about the asteroid 35 Leukothea Image Leucothea Allasseur cour Carree Louvre.jpg thumb 180px Leucothea by Jean Jules Allasseur 1862 , Cour Carr e of the Palais du Louvre . In Greek mythology , Leucothea lang el Leukothea , white goddess was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized, in this case as a transformed nymph. In the more familiar variant, Ino Greek mythology Ino , the daughter of Cadmus , sister of Semele , and queen of Athamas , became a goddess after Hera drove her insane as a punishment for caring for the new born Dionysus . She leapt into the sea with her son Melicertes in her arms, and out of pity, the Hellenes asserted, the Olympian gods turned them both into sea gods, transforming Melicertes into Palaemon , the patron of the Isthmian games , and Ino into Leucothea. In the version sited at Rhodes , a much earlier mythic level is reflected in the genealogy there, the woman who plunged into the sea and became Leucothea was Halia of the sea , a personification of the saltiness of the sea whose parents were from the ancient generation, Thalassa and Pontus or Uranus mythology Uranus . She was a local nymph and one of the aboriginal Telchines of the island. Halia became Poseidon s wife and bore him Rhodos Rhode and six sons the sons were maddened by Aphrodite in retaliation for an impious affront, assaulted their sister and were confined beneath the Earth by Poseidon. Thus the Rhodians traced their mythic descent from Rhode and the Sun god Helios . ref Graves 1955. ref In the Odyssey 5 333 ff. Leucothea makes a dramatic appearance .... This is her form of the oracle. Cultural allusions Leucothea is mentioned by Robert Graves in The White ... raft . Said Leucothae... Then Leucothea had pity, mortal once Who now is a sea god... , and reappears ... concealed her, dark mass of great water. . Leucothea appears twice in Dialoghi con Leuc Dialogues ... Kerenyi Kerenyi, Karl . The Gods of the Greeks , 1951. External links Commonscat Leucothea Category ... more details
Unreferenced date December 2009 Orchamus was a king in Greek mythology . He had two daughters Leucothea and Clytia . Leucothea loved Apollo , the sun god. Apollo disguised himself as Leucothea s mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister s trust and confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothea buried alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a grievous Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense plant, either heliotrope or sunflower, which follows the sun every day. Category Greek mythology Category Mythological kings Greek myth stub es rcamo eu Orkamo nl Orchamus sr fi Orkhamos ... more details
The word Leucothoe can mean Leucothoe plant Leucothoe plant , a genus in the heath family Ericaceae . Leucothoe amphipod Leucothoe amphipod , a genus of amphipod crustaceans. An alternate spelling for Leucothea , the name of several goddesses and women in Greek mythology. Leucotho an early work by the Irish playwright Isaac Bickerstaffe . disambig fr Leucotho la Leucotho ru Leucothoe ... more details
Image Leucothea Allasseur cour Carree Louvre.jpg thumb Leucothea Cour Carr e of the Louvre Jean Jules Allasseur 13 June ref According to the Dossiers de proposition de L gion d Honneur, 1852 1870 Paris 2005 http www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr chan chan fonds edi sm sm pdf F70 20115 119.pdf pdf file The date 1 July is usually given in secondary sources. ref 1818 1903 was a French sculptor, a pupil of Pierre Jean David Pierre Jean David called David d Angers ref In 1858 he collaborated with Armand Toussaint in restoring David d Anger s sculpture La Jeune Grecque , prior to its being returned to Greece in 1866 Ekaterini Kepetzis, Bemerkungen zu David d Angers als Republikaner und Philhellene note 43 http www.europa zentrum wuerzburg.de unterseiten kepetzis.htm on line text ref at the cole des Beaux Arts , Paris , who produced portrait sculptures, memorial allegories and decorative architectural sculpture for official commissions under the French Second Empire Second Empire . He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor , 7 August 1867. He is buried at the cemetery of Montmartre 14th division ref http www.appl lachaise.net appl article.php3?id article 339 Cimiti re Montmartre ref where he kept his studio. ref Dictionnaire des peintres Montmartre Paris Roussard 1999 . ref Selected works La D couverte de Mo s , shown in plaster at the Paris Salon of 1853 and in marble, 1859. Fran ois de Malherbe 1853 , one of the eighty six standing figures of famous Frenchmen in Hector Lefuel s Cour Napol on of the Palais du Louvre . ref http louvre passion.over blog.com archive 07 28 2006.html Les 86 statues des hommes illustres ref Monument of Jean Rotrou bronze, 1866 for Dreux , adapting and simplifying the features of the famous bust by Caffieri for the foyer of the Com die Fran aise. ref Noted with approval by mile Zola in his review of the Salon http www.fak09.uni muenchen.de ... Museum . Leucothea Louvre Museum . Notes reflist 2 Persondata Metadata see Wikipedia Persondata ... more details
Halie or Halia Greek , the difference in ending is merely due to dialect al variations is the name of the following characters in Greek mythology Halie, one of the Nereids , daughter of Nereus and Doris mythology Doris ref Hesiod , Theogony , 246 ref ref Apollodorus , Bibliotheca, 1. 2. 7 ref Halia, daughter of Thalassa mythology Thalassa , sister of the Telchines , mother of six sons and one daughter, Rhode mythology Rhodos , by Poseidon . Through the wrath of Aphrodite , the sons went insane and raped Halia. For that, Poseidon buried them underearth but Halia threw herself into the sea and became the goddess Leucothea who in all other sources, however, is identified with Ino Greek mythology Ino ref Diodorus Siculus , Library of History , 5. 55. 4 7 ref Halie, daughter of Tyllus . She married Cotys mythology Cotys , son of Manes father of Atys Manes , the first king of Lydia , bearing him two sons, Asies and Atys , king of Lydia. ref Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Roman Antiquities , 1. 27. 1 ref References reflist See also Hayley Haley Category Greek mythology Category Nereids ru ... more details
Leucotho is a 1756 drama dramatic poem by the Kingdom of Ireland Irish playwright Isaac Bickerstaffe Isaac Bickerstaff . It was Bickerstaff s first published work. The plot was based on the story of the Greek Goddess Leucothea . Leucotho was originally intended to be a pastoral opera but Bickerstaff was unable to secure a composer to set it to music. In May 1756 it was published by Robert Dodsley at the price of 1 shilling and sixpence . ref Tasch p.29 ref In a contempary review in the Monthly Review London Monthly Review critic Ralph Griffiths generally praised the work, although he criticised the Tragedy tragic ending as the laws of the Opera require a happy ending . ref Tasch p.29 ref While well received by the limited critics who reviewed it the work was largely ignored both by critics and the public. This failure led Bickerstaff to rejoin the military but went on to have a string of successes between 1760 and 1772 often in collaboration with the composer Thomas Arne . References references Bibliography Tasch, Peter A. The Dramatic Cobbler The Life and Works of Isaac Bickerstaff . Associated University Presses, 1971. Opera stub Category 1756 poems Category Pastoral operas Category English language operas ... more details
Pausanias saw a temple of Palaemon, blockquote with images in it of Poseidon, Leucothea and Palaemon ... with Leucothea, Melicertes Palaemon was widely invoked for protection from dangers at sea. ref ... more details
Melicertes . Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea the white goddess ... Zeus didn t want Ino to die, and transfigured her and Melicertes as Leucothea and Palaemon . The story .... Transformed into the goddess Leucothea, Ino also represents one of the many sources of divine ... more details
automatic taxobox image LightRefractsOf comb rows of ctenophore Mertensia ovum.jpg image width 200px image caption Mertensia ovum authority Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz Eschscholtz , 1825 subdivision ranks Orders subdivision Cestida br Cydippida br Lobata br Platyctenida Tentaculata is a class of comb jelly comb jellies . The common feature of this class is a pair of long, feathery, contractile tentacle s, which can be retracted into specialised cilium ciliated sheaths. In some species, the primary tentacles are reduced and they have smaller, secondary tentacles. The tentacles have colloblast s, which are sticky tipped cells that trap small prey. Body size and shape varies widely. The group includes the small, oval sea gooseberry sea gooseberries genus Pleurobrachia , found on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The more flattened species of the genus Mnemiopsis , about 4 inch es long 10 centimetre cm , are common on the upper Atlantic coast it has a large mouth and mainly feeds on larval mollusc s and copepod s. This species is brilliantly bioluminescence luminescent . The similar, but larger, genus Leucothea is abundant on the Pacific coast. Venus girdle genus Cestum is a flattened, ribbon like form reaching over 3 foot length feet 90 centimetre cm in length, and found in tropical waters. References Barnes, R.S.K. et al. 2001 . The Invertebrates A Synthesis . Oxford Blackwell Science. ISBN 0 632 04761 5 Category Ctenophores ctenophore stub az Tentaculata de Tentaculata es Tentaculata fr Tentaculata gl Tentaculata ko id Tentaculata it Tentaculata lt iuopikliniai ukuo iai nl Tentaculata pt Tentaculata sk Chytadlovce uk vi S a l c c tua ... more details
Moschia Meskheti , Mushki is a mountainous region of Georgia country Georgia between Caucasian Iberia Iberia , Armenia, and Colchis . The Meskheti Range Moschian Mountains were the connecting chain between the Caucasus and Anti Taurus Mountains. The people of that area were known as the Moschi. Wilhelm Gesenius suggested that the Moschi were descended from the Biblical Meshech tribe. Strabo mentions the Meskheti Range Moschian Mountains as joining the Caucasus Geography , 11.2.1 . He says that the Moschian country lay above the rivers Phasis, Glaucus, and Hippus Geography , 11.2.17 . In it lies the temple of Leucothea, founded by Phrixus, and the oracle of Phrixus, where a ram is never sacrificed it was once rich, but it was robbed in our time by Pharnaces, and a little later by Mithridates of Pergamum. ibid . According to the renowned scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff , the Moschians were the early proto Georgians Georgian tribes which were integrated into the first early Georgian state of Colchis . ref Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 80 ref Moschians are mentioned in the cuneiform tablets of Tiglath Pileser I of Assyria dating to 1115 1100 B.C. He led a campaign against them in the North of Commagene and mountains of Georgia and Armenia. References reflist Gesenius, Wilhelm. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Including the Biblical Chaldee From the Latin of William Gesenius Translated by Edward Robinson. Boston Crocker and Brewster, 1854 coord missing Armenia Category Assyria Armenia geo stub Georgia geo stub it Moschia ... more details
Pyrgi was an ancient Etruscan civilization Etruscan port in Latium , central Italy , to the north west of Caere . Its location is now occupied by the burgh of Santa Severa . Remains of its defensive walls exist in polygonal blocks of limestone and sandstone, neatly jointed. They enclosed a rectangular area some 200 m in width and at least 220 m in length. The south west extremity has probably been destroyed by the sea. It contained a rich temple of Leucothea, the foundation of which was ascribed to the Pelasgi . It was plundered by Dionysius I of Syracuse Dionysius in 384 BC. Later it became dependent on Caere, though it is not probable that it was originally merely the harbour of Caere Alsium was c. convert 8 km 0 abbr on to the south. Image PyrgiTheban.jpg thumb Detail of clay group with mythological scene from the Theban cycle , from the area of temple A at Pyrgi, mid fifth century BC. The ancient Rome Romans established a colony here, which is first mentioned in 191 BC. Later still it supplied fish to Rome, and became a favorite summer resort, as did also Punicum Santa Marinella , convert 8 km 0 abbr on to the north west, where are many remains of villas. Both were stations on the coast road Via Aurelia . In 1957 excavations found the remains of a large temple with three cells. The Pyrgi Tablets , containing texts in Phoenician and Etruscan languages, were found here in 1964. References Wikisource1911Enc Citation Pyrgi 1911 External links http www.museosantasevera.org engver castello.html Article and panoramic views on the Museo Santa Severa site http www.archeoetruria.altervista.org Archeological sites br Etruscans coord 42 00 54.81 N 11 57 48.29 E region IT 62 type landmark source dewiki display title Category Etruscan sites Etruria stub bg de Pyrgi es Pirgi fr Pyrgi it Pyrgi pt Pyrgi ... more details
merge Melicertes Talk Palaemon mythology Merger proposal date June 2010 multiple issues orphan May 2010 unreferenced May 2010 Palaemon , originally named Melicertes , was a minor, young sea god , son of Ino Greek mythology Ino Leucothea . He was deified by the gods when his mother threw herself from atop a cliff with Palaemon in her arms, arguably to escape insanity or to escape Athanas, King of Thebes at the time, and his father was driven to a murder ous rage after Hera pushed him to it. Early life Being a minor god , not as much was written about Palaemon, but he was a child in need of help. After his father was turned into a murderer by Hera, whose wrath his parents had incurred by fostering Palaemon, Palaemon s mother took with her him and jumped off a cliff to escape away from all the madness on Earth. By doing this the duo became a sea god and goddess, receiving their new names of Palaemon and Leukothea they help distressed sailors on voyages. Depiction In Greco Roman views, Palaemon is viewed as a dolphin riding boy, or a child with a Triton mythology triton tail. Mystery Greeks are not sure where exactly Palaemon got his name from. Some believe his original name, Melikertes, was derived from the pre existing god, Melkart Melqart from the Phoenicia n distortion. Then the Romans took the name Palaemon to mean the honey eater , and then god of the harbour . The name is also said to mean the wrestler . Mystery also surrounds Palaemon s death and deification. The Pseudo Hyginus , Fabulae 4 states, Ino with the younger son of her and Athamas , Melicertes, cast herself into the sea and was made a goddess. The Pseudo Hyginus Fabulae 239 states, Ino, daughter of Cadmus , killed her son Melicertes by Athamas, son of Aeolus, when she was fleeing from Athamas. It also sounds like a Digimon . Category Greek gods ... more details
File Debay Augustin Dumont.jpg thumb 150px Auguste Dumont, in 1829, by Auguste Hyacinthe Debay Augustin Alexandre Dumont 1801 in Paris 1884 in Paris was a French sculpture sculptor . He was one of a long line of famous sculptors, the great grandson of Pierre Dumont , son of Jacques Edme Dumont and sister to Jeanne Louise Dumont Farrenc . In 1818, he started studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris he was a pupil of Pierre Cartellier . In 1823, he was awarded the Prix de Rome for his sculptures, and went to study at the French Academy in Rome . File Napol on Vend me.jpg 150px thumb left Statue de la colonne Vend me In 1830, he returned to France. In 1853 he became a teacher at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. A disease kept him from working after 1875. Works Infant Bacchus Nurtured by the Nymph Leucothea 1830 Semur en Auxois, Mus e Municipal Statue of Nicolas Poussin for the Salle Ordinaire des S ances in the Institut de France Palais de l Institut de France , Paris 1835 Statue of Thomas Robert Bugeaud Mar chal Thomas Bugeaud de la Piconnerie 1850 version, Versailles References File Genius of Liberty Dumont July Column.jpg thumb 150px The Genius of Liberty 1833 topping the July Column in Paris Simone Hoog, preface by Jean Pierre Babelon, in collaboration with Roland Brossard , Mus e national de Versailles. Les sculptures. I Le mus e, R union des mus es nationaux , Paris, 1993 Pierre Kjellberg, Le Nouveau guide des statues de Paris , La Biblioth que des Arts, Paris, 1988 Emmanuel Schwartz, Les Sculptures de l cole des Beaux Arts de Paris. Histoire, doctrines, catalogue , cole nationale sup rieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, 2003, p. 146 commons Category Augustin Dumont Augustin Alexandre Dumont Persondata Metadata see Wikipedia Persondata . NAME Dumont, Augustin Alexandre ALTERNATIVE NAMES SHORT DESCRIPTION DATE OF BIRTH 1801 PLACE OF BIRTH DATE OF DEATH 1884 PLACE OF DEATH DEFAULTSORT Dumont, Augustin Alexandre Category 1801 births Category 1884 deaths Category People from ... more details
for the genus of jumping spiders Athamas genus Image FLAXMAN John The Fury Of Athamas.jpg thumb right 200px The Fury of Athamas by John Flaxman 1755 1826 . The king of Orchomenus Boeotia Orchomenus in Greek mythology , Athamas lang el , was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle mythology Helle . He later divorced Nephele and married Ino Greek mythology Ino , daughter of Cadmus . With Ino, he had two children Learches and Melicertes . Athamas also had a brother, Salmoneus , who was the father of Tyro . ref Ovid IV, 416. ref Phrixus and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town s crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed, though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont which was named after her and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis , where King Ae tes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Chalciope in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the Golden Fleece golden fleece of the ram, which Ae tes hung in a tree in his kingdom. ref name Ovid IV, 416 Ovid IV, 416. ref Later, Ino raised Dionysus , her nephew, son of her sister Semele , causing Hera s intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad and slew one of his sons, Learchus Ino, to escape the pursuit of her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes . Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea , Melicertes as Palaemon . ref name Ovid IV, 416 Athamas, with the guilt of his son s murder upon him, was obliged to flee from Boeotia ... more details
Image Ganga.jpg thumb A sketch of the goddess Ganga on her Vahana mount Makara Hindu mythology Makara File Exekias Dionysos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2044.jpg thumb Dionysus in a ship, sailing among dolphins. Ancient Greece Ancient Greek Attic Black figure pottery black figure kylix drinking cup kylix , ca. 530 BC, from Vulci . Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich. Dolphin s appear in a number of Greek mythology Greek myths , invariably as helpers of humankind. Dolphins also seem to have been important to the Minoans , judging by artistic evidence from the ruined palace at Knossos . A dolphin rescued the poet Arion from drowning and carried him safe to land, at Cape Taenarum , now Cape Matapan , a promontory forming the southernmost point of the Peloponnesus . There was a temple to Poseidon and a statue of Arion riding the dolphin. Herodotus I.23 Thucydides I.128, 133 Pausanias geographer Pausanias iii.25, 4 The Greeks reimagined the Phoenicia n god Melqart as Melikert s Melicertes and made him the son of Athamas and Ino. He drowned but was transfigured as the marine deity Palaemon , while his mother became Leucothea . cf Ino . At Corinth, he was so closely connected with the cult of Poseidon that the Isthmian Games , originally instituted in Poseidon s honor, came to be looked upon as the funeral games of Melicertes . Image Estamno de Etruria M.A.N. Madrid 01.jpg thumb left Young aulos player riding a dolphin red figure stamnos , ca 360 340 BCE, found in Etruria , National Archaeological Museum of Spain National Archeological Museum, Madrid Phalanthus was another legendary character brought safely to shore in Italy on the back of a dolphin, according to Pausanias. Many seals and coins show a man or boy riding a dolphin. Dionysus was once captured by Etruscan civilization Etruscan pirate s who mistook him for a wealthy prince they could ransom. After the ship set sail Dionysus invoked his divine powers, causing vines to overgrow the ship where the mast and sails ... more details
about the district in S o Tom and Pr ncipe Lobata District the alga Lobata alga Automatic taxobox image Ctenophore Bolinopsis infundibulum.jpg image caption Bolinopsis infundibulum authority Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz Eschscholtz 1825 display children 1 Lobata is an order of Ctenophora in the class Tentaculata with smaller tentacle s than other ctenophores, and distinctive flattened lobes extending outwards from their bodies. They are about convert 25 cm in long. Citation needed date April 2010 Anatomy The lobates have a pair of lobes, which are muscular, cuplike extensions of the body that project beyond the mouth. Their inconspicuous tentacles originate from the corners of the mouth, running in convoluted grooves and spreading out over the inner surface of the lobes rather than trailing far behind, as in the Cydippida . Between the lobes on either side of the mouth, many species of lobates have four auricles, gelatinous projections edged with cilia that produce water currents that help direct microscopic prey toward the mouth. This combination of structures enables lobates to feed continuously on suspended plankton ic prey. ref name RuppertBarnes2004Ctenophora cite book author Ruppert, E.E., Fox, R.S., and Barnes, R.D. title Invertebrate Zoology publisher Brooks Cole edition 7 isbn 0030259827 year 2004 pages 111 124 ref Lobates have eight comb rows, originating at the aboral pole and usually not extending beyond the body to the lobes in species with four auricles, the cilia edging the auricles are extensions of cilia in four of the comb rows. Most lobates are quite passive when moving through the water, using the cilia on their comb rows for propulsion, ref name RuppertBarnes2004Ctenophora although Leucothea has long and active auricles whose movements also contribute to propulsion. Members of the lobate genus genera Bathocyroe and Ocyropsis can escape from danger by clapping their lobes, so that the jet of expelled water drives them backwards very quickly. ref ... more details
Additional parameters for this template are available at Template Infobox Planet . Infobox planet discovery yes physical characteristics yes bgcolour FFFFC0 name 35 Leukothea symbol Image 35 Leukothea symbol.png 25px discoverer Karl Theodor Robert Luther R. Luther discovered April 19, 1855 alt names 1948 DC mp 1950 RS 1 1976 WH named after Leucothea mp category Main belt epoch December 31, 2006 Julian day JD 2454100.5 semimajor 447.224 Giga G m 2.990 Astronomical unit AU perihelion 345.074 Gm 2.307 AU aphelion 549.374 Gm 3.672 AU eccentricity 0.228 period 1887.983 day d 5.17 Julian year astronomy a inclination 7.938 degree angle asc node 353.817 arg peri 213.962 mean anomaly 77.469 avg speed 17.00 km second s dimensions 103.1 km mass 1.1 e 18 kilogram kg density 2.0? g cubic centimetre cm surface grav 0.0288 m s escape velocity 0.0545 km s rotation 1.3 d 32 h ref cite web url http www.psi.edu pds archive lc.html title Asteroid Lightcurve Paramaters accessdate 2008 11 03 publisher Planetary Science Institute archiveurl http web.archive.org web 20060614093519 http www.psi.edu pds archive lc.html archivedate 2006 06 14 ref spectral type C type asteroid C abs magnitude 8.5 albedo 0.066 ref cite web url http www.psi.edu pds archive astdata04 simps04 diamalb.tab title Asteroid Data Archive accessdate 2008 11 03 publisher Planetary Science Institute archiveurl http web.archive.org web 20060623213811 http www.psi.edu pds archive astdata04 simps04 diamalb.tab archivedate 2006 06 23 ref single temperature 162 kelvin K 35 Leukothea pron en lju k i Respell lew KOTH ee is a large, dark main belt asteroid . It was discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther R. Luther on April 19, 1855, and named after Leukothea , a sea goddess in Greek mythology . References Reflist 2 Minor planets navigator 34 Circe 36 Atalante Small Solar System bodies DEFAULTSORT Leukothea Category Main Belt asteroids Category Asteroids named from Greek mythology Category C type asteroids Category Astronomic ... more details
Olympus. Turns out her real name is Leucothea, and she is the true heir of the Athenian throne ... however, it is revealed that only Leucothea, the true heir to the Athenian throne, could do this. She ... fight it. It has the ability to summon past bosses to aid it in battle. The hero, Leucothea, and Eris ... more details
entered Hades . This motif is apparent in the paradoxical festivals of the shadowy sea deity Leucothea .... The philosopher Xenophanes once remarked that if Leucothea were a goddess, one should not lament ... more details
In Architecture Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery Latin baptisterium , from Greek polytonic is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal font . The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel. In the early Christian Church , the catechumen s were instructed and the sacrament of baptism was administered in the baptistery. The sacramental importance and sometimes architectural splendor of the baptistry reflect the importance of baptism to Christians. The octagonal plan of the Lateran Baptistery , the first structure expressly built as a baptistry, provided a widely followed model, which might be twelve sided, or even circular as at Pisa. In a narthex or Antechamber anteroom the catechumens were instructed and made their Creed confession of faith before baptism. The main interior space centered upon the baptismal font piscina , in which those to be baptized were immersed thrice. Three steps led down to the floor of the font, and over it might be suspended a gold or silver dove. The iconography of fresco s or mosaic s on the walls were commonly of the scenes in the life of Saint John the Baptist . The font was at first always of stone, but latterly metals were often used. File Lateransbaptisterium.jpg thumb left The Lateran baptistery The Lateran baptistery s font was fed by a natural spring. When the site had been the palatial dwelling of the Laterani, before Constantine presented it to Bishop Miltiades, the spring formed the water source for the numerous occupants of the domus. It will be quickly apprehended that as the requirements for Christian baptisteries expanded, Christianised sites Christianization of sacred pagan springs presented natural opportunities. Cassiodorus , in a letter written in A.D. 527, described a fair held at a former pagan shrine of Leucothea , in the still culturally Greek region of south Italy, which had been Christianized ... more details
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