Latest news with #Zeus
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Mysterious 2,500-Year-Old 'Gift to The Gods' Finally Identified
A mysterious, orange gunk found in a bronze jar uncovered some 70 years ago at an ancient shrine near Pompeii, Italy, has finally been identified as honey. After several failed attempts over recent decades, researchers from the University of Oxford unraveled the strange substance's chemical degradation to reveal a sweet offering to an ancient Greek god 2,500 years ago; an appropriate gift, given honey is said to be what Zeus ate as a child. Archeologist Luciana da Costa Carvalho and colleagues were able to detect a chemical fingerprint nearly identical to modern honey and beeswax using advanced gas chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques. It was more acidic though, as would be expected from long-term storage where the sugars degrade into furans over time. Related: This also happens to beeswax, which was identified in one of the previous analyses, but the residue had a much more complicated composition to just be wax, the researchers argue. While previous analyses were unable to detect any carbohydrates, the new analysis picked up the simple sugar hexose and the products of decomposed saccharides preserved in the corroded copper of the jar. Excavated in 1954, the shrine at a Greek settlement in Paestum, Italy, was dedicated to an unknown deity. Inside, bronze jars surrounded an empty iron bed accompanied by six hydriai and two amphorae. "The empty bed and the inaccessibility of the shrine signify that the deity was there," da Costa Carvalho and team describe in their paper, explaining honey is a "symbol of immortality". Honey was also well known for its use as a sweetener and in medical preparations, cosmetics, and rituals in ancient Greece. "Ancient residues aren't just traces of what people ate or offered to the gods – they are complex chemical ecosystems," says da Costa Carvalho. "Studying them reveals how those substances changed over time, opening the door to future work on ancient microbial activity and its possible applications." This research was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Related News 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Discovered on Ancient Egyptian Artifact Markings on Strange Stonehenge Boulder May Not Be Natural After All Stomach-Churning Theory Could Explain Mystery of Neanderthal Diet Solve the daily Crossword
RTHK
3 days ago
- Sport
- RTHK
HK scores an ace with Ultimate Tennis Showdown
HK scores an ace with Ultimate Tennis Showdown Michael Cheng, third left, says the UTS format is a perfect match for Hong Kong. Photo: RTHK Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) will make its Asian debut in Hong Kong. The international individual tennis league tournament will be held at Kai Tak Sports Park on October 14 and 15. Chief operating officer Baptiste Kern said fans had been asking for the tournament to expand to Asia and that Hong Kong has great venues like the new Kai Tak Sports Stadium. "What we are trying to create with UTS is a form of NBA of tennis, where it's very serious tennis, very high-quality matches [and] very high intensity and at the same time a very fun and fan-friendly atmosphere," he said. UTS has a slightly different format than most typical tennis matches, with timed matches and players playing quarters rather than sets. "Basically you have 45 minutes of packed tennis as opposed to longer matches with long breaks," Kern said, adding that fans are encouraged to cheer and players can talk to coaches and fans during changeover. Eight players, including Chinese tennis star Zhang Zhizhen, will be competing for the Zeus trophy and an estimated price money of more than US$300,000. Hong Kong, China Tennis Association president Michael Cheng says the UTS format is a perfect match for Hong Kong with its corporate, entertainment, cultural and fashion fusion. "I think there's a lot of significance in bringing something which is novel to Hong Kong and creating, building and shaping Hong Kong as a tennis hub, a mega-event capital in the region and in Greater Bay." Cheng says he expects the event to sell out quickly in Hong Kong, emphasising the need to build tennis novelty and brand for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. "It also sends a very clear signal that every financial hub around the world there are tennis events, and so does Hong Kong, and we are able to provide very good events." Ticket prices will range from almost HK$400 to almost HK$1,600, with public sales starting on August 4 via HK Ticketing.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The View From Mount Olympus: What The Greek Gods Ate And Drank While Partying
|Medium: Fresco|Creation date: 1518-1519|Located in: Palazzo Farnese, Farnesina, Italy, circa 1518. ... More (Photo by David Lees/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)Rare is the Greek god or goddess who is not a cosmic annoyance to human beings. They are immeasurably flawed, vindictive, irrational, self-serving, mean-spirited and use their powers to outwit each other and mankind. They were also gluttons: According to Homer, the gods lounging atop Mount Olympus 'feasted all day until sunset and ate to their hearts content,' then they would put up their feet and listen to music and poetry. Bacchanalia, before 1659. Found in the Collection of Art History Museum, Vienne. (Photo by Fine Art ... More Images/) Dionysus was a god the Greeks most happily imitated. Called Bacchus by the Romans, he was the privileged son of Zeus himself and god of agriculture, who showed men how to grow wine grapes and make wine; he was also a comic sower of decadence, though he was never depicted as obese by Greek sculptors. He would conduct his conquests surrounded by a retinue of Bacchii that included drunken satyrs and mad women known as maenads who wore crowns of snakes and would tear animals and enemies to pieces. The feasts celebrating Dionysus date to Attica, where a yearly wine festival was held during the winter solstice and grew into raucous, sexually charged, raunchy scenes in which masked men dressed in goat skins, giant phalluses were carried about and flaunted and dances tended towards the obscene. ITALY - CIRCA 2002: Symposium scene, ca 480-490 BC, decorative fresco from the north wall of the ... More Tomb of the Diver at Paestum, Campania, Italy. Detail of the so-called lovers. Ancient Greek civilization, Magna Graecia, 5th Century BC. Paestum, Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Archaeological Museum) (Photo) Drinking parties held in Dionysus's honor, called sympósions, became very deliberate gluttonous events, despite Dionysus's own dictum that a man should drink only three cups of wine at dinner: toasting the first to health, the second to love and pleasure and the third to sleep, after which a guest should go home to bed. Few paid much attention once the party got Red-Figure Psykter, about 510 BC. Wine Cooler with Athletes. Additional Info: The psykter is a ... More vessel used for cooling wine at a symposium. Placed in a large bowl of ice-cold water, the bulbous upper section - decorated here with youths in the gymnasium - would be visible to drinkers. Creator: Smikros. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images) Such banquets were all male, with the exception of naked dancing girls, and the manners and rituals of inviting guests, making the menus and deciding on the entertainment were very involved. During a sympósion guests arrived, their feet would be washed by slaves, then they reclined on couches; a communal cup called a psycter of aromatics was passed around, and the eating part of the banquet began. But the serious drinking came after dinner. The meal would consist of an enormous number of dishes. A poem written around 400 BC called The Banquet describes a feast well appreciated by its enthusiastic author. In came a pair of slaves with a shiny table, and another, and another until they filled the room. They fetched in show-white barley-rolls baskets, A casserole— no bigger than that—call it a marmite, full of a noble eel with a look of the conger about him. Honey-glazed shrimps besides, my love, Squid sprinkled with sea-salt, Baby birds in flaky pastry, And a baked tuna, gods! What a huge one fresh from the fire and the pan and the carving knife. Enough steaks from its tender belly to delight us both as long as we might care to stay and munch. . . . . Then the same polished tables, loaded with more good things, sailed back to us, 'second table,' as men say Sweet pastry shells, crispy flapjacks, toasted sesame cakes drenched in honey sauce, Cheesecake, made with milk and honey, baked like a pie; Cheese-and-sesame sweetmeats fried in the hottest oil in sesame seeds were passed around. At that point, with only small bites called tragemata to nibble on, the guests began to drink as much as they liked of wine cut two-thirds by water. If a man protested that he'd had enough wine and refused another cup, he had to perform some silly entertainment, like dancing naked or carrying the girl flute-player around the room. Parasites was the name given to those who arrived late to the party and mooched off the remains. Only around 500 BC were women invited to join the fun, but they were largely courtesans, prostitutes and female artists. Epicurus (ca.341-270 BC). Ancient Greek philosopher. Bust. Marble. From Villa Casali, Rome (1-160 ... More AD). British Museum. London, England, Great Britain. (Photo by: Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) How such a gentle philosopher named Epicurus became equated with the term 'epicureanism' as a license to excessive indulgence, particularly in food and drink, is a unfortunate because he actually advocated 'katastematic pleasure' that is experienced through a harmonious state of mind free of mental distress and pain achieved through a simple life rather than by activating unnatural pleasures like gluttony that take hold of the mind's free will. Ulysses and Circe, ca 1580-1585. Found in the collection of Art History Museum, Vienne. Artist : ... More Spranger, Bartholomeus (1546-1611). (Photo by Fine Art Images/) In Homer's Odyssey, the poet insists that while heroes need proper nourishment, mostly meat and bread, it would be foolhardy for them to indulge in gluttonous behavior. Nevertheless, in The Iliad the hero Odysseus is called by an opponent 'wild for fame, glutton for cunning, glutton for war,' while Odysseus uses the word 'glutton' to describe King Agamemnon as a 'dog-faced' glutton' and 'people-devouring king.' When Odysseus sails into the clutches of the breathtakingly beautiful goddess Circe, she turns his men into swine with a drugged drink (she turns them back, too) and persuades him to feast with her and her maidens on 'enough food and drink to last forever.' And then to bed. Odysseus and his men gave in to her seductions and stuck around the island 'day after day, eating food in plenty, and drinking sweet wine' for an entire Marotti, from Rome, 2nd century. Statuette of naked Herakles in Boston-Oxford type, with ... More club, and lionskin. Copy of work of c460 BC. Dimensions: height: 57 cm. (Photo by Ashmolean Museum/) But the candidate for Super Glutton is the god Herakles (Hercules to the Romans), a bastard son of Zeus whose wife Hera tried to abort him and afterwards tried to make his life miserable. Herakles is, of course, a person of inhuman strength, but he emerges as a comic figure among Greeks who regarded his gluttonous antics as human foibles. From the earliest days of Greek drama Herakles is ridiculed for his brutish way of eating his food, his preference for a good meal versus a good woman and, in Aristophanes's The Bird, even his reluctance to leave a barbecue in order to help save his own father. In an earlier play, The Frogs, Aristophanes had also portrayed Herakles as a god led around by his nose at the thought of food, describing how in a trip to the underworld he had gobbled up sixteen loaves of bread, 20 portions of beef stew, a mess of fish and a newly made goat's cheese—baskets included—then, bellowing and drawing his sword, skipped out on the bill. Though sometimes depicted in terracotta figurines from the 5th and 4th centuries BC as pot-bellied, overwhelmingly Herakles was sculpted in marble and bronze by both Greek and Romans as a male figure of daunting musculature with what today are called 'killer abs.' Alexander the Great on his Sickbed, 1806. Creator: CW Eckersberg. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage ... More Images via Getty Images) Alexander the Great was a mere mortal and a big drinker who on 'on such a day, and sometimes two days together, slept after a debauch.' ALexander's soldiers, named Promachus. won the prize after knocking down four gallons of wine (unmixed with water). But not everyone, especially the local people, was used to drinking so much wine, resulting in 41 deaths from alcohol poisoning. Never defeated in battle, Alexander's demise came at the age of thirty in 323 BC, in Babylon. The earliest reports say that after nights of excessive drinking, the young king fell ill with fever and died two weeks later. Others contend he was poisoned by his viceroy Antipater, while more modern conjectures propose the weary conqueror had picked up typhoid fever or meningitis or was done in by his over-use of the medicine hellebore, then prescribed as a purgative as well as for gout and signs of insanity.
GMA Network
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Nikko Natividad, Zeus Collins look back on humble beginnings before entering showbiz
Before breaking into showbiz, Nikko Natividad and Zeus Collins navigated challenging paths, each driven by unique circumstances and a determination to rise above their humble beginnings. On Friday's 'Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,' Nikko and Zeus took a trip down memory lane and shared how they juggled jobs to make a living. 'Marami akong napagdaan na work,' Nikko said. Among the past jobs the model and actor took on were serving as a waiter and wedding coordinator, as well as cleaning jeepneys and even working at a salon. 'Plantsa, blower, ayon. Kasi assistant eh. Muntik akong turuan mag-gupit talaga, kaso nga nakapag-abroad. Hindi ko naman gugustuhing matuto. Ang habol ko lang, Tito Boy, ay trabaho. Kita. Siyempre, dahil doon, kailangan mong matuto,' he said. His pursuit of better opportunities led him to work abroad in the United Arab Emirates as a florist, admitting that he had no actual knowledge of flower arrangement but claimed he did to secure the job. 'Sinabi ko marunong ako kahit hindi. Kasi ang mindset ko dati, basta pag nakapag-abroad, gaganda buhay. 'Di ba laging ganyan noon?' he said. Meanwhile, Zeus' story is deeply rooted in his lifelong passion for dance. 'Tinuruan po kasi ako ng nanay ko, anim na taon pa lang ako. 'Yun, nilalaban niya na ako sa fiesta, sa mga bara-barangay, kung saan-saan na ako nakakarating. Taong kalye talaga ako. As in, sa street talaga ako natutong sumayaw. 'Yung mga kasama ko sa Pasay,' said the professional dancer. He recalled his father often got angry because he would stay out late dancing. 'Sa sobrang hirap ng buhay namin noon, sa Pasay, 15, nagtrabaho na ako. Tumigil ako ng pag-aaral para makatulong na ako sa magulang ko. 'Yun, dire-diretso na po. Wala na po akong alam na ibang trabaho,' Zeus said. He also had offers to become a macho dancer in a gay bar. 'Siyempre siguro dahil matangkad ako or kahit papaano, may katawan ako nang konti. Na-offer na po sa 'kin yan,' Zeus said. However, Zeus declined even if it meant that he would earn more. 'Hindi ko naman po inaano 'yung gumagawa ng mga gano'n. Ako naman, parang sabi ko, sarili ko, hala, hindi ko kaya 'yan. Kasi, siyempre may mga ibang skills 'yan eh. Kasi bata pa ako noon eh. Gano'n pa 'yung isip ko,' he said. Instead, he chose to rely on his talent for breakdancing and hip-hop. His ambition was to participate in competitions or, if fortunate, become a backup dancer for celebrities. Zeus is currently part of 'Stars on the Floor,' which is hosted by Alden Richards. It airs Saturdays on GMA Network at 7:15 p.m. —Carby Rose Basina/CDC, GMA Integrated News
New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Katherine Marsh's Favorite Greek Mythology Books for Young Readers
Growing up, I thought my family was weird. But my hippie parents and their nasty 'Kramer vs. Kramer'-era divorce were nothing compared with Olympian family dysfunction. When Zeus fears a new baby will usurp him, he tricks his pregnant wife Metis into turning herself into a fly, then swallows her. Problem solved … until he gets the world's worst migraine and gives birth to his full-grown daughter Athena, goddess of wisdom, from his head. Greek mythology is filled with adults behaving badly. When I was a child, these petty, manipulative deities made much more emotional sense to me than some remote Judeo-Christian god. Same for my own children: When my now teenage son was 4, he memorably declared, 'Our god is Zeus.' Another aspect of the tales that appeals to young readers is their disregard for logic. (How did Athena fit in Zeus' head? She just did.) And they're deliciously subversive. Long before all the fuss over 'pregnant people,' the king of the gods himself gave birth, by Zeusarian section! Greek myths are having a moment — one that has lasted 2,700 years. Their rich and varied sources make them endlessly adaptable and relatable. Which means there's a book out there that tells, or retells, these strange and wonderful stories for virtually every age group. Here are some of my favorites. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths I still don't know what made me fall so hard as a child for this collection. Was it my trippy association of the d'Aulaires' drawing of the sea monster Cetus (with her large, howling mouth) with Robert Crumb's cover art for Janis Joplin's 'Cheap Thrills'? Or was it the Henri Rousseau-inflected oversize blooms and stalks of wheat in the image of Demeter's joyous reunion with her daughter Persephone? Regardless, the book is my first-line recommendation for even very young children for its age-appropriate abridgment and future madeleine de Proust illustrations. (Ages 6 and up) Beasts of Olympus Ready to apply some of that basic knowledge to a playful series for early readers? The Beasts of Olympus books by the British Coats tell the story of 11-year-old Pandemonius (a.k.a. Demon), the demigod son of Pan, who is given the job of taking care of the Olympians' magical and monstrous creatures. Like Dr. Doolittle, Demon can speak to the animals, but that doesn't make it easier to deal with the toll inflicted on them by Heracles performing his labors. (Ages 7 to 9) Greeking Out If you are the parent of an elementary schooler obsessed with Greek myths, you probably already know 'Greeking Out,' a hugely popular podcast hosted by the children's radio veteran Curtis and his daughter, Hughes. (If you don't, consider it your next road trip go-to.) The podcast has spawned a series of books that take an equally deep dive into the stories — in the same antic, kid-friendly style. I'm particularly fond of the Oracle of Wi-Fi, who pops onto the page to give extra context: Did you know that 'meter' is the ancient Greek word for 'mother'? (Ages 8 to 12) Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths Speaking of meter, in the Homeric age Greek myths were recited or sung as metric poetry. The picture book 'Echo Echo' presents two interpretations of each tale using the reverso form. This free verse style, in which a poem is read top to bottom and then bottom to top, invites readers of any age to wrestle with the questions myths raise. In 'Pandora and the Box,' for instance, are humans 'weak' for succumbing to curiosity or (if we start with Singer's last lines) noble for 'holding on to hope'? (Ages 6 and up) She Speaks Much has been made of the recent trend of Greek myth retellings that amplify girls' and women's voices. It has bugged me, ever since I was a child, that Ariadne saved Theseus' life with her thread positioning system (TPS?) but he got all the glory for killing the Minotaur. For young readers who share my irritation, the classicist Cargill-Martin's illustrated compendium gives famous — and infamous — female characters the chance to take credit as heroines, warriors and iconoclasts. Behold how Ariadne leans into her own performance review: 'A monster has been defeated, and 14 innocent lives have been saved — because of me.' (Ages 8 to 12) Olympians Greek myths are adaptable not only to changing sensibilities, but also to changing mediums. In the graphic novel realm, the generation weaned on the Marvel Universe will find much to love in O'Connor's 12-book series. He faithfully depicts the origin stories and exploits of the major gods and goddesses, but in the style and language of classic superhero comics. Like any mother of a teenage daughter with a newly acquired goth boyfriend, Demeter rages to Persephone, 'If that gloomy creep thinks he'll ever see you again, he's got another think coming!' (Ages 10 and up) The Iliad and The Odyssey For those who prefer a less hard-boiled treatment, the adaptations by Hinds of the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' are terrific graphic introductions to Homer's foundational epics of war and homecoming. Hinds hews to the ancient story lines while using accessible but not overly modern or simplified language. Odysseus's men 'cast lots' and he battles the 'pack of arrogant suitors.' Hinds's illustrations, meanwhile, transmit the original tone: Wordless panels of Odysseus adrift after Poseidon crushes his raft bring the terrifying power of the 'wine-dark' sea to life. (Ages 12 and up) Amber & Clay Adaptations and retellings abound, but rare is the writer who spins Greek-myth yarns into a completely new tale. Enter the Newbery medalist Schlitz with 'Amber & Clay,' her sweeping meditation on life, death and Socratic philosophy. The story centers on Rhaskos, an enslaved boy, and Melisto, a wealthy, rebellious girl, whose fates intertwine with mortals, gods and each other in ancient Greece. Schlitz captures the pathos of the human condition for middle grade and young adult readers. With its pitch-perfect classical tone, her tapestry of poetry and prose is as artful and dazzling as anything Athena herself might weave. (Ages 10 and up)
