0153AphroditeAnchises_Carracci

0153AphroditeAnchises_Carracci

wikipedia on Farnese Gallery
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (5)

Annibale Caracci, "Venus and Anchises," 1597-1604, fresco from "The Loves of the Gods", Palazzo Farnese, Galleria

The Farnese Gallery was decorated with Carracci’s Loves of the Gods: Zeus and Hera opposite this, Omphale and Hercules opposite Diana and Endymion on the other axis.

The Latin inscription recalls Vergil Aeneid 1.10-11 “Genus unde Latinum” “whence came the Latin race”. This moment is the beginning of Roman history, in a way.

ML p. 198 has full image of the frame featuring Hercules as telamon and another figure who turn their gaze shyly from this scene.

In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Zeus sought to humble Aphrodite. She bragged that nearly all creatures — except only Athena, Artemis, and Hestia — were subject to her supreme power. Even Zeus! Therefore, Zeus made her fall in love with Anchises, a prince of Troy. The result of their union is the birth of Aeneas, the progenitor of the Roman race.

"But now my mouth shall no more have this power among the gods; for very great has been my madness, my miserable and dreadful madness, and I went astray out of my mind who have gotten a child beneath my girdle, mating with a mortal man." (Evelyn-White trans.)

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.