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Artifact 11 Entity 321 Page 3 Period 5 Person 144 Site 63 Study 100 Ancient text 19
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Original photograph
Person
Iphigenia
Mythic and dramatic daughter of Agamemnon. In Iphigenia among the Taurians, Artemis rescues her at the altar and substitutes a deer.
Second-century BCE Boeotian bowl with scenes from Iphigenia at Aulis, The Met 31.11.2. It does not show the deer substitution in Iphigenia among the Taurians
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Original photograph
Contextual definition
Euripides
Fifth-century BCE Greek tragedian, died 406 BCE. In his Iphigenia among the Taurians, the heroine recounts a deer substituted for her.
Roman bust identified as Euripides, after a Greek model of c. 330 BCE; Vatican Museums inv. 302. Made after his death, it cannot establish his actual features
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Original photograph
Contextual definition
Ibn Kathir
Syrian Qur'anic exegete and historian (c. 1301–1373 CE) who favors Ishmael in his reading of the sacrifice account.
Title page of volume 1 of the Egyptian al-Manar printing of Ibn Kathir's commentary, 1343–1347 AH/c. 1924–1928 CE; a later printed edition, not a fourteenth-century image
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Original photograph
Contextual definition
Al-Tabari
Abbasid-era historian and Qur'anic exegete (c. 839–923 CE). His commentary records competing views on Abraham's son, then favors Isaac.
Title page of volume 2 of an Egyptian printed edition of al-Tabari's Jamiʿ al-bayan, 1323 AH/c. 1905 CE. It is a later edition, not his manuscript or portrait
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Original photograph
Contextual definition
Flavius Josephus
First-century Jewish historian who retold older narratives, including Abraham’s test, in Jewish Antiquities.
Twelfth-century Latin copy of Jewish Antiquities, Cologne Cathedral Library MS 162, fol. 41r. The page begins Book IV, not the Book I sacrifice account
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Original photograph
Researcher
Joseph A. Fitzmyer
American biblical and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar (1920–2016), who studied Qumran retellings of Abraham’s test.
Modern view of the Qumran archaeological site, the setting of scroll research; not a portrait of Fitzmyer or an image of manuscript 4Q225
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Original photograph
City
Latakia
A coastal city in Syria, south of ancient Ugarit at Ras Shamra.
Latakia photographed by Frédéric Gadmer on 27 October 1921, an autochrome, A30032S. A historical city view, rather than the ruins of Ugarit. Musée Albert-Kahn, Département des Hauts-de-Seine
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Original photograph
Civilization
Ancient Greek world
Greek-speaking communities and cities around the Aegean and beyond, extending across the borders of modern Greece.
Attic krater attributed to the Hirschfeld Workshop, ca. 750–735 BCE, with a funerary scene. Evidence of early Greek art, rather than a divine assembly. The Met, 14.130.14
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Original photograph
Entity
Phoenicians
Communities of Levantine coastal cities known for Mediterranean contact during the first millennium BCE.
Ahiram’s sarcophagus from Byblos, held by the National Museum of Beirut. Evidence for art and writing on the Levantine coast; the sarcophagus and inscription have debated dates that need not coincide
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Original photograph
Site
Troy / Hisarlık
Archaeological site in northwestern Turkey associated with Troy in Greek tradition.
Archaeological walls at Troy/Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, photographed in 2012. The site’s remains alone do not establish the Iliad’s detailed account of the Trojan War
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Original photograph
Site
Mount Olympus
Mountain in northern Greece associated in ancient traditions with the divine community’s dwelling.
Slopes of Mount Olympus, Greece, photographed in 2018. A geographical view; the gods’ residence in the epics belongs to their poetic representation of the world
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Original photograph
Entity
Odyssey
Greek epic attributed to Homer, following Odysseus’s return after the Trojan War.
Papyrus fragment of the Odyssey, about 285–250 BCE; Met 09.182.50. It preserves lines from Book 20, rather than the assembly scenes in Books 1 and 5
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Original photograph
Entity
Iliad
Greek epic attributed to Homer, narrating a phase of the Trojan War.
Fragment of the Hawara papyrus preserving Iliad 2.757–775, about 150 CE. A witness to the epic’s transmission in the Roman period; its date is not the date of composition
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Original photograph
Traditionally attributed author
Homer
The name to which Greek tradition attributes the Iliad and Odyssey.
Roman portrait bust representing Homer, second century CE; British Museum 1805,0703.85. An artistic likeness made long after the epics, rather than a contemporary portrait
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Original photograph
Entity
Leto
Greek goddess and Apollo’s mother in the Iliad, appearing among the gods supporting the Trojans.
Leto, Apollo and Tityos on an Attic vase, about 450–440 BCE; Louvre G 375, attributed to Polygnotos. The image belongs to the story of the assault on Leto and Tityos’s punishment
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Original photograph
Entity
Artemis
Goddess of hunting in Greek traditions and Apollo’s sister, named among the divine company in the Iliad.
Apollo and Artemis with a deer inside an Attic cup of about 470 BCE; Louvre Cp 1005 / G 151. Archaeological evidence for representations of the two deities
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Original photograph
Entity
Ares
God of war in Greek traditions and a participating figure in the Iliad.
Roman statue of the “Borghese Ares” type, held by the Louvre, Ma 866. The type’s name and identification do not make it a contemporary image of Iliadic scenes
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Illustration
Entity
Tartarus
Deep abyss in Greek poetic imagination, named by Zeus as a place of punishment in the Iliad.
Modern explanatory diagram of Tartarus in Iliad 8.13–16: depth compared with the distance between sky and earth, with iron gates and a bronze threshold. A poetic comparison, rather than an archaeological map
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Original photograph
Literary figure
Telemachus
Odysseus’s son in the Odyssey, whose position at home is affected by his father’s absence and family crisis.
Telemachus returning to Ithaca in a plaster relief by Antonio Canova, late eighteenth century; Museo Correr, Venice. A modern work revisiting the ancient story, rather than an artifact from Homer’s era
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Original photograph
Entity
Polyphemus
One-eyed giant in the Odyssey and Poseidon’s son within the narrative.
Odysseus offering a drink to Polyphemus in a Roman mosaic at Villa del Casale, Sicily. A later representation of the adventure narrated in Odyssey Book 9
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Original photograph
Literary figure
Aegisthus
Human figure in Greek narrative whose fate Zeus recalls at the Odyssey’s opening.
Death of Aegisthus on a Greek vase of about 320 BCE; Louvre K 320, Wind Group. The artwork depicts the revenge story, rather than the Odyssey’s first assembly itself
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Original photograph
Entity
Nymphs in Greek poetry
Divine figures associated with natural places in Greek poetry, such as springs and groves.
Hermes leading three nymphs, with the river god Acheloös, on a marble relief of about 320–300 BCE; Met 25.78.59. Evidence for nymphs in Greek art and votive practice
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Original photograph
Entity
Oceanus
Water-related divine figure in Greek poetry, distinguished from the modern geographical use of “ocean.”
Head of a sea deity in a Roman mosaic from Fordington, usually identified as Oceanus; the heritage record also allows Neptune. Dorset Museum, England. Evidence from Roman art later than the Homeric epics
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Original photograph
Entity
Muses
A group of Greek divine figures associated with song and poetry.
Muses in a musical scene on an Attic white-ground pyxis, about 460–450 BCE; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 98.887. This caption leaves the depicted man’s debated identity open
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Original photograph
Entity
Apollo
God of music and prophecy in Greek traditions, also participating in the Iliad’s events.
Apollo and a Muse on an Attic white-ground cup; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 00.356. An ancient representation of the god, rather than a particular Iliadic assembly scene
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Original photograph
Literary figure
Achilles
Important hero of the Iliad, whose anger and participation shape the poem’s warfare.
Achilles fighting Memnon on a vase of about 330–320 BCE; National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, AMM 1. The scene belongs to broader Trojan War traditions, rather than the Iliad itself
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Original photograph
Literary figure
Odysseus
Greek hero whose attempt to return home after the Trojan War is followed in the Odyssey.
Odysseus disguised as a beggar before Penelope, on a terracotta plaque of about 450 BCE; Louvre CA 860. An ancient representation of epic characters, rather than portraits of historically established people
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Original photograph
Entity
Calypso
Divine figure in the Odyssey who keeps Odysseus on her island while he longs to return home.
Mercury ordering Calypso to release Odysseus, painted by Gerard de Lairesse about 1680; Rijksmuseum SK-A-212. A later European representation of the story, rather than an ancient Greek artifact
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Original photograph
Entity
Themis
Greek goddess instructed in the Iliad to gather the gods for a meeting with Zeus.
Themis and Aegeus inside an Attic cup, about 440–430 BCE; Berlin Antikensammlung F 2538. A photograph of the ancient vessel, rather than a modern redrawing
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Original photograph
Entity
Iris
Greek divine messenger who conveys Zeus’s command to Poseidon in the Iliad.
Winged Iris on a Greek vase, about 500–490 BCE; Louvre L 43. An ancient representation of the divine messenger named in the Iliad
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Original photograph
Entity
Hades
Underworld god in Greek narratives, and brother of Zeus and Poseidon in the Iliad exchange.
Hades and Persephone inside an Attic cup, about 430 BCE; British Museum 1847,0909.6 / E 82. An ancient artistic representation of the underworld’s rulers
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Entity
Thetis
Sea goddess in Greek poetry and mother of Achilles, one of the Iliad’s heroes.
Peleus and Thetis on an Attic vase, about 470–460 BCE; Louvre LL 32 / N 3348 / L 55.1. Greek artistic evidence for the figures, rather than an image of Thetis’s appeal to Zeus in the Iliad
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Original photograph
Entity
Hephaestus
God of metalworking in Greek traditions; the Iliad portrays him as Hera’s son and mediator in her dispute with Zeus.
Hephaestus returning to Olympus on a donkey, on an ancient Greek cup in the British Museum, 1836,0224.48. The image depicts the return story, rather than the Iliad’s assembly scene
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Original photograph
Entity
Hermes
Greek god acting as a messenger in the Odyssey passages examined here.
Hermes carrying a ram on an Attic vase, about 515–510 BCE; Louvre Cp 639 / F 159. An archaeological representation of one aspect of the god
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Original photograph
Entity
Hera
Greek goddess and Zeus’s wife, appearing in council and family-disagreement scenes in the Iliad.
A woman tentatively identified in the museum catalogue as Hera, nursing Heracles; vase of about 365–350 BCE, British Museum 1846,0925.13. The female figure’s identification remains uncertain
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Original photograph
Entity
Poseidon
Sea god in Greek traditions and an influential figure in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Poseidon with a trident and a fish inside an Attic cup, about 510 BCE; National Museum of Denmark 13407. An ancient representation of the deity
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Original photograph
Translator
Samuel Butler
English writer and translator of Homer who lived from 1835 to 1902.
Samuel Butler’s self-portrait of 1878, held by St John’s College, Cambridge. A digital reproduction of a painting, rather than a photograph of the person
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Researcher
Carolina López-Ruiz
Scholar of ancient Mediterranean religions, mythologies and exchange between Greek and Semitic traditions.
Swift Hall at the University of Chicago, photographed in 2023. University context associated with López-Ruiz’s work; not a portrait or a photograph of her office
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Original photograph
Researcher
Sang Youl Cho
Researcher who studied the ranks and roles of heavenly beings in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible.
New College courtyard, University of Edinburgh, photographed in 2017. Institutional context for Cho’s thesis, completed in 2007; neither a portrait nor a photograph from the thesis year
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Original photograph
Researcher
Aaron Tugendhaft
Scholar of the ancient Near East and the relationship between religion, politics and the arts.
Deep Springs College and its valley in California, photographed in 2017. A view of an institution where Tugendhaft taught, rather than his portrait
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