What happens to men who Circe desires, but refuse her? This one was turning into a woodpecker, his men into wild beasts, and his wife simply vanished into thin air.
narrative
Boy meets girl but has to swim a mile in treacherous waters to keep meeting her. When she tells him how she burns with passion, he pushes his luck in the sea.
Ulysses sojourn with Circe, from the Odyssey, as an inset to Virgil’s Aeneid, as retold by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. A first-hand account of transformation.
The story of Ulysses’ encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus is told by a survivor from the Odyssey. Superb paintings by Turner, Böcklin, Reni, and others.
Girl meets boy on a mission; boy cannot deviate from mission; boy leaves girl; girl heartbroken. But was this relationship doomed from the start by others?
Two interlinked stories about the Sibyl, who will live for a thousand years but age until she is just a voice. Painted by Turner (three magnificent works shown), and Claude.
The story of Dido and Aeneas summarised in seven lines, and a strange account of the origin of the apes. Paintings by Guérin, Cézanne, Tiepolo, and Fuseli.
Glaucus’ attempt to get Circe to put a spell on Scylla, to make her love him, backfires. Wonderful paintings by Waterhouse, van der Neer, Henry Fuseli, and others.
Was he a monster or a god? When Glaucus rises from the surface of the sea, Scylla runs away in terror. With a superb painting by JMW Turner.
A story of murder by a would-be lover, or perhaps of voyeuristics obsession. How Polyphemus murdered Acis, as shown by Claude, Tischbein, Moreau, Redon, and others.
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