The Women of Amphissa. It was inspired by an historical event recorded by Plutarch, a Greek historian, biographer and essayist. This painting shows the morning after a celebration of Bacchus/Dionysus, the God of wine and ritual madness. This celebration caused a group of women to wander into the city of Amphissa from Phocis. Despite these two cities being at war, the women of Amphissa allowed the women from Phocis to fall asleep in their marketplace and stood guard throughout the night to…

Milo (or Milon) of Croton was a legendary Greek wrestler from the Greek settlement of Croton in southern Italy. He won the wrestling contest at five successive Olympic Games, and swept the board at all other festivals. A man of huge stature, he boasted that no one had ever brought him to his knees. It is said that he carried a live ox upon his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia, then ate it all in a single day. Tradition has it that in his old age, on seeing an oak tree partly split open…

The Phyllis & Demophoon painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones is based on the Greek myth of Phyllis and Demophoon. In the story, Demophoon and Phyllis fell in love after the conquest of Troy. Demophoon stayed with Phyllis the king's daughter at Thracian court where they agreed to marry but he had to go for six months to Attica where his father Theseus was.