Gela – A new exhibition has opened on the outskirts of Europe on the origins of the myth of the “Androprosopus Bull” and the classical roots of Europe.
Ghelos, the androsopic bull of Gela, in a line of continuity with Achelous and the two rivers Gela in Sicily (in Magna Graecia) and the Aspropotamus the second largest river of the Hellenic peninsula.
The artist wanted to reinterpret “Ghelos” to create a work of art that evokes identity, belonging and redemption for a territory violated by heavy industrialization.
Art is not an exact copy or a simple reproduction of the historical effigy, but the interpretation of the contemporary or the past is art and above all the message of redemption of a community is art.
The Anthropomorphic Bull is in line not only with Hellenic history and mythology, but is in line with the oriental mythology of the river which is depicted by a mythological animal with a human face.
The symbol of Ghelos represented the river Gela for the Rhodian-Cretans of the founders “Antifemus and Euthymus”, but this was not just the representation of the river but a real divinity.
The history of humanity is full of examples of representations of rivers with mythological animals with a human face, both in the Eastern and Western traditions.
Ghelos was represented in the coins minted in the polis of Ghela about 2700 years ago and has been the subject of contemporary reproductions in the stamps of the Italian state mint and even abroad (for example in Niger).
Ghelos is certainly in line with the Hellenic mythological tradition that represented the river Aspropotamus, that is, Achelous.
Achelous is the most important of the Greek water deities and the first of all the river brothers.
He appears in the cycle of the labors of Heracles (Hercules) when he aspired to marry Deianira, daughter of Oeneus and king of the Aetolians, who had been asked as a wife by Heracles.
During the fight between the two, Achelous transformed first into a snake, then into a bull (as Sophocles narrates), then into a slimy and iridescent dragon and finally into a man with the head of an ox so Heracles tore off his horn.
Achelous considered himself defeated and gave him the right to marry Deianira but wanted his horn back and gave in exchange a horn from the goat Amalthea, the nurse of Zeus, i.e. the cornucopia.
From the drops of blood that fell from his wound, mermaids were born, called Acheloides after their father’s name.
Achelous was also considered the father of many sources, such as the Pyrene source of Corinth, the Castalia source of Delphi, the Dirce source of Thebes (ed. and probably also of Ghelos of GHELA).
WHO IS THE WORK PROMOTED BY?
The exhibition is promoted by an association of citizens, the “Comitato Civico Gela Brainstorming APS” Association, which wants to recover the roots of its territory against years of disinterest and heavy industry.
The work was created by the Art Master Francesco Cascino.
WHERE THE WORK IS FOUND
The prototype of the “Gela Bull” will be on display for free at the Orlando Bookshop in Via Cairoli 104 from 13 April 2024 to 3 June 2024.
The Orlando bookshop in Gela in Via Cairoli 104 is open from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 1pm and from 4.30pm to 8pm.
For guided tours contact gelabrainstorming[at]tiempolibresite.com
Place: Orlando Bookshop, Via Cairoli, 104, GELA, CALTANISSETTA, SICILY
Tags: Exhibition Androposopus Bull Gela June BlogSicilia
