A brief overview of the legendary and mythical history of the city and its empire, with links to all the articles in this series, and some of the finest paintings.
myth
Seldom painted, except in Bouguereau’s pair of paintings showing her mother Nyx and Hemera.
Rome’s central and most enduring institution, it was the setting for the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE. What did it really look like though?
Little-known now, she was painted by Rubens (twice), Rembrandt (possibly), Lagrenée, and Jacek Malczewski.
The curious legendary origin of a now vanished temple to Aesculapius on Tiber Island in Rome, shown in paintings and engravings.
God of medicine and the healing arts, he has several unusual myths and features, including a strange relationship with a snake when he was a child.
Finance by the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, a place of suffering and death, and for oppression of Christians. Success out of excess.
Aglaea (representing splendor), Euphrosyne (mirth), and Thalia (good cheer), who together represent the better aspects of human nature, bit got Burne-Jones into trouble.
Originally a marsh just outside the city’s walls, it came to be the heart of the city, a market, meeting place, and the political hub.
The god of transitions, gates and doorways, who may have lent his name to the month of January. Paintings by Rubens, Poussin and Mengs.
The Eclectic Light Company 