© Estate of Leonard Baskin/ Galerie St. Etienne, New York. Photograph and digital image © Delaw…

Theseus

Date1969

Artist Leonard Baskin (American sculptor and printmaker, 1922–2000)

Publisher Gehenna Press (American private publisher, 1942–2005)

Illustration CitationThe Hippolytos, by Euripedes (Northampton, Massachusetts: Gehenna Press, 1969).

MediumEtching

Dimensionsplate: 11 13/16 × 7 1/4 in. (30 × 18.4 cm)
sheet: 18 15/16 × 12 1/2 in. (48.1 × 31.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Alfred Appel, Jr., 2009

Object number2009-40.8

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPRINT

Label TextWhen Theseus discovered Phaedra's suicide note, he assumed Hippolytos had assaulted her. He sent Hippolytos into exile. Theseus asked Poseidon to punish his son further, which he did by sending a bull that scared the horses of his chariot. The frightened horses dragged chariot and rider across the rocks, nearly killing Hippolytos. Only then did Theseus learn from Artemis the truth about Phaedra's death.