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The Wife of King Candaules by Charles-Victoire-Frédéric Moench

King Candaules

Artist Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824 - 1904)

Date: 1859

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Candaules

Candaules, also known as Myrsilos, was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia in the early years of the 7th century BC. According to Herodotus, he succeeded his father Meles as the 22nd and last king of Lydia's Heraclid dynasty. He was assassinated and succeeded by Gyges.

Herodotus' Tale of King Candaules, Gyges and the Queen

According to Herodotus in The Histories, Candaules believed his wife to be the most beautiful woman on Earth. Herodotus does not name the queen but later artists and writers have called her Nyssia.

Candaules often told his favourite bodyguard, Gyges, how beautiful the queen was and, thinking Gyges did not believe him, urged Gyges to contrive to see her naked. Gyges initially refused as he did not wish to dishonor the queen. Nevertheless, Candaules was insistent and Gyges had no option but to obey his king. So Gyges hid in Candaules' bedroom and, when the queen entered, watched her undress. As she was getting into bed, he quietly left the room, but the queen saw him and realized what had happened. Herodotus commented: "For with the Lydians, as with most barbarian (i.e., non-Greek) races, it is thought highly indecent even for a man to be seen naked".

The queen silently swore revenge for her shame. Next day, she summoned Gyges to her chamber. Gyges thought it was a routine request, but she confronted him immediately and presented him with two choices. One was to kill Candaules and seize the throne with Nyssia as his wife. The second was to be executed immediately by her trusted servants. Gyges pleaded with her to relent but she would not. He decided to take the first course of action and assassinate the king. The plan was that he should hide in the royal bedroom as before but this time from the king. After Candaules fell asleep, Gyges crept forward and stabbed him to death.

Gyges married the queen as she had insisted but many Lydians did not at first accept him as their ruler. In order to prevent a civil war, Gyges offered to have his position confirmed or refused by the Delphic Oracle. He agreed that he would restore the throne to the Heracleidae if the Oracle declared against him. The Oracle supported him and his dynasty was established. The Priestess of the Shrine did add, however, that the Heraclids would have their revenge on Gyges in the fifth generation of the Mermnadae

Candaulism is a sexual practice or fantasy in which a man exposes his female partner, or images of her, to other people for their voyeuristic pleasure. Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed, occasionally formerly known as The Imprudence of Candaules,[1] is a 45.1 by 55.9 cm (17.8 by 22.0 in) oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830. It shows a scene from the Histories by Herodotus, in which Candaules, king of Lydia, invites his bodyguard Gyges to hide in the couple's bedroom and watch his wife Nyssia undress, to prove to him her beauty. Nyssia notices Gyges spying and challenges him to either accept his own execution or to kill Candaules as a punishment. Gyges chooses to kill Candaules and take his place as king. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia, still unaware that she is being watched by anyone other than her husband, removes the last of her clothes.

Etty hoped that his audience would take from the painting the moral lesson that women are not chattels and that men infringing on their rights should justly be punished, but he made little effort to explain this to audiences. The painting was immediately controversial and perceived as a cynical combination of a pornographic image and a violent and unpleasant narrative, and it was condemned as an immoral piece of the type one would expect from a foreign, not a British, artist. It was bought by Robert Vernon on its exhibition, and in 1847 was one of a number of paintings given by Vernon to the nation. The work retained its controversial reputation in later years, and when The Art Journal bought the reproduction rights to Vernon's former collection in 1849 they did not distribute reproductions of Candaules. In 1929 it was among several paintings transferred to the newly expanded Tate Gallery, where as of 2018 it remains.

#Candaulism #Candaules shows wife to Gyges #William Etty #Nyssia

“Don’t forget to smile today, cause sometimes that’s all you have.”

-Nyssia

#quotes #nyssia #and yes she does mean that sincenerly #writing #random writing #rare moment

“Just cause their heads are off doesn’t mean they’re dead!”

-Nyssia

#quotes #writing #nyssia

Nyssia's first encounter with an elf

Nyssia: "Are you the ones that bake the cookies or make the toys?" Elf: "What?" Nyssia: "TELL ME WHERE THE COOKIES ARE!"

#Nyssia #writing #bored

"Nyssia, come on now. Don't be so fussy over this." "NOOooOOOoo I don't want to take icky medicine" "It's good for you." "LIAR!" "Goddamn you are such a child." At this point Samantha had enough of Nyssia fighting her. "Jane I need your assistance in here. Oh and bring Io too." Nyssia clutched the covers and tried to hide under them. "Yo! Who needs my help here?" Io said as she walked into the room. "Ah Io perfect. Here, hold Nyssia down. Shes refusing to take her medicine." "AHHHH a challenge I love it! Come here you little rascal." "NOOooOOOoo!!!" Io tackled Nyssia in the bed. The covers flew as Io had Nyssia in a headlock. Nyssia was struggling and got to the point where she started to bite Io's arm. "AHH a biter aren't ya! K, whats the plan now?" Samantha walked over to Nyssia with a funnel and jammed it in her mouth. Nyssia struggled even more. "Ah, excuses me but I do believe i was called for assistance." said Jane as she walked into the room. Glaring at the scene. "Ah Jane perfect. You got any of that paralyzing drug?" Samantha said as she struggled to keep the funnel in Nyssia's mouth. Nyssia was still squirming around trying desperately to escape like an animal caught in a trap. "Perhaps. I have to go see." "Well don't take too long, I don't know how long we can hold her down." "Go ahead doc, I'm fine. I've wrestled things bigger than this pup." Io said with a sense of confidence. Jane returned with a syringe filled with clear liquid. "This stuff may be a bit strong." She said as she glanced at Nyssia still trying to escape. "But I believe this one here can handle it." "Thanks Jane." Samantha said as Jane stuck Nyssia with the syringe. A howl came from Nyssia as the needle went in. In a matter of moments Nyssia stopped moving and Io released her. "Okay now, be a good girl and take your medicine." Samantha said as she inserted the spoonful of medicine into Nyssia's mouth. Nyssia just layed there like a dead fish. The only thing that she was able to move was her eyes. "OKay Sam. Now what?" "Well we need to get her back in the bed." "Easy" Io bent down, grabbed Nyssia and tossed her in the bed. "Easy with her, shes still sick." "Eh yeah. Say does she have a teddy bear or something? She just looks kind of dead there without anything you know?" "Not that I know of Io. She has that axe of hers with the face on it that she calls chopchop." "Thats a bit off though aint it?" "A bit yes. Do you have anything you could give her?" "Nah. The last thing I had when i was a child was a stuffed rabbit but that got lost when i moved." "I had something like that when i was small. It was a stuffed wolf." "Ah thats pretty cool. Hey Blu! You have anything like a stuffed rabbit or wolf when you were little?" Ellipsis poked her head out from the other side of the couch and rolled off. "Huh?" Ellipsis said as she got to her feet and strolled over to where Samantha and Io were. "Well Sam here and I were wondering if you had anything stuff animals you kept as comfort when you were little?" "Uhhh..we didnt have a way to make stuff animals when I was little. But I did have a small black rock with me and a tree stump I liked to visit when I was little." "Jeez Blu, how old are you?" "Ehhhh whats the name of those stone things in England?" "Stonehenge?" "Yeah that, ehhh around the time those things were made." There was a brief silence. "Well I guess we should leave Nyssia to recover from her illness." "As well as the sedative." As everyone was leaving Io stopped for a bit. She walked over to Nyssia and poked her in her arm. A low whine came from her mouth as she shuffled her eyes back and forth. Chopchop was sitting in the corner of the room. Io picked up Chopchop and placed it in the bed with Nyssia. "Tell anyone i did this for you and you'll regret it." Io said as she left the room and closed the door.