It might be because of my background in architecture, it might be because it’s fantasy, but Italian intellectuals insist it’s not (which is hilarious when it’s not infuriating), but I’m particularly fond of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Today I give you one of the cities connected with death: Eusapia. If you’re not familiar with it, […]
I mentioned him last week in connection to the goddess of salt and you were curious, so… who was Ningishzida, “Lord of the Good Tree”, and what have snakes to do with him? Ningishzida was a Mesopotamian deity associated with vegetation, the underworld, and sometimes war, and he was frequently linked with snakes. Similar to […]
Ninpumuna was a deity from Mesopotamian mythology, associated explicitly with salt springs. Her name translates to “mistress of the salt spring,” and she is primarily recognized as a goddess linked to these natural features and possibly the underworld. She is mentioned in contexts related to offerings and rituals, often alongside other deities associated with the […]
Lethe, also known as Lesmosyne, was one of the Greek underworld rivers, and particularly the river of unmindfulness (Amelēs potamos): it gained its properties because it flowed around the cave of Hypnos, the god of sleep, son of Night and brother of Death. Whoever drinks from this river experiences forgetfulness. Interestingly enough, though, the Greek […]
Jean Restout I (1663-1702) was a French baroque painter, and one of his most notable works is “Orpheus in the Underworld to Demand the Return of Eurydice, or Music” (1763), currently preserved at the Louvre Museum. Today on my Patreon we take a look at this work.
Are you obsessed with the geographies of the underworld? Well, you’re not alone. An Apulian vase painter from Ancient Greece, active around the second half of the 4th century BC, shared your obsession so much that scholars call him “the Underworld Painter“. Today we take a look at his work on my Patreon.
Maximilian Pirner (1854–1924) was a Czech painter and one of the leading figures in the Vienna Secession, a significant movement in art and design that emerged in 1897. At its core, the Vienna Secession was a rebellion against the academic art establishment, which was dominated by historicism and rigid standards: the artists involved sought to […]
Alternatively translated “That Which Is In the Afterworld” or “Text of the Hidden Chamber Which is in the Underworld”, and called Kitab al-Akhira in Arabic, the Amduat is a funerary text from the New Kingdom and it has been found inscribed on the walls of tombs such as the one of Thutmose III, whose entire […]
Lelwani, also spelt Leluwani, was a Hittite underworld deity, but their presence is attested way before the Hittite came to Anatolia. In the Hattic culture, Lelwani was considered a male deity and addressed as a “king” when the Hittites, known for adopting deities from conquered or neighbouring cultures, incorporated Lelwani into their own belief system. […]
The artist of this painting was born at Alexandria, Egypt, from English parents but he spent most of his childhood in American after his father died and his mother moved closer to her family. He was adopted by his aunt after his mother died too, in a freak domestic accident. He came back to Europe […]