Greyhound

"The Greyhound is a very old European breed, a sighthound which has been historically bred for coursing game and latterly racing. Since the rise in large scale rescue of retired racing Greyhounds, particularly in North America from the end of the 20th century, it has seen a resurgence in popularity as a family pet."

"When in a portrait of a married couple, a dog placed in a woman's lap or at her feet can represent marital fidelity. When the portrait is of a widow, a dog can represent her continuing faithfulness to the memory of her late husband. An example of a dog representing marital fidelity is present in Jan van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait."

"It is a gentle and intelligent breed whose combination of long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine, and slim build allows it to reach average race speeds in excess of 18 metres per second (59 feet per second, or 63 kilometres per hour (39 mph)). At maximum acceleration, a greyhound reaches a full speed of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) within 30 metres or six strides from the boxes, traveling at almost 20 metres per second for the first 250 metres of a race. The only other animal that can accelerate faster over a short distance is the cheetah, which can reach speeds of 109 kilometres per hour (68 mph) over 3-4 strides from a standing start.^"

"The key to the speed of a Greyhound can be found in its light but muscular build, large heart, and highest percentage of fast-twitch muscle of any breed,the double suspension gallop and the extreme flexibility of the spine. "Double suspension rotary gallop" describes the fastest running gait of the Greyhound in which all four feet are free from the ground in two phases, contracted and extended, during each full stride.^"

"Fidelity when personified in Westen art stands for the secular aspect of Faith, or the trust that exists between a master and servant, or in family relationships. Fidelity is often represented as a woman, shown holding a golden seal and a key, but may also be represented by a dog. Fidelity may be shown alone, or may be accompanied by a dog, a symbol of not only faithfulness but also fidelity. In the Renaissance, Penelope or Griselda might also stand for fidelity. Fidelity is not in the usual lists of the seven virtues, though it may sometimes be included in such groupings. The plant myrtle (Myrtus) has been associated with fidelity, and hence used in weddings, from Roman times to the present, and wreathed crowns of myrtle may be found in art."





                           

                                                 Dimensions height 18 cm

                                                                    width  20 cm

                                                                    depth  3 cm

"A dog, when included in an allegorical painting, portrays the attribute of fidelity personified. The deep origins of this can also be recognized in the generic name Fido given to dogs, which originated from the Latin word fidus, meaning "trust." The story of the faithful dog of Titus Labienus, that would not quit his master's corpse, recorded in Pliny's Natural History book viii, was briefly recounted in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593, etc.) in the explanation of the emblem of Fedeltà represented as a woman holding a ring and accompanied by a white dog.^"

                                           

"Greyhound owners and adoption groups consider Greyhounds to be wonderful pets.

Greyhounds are quiet, gentle, and loyal to owners. They are very loving creatures, and they enjoy the company of their humans and other dogs. Whether a Greyhound enjoys the company of other small animals or cats depends on the individual dog's personality."

                                        

Margaret Gorman with her pet Greyhound, "Long Goodie", in April 1925

                                      

Greyhounds have a distinctive and striking appearance.

                                     

"Gray-Hound" in a 1658 English woodcut

Fascinus

"In ancient Roman religion and magic, the fascinus or fascinum was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to the deity himself (Fascinus), to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection.^[1] Pliny calls it a medicus invidiae, a "doctor" or remedy for envy (invidia, a "looking upon") or the evil eye."

"The Vestal Virgins tended the cult of the fascinus populi Romani, the sacred image of the phallus that was one of the tokens of the safety of the state (sacra Romana). It was thus associated with the Palladium.^[2] Roman myths, such as the begetting of Servius Tullius, suggest that this phallus was an embodiment of a masculine generative power located within the hearth, regarded as sacred.^[3] When a general celebrated a triumph, the Vestals hung an effigy of the fascinus on the underside of his chariot to protect him from invidia.^[4]"

"Augustine, whose primary source on Roman religion was the lost theological works of Varro, notes that a phallic image was carried in procession annually at the festival of Father Liber, the Roman god identified with Dionysus or Bacchus, for the purpose of protecting the fields from fascinatio, magic compulsion:^[5]

“

Varro says that certain rites of Liber were celebrated in Italy which were of such unrestrained wickedness that the shameful parts of the male were worshipped at crossroads in his honour. … For, during the days of the festival of Liber, this obscene member, placed on a little trolley, was first exhibited with great honour at the crossroads in the countryside, and then conveyed into the city itself. … In this way, it seems, the god Liber was to be propitiated, in order to secure the growth of seeds and to repel enchantment (fascinatio) from the fields.[6]

”

As a divinized phallus, Fascinus shared attributes with Mutunus Tutunus, whose shrine was supposed to date from the founding of the city, and the imported Greek god Priapus.^[7]"

                                                  Dimensions height 29 cm

                                                                    width  13 cm

                                                                    depth  4 cm

  "A graphic representation of the power of the fascinus to ward off the evil eye is found on a Roman mosaic that depicts a phallus ejaculating into a disembodied eye.^[8] The motif is also known from multiple relief sculptures from Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.^[9] A 1st-century BC terracotta figurine shows "two little phallus-men sawing an eyeball in half."^[10]

Phallic charms, often winged, were ubiquitous in Roman culture, from jewelry to bells and wind chimes to lamps.^[11] Thefascinus was thought particularly to ward off evil from children, mainly boys, and from conquering generals. Pliny notes the custom of hanging a phallic charm on a baby's neck, and examples have been found of phallus-bearing rings too small to be worn except by children.^[12]

The "fist and phallus" amulet was prevalent amongst soldiers. These are phallic pendants with a representation of a (usually) clenched fist at the bottom of the shaft, facing away from the glans. Several examples show the fist making the manus fica or "fig sign", a symbol of good luck.^[13]The largest known collection comes from Camulodunum.^[14]

"The English word "fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin fascinum and the related verb fascinare, "to use the power of the fascinus," that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch." Catullus uses the verb at the end of Carmen 7, a hendecasyllabic poem addressing his lover Lesbia; he expresses his infinite desire for kisses that cannot be counted by voyeurs nor "fascinated" (put under a spell) by a malicious tongue; such bliss, as also in Carmen 5, potentially attracts invidia.^[15]

Fescennine verses, the satiric and often lewd songs or chants performed on various social occasions, may have been so-named from the fascinum; ancient sources propose this etymology along with an alternative origin from Fescennia, a small town in Etruria.^[16]"

Gallo-Roman examples of the fascinum in bronze







Bas-relief of a legged phallus ejaculating into an evil eye on which a scorpion sits, from Leptis Magna

Satyr

"In Greek mythology, a satyr  is one of a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus with goat-like (caprine) features, including a goat-tail, goat-like ears, and sometimes a goat-like phallus. By contrast, in Roman Mythology there is a similar concept with goat-like features, the faun being half-man, half-goat. Greek-speaking Romans often use the Greek term saturos when referring to the Latin faunus, and eventually syncretize the two."

"About Satyrs, Praxiteles gives a new interpretation on the subject of free and carefree life. Instead of an elf with pointed ears and repulsive goat hooves, we face a child of nature, pure, but tame and fearless and brutal instincts necessary to enable it to defend itself against threats, and survives even without the help of modern civilization . Above all though, the Satyr with flute has a small companion for him, shows the deep connection with nature, the soft whistle of the wind, the sound of gurgling water of the crystal spring, the birds singing, or perhaps the singing a melody of a human soul that feeds higher feelings. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam to the music of pipes (auloi), cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, and they love to dance with the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), and have a special form of dance called sikinnis. Because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups."





                           

                           

"Satyrs acquired their goat-like aspect through later Roman conflation with Faunus, a carefree Italic nature spirit of similar characteristics and identified with the Greek god Pan." 

This transformation or humanization of the Satyr appears throughout late Greek art. 

                      Dimensions height 22 cm

                                        width 10 cm

                                        depth 27 cm

"The satyrs' chief was Silenus, a minor deity associated (like Hermes and Priapus) with fertility. These characters can be found in the only complete remaining satyr play, Cyclops, by Euripides, and the fragments of Sophocles' Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs). The satyr play was a short, lighthearted tailpiece performed after each trilogy of tragedies in Athenian festivals honoring Dionysus. There is not enough evidence to determine whether the satyr play regularly drew on the same myths as those dramatized in the tragedies that preceded. The groundbreaking tragic playwright Aeschylus is said to have been especially loved for his satyr plays, but none of them have survived."


                 






Satyr with pipes and a pipe case hanging on his penis. Tondo of an Attic red-figure plate, 520–500 BC. From Vulci.

Cobra / Uraeus

"The Uraeus (...) plural Uraei or Uraeuses; from the Greek οὐραῖος, ouraīos, "on its tail"; from Egyptian jʿr.t (iaret), "rearing cobra") is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra (asp, serpent, or snake), used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity, and divine authority in ancient Egypt.The pharaoh was recognized only by wearing the Uraeus, which conveyed legitimacy to the ruler. There is evidence for this tradition even in the Old Kingdom during the third millennium BCE. Several goddesses associated with or being considered aspects of Wadjet are depicted wearing the Uraeus also."

"The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet, who was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and who often was depicted as a cobra. The center of her cult was in Per-Wadjet, later called Buto by the Greeks.^[2] She became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt. The pharaohs wore the Uraeus as a head ornament: either with the body of Wadjet atop the head, or as a crown encircling the head; this indicated Wadjet's protection and reinforced the pharaoh's claim over the land. In whatever manner that the Uraeus was displayed upon the pharaoh's head, it was, in effect, part of the pharaoh's crown."


"Pharaohs were seen as a manifestation of the sun god Ra, and so it also was believed that the Uraeus protected them by spitting fire on their enemies from the fiery eye of the goddess."

                                             

"Wadjet (/ˈwɑːdˌdʒɛt/ or /ˈwædˌdʒɛt/; Egyptian wꜣḏyt, "green one"), known to the Greek world as Uto /ˈjuːtoʊ/ or Buto /ˈbjuːtoʊ/ among other names, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep (Buto),which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of Wadjet, and the Greeks called Buto (Desouk now), a city that was an important site in the Predynastic era of Ancient Egypt and the cultural developments of the Paleolithic. She was said to be the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the joint protector and patron of all of Egypt with the "goddess" of Upper Egypt. The image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus, and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protector of kings and of women in childbirth.

As the patron goddess, she was associated with the land and depicted as a snake-headed woman or a snake—usually an Egyptian cobra, a venomous snake common to the region; sometimes she was depicted as a woman with two snake heads and, at other times, a snake with a woman's head. Her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet that was dedicated to her worship and gave the city its name. This oracle may have been the source for the oracular tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt."

"Eventually, Wadjet was claimed as the patron goddess and protector of the whole of Lower Egypt and became associated with Nekhbet, depicted as a white vulture, who held unified Egypt. After the unification the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the crown, thereafter shown as part of the uraeus.

The ancient Egyptian word Wedjat signifies blue and green. It is also the name for the well known Eye of the Moon. Indeed, in later times, she was often depicted simply as a woman with a snake's head, or as a woman wearing the uraeus. The uraeus originally had been her body alone, which wrapped around or was coiled upon the head of the pharaoh or another deity

Wadjet was depicted as a cobra. As patron and protector, later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra; in order to act as his protection, this image of her became the uraeus symbol used on the royal crowns as well."

"The Going Forth of Wadjet was celebrated on December 25 with chants and songs. An annual festival held in the city celebrated Wadjet on April 21. Other important dates for special worship of her were June 21, the Summer Solstice, and March 14. She also was assigned the fifth hour of the fifth day of the moon.

Wadjet was closely associated in the Egyptian pantheon with Bast, the fierce goddess depicted as a lioness warrior and protector, as the sun goddess whoseeye later became the eye of Horus, the eye of Ra, and as the Lady of Flame. The hieroglyph for her eye is shown below; sometimes two are shown in the sky of religious images. Per-Wadjet also contained a sanctuary of Horus, the child of the sun deity who would be interpreted to represent the pharaoh. Much later, Wadjet became associated with Isis as well as with many other deities."

"The name Wadjet is derived from the term for the symbol of her domain, Lower Egypt, the papyrus.

Her name means "papyrus-colored one", as wadj is the ancient Egyptian word for the color green (in reference to the color of the papyrus plant) and the et is an indication of her gender. Its hieroglyphs differ from those of the Green Crown (Red Crown) of Lower Egypt only by the determinative, which in the case of the crown was a picture of the Green Crown and, in the case of the goddess, a rearing cobra."

                   

                                                  Dimensions height 40 cm

                                                                    width  20 cm

                                                                    depth  4 cm

                                               



and the ancient one...









Mask of Tutankhamun's mummy featuring a uraeus, from the eighteenth dynasty. The cobraimage of Wadjet with the vultureimage of Nekhbet representing of the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt












Two images of Wadjet appear on this carved wall in the Hatshepsut Temple at Luxor







The Imhotep Museum, Saqqara: perfect sculptures!

                                          SAQQARA