In art, a symbol is usually a solid, recognizable thing—an animal, a plant, an object, etc.—that stands for something that would be hard to show in a picture or a sculpture. A force of nature, for example, or an idea.
A symbol can also stand for someone’s whole story. In the three sculptures you’re about to look at, the American artist Hiram Powers uses symbols to represent the stories of his three mythological characters.
And just to make things complicated...
Artists through the centuries have used these three characters—and just about all the other characters in
Greek mythology—as symbols themselves to stand for something else.
For example, an artist might put the sea god Poseidon in a picture to represent the sea and everything about the sea.
When you discover the stories of Psyche, Artemis,
and Clytie, ask yourself:
What could those characters represent?
How would I use their stories as symbols?
- Drag the immortal's names from the word bank to the blank space under each statue. Click on the "Question" icon to read about each immortal.
- Click on the "Sun" icon to view an image clue about the immortal.
- Click on the "Zoom" icon to view a larger image of the statue. Once there, click on the "Up" or "Down" arrows or scroll with your mouse to move the image up and down.
- When you are done placing the three names, click the "Finished" button. If one or more of your matches are incorrect, the names will return to the left side.
- Click on the "Reset" button to return the names to the left side.
- To return to the activity, click on the "Close" button.
Well Done!
You’ve done a great job of figuring out what the artist Hiram Powers was up to. Psyche was a mortal girl who became immortal—like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The artist placed a butterfly in her hair. Clytie became a sunflower. The artist gave her sunflower petals. Artemis was the goddess of the moon. The artist gave her a crescent moon. He also represented her modesty with a toga, which Psyche and Clytie do not have.
Now use your symbol-sleuthing skills in Symbols in a Story.
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These three immortals appear alike, but look closely for symbols that are clues to their identities. Click the magnifying glass next to each and see if you can find the clues.
The names of the three are below. Click on the question mark next to their names to learn something about their stories.
Then try dragging the name of each immortal to the sculpture that represents her. For another clue, click on the sunburst.
Oops, one or more of your matches was incorrect. Please try again.
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ArtemisStory Hint
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ClytieStory Hint
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PsycheStory Hint
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“The Greeks called me Artemis. The Romans called me Diana. I am the goddess of hunting. One day a hunter named Acteon ventured into my sacred woods and caught a glimpse of me taking a bath. No one had ever seen me like that. And no one ever will again! I turned Acteon into a deer. His own hunting dogs attacked him. What else could I do?
We gods and goddesses tend to ‘multitask,’ as you say now. My twin brother Apollo, for instance, is the god of the arts and of prophecy. Later, he took over from Helios and became god of the sun. I myself, after years as the goddess of hunting, was assigned to be goddess of the moon as well.”
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“My name is Clytie. I was a water nymph. I fell in love with the sun god Apollo, but he didn’t love me back. All day long I would sit on the ground and watch him move across the sky. I didn’t feel like doing anything else. Eventually I grew roots and became the sunflower. Have you ever seen a sunflower? Throughout the day it turns its head in the direction of the moving sun. As the Roman poet Ovid said of me, ‘Her shape is changed, but still her passion burns.’”
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“My name is Psyche. I was a mortal who fell in love with Cupid, the young god of love. Cupid loved me back. If you think this pleased his mother, Aphrodite, the supreme goddess of love, you’d be wrong! She punished me by giving me many chores, one more backbreaking than the next. I was like a slave to her. Finally, the king of the gods, Zeus, took pity on me. He showed me how to cast off my cocoon-like mortal body and allowed me to marry Cupid in heaven. In Greek, my name meant both ‘soul’ and ‘butterfly.’”
Close
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Look for this object represented
by a symbol in the sculpture.
Close
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Look for this heavenly object represented
by a symbol in the sculpture.
Close
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Look for this object represented
by a symbol in the sculpture.
Close
