Transcript - Catalyst
CLASSICS 210 OVID 43 BC – AD 8 From Chaos to (Roman) cosmos • • • • • • • • • • Chaos -> cosmos Ages of Man (gold -> silver -> bronze -> iron) Lycaon -> wolf Earth -> flood Recovery from flood: Deucalion and Pyrrha: stones-> people Python Daphne -> laurel Io -> cow -> Isis Syrinx -> Pan’s pipes Phaethon Phaethon’s sisters -> poplars and amber Creation Creator ‘prescribed its [the cosmos’] several parts’ -emphasis on boundaries ‘there he bade the mists and there the clouds to have their dwelling place’ ‘did not grant the winds full freedom of the sky; who even so though each in separate regions rules his blasts, can well nigh tear the world apart, so fierce is brothers’ strife. P. 2 Ages of Man [Jupiter] ‘called the gods to conclave’ ‘this majestic place … is heaven’s Palatine’ ‘so when the blood of Caesar … was spilt [did people shudder as the gods did now]… nor dost thou rejoice, Augustus, in thy subjects’ loyalty less than great Jove in his … ’ p. 6 -7 Lycaon -bad behavior in Greece must be responded to with destruction ( cf. Roman wars in Greece during the 100’s BCE) -’Can Jove intend to abandon earth’s domain to brute beasts…?’ -’he recalled the fates foretold a time…’ cf. Virgil’s and Augustus’ use of prophecies about Rome p. 8 Flood -Jove has the power to cause fatal floods Cf. naumachia – staged naval battles/execution of prisoners • Julius Caesar 46 BCE by the Tiber • Augustus 2 BC in a specially constructed structure fed by a new aqueduct Flood ‘I gave the people the spectacle of naval battle [Greeks vs. Persians] beyond the Tiber, at the place where now stands the grove of the Caesars… thirty beaked ships and a large number of smaller vessels met in conflict… there fought about 3000 men in addition to the rowers.’ Augustus, Res Gestae 4.23 When, lately, Caesar, in mock naval battle, exhibited the Greek and Persian fleets, surely young men and girls came from either coast, and all the peoples of the world were in the City? Who did not find one he might love in that crowd? Ovid Art of Love 1.171 ff. trans A.S. Kline Apollo vs Python Here [in the Pythian games at Delphi] all [who won] received the honor of a wreath of oak (Met p 14.) - Oak crown awarded to a Roman who saved a fellow citizen from an enemy - Pliny, Natural History 16.5 Apollo and Daphne You shall attend the conquering lords of Rome when joy shouts triumph and the Capitol welcomes the long procession; you shall stand beside Augustus’ gates … Bernini c. 1622 Fresco depicting cult of Isis, Pompeii Io She is a goddess now, famous, divine, And linen-robed adorers throng her shrine. Met p. 23 Phaethon A. Palace of the Sun and the map of the world ‘For Vulcan had engraved the world’s great orb … the sea that rings the world … On the land people and cities, woods and beasts were graven p. 25 The Porticus Vipsania and the map of the world ‘For it was Augustus who completed the portico containing a plan of the world that had been begun by his sister in accordance with the design and memoranda of Marcus Agrippa’ (Pliny, Natural History 3.17). B. Phaethon’s sisters -> poplars and amber by the Po (Eridanus) So their tears still flow on and oozing from the new-made boughs, drip and are hardened in the sun to form amber and then the clear stream catches them and carries them for Roman brides to wear. Michaelangelo c. 1533 Ovid, Metamorphoses 10-11: The Song of Orpheus Loss of Eurydice Cyparissus -> cypress tree Ganymede (Jove -> eagle) Hyacinth -> hyacinth Cerastae : guest killing men -> bulls Propoetides: women -> stones Pygmalion + Galatea (stone -> woman) Paphos Cinyras Myrrha -> myrrh Adonis ->anemone (Venus’ song of Atalanta) Death of Orpheus snake on Lesbos –>stone Thracian women -> oak trees Midas -> asses’ ears Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus and Eurydice Poussin 1650 [from his previous wedding duties] thence Hymen came At Orpheus’ summons’ p. 225 Orpheus and Eurydice ‘the new-wed bride … fell dying when a serpent struck her heel …’ p. 225 Titian 1510 Orpheus and Eurydice Corot 1868-70 Orpheus and Eurydice ‘The underworld could not deny the prayer’ p. 226 Rubens 1636-38 Orpheus and Eurydice ‘fearing lest she faint, longing to look, he turned his eyes and straight she slipped away’ p. 226 Roman copy of Greek original Orpheus and Eurydice Rodin ‘he stretched his arms to hold her – to be held – And clasped, poor soul, naught but the yielding air’ p. 226 Orpheus and Eurydice ‘There was a hill, and on the hill a wide level of open ground, all green with grass. …When the bard … sat there and touched his strings … every tree was there Poussin 1650 Cyparissus Domenichino 1831-4 ‘unaware with his sharp javelin, young Cyparissus pierced him to the heart … He begged a last boon from the gods, that he might mourn forever more’ p. 229 Cyparissus Tempesta 1600s ‘You shall attend when men with grief are torn’ p. 229 Cyparissus At Versailles 1661-1756 Does Virgil recall this story of the cypress tree as a symbol of grief and mourning when war breaks out in Latium? Therthere was a giant stag … a collar hung over his shoulders set with precious stones he often visited the homes of men Ovid p. 228 Orpheus and Eurydice ’Jove’s might I’ve often hymned in days gone by … but now I need a lighter strain, to sing of boys beloved of gods and girls bewitched by lawless fires who paid the price of lust … ‘p. 229 Poussin 1650 Cf. ‘Orphic Cosmogony’ – fragmentary poems in Greek attributed to Orpheus about the origins of the world order Ganymede Zeus and Ganymede, c. 470 BCE Ganymede ‘Something was devised that Jove would rather be than what he was’ p. 228 ‘off he swept the Trojan lad, who now Mixing the nectar, waits in heaven above though Juno frowns, and hands the cup to Jove’ p. 230 Rubens Ganymede Rembrandt 1635 Ganymede Correggio 1530 Hyacinth ‘Hyacinth, too, Apollo would have placed in Heaven, had the drear fates given time to place him there’. p. 230 Fatal discus throw and aftermath ‘A new flower shall be with letters [AI AI AI] marked to imitate my sobs’ p. 231 • Hyacinthus honored ‘Sparta’s pride in Hyacinth, her son, endures undimmed: with pomp and proud display each year his feast returns in the ancient way’ p. 231 • Cerastae and Propoetides hated ‘It was the blood of guests! … This impious race (Cerastae) shall pay the price!’ p. 232 ‘The obscene Propoetides had dared deny Venus’ divinity. For that, the goddess’ rage, it is said, made them the first strumpets to prostitute their bodies’ charms.’ p. 232 Cerastae: men who kill guests -> horned bulls Propoetides -> women who -> stones Cerastes digression: Cerastes in medieval bestiaries Gallery Bibliography Manuscripts Description Cerastes Latin name: Cerastes Other names: Carastes An exceptionally flexible serpent with horns Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 123v Deadly snake; lures prey by hiding in sand so only horns show General Attributes The cerastes is the most flexible of all serpents, so flexible that is seems to have no spine. It has http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast532.htm either two horns, which are like a ram's horns, or four pairs of small horns. The cerastes hides in the Pygmalion & Galatea Gerôme 1890 E. Burne-Jones 1869-79 1 3 2 4 Pygmalion & Galatea 1400s, manuscriot of the Roman de la Rose Pygmalion & Galatea c. 1390 , manuscriot of the Roman de la Rose Pygmalion Galatea Paphos Cinyras Myrrha Adonis ‘Those tears in truth have honor; from the trunk the weeping myrrh Keeps on men’s lips for aye the name of her’ p. 241 Myrrha Venus and Adonis Then a most lovely infant, then a youth, and now a man more lovely than the boy, was Venus’ darling (Venus’!) and avenged his mother’s passion’ ‘to heaven she preferred Adonis ‘ ‘she warned Adonis too to fear those beasts’ p. 241-2 Titian 1553 Venus and Adonis Rubens, c. 1630 ‘Be brave when backs are turned, but when they are bold, boldness is dangerous’ p. 242 Venus and Adonis Veronese 1580 ‘I’ll tell a tale to astonish you of ancient guilt and magic long ago’ p. 242 Atalanta & Hippomenes ‘No man’s wife am I .. Unless he wins the race …’ ‘A rosy flush painted the pallor of her limbs, as when a scarlet awning in the sun is drawn above a marble vestibule and dyes or seems to dye the colored shade’ p. 244 Colombel n.b. Roman technology, also used at games and spectacles Atalanta & Hippomenes ‘ I held three golden apples I had picked … unseen except by him I taught him the apples’ use’ p. 246 ‘And I, Adonis, did I not deserve Especial thanks and incense in my honor? But he forgot .. To sudden wrath I turned’ Colombel Atalanta & Hippomenes ‘ I held three golden apples I had picked … unseen except by him I taught him the apples’ use’ p. 246 ‘And I, Adonis, did I not deserve Especial thanks and incense in my honor? But he forgot .. To sudden wrath I turned’ (Atlanta and Hippomanes are driven to ‘defile’ the temple of Cybele, and turned intoColombel Cybele’s tame lions) ‘you my darling, for my sake beware of lions and of every savage beast that shows not heels but teeth Avoid them all, lest by your daring ruin on us fall. Venus and Adonis A blood red flower arose, like the rich bloom of pomegranates which in a stubborn rind conceal their seeds; yet is its beauty brief, so lightly cling its petals, fall so soon, when the winds blow that give the flower its name [anemone, cf Gr. anemos, wind] Orpheus and Eurydice Poussin 1650 A fierce snake threatened, until at last Apollo came to thwart it as it struck and froze to stone that serpent’s open mouth and petrified, just as they were, the jaws that gaped so wide Met. 11. p. 250 J. W. Waterhouse 1905 Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus