Aphrodite is the Greek form of a goddess found around the Mediterranean (Ishtar to the Babylonians, Inanna to the Sumerians, Ashtart to the Phoenicians, etc.). To the Etruscans she is known as Turan, and to the Romans Venus.< br/>
She is an ambiguous character. According to legend, there are two conceptions of Aphrodite: one of carnal pleasure, and one of spiritual love and of beauty that is pure and chaste (evoking Mary in Christianity).
Italian painter (1444-1510). He lived most of his life in Florence in the company of the Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent in particular.
He was summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV to paint three frescos in the Sistine Chapel, but the rivalry that existed between the Pope, the Della Rovere and the Medici - his patrons – left his talent unrecognised.
His most celebrated artworks are The Birth of Venus and Primavera.
Literally meaning Cape Finisterre or "end of the earth". It is a peninsular 600 meters high, situated west of Santiago de Compostela. It is the westernmost point of continental Spain.
The westernmost point of Europe is Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca) situated 42 km west of the Portuguese capital.
French ethnologist born in 1948. Caratini studied Reguibat camel nomads in Mauritania. She was director of the Arab World Instituted in Paris (1983-1991).
She is currently heading the CNRS research programme on contemporary transformations of the Saharo-Sahelian world.
Her main works include: Les enfants des nuages (1993), La République des sables (2003) and Les non-dits de l’anthropologie (2004).
Shells (2.5 cm) from the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its name comes from a Sanskrit-derived English word. They were used as currency, an instrument for divination and, especially in Morocco, as an ornament for clothing and certain musical instruments.
A nymph in Greek mythology originally from the Canary Islands.
Known as Flora by the Romans, she married Zephyrus - the personification of the wind (or of a light breeze, to be precise) - who gave her the empire of flowers.
Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain) is a Catholic pilgrimage along which pilgrims revere the relics of Saint James the Great, allegedly discovered in the 9th century by a monk who was guided by a star (in the same way as the "wise men" who went to pay homage to the "king of Jews").
Compostela could indeed mean "field of stars", but the term could also refer to a prehistoric observatory that existed in that area.
After the Reconquista (the conquest of Granada from the Muslims in1492), the Pope officially declared Santiago de Compostela the "third greatest pilgrimage of Christianity" after those in Jerusalem and Rome.
The pilgrimage was of politically strategic importance for the Church during the Middle Ages, for Franco who wanted to break the isolation of his government, and for the Council of Europe which traces "cultural itineraries" across the continent.
Cypraea are gastropod molluscs. Their shells were used as currency in China until the emergence of the first bronze currencies (this is why many Chinese characters related to money contain the character representing this cypraea). Marco Polo, who brought the currency back from China, is believed to have called in porcellena (porcella en italien) on account of its resemblance to a sow's vulva [note that Cypraea is also known by the term "porcelaine" which has nothing to do with sows].
Its resemblance with female genitalia was captures more poetically by the Cypriotes who gave the name Kupris to Aphrodite (Homer in the Illiad, to be precise).
Over the year the angle of the earth's axis varies in relation to an imaginary line between the sun and the earth. This is the reason for seasons in temperate zones. Likewise, the length of the day is proportional to the inclination of the earth's axis. Twice in the year the inclination is zero.
The earth's axis is perpendicular to the line between the sun and the earth. At the equator, the sun is at its zenith at midday, and the length of the day and the length of the night are the same everywhere on earth except at the poles. The equinox is the moment in the earth's orbit when this phenomenon takes place. By convention, these dates mark the beginning of spring and autumn.
Flora is a Roman agrarian goddess. Her Latin name is Floris, which is derived from the ancient Greek word phýllon ("leaf"), while Chloris, her Greek equivalent derives her name from the Greek word chlorós ("green"). Flora generally refers to the plant species within a determined ecosystem (as opposed to fauna).
Galicia is a region in the north of Spain which bears the name of its first inhabitants, the Callaeci.
It comprises four provinces and has a land area of approximately 30,000 km2. The two official languages of the region are Spanish and Galician.
The region is best known for the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage which has its origins in mythology.
There are many James (Jacob) in the gospel. The most well-known of these is James, son of Zebedee. He was the older brother (hence the title "the Great") of John the Apostle, and was one of the 12 apostles of Christ.
Christian tradition speaks of a journey to Spain a year after the death of Christ Then, after several trips to Rome, he returned to Jerusalem where he was executed by Herod. According to legend, his remains were recovered and taken to Spain where they were apparently buried.
The tomb was "discovered" in the ninth century by the hermit Pelayo (or Pelage or Pelagius). Thus the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela was born.
Titian (1488-1576) was an Italian painter. His real name was Tiziano Vecellio. He painted a major pictorial piece, most of which was accomplished in Venice, the artist's birthplace.
He also travelled extensively to destinations including Rome, Florence and Augsbourg.
He is famous for the quality of his portraits thanks to his ability to bring out the personality traits of his subjects.
The word "nymph" has many meanings. It is a goddess associated with nature. Curiously, in Greek mythology they are associated with satyrs, which female hypersexuality is called "nymphomania".
The word is also related to the "nymphae" or inner labia, which are the flaps of skin on either side of the human vagina beneath the outer labia.
For the Romans, nymphs were association with springs, fountains and rivers.
(Or Pelage or Pelagius). Pelayo is believed to have been guided by a star to the "ends of the earth" where he discovered the relics of James the Great on the Iberian Peninsula.
Venus is a Roman goddess, the equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite, whose attributes she adopts, including the mirror and the magic girdle (the cestus). She was worshipped under many forms in Imperial Rome.
From the symbolic perspective, it is worth noting that the attributes of Venus were myrtle, the rose, the apple, the pomegranate and animals with a fiery or prolific nature such as the ram, the billy goat, the hare, the swan, the turtledove or the dove.
Finally, for the alchemists, she represents copper, because she was born in Cyprus, the Greek name of which gave the Latin "cuprum", copper.
From the astronomical point of view, the Milky Way is the name of the galaxy which encompasses the Solar system, and therefore the Earth. It is probably shaped like a spiral, like Andromeda. We cannot be certain, since we are part of it and cannot therefore observe it from the outside.
Seen from the inside, it appears as a glowing band arching across the night sky, generating much speculation and featuring in the Cosmologies of many different peoples able to observe it.
Its name comes from Greek mythology, in which Zeus, Hera his wife and Heracles his son all play a part. The Milky Way represents the trace of the milk which trickled from her breast.
The Galaxy, which is the other name for the Milky Way, derives from the Greek galaxias, which means milk.
In other parts of the world, it is represented as a “Sivery river” (Asia), a “sea inlet” (Polynesia), a “The Pathway of the Dead” (Latin America), “The Pathway of the birds” (Finland) or a serpent (North Africa including Morocco).
In Greek mythology, Zephyrus embodied the west or north-west wind (as well as the breeze). He was offered sacrifices in order to call him up or at other times, to send him away, depending on the desired effect for the harvests.