Ovid: Meleager’s Death - “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – L
Sarcophagus lateral panel with a rare representation of the metamorphosis of the Meleagridis, Melanippe and Eurymed, two of the four sisters of Meleager. The two young women, with loose hair and wearing long robes, are mourning their brother's fate near his tomb marked by a garlanded stele. As Ovid tells:
post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant
adfusaeque iacent tumulo signataque saxo
nomina conplexae lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
[met. 8: 538 – 541]
“And, when he is ashes, they gather the ashes and press them to their hearts, throw themselves on his tomb in abandonment of grief and, clasping the stone on which his name has been carved, they drench the name with their tears.”
Artemis, satisfied with her revenge and moved by the deep pain of the two sisters, will transform the two Meleagridis into guinea-hens: birds with black plumage and white spots on the chest representing the tears poured for Meleager; their mournful cheeping resembles a funeral lament. The goddess will entrust the two metamorphosed Meleagridis to the wind.
[Latonia] … natis in corpore pennis
adlevat et longas per bracchia porrigit alas
corneaque ora facit versasque per aera mittit.
[met. 8: 538 – 541]
“[Artemis] … made feathers spring on their bodies stretched out long wings over their arms, gave them a horny beak, and sent them transfigured into the air.”
Translation: Frank Justus Miller, “Ovid - Metamorphoses”
Source: Exhibition notice
Marble sarcophagus panel
H. 70 cm., L. 78 cm.
Ca. 170 – 180 AD
Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome
Ovid: Meleager’s Death - “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – L
Sarcophagus lateral panel with a rare representation of the metamorphosis of the Meleagridis, Melanippe and Eurymed, two of the four sisters of Meleager. The two young women, with loose hair and wearing long robes, are mourning their brother's fate near his tomb marked by a garlanded stele. As Ovid tells:
post cinerem cineres haustos ad pectora pressant
adfusaeque iacent tumulo signataque saxo
nomina conplexae lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
[met. 8: 538 – 541]
“And, when he is ashes, they gather the ashes and press them to their hearts, throw themselves on his tomb in abandonment of grief and, clasping the stone on which his name has been carved, they drench the name with their tears.”
Artemis, satisfied with her revenge and moved by the deep pain of the two sisters, will transform the two Meleagridis into guinea-hens: birds with black plumage and white spots on the chest representing the tears poured for Meleager; their mournful cheeping resembles a funeral lament. The goddess will entrust the two metamorphosed Meleagridis to the wind.
[Latonia] … natis in corpore pennis
adlevat et longas per bracchia porrigit alas
corneaque ora facit versasque per aera mittit.
[met. 8: 538 – 541]
“[Artemis] … made feathers spring on their bodies stretched out long wings over their arms, gave them a horny beak, and sent them transfigured into the air.”
Translation: Frank Justus Miller, “Ovid - Metamorphoses”
Source: Exhibition notice
Marble sarcophagus panel
H. 70 cm., L. 78 cm.
Ca. 170 – 180 AD
Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome