“THEANO - 175 x 185 cm

Theano, born circa 546 BC, is remembered in history as a remarkable scientist. She was the wife of the famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras (582 – 500 BC) who founded a school of philosophy and created a number of important theories which became the fundamentals of many sciences. Despite their difference in age, this power couple established a school focused on philosophy, mathematics, and nature as well as meditation techniques and other studies related to a spiritual life - including self-awareness, self-control, self-esteem, and self-appreciation. Unfortunately, Pythagoras’s rising power attracted envy and when his school gained control of the government of Croton, the local inhabitants decided to destroy it. Pythagoras was killed along with many other teachers and students. The school was destroyed, and the locals hoped that Theano would give up and return to Crete. Defeating all odds, however, she reestablished the school with the help of her children. Her daughter Damo is especially remembered for having been responsible for the preservation of her father’s writings as well as the texts of other philosophers who died in the attack. Damo was also a physician, and the greatest discovery made by Theano and Damo is in association with the human fetus, establishing that a fetus is only able to survive after seven months of pregnancy. Theano wrote many treatises related to medicine, physics, mathematics and psychology — especially on themes connected with children. Theano was the author of Cosmology, The Theorem of the Golden Mean, The Theory of Numbers, The Construction of the Universe, On Virtue, and a biography of her husband, Life of Pythagoras. The most important of her works is arguably The Theorem of the Golden Mean, a description of the irrational number that appears in many aspects of nature. This theory is very similar in construction to the geometrical constant pi that Pythagoras developed. Theano’s school continued to exist for at least 200 years after the death of Pythagoras.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: Libera - Designed by - Jon Gasca - Manufactured by Stua
POEM by Paul Isbell - “A Final Plea to Yeats” from ‘Celtic Prayer’”

“PORCIA CATONIS - 150 x 175 cm

Porcia Catonis lived in the first century BC, several generations before the Roman Stoics of the Imperial period, whose works survive today: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. She was a contemporary of Cicero and the Stoic Posidonius of Rhodes. She was a Stoic philosopher, full of understanding and courage. We don’t know if she wrote anything, but as her fellow Stoics, her philosophy was to be practiced in deeds rather than words. She was the daughter of Cato the Stoic, who opposed Caesar’s attack on the Roman Republic. She became the wife of Brutus, a Roman politician and philosopher also influenced by Stoicism, who was to be the leading assassin of the tyrant Julius Caesar. According to one story, when she later heard of Brutus’ death, Porcia committed suicide by swallowing hot coals. Although other accounts contradict this, it became a well-known story and inspired several authors, most notably Shakespeare. Porcia was sometimes referred to as Portia in Elizabethan English literature. Shakespeare portrays her in the play Julius Caesar and in The Merchant of Venice he wrote:
”In Belmont is a lady richly left;
And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,
Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages:
Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued
To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia.”

VIADUCT FURNITURE: FMO6 Lounge - Manufactured by Pastoe - Designed by Cees Braakman / BARBRY table - Manufactured by Fredericia / MUFFIN Light - Manufactured by Brokis - Designed by Lucie Koldova & Dan Yeffet
POEM by Paul Isbell - “The Vandals Enter Rome” from ‘Celtic Prayer’”

“ANYTE OF TAGEA - 160 x 165 cm

Anyte of Tagea (3rd century BC) was a Greek poet of the Peloponnesus who was highly esteemed in antiquity. In the well-known Stephanos (or “Garland”), a collection compiled by Meleager (early 1st century), the “lilies of Anyte” are the first poems to be entwined in the “wreath of poets.” Antipater of Thessalonica, writing during the reign of Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), called her “a woman Homer” and placed her in a list of nine lyric poetesses. Her dedications for fountains and to the nymphs of the springs reveal the Greek feeling for a tranquil landscape, so often illustrated in the Greek Anthology. Furthermore, Anyte of Tagea wrote epitaphs for many different animals (which were perhaps intended for literary purposes more than for actual use). However, she never refers to herself in her poems nor does she ever employ the theme of love. Her love of nature and her interest in animals distinguish her as typical of the early years of the Hellenistic period.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: Eugine Lounge - Manufactured by e 15 - Designed by Stephen Diez
POEM by Paul Isbell - “Your Back Has The Salacious Curve” from ‘Celtic Prayer’”

“PTOLEMAIS OF CYRENE - 130 x 185 cm

Ptolemais of Cyrene was a harmonic theorist, author of Pythagorean Principles of Music. She most likely lived in the 3rd century BC. In her work, written in the form of a catechism, she commented on the music-theoretical debate concerning the proper roles of reason and sensory experience in the study of music. According to the fragments quoted by Porphyry, Ptolemais’ main interest was to draw an outline of the various traditions of inquiry in harmonic science (the study of the elements out of which melody is built) comparing them by reference to their methodologies. The most important contrast among them was the preference given to perception (aisthesis) verses reason (logos) as starting points of musical investigation. It was quite common in Hellenistic times for the schools of harmonic theory to differ in their opinions regarding the status assigned to perception and reason. There was a sharp division between two approaches known as the ‘empirical’ on the one hand and the Pythagorean on the other. Among the Pythagoreans, Ptolemais distinguished the kanonikoi and the mathematikoi. The kanonikoi (“straightness,” - the science through which reason discovers what is correct) agree to place perception as the guiding force. The mathematikoi, in contrast, adopt the theoretical principles such as the fact that intervals are in ratios of numbers. Among empiricists, she separated the ‘mousikoi’, the harmonic theorists who, despite beginning from perception, applied themselves to a theoretical science based in thought, from the ‘organikoi’, who gave no thought at all to theory. Despite her work having survived only in fragments, Ptolemais remains the only female musicologist known from classical antiquity.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: Branca Chair - Designed by Sam Hect & Kim Colins - Manufactured by Mattiazzi
POEM by Paul Isbell - “Why It Took So Long” from ‘Celtic Prayer’”

“SAPPHO - 140 x 180 cm

Sappho remains one of the greatest lyric poets from any age. She was born around 615 B.C. to an aristocratic family and spent most of her adult life in the city of Mytilene where she ran an academy for unmarried young women. Sappho’s school devoted itself to the cult of Aphrodite and Eros, and Sappho earned great prominence as a dedicated teacher and poet. A legend from Ovid suggests that she died at an early age by throwing herself off a cliff when her heart was broken by a younge sailor, Phaon. Other historians however believe she died of old age around 550 B.C. Known in antiquity as a great poet, Plato called her “the tenth Muse” and her likeness appeared on coins. Whether she invented or simply refined the meter of her day, today it is known as “Sapphic” meter. Three centuries after her death the writers of the New Comedy parodied Sappho as both overly promiscuous and lesbian. Sadly this caused Pope Gregory to burn her work in 1073. It is difficult to unequivocally answer such claims, as social norms in ancient Greece differed so much from those of today. We know however that her poems about Eros, speak with equal force to men as they do to women. Rather than addressing the gods and recounting epic stories such as Homer did, Sappho’s verses speak from one individual to another. They speak simply and directly to the “bittersweet” difficulties of love.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: La Pipe (Chair) - Manufactured by Friends & Founders - Designed by Ida Lineament Hildebrand
POEM by Paul Isbell - “The Myth of the Luxurious Bohemian” from ‘Celtic Prayers’”

“HYPATIA - 130 x 180 cm

Hypatia, (born c. 355 CE—died March 415, Alexandria) lived in a very turbulent era in Alexandria’s history. She is famous for being the greatest mathematician and astronomer of her time, for being the leader of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy in Alexandria and for spectacularly overcoming the profound sexism of her society. She was, in her time, the world’s leading mathematician and astronomer, the only woman for whom such claim can be made. She was a popular teacher and lecturer on philosophical topics of a less-specialist nature and attracted large audiences and many loyal students. Her philosophy was Neoplatonist and was thus seen as “pagan” at a time of bitter religious conflict between Christians (both orthodox and “heretical”), Jews, and pagans. With the deaths of Synesius and Theophilus and the accession of Cyril to the bishopric of Alexandria, however, the climate of tolerance lapsed, and shortly afterward Hypatia became the victim of a particularly brutal murder at the hands of a gang of Christian zealots. Her intellectual accomplishments alone were quite sufficient to merit the preservation and respect of her name, but the manner of her death added an even greater emphasis to her achievements.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: He Said Chair - Designed by Studio Nitzan Cohen - Manufactuer by Mattiazzi
POEM by Paul Isbell - “To Stand in the World is to be Suspicious” from ‘Celtic Prayer’”

“MOERO OF BYZANTIUM - 125 x 170 cm

(4th painting pertaining to the Hypatia Collection)
Moero (Μοιρώ) was a poet of the Hellenistic period from the city of Byzantium. Moero probably lived during the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC. Little of Moero’s poetry – only 18 lines of it — has survived to our day: 10 lines from her epic poem Mnemosyne are quoted by Athenaeus, and two four-line epigrams, quoted by Meleager in his Garland, are still at our disposal. Additionally, she is also known to have written a poem called Arai (“Curses”), a synopsis of the myth of Alcinoe. The surviving fragment of Moero’s Mnemonsyne tells the story of Zeus’ childhood on Crete, where he had been hidden by his mother Rhea to save him from being killed by his father Cronus. The fragment recounts an episode of Zeus’ early life to emphasize the role of women. Moero seems to have had a high reputation as a poet in antiquity. Antipater of Thessalonica includes Moero in his list of famous women poets, and Meleager’s poem, Garland, refers to her as a “lily”, putting her alongside Sappho and Anyte. According to Tatian, Cephisodotus, the son of Praxiteles, sculpted her.


VIADUCT FURNITURE: TriAngle - Manufactured by Karakter - Designed by Aldo Bakker
POEM by Paul Isbell - “Minor Poet” from ‘Celtic Prayers’”

“NOSSIS OF LOCRI - 150 x 167 cm

Nossis (Greek: Νοσσίς) was a Hellenistic Greek poet from Epizephyrian Locris (in current day Southern Italy) who lived around 300 B.C. Nossis is one of the best-preserved of classical Greek women poets. Twelve epigrams in the Greek Anthology are attributed to her, and most of them are about women. Antipater of Thessalonica ranks her among the nine poets who deserved the honor to compete with the Muses. Nossisindicates in her epigrams that she was influenced by Sappho. Meleager substantiates this claim when he refers to her as a “sweet-scented iris of Nossis that he wove into his ‘garland.’” Her epigrams reveal aspects of a womanly world. One poem is a dedication of a cloak at the temple of Hera to the north of her homeland of Locri, and in this pieceNossis mentions her mother and grandmother. Another poem is a dedication from a hetaera to Aphrodite. Three other epigrams describe portraits of women. Another poem is about Artemis assisting in childbirth. Two deal with men: one is an epitaph for a writer of phlyax, a type of burlesque drama; still another honors dead Locrian fighters.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: Hiroshima Dining - Manufactured by Maruni - Designed by Naoto Fukasawa
POEM by Paul Isbell - “The Wild Geese” from ‘Celtic Prayers’”

“KORINNA OF TANAGRA - 145 x 165 cm

Korinna (Ancient Greek: Κόριννα) was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Tanagra in Boeotia. Since the early twentieth century, scholars have been divided over the accuracy of the traditional chronology of Korinna’s life.
Ancient tradition suggests she lived during the 5th century BC but some claim that she is more likely to have lived in the Hellenistic period of 323 to 31 BC. Either way, Korinna seems to have been well-regarded by the people of ancient Tanagra, and there was even a monument dedicated to her in the streets of the town – most likely a statue. Although Korinna’s work has survived only in fragments, we have sufficient material to determine her style and themes. She wrote choral lyric poetry, mainly focusing on local Boeotian legends – such as her invocation of Terpsichore, the Muse of dance and chorus. Other poems talk about Orion, Oedipus, and the Seven Against Thebes. She is one of the few preserved female poets from ancient Greece and according to the Suda, she wrote five books of poetry. The three most substantial fragments are preserved on pieces of papyrus discovered in Hermopolis and Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, dating to the second century AD. Ancient tradition describes her as being a contemporary of Pindar. Whether she was a fellow-pupil of Myrtis of Anthedon together with Pindar, or whether Pindar himself was her pupil, it was said that Korinna used to compete with Pindar in poetry, defeating him at least one or more times. Korinna’s language is clear, simple, and generally undecorated and she tends to use simple metrical schemes. Her poetry focuses more on the narrative than on intricate use of language, and her tone is often ironic or humorous, in contrast with Pindar’s more serious tone. Korinna’s poetry was very popular in the early Roman Empire and Antipater of Thessalonica includes her in his selection of nine “mortal muses”. Herbert Weir Smyth described her as the most famous ancient Greek woman poet after Sappho.

VIADUCUCT FURNITURE: Fugu Armchair - Designed by Jasper Morrison - Manufactured by Maruni
POEM by Paul Isbell - “Atlantic Rose” from ‘Celtic Prayers’”

“AESARA OF LUCANIA - 150 x 160 cm

Aesara of Lucania was a Pythagorean philosopher from the 4th/3rd century BC, who wrote a work On Human Nature. Aesara argues that it is by studying our own human nature and specifically the human soul, that we can understand the philosophical basis for natural law and morality. Aesara divides the soul into three parts: the mind which performs judgement and thought, the spirit which contains courage and strength, and desire which provides love and friendliness: “Being threefold, it is organized in accordance with triple functions: that which effects judgment and thoughtfulness is [the mind], that which effects strength and ability is [high spirit], and that which effects love and kindliness is desire.These things, being divine, are the rational, mathematical, and functional principles at work in the soul.

VIADUCT FURNITURE: Hug Lounge - Manufactured by Wendlebo - Designed by 365 North
POEM by Paul Isbell - “At the margin of creation” from ‘Celtic Prayers’”