16strange and tragic ways that caused the death of prominent figures from Greece
The ancient Greeks contributed to the formation of the world, as they provided humanity with philosophy, democracy, theater, and the science of history. They also contributed to laying the foundations of Western civilizations, and they gave us a large number of stories that tell the strangest ways in which some Greek personalities died, to the point that you will not believe what you read! Here are the 16 strangest ways in which some Greeks met their deaths that may be hard to believe at first glance:
1. The greatest athlete of antiquity got stuck in a tree and was eaten alive by wolves.
A painting by Pietro Della Valle entitled "Milo of Crotone", depicting his struggle with the wolf.Image: Wikimedia Commons
Milo of Croton was one of the most famous athletes and wrestlers in ancient Greek civilization, who rose to fame in the sixth century B.C. He was also a famous warrior who led his fellow citizens to military victory.
(Milo) was known for his physical strength, as he carried a large bull on his shoulders as part of his training regimen, and as for the diet he followed, it consisted of 20 pounds of meat, 20 pounds of bread, and 10 liters of wine, and he achieved a series of Sports victories that history has not seen like it, he was the only victor in the annual quadruple Hellenic Games: the Olympic Games, the Pythia Games, the Nemea Games, and the Isthmian Games.
The ancient inhabitants of Crotone (Crotone is modern southern Italy) were famous for their physical strength, which left generations of champions. In the Olympic Games in 576 BC, the first seven winners were in the 200-yard race from (Croton), and ancient sources recorded the victories of (Milo). All of them, he won wrestling championships in six Olympic Games, seven Pythian Games, nine Nemitic Games, and ten Isthmian Games, during the period between 516 and 540 BC.
Not only was (Milo) a sports star, but he was a brave war leader. In 510 BC, a tyrant from the neighboring city (Cypress) expelled important figures from the city, but he was insulted later when he learned that the city (Croton) had offered them residence. At that time, the dispute escalated, especially after the urging and encouragement of the famous philosopher and mathematician (Pythagoras), who spent most of his time in (Croton), where he worked to overturn this dispute and use it as an excuse to destroy (Cypress). ) towards victory, he was then wearing his Olympic wreath, and the skin of the leopard, and he was leading the army as if it were Hercules.
One day, misfortune came to put an end to Milo's heroic life. One day, Milo was wandering in the forest, when he came across a tree full of cracks. Milo used to challenge himself, so he tried to uproot this tree with his bare hands. Unfortunately for him, his hands got stuck inside one of the gaps, and it got worse when a pack of wolves attacked him and devoured him alive while he was struggling to free himself.
2. Bubalos was so humiliated that he decided to commit suicide.
Bubalos and his brother.
The concept of trolling (or trolling) is not a new concept that appeared simultaneously with the advent of the Internet. Rather, it has existed since ancient times in all cultures around the world. For example, the ancient Greeks were not lenient in matters related to trolling, but rather it was the reason for the outbreak of wars.
A good example of trolling is (Bubalus) from (Chios) and the poet (Hipponas) from (Ephesus). The satirist (Hipponas).
(Bubalus) was a famous sculptor, as he was carving marble statues of famous figures such as the god of hunting and wilderness (Artemis). (Apollo) in Rome, as was (Bubalus) a world troll, but unfortunately for him he fell into the nets of a more skilled troll than him.
(Hipponas) was a poet, but his level was not as high as the poet (Homer) and (Hesiod). Woman: The first is the day on which she gets married, and the second is when her dead body is carried.” The ugliness not only dominated his poetry and the personality of this poet, but also clouded his appearance, so his face was extremely ugly.
The war broke out between (Hiponas) and (Bubalus) when (Hibonas) proposed to ask for the hand of (Bubalus's) daughter, but he refused, trying to protect his daughter from living with an ugly person inside and out. And the response came from (Hipponas) in the form of poetry and described him as the son of a whore, and he also accused the sculptor of having some sexual practices with his mother. (Bubalus) could not tolerate insulting him in this way in public, so he decided to hang himself, later (Bubalus) became a subject of ridicule among writers, Where the Greek comedian playwright (Aristophanes) mentioned it in one of his plays with the phrase: “Someone should give them (Bubalus) or two of it in their mouths, as this may silence them a little.”
3. Empedocles tried to prove to the world that he was a god, but he failed:
A painting depicting “The Death of Empadocles” by Salvatore Rosa.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
(Empadocles 432-492 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and poet from Sicily in the pre-Socratic period, to whom the theory of the four elements is attributed: air, water, fire, and earth. This theory sought to explain the universe by converting all matter into simpler ones, and he also tried to prove to the world that he is not only a philosopher but that he is a god, but he ended up dying during his strange attempts to prove his divinity.
(Empadocles) was born into a well-known family, where his father was a prominent local figure in favor of democratic rule, and his father also played an important role in overthrowing the tyrannical ruler (polis) in 470 BC, later (Empadocles) followed in his father's footsteps and helped overthrow the minority government that It imposed its control on (Akragas) after the removal of its tyrannical ruler from office. Empedocles was offered supreme power over his city more than once, but he refused each time.
(Empadocles) was a genius person with multiple talents, as he was a talented orator and poet, and he was considered one of the greatest intellectuals and talented doctors of his time, as many praised his abilities to treat diseases and avoid epidemics, but all these capabilities and talents made him so proud of himself that he really believed He has true divine powers, such as the ability to control aging, eradicate evil, and control rain and wind.
His pride in himself increased even more when he was able to heal a woman whose disease all doctors before him assumed was incurable, then he claimed to be a god, and to prove his divinity he gathered about 80 people and led them to the top of an active volcano in Mount Etna, and said that he would jump into the volcano and return as a god after That the lava devour his body in order to prove to the skeptics his immortality, but unfortunately he did not return (Empadocles) until now.
4. Philitas had pedantry and starved himself to death while trying to correct the mistakes of others.
Statue of Philetas.
Long before the grammar correction maniacs appeared, there was Philitas from the Greek city of Kos who lived from 340 to 285 B.C. According to some ancient sources, Philitas was a very annoying and corrupt person who corrected mistakes. He was also a poet and researcher who taught the Egyptian king (Ptolemy II), and contributed to the popularization of the Hellenistic school of poetry that flourished in Alexandria, and later poets considered him as the Roman poet (Ovid) as their ideal.
Philitas was one of the original inhabitants of the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea, and he was a poet and an intellectual before the Egyptian king (Ptolemy I) invaded his island in 309 BC. When the king learned of the existence of this wise person, he appointed him to teach his son and heir to his throne (Ptolemy II), Then the poet moved to Alexandria to perform his duties, and after completing his royal mission, he returned to his homeland to establish and lead the intellectual community composed of poets and scholars.
Although he was considered a perfect figure by all accounts, he had a very annoying habit of correcting any mistake he encountered in an arrogant and sarcastic manner. As soon as he heard someone utter a logical fallacy or use the wrong word, Philitas would become isolated from everyone and go into a fit of hysterical madness. Where he begins to write many pages to correct these errors, in addition to writing some examples in which he talks about the correct way to use these words.
According to some ancient sources, it is said that (Veletas) was busy correcting the mistakes of others and checking for flimsy proofs and correct uses of words, until he died of starvation. From false proofs, it extended from sunset and through the night.
5. The people's cheers caused Draco to die.
Sculpture of Draco's face in the US Supreme Court Library.Image: Brewminate
Draco, who flourished during the seventh century BC, was one of the Athenian legislators who called for replacing traditional oral laws with the legal system and courts to implement these laws. All crimes, whether serious or petty, are death.
Mystery hangs over Draco's background, but he most likely belonged to an Athenian aristocratic family. In the twenties of the sixth century BC, citizens asked him to come up with a legal system to replace the methods of achieving justice used at that time. The powerful citizens were protected while the weak were victims of this law.
(Draco) wrote and published the laws of Athens. These laws contributed to reducing the dangers of traditional oral laws that were applied to a very small number of citizens, and were interpreted and applied in an arbitrary way. The citizens considered these new laws a great step towards achieving justice and equality, but the only defect in them was their cruelty, but they were very suitable for the convicts and the possessing classes, as slavery was imposed on everyone who failed to pay his debt, and for those who committed minor crimes, their punishment was death, when he was asked (Draco) On why the death penalty was legislated as a punishment for most crimes, he replied that he believed it to be appropriate for lesser crimes, and that he had no greater penalty to impose for the most heinous crimes.
Regardless of the opinions of the poor and the indebted, the wealthy Greeks seemed to be so impressed by Draco's new laws that they cheered him until he died: the ancient Greeks showed their acceptance of these laws by throwing hats and clothes in gratitude and reverence for him, during his visit to the island of Aegina The Greek citizens threw a huge number of hats, shirts, and headgear at him to the point that he suffocated under them to death, regardless of the praise that (Draco) received during the course of his life, but many Athenians considered his laws extremely unfair and cruel, but in the year 594 BC came (Solon), who worked to abolish the laws of (Draco) and replaced them with new laws, but kept the execution as a sanity for murders.
6. One of the greatest generals of the Hellenistic era was killed by an old woman armed with bricks:
Statue of Pyrrhus at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
(Pyrrhus) was from (Epirus) 319-272 BC, a clan king before he became king of the region (Epirus) located in the western Balkans. He was distantly related to Alexander the Great, in addition to being a sworn enemy of both the Kingdom of Macedonia and Rome, which caused his many victories. Against both kingdoms gave rise to the term "Pyrrhusian victory" or Pyrrhic victory, this term referring to victory after suffering heavy losses.
(Pyrrhus) was born to live a life of conflict and struggle, as his father was the leader of the (Epirot) tribe, but he was deposed from his throne when (Pyrrhus) was still two years old, then his family was forced to flee and seek refuge in the neighboring (Illyrian) tribe. The tribe installed (Pyrrhus) as their leader in 306 BC, but after 4 years had passed, they withdrew the leadership from him and he was forced to work to earn a living as he worked as a paid officer, and he later ended up in Egypt, where he married the daughter of the king (Ptolemy I) who presented He has all the military financial support he needs to restore him to his father's throne in 297 BC.
When (Pyrrhus) restored his father's position, he began working to make himself a name for the general after fighting a series of conflicts in the Balkans, but in the year 282 BC, the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy fought a dispute with Rome, which was aiming to expand its borders, then the people of This city with (Pyrrhus), asking for his help, encourages (Pyrrhus) to help them after the prophecy (Delphi), especially after he saw an opportunity for him to establish an empire in southern Italy, (Pyrrhus) began to form an alliance with the neighboring kingdom of Macedonia, and entered the lands of southern Italy In the year 280 BC, accompanied by an army of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 2,500 archers, Pyrrhus was able to defeat the Romans in a battle that ended with heavy losses for both parties, but Rome was able to stand again on their feet due to the number of military forces. The great you possess, (Perus) said sarcastically after this victory:“If we can defeat the Romans in one more battle, it will lead to our complete destruction.”
Pyrrhus took a break from his attempt to create an empire in Italy, and set out to fight the Carthaginians in Sicily, but when he returned, the Romans had risen again and formed a giant army, then (Pyrrhus) decided to avoid losing more of his forces and decided to leave Italy in 275 BC.
(Pyrrhus) died in the year 272 BC when he took a position in a dispute that took place in the city (Argos), when an old woman threw a tile from the roof that hit (Pyrrhus) in the head, then he fell from his horse, we do not know if (Pyrrhus) had He survived this injury or not, because one of the enemy soldiers rushed to him and cut off the head of the king (Epirut).
7. Thucydides was killed in the middle of writing a sentence in his book:
The Greek historian Thucydides.
(Thucydides 460-404 BC) was the greatest Greek historian and author of the book “History of the Peloponnesian War”. This book talks about the conflict that took place between Sparta and Athens in the fifth century BC. Evidence, but he avoided referring to divine interventions. This methodology led him to be called the “father of scientific history.” He also earned the title of “father of political realism” because of his analyzes that led to his discovery that conflict and individual decisions result from purely personal interest. .
(Thucydides) had a distant relationship with the Athenian general (Militiades), who achieved a great victory in the Battle of (Marathon) in 490 BC. (Thucydides) was elected at an early age to be one of the ten generals of Athens, but he did not become a great general like his relative (Militiades ), especially after losing the city (Amphipolis) of great strategic importance to the Spartans after they launched a surprise attack, at this loss the citizens turned against him and he was summoned to Athens and sentenced to exile.
The exile (Thucydides) may have been the best thing that happened to him, as he had the opportunity to write down his political works, as he used to spend a lot of his time observing and writing down the events of the epic conflicts without taking sides, and his famous book “History of the Peloponnesian War” was considered one of the most reliable sources in ancient Greek history.
Unfortunately, (Thucydides) stopped writing down conflicts, after he spent time extending from the year (431 to 404 BC) writing down the events of the wars, but he suddenly stopped in 411 BC, when the war ended with the defeat of Athens in 404 BC, it changed The government is in Athens, so (Thucydides) decided to return to his homeland after a 20-year exile, but the political situation was not yet stable, due to the control of the minority rule system with the support of Sparta, as this system practiced political violence against those who advocated democracy that prevailed in Athens During the war, in the midst of this turmoil, Thucydides was killed in the middle of a sentence he wrote in his history book.
8. Heraclitus covered himself with excrement and was eaten alive by dogs.
A painting depicting Heraclitus.Image: Wikimedia Commons
The essence of life for the ancient Greek philosopher (Heraclitus) from (Ephesians) 535-475 BC was continuous change, and one of his famous sayings was the phrase: “No man steps in the same river twice”, believing that everything is like a drop of water that is washed away by the continuous movement of the river , even if it is difficult to notice this movement, as Heraclitus spread the idea of \u200b\u200bthe “unity of opposites”, as he considered that the universe is a system of balanced exchanges through which all things are associated with a relationship with other opposite things.
Heraclitus was following a policy of self-learning and was directing a lot of criticism of other philosophers. He was also distinguished by his dark view of human life, and he was an opponent of democratic rule, preferring rule by a few wise men. Plato benefited from his ideas later, as he came to the idea that the ideal ruler is a king. A philosopher, Heraclitus viewed wealth as a form of punishment, so much so that he wished everyone he hated to turn into a wealthy person as punishment for his sins.
Heraclitus was a hater of humans, as he avoided mixing and communicating with the people and society around her for long periods. He was wandering alone through the mountains and forests and feeding on plants, as the Greek philosopher (Diogenes) summed up his condition by saying: “Finally, Heraclitus became a hater of the human kind, wandering in mountains, and lives on aromatic herbs and plants.”
Heraclitus died after suffering from dropsy, which is the accumulation of fluid under the skin or in one of the body cavities. Doctors were unable to treat (Heraclitus), so he decided to treat himself by himself, taking advantage of his medical skills that he had acquired through self-learning, so he tried an innovative treatment method. It is about covering himself with cow dung, believing that the warmth of the dung will help him dry and remove the accumulated fluids from under his skin. Heraclitus covered himself with cow dung and lay in the sun to dry, but things did not go as he expected, as the dung dried on his body and he could no longer move. Until a group of dogs attacked him and devoured him alive.
9. An elephant fell on (Eliezer Maccabee), which led to his death:
A drawing by Gustave Doré that embodies the “killing of Eliezer” following his battle with the elephant.
(Eliezer Maccabee) died in 162 BC, and he is the younger brother of (Judas Maccabee), the leader of the Maccabean Revolution 160-167 BC against the Hellenic Seleucid Empire. (Zeus) instead of God, the rebellion began when the father of (Judas) and (Eliezer) killed a Hellenic Jew, then fled to the wilderness, taking with him his five sons, and from there he established a guerrilla campaign, Judah took over this rebellion after the death of his father in 164 BC , and managed to enter Jerusalem and restore the rituals of Jewish worship to its temples, this event is celebrated to this day in the feast of Hanukkah (or what is also known as the feast of lights).
(Eliezer) died in a strange way in the Battle of Zechariah in 162 BC, that is, two years after his brother imposed control over Jerusalem, but (Judas) was unable to fully impose his control over Jerusalem, as the Seleucid garrison forces maintained their control of a castle inside the city , until (Judas) laid siege to the castle, where a large Seleucid army of 50 thousand soldiers accompanied by 30 war elephants went to support their supporters inside the castle, which forced (Judas) to break the siege and head with 20 thousand men to confront the Seleucid army.
The two armies met in an official battle, but (Judas) made a big mistake when he abandoned the tactical arts of guerrilla warfare that helped him achieve several victories. And armored war elephants, which caused panic and fear to spread among its ranks.
When (Eliezer) saw this fear that controlled his brother's army, he rushed under one of these huge elephants and stuck his spear inside him, but it did not happen as he expected as the dying elephant collapsed on him and crushed him to death, the army panicked after seeing what happened to (Eliezer) So they withdrew from the war.
10. General Miltiades saved Athens, but he did not win the love of the Athenians:
Statue of Miltiades in the Slovenian National Museum.Image: Wikimedia Commons
Miltiades was a great general from Athens (489-550 BC), who became famous after his great victory in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, where he managed to save Athens from Persian invasion.
Miltiades was born into a wealthy aristocratic family. His family owned a private kingdom in the region of Chersones, which is today's Gallipoli peninsula, which Miltiades inherited from his family in 516 BC, but when the Persian king Darius I invaded the Chersonese church, In 513 BC, Miltiades surrendered and became a Persian vassal.
In the year 499 BC, the inhabitants of the Greek city (Ionia) in Asia Minor revolted against Persian rule, then Miltiades pretended that he was against these rebels, but implicitly supported them and provided them with aid from Athens, and Athens sent an expeditionary force to join the rebels in a march towards the headquarters of The Persian ruler in the city of Sardis, but the Persians managed to suppress this rebellion in 495 and discovered Miltiades' treachery. Miltiades then fled to Athens, where he was elected one of its ten generals.
The Persians decided to punish Athens for its help to the Ionians, so they sent a disciplinary army in 490 BC that settled in the Marathon Plain north of Athens. The Athenian army, led by General Miltiades, headed to the Marathon Plain. Knights or archers, and the Persian forces were composed of 25 thousand soldiers in addition to thousands of archers and 1000 cavalry.
The Athenians were terrified when they saw the Persian army, so they stayed for more than a week watching the Persians from the mountains overlooking the plain of Marathon. When Miltiades took command, he managed to convince the council of war to fight the battle, and attack them down from the mountains. When the council agreed to his proposal, he ( Miltiades) rallied the army and strengthened its flanks, while leaving its center weak.
When they arrived to meet the Persian army, they were able to defeat the heavily armed Persian infantry, then the reinforced Athenian wings moved inland to attack the center of the Persian army. Persian forces 6400 of its forces.
General (Miltiades) returned to Athens with dignity and pride, but this pride did not last for long. A year after this great victory, General (Miltiades) led a strong military campaign against some of the Greek islands that supported the Persians, but he did not succeed in his campaign, as he was seriously wounded. In his leg, when the citizens of Athens learned of his absurd failure, they could not believe it, so much so that they thought that (Miltiades) had betrayed them, so the Athenians called him a traitor, and he was convicted and sentenced to death, but later they reduced the sentence to paying a large fine and imprisoning him until it is paid This fine, but he did not survive and died inside the prison of his leg wounds.
11. Philip II lived a glorious life only to die a filthy death.
Drawing depicting Philip of Macedon.Photo: Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Getty Images
The Greeks viewed the Macedonian Kingdom as hardly a civilized kingdom, as they spoke in an incomprehensible Greek dialect, but it was a kingdom with great potential, whether in terms of manpower or resources, as it outperformed many Greek cities with its resources, but it did not properly invest these capabilities until That (Philip II 336-382 BC) came to the throne of Macedonia in 359 BC when he was 23 years old, and in just two years, (Philip II) was able to make radical changes to the Greek countries.
(Philip II) was able to unite the Macedonian tribes, and turned them into one of the most powerful and terrifying military armies in the world. By training the men on a regular basis, he also armed his army with long spears (sarissa), and increased their strength by providing them with smaller and lighter shields, which increased their speed in attack, as few other armies could match them.
He also made the Macedonian cavalry the best in the world, by recruiting the sons of the nobles and providing them with long spears that gave them the ability to overcome their opponents. He also trained them in tactical arts that depend on the element of surprise to break enemy lines, in addition to training them in wedge formations that met with great success in penetrating the enemy lines. enemy, their maneuverability.
(Philip II) also formed a group of engineers to design and build new military equipment, the latest (Philip) revolutionized the arts of war through his mastery of the art of coordination between the ranks of the army, which enabled his army to support each other and coordinate among themselves on the battlefields, and from here the weapon tactic appeared gathered.
The teamwork and joint action between heavy infantry, light infantry, archers, cavalry and engineers was indomitable. The combined arms tactic of Philip II was called the “hammer and anvil”, where the phalanx played the role of the anvil by holding the enemy in place, while the cavalry played the role of Hammer by trapping and attacking the enemy.
No one could stand up to his military forces, so by the year 388 B.C. (Philip II) had taken control of Greece, after that he prepared to fulfill his life's dream of invading the Persian Empire, but before he set out to invade Persia, a legal dispute occurred between (Philip) and his dream and ended One day, one of his bodyguards quarreled with one of his sons-in-law, and the bodyguard ended up drunk and Philip's brother-in-law allowed everyone present to rape him, and when the bodyguard resorted to Philip to compensate him for what happened to him, Philip did not compensate him with anything. Which prompted the bodyguard to assassinate (Philip) during his wedding, later his son (Alexander the Great) adopted his father's military tactics to become the greatest conqueror in the ancient world.
12. The Hellenistic philosopher (Chrysippus) laughed to death:
Roman statue embodying the head of the Greek Chrysippus.Image: Wikimedia Commons
(Chrysippus) was a Greek philosopher who lived between 279-206 BC, and he is one of the most influential intellectuals in the Hellenistic era, as he was famous for his saying, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Chrysippus was later able to influence the Stoic doctrine, as attributed to the Stoic philosophers. A large part of the credit is given to him in the foundations that they built, and he played an important role in establishing intellectual theories by presenting alternatives to the theories of (Plato) and (Aristotle), but despite all that he presented, he is known as the philosopher who laughed to death.
Chrysippus was born in Soli, near Mersin in present-day Turkey. He was an athlete in his youth, where he devoted himself to long-distance running before abandoning this field and turning to philosophy. When he moved to Athens, he studied Stoicism and was apprenticed by the Stoic philosopher (Cleanthes). The leader of the Stoic school, where he became one of the most talented students, and when (Cleanthes) died, (Chrysippus) succeeded him to become the leader of this institution.
(Chrisippus) wrote about 700 books during his life, and although there are no complete treatises for him now, about 475 parts of his works survived from these works. These parts include summaries and some critical assessments of the Hellenistic schools, where some scholars worked to collect information from These surviving sources build a coherent and complete picture of Stoic philosophy and philosophers.
The life of the philosopher (Chrisippus) was not about studying, writing books, and pursuing cultural matters. Rather, he was a fan of celebration, and he participated in many parties even when he was in old age. It is said that he got drunk when he was 73 years old while attending a party to drink pure wine ( The Greeks used to mix wine with water at that time).
13. Arechion became an Olympic champion despite his death:
A Greek jar depicting Panathenaic wrestling.Image: dartmouth
The ancient Greeks considered martial arts and wrestling as an art of modern mixed martial arts, as it combined wrestling and boxing, and almost everything was allowed except for biting, nibbling, or directing blows to the genitals. (Arichion) won from (Vigalia) in the Olympic Games In 572 BC and 568 BC, and sought to win again in the Olympiad in 464 BC.
(Arishion) was ahead of his opponent in the first rounds, until he collapsed and his movement became slow when he reached the last round, due to his advanced age. His opponent was superior to him and managed to get around behind him and fix his legs around the torso of (Arishion) and pressed his heels on his ribs and began to choke him .
(Arishion) pretended to be unconscious and in this way deceived his opponent, who loosened his fist a little, then (Arishion) suddenly came to his senses and grabbed his opponent's ankle and threw him away from his cramped limbs.
Unfortunately for (Arishion), after he threw his opponent, he broke his neck and died. His opponent did not know that (Arishion) had died when he announced his surrender, so for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, a dead man was crowned as a champion of the Olympic Games, as he embodied the famous mathematical proverb “Victory or death,” through his victory and death at the same moment.
14. The great Greek artist Zeuxis died of laughter.
A painting by François-André Vincent depicting Zeuxis choosing one of the Croton women as Helen.Image: Wikimedia Commons
He is the ancient Greek artist (Zeuxis) from (Heraclea) who achieved a great prosperity in the fifth century BC, where he is considered one of the greatest painters ever, his paintings were in great demand, and his works were widely praised due to the spread of the illusionist tendency in his paintings.
(Zeuxis) created a talent of his own, as he moved away from the painting method prevalent in that era of filling shapes with colors, and relied instead on the representation of light and shadows that showed a touch of realism in his drawings, as he preferred to paint paintings instead of painting the usual wall paintings, and usually He tended to make small sketches, such as a portrait of a single figure.
Historical records described Zeuxis' drawings as vibrant, as the Roman writer Pliny the Elder tells in his book "Natural History" the story of the competition that took place between Zeuxis and another painter named Parrhasius. The competition was about who could paint a more realistic painting. (Zeuxis) revealed his painting in which he painted the grapes in a way that resembled realistic clusters so much that the birds tried to peck the grapes.
However, Parhasius was able to beat Zeuxis in this competition. When Zeuxis tried to remove the curtain to reveal his rival's painting, the surprise was when he discovered that the curtain was the same painting! Then Zeuxis said his famous sentence: “I deceived the birds, but Parrhasius deceived Zeuxis.”
The moment of (Zeuxis) death came when he was commissioned by an elderly and rich widow to paint the gods (Aphrodite), the Greek goddess of procreation, love, beauty and pleasure, but she wanted the painting to be similar to her, but because of the contradiction and the great difference between the beauty of (Aphrodite) and the wrinkled old woman, it ended Zeuxis drew a comic painting that made him laugh hysterically as he watched the painting until he died.
15. The greatest Greek playwright tried to escape his fate but failed.
Aeschylus statue.Image: Wikimedia Commons
The Greek playwright and playwright (Aeschylus), who lived from 525 to 455 B.C., was a farmhand until he had a vision of the god of wine (Dionysius) asking him to start writing plays, and he ended up becoming the greatest playwright in ancient Greece. He wrote more than 90 plays during his long and fruitful life, and he also won many awards in the great drama festivals that were held in Athens. His plays are still alive and represented to this day. The title of "Father of Tragedy".
(Aeschylus) devised acting, as the theater before his appearance consisted of a narrator who narrates the course of the play with some lyrical interventions and dances. In raising the production values allocated to costumes, and he invented the moving platform to change theatrical scenes, in addition to inventing the cranes that were used to lift the actors while they were performing scenes of escaping or descending from the sky.
Most of his plays dealt with conflicts between men and gods, between the individual and the state, and divine punishments for crimes and misdeeds. In ancient Athens, every playwright presented three tragic works to participate in drama festivals. As for Aeschylus, he was the first playwright to link his three plays into one trilogy. Oresteia, which tells the story of King Agamemnon during the Trojan War, and his descendants after him.
Aeschylus was also a soldier, as he participated in the famous Battle of Marathon in which his brother was killed. He also participated in naval battles such as the Battle of Artemisium and the Battle of Salamis, where his participation and war experiences contributed to enriching his famous play “The Persians”, despite his great achievements. As a playwright, he only wrote on his tombstone: “He fought in the Battle of Marathon.”
His life ended in a tragic way in 455 during his visit to the city of Gela in Sicily, where a prophecy came to him saying that he would be killed by a body that would fall on him from the sky, so Aeschylus decided to escape from the city and live in the open to avoid his fate, but according to the Greek drama there is no point in someone trying He avoided his fate. Despite the desperate attempts by Aeschylus to avoid his fate, all his attempts were futile. One day, Aeschylus was sitting in a field outside the city of Gela. Its shell with him, and he dropped the turtle on Aeschylus' bald head thinking it was a rock, and (Aeschylus) died instantly.
16. The greatest soothsayer in ancient Greece laughed to death at the failure of his rival:
Painting by Jan Stein entitled "The Sacrifice of Iphigenia".Image: theleidencollection.com
According to ancient Greek mythology, Calchas was a soothsayer who had the gift of predicting the future by observing the flight of birds. He also relied in his prophecies on interpreting the bowels of enemies during battles. Calchas accompanied the Greeks when they invaded Troy, where Homer praised his skills in In his famous novel The Iliad, he wrote: “As a soothsayer, Calchas had no rival in the camp.”
The Greek naval fleet was unable to reach Troy due to adverse winds. Calchas predicted that the winds had been sent by the god Artemis, who was angry with the great Greek king Agamemnon, and advised him that the only way to win the favor of the gods was to sacrifice (Agamemnon) with his daughter (Evgenina), and the king carried out this prophecy, and indeed the course of the winds changed and the forces sailed to Troy.
The Greeks resorted to the soothsayer (Kalkhas) when the Greek armies were afflicted with the plague disease during their participation in the Trojan War, and he told them that this disease had been sent by the god (Apollo), who was angry with (Agamemnon) because of his enslavement to (Chrissis), the daughter of the priest of the temple (Apollo), and not Allowing her father to pay a ransom to retrieve his daughter, then the king (Agamemnon) was forced to return (Chrissis) to her father, but he compensated for her loss by kidnapping a princess from the war hero (Hector), this matter sparked an intensification of hostility between the king and the hero.
The soothsayer Calchas also supported the idea of the Trojan horse, predicting that this plan would be successful and that the Greek forces would be able to enter the besieged city. Centuries later, the Romans included the soothsayer (Calchas) in their national stories, and attributed to him a prophecy saying that the Trojan prince (Aeneas) would survive the fall of the city and continue his mission of laying the foundations for Rome.
It is said that (Calkhas) died laughing at his rival when he predicted a false prophecy, as the soothsayer (Calkhas) planted some vineyards, but his rival predicted that (Calkhas) would never drink wine from these vineyards, but when the grapes ripened, he made (Calkhas). ) wine and invited his rival to taste it, then (Calchas) raised his glass and began to laugh at his failed prophecy until he choked and died of laughter.
Source: websites