SHP1066495
Paphos, Cyprus, Ikarios, detail, 3rd century AD Roman floor mosaic, House of Dionysus. Ikarios / Icarius was an Athenian man who was instructed in the art of winemaking by the god Dionysos. Ikarios shared the gift with his countrymen, but was stoned to death by a group of drunken shepherds who thought they had been poisoned. His daughter Erigone and faithful hound Maira (Maera), when they found his body, she hung herself from a tree and the dog leapt leapt into a well. Dionysos was infuriated by their deaths and--after transferring Ikarios, Erigone and Maira to the stars as the constellations Bootes, Virgo and Canis Major- inflicted the land with drought and mania.
DC
