Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Click to view high resolution image Title: Pyramus and Thisbe Creator: Description: According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Pyramus and Thisbe were two lovers from the city of Babylon whose quarrelling families forbid to marry. The lovers agree to meet secretly at the tomb of Ninus below a mulberry tree. Here Thisbe encouters a lionness fresh from the kill and drops her veil as she flees. The lionness mauls the veil, which Pyramus finds as he reaches the mulberry tree. Thinking Thisbe dead, Pyramus falls on his sword. Thisbe then returns to find her lover's corpse and kills herself using the same sword. The couple's blood splashes on the white mulberries, which the gods turn to red out of pity. Here, the couple is skewered on the sword together, whereas Ovid's account tells that Pyramus and Thisbe stabbed themselves separately. The older man hiding in the tree above would suggest that the Pyramus and Thisbe narrative is here elided with the tale of Tristan and Iseult, in which King Mark hides in a tree to spy on the two lovers. Fragment of a tympanum from the Abbey of Saint-Géry au Mont des boeufs. Source: Wikimedia Commons Rights: Public domain Subject (See Also): Classical Influences Ovid, Ancient Poet- Metamorphoses- Pyramus and Thisbe Suicide Geographic Area: France Century: 12 Date: ca. 1150-1200 Related Work: Current Location: Cambrai, Musée des Beaux-Arts Original Location: Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Sculptures Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Stone Donor: Height/Width/Length(cm): // Inscription: Related Resources:

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