This copy of Flemish painter Jan Massijs's 16th century painting of David and Bathsheba was hanging in the stairwell of the Hotel Quirinale, where I stayed a few weeks ago in Rome. I would highly recommend this historical hotel for beautiful rooms and excellent service. Anyway, thinking about the painting, I can't help but compare and contrast the subject with that of Lydian King Candaules and his wife. There are many echoes of biblical stories in The Histories, or echoes of Herodotus in The Bible depending on how you look at it. King David of Israel and Judah falls in obsessive love with Bathsheba when he sees her bathing from the roof of his palace. He places her husband Uriah Uriah in the front lines of battle, hoping he would die and leave Bathsheba free to marry again. Despite the new couple losing their first child as punishment for David's sin, Bathsheba eventually gives him an heir, the famously wise King Solomon. The love story of Candaules, descendent of Heracles, proceeds rather differently, but it still hinges around nudity and voyeurism.
According to Herodotus, Candaules develops an obsessive love for his own wife, to the extent that he believes her to the be the most beautiful woman in the world. Candaules grows close to a member of his bodyguard named Gyges, whom he constantly regales with tales of his wife's beauty. Eventually, Candaules suggests that Gyges hide behind the door of the royal bedroom to watch her undress. Perhaps Candaules concocts this scheme to give himself an erotic thrill. Gyges protests at first about the immortality of his king's plan, but eventually gives in and agrees to spy on the queen.
Speaking of spying on naked queens, time to get back to my ongoing recap of Hercules Unchained.
Flash back twenty-two generations before Gyges and there's another voyeur at the royal court of Lydia. This time, it's Hercules!
Candaules's amnesiac ancestor awakens, alone and disoriented, in Omphale's palace. Hercules staggers around the empty corridors and follows the noises of feminine giggling until he comes to a balcony overlooking a waterfall where a bevy of maidens are frolicking. His eyes fall on Omphale, who is swimming in the nude next to a pair of swans. Just a typical afternoon for the Lydian queen, I suppose. On the subject of voyeurism, it is notable to me that Omphale first saw Hercules while he was unconscious and his first sight of her is spying on her bathing. Of course, knowing Omphale, she probably planned it that way.
Either intrigued by Omphale or confused about his amnesia, Hercules makes his way to the waterfall, but by the time he gets down there, she's already gotten dressed and started lounging seductively on her swan shaped divan. He explains to her that he has amnesia and does not know what is going on. Just to make sure, she parades around the captive Ulysses by Hercules, who does not recognize his young friend. Omphale then makes up a story that Hercules is the King of Lydia and also her husband, if only he could remember!
Hercules seems to buy Omphale's story, which must be her go-to lie for the succession of handsome men who collapse after drinking from the waters of forgetfulness and are then brought by ship to Lydia by her soldiers. Then, doubling down on the theme of voyeurism, Hercules and Omphale settle in on the divan to enjoy a dance number performed by her maidens.
No comments:
Post a Comment