This etching print, by Antonio Tempesta (c. 1555–1630), re-creates a myth about Jupiter (or Zeus) punishing a group of mischievous figures called the Cercopes or Cercopians. Generally known to be wicked, treacherous, and evil, the Cercopians were usually described and portrayed as two brothers, but their numbers, appearance, and territory could vary from storyteller to storyteller. Whatever the case, the Cercopians preyed on both mortals and immortals. Toward humans, they behaved like bandits; and when gods were involved, they played tricks and deceptions.
In the myth portrayed by Antonio Tempesta, the Cercopians made a dire mistake by targeting the Greco-Roman high-god, and their mischief backfired. A famous Roman poet named Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE) wrote of the myth in his poetic work, Metamorphoses, and claimed that the Cercopians were still around during the time of the Trojan War and Aeneas’ journey to Italy. He presented the tale in an after-the-fact fashion, describing the status of the Cercopians at a place called Pithecúsae following their encounter with Jupiter. Pithecúsae was a name that evoked the idea of an ape, for ape in Greek is πίθηκος (which looks and sounds like píthikos in English transliteration). Given the artwork, and Ovid’s theme of metamorphoses, the reader likely knows where this story is heading. Ovid wrote:
“Aeneas’ ship was deprived of his helmsman, the drowned Palinúrus,
but soon it was skirting Inárime, Próchyte, past Pithecúsae,
placed on a barren hill and called Apetown from the people
who live there. They’d once been known as Cercópians; later, however,
Jupiter changed them to misshaped creatures, because he detested
their lying, deceitful ways and the treacherous crimes they’d committed.
He wanted them both to be different from men and resemble them too.
So he shortened their limbs and flattened their noses; he furrowed their faces
with elderly wrinkles; he covered their bodies completely in tawny
hair; then he set them to live on this island. But first he denied them
the use of their tongues and words to utter their dreadful perjuries;
all that remained was their power of complaining—in raucous screeches.”
(Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 14, approximately lines 88-100)
Such is the myth that inspired Antonio Tempesta’s artwork. Ovid’s account states that the general deceitful and treacherous nature of the Cercopes was enough cause for Zeus to decide to transform them into monkey-men. Other ancient narratives existed, however, that claimed the transformation was inflicted after the Cercopes unwisely played an obscure trick or deception on Zeus.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, translated by Robin Hard. New York, Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Lucian, Selected Dialogues, translated by C. D. N. Costa. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World Classics), 2005, 2006, 2009.
- Metamorphoses by Ovid. Translated by David Raeburn. Penguin Classics; Revised Edition, 2004.
- The Library of History, by Diodorus Siculus, edited by Giles Laurén (Sophron Editor, 2014).
- Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod, translated by M. L. West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1999, 2008.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion, edited by Simon Price and Emily Kearns. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/400983
