Niobe protects his youngest daughter This work is classical Realism It is one of the models of art. At the same time, the strong excitement reflected by the statue is also the author Skopas typical artistic characteristics 。 stay MYTHOS Among them, the queen of Tebai, Niobe, was Thebes king amphion My wife is proud of many things. Her husband, Amphionne Muse I got a beautiful one there harp When playing it, the stones will be automatically combined into the wall of Tebai. Her father Tantalos He is the guest of the gods. She is the ruler of a powerful kingdom, and she is also extraordinary, dignified and beautiful. What pleased her most was her considerable number of fourteen energetic children, half of whom were sons and half daughters. People say that Niobe is the happiest mother on earth. If she did not become arrogant, she might have been such a person - but her arrogance finally led to her destruction. And therefore arrogantly mocked the goddess Leto Only one son and one daughter were born, and the Thebes were prevented from offering sacrifices to Leto: 
Apollo and Artemis shot their children She stood in the open air Get busy Among the sacrificial women, they looked around the crowd with arrogant eyes and shouted: "Are you crazy to worship the gods that people have instilled in you? But it is the human who has been trusted by the heaven that remains among you! Why don't you burn incense for my holy name when you build an altar for Leto? Isn't my father Tantalus the only mortal who ever feasted on the table of the gods? My mother Dione It's not the twinkling seven stars in the sky Pleiades Your sister? One of my ancestors Atlas With great strength, he can carry Tianyu on his shoulders; My Grandpa Zeus He is the king father of the gods, and even the people of Buddhism and Guya obey me. The city of Cadmus and its walls are under the orders of my husband and me. The walls are built automatically with the sound of harp playing. Every room in the palace is filled with my priceless treasures; In addition, I have the face of a goddess; No mother has as many children as I have, seven beautiful daughters like flowers, seven strong sons, and soon I will have an equal number of son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Don't I have reason to be proud? How dare you worship Leto instead of me? She is just Titan For an unknown daughter, the earth did not give her a place to bear children for Zeus until the island Delos, which loomed in the water, gave the wandering goddess a temporary residence out of pity. The poor woman gave birth to two children there, which is only one seventh of the gratifying harvest of being a mother! Who can deny that I am happy? Who doubts that I will be happy for a long time? even if Goddess of Destiny She has to go through a lot of trouble to completely damage my wealth! Even if she takes one or two of my many children, the rest will not be as few as Leto. So you take it Supplies , take off the Garland Come on! Go home! Don't let me see you do such stupid things again! " Those women timidly plucked the garland from their heads to sacrifice He stood there and worshipped the goddess who was hurt emotionally with silent prayer. Leto and her twin children stood on the peak of Mount Kentos, with their eyes wide open, observing what happened in remote Tebai. "Look, children! I, your mother, am proud of having you Hera I am no less than any goddess, but now I have been slandered by an arrogant earthly woman. My children, if you don't help me, I will be expelled from this ancient Altar Yes! It is an insult to Nyobo to say that you are inferior to her many children! " Leto wanted to add a word about her request, but Apollo interrupted her and said, "Mother, don't just complain! Complaining can only delay punishment!" His sister Artemis Agreed with his opinion, they were dressed in white clouds and passed through the air. In the blink of an eye, they came to the sky over the city and fortress of Cadmus. 
Apollo and Artemis shot the sons of Niobe The other two brothers were lying on the ground, hugging each other and fighting. The bow string rings again, and they are shot through by an arrow. They both wail at the same time, writhing their painfully twitching limbs on the ground, turning their lost eyes, and finally they both die in the dust. The fifth son, Alphenol, saw the two men fall down, and rushed to them, trying to hold them to revive them. But Apollo shot an arrow into his heart, and he fell there. Damasiketong, the sixth son, was a lovely young man with long hair Knee joint He was hit by an arrow. When he leaned forward and pulled out the flying arrow, another arrow "whooshed" from his open mouth until it reached his throat, and blood gushed high from the throat like a fountain. The last and youngest son, Ilienus, is still a child! Seeing all this, he fell on his knees, opened his arms, and prayed, "Oh, all the gods, please forgive me!", Apollo Yu could not bear it, but the arrow had been shot and could not be recovered. The child slowly fell down, but when he died, he could not see how badly injured he was. The arrow just pierced his heart. The sad news soon spread all over the city. When the father of the child heard the terrible news, he stabbed himself in the heart with a sword. The loud wailing of his servants and the people immediately spread to the harem. Niobe could not understand this terrible event for a long time. She refused to believe that the God in heaven had the privilege to dare and be able to do so, but soon she no longer suspected that it was false.
Artemis and Apollo shot the daughters of Niobe Later, her seven daughters also came and stood beside their dead brothers, all wearing mourning clothes and long hair. When she saw them, Niobe's pale face flashed a light of gloating. She cast a cynical glance at the sky and said, "You are the winner! No, even if I am unlucky now, my children are still more than your children in happiness! Although there are so many corpses lying here, my children are still overwhelming!", I heard Artemis The sound of pulling the bow. All people trembled with fright, but Niobe did not fight at all. Unfortunately, she had doubled her courage. One of the seven sisters suddenly covered her heart with her hand. She pulled out an arrow that poked into her heart faint On the ground, turn his dying face to the body of his brother lying beside him. Another daughter of Niobe ran to the unhappy mother to comfort her, but a hidden wound made her bend down and never speak. The third daughter was about to escape when she was shot and fell to the ground. Several more daughters fell down and died while leaning over to look after their dead sisters. Only the youngest daughter was left. She hid in her mother's arms Lapel Middle, snuggle up like a young child. "Leave the only child for me!" Niobe wailed to the sky, "Leave only the youngest of these children!" But while she was praying, the child had fallen from her arms to the ground. Niobe sat alone between the bodies of her son and daughter. Her body had stiffened with grief. The breeze could no longer blow her hair, her face was no longer a trace of blood, her eyes were fixed on her sad face, and the whole image had lost its life. The blood stopped flowing, the pulse disappeared, the neck stopped turning, the arms stopped moving, the feet stopped walking, and even the heart in the body became a cold rock. She has no life but tears. Tears were always flowing out of those eyes that turned into rocks. At this time, a huge storm blew, rolled up the stone man, crossed the sea, and reached Lydia, the hometown of Niobe Wild mountains and mountains Put her on the cliff of Sipiros. Here, Niobe turned into a marble statue, firmly standing on the peak of the mountain, and still has tears to this day. 
