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(Προµηθεύς [ Promētheús]; Latin Prometheus) A. Myth P. is the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene. His brothers are Menoitius, Atlas and Epimetheus. He is said to be the creator of mankind, forming the first people out of water and earth (Ov. Met. 1,82). P. first appears as the champion of mortals at the ‘Trick at ¶ Mecone’. He makes two piles out of the carcass of a sacrificial bull. The first pile consists of the meat and offal, the second of the bones. P. covers the nutritious sacrifice with the rumen and the worthless one with white fat,…

(Διδώ/ Didṓ, Δειδώ/ Deidṓ, Αἰνείας; Latin Dido, Aeneas) A. Myth The story of D. and A. is one of the local foundation myths of antiquity. Our main source for it is Virgil’s Aeneid. A., son of the Trojan prince Anchises and Venus (Aphrodite), is brought up by the Centaur Chiron. He fights on Hector’s side in the Trojan War, but is protected in battle by Zeus and is able to escape from the fall of Troy together with his son, Ascanius, his father and the treasure of the Penates. His wife, Creusa, ¶ loses her life during the escape (Verg. Aen. 2). He then begins a seven-year odyssey with …

( Lucretia; Greek Λουκρητία/ Loukrētía) A. Historical dimension L. (since Antiquity also Lucrezia, Lukrezia) was the daughter of the Roman aristocrat Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus and wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. After she was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last King of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, Graeco-Roman tradition has it that she stabbed herself to death in front of her relatives and friends, gathered in the house of her father – but not before extracting oaths of venge…

(Πϱομηθεύς, lat. Prometheus) A. Mythos P. ist der Sohn des Titanen Iapetos und der Okeanide Klymene, Bruder des Menoitios, des Atlas und des Epimetheus. Er gilt als Schöpfer der Menschen, die er aus Wasser und Erde geformt haben soll (Ov. met. 1,82). Als Sachwalter der Menschheit tritt P. erstmals beim Opferbetrug von Mekone auf: Aus dem Fleisch eines Opferstieres bildet er zwei Haufen, von denen der erste aus dem Fleisch und den Innereien, der zweite aus den Knochen besteht. P. bedeckt die ertragrei…

(Διδώ, Δειδώ/Deidṓ, Αἰνείας; lat. Dido, Aeneas) A. Mythos Die Geschichte von Ai. und D. gehört zu den lokalen Gründungsmythen der Antike. Ihre Hauptquelle ist Vergils Aeneis. Ai., Sohn des trojanischen Prinzen Anchises und der Venus (Aphrodite), wird vom Kentauren Cheiron erzogen. Er kämpft im Trojanischen Krieg an der Seite Hektors, wird aber im Gefecht von Zeus beschützt und kann aus dem untergehenden Troja mit seinem Sohn Ascanius, seinem Vater und dem Schatz der Penaten entfliehen – seine Frau Creusa kommt auf der F…

Literature as the Medium of Revelation, Revelation as Form of Literature Literature, understood in its literal meaning as written text, has always had a central function for religion in the process of revelation and → tradition. At the same time, literature has essentially been motivated and constituted by this function as well. All of the more extensive religious traditions, especially the ‘revelatory religions’ or the ‘religions of the book’ (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), are build upon processes of lit…