The heroes of ancient myth – Hercules, Perseus and Aeneas, to name but three –
were almost always demi-gods, the children of illicit relationships between gods
(or goddesses) and humans. We will learn their stories, as, unlike the Gods, they
do not have specific symbols (or ‘attributes’) to help us identify them: by their
actions shall we know them. Mere humans – whether male or female – were
usually the victims of the Gods, a problematic legacy that we will negotiate with
as much tact as possible.
Again we have a ‘guide’ – in this case classical sarcophagus in the Palazzo
Altemps in Rome showing The Labours of Hercules, although this will only help
us with one of the heroes. In addition we have Perseus, Achilles and Odysseus –
the last two caught up in the Trojan War. Inevitably, we will therefore touch
upon some of the great works of classical literature: the Iliad, the Odyssey, and
the Aeneid. Having said that, the ‘mere’ humans – Actaeon, Io, Europa and
Arachne are also characters most familiar from specific literary sources, notably
Ovid’s Metmorphosis.
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| Luca Giordano, Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone, early 1680s. |
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| Jacopo Tintoretto, The Origin of the Milky Way, 1575 |
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| Titian, Diana and Actaeon, 1556-9 |
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| Pieter Lastman, Juno discovering Jupiter with Io, 1618 |
