Their use by armies of the distant past, in the war against Troy, the sack of Rome, the Battle of Issus, by Alexander the Great, and in Crusades.
Tiepolo
What happens when a pre-christian hero is elevated to the status of god or goddess. Starring Hercules, Aeneas, Romulus and others.
Apollo’s chariot, that of Pluto and Achilles, the Trojan Horse, Lady Godiva’s, and the mount of Saint George when he slays the dragon.
Who is this deeply troubled woman, only known for her attempted abduction by the Centaur Nessus? And how did she bring about Hercules’ death?
The satyr Marsyas became an outstanding player of the aulos, and played in a contest against the god Apollo. He can’t win, and ends up being flayed alive.
In their heyday, worked elaborately in gold leaf, but lost with the realism of the Renaissance. Revived by the Pre-Raphaelites, and rarely used for secular figures.
After Achilles slaughtered the rest of her family, Briseis becomes his enslaved concubine. While he’s angry, she remains devoted to him until his death.
The double pipe with reeds played by Marsyas in his doomed contest with Apollo, blown by the Sirens, and more.
Left as a cliffhanger ending to Book 2, Jupiter assumes the form of a white bull, and lures Europa to sit astride his back before whisking her away across the sea.
In classical times, they were strummed like a guitar rather than plucked. Apollo, Orpheus and lyric poets from Raphael, Rubens, Waterhouse and others.
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