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Undergraduate
Classics Teaching Collections |
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| Backward |
Forward |
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| Name: |
Hermes,
Eurydike and Orpheus |
| Picture: |
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| Description: |
Roman
Imperial copy of Greek original. Naples, Museo Nazionale. H. 1.18m.
The inscription on the frieze ('Zethos, Antipa, Amphion') does not
match the figures. From the left: Hermes, in chiton, traveller's cloak,
ankle boots and petasos, moves from the left holding the wrist of
Eurydike. She wears a peplos, her himation drawn over her head as
a veil. Her right hand is brushing Hermes' hand, and holds a length
of her draperies; her left hand is raised to touch the shoulder of
Orpheus to her right. He wears knee-length boots, a chiton and a long
cloak, and a Scythian round-helmet. In his left hand he holds a lyre.
His right hand is raised to touch Eurydike's veil. |
| Date: |
c. 425 B.C. |
| Discussion: |
The
story of Orpheus and Eurydike is well-known, and this is a bitter-sweet
rendering of the myth, Orpheus turning back too soon to catch a glimpse
of his lost love, and her gesture of sorrow as she must leave him
for the second time to return to Hades. See Robertson 1981: fig. 184,
p. 135. |
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