Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Harmonia.
The gallery
Cadmus and Harmonia
Evelyn De Morgan, 1877
Pre-Raphaelite oil by Evelyn De Morgan showing Cadmus and his bride Harmonia in their final metamorphosis: the Theban founder and the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, weary of mortal grief, become entwined serpents. The painting fixes the Ovidian close of Harmonia's long career — from wedding gift to dragon-bride.
Cadmus and Harmonia (Cadmus cum Uxore in Serpentem)
Virgil Solis, 1569
Woodcut from Virgil Solis's Ovid cycle in the Rijksmuseum (RP-P-OB-22.064): in the Illyrian woods Cadmus and Harmonia undergo the serpent change that ends their Theban house. The print makes Harmonia's fate visible as Ovid's quiet coda — concord turned scale and coil.
Cadmus and Harmonia Transformed into Serpents
Crispijn de Passe the Elder, c. 1602–1607
Engraving by Crispijn de Passe the Elder of Cadmus and Harmonia leaving Thebes for Illyria as their bodies take serpent form. The plate belongs to an early-seventeenth-century Ovid series and stages Harmonia's last metamorphosis as a paired departure into the woods.
Cadmus and Harmonia Transformed into Serpents
Workshop of Virgiliotto Calamelli, mid-16th century
Faenza istoriato maiolica dish from the workshop of Virgiliotto Calamelli, now in the International Museum of Ceramics at Faenza: Cadmus and Harmonia already coiled as serpents. Painted pottery carries the Ovidian close of Harmonia's marriage into the Renaissance dining table.
In play
Necklace of Harmonia
The cursed wedding gift to Cadmus' bride still names a heirloom of doom — Harmonia's necklace as the Theban cycle's travelling curse.
Harmonia (mythology)
Harmony personified endures as Cadmus' consort and the mother of Semele's line — concord that carries a fatal jewel.