Ovid: Phaedra & Hippolytus - “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – LI
The Fresco.
In ancient times the unhappy love of Phaedra towards her stepson Hippolytus inspired many artists, both painters and sculptors. This fresco represents the main characters in their house: Phaedra with her nurse and Hippolytus ready for the hunt.
Phaedra, richly dressed, sits on a sumptuous throne. The lovesick heroine is portrayed as a desirable woman of high social standing: a diadem embellishes her head, her robe slips Venus—like from the shoulders, and her right arm is resting softly on the back of the throne hidden by her cloak. Phaedra exhibits her naked body without shame, and the left hand gesture, caught in the act of moving away the edge of the light dress from her shoulder, has a deep meaning of intimacy. Overcome by her longing for her handsome stepson, who is preparing to depart for the hunt, she turns the head to avoid seeing Hippolytus who, wearing only a chlamys, stands in front of her, holding a spear or lance in his left hand. His perfect heroic body, presented frontally to the viewer, contrasts effectively with the flaccid, wrinkled skin of the old nurse next to him. She is holding out her right hand in entreaty or supplication. A young servant accompanies Hippolytus holding the reins of a horse.
The Myth.
Daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae. She married Theseus, king of Athens, and bore him two sons, Acamas and Demophon. At the core of her legend is her relationship with her stepson Hippolytus, Theseus’ son by the Amazon Antiope (or Hippolyte). In what seems to have been the traditional story told by Apollodorus (Epit. I, 18-19), “Phaedra, after she had borne two children, Acamas and Demophon, to Theseus, fell in love with the son he had by the Amazon, to wit, Hippolytus, and besought him to lie with her. Howbeit, he fled from her embraces, because he hated all women. But Phaedra, fearing that he might accuse her to his father, cleft open the doors of her bed-chamber, rent her garments, and falsely charged Hippolytus with an assault.
Theseus believed her and prayed to Poseidon that Hippolytus might perish. So, when Hippolytus was riding in his chariot and driving beside the sea, Poseidon sent up a bull from the surf, and the horses were frightened, the chariot dashed in pieces, and Hippolytus, entangled in the reins, was dragged to death. And when her passion was made public, Phaedra hanged herself.” (Sir James George Frazer, Ed)
Phaedra was the subject of at least three Attic tragedies, two by Euripides entitled Hippolytus and a Phaedra by Sophocles. According to Euripides’ second and extant Hippolytus (428 BC), Phaedra is the innocent victim of the struggle between divine powers, and the plain story of Apollodorus is treated with great psychological refinement. Phaedra is a virtuous woman and has been made to fall in love by Aphrodite, who is getting her revenge on Hippolytus, the chaste follower of Artemis, for ignoring her worship. Phaedra, ashamed of this dishonorable love, has struggled to conquer her passion in silence – but to no avail, and so now she is trying to starve herself to death. Her nurse, alarmed because of her obvious illness, worms her secret out of her; and it is the nurse, anxious to ease her mistress’ sufferings, who reveals her love to Hippolytus.
He responds to these well-meant overtures with bitter rage against women in general and Phaedra in particular, and she, afraid that he will tell everything to Theseus, writes a letter to her husband accusing Hippolytus of rape, a slander designed to protect her children from a disgrace they do not deserve. “This day I shall die” she says, “and bring pleasure to Aphrodite, my destroyer. I shall be the victim of a bitter love. But there is another whom I will hurt in dying ….” Then she hangs herself from the rafters. Theseus returns to find his wife dead, to read the letter, and to curse Hippolytus to death by the bull from the sea.
Source: Jennifer R. March. “Dictionary of Classical Mythology”.
Fresco 104 cm x 104 cm
AD 60 - 79 (4th style)
From Ercolano
Naples, “Museo Archeologico Nazionale”
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome
Ovid: Phaedra & Hippolytus - “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – LI
The Fresco.
In ancient times the unhappy love of Phaedra towards her stepson Hippolytus inspired many artists, both painters and sculptors. This fresco represents the main characters in their house: Phaedra with her nurse and Hippolytus ready for the hunt.
Phaedra, richly dressed, sits on a sumptuous throne. The lovesick heroine is portrayed as a desirable woman of high social standing: a diadem embellishes her head, her robe slips Venus—like from the shoulders, and her right arm is resting softly on the back of the throne hidden by her cloak. Phaedra exhibits her naked body without shame, and the left hand gesture, caught in the act of moving away the edge of the light dress from her shoulder, has a deep meaning of intimacy. Overcome by her longing for her handsome stepson, who is preparing to depart for the hunt, she turns the head to avoid seeing Hippolytus who, wearing only a chlamys, stands in front of her, holding a spear or lance in his left hand. His perfect heroic body, presented frontally to the viewer, contrasts effectively with the flaccid, wrinkled skin of the old nurse next to him. She is holding out her right hand in entreaty or supplication. A young servant accompanies Hippolytus holding the reins of a horse.
The Myth.
Daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae. She married Theseus, king of Athens, and bore him two sons, Acamas and Demophon. At the core of her legend is her relationship with her stepson Hippolytus, Theseus’ son by the Amazon Antiope (or Hippolyte). In what seems to have been the traditional story told by Apollodorus (Epit. I, 18-19), “Phaedra, after she had borne two children, Acamas and Demophon, to Theseus, fell in love with the son he had by the Amazon, to wit, Hippolytus, and besought him to lie with her. Howbeit, he fled from her embraces, because he hated all women. But Phaedra, fearing that he might accuse her to his father, cleft open the doors of her bed-chamber, rent her garments, and falsely charged Hippolytus with an assault.
Theseus believed her and prayed to Poseidon that Hippolytus might perish. So, when Hippolytus was riding in his chariot and driving beside the sea, Poseidon sent up a bull from the surf, and the horses were frightened, the chariot dashed in pieces, and Hippolytus, entangled in the reins, was dragged to death. And when her passion was made public, Phaedra hanged herself.” (Sir James George Frazer, Ed)
Phaedra was the subject of at least three Attic tragedies, two by Euripides entitled Hippolytus and a Phaedra by Sophocles. According to Euripides’ second and extant Hippolytus (428 BC), Phaedra is the innocent victim of the struggle between divine powers, and the plain story of Apollodorus is treated with great psychological refinement. Phaedra is a virtuous woman and has been made to fall in love by Aphrodite, who is getting her revenge on Hippolytus, the chaste follower of Artemis, for ignoring her worship. Phaedra, ashamed of this dishonorable love, has struggled to conquer her passion in silence – but to no avail, and so now she is trying to starve herself to death. Her nurse, alarmed because of her obvious illness, worms her secret out of her; and it is the nurse, anxious to ease her mistress’ sufferings, who reveals her love to Hippolytus.
He responds to these well-meant overtures with bitter rage against women in general and Phaedra in particular, and she, afraid that he will tell everything to Theseus, writes a letter to her husband accusing Hippolytus of rape, a slander designed to protect her children from a disgrace they do not deserve. “This day I shall die” she says, “and bring pleasure to Aphrodite, my destroyer. I shall be the victim of a bitter love. But there is another whom I will hurt in dying ….” Then she hangs herself from the rafters. Theseus returns to find his wife dead, to read the letter, and to curse Hippolytus to death by the bull from the sea.
Source: Jennifer R. March. “Dictionary of Classical Mythology”.
Fresco 104 cm x 104 cm
AD 60 - 79 (4th style)
From Ercolano
Naples, “Museo Archeologico Nazionale”
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome