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The rape of Cassandra

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Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy
The gods, with the exception of Athene and Hera, mourn the destruction of Troy.
Athene plans her revenge for the desecration of her sanctuary.

But the Gods, palled in dark clouds, mourned for Troy,
A ruined glory save fair-tressed Tritonis
And Hera: their hearts triumphed, when they saw
The burg of god-descended Priam destroyed.

Yet not the wise heart Trito-born herself
Was wholly tearless; for within her fane
Outraged Cassandra was of Oileus son
Lust-maddened. But grim vengeance upon him
Ere long the Goddess wreaked, repaying insult
With mortal sufferance. Yea, she would not look
Upon the infamy, but clad herself
With shame and wrath as with a cloak: she turned
Her stern eyes to the temple-roof, and groaned
The holy image, and the hallowed floor
Quaked mightily. Yet did he not forbear
His mad sin, for his soul was lust-distraught.

The Greeks dragging Cassandra out of the Temple

Engraving after the paintings by Ludovico, Annibale, and Agostino Carracci in the Palazzo Fava, Bologna
Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (engraver)
1663
Cassandra clasping the image of Athene

Gold ring
c. 400 BC
Ajax siezes Cassandra
Cassandra, naked, cowers at the feet of the image; Ajax graps her hair to drag her away

Attic red figure hydria
c. 480 BC
Cassandra

Roman fresco
1st century AD

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