Acquiring Hippolyta's Belt

After receiving orders from Eurystheus to get the belt of Hippolyta, Hercules set off on a long boat journey to get to Themiscyra, the island of the Amazons. Once at the island, Hercules talked to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazonians, who agreed to hand over her belt willingly even though it was a gift from the god Ares. Hera, queen of the gods, could not let Hercules get through his journey so quickly, so she disguised herself as an Amazon woman and spread discontent among the minions of Hippolyta. Hera's new story was that the foreigners (Hercules), was going to kidnap the queen. Hippolyta's armies then marcher on Hercules, who in turn slew them all in defense and the belief that he had been betrayed. Herccules also killed Hippolyta and then took her belt.

Hercules' twelve labors

            Hercules, the ancient Greek hero we've known since our childhoods, was forsaken from birth. Juno, Zeus, king of the god's wife, was said to have one of the greatest angers of all the gods but that hatred especially shown true for Zeus' children of infidelity. Juno, although cruel to other children of Zeus, especially hated Hercules. The hero lived his life while encountering numerous trials of Juno but the true revenge started when Juno cast a spell of insanity upon Hercules during the night and he killed his entire family. Upon waking he found himself blood soaked and forsaken. Hercules, in order to appease the gods for having murdered his family was sentenced to serve Eurystheus and complete many tasks. This quest served as penance for Hercules and it was prophesied that if he completed the tasks, he would join the gods on Mount Olympus.
Labor 1- The first labor was to slay the great lion of Nemea. This lion was said to have impenetrable pelt and so Hercules choked it to death, then took its pelt as armor.
Labor 2- The second labor was to kill the Lernaean Hydra. The hydra was a type of snake with poisonous venom and had many heads. Eventually Hercules killed it and dipped the tips of his arrows in the venom.
Labor 3- The third labor was to capture the hind of Artemis, or stag. This labor was issued by Eurystheus who hoped to have Artemis get angry and flay Hercules but this failed when Hercules promised to return the stag and Artemis forgave him.
Labor 4- The fourth labor was to slay the Erymanthian boar. This labor was completed with advice from Chiron the centaur.
Labor 5- The fifth labor was to slay the Augean stables. This different type of task was expected to demoralize Hercules but in fact allowed Hercules' ingenious idea to complete the labor with ease.
Labor 6- The sixth labor was to rid the known world of the stymphalian birds. Hercules completed this by using his poison arrows.
Labor 7- The seventh labor was to rid Crete of the Cretan bull. Hercules captured the bull and released it in marathon.
Labor 8- The eighth labor was to capture the mares of Diomedes. Hercules captured the horses then fed Diomedes to them, as they had an unnatural taste for human flesh.
Labor 9- The ninth labor was to take the belt of Hippolyta. Hercules went to the queen of the amazonians and took her belt to return to Eurystheus.
Labor 10- The tenth labor was to bring the cattle of Geryon to Eurystheus and sacrifice them.
Labor 11- The eleventh labor was to retrieve the golden apples of the Hesperides. Hercules went on this quest and retrieved the apples with the help of Atlas.
Labor 12- The twelfth labor was to bring Cerberus the hound that protects Hades to the gate of Eurystheus' castle, where Eurystheus saw this and died out of fear.

Pyramus and Thisbe

           Pyramus and Thisbe were only teenagers when they fell in love with each other, deciding to become a couple. Although their parents forbid the relationship between the two children, even a large wall erected between the two properties could not hold love back. After finding a chink in the wall, the teens talk and formulate a plan to run away and live together. The plan is for them to meet at a mull berry tree outside of Babylon. When Thisbe comes to the tree early, she is scared off by a lion and hides. Meanwhile, the lion, nawing on a bloody animal, gets blood on a veil that Thisbe dropped. When the lion leaves the area, Pyramus sees the lion tracks as well as the bloodied veil of Thisbe. Concluding that Thisbe had been killed, Pyramus stabbed himself. After Pyramus is dead Thisbe comes back and sees her dead lover. She then, out of grief throws herself on Pyramus' still warm with blood sword. After their deaths, Ovid brings in the change that around the time of the year that Pyramus and Thisbe died, the mull berry tree's leaves change color from white to red and black.

Daedalus & Icarus In Art!

This Picture has included Daedalus looking like he's flying ahead of Icarus, unaware of the Icarus flying too high and losing his wings. This picture also contains a city, which I assume is Crete because in the text it states that three men looked up, a fisherman, a plowman, and a shepard who were all on Crete. It seems the artist is drawing the sea and sky into Crete, into the treeline and village, as if even though Daedalus can try, he will never truly escape his fate on Crete. Ovid groups the three men together using alliteration to show that they all saw and believe the same thing. Also the artist creates this picture grouping the three men all together on the right bottom corner of the piece. The piece diverges from the Latin by drawing Icarus falling into the sea just off of Crete when realistically he was almost across the Aegean.

The Famous renaissance piece "The Fall of Icarus" is an interesting painting by Brugal. The artist emphasizes all of the painting with larger proportions, while making Icarus, the name of the painting a small drowning boy only half visible in the ocean. The art was mainly meant to describe the little meaning that legends really had on society while also showing how insignificant this legend really was. The artist leaves the text behind by not including Daedalus and making it look so pathetic for Icarus to be drowning where he is.

This sculpture I believe is either of Daedalus looking to the skies for his answer for escaping the tower, or it is of one of the men looking to the skies and seeing their "gods." This sculpture has the effect of making the viewer think that this man is thinking deeply about what he is seeing or isn't. The artist makes this possible by making the man looking up with his head. This piece works from Ovid's story as Daedalus looks towards the heavens.

Was Martial the school ground bully or is there an underlying meaning?

I believe that in Martial's epigrams, epigrams VII.3, XXII.46, II.38 are satire, while epigram I.32 is a parody.

Martial's epigram I.32 can be classified as a parody because it's rude and makes fun of something stupid (being Sabidus in the passage), and has no higher meaning. This epigram doesn't seem to me to even have the slightest bit of higher meaning besides just insulting the person. If Martial gave an explanation for why he doesn't like Sabidus, then there would be some form of higher meaning but he doesn't and rather just cruelly insults Sabidus.

Martial's epigrams VII.3, XXII.46, and II.38 are satire. Although Martial criticizes people in these epigrams, there is a higher meaning in each of them. In epigram II.38 Martial insults Linus, but actually provides a reason for why he's insulting Linus. Martial's reason for going to the farm in Norment could be partly because of Linus which makes this satire. In epigram XXII.46 Martial is actually complimenting this person. In this epigram Martial criticizes specific traits in a person and then amends them by saying they are also the opposite of that. Epigram VII.3 Martial criticizes Pontilianus' works but actually brings up a valid point in society that one person may not send something to another person for fear of receiving a bad item in return.

Martial can be mean but often brings up valid points and flaws in society that are "stupid."

Martial and His Books

Martial was trying to get across the point in the epigrams 1.38, 7.81, and 1.16 that books couldn't be flawless. Martial expresses in these epigrams that he knows that some of his poems are bad but in order to recognize the good poems you must first understand which poems are bad. This balance between good and bad poems make a book. Without a bad poem in a book the reader could think they were all bad. In order to ensure though that when writing your books isn't very bad is that you must have at least as many good poems as bad ones as Martial mentions to Lausus. Also as Martial says to Fidentinus, when you recite a book in a certain expression or add a phrase or two your changing the book and can no longer hold the author responsible for the new poem versions. Lastly Martial tells Avitus that there are all different types of books and that each appeals to different people, whether it be mediocre ones, evil ones, or good ones, each is unique to a specific audience.

Roman Economics

Roman economics consisted of mainly three economic classes: the plebs, the equiles, and the senators/emperors. This structure was like a pyramid that the plebs were at the bottom and there were the most of them. The second level was the equiles who were merchants and others who had moved up in the world. The third level as it is called consisted of senators and the emperor. Realistically in Rome the only way to move was down and usually never up the pyramid. This is because wealth and status was mainly based on family and your name. You had a wealthy family and a good name and you were famous.

Another key part to Roman economics was that everyone was GREEDY. Even if you were an emperor and were the richest man/woman in the known world, you would still scheme and plot to get more money. As stated by Martial "Fortune gives too much to many; she gives enough to no one." Greed was a major part of Roman  culture because the economic structure was almost directly related to the social structure. Greed shaped Rome and even looking at the government revolves around it. The senators were all just really wealthy people who wanted to write the rules so that they stayed that way. Rome had an interesting economic structure, the likes of which are still seen in the modern world but with different titles and forms but the base remains constant, money means power.