimakterion (2014)

This is going to be a short post. The beginning of another Athenian month has begun and I hope that you all have a good one. Last month was a flurry of activity, which included really getting into doing blog posts and understanding more about the Hellenic gods and rituals. It has also been a surprisingly wonderful month, with news from Greece both on land and in the water.

Three of the most important events was the dive to the sunken ship, filled with all sorts of wonderful treasures, the discovery of a tomb that might be Alexander the Great's, or not, and the final one was the Parthenon marbles. I'm looking forward to new things this month and thanks everyone for following me.

Hena Kai Nea (October 2014)

Tonight is the end of the Athenian month of Pyanepsion. I really enjoyed this moth, it was full of challenges. But I just love challenges. I'm really looking forward to the next month and continuing to work towards my religion and path. Of course the cold weather is coming, but I know that the gods will keep me safe and warm. I hope that yours will be good and may Hecate bless you always.

A Collection of Images: Part 11

Time to show more. I really just love this book.

Below: 64. Scenes of preparations for a Dionysian sacrificial rite: the visit of Dionysos, the burning of Psyche by two weeping Erotes, the suckling fawn, and the milking of the goat. Reliefs on a neo-Attic marble pedestal in the Vatican.

A Collection of Images: Part 10

I'm going to shorten this so that you can get a quick look at them. So, I'm stopping with long picture posts.

Below: 62. Stone slab with traces of the tripod from the temple of Apollo, Delphi.

Below: 63. Apollo setting on a tripod and resting his feet on the bathron. Late fifth-century Attic votive relief. Athens, National Museum.

Worshiping Without a Noticeable Altar

Since I’m following this as a journey, and a better understanding of who I am as a Hellenist, I’ve decided to focus an entire month without having a noticeable altar. The only thing that I’m going to have is a candle for Hestia, a container that I’ll pour water into, and a incense burner. I’m doing this because I feel that I’ve fallen into this trap of wanting, and needing, a large altar. I spend so much money to have one that I’ve come to realize that I’m focus more on having a pretty altar than on my spiritual practices.

It’s also a way of helping me focus on the gods and less on myself. It also prevents people from touching things or to make assumptions about who I am as a person. I love altars, don’t get me wrong, but I feel that the spiritual side is forgotten when you have these altars. To me having a large altar just means that your collecting things and not having an actual practice.

I know that there will be those that will frown at that comment, but that’s what I believe. So no altar for a full month, starting today. No statues, just the candle, incense burner, and cup for water that’s being poured into it. And, every Wednesday, I’ll talk about what it’s like not to have a altar, just a surface to burn incense and pour libations. Wish me luck.

A Collection of Images: Part 9

Here's some more images. Hope that you like them.

Below: 55. Love play between mules with painted hides, on an Attic chous in Munich. 56. Dionysos in a ship car, with masked men as sileni. Painting (with transcript) on an Attic skyphos. Bolognia, Museo Civico Archeologico.

Below: Dionysos in a ship car. Transcript of a fragmentary skyphos in Athens.

58. Procession with a sacrificial animal, on an Attic skyphos. London, British Museum.

59A. Dionysos in a ship car with a dog's head prow, on an Attic skyphos. London, British Museum. 59 B. Transcript made when the skyphos was in better condition.

Below: 60. ARrival of Dionysos and a companion at the house of Ikarios and Erigone with the she-dog Maira. Relief from the Bema of Phaidros. Athens, Ancient Theater.

Below: Motley bull in procession, on a sixth-century Attic lekythos. London, British Museum.

Below: 61B. Procession led by a salpinx. Transcript of the painting on the same lekythos.

A Collection of Images: Part 8

Another day, another set of images.

Below: Dionysus, accompanied by two ithyphallic silent, is received by a royal woman, on a neck amphora. Orvieto, Museo Etrusco Faina

Below: Arrival of Dionysos on shipboard, accompanied by silent and women, on an Attic amphora. Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese.

Below: Variation of the 'arrival of Dionysos on shipboard' theme, on an Attic amphora. Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese.

Below: Dionysos on shipboard, on a cup from Vulei painted by Exekias. Munich. Below that 52A. Dionysos with a rhyton on board a ship with a mule's head prow, on the inside of a black-figure Attic cup. Berlin Staatliche Museen.

Below: 52B. Maenads riding on mules surrounding Dionysos, on the outside of the same cup.

Below 53. Maenads arriving at the banquet on ithyphallic mules. Transcript of a painting on an Attic lekythos.

Below: 54A. Dionysos with kantharos on an ithyphallic mule, on an Attic amphora. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. 54B. Ithyphallic mule dancing among drunken sileni. Fragment of an amphora, by the Amasis painter, that was found on Samos and later lost in the sack of the museum.

A Collection of Images: Part 7

Time for another set of photo's from the Dionysus book that I'm reading.

Below: Arrival of Dionysos, accompanied by Hermes, perhaps at the house of Ikarios, on an Attic amphora from the circle of the Edinburgh painter. Agrigento, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

Below: Scene of the arrival of Dionysos, probably at the house of Ikarios and his daughter, Erigone. Orvieto, Museo Etrusco Faina.

Below: 42A. Athenian lady escorted to a festival by a silenus. Skyphos decorated by the Penelope painter. Berlin, Staatliche Museen.

Below 42B. Girl swinging, pushed by a silenus, on the other side of the same skyphos

Below: Girl swinging. Terra cotta from Hagia trida: reconstruction. Heraklion, Archaeological Museum. 44. Erigone mounting a chariot, with Dionysos in front of her, on an Attic krater. The he goat with a man's head is a representation of the Dionysian afterlife. Palermon, Museo Archeologicao Nazionale.

Below: Maenad between the bearded Dionysos and a nude man, on the other side of the same krater

Below: 46. Ascension scene in a variation of the 'goddess mounting her chariot' theme. Transcript of the painting on a Attic lekythos.

Below: 47. Vase painting of a scene in the underworld. Dionysos mounting a chariot is about to leave his mother, Semele, and ascend.

A Collection of Images: Part 6

Time for another culture exposure. Thanks for looking at them.

Below: Ariadne's thread, on a seventh-century relief pithos. Basel, Antikenmuseum.

Below: Dionysos, Ariadne, and Theseus, on a cup krater. Taranto, Museo Archeologico Nazionale

Below: Dionysos accompanied by the three Horai. Transcript of the painting on the Francois Vase, a krater by Ergotimos and Klitias. Forence, Museo Archeologico.

Two maenads with a sacrificial animal, on a pyxis in the Archaologisches Institute, Heidelburg.

Below 39A/39B: Arrival of Dionysos, probably at the house of Semachos, on a sixth-century vase. Orvieto, Museo Archaeologico.