Vera Panova (born March 20, 1905) Russian novelist, journalist
Read the Authors Calendar biography of Vera Panova
Vera Panova wrote a child's-eyes view of post-war Russia: Seryozha
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, born March 20, 43 BCE) Roman poet – Ars Amatoria / The Art of Love
Read the Poem Hunter biography of Ovid
Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell (born March 20, 1845) – U.S. classical historian/archaeologist – A History of Ancient Sculpture (1883)
Read an excerpt from Mitchell's 1883 book
A History of Ancient Sculpture
The oldest images of the gods were believed by the Greeks to have been of wood. Often, according to oldest tradition, they fell directly from heaven to mortals, or traced their origin to mythic heroes, like Danaos and Orestes. Ancient travellers describe them as sometimes seated, sometimes standing with legs stiffly united, arms clinging to the sides, eyes tightly closed, and as carrying attributes. Such idols were looked upon as shrines in which the deity took up his abode; and the story was, that they sometimes chained down the image, lest the god take flight.
A greater degree of life seems to have been given these idols by a covering of paste and glaring color: thus we learn, that Dionysos and Pan were painted red, and Athena white. Many services described by ancient writers, as well as noticed in inscriptions, show that these images were the objects of a complicated ritual: they were washed, clothed in gay apparel, and decorated with crowns, diadems, necklaces, and ear-pendants. Often, in later times, a magnificent wardrobe formed a part of the temple treasure. On the occurrence of the Panathenaic festival at Athens, the old Athena was clad anew in z.pcplos woven by Athenian women; and at Elis the same ceremony was performed for the ancient image of Hera.246