SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - 12:30 PM EDT - Ancient Text Study: De Rerum Natura by Lucretius -- Read the post for our December 7, 2025 meeting -- or find out how to attend.
Haven't had time to absorb this yet but looks interesting:
The caption to this says: A fresco discovered in a banquet hall in the ancient Italian city of Pompeii depicts the Greek god Apollo attempting to seduce the priestess Cassandra
I wonder sometimes how much these descriptions can be trusted . It would be interesting to know how they come up with these conclusions.
I wonder sometimes how much these descriptions can be trusted . It would be interesting to know how they come up with these conclusions.
Typically the gods and other mythological characters have set attributes, so they're clearly identifiable. That's why a statue can be identified if they only have one hand, etc. If that hand is holding an item clearly connected to one character.. That's it. Apollo is associated with lyre, so maybe that's why he's being identified here. I'm not sure if Cassandra's attributes off hand.
The frescoes also illustrate scenes from the Trojan War, so that's another clue:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5p7Q-VryJB/
The anguish on Cassandra's face and her hand holding her head as if she has a migraine from Apollo's curse of foresight (that no one will believe) is heartbreaking!
PS. Natalie Haynes did an amazing job of portraying Cassandra's plight in the novel A Thousand Ships.
... Seen on Instagram
Don ... likely only one omphalos, which was located in Delphi? and was Delphi considered to be the center of the world, at that time? And which would mean that it is the Pythia and not Cassandra. (I was wondering why anyone would take the time to paint Cassandra onto a wall, but I haven't studied much about the frescos of Pompeii).
btw...seers were different than oracles (seers used divination rituals such as bird signs, animal entrails, etc, where as oracles "heard" the voices of the gods).