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My father is really into ancient Greek & Roman things. To the extent that he shipped my sister and I to Italy to learn the ancient techniques of Fresco painting. Now I'm duty-bound to make frescoes for a multitude of his construction projects.
Tricked you, this is just more GOOSE posting. My goose enjoyment easily MIGRATES to Fresco painting as Geese are a significant part of both Greek and Roman iconography. They also occupy much space in Egyptian myth, Russian lore, Celtic Christianity etc. Let's start with Greece...
Some of the earliest depictions of geese (both domesticated and wild) are in the Iliad and Odyssey, usually in the context of omens. For ex. Penelope dreams of 20 geese being slaughtered by an eagle (suitors killed by Odysseus, 20 years without her husband, etc).
Geese represent the masculine and feminine. They're waterfowl, so they dominate both air & water (air=masculine, water=feminine). Geese are also monogamous & are associated with love/marriage. Penelope dreaming of geese right as her husband comes home is pretty cozy.
The same symbolism can be read in my son's current favorite Russian folk tale "Geese Swans." In it, a bratty little girl's brother is captured by the Geese Swans (henchmen of Baba Yaga), thus the masculine is separated from the feminine. The story is about growth to reunion.
Geese migrate, so in many cultures they signal the coming & ending of winter. This mirrors life/death, so they are sometimes the carriers of souls into the underworld. In ancient Egypt the sun was hatched from a goose egg and they worshipped a goose-god called Geb.
In Celtic Christianity the wild goose is interchangeable with the dove to represent the Holy Spirit. Like the Holy Spirit, the wild goose is unwieldy, and can descend upon you with great impact. The Pentecost is a good example where this characterization is accurate.
In general, the geese are pretty neat. They're highly communal; if a goose becomes sick, the flock will wait for it to get better or die before moving on. During flight, geese use a V formation which uplifts everyone in the flock except the leader, thus the leader rotates out.
When a goose falls out of formation they feel the physical strain of flying alone & return to their spot. They ferociously protect their young & their territory. They're known to keep other animals better behaved (I've seen them break up chicken fights), & they're great guards...
Perhaps the most famed geese are the saviours of Rome. Livy describes: "So silent had their (The Gauls') movements been that not only were they unnoticed by the sentinels, but they did not even wake the dogs...
But they did not escape the notice of the geese, which were sacred to Juno and had been left untouched in spite of the extremely scanty supply of food"
The geese made a ruckus, which alerted the Roman soldiers. Ever since, Rome celebrated the geese with a festival.
The geese made a ruckus, which alerted the Roman soldiers. Ever since, Rome celebrated the geese with a festival.
So that's the story I'll depict in my next fresco. Here's the rough sketch. I think I'll do a black background with a lot of stark reds (inspired by the House of The Vettii). Ps. those are tufted Roman geese, that's why they have the poofties on their heads.
an example of a fresco I did on a tile 2yrs ago
