More than 250 exhibits acquaint visitors with the fantastic world of terrifying monsters in Classical mythology: from the serpentine Lernaean Hydra to the Gorgon with snakes instead of hair whose mere gaze would turn you to stone, from winged half-maidens, half-lionesses to the demonic Sirens who were half-bird and half-woman; from the horrific monsters born from the union of Echidna and Typhon to Hecate, the goddess of nocturnal visions and sorcery.
The Hermitage collection is drawn upon to present visitors with a gallery of depictions of those monster as living embodiments of one or other of the fears that beset the Ancient Greeks: fear of the maritime element (the sea dragon, Scylla); fear of unknown shores (Cyclopes, Sirens); fear of an unfamiliar city (the Minotaur), fear of the forest (centaurs, Pan), fear of volcanic eruptions (the Chimera), fear of alien lands (the Sphinx, centaurs), fear of swamps (the Hydra), fear of a divine prohibition (dragons), fear of the dangers of night (the Empusa, Lamias, Hecate), fear of death (Cerberus).
Their iconography is reflected in items from Classical Antiquity in the Hermitage’s collection (vases, sculptures, terracottas, carved stones, pieces of jewellery, coins), in Assyrian and Egyptian artworks (cylindrical seals, reliefs and statuettes). The exhibits include a unique 16th-century Venetian shield bearing a hydra, an outstanding example of ancient metalworking – a silver plaque with the face of the Gorgon Medusa from the Artyukhova burial mound; an extremely rare fragment of an Etruscan bronze sculpture depicting the Chimera. In an outstanding example of early red-figure painting, an Attic amphora shows Heracles shooting an arrow at the serpent Ladon that was guarding the apples of the Hesperides (previously believed to be a hydra). Also noteworthy is a Greek kylix (drinking cup for wine) decorated with a running Minotaur in a rare instance of him appearing alone, rather than in a scene of his fight with Theseus. A gold bracelet with sphinxes from the Kul-Oba burial mound is a masterpiece of ancient jewellery that was made for the wife of a Scythian ruler.
When the Greco-Roman world passed away, the images of the ancient monsters did not vanish, did not fade into oblivion, but rather became a firm part of the repertoire of European art in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Modern Era. They can be found in paintings, drawings and prints, in the form of sculptures and reliefs, on pieces of applied art (decorated tableware, majolica and Limoges enamels, cameos and intaglios, personal adornments and even embossed leather wallpaper).
The semidarkness created in the Twelve-Column Hall as a requirement for the display of the graphic works depicting mythological scenes produces an atmosphere in keeping with the spirit of the exhibition – the dreadful creatures that await us in the gloom.
An image of Greek culture amassing individual horrors within it is embodied in Leon Bakst’s 1908 painting Terror Antiquus from the collection of the State Russian Museum. The fantastic bestiary of ancient monsters is concluded – as if summing up the manifestation of horrific images from Antiquity in contemporary art – by Louise Bourgeois’s sculpture Nature Study which resembles a sphinx or gryphon without a head.
The display has been prepared by the State Hermitage’s Department of Classical Antiquity under the leadership of Anna Trofimova.
The exhibition curators:
Author of the concept – Alexander Butiagin, head of the Archaeology of the Northern Black Sea Region Sector in the Department of Classical Antiquity, and Olga Gorskaya, a researcher in the Department of Classical Antiquity.
The working group: State Hermitage researchers Yelena Arsentyeva, Maria Akhmadeyeva and Yulia Semionova (Department of Classical Antiquity), Andrei Bolshakov and Maria Sologubova (Oriental Department).
A scholarly catalogue is in preparation under the title ″…Posmotri v glaza chudovishch…″ Mificheskie olitsetvoreniia uzhasa v antichnosti i ikh pobediteli.
The display is accompanied by a video film devoted to the main myths involving the ancient monsters whose depictions feature in the exhibition.
The exhibition in the Twelve-Column Hall (Hall 244) of the New Hermitage can be visited by all holders of entrance tickets to the Main Museum Complex from 6 December 2024 to 9 March 2025.
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More about the exhibition
The main idea of the exhibition “Look into the Monsters’ Eyes…” lies in presenting the images of ancient monsters with the assumption that each of them arose as a transformation of one or other of the fears that beset the Ancient Greeks, and also tracing their evolution in art from Classical Antiquity to the Modern Era.
The display acquaints visitors with the most horrific creatures in the bestiary born from the imagination of the ancient Hellenes, including some based on personages from the mythologies of their eastern neighbours – Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and more. The exhibition opens with a section devoted to the sources for the appearance of certain monsters with examples from Ancient Egypt and the East, whence they were adopted and developed by the fantasies of the Greeks.
The exhibition contains several thematic sections devoted to the embodiments of a certain fear personified by particular monsters: from fear of the might of the maritime element (the sea dragon, Scylla) and volcanic eruptions (the Chimera) to the fear of death (Cerberus). Mythological tales turned the various fears that arose in ancient people’s minds into stories that everyone could understand. Sailors grappling with waves and storms were menaced by deadly sea monsters – the dragon Cetus and the terrible Scylla. The exhibition includes ancient gold rings and plaques featuring sea dragons (5th century BC), an intaglio showing a swimming dog with a fish’s tail (2nd century AD), black-figure amphorae with depictions of tritons (6th–5th centuries BC), and a fragment of a Roman sarcophagus showing a sea centaur and a Nereid (mid-3rd century AD). Depictions of Scylla adorn a bronze mirror (4th–2nd century BC) and works of glyptic art – a 16th-century Italian sardonyx cameo and Ancient Roman carnelian intaglios (1st–2nd centuries), one showing the monstrous former sea nymph threatening one of Odysseus’s companions with an oar.
The apparent safety of the shore also harboured threats. There one-eyed gigantic Cyclopes lay in wait for travellers, while the enchanting, but treacherous Sirens lured ships onto the rocks with their singing. The images of these demonic half-birds, half-women gave expression to the fear of unfamiliar coastlines. Odysseus managed to sail past their island by having himself tied to the ship’s mask and plugging his comrades’ ears with wax – an episode recalled in a 17th-century print entitled Ulysses and His Companions Pass by the Sirens. The powerful, savage giants with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads embodied the elemental forces of nature and the hidden dangers of unknown lands. The most famous of them – Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon – appears to visitors not only on ancient pottery, but also in 17th-century prints with various subjects, from the romantic, showing the beautiful nymph Galatea and the besotted one-eyed giant, to the dramatic – Odysseus Blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus; The Blinded Polyphemus; The Cyclops Polyphemus Hurling a Rock at the Departing Odysseus’s Ship.
When travelling on shore, the Ancient Greeks might find their way barred by the mysterious Sphinx or mighty gryphons – monstrous creatures with the beak and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. They embodied the fear of foreign lands fraught with dangers. Artists in various countries and periods display creative approaches to the image of the Sphinx. It is possible to trace the iconography from the familiar Ancient Egyptian depiction to a figured vessel in the form of a sitting creature with the face of a beautiful maiden wearing a golden wreath, from painted decorations on ancient vessels to versions far removed from their prototypes – 18th-century French terracotta sphinxes with half-figures of high-society ladies coiffured à l’anglaise, and Franz von Stuck’s sinister Kiss of a Sphinx from the turn of the 20th century.
The fears that so troubled the Ancient Greeks acquired concrete features, turning into horrific beings invested with supernatural powers that inspired dread in everything around them. The depths of the forest were filled with cunning centaurs, while the goat-eyed Pan (god of herds, woods and fields) could drive a person from his domains, instilling the panic that was named after him. They embodied the fear of the unknown perils of dense woodlands. Mythological scenes involving centaurs or the similar Achelous (a river deity with the body of a bull) appear in the decoration of Greek pottery (The Centaurmachy (Battle between Centaurs and Greeks) on an amphora; Warriors Defeating Centaurs on an oenochoe; A Youth Attacking Achelous on a wine krater), in 16th- and 17th-century European prints (Family of Centaurs in a Forest; Hercules Fighting with Centaurs) and in glyptic works carved from jasper and carnelian (in one of which Chiron is teaching Achilles to play the lyre).
Fire bursting from beneath the ground and the associated destruction gave rise to the monstrous fire-breathing Chimera with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and serpent-like tail – a personification of the terror of volcanic eruptions. We can imagine its appearance from depictions on a silver kylix for wine (where Bellerophon is defeating the monster), ancient coins and glyptic works, as well as a very rare fragment of an Etruscan bronze sculpture.
At night, even in one’s home city, it was possible to encounter lying in wait a bloodthirsty lamia, the deadly Empusa, capable of assuming any form, or even the three-faced Hecate, the terrible goddess of the dark, nocturnal visions and sorcery, with a burning torch in her hand and serpents in her hair (Hecate’s three faces are shown in sculptural depictions – a marble statue and a herm). Even at home, a person could not feel safe. Predatory winged Harpies might steal food, causing hunger, while agonies of conscience were provoked by the Erinyes or Furies, fierce and merciless divinities of vengeance.
With time, human good looks faded at the will of the gods, a process symbolized by the once beautiful Gorgon Medusa, who was turned into a horrific winged monster covered with scales, with burning eyes, huge fangs, a protruding tongue, sharp claws and snakes instead of hair, whose gaze alone was fatal.
The role that depictions of monsters played in Classical Antiquity was two-fold. Often they illustrated the great deeds of ancient heroes, at times reflecting some historical event or the greatness of a ruler in the guise of a legend. In the event of a monster appearing separately, it is intended to intimidate and ward off some other evil. The Gorgon Medusa was especially popular in this function. Her head, cut off by Perseus, decorates a great variety of objects, from works of applied art (carved gemstones, jewellery) to pieces of armour (a helmet, a pair of greaves) and architectural features (an antefix, an acroterium, a temple tile and door handles).
Images of mythical creatures from the Greek bestiary were reproduced again and again in artworks of various periods, each acquiring individual features and a recognizable iconography. The monsters were huge, powerful and cunning, while some were even under the protection of the gods. What could a feeble mortal offer in opposition? It was here that heroes came to the aid of the Greeks. The mightiest monster could not withstand a hero who overcame it in a fair fight, or else by deceit. Combining within them the human and the divine, heroes proved capable of vanquishing the power of evil. The hero’s victory symbolized a person’s triumph over their fears. The struggle between ancient heroes and mythical monsters is illustrated by books reproducing images from Pompeian frescoes, the decoration on ancient vases, prints and glyptic works. Particularly popular with artists, craftsmen and their clients were the Labours of Hercules (a 16th–17th-century salt-cellar, Limoges, France), his battles with centaurs (an intaglio from the 5th century BC; 16th–17th-century prints) and with the Hydra (a 17th-century print); Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus (a 17th-century print); Theseus defeating the Minotaur (intaglios carved from onyx in the 1st century BC and from amethyst in the 18th century) and slaying him (an Attic black-figure jug from the 6th–5th century BC); Perseus killing Medusa (a red-figure pelike dating from the 6th century BC to 4th century AD); the Argonauts driving off the Harpies during King Phineas’ feast (a 17th-century print).
When Greco-Roman civilization collapsed, the images of the ancient monsters did not entirely vanish. After some centuries of neglect, from the Renaissance onwards the products of classical culture, including images from ancient mythology, once again attracted the attention and interest of those engaged in art. They can be found in paintings and prints, in the form of sculptures and reliefs, on pieces of applied art (decorated tableware, cameos and intaglios, jewellery and more).
Ancient Greece’s inspiring effect on the artist Leon Bakst, who travelled around the places where myths of gods and heroes originated, resulted in the 1908 painting Terror Antiquus. The large canvas from the collection of the State Russian Museum presents a majestic spectacle of the demise of ancient civilization, powerless to withstand the onslaught of deadly natural elements. Conveying the era’s apocalyptic perception of the world., Bakst uses the language of symbols to produce a an image of humanity’s impotence in the face of the horror of destiny and inscrutable fate.
The fantastic bestiary of ancient monsters is concluded – as if summing up the manifestation of horrific images from Antiquity in contemporary art – with the sculpture Nature Study by Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) which resembles a sphinx or gryphon without a head. The graceful, yet at the same time grotesque sculpture is a complex piece reflecting its creator’s long years of thoughtful reflection on questions of identity, motherhood and death.