The Minotaur: Baroque vs. Renaissance

by Elias Borne & Avi Bregman

Described by Ovid as “part man, part bull,” the Minotaur plays a central role in Greek mythology as a paradigm of what it means to be a monster. After Minos, the kind of Crete, transgressed on his oath to Poseidon to sacrifice the white bull that Poseidon had sent him, the god of the ocean, was boiling with rage. Inevitably, the enraged Poseidon sought revenge. He made Pasiphae, Minos’ wife, fall madly in love with the bull. The spawn of Pasiphae and the white bull, the Minotaur grew up to become and unnatural mixture of man and beast. This creature, having no taste for fruits, vegetables and other common foods, preferred and therefore solely survived on human flesh. Minos instructed Daedalus, his chief architect, to construct an inescapable labyrinth to contain the Minotaur. Eventually, Theseus with the help of Ariadne was able to slay the beast, and although the Minotaur died that day, his place in history was forever cemented.

During the Renaissance, there is an apparent lack of representation of the Minotaur in both literature and art. The Renaissance as an era, focused on a return to the ideals of classical civilization. As an era immediately following the Dark Ages, Renaissance society worked on distancing itself from the debauchery and individualistic evil that figured so prominently up until the 1300’s. For this reason, there are few representations of the Minotaur, because it represents everything that the Renaissance does not. The classical Minotaur is evil, beast-like and disgusting to the eye. Even in beautiful works of art, such as Master of the Campana Cassoni’s 15th century painting “Theseus and the Minotaur,” from the Story of Theseus, the Minotaur plays an insignificant role in the painting.

Unlike the Renaissance, the Baroque period accepted the image of the Minotaur as an appropriate image for art. This period was a time where humans expressed and represented their power and control over the natural world through art and literature. As is depicted in Antonio Canova’s 18th century sculpture “Theseus and the Minotaur,” the Minotaur plays a submissive role in death to the human hero Theseus. Furthermore, in contrast to the Renaissance are, the Minotaur is fully exposed to all to see, meaning that his power is diminished when compared to the glory of man.

From its classical origins as the rejected spawn of Pasiphae and a bull to its subservient representation in the Baroque era, the Minotaur as a figure of myth has survived through time as an important symbol. Even in the Renaissance, the mere fact that the Minotaur was not prevalent in art and literature, speaks to its importance a figure that stood for everything bestial and wrong about human animal relations and uncategorizable monsters.

The Renaissance Discovery of Catullus

by Robert Marrero

In 1472, a first edition of the poems of Catullus appeared in Italy, published from a single manuscript that survived and had been discovered in Verona. Among those poems is Catullus’ account of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Catullus presents Theseus’ defeat of the monster as depicted in a coverlet showing antique figures that portrayed “in marvelous art the brave deeds of heroes” (Catullus 139). “That bold gallant” (139), according to Catullus, “chose, for the sake of the Athens he loved” (139), to be among the group of seven Athenian young men and seven maidens shipped to Crete every nine years to be fed to the Minotaur, a monster half man and half bull. That fate was meant as a sacrifice to appease Crete’s king Minos, “that unjust monarch” (139), for the murder of one of his sons in Athens. Displaying his courage and noble ambition, Theseus, “hot to contend with the savage monster/ courted either death or the rewards of glory!”(139). He determines to destroy the beast and return alive with the Athenian youths. When he encounters the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, in a show of physical strength that compares to “a twister’s all-powerful blast” (139), Theseus conquers the Minotaur. With the aid of a thread given to him by Minos’ daughter Ariadne, he then makes his way out unhurt, rescues the other youths, and, “in a cloud of glory” (140), returns safely to Athens to a hero’s welcome.

In this scene, Catullus portrays Theseus as the personification of the ideal of the hero of antiquity, possessing features that the ancient Greeks and Romans attributed to the men, demi-gods, and deities they most admired and worshipped. That characterization perhaps also reflected the qualities of the powerful ruler and the well-rounded, accomplished figure of the so-called Renaissance Man that served as models in the cultural and artistic environment of the time.  Thus, the Renaissance audience, which had experienced a great revival of the works of antiquity in literature, drama, painting, architecture and other arts, would have understood Catullus’ Theseus not just as a mythological figure representing the classical view of the hero, but as reflecting a bigger picture: the image of the prince as an ideal, exhibiting leadership, nobility and self-sacrifice, doing battle with “unjust monarchs” like Minos, to bring protection and unity for his people. This subject was an important theme embodied in a major genre of Renaissance literature, as represented, for example, by Machiavelli’s The Prince  and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

Theseus played a role in classical antiquity that, as presented to the Renaissance audience, in many ways compares to that of Odysseus and Heracles as among the greatest heroes of all time.  He shares with them royal and demi-god origins, great heroic qualities, and fantastic adventures, including, by some accounts, a journey to the underworld and safe return, one of only four mortals to accomplish that feat.  But in some respects, though not as popular in modern times as those heroes, Theseus may be viewed as a much larger and more important mythological figure.  Possibly because of his service as king of Athens and recognition as the founder and national hero of the city, episodes from his life, his adventures and exploits, his relationships, and his accomplishments in the development of Greek history, inspired a vast number of works by many artists in different forms. By family ties he was related as cousin to both Heracles and Daedalus and therefore appears in some of the legends involving them. He was linked to Helen, whose abduction by him and attempted rescue by her brothers, Castor and Pollux, reportedly brought about the first of the Peloponnesian Wars.  By some accounts his marriage to Helen produced Iphigenia. On first arriving in Athens he had an encounter with Medea, then married to his father Aegeas, and Medea tries to poison him. Among his many lovers and wives are other figures who became leading heroines of ancient Greek myths and drama, including Ariadne, Phaedra and Antiope, the Amazon with whom Theseus had Hippolytus. But perhaps Theseus’ most important role in antiquity comes from his contributions to Athens as king. He greatly expanded the boundaries of the city by unifying many communities around it, gave the city its name, and welcomed many diverse people into it, for which he is considered the founder of Athens. He coined money for Athens and established many widely celebrated festivals. He saved Athens from invasion by the Amazons. For his rule and achievements as king, Theseus is portrayed in the literature, as he appears during his battle with the Minotaur depicted by Catullus, and as reflected in the Renaissance genre of the effective ruler and the gifted all-around master, a strong, fair, sensitive and popular leader and model for democracy, as compared to the rule of tyrants.

Sources:

Brill’s New Pauly: The Reception of Myth and Mythology. Leiden – Boston. 2010.

Reid, Jane D. Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990s. Oxford University Press.1993.

Green, Peter (Tr.). The Poems of Catullus. Berkeley, University of California Press. 2005.

Plutarch. The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives. London, Penguin Books. 1960.

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. London, The Folio Society. 1996.

Gaisser, Julia H. Catullus in the Renaissance. 2007 (extract at blackwellreference.com>)

Ariadne and the Labyrinth

by Elizabeth Braithwaite, Lerys del Moral, Julia Jameson

During the period of the Renaissance Ariadne was viewed as a symbol of unrequited love. She was not really seen by the people of the time to have any importance other than to help Theseus with his accomplishments. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses Ariadne is simply a footnote for Theseus’ journey; however, his betrayal of her does have consequences when later in the story it is he who is betrayed and indirectly causes the death of his son.

Also during this time period the majority of the artwork produced was Christian because Roman Catholicism was the major religion (Gregori 40). Therefore, we can hypothesize that Greek mythology was used as a way to incorporate old teachings of myth with the new religion: “The age was dominated by political religious and cosmological uncertainty, the classical tradition provided europeans with a common language, latin,  and an overriding sense of cultural continuity. – it gave them a language for cultural discourse” (Rowland 45). From this point of view we can possibly see why Ariadne was not a more prominent figure. She was quick to forget her first love, Theseus and marry Dionysus. Her entire story is structured through a pattern of betrayal and revenge (Patterson 241). She betrayed her father, Minos in order to aid Theseus who then betrayed her and was then betrayed by his wife. It is a theme present within the Ariadne story that she is entangled within fate. The wrongs of her family have fallen on her and she is wronged by the person she loves, this is then passed on to him. The imagery of the thread within the story is one that furthers this idea. The entangled ball of thread helps her in her betrayal of her father and Theseus in his betrayal of Ariadne (Gregori). In art Theseus’ betrayal of Ariadne can be seen foreshadowed in “Theseus with Ariadne and Phaedra” by Benedetto Gennari The Younger, 1702. It seems that during this period Ariadne’s role was to serve as a catalyst for further betrayal and to show the importance of family, perhaps by showing how her betrayal to King Minos set in action further demise. If we trace her story further King Minos’ betrayal to his wife and Poseidon can also be a reason for such misfortune. In fact it may seem to point to the belief that the greatest betrayal committed was the one to the god Poseidon which set all else into course. Ariadne then simply becomes a pawn to be used by fate. In another depiction of Ariadne, Cima da Conegliano portrays hers and Bacchus’s wedding. [Wedding of Bacchus and Ariadne, 1596] The scene shows the wedding on the island of Naxos where Ariadne had previously been abandoned by Theseus. In the background, Theseus is sailing away on his ship.

The painting demonstrates themes of being caught between loyalty and betrayal. First Theseus was loyal, but then he abandoned her sleeping peacefully on the beach. Now Bacchus is loyal, but will soon abandon her to conquer India. Thus, we see two laments of loneliness portrayed in the picture. The first (Dionysus) invokes the other (leaving of Bacchus). By showing both of her images in the picture she is defined as a subject of her lovers rather than her own woman.

In the Renaissance period, Ariadne became the prototype of the abandoned woman; she is at a lack of control of her situation. She is merely a subject entangled in the tides of fate.

Works Cited

“ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART.” WWW-VL History Central Catalogue. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. <http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/07.html&gt;.

Gregori, Mina. In the Light of Apollo. Vol. 1. Milano: Silvana [u.a., 2003. Print

Cotterell, Arthur. Mythology: an Encyclopedia of Gods and Legends from Ancient Greece and Rome, the Celts and the Norselands. London: Southwater, 2000. Print.

Earls, Irene. Renaissance Art: a Topical Dictionary. Westport: Greenwood, 1987. Print.

Moog-Grunewald, Maria, ed. Brill’s New Pauly. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Print.

Rowland, Ingrid D. Baroque. Kallendorf, Craig, Ward W. Briggs, Julia Haig. Gaisser, and Charles Martindale. A Companion to the Classical Tradition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. Print.

Chaucer’s Ariadne

by Martha Lecauchois and Anna Merriman

In his “Legend of Ariadne”, Chaucer depicts Ariadne as the clear victim and Theseus as the decidedly (and almost maliciously) selfish perpetrator. He begins his poem saying that “If any woman help thee/well oughtestow her servant for to be/and been her trew lover yeer by yere” (Chaucer, 95). In this, Chaucer explains to readers that Theseus should have loved Ariadne and stayed with her because of the help she provided him in finding and killing the minotaur. Chaucer even includes a series of lines spoken from Theseus to Ariadne, promising her his eternal, undying love. Yet he writes of Theseus abandoning Ariadne on Naxos, “as a traitour stal his way, whyl this Ariadne a-slepe lay” (Chaucer, 101).

In his deliberate portrayal of Theseus as promising everything to Ariadne and owing her his love and his life for her help, Chaucer is setting Theseus up to be demonized later. For readers of the Renaissance who already knew the end of the myth, Theseus comes off as a liar and a cheater, undeserving of the brave Ariadne. When he actually leaves her for her less wholesome sister, Chaucer describes him as a traitor – thus securing his place as cowardly and selfish in the minds of his readers. Grunewald describes this depiction perfectly in Brill’s New Pauly saying, “abandoned by Theseus, [Ariadne] becomes the model of the woman lamenting male inconstancy and ingratitude” (Grunewald, Brill’s New Pauly).

While Theseus was sure to be seen by readers of the Renaissance as a coward, the depiction of Ariadne holds a little more substance. In discussing her abandonment, Chaucer portrays her as a the clear victim. When she realizes that Theseus has left her, she makes desperate attempts to get him to turn around but they are to no avail and as a result, it sinks in for the readers how truly alone and helpless she is. Upon reading Chaucer, contemporary audiences would have seen Ariadne as the helpless victim – one who is reminiscent of Euripides’ Medea.

It is the contrast between the stories of Medea and Ariadne that actually give readers more of an insight into Ariadne’s character. In Medea, she is coerced from her home to kill her father and be with Jason. This is much like Chaucer describing Ariadne as being manipulated to leave her home by Theseus and his promises of eternal love. When Jason takes a different wife, Medea is left with nothing and says “I, without relatives or city, am suffering outrage from my husband. I was carried off as booty from a foreign land and have no mother, no brother, no kinsman to shelter me from this calamity.” (Euripides, 255). Ariadne, like Medea is left with nothing, having given up her old life for a man who abandons her.

Yet there is one striking contrast between the two heroines. Medea is described as a witch and follows up her lament of her loss by saying, “if I find any means or contrivance to punish my husband for these wrongs [and the bride’s father and the bride], keep my secret” (Euripides, 260). She is aggressive towards Jason and sets out deliberately to hurt him by killing her children. As a result, Ariadne becomes not only a victim by contrast but a passive one. She takes no action against Theseus in word or deed in Chaucer’s depiction but instead, merely gives up.

The result of Ariadne’s passiveness and her contrast with Medea’s character – who is the epitome of pagan representations in classical literature –  is that she becomes a representation of something holier. McNally writes that “Ariadne means ‘most holy’” (McNally, 159) while Grunewald explains that “she embodies Judaism while Phaedra represents ‘paganism’” (Grunewald, 132). In the context of the Renaissance, this story moves from merely a myth towards the depiction of a struggle between paganism and ‘holiness’ be it Christianity or Judaism. James Parr describes this tension in the Renaissance by saying that it was “an age of religious and racial tension…. First a pagan renaissance followed by a Christian renaissance” (Parr, 414).

Thus, in his work, Chaucer is not only depicting the story of a scorned woman, but he is giving her a specific role in the religious aspect of the Renaissance period. She becomes the representation of the struggle between paganism and Christianity as an oppressed holy figure.

Anna Merriman

Works Cited: Ariadne

Chaucer, Geoffry. The Legend of Good Women. Kessinger Publishing, LLC. 2004

Euripides and Robin Robertson (trans.). Medea. New York, N.Y: Free Press, 2009. Print.

McNally, Sheila. “Ariadne and Others: Images of Sleep in Greek and Early Roman Art” Classical Antiquity. Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 1985), pp. 152-192.  Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25010832

Grunewald, Maria. Brill’s New Pauly: The Reception of Myth and Mythology. Boston: Brill. 2010.

Parr, James A, “A Modest Proposal: That We Use Alternatives to Borrowing (Renaissance, Baroque, Golden Age) and Leveling (Early Modern) in Periodization.” Hispania. Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 406-416. Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3657775

Il lamento d’Arianna: “Lasciatemi morire” (Ariadne’s Complaint: “Let Me Die”)

by Vaughan Higgins

Ariadne’s sadness is a prime example of the effects of a man’s false words. In the myth of Theseus, her lover, he promised her a marriage in exchange for her aiding his journey to kill the Minotaur. However, Theseus soon abandons his bride-to-be, leaving her all alone to bathe herself in grief. She then became inspiration to many painters, sculptors, artists and musicians, mainly depicted weeping and in obvious despair.

She was particularly popular in the Baroque period (1600-1750 CE), which was characterized by dynamic movement and overt emotion. Her clear and apparent misery made Ariadne an easy target for artists of this time, who succeeded in formulating one of the most important models of emotional outcry by woman depicted in this time period. This aspect of the Ariadne myth, her being deserted by Theseus, soon came to be a representation of female contemporary roles in society.

Ariadne became the subject of a very famous opera written by an Italian composer named Claudio Monteverdi; with the title of Il lament d’Arianna, or Ariadne’s Complaint. This opera was one of the most influential pieces of the early Baroque period, which heavily emphasized phases of despair directly marked by Ariadne’s lament. Written and first performed in 1608, L’Arianna marked a breakthrough in music because it inspired musical laments of other figures that could relate to adaptations of L’Arianna.

The opera has been remembered for its most legendary first lines, “Lasciatemi Morire” meaning, “Let me die!” This directly reflected the time period of which it was written, depicting a series of evident emotions, those being weariness, sadness, and angriness all on Ariadne’s account. She was feeling these emotions as a result of being abandoned by her lover, and this was directly channeled through the opera. Another aspect of the Baroque period, it being ornate and intense, was also portrayed through the opera. L’Arianna was seemingly embellished with negative emotions, mainly to emphasize the complexity of Ariadne’s experiences with having found and lost love.

A snippet of the lyrics has been reproduced below.

“Lasciate mi morire!
E che volete voi,
che mi conforte
in cosi dura sorte,
in cosi gran martire?
Lasciate mi morire!”

The direct translation of these lyrics reads:

“Let me die!

And what do you want,

When you comfort me in so hard destiny,

In so great martyr?

Let me die!”

In this small section of lyrics, Ariadne is addressing the god Bacchus, who has stumbled upon a weeping Ariadne and immediately fell in love with her. This portrays another aspect of the Baroque period, the idea of the emotional amplitude between happiness and suffering. Bacchus, also known as Dionysus, tries to ask Ariadne’s hand in marriage and save her from her helpless state, but she replies with “Let me die!” The conflict is between being angry with and hurt by Theseus, and finding comfort in her new suitor. She eventually did give Bacchus a chance, and he made her crown a constellation in the night sky.

Ariadne in Renaissance Painting

by Sheera Rosenbaum and Sophie Wasserman

Renaissance artwork drew heavily upon the influence of classical mythological figures, especially the highly romanticized tales of divine love, which were said to be “storehouses of secret wisdom” that ‘would reveal the secret meaning of the universe” (Roberts 521). The meeting between Bacchus and Ariadne, who was used and forgotten by her old lover Theseus on the island of Naxos, was a common motif. Ariadne’s depictions as both a passive, abandoned sleeping figure and a god-like, independent woman are both characteristic of her representation in Renaissance art. Regardless of her state of wakefulness, the art of the Renaissance focuses on the arrival of Bacchus, instead of her interactions with Theseus, to create a humanistic love story out of this tragedy. In ancient times, Ariadne was not the protagonist of her own story. She was useful to the heroic Theseus, saving his life with a ball of string, but very expendable and, in some accounts, killed before ever leaving Naxos. Theseus was a national icon and the public was not ready to accept any possible moral shortcomings on his part, so Athena (or Dionysus) was said to have interfered and Ariadne was relegated to an afterthought (Roberts 4). She was a woman, and the gods had designed her fate, so the ancient urns and sculptures had no pity for Ariadne’s plight.
The shift in focus from divine perfection to humanity found in Renaissance artwork reflects the reception of the myth of Ariadne. Modern painters rarely depicted the abandonment, preferring to focus instead on Ariadne’s discovery by the god Bacchus (Aghion 52). There was still classical holdover in the tradition of painting her asleep, but her surroundings had changed from Theseus sneaking away to the god of wine and revelry arriving to protect her. Sleep was depicted as a transitional, optimistic state; though now she is “exhausted and abandoned by Theseus,” salvation awaits her as she “[awakens] to the epiphany of Bacchus who will take her as his bride” (Roberts 524). In Jordaen’s Bacchus Discovering Ariadne (Figure 1), Ariadne is forlorn and troubled in her sleep, yet safe from the men who covet her under the protection of the romantic Bacchus. Instead of her passive repose signifying the end of her journey, it represents the start of her love with Bacchus, as he offers her a new life in the form of an immortal crown.

Even more novel was the idea that Ariadne could have control over her own destiny. Renaissance artists empowered Ariadne by focusing on the more positive aspects of her interactions with men, and broke tradition by showing her active and awake. Most paintings of Ariadne from the 15th and 16th centuries do not make any conspicuous mentions of Theseus, rather only depict scenes involving Bacchus’ rescue and courtship of Ariadne. Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (Figure 2) illustrates Theseus’ ships faintly disappearing in the far distance, but no explicit reference is made to Theseus in the main action of the painting. Bacchus’ presence is inflated by his sizeable crowd of Maenad followers, highlighting his exchange with Ariadne and shifting the focus of the painting away from Ariadne’s helpless abandonment. By showing Ariadne in a more positive light, artists empower Ariadne, giving her more control over her encounters with the male figures of the myth. Ariadne’s power is further enhanced by her depiction as a divine beauty. Detailed illustration of the beauty of the female figure is characteristic of artwork in the Renaissance: “Artists from the Renaissance to the modern period, and especially in the eighteenth century, were charged with creating something more beautiful and removing all that was ugly and distasteful from their paintings” (Roberts 4). Artists emphasized Ariadne’s exceptional beauty, assigning divine qualities to this mortal woman. In Jacopo Tintoretto’s painting Ariadne, Venus, and Bacchus (Figure 3), the mortal Ariadne captures the focus of the viewer, drawing attention away from the two Gods depicted. This focus on Ariadne endows her with a certain power as she is represented as a god-like mortal: “Ariadne here appears as a second Venus, more powerful than the youthful God” (Brill 135). In keeping with the ideals of the time, the artwork transformed Ariadne’s helplessness and tragic fate from something shameful and pitiable into an exalted tale of the triumphs of love.

Works Cited

Aghion, I., C. Barbillon, and F. Lissarrague. “Ariadne.” Gods and Heroes of Classical Antiquity. New York: Flammarion, 1996. 52. Print.

Cancik, Hubert, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F. Salazar, David E. Orton, and Duncan Smart.”Ariadne.” Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World :. Leiden: Brill, 2002. 135. Print.

Jordaens, Jacob. “Bacchus Discovering Ariadne.” 1645. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. ARTstor. Web.

Roberts, Helene E. “Abandonment.” Encylcopedia of Comparative Iconography. Vol. 1. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. 4. Print.

Roberts, Helene E. “Love and Death.” Encylcopedia of Comparative Iconography. Vol. 1. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. 521-24. Print.

Tintoretto, Jacopo. “Bacchus and Ariadne.” 1576. Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy. ARTstor. 2006. Web.

Titian. “Bacchus and Ariadne.” 1520. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, Great Britain. ARTstor. Web.

The Shakespearean Theseus

by Julia Prince, Rogelio Lopez and Matthew Allen

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens with the Duke of Athens, Theseus, discussing his upcoming marriage to the Amazonian Hippolyta. The character of Theseus was not created by Shakespeare but developed over centuries in the Greco-Roman world. Shakespeare draws upon aspects of the Theseus myth to create a character that represents an ideal leader. Shakespeare’s Theseus is strong of both body and mind and functions within the realm of reason and order.

One of the first lines of the play introduces the characterization of Theseus as firm but gentle leader:

Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword

And won thy love doing thee injuries.

But I will wed thee in another key,

With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling (I, i, 16-19).

This quote shows that Theseus is capable of using violence when necessary and that he is strong enough to defend his people and extend his empire but also that he is capable of changing from a state of violence to celebration when appropriate. The original myth of Theseus, which Shakespeare would have been taught during his classical education, includes the story of Theseus conquering Hippolyta and her Amazonian tribe but then marrying the queen and fathering a child by her. To Shakespeare, this is important to Theseus’ role as a model ruler because it exemplifies a balance between a war-faring conqueror and merciful leader.

In addition to being merciful, Shakespeare presents Theseus as kind and sympathetic to the lower classes. During the rude and blundering play by the Rustics, Theseus does not mind their lack of skill because they are sincere and asserts that,

And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect

Takes it in might, not merit. (Act V Scene 1, 85-86)

This characterization differs from the original myth in that Theseus is not particularly sympathetic to others, particularly those whom would be considered beneath him such as women, for instance Ariadne.

Shakespeare’s placement of Theseus’ character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is also of importance as he (and Hippolyta) only appears at the beginning and at the end of the play. The mythological characters thus become part of a framing device for the playwright. Theseus and Hippolyta, who embody order, encompass the elements of comedy and of the supernatural that represent a sort of chaos. Shakespeare uses classical references through myth to legitimize the play, highlighting a desire to not dismiss the tradition of mythology and of literature for playwrights.

Shakespeare’s use of the classical myth of Theseus depicts how people living during the Renaissance perceived the mythical hero. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare altered Theseus’ character to both present an idealized ruler and frame his story.

Works Cited

“No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” No Fear Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Plays plus a Modern Translation You Can Understand. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/&gt;.

The Minotaur in Dante’s Inferno

by Elinor Hickey and Emma Sawin

The Minotaur is a figure in Greek mythology most famous for its death at the hands of the Athenian hero Theseus.  Born from a union of King Minos’s wife Pasiphaë and a sacred bull of Poseidon, the Minotaur was hidden away in a Labyrinth built by Daedalus and sentenced to a life outside humanity.  It is described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a man with the head of a bull, indicating its uncanniness and its inability to be civilized.  The Minotaur is a wild, uncontrollable force, a man-eater, and its cross-species status is what makes it monstrous.

The character of the Minotaur appears in Dante’s Inferno in the seventh circle of Hell, where the purveyors of violence are punished.  Inferno is the first part of the Divine Comedy and was written in the 14th century: Dante himself is a character, lost along the road, and must travel through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven to find his way again.  Dante’s guide is the Roman poet Virgil.  They encounter the Minotaur, described as “the infamy of Crete,” when they reach the Phlegethon, a river of blood guarded by centaurs.  Virgil taunts the Minotaur, saying, “Perchance thou deem’st/The King of Athens here, who, in the world/Above, thy death contriv’d.  Monster! avaunt!/He comes not tutor’d by thy sister’s art,/But to behold your torments is he come.”  The Minotaur reacts to the mention of Theseus, “Like to a bull, that with impetuous spring/Darts, at the moment when the fatal blow/Hath struck him, but unable to proceed/Plunges on either side.”  His distracted rage allows Virgil and Dante to pass.  This representation of the Minotaur emphasizes his animalistic characteristics, and although Dante never specifies whether the beast is meant to have the head of a bull or the head of a man, his “bestial rage” is both terrifying and debilitating: his personification and his punishment.

Dante’s Inferno has its own illumination in the text, but other artists have taken it upon themselves to portray the scene.  The original illustration shows the Minotaur as a creature with the torso and head of a man and the body of a bull.  The face on the human head appears very simplistic and perhaps even innocent, making the character strangely relatable in contrast to the description in the text.  Whether or not this can be considered an error is unclear, but the association with the centaurs is strong: although the Minotaur and the centaurs do not work together directly, they occupy the same space in Hell as sentries against the souls immersed in the river of blood.  In later illustrations of this scene, artists vary in their portrayal of the Minotaur as part human and part bull. In the 1700’s the artist William Blake shows the monster with a bull’s head, a human torso, and a bull’s lower body (image). The bull’s head emphasizes the Minotaur’s bestial temperament, while the human torso on a bull’s shoulders draws a connection with the centaurs.  In 1857 the artist Gustave Dore returns to a portrayal of the monster with a bulls head and an entire human body. However, in his illustration the Minotaur is shown as a giant, adding to the sense of threatening monstrosity.  The portrayal of the Minotaur in Dante’s Inferno is a personification of rage, terror, and a lack of self-control.  Dante demonizes the Minotaur by placing him in Hell, and emphasizes his role by associating him directly with Violence.  Visual representations of the scene draw on both his physical and temperamental characteristics to create a symbol of man’s bestial nature and his struggle to control it.

Works Cited

Alighieri, Dante. “Canto XII.” Inferno. Project Gutenberg. 7 Aug. 2004. Web. 1 Apr. 2011.  <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8789/8789-h/8789-h.htm&gt;.

Anonymous. Illustration in Dante. Divine Comedy: Folio P. 017. Digital image. ArtSTOR. ArtSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=8zxLfDwqIjsiQi85eTx9RH0iV3k%3D&userId=gjJAdTIn&zoomparams=&gt;

Blake, William. Dante Illustration: The Minotaur. Digital image. ArtSTOR. ArtSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=8DdCYyk7MTk%2FKCo0Y1N7R3spXXoseVt%2B&userId=gjJAdTIn&zoomparams=&gt;

Doré, Gustave. Minotaur. Digital image. Danteworlds. The University of Texas at Austin. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/gallery/0915minotaur.jpg&gt;.

Raffa, Guy P. “Dante’s Inferno – Circle 7 – Cantos 12-17.” Danteworlds. The University of Texas at Austin. Web. 01 Apr. 2011.  <http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle7.html#minotaur&gt;.

Tambling, Jeremy. “Monstrous Tyranny, Men of Blood: Dantes and “Inferno” XII.”  Modern Humanities Research Association 98 (2003): 881-97. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3737931&gt;.

Renaissance Reception of Ariadne

by Jonathan Colvson and Daniel Connochie

Multitudes of themes are present in the story of Theseus and Ariadne. The story’s cultural relevance has endured even to the present day, though its weight was clearly felt in the Renaissance as well. Judging from the volume of artistic tributes to the tale (through the media of fine arts, music, poetry, etc), the myth generated a great deal of inspiration. Perhaps the best example of the myth’s power is Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne,” a painting that dwells specifically on Ariadne’s rescue by the god. Yet Titian draws on a number of more subtle themes present in the myth and its adaptations, binding them into what might be viewed almost as a literal snapshot of the story’s cultural importance.

The imagery of Titian’s painting is drawn almost directly from Catullus LXIV (the placement of Ariadne on a shore, watching Theseus’s ship disappear into the distance, even some of the specific accouterments of the mass of attendees) yet the first exploration of “Bacchus and Ariadne” should be through Ovid.

Ovid’s account of the tale laid the groundwork for a number of Renaissance poets including notable names Francesco Petrarch and Geoffrey Chaucer. Though such figures may seem tangential (though obviously relevant on a larger cultural scale), the themes both poets derived from the initial myth are remarkable and reproduced faithfully by Titian. Petrarch mentions Ariadne in the first part of his Triumphus Cupidus or “Triumph of Love.” He contrasts her with various other mythological women (and the tragedies that befall them) such as Phyllis, Phaedra, and Medea, using such stories as a sort of poetic testament to the power of love. Yet Petrarch’s Triumphus is not a celebration of that power; he warns: “It often proves that they who falsely blame another, in one breath themselves condemn.”[1]   His warning does not disguise his sympathy for the cause of such tragic figures as Ariadne. He bemoans their fates quite poetically, giving his title of “Triumph” a sinister irony.

Chaucer’s account is far more damning to Theseus; he suggests that Theseus was tempted by infidelity and ran off with Ariadne’s sister.[2]  This victimization of Ariadne is clearly the focus of Renaissance interpreters. Yet, both accounts also incorporate important imagery that Titian, in turn represented in his painting. Chaucer mentions the familiar constellation Corona Borealis in his work: “And, in the signe of Taurus, men may see/the stones of her coroun shyne clere.”[3]  These shining stars relate back to an account of Ariadne and Bacchus given by Ovid in his Fasti, an examination of the Roman calender. There Ovid tells a story of Bacchus leaving Ariadne in pursuit of another woman only to eventually return to her. He invokes the imagery of the bull (perhaps there is the source of Chaucer’s reference to Taurus),[4]  and recounts the birth of the constellation as a gift from Bacchus to Ariadne in atonement for his infidelity. In this version Bacchus takes the crown that Theseus retrieved for Ariadne, and changes it into nine stars. These stars are depicted in the far left of the sky in Titian’s painting. Another Ovidian piece worth noting is his Ars Amatoria, from which Titian derives even more details for his painting.[5] For example, only in this account does Bacchus arrive and find Ariadne 1) clothed and 2) awake. The dazzling images of Ariadne’s tunic, the drunken Silenus atop a donkey, and Bacchus’ golden chariot also come from the Ars Amatoria, and are not found anywhere else, suggesting that perhaps this was Titian’s primary Ovidian source, using Ovid’s Fasti as supplement.  Finally we come to Catullus’s account of Theseus and Ariadne. There are many connections between Catullus’s narrative and the imagery of Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne,” though the importance of these similarities is not in the small details,[6]  but in the overall characterization of Ariadne. In Catullus’s poem Ariadne is unequivocally the victim, and is given a long monologue bemoaning her situation. The language of lament in Catullus is so striking that one cannot help but feel its resonance in Petrarch’s bitter poem, or the work of Chaucer.

The very fact that Titian chose (whether intentionally or subconsciously) to so thoroughly mirror Catullus’s imagery shows his wholehearted subscription to the tragic character of Ariadne. Clearly the Renaissance reception of Ariadne is a tragic one. Perhaps, as some scholars suggest,[7] she is even received as a warning that, by its incontestable and eternal triumph, love is often the cause of torment and disaster.

End Notes

[1] Triumphs, and other Poems of Petrach HG Bohn 1859 (Accessed 2 April 2011).

[2] Chaucer, Geoffrey “Legend of Good Women” VI, lines 287-288.

[3] Ibid; 338-339

[4] Ovid, Fasti Book III, March 8, trans: A.S. Kline, 2004 http://www.poetryintranslation.com (Accessed 2 April 2011).

[5] Graves H. Thompson, “The Literary Sources of Titian’s ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’”. The Classical Journal, Vol. 51, No. 6. (March, 1956). pp. 259-264 (Accessed 1 April 2011).

[6] For a detailed analysis of the similarities see Paul Holberton’s “Battista Guarino’s Catullus and Titian’s ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’” The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 128, No. 998 (May, 1986), pp. 347-350 (Accessed 2 April 2011).

[7]  Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, & Salvatore Settis, eds. “Ariadne”. The Classical Tradition. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2010.  pp. 67-68.

The Labyrinth and the Minotaur; Ariadne and Theseus

by Catherine Divisio and James Lee

Virgil Solis’ woodcut “The Labyrinth and the Minotaur; Ariadne and Theseus,” depicting the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is interesting because instead of focusing on a single moment or aspect of the myth, it ties together the three major events.  In the center we see the beginning of the myth, with the Minotaur toying with his victim.  In the foreground Theseus and Ariadne are depicted.  In the upper right of the background there is a city in the distance, presumably Athens, given the small white flag that could denote Minos’ victory over the Athenians and the reason for the blood tribute that Theseus eventually stops by slaying the Minotaur. Also in the background are the ships on the ocean, which portray his eventual return home.  Interestingly, although it may be due to limitations of the medium, the ship does not have black sails, which are important indicators of the unfortunate fate of Theseus’ father.  However, this indicator may be replaced by the darkness of the sky behind the city, thus foreshadowing the tragic ending of the myth.

As in most artistic representations, the characters are clothed in modern dress.  Ariadne’s dress is in the style of the Renaissance, and Theseus’ attire is likewise a Renaissance imitation of traditional Greek armor.  His helmet and sword are much more Renaissance than Greek.  Contrarily, the design of the labyrinth is very traditional, with the circular pattern seen in ancient art.  This contrasts with the modern interpretation of sharp angles and rectangular corridors. The open nature of this labyrinth gives the myth a lighter feel than the modern subterranean conception.  Likewise, the Minotaur himself is depicted differently than a modern audience might expect.  Instead of a bull’s head on a man’s body, the Minotaur possesses a human torso on a bull’s body, like a centaur.  This suggests the power of speech, a factor that humanizes the monster to some extent.  This may be due to Ovid’s description in the Heroides, where Ariadne mourns the Minotaur as a brother.  Neither the Heroides nor the Metamorphoses tell explicitly which part of the Minotaur was human and which part was monster.  This information is contained in the section of Apollodorus’ Library which covers the same myth.  If this work was unavailable to the artist, Ovid’s more vague description of the Minotaur’s appearance could easily lead to this centaur-esque depiction.  Additionally, Apollodorus tells us that Theseus fought the Minotaur with his bare fists, while this Theseus appears well-armed.