. Grecian and Roman mythology . east-plate, as the empe-rors were fond of this badgeof strength and wisdom. Theremight be found a series of Ro-man Emperors, from Augustusto Gallienus, with this attri-bute on their breast-plates,except, perhaps, two or threeof whom scarce any figures re-main. The strongest for thedying cast of the eyes, is on thebust of Nero at Florence, andanswers to Virgils fine de-scription. (Mn. iii. v. 438.)In most of her statues,Athena is represented as seat-ed, and sometimes holds in herhand a distaff instead of aspear. When she was depict-ed as the goddess of the libera
. Grecian and Roman mythology . east-plate, as the empe-rors were fond of this badgeof strength and wisdom. Theremight be found a series of Ro-man Emperors, from Augustusto Gallienus, with this attri-bute on their breast-plates,except, perhaps, two or threeof whom scarce any figures re-main. The strongest for thedying cast of the eyes, is on thebust of Nero at Florence, andanswers to Virgils fine de-scription. (Mn. iii. v. 438.)In most of her statues,Athena is represented as seat-ed, and sometimes holds in herhand a distaff instead of aspear. When she was depict-ed as the goddess of the liberal arts; she was arrayed in a variegatedveil. Sometimes her helmet was covered with the figure of a cock,which, on account of its great courage, was appropriated to the deity ofwar. Some of her statues represented her helmet with a sphinx in themiddle, supported on either side by griffins ;* and on some medals achariot drawn by four horses; and in others a dragon or serpent ap-pears with winding spires at the tops of her * Griffin—A fabulous animal, said to be generated between the Lion and theEagle. It is described as having the head and paws of the lion, the ears of thehorse, the wings of the eagle, and a crest formed like the dorsal fins of a fish. Accord-ing to iElian, in the fourth book of his History of Animals, this creature derived itsorigin from India. Its back was covered with black feathers, its breast with red, andits wings with white. Ctesias, Herodotus, and other writers, also give similar descrip-tions of the Griffin. According to a tradition of the Bactrians, the gold mines of the country were guard-ed by Griffins. The Griffin is also one of the attributes of Apollo; and according toPhilostratus, in his life of Apollonius, the Indians figured the sun in a quadriga drawnby Griffins. 216 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. The shield or corselet with the Gorgons head is supposed by someto represent the full-orbed moon ; by others it is regarded as the em-blem o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectmytholo, bookyear1876
