The most important of the cast of characters were the Gods and Goddesses, most familiar to us as the names of the planets Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, for example. As the original dysfunctional family, we will discover how they are related, learn how to identify them, and define their responsibilities – whilst also making a start on their varying degrees of irresponsibility, as far as the fate of humans was concerned.

Using Raphael’s The Council of the Gods as our guide, and a framework for the talk, we will introduce the most important deities one by one, learning if they have a standardised appearance in art, and identifying any attributes which might help to recognise them in other works of art. Once we know who they all are, we will see how they are related – although even the ancients weren’t sure: the myths are so old, and have been told in so many different ways, that they aren’t entirely consistent. All we need to know, though, is how the artists themselves would have understood who they were and what their role was.