Sardanapalus
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- | '''Sardanapalus''' was, according to the Greek writer [[Ctesias]] of Cnidus, the last king of [[Babylon]]. Ctesias' '''Persica''' is lost, but we know of its contents by later compilations and from the work of [[Diodorus]]. Sardanapalus has often been identified with the [[Assyria]]n king [[Ashurbanipal|Aššurbanipal]], but his death in the flames of his palace recall the fate of Aššurbanipal's brother [[Šamaš-sum-ukkin]]. The Greek writer [[Choerilus of Iasus]] composed an epitaph on Sardanapalus, said to have been translated from the Chaldean (quoted in Athenaeus, viii. p. 336). | + | '''Sardanapalus''' was, according to the Greek writer [[Ctesias]] of Cnidus, the last king of [[Babylon]]. |
- | The death of Sardanapalus was the subject of an [[erotic art|eroticist painting]] by the 19th century French painter [[Eugene Delacroix]], the [[Death of Sardanapalus]], which was itself based on the play ''Sardanapalus'' by [[George Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]], which in turn was based on [[Diodorus]]. [[E. H. Coleridge]], in his notes on the works of Byron, states, "It is hardly necessary to remind the modern reader that the Sardanapalus of history is an unverified if not an unverifiable personage.... The character which Ctesias depicted or invented, an effeminate debauchee, sunk in luxury and sloth, who at the last was driven to take up arms, and, after a prolonged but ineffectual resistance, avoided capture by suicide, cannot be identified." | + | The death of Sardanapalus was the subject of an [[erotic art|erotic painting]] by the 19th century French painter [[Eugène Delacroix]], ''[[The Death of Sardanapalus]]'', which was itself based on the play [[Sardanapalus (Byron)|''Sardanapalus'']] by [[George Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]], which in turn was based on [[Diodorus]]. [[Ernest Hartley Coleridge]], in his notes on the works of Byron, states, "It is hardly necessary to remind the modern reader that the Sardanapalus of history is an unverified if not an unverifiable personage.... The character which Ctesias depicted or invented, an [[effeminate]] [[debauchee]], sunk in [[luxury]] and [[sloth]], who at the last was driven to take up arms, and, after a prolonged but ineffectual resistance, avoided capture by [[suicide]], cannot be identified." |
- | + | ==See also== | |
- | ==External links== | + | *[[Sardanapalus (Byron)]] |
- | *[http://engphil.astate.edu/gallery/sardan.html Text of Byron's ''Sardanapalus''] | + | |
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Sardanapalus was, according to the Greek writer Ctesias of Cnidus, the last king of Babylon.
The death of Sardanapalus was the subject of an erotic painting by the 19th century French painter Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus, which was itself based on the play Sardanapalus by Byron, which in turn was based on Diodorus. Ernest Hartley Coleridge, in his notes on the works of Byron, states, "It is hardly necessary to remind the modern reader that the Sardanapalus of history is an unverified if not an unverifiable personage.... The character which Ctesias depicted or invented, an effeminate debauchee, sunk in luxury and sloth, who at the last was driven to take up arms, and, after a prolonged but ineffectual resistance, avoided capture by suicide, cannot be identified."
See also