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| Carl Curman Paestum 1896 collodion print Moderna Museet, Stockholm |
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| Vasily Polenov The Erechtheum on the Acropolis, Athens 1882 oil on canvas State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Cadmus before the Oracle at Delphi ca. 1590 drawing Hamburger Kunsthalle |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Triumph of Silenus ca. 1670 oil on canvas Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Narbonne |
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| Alessandro Magnasco Bacchanale ca. 1720-30 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Laurenz Janscha Ruins at Schönbrunn ca. 1795-1805 gouache on paper Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
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| Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich Houses built into Foundations of a Roman Ruin 1743 etching Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich |
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| Étienne Dupérac Ruins on the Palatine Hill, Rome 1575 etching (book illustration) Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel |
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| Giovanni Battista Piranesi Ruins of the Temple of Canopus at Tivoli 1768 etching Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich |
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| Abel Schlicht Ruins of Ancient Baths ca. 1790 watercolor on paper Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
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| Marco Ricci Capriccio of Ruins 1730 etching Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich |
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| Bernardo Rantvic after Martin van Heemskerck The Colosseum, Rome ca. 1575-95 oil on panel Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence |
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| Sebastian Vrancx Interior of the Colosseum, Rome 1596 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Nicolas Poussin Colosseum, Rome ca. 1630 drawing Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
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| Hubert Robert Hermit in the Colosseum 1790 oil on canvas Dallas Museum of Art |
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| Johann Anton Ramboux Capuchin Sermon in the Colosseum, Rome 1822 oil on panel Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
Chorus of Theban Maidens: I'll be silent; along with the rest I will endure what fate may bring.
Eteocles: I accept this word of yours, in preference to your earlier words. Now, in addition to that, get away from the images and utter a better prayer – that the gods should fight alongside us. Listen to my prayer, and then utter the sacred, auspicious ululation of triumph, the customary Hellenic cry at sacrifices, to give confidence to our friends and dispel their fear of the foe. I say to the gods who inhabit this land, both those who dwell in the plains and those who watch over the market-place, and to the springs of Dirce and the waters of Ismenus, that if all turns out well and the city is saved, we will redden the altars of the gods with the blood of sheep, set up monuments of victory, and fix the spoils of the enemy, gained by the stroke of the spear, in their holy temples. Make prayers like that to the gods, not mournfully, nor with wild, useless pantings – they won't make it any less impossible for you to avoid what is fated. For myself, I will go and station six men, with myself as the seventh, to combat the enemy at the seven entrances to the walls, before a messenger comes with a flurry of hasty noisy words and causes a crisis that sets all ablaze.
[He leaves, making for the walls.]
– Aeschylus, from Seven Against Thebes (467 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)