Bronze mirror depicting Herakles and Auge
Although the museum delicately describes this as Herakles attempting to abduct the nymph Auge, it is very much a scene of rape. It depicts the encounter of Herakles with the princess Auge during the nighttime celebrations of the goddess Athena Alea at Tegea. According to one version of the myth, the drunken hero (he does not appear to be depicted as drunk in this relief) did not recognize the goddess's priestess, sworn to celibacy, and raped her. From this union, Telephos, the ancestor of the Pergamene kings, was born. You can see Herakles standing forward grasping Auge's arm, and the young woman attempting to get free, her dress torn asunder.
Mirror were usually owned by women, but may have been gifts from their male lovers. Many of the mirrors dating to the 4th century BCE show scenes of abduction and male dominance: the subjects reflect the subordinate place women held in society.
Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 330-300 BCE, from Corinth. Bronze.
British Museum, London (1892,0719.4)
Bronze mirror depicting Herakles and Auge
Although the museum delicately describes this as Herakles attempting to abduct the nymph Auge, it is very much a scene of rape. It depicts the encounter of Herakles with the princess Auge during the nighttime celebrations of the goddess Athena Alea at Tegea. According to one version of the myth, the drunken hero (he does not appear to be depicted as drunk in this relief) did not recognize the goddess's priestess, sworn to celibacy, and raped her. From this union, Telephos, the ancestor of the Pergamene kings, was born. You can see Herakles standing forward grasping Auge's arm, and the young woman attempting to get free, her dress torn asunder.
Mirror were usually owned by women, but may have been gifts from their male lovers. Many of the mirrors dating to the 4th century BCE show scenes of abduction and male dominance: the subjects reflect the subordinate place women held in society.
Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 330-300 BCE, from Corinth. Bronze.
British Museum, London (1892,0719.4)