Von Arthemesia der künigin in Caria · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Von Arthemesia der künigin in Caria
Subject: Artemisia; Famous Women; Important Queens; Devotion; Cremation; Important Women
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Anatolia; Halicarnassus; Caria
Description: Artemisia was married to Mausolus, the king of Caria. Boccaccio explains that when he died, Artemisia was so grieved by his death that, instead of putting his ashes in an urn after his cremation, she drank the ashes in order to be closer to him. The left side of the engraving depicts Artemisia cremating her husband’s body in a fire. Mausolus head is visible in the fire. Artemisia is illustrated scooping her husband’s ashes and putting them into a bag. The right side of the engraving depicts Artemisia drinking her husband’s ashes. The name Mausolus is engraved at the bottom left corner of the image, and Artemisia’s name, written as Arthimesia, is engraved at the top right corner.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18042
Language: ger
Source Name: Hyenach volget der kurcz syn von ettlichen frauen von denen johannes boccacius in latein beschriben hat und doctor heinricus stainhöwel geteütschet [Following the short stories of several women of which Giovanni Boccaccio wrote in Latin, and doctor Heinrich Steinhöwel translated]
Parent Collection: 1473 Augsburg
Image: mta_18042_OBJ.png