Corinth Museum XXII– The Seven and the Nemean Games
The group on the right end of the sarcophagus consists of three figures. In the center is a child, seated on the ground and involved in the coils of a serpent. At the left a nude male figure rushes forward, a drawn sword in his right hand and his mantle thrown across his left forearm to serve as a shield. His head has been destroyed. To balance him a female figure advances hurriedly from the right, hair flying and right hand upraised in a gesture of dismay. She wears shoes, a long chiton, and an himation. Behind her appear two objects, the upper parts of which have been destroyed. At the right edge, however, of the fragment on which is the woman’s head there is preserved the profile and upraised left paw of a sphinx.
These figures are not so well executed as those on the front. The nude portions of the man are treated in the same manner, but the modeling is more sketchy, especially in the right arm. The woman’s upraised arm is very wooden in appearance and her drapery harsh and stiff. The child’s figure is entirely too large and very crude in execution. The legs are poorly articulated, the feet impossible. The gesture is stiff and the modelling cursory and incorrect. The heads of the child have heavy chins and sulky mouths with thick lips. The child’s head is poorly proportioned, with the ear too far back and the eye too large.
In order to identify this scene we must return to the story of the Seven against Thebes. After leaving Argos the expedition came to Nemea where it met with a certain Hypsipyle, nurse to Opheltes, son of Lycus, king of that land. The Seven asked her to guide them to water, and she, fearing to lay the child upon the ground, placed him on a lofty bank of parsley by the fountain. For there had been an oracle that, were he set upon the ground before he could walk, the boy would die. Then, while Hypsipyle was assisting the warriors, a serpent, guardian of the spring, killed Opheltes (or, as some call him, Archemorus). But Adrastus and the others killed the serpent and held funeral games in honor of the boy, thus establishing the Nemean games.
The right end of the Corinth sarcophagus represents this incident. The moment chosen is that when, the serpent having coiled itself about the boy, one of the heroes rushes forward to kill it, while Hypsipyle hurries up in fear and dismay. The two objects at the right may well have represented the fountain beside which the action took place. The scene is appropriately used in close connection with the departure from Argos, and may symbolize the disastrous ending of the expedition, since Apollodorus tells us that Amphiariaus held this to be an omen of their future misfortunes.-
Source: J. Donald Young, “A Sarcophagus at Corinth”
Attic sarcophagus
2nd century AD – Antonines Age
Found in Ancient Corinth
Corinth, Archaeological Museum, Inv. ## S 763, S 782
Corinth Museum XXII– The Seven and the Nemean Games
The group on the right end of the sarcophagus consists of three figures. In the center is a child, seated on the ground and involved in the coils of a serpent. At the left a nude male figure rushes forward, a drawn sword in his right hand and his mantle thrown across his left forearm to serve as a shield. His head has been destroyed. To balance him a female figure advances hurriedly from the right, hair flying and right hand upraised in a gesture of dismay. She wears shoes, a long chiton, and an himation. Behind her appear two objects, the upper parts of which have been destroyed. At the right edge, however, of the fragment on which is the woman’s head there is preserved the profile and upraised left paw of a sphinx.
These figures are not so well executed as those on the front. The nude portions of the man are treated in the same manner, but the modeling is more sketchy, especially in the right arm. The woman’s upraised arm is very wooden in appearance and her drapery harsh and stiff. The child’s figure is entirely too large and very crude in execution. The legs are poorly articulated, the feet impossible. The gesture is stiff and the modelling cursory and incorrect. The heads of the child have heavy chins and sulky mouths with thick lips. The child’s head is poorly proportioned, with the ear too far back and the eye too large.
In order to identify this scene we must return to the story of the Seven against Thebes. After leaving Argos the expedition came to Nemea where it met with a certain Hypsipyle, nurse to Opheltes, son of Lycus, king of that land. The Seven asked her to guide them to water, and she, fearing to lay the child upon the ground, placed him on a lofty bank of parsley by the fountain. For there had been an oracle that, were he set upon the ground before he could walk, the boy would die. Then, while Hypsipyle was assisting the warriors, a serpent, guardian of the spring, killed Opheltes (or, as some call him, Archemorus). But Adrastus and the others killed the serpent and held funeral games in honor of the boy, thus establishing the Nemean games.
The right end of the Corinth sarcophagus represents this incident. The moment chosen is that when, the serpent having coiled itself about the boy, one of the heroes rushes forward to kill it, while Hypsipyle hurries up in fear and dismay. The two objects at the right may well have represented the fountain beside which the action took place. The scene is appropriately used in close connection with the departure from Argos, and may symbolize the disastrous ending of the expedition, since Apollodorus tells us that Amphiariaus held this to be an omen of their future misfortunes.-
Source: J. Donald Young, “A Sarcophagus at Corinth”
Attic sarcophagus
2nd century AD – Antonines Age
Found in Ancient Corinth
Corinth, Archaeological Museum, Inv. ## S 763, S 782