The Myth of Ariadne from the Labyrinth to the Walls of Pompeii

The Archaeological Institute of America- Dayton Society, Miami University Department of History, and the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum (RCCAM) at Miami University present the Archaeological Institute of America's Peter H. von Blanckenhagen Memorial Lecture by Dr. Lillian Joyce, Associate Professor of Art History at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Most people are familiar with the story of Ariadne helping Theseus escape the Minotaur’s labyrinth, saving him from a situation not unlike the Hunger Games. Ariadne leaves Crete by necessity as well as for her love of Theseus. En route to Athens, they stop at the island of Naxos, where the exhausted Ariadne falls asleep. While she slumbers, Theseus sets sail and abandons her. Alone on the island, she is discovered by the wine god Dionysus and his entourage. Smitten, Dionysus makes Ariadne his consort. This story was explored by Greek writers from Homer onward, but as it comes into the Roman world, poets, patrons, and painters are more interested in the plight of Ariadne rather than the feats of Theseus. Ariadne captivates the Romans and she appears in a great variety of media: glass, gems, sculpture, mosaics, and especially Pompeiian wall painting where the complementary episodes of Ariadne’s abandonment and rescue are the single most common theme in central panel paintings. This talk will explore the strategies that artists employed to make the episodes recognizable and compelling and then expand out to examine the spaces in which Ariadne appears and think about how people experienced these images of the wronged maiden who becomes the consort of a god.

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