The gate of the year

Earthenware vase representing the face of the river god Achelous, dating to the VI century B.C. and now in the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, USA. Achelous is the main river in Greece and was personified as a divine being with theranthropic traits, regarded as a son of the primordial divinities Oceanus and Tethys. The river god came into conflict with Heracles to win the hand of Deianira, but was defeated and the girl married the hero. During the fight, Achelous demonstrated his power of transformation, taking the shape of a serpent and a bull, but was at last vanquished by Heracles, who took off one of his horns. According to the version reported by Ovid (Metamorphoses, IX, 85-88), the horn caught from the river god was changed, by the Naiads, the river nymphs, into the horn of plenty or cornucopia.

[Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]




Human-Animal Transformation

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Earthenware vase representing the face of the river god Achelous, dating to the VI century B.C. and now in the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, USA. Achelous is the main river in Greece and was personified as a divine being with theranthropic traits, regarded as a son of the primordial divinities Oceanus and Tethys. The river god came into conflict with Heracles to win the hand of Deianira, but was defeated and the girl married the hero. During the fight, Achelous demonstrated his power of transformation, taking the shape of a serpent and a bull, but was at last vanquished by Heracles, who took off one of his horns. According to the version reported by Ovid (Metamorphoses, IX, 85-88), the horn caught from the river god was changed, by the Naiads, the river nymphs, into the horn of plenty or cornucopia. [Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]