"Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ""futility"". The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for ""vanity"", but originally meant ""boasting in vain"", i.e. unjustified boasting; although ""glory"" is now seen as having a predominantly positive meaning, the Latin term from which it derives, ""gloria"", roughly means ""boasting"", and was often used as a negative criticism. In many religions, vanity, in its modern sense, is considered a form of self-idolatry in which one"
"and that the prevalence has remained relatively stable for both genders over the last 30 years (when data on the disorder were first collected). The use of the term ""narcissism"" to describe excessive vanity and self-centeredness predates by many years the modern medical classification of narcissistic personality disorder. The condition was named after Narcissus, a mythological Greek youth who became infatuated with his own reflection in a lake. He did not realize at first that it was his own reflection, but when he did, he died out of grief for having fallen in love with someone that did not exist"
"else should he look? Christ turns to the woman, and asks her, too, why she is living in sin: you have forgiven me my sins, she says in turn. Lastly, Christ comes upon a man weeping by the roadside. When Christ asks why he is weeping, the man replies: I was raised from the dead, so what else should I do but weep? This story is told from the perspective of the reflection pool in which Narcissus gazed at himself. Beginning immediately after Narcissus' death, the prose poem captures the Oreads and the pool grieving for the loss of Narcissus."
"from the Latin word ""vanitas"" meaning ""emptiness"", ""untruthfulness"", ""futility"", ""foolishness"" and ""empty pride"". Here ""empty pride"" means a fake pride, in the sense of vainglory, unjustified by one's own achievements and actions, but sought by pretense and appeals to superficial characteristics. In many religions, vanity is considered a form of self-idolatry, in which one rejects God for the sake of one's own image, and thereby becomes divorced from the graces of God. The stories of Lucifer and Narcissus (who gave us the term narcissism), and others, attend to a pernicious aspect of vanity. In Western art, vanity was often symbolized"
"a reflective pool. There the water nymph Salmacis saw and desired him. He spurned her, and she pretended to withdraw until, thinking himself alone, he undressed to bathe in her waters. She then flung herself upon him, and prayed that they might never be parted. The gods granted this request, and thereafter the body of Hermaphroditus contained both male and female. As a result, men who drank from the waters of the spring Salmacis supposedly ""grew soft with the vice of ""impudicitia"""". The myth of Hylas, the young companion of Hercules who was abducted by water nymphs, shares with Hermaphroditus"
"(""Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."") It refers to the vanity and pride of humans. In art, vanity has long been represented as a woman preoccupied with her beauty. And art that contains a human skull as a focal point is called a memento mori (Latin for ""remember you will die""), a work that reminds people of their mortality. It is less widely known that Gilbert was an early contributor to animation, and a camouflage artist (or camoufleur) for the U.S. Shipping Board during World War I. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Gilbert was the"
"Lethe In Greek mythology, Lethe (Greek: , ""Lḗthē""; , ) was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades. Also known as the ""Ameles potamos"" (river of unmindfulness), the Lethe flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. Lethe was also the name of the Greek spirit of forgetfulness and oblivion, with whom the river was often identified. In Classical Greek, the word lethe (λήθη) literally means ""oblivion"", ""forgetfulness"", or ""concealment"". It is related to the Greek word for ""truth"", ""aletheia"" (ἀλήθεια), which through the privative"
"is benevolent. Vanity hungry is spiteful."" In Western art, vanity was often symbolized by a peacock, and in Biblical terms, by the Whore of Babylon. During the Renaissance, vanity was invariably represented as a naked woman, sometimes seated or reclining on a couch. She attends to her hair with comb and mirror. The mirror is sometimes held by a demon or a putto. Symbols of vanity include jewels, gold coins, a purse, and the figure of death. Some depictions of vanity include scrolls that read ""Omnia Vanitas"" (""All is Vanity""), a quotation from the Latin translation of the Book of"
"memory of sin (""Purg"". XXXI). After being washed in the Lethe, penitents are washed in the Eunoe, a river of Dante's own invention. The Lethe is also mentioned in the ""Inferno"", the first part of the ""Comedy"", as flowing down to Hell from Purgatory to be frozen in the ice around Satan, ""the last lost vestiges of the sins of the saved"" (""Inf."" XXXIV.130). In his first speech in ""Paradise Lost"", Satan describes how ""The associates and copartners of our loss, Lie thus astonished on ""the oblivious pool"""", referencing Lethe. Amongst authors in Antiquity, the tiny Lima river between Norte"
"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"
"Vanitas A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are ""vanitas"" still lifes, a common genre in Netherlandish art of the 16th and 17th centuries; they have also been created at other times and in other media and genres. The Latin noun ""vanitas"" (from the Latin adjective ""vanus"" 'empty') means 'emptiness', 'futility', or 'worthlessness', the traditional Christian view being that earthly goods and pursuits are transient and worthless. It alludes to Ecclesiastes , where"
"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"
"by a peacock, and in Biblical terms, by the Whore of Babylon. During the Renaissance, vanity was invariably represented as a naked woman, sometimes seated or reclining on a couch. She attends to her hair with comb and mirror. The mirror is sometimes held by a demon or a putto. Other symbols of vanity include jewels, gold coins, a purse, and often by the figure of death himself. Often we find an inscription on a scroll that reads ""Omnia Vanitas"" (""All is Vanity""), a quote from the Latin translation of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Although that phrase, itself depicted in"
"that Hephaestus, the god of fire, sat below the volcano Etna, forging the weapons of Zeus. The Greek word used to describe volcanoes was ""etna"", or ""hiera"", after Heracles, the son of Zeus. The Roman poet Virgil, in interpreting the Greek mythos, held that the giant Enceladus was buried beneath Etna by the goddess Athena as punishment for rebellion against the gods; the mountain's rumblings were his tormented cries, the flames his breath and the tremors his railing against the bars of his prison. Enceladus' brother Mimas was buried beneath Vesuvius by Hephaestus, and the blood of other defeated giants"
"Aidos Aidos (Greek: , ) was the Greek goddess of shame, modesty, respect, and humility. Aidos, as a quality, was that feeling of reverence or shame which restrains men from wrong. It also encompassed the emotion that a rich person might feel in the presence of the impoverished, that wealth was more a matter of luck than merit. She was the last goddess to leave the earth after the Golden Age. She was a close companion of the goddess of vengeance Nemesis. One source calls her daughter of Prometheus. Mythologically, she is often considered to be more of a personification"
"to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus ""lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour,"" and finally changed into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus. The concept of excessive selfishness has been recognized throughout history. In ancient Greece the concept was understood as hubris. It is only more recently that narcissism has been defined in psychological terms. Four dimensions of narcissism as a personality variable have been delineated: leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance, self-absorption/self-admiration, and exploitativeness/entitlement. A 2012 book on power-hungry narcissists suggests that narcissists typically display most,"
"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"
"water in the upper reach is [too] rapid; the water in the lower reach is [too] sluggish,"" he went down and plunged in the middle reach; and, as he washed, there was first born the Wondrous-Deity-of-Eighty-Evils, and next the Wondrous-Deity-of-Great-Evils. These two Deities are the Deities that were born from the filth [he contracted] when he went to that polluted, hideous land. The names of the Deities that were next born to rectify those evils were: the Divine-Rectifying-Wondrous Deity, next the Great-Rectifying-Wondrous-Deity, next the Female-Deity-Idzu. The names of the Deities that were next born, as he bathed at the bottom"
"herself before a glass without further positive allegorical attributes. ""All is Vanity"", by Charles Allan Gilbert (1873–1929), carries on this theme. An optical illusion, the painting depicts what appears to be a large grinning skull. Upon closer examination, it reveals itself to be a young woman gazing at her reflection in the mirror. In the film ""The Devil's Advocate"", Satan (Al Pacino) claims that ""vanity is his favourite sin"". Such artistic works served to warn viewers of the ephemeral nature of youthful beauty, as well as the brevity of human life and the inevitability of death. Vanity Vanity is the"
"Minthe In Greek mythology, Minthe (also Menthe, Mintha or Mentha; or Μένθη) was a naiad associated with the river Cocytus. The ""-nth-"" element in ""menthe"" is characteristic of a class of words borrowed from a Pre-Greek language: compare ""acanthus"", labyrinth, Corinth, etc. Minthe was dazzled by Hades and made an attempt to seduce him, but Queen Persephone intervened and metamorphosed Minthe, in the words of Strabo's account, ""into the garden mint, which some call ""hedyosmon"" (lit. 'sweet-smelling')"". """"Mint (Mintha), men say, was once a maid beneath the earth, a Nymphe of Kokytos (Cocytus), and she lay in the bed of"
"by laziness, but by a state of depression that caused spiritual detachment. Vainglory (Latin, ) is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he folded ""vainglory"" into pride for his listing of sins. According to Thomas Aquinas, it is the progenitor of envy. The Latin term ""gloria"" roughly means ""boasting"", although its English cognate – ""glory"" – has come to have an exclusively positive meaning; historically, the term ""vain"" roughly meant ""futile"" (a meaning retained in the modern expression ""in vain""), but by the 14th century had come to have the strong narcissistic undertones, that"
"Greek poet Hesiod. Hence the adjective ""Aonian"" usually meant ""Heliconian"" and referred to the Muses. Virgil tells how one of the Muses led a poet up the mountains of Aonia; he also speaks of “Aonian Aganippe,” one of the sacred springs on Helicon. The English poet Ben Jonson berates himself for sloth: “Are all th’Aonian springs / Dri’d up?”. In ""Paradise Lost"", John Milton ""intends to soar / Above the Aonian mount"". Alexander Pope, in a similar gesture, says the bard must surpass the ""Aonian Maids"". In a sonnet, the Italian poet Ugo Foscolo addresses his Muse as ""Aonia Diva""."
"Eunoe Eunoe (Greek: ) is a feature of Dante's ""Divine Comedy"" created by Dante as the fifth river of the dead (taking into consideration that Cocytus was described as a lake rather than a river). In the ""Purgatorio"", the second ""cantica"" of Dante's poem, penitents reaching the Garden of Eden at the top of Mount Purgatory are first washed in the waters of the river Lethe in order to forget the memories of their mortal sins. They then pass through Eunoe to have the memories of their good deeds in life strengthened. Upon completing his or her sentence in Purgatory,"
"Seeing that the pool has become a ""cup of salt tears,"" the Oreads try to console the pool, saying that it must be hard not to mourn for someone so beautiful. The pool, however, confesses that it did not know Narcissus was beautiful; instead, it admits that it is mourning because its own beauty was reflected in Narcissus' eyes. Joseph of Arimathea comes upon a weeping man, who he mistakenly thinks is mourning because of Christ's crucifixion. Instead, the man confesses that he is grieving because, in spite of performing the same miracles as Christ performed, no one has crucified"
"himself, ""Is not this the composition of the waters?"" and returns to sleep, beginning the visions again—he constantly wakes up, ponders to himself and returns to sleep during these visions. Returning to the same altar, Zosimos finds a man being boiled alive, yet still alive, who says to him, ""The sight that you see is the entrance, and the exit, and the transformation ... Those who seek to obtain the art (or moral perfection) enter here, and become spirits by escaping from the body""—which can be regarded as human distillation; just as how distilled water purifies it, distilling the body"
"true or false self"". Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus 'lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour', and finally pined away, changing into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus. The story was retold in Latin by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, in which form it would have great influence on medieval and Renaissance culture. 'Ovid's tale of Echo and Narcissus...weaves in and out of"
"called, as is known, Lethe, Cocytus, Phlegethon and Acheron, tributaries of the Stygian swamp."" This work derives from that of the Third Vatican Mythographer, possibly one Albricus or Alberic, who presents often extensive allegories and devotes his longest chapter, including an excursus on the nature of the soul, to Pluto. In Dante's ""Divine Comedy"" (written 1308–1321), Pluto presides over the fourth circle of Hell, to which the greedy are condemned. The Italian form of the name is ""Pluto"", taken by some commentators to refer specifically to Plutus as the god of wealth who would preside over the torment of those"
"be reflected in literature, e.g. in Vergil ""Aen."" V 14 ""pater Neptunus"". The virile potency of Neptune would be represented by ""Salacia"" (derived from ""salax"", ""salio"" in its original sense of salacious, lustful, desiring sexual intercourse, covering). Salacia would then represent the god's desire for intercourse with Earth, his virile generating potency manifesting itself in rainfall. While Salacia would denote the overcast sky, the other character of the god would be reflected by his other paredra ""Venilia"", representing the clear sky dotted with clouds of good weather. The theonym Venilia would be rooted in a not attested adjective *venilis, from"
"mortal, he cites several cases in which the Gods are wounded physically, and then adds, ""And if there are wounds, there is blood. For the ichor of the poets is more repulsive than blood; for the putrefaction of blood is called ichor."" In pathology, ""ichor"" is an antiquated term for a watery discharge from a wound or ulcer, with an unpleasant or fetid (offensive) smell. Ichor In Greek mythology, ichor ( or ; ) is the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods and/or immortals. Ichor originates in Greek mythology, where it is the ethereal fluid that is"
"of divinity, leading to the interpretation of some of the figures as Apollo and Dionysus rescuing Silenus who is shown falling down reaching for a spilled flagon of wine. This scene on the vase corresponds to the saying ""The Gods look after children and drunken men"" which has been passed down orally through many generations. Many copies of the vase do not correctly depict the scene, replacing Dionysus with a female figure on the wrongful assumption that a sexual act is in progress. The vase was rediscovered in a Roman garden that occupied part of the site of the gardens"
"and continuing into the Classical period, attest to Enyalios as another name for the god of war. Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the archaic tradition represented by the ""Iliad"" and ""Odyssey."" Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from the battlefield at Troy: Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him:<br>""Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.<br>To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympus.<br>Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.<br>...<br>And yet I will"
"Demeter. The name ""Iacchus"" may come from ""iacchus"", a hymn sung in honor of him. With the epithet Liknites (""he of the winnowing fan"") he is a fertility god connected with the mystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to a shovel and was used to separate the chaff from the grain. In addition, Dionysus is known as Lyaeus (""he who unties"") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry, and as Oeneus he is the god of the wine press. In the Greek pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbs the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity. In the"
"still life offers a reflection on the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. This meaning is conveyed in these still lifes through the use of stock symbols, which reference the transience of things and, in particular, the futility of earthly wealth: a skull, soap bubbles, candles, empty glasses, wilting flowers, insects, smoke, watches, mirrors, books, hourglasses and musical instruments, various expensive or exclusive objects such as jewellery and rare shells. The term ""vanitas"" is derived from the famous line , in the book of the Ecclesiastes in the Bible, which in the"