 |
| Hans Baldung Hercules and Antaeus 1530 oil on panel National Museum, Warsaw |
-Kunstbibliothek-Staatliche-Museen-zu-Berlin.jpg) |
| Armand Rassenfosse Tournoi de Lutte 1899 lithograph (poster) Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
 |
| Andreas Møller Boxers in London 1737 oil on canvas Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel |
 |
| Georgi Selma Battle of Athletes 1930 gelatin silver print Museum Ludwig, Cologne |
-Oslo.jpg) |
| Per Christian Brown Army Play I 2005 C-print KORO (Public Art Norway), Oslo |
-Quarrel-between-Achilles-and-Agamemnon-c1695-oil-on-canvas-Mus%C3%A9e-de-l'Oise.jpg) |
| Giovanni Battista Gaulli (il Baciccio) Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon ca. 1695 oil on canvas Musée de l'Oise |
 |
| Fernand Lematte Death of Messalina 1870 oil on canvas École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris |
 |
| Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Joseph and Potiphar's Wife 1851 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
-Alte-Nationalgalerie-Staatliche-Museen-zu-Berlin.jpg) |
| Philipp Vliet Joseph and Potiphar's Wife 1816 detached fresco (from Casa Bartholdy in Rome) Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
 |
| Étienne-Barthélemy Garnier Hippolytus reacting to Phèdre's confession of love 1793 oil on canvas Musée Ingres Bourdelle, Montauban |
 |
| Jean Bouchardon Kiss of Judas 1498-99 tempera on vellum Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris |
-and-Jan-Wildens-(landscape)-Noli-me-tangere-c1620-oil-on-canvas-Mus%C3%A9e-des-Beaux-Arts-de-Dunkerque.jpg) |
| Abraham Janssens (figures) and Jan Wildens (landscape) Noli me tangere ca. 1620 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque |
 |
| Denys Calvaert Noli me tangere ca. 1600 oil on canvas National Museum, Warsaw |
-Schloss-Charlottenburg-Berlin.png) |
| Rudolf Schadow Castor and Pollux abducting the Daughters of Leucippus 1821 marble relief (overdoor carved in Rome) Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin |
 |
| Peter Paul Rubens Samson captured by the Philistines ca. 1614-20 oil on canvas Staatsgalerie im Neuen Schloss Schleissheim |
 |
| Albrecht Altdorfer Jael and Sisera ca. 1523 woodcut Kupferstichkabinett, Kunstmuseum Basel |
[A procession of serving-women (the Chorus) begins to emerge from the palace door. They are elderly, and are dressed all in black; there are rents in their clothes and gashes on their cheeks. Two of them carry jars on their heads.]
Chorus:
I have come from the house, having been sent
to escort the drink-offerings with rapid beating of hands;*
my cheek stands out red with gashes,
my cheek stands out red with gashes,
with furrows freshly cut by my nails
(though all my life my heart
has fed on cries of woe):
the tearing sound of garments rent in grief
the tearing sound of garments rent in grief
has ruined their linen weave –
the folds of my robes over my breast, savaged
by mirthless disaster.
A clear prophetic dream, breathing out wrath in sleep,
A clear prophetic dream, breathing out wrath in sleep,
which made the house's hair stand on end,
raised a loud cry of terror at dead of night in the innermost part of the house,
making a heavy attack
on the women's quarters:
making a heavy attack
on the women's quarters:
and the interpreters of this dream
proclaimed under a divine guarantee,
proclaimed under a divine guarantee,
that those beneath the earth were furiously aggrieved
and wrathful against the killers.
Such is the graceless favour** to avert trouble –
O Mother Earth! – that she is seeking to do by sending me,
that godless woman. This is a word
that I am afraid to utter:
what expiation is there when blood has been shed on the ground?
O hearth full of woe!
O ruin of the house!
Sunless darkness, abhorred by all,
shrouds the house
because its rulers have perished.
– Aeschylus, from The Libation-Bearers (458 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)
*on head or breast or both, as a gesture of mourning, like the gashing of cheeks and rending of garments
**the "favour" that Clytemnestra is ostensibly bestowing on the spirit of Agamemnon is "graceless" because her sole motive is not to benefit him but to protect herself