This illustration, titled “The Strangers in the Village,” was drawn by the English artist Walter Crane (c. 1845-1915). Although the official title is vague, a handwritten note can be seen on the artwork that clarifies the subject of the illustration. According to the notation, the drawing depicts the disguised gods, Jupiter and Mercury (or Zeus and Hermes), walking through a rough and inhospitable town before they reached their ultimate destination at the home of an elderly couple named Philemon and Baucis. Whereas the older couple ran a kind, generous and considerate household, the rest of the locals in that town were contrastingly rude and hostile to the newcomers. Whereas Philemon and Baucis sheltered and fed the gods, the rest on the town shut their doors and shooed the deities away. A Roman poet named Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE) described the contrast of character between the kind elderly couple and their belligerent homeland. The poet wrote:
“Jupiter once came here, disguised as a mortal, and with him
his son, the messenger Mercury, wand and wings set aside.
Looking for shelter and rest, they called at a thousand homesteads;
a thousand doors were bolted against them. One house, however,
did make them welcome, a humble abode with a roof of straw
and marsh reed, one that knew its duty to gods and men.
Here good Philémon and Baucis had happily passed their youth
and here they had reached old age, enduring their poverty lightly
by owning it freely and being content with the little they had.”
(Ovid, Metamorphoses, 8.626-634).
It is this tale from Greek and Roman mythology that Walter Crane re-creates in his artwork. Jupiter and Mercury (or Zeus and Hermes) can be seen carrying out their difficult journey through that inhospitable land. Human hecklers can be seen making a scene in the background, and even the local dogs joined in the harassment, ripping and tearing at poor Hermes’ clothing. This poor treatment would prove fatal for many of the hostile locals. According to the mythological tales, the gods subsequently ushered Philemon and Baucis out of town and led them to a mountain. With the elderly couple safely stowed on a mountaintop, the gods called in a flood to wipe out the town—of all the houses in the community, only that of Philemon and Baucis survived the inundation. As the story goes, the site of the hospitable couple’s home was transformed into a temple, and Philemon and Baucis spent the rest of their lives there, serving as priests.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Metamorphoses by Ovid. Translated by David Raeburn. Penguin Classics; Revised Edition, 2004.
- https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/e21b1530-c5be-012f-577a-58d385a7bc34#/?uuid=510d47e4-0c33-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
