Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida in the House of the Tragic Poet - wedding or seduction?

by Mary Harrsch © 2024

Another of the lithographs of Henri Roux's paintings I discovered yesterday is entitled "Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida". The house where it came from, again, was not specified but when I translated the related chapter Raoul-Rochette mentioned it was from the same house as a fresco with Achilles and Breiseis. I am familiar with that fresco and know it is in the House of the Tragic Poet (VI 8,3) so I checked and matched the lithograph with the fresco known as the Marriage of Zeus and Hera (Jupiter and Juno). But I was surprised that Raoul-Rochette did not associate the scene with a marriage. Instead, he expressed his opinion that the fresco depicts a scene from the Iliad where Juno, adorned with all her natural charms, to which she has also added all those that art could provide her, including the cestus of Venus, which she borrowed, with the help of a lie, from the goddess of beauty, goes to Jupiter, who was then sitting on the summit of Ida, with the intention of seducing him, and making him forget, in her arms, the quarrel between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Jupiter and Juno from Pompeii by Henri Roux lithography by Raoul Rochette 1854 

original fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet preserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.

He provides the reasons for this identity: "...beginning with the place of the scene. It is a mountain, on which stands a Doric column, the capital of which supports a tablet notched in three places and decorated with three figures of lions, and whose shaft is encircled with a strip used to suspend two flutes and two bells, with a tympanum below. From such objects, it is impossible to fail to recognize Mount Ida, the primitive seat of the mysteries of the goddess of Phrygia, whose symbolic animal was the lion, and who had as instruments of her worship, used from all antiquity, bells, flutes and the tympanum. It is therefore on Mount Ida that the action represented in our painting takes place.

"The principal character recognizes himself, at first glance, as the king of the gods, by his tall stature, in his costume and attributes. He is seated on a rock of Ida; the pallium with which he is dressed, and which leaves the front part of his body bare, covers the back of his head, a peculiarity which suits Jupiter in the situation in which he finds himself, and which is moreover not without examples on the monuments of ancient art. He has his forehead encircled with the crown of oak, which is the proper and characteristic attribute of the Hellenic god, of the Dodonian Jupiter, and he holds the scepter, the ordinary attribute of the king of the gods. With such signs, which made the presence of the eagle and the thunderbolt less necessary, with which the images of Jupiter are not always accompanied, it was impossible to misrecognize this god in the situation indicated by Homer, retired on Mount Ida to contemplate more closely the successes of the people he favors. Unfortunately the face of the god has suffered an attack which deprives us of the sight of part of his features; and I preferred to represent faithfully the painting in its state of imperfection, than to supplement it arbitrarily, as the Neapolitan editor, Mr. Inghirami, and Sir W. Gell have done. I am an enemy of this process of restoration, which has filled the whole domain of antiquity with so many false notions; and this is why the paintings of Pornpei which will be part of this collection will be given as they are, without changing anything, without adding anything.

"Before the god there appears a goddess who, by the majesty of her gait, the nobility of her figure and the richness of her costume, manifests herself as Juno; this is how she was first named, and this is what she must be in fact. She is standing, and shows herself full face, in all the dignity of her person. Her forehead is adorned with a high Stephane, above which has passed the peplius that Minerva had woven for her with her learned hands; her face radiates a proud and truly divine beauty, and the grandeur and brilliance of her eyes correspond well to the Homeric description. She is dressed in a long tunic, richly embroidered, which leaves uncovered her beautiful arms praised by Homer; and, by a feeling of modesty, or rather of coquetry, always serious, as befits Juno, and which, moreover, agrees marvelously with the movement of her whole person and with the expression of her face, she holds up in front of her a piece of the peplus which covers her head and shoulders. This is the moment when Jupiter, who has taken her left arm to draw her to him, expresses to her, in the terms we know from Homer, the desires he feels for her, and when Juno opposes to the impatient ardor of her husband delays which have the object of irritating him still.

"A third character witnesses this scene, at once august and voluptuous: she is a winged woman, who is recognized by this sign as a divine character; she is dressed in a long green tunic, which is appropriate for a divinity of the air; and she seems, by her whole attitude, to push Juno into the arms of Jupiter. If we stick to the Homeric data, where Juno, on her way to Ida, was accompanied only by the god of sleep, but without this god himself being a witness to the interview of the two spouses, we could see here Pasithea, the wife of Sleep, as we know her from another painting in Pompeii, on the subject of which the opinions of antiquarians are not yet fixed; and this explanation of the figure in question was proposed by Ott. Müller, on the hypothesis that our painting represented Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida. But I find it even more probable to recognize in this third character Iris, the messenger of the gods, who could alone, in this capacity, be present at the most secret interviews of the supreme couple of Olympus. Moreover, it was, according to Theocritus, Iris who had, in a similar circumstance, prepared the nuptial bed of Jupiter and Juno, and who had served as pronuba for their clandestine union. The same Iris could therefore well intervene in the conjugal scene that we have before our eyes, and where her presence is authorized by all the testimonies of antiquity.

"Most antiquarians have agreed in recognizing, in the three figures of young men, of lesser stature, seated, in various postures, on one of the lower steps of Ida, and crowned with leaves, the three Curetes or Corybantes, whose connections with the orgies of Cybele and with the birth of Jupiter are well known, which had taken place on Ida, or else the three Idaean Dactyls, mystical characters of the same order, or finally the three Cabiri, who, following a poetic tradition, had attended, on a height near Pergamum and consequently Ida, the birth of Jupiter. Between these three explanations, which differ less from each other in substance than in terms, since they relate to characters who must have been, in principle, as many, of diverse expressions of the same mythological thought, that which gives to these three young people the name of the three Curetes, without taking into account the manner in which they are represented here, and which is doubtless not in conformity with the hieratic costume, seems to me the most likely; and it is the one that I had first adopted. Moreover, the circumstance that these three figures are of a much lesser proportion than those of Jupiter, Juno and even Iris, is one of those acts of convention employed by ancient art, which seems to prove that our painting is derived from some model of an ancient school. This presumption is in agreement with the gravity of the composition and with the severity of the style which distinguish this painting, one of the most remarkable, in this respect, which have been taken from the ruins of Pompeii, and very commendable also for the execution, although it is below that of Achilles and Breseis, of the same house. But, in considering it as a weak imitation, without doubt, of a painting of a high Greek school, one does not risk being mistaken; and one acquires with this reminiscence, due to the last period of ancient painting, one of the most precious monuments of this art, which has perished entirely and irreparably in its masterpieces of every kind."

Zeus and Hera did marry on Mount Ida so the first three sections of Raoul-Rochette's interpretation identifying Ida as the location and the figures of Zeus and Hera coincide with the modern interpretation. So I thought perhaps the difference rested on the identification of the winged attendant and the three small male figures.

Raoul-Rochette identifies the third figure as Iris so I asked ChatGPT about the significance of Iris at a wedding ceremony.

"If we accept that the winged figure is Iris, her presence supports the notion that this scene has a formal or ceremonial aspect rather than purely romantic. In mythology, Iris's participation in the marriage or union of Zeus and Hera lends a ceremonial and sacred dimension, indicating that the fresco might depict a ritualized reunion or even a reaffirmation of their bond."

So if the third figure is not the distinguishing character then I thought perhaps the three small male attendants might hold the key. But, although wreathed, these significantly smaller figures are not featured with any attributes that would nail the identification either.

Raoul-Rochette suggests they could be the Corybantes, associated with ecstatic worship, music and protective frenzy. But Corybantes are typically depicted as armed who perform wild, shield-clashing dances. He also suggests they could be Idaean Dactyls, renowned as master metalworkers and there are no objects present to support this theory. Then he suggests they could be the Cabiri. But, the Cabiri are often depicted with symbols related to fertility, such as seeds, fruits, and cornucopias and none of those are present in the fresco.

ChatGPT suggested they may represent lesser-known male deities or spirits associated with marriage or family, such as Hymenaios, the god of marriage ceremonies, who is often depicted as a youthful figure accompanying weddings. I asked if he were considered a minor god, though, and depicted significantly smaller than Zeus or Hera in ancient art.

"Hymenaios as a lesser deity, would typically be depicted on a much smaller scale than major gods like Zeus or Hera in ancient art. Hymenaios was the god of marriage and the personification of the wedding hymn, but he was considered a minor deity. This often meant he would appear less prominently or with a smaller stature in art, especially when shown alongside the chief gods.

"His usual iconography includes attributes like a marriage torch, wreath, or garland, and he sometimes appears holding these in celebration. Though often youthful, Hymenaios was generally presented as a secondary figure, a supporting presence rather than the central focus, which could indeed justify his smaller size in such a scene.

"The presence of Hymenaios would also reinforce a wedding interpretation, as his very role was to sanctify and preside over marital unions, especially divine ones. His inclusion—especially depicted small, humble, and celebratory—would be fitting as part of the entourage in a marriage scene involving Zeus and Hera. "

The three little male figures are wearing celebratory wreaths so this would seem to support the modern interpretation of the scene as a marriage ceremony. The only other thing I could think of that would support the 19th century interpretation was consistency of the fresco with other frescos in the atrium. All but one portray scenes from the Trojan War. One, however, is identified as a fresco of Alcestis learning about the death sentence of her husband, Admetus. Alcestis ultimately sacrifices herself in his place. This fresco may have other interpretations but the presence of Artemis, who was offended when Admetus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis at his wedding to Alcestis points to a correct identification.

Back in 2016, I wrote an article about my interpretation of the frescos and their intended messages for clients waiting in the atrium for the morning salutatio entitled "House of the Tragic Poet: What's love got to do with it?"

(https://ancientimes.blogspot.com/.../the-house-of-tragic...)

I focused on messages related to superior and subordinate relationships rather than any allusion to love, so my analysis of the intended messages if the atrium is viewed as an example of a memory house would not be affected if the "Marriage of Zeus and Hera" would be interpreted either way. Still, I found exploring the different interpretations of the fresco fascinating.