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.