Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 4 : The Reception of Myth and Mythology
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Subject: Classical Studies
Edited by: Maria Moog-Grünewald
The Reception of Myth and Mythology highlights the routes and works through which the myths of Greece and Rome have passed into the cultural memory of Europe over the centuries, into its literature, music and art and its reflections on aesthetics and philosophy.
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The Reception of Myth and Mythology highlights the routes and works through which the myths of Greece and Rome have passed into the cultural memory of Europe over the centuries, into its literature, music and art and its reflections on aesthetics and philosophy.
Subscriptions: See Brill.com
Daedalus and Icarus
(5,808 words)
(Δαίδαλος/
Daídalos; Latin Daedalus; Ἴκαρος/
Íkaros; Latin Icarus) A. Myth D. is a descendant of the mythical Athenian king Erechtheus; I. is D.’ son. D. is the ingenious inventor of tools and technologies, and the architect and inventor to whom, among other works, the first large-scale Greek sculptures (
kouroi), are attributed. He is also said to have made the first statues in a striding attitude and with open eyes, thus lending them a particularly lifelike impression. His creative skills are also attested by the various names given for his …
Danae
(1,853 words)
(Δανάη/
Danáē; Latin Danae, Medieval Latin Danes, Dané) A. Myth D. is the daughter of the Argive Acrisius and of Aganippe (Hyg. Fab. 63; Hom. Il. 14,319; Hes. fr. 129) or Eurydice (Apollod. 2,21,4 and 3,10,3). An oracle tells the king that a son of D. will kill him, and so, according to the version most influential in reception history, he locks her in a bronze tower (Hor. Carm. 3,16) or, in other traditions, in a subterranean brazen dungeon (Paus. 2,23,7; Hyg. Fab. 63; Nonnus, Dion. 47,544) or cave (Apol…
Daphne
(6,025 words)
(Δάφνη/
Dáphnē; Latin Daphne) A. Myth The myth of D. was widespread in Greece and Syria from the 3rd cent. BC. Four variants are known, in all of which D. appears in association with Apollo and as a personification of the laurel-tree (Greek
daphne, Latin
laurus): (1) The ‘Arcadian’ version is mentioned by Pausanias (Paus. 10,7,8) and Nonnus (Nonnus, Dion. 42,387). D. is the daughter of the river-god Ladon and the Earth (Gaia). As Apollo pursues the fleeing D., she calls to her mother for protection. In answer to h…
Demeter
(2,765 words)
(Δηµήτηρ/
Dēmḗtēr; Latin Ceres) A. Myth D., daughter of Kronos and Rhea and one of the twelve Olympian deities, is the goddess of agriculture and fertility. She also functions as the patroness of married women. Her daughter Persephone (Latin Proserpina) is born of the union of D. and Zeus. Without consulting her mother, Zeus cedes Persephone to Hades as wife, and Hades abducts the girl and takes her into the Underworld. D. spends nine days searching the whole earth for her daughter, before Helios informs her of the abduction (Hom. H. 2,47–87; ¶ Ov. Fast. 4, 581f.). Burning with rage ag…