Mythological Adventures at the Met

Chair of the Classics Department John Young elaborates on a recent trip taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Form III Latin students:

"Owing to the ease with which the stories and their heroes can be allegorized to demonstrate spiritual, moral and political truths, classical mythology has inspired artists of all times and places and continues to do so today, as Form III Latin students discovered at the Met. They have been reading mythological adventures in Latin and visited the museum to see for themselves different artistic expressions of their reading material. They met more than one Roman Hercules in marble, another in Renaissance oils, and a modern Hercules in bronze. They saw Perseus both painted in miniature on an ancient bedroom's walls to inspire delight, and also sculpted larger than life in modern marble to vanquish fear and superstition. Along their journey to the Gorgons' den, the boys repeatedly encountered Minerva and Venus advising, enticing and keeping them safe from Medusa's gaze."