Alluded to by Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Criticism, in Greek mythology it was believed that drinking from what body of water would bring you great inspiration?
"on Criticism"" was famously and fiercely attacked by John Dennis, who is mentioned mockingly in the work. Consequently, Dennis also appears in Pope's later satire, ""The Dunciad"". Part II of ""An Essay on Criticism"" includes a famous couplet: This is in reference to the spring in the Pierian Mountains in Macedonia, sacred to the Muses. The first line of this couplet is often misquoted as ""a little ""knowledge"" is a dangerous thing"". The ""Essay"" also gives this famous line (towards the end of Part II): The phrase ""fools rush in where angels fear to tread"" from Part III has become"
"Pierian Spring In Greek mythology, the Pierian Spring of Macedonia was sacred to the Muses. As the metaphorical source of knowledge of art and science, it was popularized by a couplet in Alexander Pope's poem ""An Essay on Criticism"" (1711): ""A little learning is a dang'rous thing; / Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."" The Pierian spring is sometimes confused with the Castalian Spring. The sacred spring was said to be near ancient Leivithra in Pieria, a region of ancient Macedonia, also the location of Mount Olympus, and believed to be the home and the seat of worship"
"sing to you of wonders, I pray that it be granted to me to drink again at the fountain of Helicon. Hippocrene In Greek mythology, Hippocrene () was a spring on Mt. Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and formed by the hooves of Pegasus. Its name literally translates as ""Horse's Fountain"" and the water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed. Hesiod refers to the horse's well on Helicon in his ""Theogony"". And after they have washed their tender skin in Permessus or Hippocrene or holy Olmeidus, they perform choral dances on highest Helicon, beautiful, lovely"
"gods in the context of ancient theories about the relation of body and mind, with dryness a quality of rationality and liquid productive of emotion. Water as a locus of divine, even frenzied inspiration links the Lymphae to the Latin Camenae, who became identified with the Muses. In his entry on ""Lymphae"", the lexicographer Festus notes that the Greek word ""nympha"" had influenced the Latin name, and elaborates: Popular belief has it that whoever see a certain vision in a fountain, that is, an apparition of a nymph, will go quite mad. These people the Greeks call ""numpholêptoi"" [""Nymph-possessed""] and"
"young men; Zeus then stole him from Eos and employed him as cup-bearer. Yet another figure associated with the water bearer is Cecrops I, a king of Athens who sacrificed water instead of wine to the gods. In the first century, Ptolemy's ""Almagest"" established the common Western depiction of Aquarius. His water jar, an asterism itself, consists of Gamma, Pi, Eta, and Zeta Aquarii; it pours water in a stream of more than 20 stars terminating with Fomalhaut, now assigned solely to Piscis Austrinus. The water bearer's head is represented by 5th magnitude 25 Aquarii while his left shoulder is"
"Methe. Methe In Greek mythology, Methe was the spirit and personification of drunkenness. She entered the retinue of Dionysus and was mentioned in association with the god or other companions of his. The ""Anacreontea"" thus describes the mythological connections of Methe: """"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bacchus . . . thanks to him Methe"" (Drunkenness) ""was brought forth,"" ""the Charis"" (Grace) ""was born, Lype"" (Pain) ""takes rest and Ania"" (Trouble) ""goes to sleep."""" Pausanias mentions a painting of Methe drinking wine in the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus, and another one of her offering wine"
"Pythia's inspiration. However, most commonly, these refer to an observation made by Plutarch, who presided as high priest at Delphi for several years, who stated that her oracular powers appeared to be associated with vapors from the Kerna spring waters that flowed under the temple. It has often been suggested that these vapors may have been hallucinogenic gases. Recent geological investigations have shown that gas emissions from a geologic chasm in the earth could have inspired the Delphic Oracle to ""connect with the divine."" Some researchers suggest the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythia's state of inspiration. Traces of"
"Methe In Greek mythology, Methe was the spirit and personification of drunkenness. She entered the retinue of Dionysus and was mentioned in association with the god or other companions of his. The ""Anacreontea"" thus describes the mythological connections of Methe: """"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bacchus . . . thanks to him Methe"" (Drunkenness) ""was brought forth,"" ""the Charis"" (Grace) ""was born, Lype"" (Pain) ""takes rest and Ania"" (Trouble) ""goes to sleep."""" Pausanias mentions a painting of Methe drinking wine in the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus, and another one of her offering wine to"
"Artistic inspiration Inspiration (from the Latin ""inspirare"", meaning ""to breathe into"") is an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. The concept has origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration or ""enthusiasm"" came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and Dionysus. Similarly, in the Ancient Norse religions, inspiration derives from the gods, such as Odin. Inspiration is also a divine matter in Hebrew poetics. In the ""Book of Amos"" the prophet speaks of being overwhelmed by God's voice and compelled to speak. In Christianity, inspiration is a gift"
"Hippocrene In Greek mythology, Hippocrene () was a spring on Mt. Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and formed by the hooves of Pegasus. Its name literally translates as ""Horse's Fountain"" and the water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed. Hesiod refers to the horse's well on Helicon in his ""Theogony"". And after they have washed their tender skin in Permessus or Hippocrene or holy Olmeidus, they perform choral dances on highest Helicon, beautiful, lovely ones, and move nimbly with their feet. John Keats refers to Hippocrene in his poem ""Ode to a Nightingale"". O for"
"Lympha The Lympha (plural ""Lymphae"") is an ancient Roman deity of fresh water. She is one of twelve agricultural deities listed by Varro as ""leaders"" (""duces"") of Roman farmers, because ""without water all agriculture is dry and poor."" The Lymphae are often connected to Fons, meaning ""Source"" or ""Font,"" a god of fountains and wellheads. Lympha represents a ""functional focus"" of fresh water, according to Michael Lipka's conceptual approach to Roman deity, or more generally moisture. Vitruvius preserves some of her associations in the section of his work ""On Architecture"" in which he describes how the design of a temple"
"would invoke the aid of Euterpe to inspire, guide and assist them in their compositions. This would often take the form of a prayer for divine inspiration from the minor goddess. The mountain spring on Mount Parnassus was sacred to Euterpe and the other Muses. It flowed between two high rocks above the city of Delphi, and in ancient times its sacred waters were introduced into a square stone basin, where they were retained for the use of the Pythia, the priests, priestesses, as well as the oracle of Apollo. Some people believe that she invented the aulos or double-flute,"
"Castalia Castalia (; Ancient Greek: Κασταλία), in Greek mythology, was a nymph whom Apollo transformed into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of Mount Parnassos, or at Mount Helicon. Castalia could inspire the genius of poetry to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; the sacred water was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the Muses (""Castaliae Musae""). The 20th century German writer Hermann Hesse used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943 magnum opus, ""The Glass Bead Game"". Castalia is home to"
"taught that they would receive a choice of rivers to drink from after death, and to drink from Mnemosyne instead of Lethe. These two rivers are attested in several verse inscriptions on gold plates dating to the 4th century BC and onward, found at Thurii in Southern Italy and elsewhere throughout the Greek world. There were rivers of Lethe and Mnemosyne at the oracular shrine of Trophonius in Boeotia, from which worshippers would drink before making oracular consultations with the god. More recently, Martin Heidegger used ""lēthē"" to symbolize the ""concealment of Being"" or ""forgetting of Being"" that he saw"
"fertility and ends hunger and drought, and was probably thought to be embodied by the birth of Harpocrates, who in art is depicted emerging from mud and bearing a cornucopia. Participants in the Pelusia were sprinkled with water in order to obtain rebirth ""(regeneratio)"" and immunity from offenses to the gods ""(impunitas periurorum)"". The sprinkling is thought to mimic the symbolic effect of the flooding, and water from the Nile itself may have been used as a form of ""holy water"" as it was in other ceremonies of Isis brought to Rome. In Christian discourse of the time, ""regeneratio"" was"
"of Orpheus. The Muses ""were said to have frolicked about the Pierian springs soon after their birth"". The spring is believed to be a fountain of knowledge that inspires whoever drinks from it. The name of the spring comes from the Pierides, the gaggle of girls (daughters of King Pierus) who sought a contest with the Muses. When they lost, they were turned into magpies. Ovid tells this tale after explaining the origin of the Heliconian spring in ""Metamorphoses""V. The metamorphoses into magpies comes at the end of the book: The greatest of our number ended thus her learned songs;"
"water into wine. In addition, the sacrament of the Eucharist prominently involved wine. The Romans drew some parallels between Bacchus and Christ. Both figures possessed narratives strongly featuring the symbolism of life after death: Bacchus in the yearly harvest and dormancy of the grape; and Christ in the death and resurrection story. Eucharist's act of drinking wine as a stand-in for consuming Christ, either metaphysically or metaphorically, echoes the rites performed in festivals dedicated to Bacchus. The influence and importance of wine in Christianity was undeniable, and soon the Church itself would take the mantle from ancient Rome as the"
"describe water as robust, heavy or light, dry, acidic, pungent, wine-like, etc. One of the comic poet Antiphanes's characters claimed that he could recognize Attic water by taste alone. Athenaeus states that a number of philosophers had a reputation for drinking nothing but water, a habit combined with a vegetarian diet (cf. below). Milk, usually goats' milk, was not widely consumed, being considered barbaric. The usual drinking vessel was the skyphos, made out of wood, terra cotta, or metal. Critias also mentions the ""kothon"", a Spartan goblet which had the military advantage of hiding the colour of the water from"
"""the mystical water"" (of baptism), and bread, ""the mystical table"" (of the Eucharist). It is this hyper-allegorical and glossarial method which constitutes the peculiar characteristic of his exegesis, and proves a valuable help to the literary critic in distinguishing authentic Hesychiana from the unauthentic. The anti-Semitic tone of many scholia may find an explanation in local conditions; likewise geographical and topographical allusions to the holy places of Palestine would be expected of an exegete living at Jerusalem. The importance of Hesychius for textual criticism lies in the fact that many of his paraphrases echo the wording of his exemplar, and"
"they became so closely identified embody the urge to procreate, and thus these kinds of water deities are also associated with marriage and childbirth. When Propertius alludes to the story of how Tiresias spied the virgin goddess Pallas Athena bathing, he plays on the sexual properties of ""lympha"" in advising against theophanies obtained against the will of the gods: ""May the gods grant you other fountains ""(fontes)"": this liquid ""(lympha)"" flows for girls only, this pathless trickle of a secret threshold."" The Augustan poets frequently play with the ambiguous dual meaning of ""lympha"" as both ""water source"" and ""nymph"". In"
"Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyril of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Salamis as grounds for saying that the Spirit ""proceeds substantially from both"" the Father and the Son. Other texts that have been used include , , , where the Holy Spirit is called ""the Spirit of the Son"", ""the Spirit of Christ"", ""the Spirit of Jesus Christ"", and texts in the Gospel of John on the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus (, , ). (possibly written by John, who identifies the Water of Life as the Holy Spirit in ) states that the river of the Water of Life"
"that proceeds from it. The Latin is paraphrased in English as the final lines of the canto. Following a reference to signatures in nature and Yggdrasil, the poet introduces Baucis and Philemon, an aged couple who, in a story from Ovid's ""Metamorphoses"", offer hospitality to the gods in their humble house and are rewarded. In this context, they may be intended to represent the poet and his wife. This canto then moves to the fountain of Castalia on Parnassus. This fountain was sacred to the Muses and its water was said to inspire poetry in those who drank it. The"
"the poetry of Horace, ""lymphae"" work, dance, and make noise; they are talkative, and when they're angry they cause drought until their rites are observed. Some textual editors have responded to this personification by emending manuscript readings of ""lymphae"" to ""nymphae"". When the first letter of a form of ""-ympha"" is obliterated or indistinct in an inscription, the word is usually taken as ""nympha"" instead of the less common ""lympha"". In the religions of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Celtic territories, water goddesses are commonly sources of inspiration or divine revelation, which may have the appearance of madness or frenzy."
"Ambrosia In the ancient Greek myths, ambrosia (, ) is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods, often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves. ""Ambrosia"" is sometimes depicted in ancient art as distributed by a nymph labeled with that name. In the myth of Lycurgus, an opponent to the wine god Dionysus, violence committed against Ambrosia turns her into a grapevine. Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, ""nectar"". The two terms may not have originally been distinguished; though"
"any more. A second event which might have inspired it was the opening of the Baths of Antonius in Carthage in 162. These facilities on the same scale as the Imperial baths in Rome demanded a steady supply of water, which could not be fulfilled with rain water. The aqueduct draws on several sources which ran dry at different times. The first and most important source is located near the town of Zaghouan in the Djebel Zaghouan, a mountain range about 60 km south of Carthage. In Roman times a sacred fountain structure was built over the spring, which became"
"two big rocks above Delphi, then down into a large square basin. The water was used by the Pythia, who were priests and priestesses, for oracular purposes including divination. Polyhymnia Polyhymnia (; ; ""the one of many hymns""), also spelt Polymnia (Πολύμνια) was in Greek mythology the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance, and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime. Her name comes from the Greek words ""poly"" meaning ""many"" and ""hymnos"", which means ""praise"". She is depicted as very serious, pensive and meditative, and often holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and"
"erotic poetry), Thalia (muse of comedy), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), and Urania (muse of astronomy). Sometimes they are referred to as water nymphs having been born from the four sacred springs on Helicon which flowed from the ground after Pegasus, the winged horse, stamped his hooves on the ground. Along with her sister Muses, Euterpe was believed to have lived on Mt. Olympus where she and her sisters entertained their father and the other Olympian gods with their great artistry. Later on, tradition also placed them on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia where there was a major cult center to the"
"indeed fed exclusively by the Aqua Virgo with water that was mentioned to have been quite cold. In fact, Frontinus mentions that the waters were given to the ""Euripus"" by the Aqueduct which gave it its name, ""Euripus Virginis"", essentially meaning the canal of the Aqua Virgo. Seneca also stated that he enjoyed bringing in the new year with a good-luck plunge into the Virgo, which he did in the ""Euripus"". Thus, as Lloyd has suggested, the ""Euripus"" could have served as a cold plunge-pool for the Baths of Agrippa. The large size of the ""Euripus"" could also imply that"
"applied to spiritual things makes of a man a god. It is the Waters of Great Jordan flowing downwards (the generation of men) and upwards (the generation of gods); the Akāsha-gangā or Heavenly Ganges of the Purāṇas, the Heavenly Nile of mystic Egypt. The Garden of Eden, in the Naassene system, is the brain, and Paradise the human head, with the four rivers having special significance: Naassenes The Naassenes (Greek ""Naasseni,"" possibly from Hebrew נָחָשׁ ""naḥash"", snake) were a Christian Gnostic sect known only through the writings of Hippolytus of Rome. The Naassenes claimed to have been taught their doctrines"
"and she was worshipped on the coasts of Asia Minor. The inspiration oracular cult was probably introduced into Greece from Anatolia, which is the origin of Sibyl, and where existed some of the oldest oracular shrines. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old Assyro-Babylonian texts, and these rituals were spread into the empire of the Hittites. In a Hittite text is mentioned that the king invited a Babylonian priestess for a certain ""purification"". A similar story is mentioned by Plutarch. He writes that the Cretan seer Epimenides purified Athens after the pollution brought by the Alcmeonidae, and that the"
"cups of two statues. The English word ""libation"" derives from the Latin ""libatio"", an act of pouring, from the verb ""libare"", ""to taste, sip; pour out, make a libation"" (Indo-European root ""*leib-"", ""pour, make a libation""). In ancient Roman religion, the libation was an act of worship in the form of a liquid offering, most often unmixed wine and perfumed oil. The Roman god ""Liber Pater"" (""Father Liber""), later identified with the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus, was the divinity of ""libamina"", ""libations,"" and ""liba"", sacrificial cakes drizzled with honey. In Roman art, the libation is shown performed at an altar,"
"of resurrection and immortality; though it may be asserted that their liminal quality and propensity to incite awe pre-date Aristotle. In ""Phaedrus"", a dialogue authored by Plato, a sagely Socrates and his student of rhetoric Phaedrus engage in thoughtful repartee in an earthy setting by a lush riverbank in the shade of a tree occupied by a chorus of cicadas. These cicada are not supernumerary; they provide metaphorical richness, a salient musical motif and liminal hierophany to the dialogue of Socrates and Phaedrus. It is in ""Phaedrus"" that Socrates states that some of life's greatest blessings flow from mania specifically"
"as a symbol for their respective saviors. In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the ""water of life"" and a votive altar to Mithras from Poetovio proclaims him as the ""fons perennis"" (""the ever-flowing stream""). In the center of every Mithraeum was a ""tauroctony"", a painting or sculpture showing Mithras as a young man, usually wearing a cape and Phrygian cap, plunging a knife into the neck or shoulder of a bull as he turns its head towards him, simultaneously turning his own head away. A dog laps up the blood pouring from the bull's wound, from which"