The Slain

Henry Fuseli
Hamlet's Father, the King, poisoned by Claudius, his Brother
1771
drawing
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Johann Michael Rottmayr
Mercury, Argus and Io
ca. 1690-95
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

Anonymous Italian Artist
Apollo and Diana slaying the Children of Niobe
1541
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Karel Dujardin
Battlefield
1652
etching
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Giandomenico Tiepolo
Punchinellos at a Hanging
ca. 1790
drawing
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

Georg Lemberger
Hanging of the Ammonite Kings
1524
hand-colored woodcut
(illustration to the "Luther" Bible)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
Massacre of the Innocents
1491
hand-colored woodcut
(illustration to the Schatzbehalter)
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Agostino Musi (Agostino Veneziano)
after Baccio Bandinelli
Man about to slay Another
ca. 1515-30
engraving
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Wilhelm Tischbein
Corpses of the Suitors carried out by the Maids
(scene from The Odyssey)
1818-19
watercolor and gouache on paper
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Lucas van Leyden
Jael and Sisera
ca. 1517
woodcut
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Giovanni Gallo after Marco Pino
Cain slaying Abel
ca. 1570-80
chiaroscuro woodcut
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Alexandre Falguière
Cain carrying the corpse of Abel
ca. 1865
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne

Giovanni di Paolo
Beheading of St John the Baptist
ca. 1455-60
tempera on panel
Art Institute of Chicago

Daniele da Volterra (Daniele Ricciarelli)
Beheading of St John the Baptist
ca. 1550-51
oil on panel
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Lucantonio degli Uberti
Salome with Head of John the Baptist
1490
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jean-Victor Schnetz
Murdered Woman
ca. 1824
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper

Messenger:  At once, on a word of command, they all pulled their oars together, struck the deep sea-water and made it roar – and then suddenly they were all there in plain sight.  First there was the right wing, leading the way with good order and discipline, and then the whole fleet coming on behind, and from all of them together one could hear a great cry: "Come on, sons of the Greeks, for the freedom of your homeland, for the freedom of your children, your wives, the temples of your fathers' gods, and the tombs of your ancestors! Now all is at stake!"  And likewise from our side there was a surge of Persian speech in reply: the time for delay was past.  At once one ship began to strike another with its projecting bronze beak; the first to ram was a Greek ship, which sheared off the whole stern of a Phoenician vessel, and then each captain chose a different enemy ship at which to run his own.  At first the streaming Persian force resisted firmly; but when our masses of ships were crowded into a narrow space, they had no way to come to each other's help, they got struck by their own side's bronze-pointed rams, they had the whole of their oarage smashed, and the Greek ships, with careful coordination, surrounded them completely and went on striking them.  The hulls of our ships turned keel-up, and the sea surface was no longer visible, filled as it was with the wreckage of ships and the slaughter of men; the shores and reefs were also full of corpses.  Every remaining ship of the Eastern armada was being rowed away in disorderly flight; meanwhile the enemy were clubbing men and splitting their spines with broken pieces of oars and spars form the wreckage, as if they were tunny or some other catch of fish, and a mixture of shrieking and wailing filled the expanse of the sea, until the dark face of night blotted it out.  Our sufferings were so multitudinous that I could not describe them fully to you if I were to talk for ten days on end: you can be certain that never have so vast a number of human beings perished in a single day. 

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)