This painting was inspired by an historical event recorded by Plutarch, a Greek historian, biographer and essayist. This painting shows the morning after a celebration of Bacchus/Dionysus, the God of wine and ritual madness. This celebration caused a group of women to wander into the city of Amphissa from Phocis. Despite these two cities being at war, the women of Amphissa allowed the women from Phocis to fall asleep in their marketplace and stood guard throughout the night to ensure the men of the city caused them no harm. As seen in this painting, the women of Amphissa also provided them with food and care the next morning.

Many interpret this painting as a lesson in charity and humanity for the Victorian people of Alma-Tadema's time as this was an era with lots of poverty, child labour and morality standards. It has also come to represent the strength of femininity and the importance of protection because the women of the city would have stood up to soldiers if necessary.

To close to home

The Advocate (1980)

The fact that Morrissey wrote this song right after jhonny marr got married

"Sad veiled bride, please be happy Handsome groom, give her room Loud, loutish lover, treat her kindly Though she needs you more than she loves you"

Oh the yearning 😭

ترنزیشنش

There are two wolves inside me
One says "marginalized and generally unknown identities deserve to have fictional representation that fully names those identities, making them impossible to downplay and ignore"

the other says, "yeah, but usually things that aren't spelled out or left as subtext are more compelling"