About Men and Myths
Syracuse, July 2023
Grandad Raffaele: So, how was the summer camp today? Did you play that football match you told me about?
Eveneto: …
GR: Has the cat got your tongue? If you don’t talk how could I ever know if we have to take an ice cream to celebrate or to comfort?
E: …
GR: Eveneto!
E: They made fun of me, ok?
GR: Why? Did you miss the goal?
E: No! It’s about my name. It’s horrible. Everyone always laughs at it.
GR: Eveneto, one day you’ll value your name. Don’t listen to them.You know, I was the one to pick it!
E: Did you not love me?
GR: What are you saying?
E: It lacks sense!
GR: Maybe now it sounds strange, but would you like to know a secret?
E: If I have to…
GR: Well, you should know you are named after a great artist of the past, a medallist of great reputation!
E: A medallist? What does it mean?
GR: What do they teach nowadays? In my time… let’s leave it for now. Medallists were master engravers, magicians of the detail, they realized coins and medals of excellent craftsmanship. What do you say, would you like to see them?
E: Where! Where!
GR: Far closer you’d imagine. If I were to tell you they could also come alive?
E: I don’t believe you. You’re only trying to make me feel better.
GR: Grandson of little faith. Believe in your old grandpa. Come, I’ll show you.
Whose hands first shaped History?
GR: Here we are!
E: Where are we Grandpa?
GR: This Eveneto is Vermexio Palace, but we didn’t come here to stay out in the sun. Let’s go inside, you’ll understand why having an ancient name is not always a bad thing.
Gods and mortals. Heroes and monsters. A dream made an experience. Subject made Life.
E: Grandad, it's beautiful! These medals seem alive!
GR: It’s not a coincidence that the exhibition is called ArgentoVivo. Let’s get closer, I’ll show you some tidbits! E: Who is the lady in the video?
GR: That is the nymph Arethusa. E: Arethusa like the Spring?
GR: Bravo! It’s indeed the nymph that gives name to Arethusa Spring.
E: How did they create a video like this?
GR: Do you know the computers you like so much? Well, they used technology to create this exhibition.
E: See? I always said computers are good. If only mum would listen...
GR: You, young man, are too sly! Your mother is right, too many videogames are bad for your health. Do you know where they started to create all this?
E: I’m sure you’ll tell me soon.
GR: In my time youngsters were more respectful… Anyway, they started from the coins of Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum’s Medagliere.
E: A museum? Impossible. Story is boring. They cannot realize something so, so…
GR: Interesting?
E: Yes!
GR: E invece hanno unito arte, storia e tecnologia e realizzato una mostra che anche i più diffidenti - come qualche ragazzino di mia conoscenza - apprezzano. And yet they merged art, history and technology and created an exhibition that captures the heart of the most sceptic, like a lad of my acquaintance.
E: Ok, ok, you win. I like it, I’m glad I came. But you still didn’t tell me why this place should help me like my name.
GR: Easy, I’ll tell you. I’m old you know?
E: Only when you want to be…
GR: I have this feeling we won’t eat ice cream today.
E: I’ll be quiet! I’ll be quiet!
GR: We were saying. Let’s continue with this immersive journey, let me see… ah! Here it is. Look at this coin.
E: She has sad eyes, don’t you think? And are those dolphins?
GR: Do you know what we could find under those dolphins in other similar coins?
E: What?
GR: The name of the author: Euainetos, also known as Eveneto.
E: Are you kidding me?
GR: Why? I told you you were named after a great Master.
E: Couldn’t you pick Michelangelo? It would have made my life easier.
GR: My young grandson, I’ll tell you, this name also has a sentimental value. One of the first gifts your grandma gave me was a book about numismatics and it also spoke about this great syracusan artist.
E: So my name is due to you being a romantic?
GR: But keep the secret, ok?
E: Adults are weird…
GR: And for this we’ll now go to the Paolo Orsi Museum.
E: But grandpa!
GR: Aren’t you curious to see the original from which the exhibition takes inspiration?
E: Ok, but only if you tell me more about my namesake!
GR: Not only about him, but also Kimon, Eukleidas and many more whose works were used to create this exhibition!
Winged Nike, aurigas, horses, dolphins. Gods, heroes, laurel wreaths, sharpened swords, Their faces and deeds forever printed in metal by the skilled hands of Eukleidas, Euainetos, Kimon. Oh greatest of the past, tell their story, tell their deeds. Tell about Syracuse. Tell about Magna Graecia.
Dizioseo
- Euainetos (Eveneto)
Coin engraver of antiquity. A contemporary of Kimon, his model of Arethusa becomes a point of reference.
- Kimon
Ancient Greek medalist, active in Syracuse in the fifth century BC He works exclusively for the city mint.
- Eukleidas
Contemporary of Kimon and Euainetos, which treats as equals. He is perhaps the first medallist to engrave a three-quarter deity.