"One of these Planetoi (Planets) is horned Selene (the Moon) whitening the sky; when she has completed all her circuit, she brings forth with her wise fire the month, being at first half seen, then curved, then full moon with her whole face."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.244
🏛️ Roman #mosaic, 4th century CE, Basílica de San Pedro del Vaticano
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
"The shrine of Jupiter [#Zeus] of #Olympia, which owing the celebrity of its Games has taken possession of the calendar of Greece."
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4.14
🏛️ Zeus-Jupiter as Planet #Jupiter in the #Mosaic of the Plantearium, ancient roman city of Itálica, Santiponce, Seville, Spain
"But the god changed into a dreadful lion there on the ship and roared loudly: And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded about the helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt overboard into the bright sea."
Homeric Hymn 7
🏛 #Dionysos, Silenos & pirates, #mosaic, 2nd century CE, Bardo National Museum
"In the Erythraian Sea, the daughters of Nereus cherished #Dionysos at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves [...] So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in #Thetis' bosom."
🏛 Epiphany of Dionysos #mosaic from the Villa of Dionysos, 2nd century CE, Archeological Museum of Dion, Greece
"‘So I [#Selene] am not the only one to go astray for love, I that burn for beautiful #Endymion and seek him in the Latmian cave. [...] And now you are as lovesick as myself. The little god of mischief [#Eros] has given you Iason, and many a heartache with him.'"
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.55
🏛️ Selene, Endymion, and Pothos, Roman #mosaic dated ca 3th century CE
"We shall rule that the young man under thirty may take wine in moderation, but that he must entirely abstain from intoxication and heavy drinking. But when a man has reached the age of forty, he may join in the convivial gatherings and invoke #Dionysos, above all other gods." #Plato, Laws 665b
🏛 Drunken Dionysus #Mosaic from Antiochia, 4th century CE
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"There is also #Hermes bringing to Alexandros [Paris], the son of Priamos, the goddesses of whose beauty he is to judge, the inscription on them being: Here is Hermes, who is showing to Alexandros, that he may arbitrate concerning their beauty, #Hera, #Athena, and #Aphrodite."
Description of Greece 5.19.5
"Demodokos struck his lyre and began a beguiling song about the loves of Ares and Aphrodite, how first they lay together secretly in the dwelling of #Hephaistos. Ares had offered many gifts to the garlanded divinity and covered with shame the marriage bed of Lord Hephaistos."
Homer, #Odyssey 8.267
Have a beautiful Day of Aphrodite aka Venus' Day aka Frigg's Day aka Friday 🌹
"She came to sea-girt Kypros, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Gods and men call her #Aphrodite, and Aphrogeneia (the foam-born) because she grew amid the foam."
Hesiod, Theogony 176
🏛️ Aphrodite #mosaic, ca. 375–400 CE, Sétif Archaeological Museum, #Algeria
📸 Jona Lendering
Helios, the Sun, rises another day, illuminating a #NewYear. #Helios was associated with the turn of the year as he passes through the constellations of the zodiac:
"The golden #Sun [Sol-Helios] rules his circuit, portioned out in fixed divisions, through the world's twelve constellations."
Virgil, Georgics 1.231
Have a beautiful Day of Aphrodite aka Venus' Day aka Frigg's Day aka Friday 🌹
"I will sing of stately #Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set #Cyprus. [...] Hail, sweetly-winning, coy-eyed goddess!"
Homeric Hymn 6 to Aphrodite
🏛️ Aphrodite #mosaic from East Bouleuterion, 2nd century CE, Aphrodisias
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
"A Phrygian, and born of our blood, was he [#Ganymedes] who now is with the gods, and mingles water with the nectar for their drinking."
Ovid, Heroides 16.199, Paris to Helen
"You, #Bacchus [Dionysos], from thyrsus-bearing India, with unshorn locks, perpetually young, you who frightens tigers with your vine-clad spear, and with a turban you bind your horned head." #Seneca, Phaedra 753
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
#Mosaic of #Hermes-Mercurius, easily recognisable by the wings on his head, representing the planet Mercury or the fourth day of the ancient Roman week, diēs Mercuriī (Wednesday).
🏛 #Mercurius as Planet Mercury in The House of the Planetarium, Italica, #Spain
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
#Zeus, disguised as a #satyr, seduces Antiope, daughter of the river god Asopos or of Nykteus, the king of Thebes. Antiope fled in fear of her father and was abducted by the hero Epopeus, eventually giving birth to two sons, Amphion by Zeus and Zethus by Epopeus.
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
Humourous Roman #mosaic of #Ganymedes and #Zeus as a heron with a sponge on a stick, commony used by the Romans to clean the bum after going to the toilet. But if you know that Ganymedes is Zeus' lover, a different reason for sponging his genitals comes to mind 😏
🏛️ Dated 2nd century CE, discovered in Antiochia ad Cragum, Turkey
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
Baby #Dionysos sitting on the lap of his big brother #Hermes is given to the #satyr Tropheus and the nymphs of Nysa. Also in the scene are Anatrophe (“upbringing”), as well as Ambrosia and Nektar (food and drink of the gods).
Mosaic of #Helios, #Selene and the 12 labours of the months. The Sun and the Moon are in the centre with the 12 labours arranged around them. Each of the labourers is labelled at the feet with the number of days as well as the Latin name of the month in Greek letters.
🏛️ Roman era #mosaic dated 6th century CE, Beit She'an, Israel