The original storytellers of The Judgment of Paris don't seem overly concerned with chronology, because the golden apple is thrown by Eris, the goddess of discord, into the wedding of Achilles' parents because she wasn't invited, which implies that Achilles wasn't born yet.

Did Cleopatra choose eternal beauty? No. Cleopatra chose power, not beauty and she already had riches and fame. We know this from Roman denarius coins from her era that show a woman who was hook-nosed, with thin lips and a pointy chin. Now some people might find this image of

Eugène Delacroix's lithograph of Méphistophélès dans les Airs (sometimes translated as Mephistopheles Flying Over Wittenberg), which he produced in 1828 as the first of a series of 17 to illustrate Goethe's Faust. If Martin Luther was Faust, who was Mephistopheles? Was he a demon? An agent

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, better known as Madame de Sévigné, is most famous for her letters to her daughter, Françoise de Sévigné, Countess of Grignan. She was born in the lovely Place des Vosges (then called the Place Royale) - above. Below is Château des Rochers in Brittany,

There are surprisingly few interesting images of Helen of Troy in the history of art, although there are many. Maybe painting the world's most beautiful woman was a challenge. Or it produced strange offspring, like this painting of her birth: that's not Helen though. That'

The real Faust figure was Martin Luther, who died in 1546, a few years after the necromancer Georg Faust. Both are associated with Wittenberg. Luther was Goethe’s intellectual ancestor, upending the northern European world forever by defying the Devil (the Pope in Rome) just as Faust does. He successfully

The Devil only emerged as a strong character in his own right in the late medieval period - the late 1300's or early 1400's in northern Italy when he took on a garish appearance. (He has his own lineage separate from Satan; for another image here.

* 1517 Martin Luther begins the Protestant Reformation in Wittenberg. * 1540-1541 The historical Georg Faust is said to have died in Wittenberg, possibly torn apart by the Devil * 1543 Copernicus shows that Earth is not the centre of the Universe * 1546 Death of Martin Luther * 1587 Anonymous chapbook Historia von D.

Trojan prince Paris was asked to judge who was the most beautiful goddess in the heavens.  He chose Aphrodite over Hera and Athena and was rewarded by her with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Except that she was already married.  As was he. This set in motion

Literally “sleepwalker” or “nightwalker” or perhaps “night crawler” in French – referring to those who like to ramble in the city at night, hence “noctambulism.” The Noctambule is a venerable tradition in French Gothic arts, music and literature that had its heyday back in the 19th century when it referred mainly

For over a hundred years the arts and culture in France were controlled by aristocratic women and intellectual life was dominated by the salons. Initially the leading salon of the era was the Marquise de Rambouillet’s, from 1620 till 1645, but it became pretentious, as they all do eventually,