Susanna and the EldersThe story comes from the Book of Daniel in the Bible. Susanna was the wife of a wealthy Jewish man who lived in Babylon. Susanna used to bathe in her garden, and one day two elder men of the community hid there and waited for her. Once Susanna was alone and naked, the two men revealed themselves and threatened her. They said that if she did not give herself to them, they would declare that they had seen Susanna commit adultery with a young man. This crime was punishable by death. Susanna refused to be blackmailed in this way, was tried in court and condemned to die. However, at the last moment Daniel, one of the prophets, came and cross examined the two elders, separately. He found their evidence to be contradictory and so proved Susanna's innocence. The story became a popular one for artists from the Renaissance onwards as a morality tale and, it has to be said, an excuse to paint a female nude.
Judith Slaying HolofernesJudith was a wealthy and beautiful widow who lived in the town of Bethulia. When the Assyrian army besieged the town intent on destroying it, Judith made a plan to save her town. She dressed up and with her maid, Abra, made her way into the Assyrian camp and met the enemy leader, Holofernes, one of Nebuchadnezzar's generals. He wanted Judith and planned a banquet at which he would seduce her. At the banquet Holofernes got quite drunk. As soon as he was weak from drink Judith seized his sword and cut off his head. Abra put his head into a sack and they left for Bethulia. The leaderless Assyrian army now thrown into chaos were defeated by the Bethulians and ran away.
Bacchus and AriadneBacchus was the Greek god of wine. He went everywhere accompanied by Maenads, or wild dancing women. Bacchus was also the god of the theatre and the first plays in Greece were performed in his honour. These were tragedies, serious stories about heroes and gods, and comedies, which ridiculed politicians and were often very rude. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, was rescued from the labyrinth by her lover, Theseus, who then abandoned her on the Greek island of Naxos. When Bacchus met Ariadne he fell instantly in love with her. As an act of homage, Bacchus put a constellation, Corona, in the night sky to honour her.
The Rape of the Sabine WomenAccording to the historian, Livy, writing in the eight century BC, when Rome was founded it needed to increase its citizenship so it could grow quickly and win the wars against its neighbours but there was a scarcity of women and it was clear that the greatness of the city would be lost in a generation or two. The Sabines would not allow their women to marry the Romans but accepted an invitation to a huge religious celebration in honour of Neptune. At the party, the Romans rushed in and kidnapped the Sabine women (the 'rape' of the title means 'abduct' or 'kidnap'), and subsequently forced them to marry them. The horrified Sabines went home to prepare for war. When later they returned, fully armed, to take back their women by force, the Sabine women who had by now accepted their new Roman husbands stopped the battle before it started by placing themselves in between the two warring groups. The Romans and the Sabines made peace and the city of Rome continued on the path to greatness.
David and BathshebaAs David, the King of Israel, was walking in his palace one evening he saw a beautiful woman, Bathsheba below. She was bathing in the company of her attendants. He fell in love with her and he wanted her. Although she was married to a man who was away serving in King David's army, David seduced her. She conceived and to pass the child off as her husband's, David sent for him. On her husband's refusal to leave his troops David sent a message to the army, telling the army commander to put Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, in the front line of the next battle. At this battle, her husband was killed and King David married Bathsheba, who went on to become the mother of King Solomon.
Diana and ActaeonDiana was bathing nude in the woods when the hunter Actaeon saw her, accidentally. He stopped and stared, amazed at her beauty. When she saw him, Diana changed him to a stag for having seen her naked and then set his own hounds onto him to kill him. Actaeon was torn apart by them.
Joseph and Potiphar's WifeJoseph's story is told in the Book of Genesis. In one episode of his life, Potiphar, a captain of the Pharaoh's guard buys Joseph as a slave. Alone in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife asks Joseph to make love to her, but he refuses. Joseph escapes from the house but leaves his cloak behind. Potiphar's wife tells her husband that Joseph had tried to rape her and Joseph is thrown into prison.
DanäeDanäe was the daughter of Acrisius. Forewarned by a prediction that Danäe's son will kill him one day Acrisius shuts Danäe in a bronze room, away from all males. However, Zeus wants Danäe and comes to her through the roof in the form of a shower of gold that pours down into her lap. As a result she has a son, Perseus.
Leda and the SwanZeus takes the form of a swan in order to make love to Leda, who becomes the mother of Pollux and of Helen of Troy - the woman famed as the cause of the Trojan War.
The Three GracesIn Greek mythology, they were the three goddesses of joy, charm, and beauty. They oversaw banquets and dances, and brought happiness to both gods and people. The special attendants of Aphrodite and Eros, together with their companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo played upon his lyre. It was believed that like the muses they gave artists and poets the ability to create beautiful works of art. The Graces are never seen on their own but always together as a trio, beautiful young maidens dancing in a circle, one figure traditionally facing away from us.
The Judgement of ParisThis story comes from Greek mythology and was one of the events that led to the Trojan War. There was a Golden Apple with "For the Fairest" written on its side. Venus, Juno and Minerva all claimed it! They decided to let a man, Paris, judge between them but They were all so beautiful he couldn't make his mind up. They set about helping him to do this. Juno told him she would make him powerful, Minerva said she would make him wise and Venus offered him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. His choice was Venus, and Helen. As Helen was married to someone else, when Paris carried her off to his home at Troy, her husband came with his allies to get her back. Paris was killed and Troy was destroyed.
VenusVenus, a very ancient Roman Goddess, known as Aphrodite to the Greeks, and associated with love, beauty and fertility, had many love affairs both with gods (amongst them Mars - the god of war) and mortals (Adonis and others), and gave birth to several children, one of whom was Cupid, known as Eros to the Greeks. CupidCupid was the little god of love and beauty. His weapon was a bow, and anyone hit by one of his arrows fell instantly in love with the next person they met. By chance Cupid once scratched himself with one of his own arrows. At that moment he was looking at a woman called Psyche, and so fell madly in love with her. As he knew that his mother Venus would be angry, he hid Psyche away and told her that she must never try to look at him but Psyche, thinking she had been captured by a terrible monster, couldn't resist looking. Enchanted by the first sight of her handsome husband, and while playing with his arrows, she scratched herself as well. Both were now desperately in love with each other! Venus drove Psyche away, and Psyche had many adventures before she was allowed by Venus to stay with Cupid.
St SebastianHe was condemned to death by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century for refusing to give up Christianity, shot with arrows and left to die but then found by Irene who nursed him back to health. His death did come finally at the hands of Diocletian, though who had him clubbed to death for ranting at him from a doorway.
Samson and DelilahThe great Hebrew warrior, Samson, told his lover Delilah (bribed by the Philistines into discovering this) that his great strength was in his hair. She cut it off while he was asleep and Philistine soldiers came and blinded him.
St AnneSt Anne was the Mother of Mary according to the Bible and the grandmother, consequently, of Jesus Christ. Tradition tells that Anne was quite old when Mary was born, and that she was their only child.
St CatherineSt Catherine, an aristocratic and educated pagan woman became a Christian after she saw a vision. When she was 18 years old, during the time of the persecution by the Emperor Maximus, she offered to debate with the non-Christian philosophers. Many were converted to Christianity by her arguments, and immediately put to death. Maximus had Catherine flogged and imprisoned. Nonetheless both the Empress and the leader of Maximus' army were amazed by the stories and went to see her in prison. Both became Christians and were then put to death as a consequence. Maximus ordered St Catherine be broken on the wheel, but Catherine touched it and the wheel was destroyed. Instead she was beheaded, and her body whisked away by angels. (As is the case for so many of the biblical and mythical stories in this short guide there is absolutely no evidence that any such person as Catherine existed.)
Adam and EveAccording to the Bible God planted a garden of Eden, a paradise, and God set Adam to look after it. God then removed one of Adam's ribs and created Eve from it. He allowed Adam and Eve to eat from any tree in the garden, except one, the tree of life but the serpent, that most cunning and evil of all creatures, persuaded Eve to disobey and to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. She gave a piece of it to Adam. As a punishment, God drove Adam and Eve out of paradise and settled them to the east of the garden of Eden and ordered the cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life.
SatyrsAccording to Greek mythology the satyrs were gods of the woods and mountains. They were half human and half animal with a goat's tail, sides and hooves. While the upper part of the body was that of a human, they also had the horns of a goat. They might be thought of as the original good-time party people. They were the friends of Bacchus, the god of wine, and spent their time drinking, dancing, and chasing nymphs.
NymphsIn Greek mythology, nymphs were spirits of nature, minor female gods and the protectors of springs, mountains, and rivers. Nymphs were represented as pretty, young girls with each type of Nymph ruled a certain area of nature. For example, Dryads looked after the forests and Naiads looked after springs and rivers.
DaphneApollo chased the nymph Daphne who had refused his advances. His love for Daphne was caused by an arrow from Cupid, jealous because Apollo had made fun of his archery skills. Cupid also claimed to be annoyed by Apollo's singing. At the same moment Cupid shot a hate arrow into Daphne and caused her to hate Apollo. After a chase by Apollo, Daphne prayed to the river god Peneus to help her. Peneus changed her into a laurel tree, anf this became sacred to Apollo.
Mary MagdaleneShe is mentioned in the Bible as being among the women of Galilee who followed Jesus and was present at the crucifixion and burial, and who went to the tomb on Easter Sunday. She was the first to see the Jesus after the resurrection. There has grown up a tradition that Mary was a prostitute before she met Jesus, despite there being no biblical 'evidence' for this. Because of the notion that Mary Magdalene had been a terrible sinner, and also perhaps because she is described as weeping at the tomb of Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection, she is often portrayed in art as crying, or with eyes red from having been crying.
The AnnunciationIn the Bible this is the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she is to be the mother of Jesus.
LucretiaThe last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius had a violent son, Sextus Tarquinius, who raped a virtuous Roman noblewoman named Lucretia. Her family called the men of the city together and told them what had happened. When Lucretia committed suicide the people of Rome rose against the royal family and drove them out of Rome and so was founded the Republic of Rome.
AndromedaAndromeda was the princess of Ethiopia and daughter of Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia's mother boasted that she, Cassiopeia, was more beautiful than Juno, the Queen of the Gods and also more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs. In revenge Neptune ordered a sea monster to attack the Ethiopian coast. The King of Ethiopia consulted an oracle who told him that Neptune would only be satisfied if Andromeda were sacrificed to the monster. So, Andromeda was chained to a rock on the coast at the mercy of the monster. Fortunately for her, Perseus happened to fly by. He saved her and they got married. Aaah…
David and GoliathGoliath was a gigantic Philistine warrior mentioned in the Bible and famous for his battle in the 11th century BC with David, the young Israelite boy who would later be chosen by God to become the King of Israel. In the fight David killed Goliath with a sling-shot.
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