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Ino and Melicertes

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"Picture a cliff hanging over the sea, its lower part hollowed

out by the surf and protecting the waves beneath from rain,

and its rocky summit jutting over the open water.

Ino, strong in her madness, undaunted by fear, still holding

her baby she jumped. The waves turned white where she struck the surface."


Ovid Metamorphoses, book 4 lines 525-530. Translation David Raeburn 2004



Lets back up a bit now. I doubt most of you will recognise the characters, they're from one of the less well known stories from the Metamorphoses. It all begins with Semele. She has an afair with Juppitor. Hera finds out. She tricks Semele into getting Juppitor to zap her with one of his thunderbolts. The child Bacchus/Dionysos/Liber/etc is rescued from the ashes and given to Ino (Semele's sister) to look after. Hera still extremely jealous. Gets Furries to poison Ino and Athamas (the husband) making them insane. Athamas kills one of his sons. Ino escapes with the other. Now you're up to date.



Out of all the members of the House of Cadmus (also known as the House of Thebes) Ino and her child have the best ending. Venus, her great-grandmother, persuades Neptune to convert them into sea gods. So the pair become immortals.



No references used (hence some stylisation). I was almost right when I said it'd be ready in a week and a half.
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717x1000px 342.2 KB
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Comments6
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Hey!

This is awesome! Can we use this drawing for a lesson we are going to give about that part of Ovidius' work?
We have to tell the story with pictures/drawings to make it more visual.
We are going to quote your name and the link to this.