Paintings

Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan) was the Greek god of fire and volcanoes, metals, metallurgy technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans and sculptors.

He is the son of Hera independently, as punishment for Zeus giving birth to Athena independently.

Hephaestus’ power was considered of physical nature in volcanic districts.

From his birth the god of fire was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance. Therefore, his mother disliked him so much that she dropped him from Mount Olympus. But the marine divinities, Thetis and Eurynome received him and he lived with them for nine years in a cave, making for them a variety of ornaments.

During this period he created the golden chair, from which he would not release his mother, as punishment for her cruelty. Only when he was intoxicated with wine and taken back by Dionysus, he let her go.

Hephaestus was the only Olympian to have returned to Olympus after being exiled.

Zeus gave him the goddess Aphrodite as a bride, out of fear that her beauty and sexual attraction would cause unrest on Mount Olympus. This angered and saddened the goddess and caused her unstoppable infidelity to Hephaestus.

New life created to serve as food for the human sharks.

Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to mankind, became the victim of Zeus’ anger. Zeus decided to punish Prometheus by chaining him to a rock in the Caucasus. Furthermore he sent an eagle to eat his liver every day. Due to Prometheus’ immortality, the liver was regenerated every night, only to serve as a fresh meal for the eagle the next day.

This painting shows how the total freedom of capital (Milton Friedman’s dogma) results in the anarcho-capitalists’ savoring the liver of people worldwide

Athene is the goddess of wisdom, warfare, courage and inspiration.

Her attributes are the owl (symbol of wisdom) and the olive branch (symbol of peace and victory) . Though she is a goddess of war strategy, she preferred wisdom to settle conflicts.

She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis (goddess of crafty thought and wisdom).

After a prophecy that Metis would give birth to ’a god greater than he’, Zeus swallowed her. But she was already pregnant with Athene, who burst forth from his head, fully grown and dressed for war.

Athene competed with Poseidon to be the patron god of Athens. They would each give the Athenians one gift to choose from. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and created a spring. This would give them a means of trade and water (which, unfortunately was undrinkable). Athene offered them the first domesticated olive tree, which provided wood, oil and food. The olive tree was chosen and with it Athene’s patronage.

Aeolus in Greek mythology was the god of the winds.
He lived on the floating island of Aeolia, where he was visited by Odysseus and his crew on their way back from Troje to Ithaca. He gave them hospitality for a month and provided for a west wind to bring them home fast and safely.

He also offered them a bag containing all winds but the west. Unfortunately, just before they reached Ithaca, Odysseus’ crew foolishly opened this bag and the winds blew them back to Aeolia.

Aeolus refused them further help because he believed that their short and unsuccessful voyage meant that the gods did not favour them.

Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto, a Titan’s daughter, was one of the most important and complex of the Olympian gods in Greek Mythology.

Apollo has been variously recognized as a God of light and the sun, truth and prophesy, healing, plague and more.

He was the father of the famous musician Orpheus, to whom he gave a golden lyre and taught to play it.

As the leader of the Muses, he functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. The lyre created for him by Hermes became his attribute.

This painting shows him as the god of the sun, with his famous lyre, surrounded by muses and dolphins, the ultimate symbol of friendship.

A world egg or cosmic egg is a mythological motif found in the creation myths of many cultures and civilizations.

Typically, the cosmic egg is a beginning of some sort. The universe or some primordial being comes into existence by ‘hatching’ from the egg, starting life in all its variations

In Greek mythology Europa was a beautiful Mesopotamian woman of high lineage. She represented all wisdom and civilization, which existed in her homeland and which was brought through her to Crete and from there into Europe. The name of the continent of Europe has ultimately been taken from her.

According to mythology, Zeus was enamored of her and decided to seduce her. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed with her father’s herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took the opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first Queen of Crete.

After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons: Minos, the founder of the Minoan civilization; Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. After their death, the three of them became the three judges of the underworld. According to mythology her sons were fathered by Zeus , who recreated later the shape of the white bull in the sky, which is now known as the constellation Taurus.

In Greek mythology, Dimitra (Demeter) is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over the grains and the fertility of the earth. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Her daughter by Zeus was Persephone, goddess of vegetation.

Demeter’s virgin daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, who made her Queen of his kingdom. Demeter searched for her ceaselessly, preoccupied with her loss and her grief. The seasons halted, all living things ceased to grow, then began to die.

Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus, Persephone’s father, sent his messenger Hermes to the underworld to bring his daughter back.

Zeus’ brother Hades agreed to release her for certain months every year, either during the dry Mediterranean summer, or the autumn and winter.

Persephone’s time in the underworld corresponds with the unfruitful seasons and her return to the upper world with springtime when everything comes back to life.

Daphne (meaning Laurel) is known in Greek mythology as a Naiad – a type of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other types of freshwater.

Because of her beauty, Daphne attracted the attention and lust of the god Apollo.

Apollo pursued her and just before being overtaken, Daphne pleaded to her father, the river god Pineios or Ladon and Gaia.

He changed her into a laurel tree, just before Apollo could reach her.

The laurel became sacred to Apollo and at the Pythian Games, which were held every four years in Delphi in honour of Apollo, the winners were crowned with a wreath of laurel gathered from Thessaly.

Artemis (Roman: Diana) was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and she was the twin sister of Apollo.

She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, nature, wilderness, childbirth, virginity, protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. Her symbols included the golden bow and arrow, the hunting dog, the stag, and the moon.

All of her companions remained virgins, and Artemis guarded her own chastity.

Acteon saw the virgin goddess naked in her sacred spring and tries to force himself on her. For this abuse of the goddess and all she represented, he is punished and changed into a stag, and subsequently killed by his own hunting dogs.

She is portrayed with two faces, expressing that nature can be beautiful, but also harsh in punishing those who abuse her.

This painting pictures Artemis as the Lady of Ephesus. At Ephesus in Ionia, nowadays Turkey, her temple became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best known center of her worship except for Delos. In an ancient sanctuary her cult image depicted the “Lady of Ephesus” adorned with multiple rounded breast like protuberances on her chest. They have been variously interpreted as multiple accessory breasts, grapes and pears.

In Greek Mythology,, the Moires often known in English as the Fates—were the white-robed incarnations of destiny.

They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death.

They were independent, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being takes its course without obstruction. Both gods and men had to submit to them.

Their names were:

• Clotho– “spinner”. She spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle
• Lachesis– “allotter” or drawer of lots, measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod
• Atropos– “inexorable” or “inevitable”, was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person’s death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with her abhorred shear
• In this painting the three Moires represent the role and unquestioned power of rating agencies to control the destiny of individual entities (in this case whole countries)

In Greek Mythology the father of Icarus, Daedalus was commissioned by the Minoan king Minas to construct the famous labyrinth, from which nobody could escape.

After constructing this labyrinth, Daedalus was imprisoned by the king to prevent him from unveiling the secret of his creation. He decided on a way to escape for himself and his son by flying from the island of Crete, using a combination of feathers and beeswax for wings.

He warned his son not to fly too high as the sun would make the wax melt with disastrous consequences . Icarus, however, in his youthful arrogance, ignored his father’s warning and decided to challenge the god of the sun Apollo and his chariot of fire. He paid for it with his life.

According to Greek mythology, Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). But Eris, goddess of conflict was not invited, for she would have ruined the party. Angered by this snub, she arrived at the celebration with a golden apple from the garden of the Hesperides, which she threw into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription:”for the fairest one”.

Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was the fairest and he, reluctant to favour anyone himself, declared that Paris, a Trojan mortal, would judge their cases, for he had shown his exemplary fairness in an contest with the god Ares.

Guided by Hermes, the three candidates, portrayed as barbies, bathed in the spring of Ida, then, undressed and naked confronted Paris, hoping to appear more sexual than the other two. During the inspection, each attempted with their powers to bribe him: Hera offered him the kingdom of Europe and Asia; Athena wisdom and skill in war; and Aphrodite the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodite’s gift and gave her the apple, which got him Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks. The Greeks’ expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War.

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet and prophet in Greek mythology.

He was the son of Apollo, the God of music and the muse Calliope. Apollo gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus mother Calliope taught him to make verses for singing.

The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice. While walking in tall grass at her wedding, she was trying to escape from a Satyr. She fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite in her heel. Orpheus discovered her dead body and, overcome with grief, took the advice of the Gods and traveled with her to the underworld.

With his music and helped by Hermes, he softened the hearts of Persephone and Hades (the underworld’s ruler) and they allowed Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world.

He set off, with Eurydice following, but in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world. She vanished for the second time, but now forever

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet and prophet in Greek mythology.

He was the son of Apollo, the God of music and the muse Calliope. Apollo gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus mother Calliope taught him to make verses for singing.

The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice. While walking in tall grass at her wedding, she was trying to escape from a Satyr. She fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite in her heel. Orpheus discovered her dead body and, overcome with grief, took the advice of the Gods and traveled with her to the underworld.

With his music and helped by Hermes, he softened the hearts of Persephone and Hades (the underworld’s ruler) and they allowed Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world.

He set off, with Eurydice following, but in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world. She vanished for the second time, but now forever

Pegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology.

He is a winged divine horse, usually shown as white coloured. His father was Poseidon, god of the sea, who had sexual intercourse with his mother, the mermaid Medusa on the floor of a temple to Athena. This angered the goddess, who changed Medusa into a monster.

Later, when the hero Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus emerged from her neck.

Pegasus, with Athene on his back traveled to Olympus, where he was stabled with Zeus’ other steeds and was given the task of carrying Zeus’ thunderbolts.

For his faithful service he was honoured with transformation into a constellation.

In this painting he is shown, trying in vain to escape from the computerized world, to which he is unwillingly bound.

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet and prophet in Greek mythology.

He was the son of Apollo, the god of music and the muse Calliope. Apollo gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. His mother Calliope taught him to make verses for singing.

Here he is portrayed, singing and playing at the festival in honour of Dionyssos, the god of wine and dance and every creature in the forest had to come and listen to him play.

Orpheus was brutally killed by the Maenads, out of jealousy, because after the loss of his love Eurydice, he lost interest in all women. They were a group of female followers of Dionysos, who punished them severely for this act of violence.

A Phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet, according to some legends. It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new young Phoenix or Phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.

The new Phoenix is destined to live as long as it’s old self. The Phoenix’s ability to be reborn from it’s own ashes implies that it is immortal.

This painting shows the causes and disastrous effects of worldwide pollution.

Factory chimneys like sickles of death with in the background the remaining skull of the sun.