0198AresAphrodite

0198AresAphrodite_Goltzius

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ClCv241

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Gallery
Ovid Met.

Hendrik Goltzius, "Mars and Venus" engraving 1588, after a design by Bartholomaeus Spranger

Strauss #262

Hofmann 1987 no. 4.23

Engraving of Venus and Mars embracing, attended by Cupid and other putti, with a shield and helmet in the foreground

Mythological: Ares and Aphrodite have carried on an illicit affair without her husband's knowledge for some time. Helios, in the background, notices their trysting, though Aphrodite's minions try to conceal it. Ares is utterly disarmed. Helios will soon tell Hephaistos, and the affair will be found out. Homer's Demodocus tells the rest of the story in Odyssey 8.

The Latin verses are unsigned: "Mundi oculus Phoebus, .... / sub ... arcanum est Sole, ... // Martis adulterium blanda cum Cypride, nexu / Mulceberis: dictis prebet abunde fidem. // ... veteris iacet: nil sic .... et atra / Nox eperit, predat ... referet sp. dies.

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.