Athamas bringt seinen Son Learchum umb

Title

Athamas bringt seinen Son Learchum umb

Period

1550-1600;

Geographic

Ancient Greece

Thebes

Description

One of the Furies, Tisiphone, had just plagued the minds of Ino and Athamas with utter madness. Athamas hallucinates and believes that his son Learchus is a lion cub. As illustrated on the right side of the engraving, Athamas grabs Learchus and swings him around his head and finally cracks his own son’s head on the rock in front of him, killing him on the spot. Ino’s madness led her to hold her daughter Melicerta in her arms and plunge off the cliff into the water below. Ino’s attendants are depicted on the top of the cliff, grabbing their hair in mourning for their master. The attendants do so without realizing that the goddess Venus had taken pity on Ino and her daughter and got her uncle Neptune to transform them into sea-goddesses before dying.

Image Creator

Virgil Solis (Engraver)

Type

Text

Woodcut Engraving

Identifier

mta:21674

Language

ger

Source Name

P. Ouidij Nasonis, deß Sinnreichen und hochverstendigen Poeten, Metamorphoses oder Verwandlung, mit schönen figuren gezieret, auch kurzen Argumenten und außlegungen erkläret, und in Teutsche Reymen gebracht, durch Johann Spreng von Augspurg [Publius Ovidius Naso, the Ingenious and Highly Understandable Poet, Metamorphoses or Transformations, Adorned with Beautiful Images, and also descriptions of Short Arguments and Explanations, Brought into German Rhymes by Johann Spreng of Augsburg]

Parent Collection

1564 Frankfurt Spreng

Image

mta_21674_OBJ.jpg

Collection

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Subject

Gods

Goddesses

Transformation

The Furies

Madness

Roman Mythology

Greek Mythology

Athamas

Ino