Читать книгу The Mythology of Greece and Rome, With Special Reference to Its Use in Art онлайн

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Among his mortal mistresses the most celebrated is Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, and mother of Dionysus. The others—Leda, Danaë, Alcmene, Europa, and Io—will be mentioned hereafter.

The mythology of the Romans, as we have already remarked, first depicted Jupiter as devoid of all family ties. It was only after their religion had been Hellenised that men termed him the son of Saturn and Ops, made Juno his wife and Minerva his daughter.

Statues of Zeus were necessarily very numerous, both from the great extent of his worship and the great number of his temples that existed in Greece. Of all these the most renowned was the magnificent statue of Zeus at Olympia, the work of the Athenian sculptor Phidias (500–432 B.C.). The figure was seated on a lofty throne, and was more than 40 feet high. It was made of gold and ivory, or more probably a statue of wood was overlaid with plates of ivory and gold. The uncovered parts—the face, throat, breast, and hands—were of ivory. In his right hand was a figure of Victory, also of gold and ivory; in his left was a royal sceptre, on the top of which perched an eagle. The numerous lengthy descriptions that exist can give us but a faint idea of the lofty majesty that the sculptor diffused over the countenance of the god. The object of Phidias was to represent him to mankind, not only as the omnipotent ruler of Olympus, far superior to all gods and men, both in power and wisdom; but also as the gracious father of all, and the kindly dispenser of all good gifts. The hair, which rose straight from the brow, and then fell in equal divisions on either side, imparted to the face a lion-like expression of conscious power. This was rendered still more effective by the high forehead and strongly-formed nose. At the same time, the expression of the slightly-opened lips lent an idea of kindly benevolence. The story goes that Phidias, after completing the statue, prayed of the god a sign that he was well pleased with his work. Zeus thereupon caused a flash of lightning to descend through the open roof of the temple, and thus acknowledged his own image.