Stories of Old Greece and RomeBaker, Emilie K. (Emilie Kip)
General
Stories of Old Greece and Rome
Baker, Emilie K. (Emilie Kip)
Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature; Mythology, Roman -- Juvenile literature
The principal temples of Jupiter were the Capitol at Rome, and the
Temple of Jupiter Ammon in Libya. At Dodona was the oracle of Jupiter,
called the "Speaking Oak," where the responses were given by the trees
whose rustling branches made sounds that were interpreted by the
priests. The oracle was said to have been established at Dodona in
the following manner: two black doves took their flight from Thebes in
Egypt. One flew to Dodona in Epirus; and alighting in a grove of oaks,
it proclaimed, in human language, to the people of that region, that
they must establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other dove flew to
the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and delivered a similar command there.
Another account says that two priestesses were carried off from Thebes
in Egypt by the Phœnicians, and set up oracles at Dodona and the Libyan
Oasis.
A magnificent temple at Olympia was dedicated to Jupiter, and here,
every fifth year, the Greeks assembled to celebrate games. These
festivals lasted five days, and were known as the Olympic Games.
Vast numbers of spectators flocked to them from every part of Greece
and from Asia, Africa, and Sicily. The Greeks usually reckoned time
by Olympiads or five-year periods,--the space of time between the
celebrations. The first Olympiad was about 776 B.C.
Inside the temple at Olympia stood a wonderful statue of Jupiter made
of ivory and gold. The parts representing flesh were of ivory laid on
a framework of wood, while the drapery and ornaments were of gold. It
was the work of Phidias, and was considered the highest achievement
of Grecian sculpture. The height of the figure was forty feet, and
the pedestal was twelve feet. The god was represented as seated on his
throne, with his brows crowned with a wreath of olive and in his hand
a scepter. The statue was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the
world, but our knowledge of it is confined to literary descriptions and
to copies on coins.
II
Poems:--
Prometheus Bound ÆSCHYLUS
Prometheus Unbound PERCY B. SHELLEY
Prometheus HENRY W. LONGFELLOW
Prometheus JAMES R LOWELL
The following are Byron's lines:--
"Titan! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise;
What was thy pity's recompense?
A silent suffering, and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain;
All that the proud can feel of pain;
The agony they do not show;
The suffocating sense of woe."
III
There is a full account of the story of Pandora in Hawthorne's "Wonder
Book."
Poems:--
Pandora DANTE G. ROSSETTI
Masque of Pandora HENRY W. LONGFELLOW
IV
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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