Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 April 2

= April 2 =

Greek Mythology Question - Tantalus
Who was the girl who gave water to Tantalus once and then forgot about him, making his suffering 'worse?' --66.188.121.218 (talk) 03:59, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Our Tantalus article doesn't mention this girl, and either do my web searches. So, alas, the answer to your tantalizing question remains just out of my grasp. StuRat (talk) 07:15, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Was there such a girl - where have you come across this? No mention in Odyssey XI, Graves Gk Myths 2/108.8 (could check on Perseus Project for Diodorus iv.74, Plato Cratylus 28, Ovid Met. iv.456, Pindar Olympian i.60...) Not in Lucian Dialogues of the Dead... Or Dante, I think. Some later misogynst misprision? 77.96.78.61 (talk) 12:29, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * According to this piece of fan fiction the answer is Persephone, but I can't find anything else that says so. --Antiquary (talk) 18:25, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Perseus makes a search very easy. Perhaps these sources could be used to expand the article to include all of the myths about him.  The account that Tantalus is torrmented by hunger and thirst comes from Homer, but Pindar had him tormented by a large boulder hanging in the air above his head and ready to drop at any moment.  These are the classical depictions, but Tantalus was very popular during the Reinissance period particularly because Seneca was so popular and Tantalus opens the play Theyestes.  I would try next a search for Tantalus through google books; there might be a commentary on something from a later time period.  This is assuming that the story originated in litterature. Gx872op (talk) 13:55, 3 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe it was Persephone, although I'm interested in what the original source was. I was looking in the visitors part of the Greek underworld category, but since Persephone lived there part time I guess she doesn't count as a visitor. Thanks for the help. --66.188.121.218 (talk) 06:49, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

High-net-worth individual
As I can see from the article, HNWI is a person who has "investable finance (financial assets not including primary residence) in excess of US$1 million". Does "financial asset" include shares, bonds, jewellery, cars, antiques, movable assets etc? Or does it mean only hard cash? -- Supernova Explosion   Talk  13:49, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
 * It obviously means more then 'hard cash' otherwise it wouldn't say 'financial assets not including primary residence' (unless you seriously think it says that in case your primary residence is built out of cash). Nil Einne (talk) 13:56, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I think that any person who met the $1 million threshold only by including jewelry and every car or piece of furniture that he or she owns would be perceived as at best a marginal HNWI. People who are indisputably HNWI would be those with $1 million or more of purely financial, easily tradable assets, such as shares, bonds, other financial instruments, and probably precious metals.  Marco polo (talk) 15:30, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
 * "High net worth individual" does not have a universally accepted definition, so its exact interpretation will depend on the definition adopted in the specific case. Our article is pretty awful; among many other problems, there is nothing special about the Capgemini report it cites.  Taking it at face value, however, "financial assets . . . excluding collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences" at a minimum would include cash, shares, and bonds, and they may contemplate including other resources as well.  For example, the reference to the exclusion for primary residence implies that other real estate may be included.  John M Baker (talk) 16:03, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * The term sounds like those used internally by banks, as an internal threshold, to grant access to those seen as valuable enough for a specific service level. In this case, it would imply having $1 million of assets which can be traded through the bank. XPPaul (talk) 16:52, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Hölderlin poem - "The gods have fled"
Which Hölderlin poem contains the phrase, "the gods have fled"? -- noosph e re 18:44, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * The unfinished drama piece Der Tod des Empedokles (The Death of Empedocles) has the protagonist saying "Die Liebe stirbt, so bald die Götter fliehn" ("For love expires as soon as gods have flown" in the translation by David Farrell Krell). It's not a poem though. ---Sluzzelin talk  19:34, 2 April 2012 (UTC)