Ariadne

A sad tale, no matter how it is portrayed . . .

Ariadne in Naxos ~ 1877
by Evelyn De Morgan ~ 1855 - 1919

from the novel Ariadne
by Jennifer Saint
~ My birthday present from Ben & Cathleen! ~
~ Highly recommended summer reading! ~

Dionysus: "I did not speak of my burning questions . . . the need to ask why. Why mortals bloomed like flowers and crumbled to nothing. Why their absence left a gnawing ache, a hollow void that could never be filled. And how everything they once were, that spark within them, could be extinguished so completely yet the world did not collapse under the weight of so much pain and grief" (176 - 77).

"But I have told you, Ariadne, that the other gods are not like me. I have walked among mortals for many years and I know the dizzying joys of humanity: the fragile, ferocious power of human love and the savage force of grief. When I share wine with mortals, we celebrate together and I feel the clustered hopes and yearinings, the pain and fears that you all share. In those sacred rites, as simple and ancient as the world itself, we raise a cup and we drink together, and our souls are freed from the constraints of the everyday. We find what unites us, what we have in common with one another. I have felt the gaping wound and the bruised, ragged edges of grief. I know that human life shines more brightly because it is but a shimmering candle against an eternity of darkness, and it can be extinguished with the faintest breeze" (178 - 79).

Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus ~ before 1782
by Angelica Kauffmann ~ 1741 – 1807

More about Ariadne & Dionysus

Bacchus and Ariadne ~ 1522–1523
Titan ~ 1488/90 - 1576