Comments on: Initially yours http://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/initially-yours/ A blog (mostly) about early modern culture Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:53:56 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: danhartland http://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/initially-yours/#comment-347 danhartland Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:52:08 +0000 http://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/?p=811#comment-347 Malcolm Bull's wonderul <i>The Mirror of the Gods</i> (Penguin, 2006) - which albeit contains relatively little on the English experience - recounts how, following the Renaissance, figures of power would exploit Classical imagery whilst retaining strong identification with Christian thought and tradition. So, on Hercules versus the Hydra: "Hercules' resolute way with dragons and serpents also had a potential Christological significance. Pietro Testa's print of the infant Jesus stepping on a serpant with a classical relief of Hercules and the Hydra in the background makes the analogy explicit." [pg. 126] It's an interesting line of thought, given where <i>Eikon Basilike</i> eventually took Charles's fight against 'the mob'. Bull also recalls Erasmus's suggestion that the labours of Hercules were not so much feats of strength so much as projects for the wider benefit of all (and not for he who undertook them). Make of that what you will! Malcolm Bull’s wonderul The Mirror of the Gods (Penguin, 2006) – which albeit contains relatively little on the English experience – recounts how, following the Renaissance, figures of power would exploit Classical imagery whilst retaining strong identification with Christian thought and tradition. So, on Hercules versus the Hydra: “Hercules’ resolute way with dragons and serpents also had a potential Christological significance. Pietro Testa’s print of the infant Jesus stepping on a serpant with a classical relief of Hercules and the Hydra in the background makes the analogy explicit.” [pg. 126] It’s an interesting line of thought, given where Eikon Basilike eventually took Charles’s fight against ‘the mob’.

Bull also recalls Erasmus’s suggestion that the labours of Hercules were not so much feats of strength so much as projects for the wider benefit of all (and not for he who undertook them). Make of that what you will!

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