While not ancient art, this favorite by Goya so perfectly illustrates the myth of Kronos eating his sons I really just couldn’t resist.
This primordial myth is a weird one, but somehow still strikes a chord (or so a dear friend with teenage sons tells me…). Kronos, leader of the Titans, came to fear being overthrown and killed by his offspring (a guilty conscience perhaps – he had castrated and usurped his own father) that he began swallowing the swaddled newborns. Their devastated mother, Rhea, wised up and substituted a baby-shaped rock in her baby Zeus’ wrappings, which Kronos summarily tossed down his gullet.
The wild-eyed expression of Goya’s Kronos as he stuffs the bloodied body of a limp young son into his gaping maw (more heart wrenching for us to witness than a rock-shaped baby I suppose) brilliantly captures his tortured state of mind. A bit more powerful than the Athenian 5th century version (which is still very cool – see the second photo where Rhea presents her husband with a swaddled rock).
So anyway, Happy Father’s Day and may no one get eaten or usurped today!
