#candaules

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.

“Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed”

A painting of the story of how a king tried to show off his wife’s naked beauty and she killed him for treating her like his property.

Giambattista Pittoni, King Candaules, 03 Paintings, Olympian deities, with footnotes #38

Jean-Léon Gérôme, (1824–1904) King Candaules, c. 1859 Oil on canvas Height: 67 cm (26.3 ″); Width: 100.1 cm (39.4 ″) Museo de Arte de Ponce

  Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the…