Greece Legends and Myths 27.4.1968

Goddess Athena defeating Alkyoneys, Pergamos. Athena  separates the Giant Alkyoneus from Earth (in which way he dies), while Gaia, mother of Giants rises from the ground. The goddess Nike helps Athena

Goddess Athena. Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena. Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose.

Athena is portrayed as an astute companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.

Alexander the Great, detail from sarcophagus. The Alexander Sarcophagus is a late 4th century BC Hellenistic stone sarcophagus adorned with bas-relief carvings of Alexander the Great. The work is remarkably well preserved and has been celebrated for its high aesthetic achievement. It is considered the outstanding holding of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

Byzantine mosaic. Byzantine art is the name for the artistic products of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from Rome's decline and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453,^[1] many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some degree the Muslim states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward.

 "Constantine Paleologos" painting by D.Tsokos. Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos, Latinized as Palaeologus (8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor, reigning as a member of the Palaiologos dynasty from 1449 to his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople. Following his death, he became a legendary figure in Greek folklore as the "Marble Emperor" who would awaken and recover the Empire and Constantinople from the Ottomans. His death marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had continued in the East for 977 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.  

"Greece in Messolonghi" painting by E.Delacroix. Missolonghi (Mesolongi, is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Messolongiou (Sacred City of Missolonghi). Missolonghi is known as the site of a dramatic siege during the Greek War of Independence, and of the death of poet Lord Byron.

"The Evzon" painting by G.B. Scott.

Sculpture "The Winged Victory of Samothrace". The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory). Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.

Thank you Merja.

The Legend of the White Snake 28.7.2011

These six stamps on the Macau FDC shown depicts The Chinese folk tale The Legend of the White Snake. This FDC was given to me by My Dear friend Merja. This is a love story about a man and a white snake. The first short tale was found during the Tang Dynasty (618 AD). That’s a cautionary, vigilant and tragic story of a man in love with a lady in white. The scenes of West Lake and Thunder Pagoda were added and the central theme was established during the Song Dynasty (960 AD). The entire story was completed during the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD). It was rewritten to beautify characters in some episodes in Ching Dynasty (1644 AD).

  

Once upon a time, a white snake and a green snake who had magical power in the Mountain Er-Mei and had transformed into two beautiful young ladies, on white, one green. They met a man named Hsu Sheng at the West Lake of Hang-Zhou city. The white snake fell in love with Hsu Sheng at first sight. They got married soon after.

The Lady White helped her husband to open an herbal medicine store by writing the prescriptions. Patients unable to pay were given free treatment and medicine. The store quickly became well known and popular. One day a monk called Fa Hai saw the couples and warned Hsu Sheng that his wife was a white snake.

It was during the Dragon Boat Festival, when Chinese families like to decorate with calamus and Chinese mugwort around the house and drink wine to drive away spirits. This was dangerous to Lady White and Lady Green, since they were spirits after all. Lady White was pregnant at that time and her magical power had weakened a lot. She tried to drink wine to please her husband. Unfortunately, she couldn’t control herself and turned into her snake body in her bedroom. Hsu Sheng saw the white snake and was literally scared to death.

In order to save her husband's life, Lady White went to steal the resurrection plant on the Kunlun Mountain. She failed. But her true love won the resurrection plant and the life of Hsu Sheng was restored.

Hsu Sheng remembered Fa Hai and went to the Golden Mountain Temple to see him. Fa Hai suggested Hsu Sheng become a monk to forget his wife. Fa Hai could take care the spirits. Lady White asked a great army of underwater creatures for help and brought forth a flood over the Golden Mountain Temple to fight with Fa Hai. Fa Hai had the magical power too and asked the heavenly soldiers to save his temple. Since the Lady White was pregnant, she was too weak to fight harder, She gave up the battle and waited for the time after giving birth.

Hsu Sheng went to see his son and carried a magical hat from Fa Hai for his son. The magical hat captured the White Snake. Fa Hai imprisoned the White Snake inside the Thunder Pagoda.

The Green Snake was unable to fight Fa Hai alone, escaped and practiced in her magical power even harder. After the son of Lady White grew up. She took revenge by destroying the Thunder Pagoda and rescued White Snake. White Snake reunited with her husband and her son. The story ended here.

Since the story is so popular. It was moved to Chinese opera, movies, novels, comics, cartoons and PC games. The beginning and the ending portions have been rewritten a lot. For example,

The Lady White was a bad girl and became a good lady

Hsu Sheng was a lewd, lustful guy

Hsu Sheng saved the white snake life in his previous life

The Lady White was beautified as a former fairy lady in the heaven

The son of Lady White rescued Lady White from the Thunder Pagoda

Myths & Legends 15.5.2016

Singapore Myths and Legends 2014

Singapore issued 8 stamps depicting the scenes from its famous myths and legends on 3rd October 2014. Singapore has more than its fair share of myths and legends, including the origin of Singapore’s “Lion City”nickname, the tragic story of Radin Mas, and the inspiring tale of Badang that is related to the Singapore Stone. Many myths and legends of Singapore are shared with Malaysia. Many of these are taught and told to young school children at the age of 8 in class, so that these stories were not to die from over-Westernization.

The first set of four stamps depict The legend of Redhill, or Bukit Merah. The story tells of how a boy saved his village from attacks by dangerous swordfish, only to be murdered by a jealous king. As the story goes, the blood of the boy spilled out and soaked the hill, turning it red. This hill later came to be known as Redhill, and remains as a memorial to the boy for saving the village.

The next set of four stamps featured the legend of Sang Nila Utama, a prince from Palembang who, as the story goes, discovered the island of Singapore (known then as Temasek) while out on a hunting trip. According to the legend, the prince spotted what he thought was a lion, and named the island Singapura - Lion City in Sanskrit.