Editing Horae (section)

=== The Four Seasons ===
[[Nonnus]] in his ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' mentions a distinct set of four Horae, the daughters of [[Helios]]. [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]] also attributes the Horae as the daughters of Helios and [[Selene]], and describes them as the four handmaidens of [[Hera]].<ref>Hammond, "SELENE", pp. 970–971</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Quintus (Smyrnaeus) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K7qQPTMiKaEC&pg=PA442 |title=The Fall of Troy |date=1913 |publisher=W. Heinemann |isbn=978-0-434-99019-1 |pages=442 |language=en}}</ref> The seasons were personified by the ancients, the Greeks represented them generally as women but on some antique monuments they are depicted as winged children with attributes peculiar to each season.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index|last=Murray|first=John|year=1833|location=Albemarle Street, London|pages=256}}</ref> The Greek words for the four seasons of year:
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Personified
!Description
|-
| [[Eiar]]
| Spring
| Crowned with flowers, holding either a kid or a sheep, and having near to her a budding shrub: she is also characterised by Mercury, and by a ram.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
|-
| [[Theros (mythology)|Theros]]
| Summer
| Crowned with ears of corn, holding a bundle of them in one hand and a sickle in the other: she is also characterised by Apollo, and by a serpent.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
|-
| [[Phinoporon]]
| Autumn
| Either holds bunches of grapes, or has a basket of fruits upon her head: she is also characterised by Bacchus, and by a lizard or hare.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
|-
| [[Cheimon]]
| Winter
| Well clothed, and the head covered, stands near a tree deprived of foliage, with dried and withered fruits in one hand and water-fowls in the other: she is also characterised by Hercules, and by a salamander.{{cn|date=September 2024}}  
|}
{{poemquote|Here Spring appears with flowery chaplets bound.
Here Summer in her wheaten garland crown'd;
Here Autumn the rich trodden grapes besmear.
And hoary Winter shivers in the rear.|author=[[Ovid]]|source=''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 2.34}}

==== Modern influence ====
[[Nicolas Poussin]] has represented the four seasons by subjects drawn from the [[Bible]]: Spring is portrayed by [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] in paradise: Summer, by [[Ruth (biblical figure)|Ruth]] gleaning: Autumn, by [[Joshua]] and [[Caleb]] bearing grapes from the promised land; and Winter, by the [[Genesis flood narrative|deluge]].

In more modern representations the seasons are often surrounding Apollo: Spring, as Flora, crowned with flowers, and in a shaded green drapery over a white robe: Summer, standing under the lion in the zodiac, with a gold-coloured drapery over a white gauze vestment, the edges of which are tinged by the yellow rays of the sun, holding a sickle, having near her a wheat-sheaf; Autumn, as a Bacchante, in a violet-coloured garment, pressing grapes with one band into a golden cup, which she holds in the other; and Winter as an aged person, placed in the shade at a great distance from the god.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' 1.145</ref><ref>Horace, ''Ode'' 7. b. iv</ref>