Cassandra and 114 Kassandra Asteroid - Paris, France
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 51.783 E 002° 19.791
31U E 450849 N 5412448
This sculpture is located near the center of the Tulieries Garden.
Waymark Code: WMCYQA
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 10/27/2011
Views: 16
This 1877 marble sculpture is entitled "Cassandre se met sous la protection de Pallas" or "Cassandra places herself under the protection of Pallas".
The work depicts her naked but for a cloth over her thigh. She is standing next to a square pedestal that has a small statue above it- presumably representing Pallas.
Cassandra is a difficult figure because different legends have been attributed to her... but the major theme is that Cassandra gained the gift of foresight... but after she spurned Apollo's love, he placed a curse on her that would cause no one to believe her predictions.
There are several Pallas's in mythology too... and presumably this Pallas refers to Athena...who was also known as Pallas Athena.
Read more about Cassandra at (
visit link)
The artist is French sculptor Aime Millet (1819-1891).
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Millet was the son of miniaturist Frederick Millet (1796-1859) and uncle to Chicago architectural decorator Julian Louis Millet (1856-1923). He studied and made first in 1836 at the École des Beaux Arts with David d'Angers and Viollet-le-Duc, who was later to design the base of Millet's statue of Vercingetorix in Alesia.
In 1840 Millet began to produce his early works, in 1859 received the Légion d'honneur, and in February 1870 was appointed professor at the École des Arts décoratifs. He was a friend of sculptor Pierre Louis Rouillard and his students included Louis Majorelle, Berthe Morisot, and François Pompon.
Millet died in Paris on January 14, 1891, and is buried in Montmartre Cemetery."
Wikipedia (
visit link) has this brief entry for the Asteroid:
"114 Kassandra is a large and dark main-belt asteroid. It belongs to the rare class T. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on July 23, 1871, and is named after Cassandra, the prophetess in the tales of the Trojan War. The asteroid is featured in the 2009 film Meteor: Path to Destruction, in which it is split in two by a comet, and set on a collision course with Earth."