Last month we talkeed about winds. Here is a vase painting of Boreas, the north wind, abducting the daughter of the legendary founder of Athens, Greece. We get a sense of how fearful the event was when we look at the raised hands of the nymph and her companion.
Why has brutality been such a constant theme in human history? Men fight with men. Men brutalize women. Nations go to war for little or no reason.
Random rape wasnot acceptable in the ancient world, just as it is not acceptable today, but it happened. We have to wonder what the owner of this fine vase thought about the north wind and about this mythological rape. Why was this myth told and retold? We don't know. We can hope that those who saw pictures of brutality saw them as cautionary tales, rather than thinking that they would like to have been Boreas.
The vase displayed in the British Museum, GR1836.2-24.68 (Vase E512). Photo by Richard Davies. You have permission to use the photo as long as you give credit to the photographer and do not use it for commercial purposes.