WALL FRESCO SHOWING ARIADNE ON NAXOS, C1 BCE - 69 CE. THE BRITISH MUSEUM This scene from an unidentified site in Herculaneum shows the Minoan princess Ariadne after she helped Theseus escape the Labyrinth and he took her with him on his ship, leaving Knossos and everything she knew behind her. She fell asleep on the isle of Naxos with Theseus but awakened to find him already gone, nearing the horizon. We see her lying against a red cushion, half nude, raising one arm plaintively to Theseus as he's hauling up a sail at upper right. Her helplessness and dismay are poignant. She doesn't know what Theseus does: that he was ordered to leave her, because the god Dionysus wanted her as a bride. He was a faithful husband, too.
For #FrescoFriday we're looking at a #fresco from #Herculaneum now at the #BritishMuseum. This shows a scene of #Ariadne on #Naxos, seduced and abandoned by #Theseus, in a rare depiction of her fear and confusion, rather than of her discovery by #Dionysus. #AncientBluesky 🏺
