The Pythian Games, one of the four ancient Panhellenic competitions, were held every four years in the city of Delphi. Dedicated to the sun god Apollo, whose round temple is visible in the distance, the tournament combined athletic games with contests of art and dance. The quadrennial event becomes a setting for romance in Abraham Bloemaert’s drawing, which portrays an episode from the ancient Greek novel Aethiopica (The Ethiopian Story). The lance-wielding noble Theagenes, who has traveled to Delphi to compete, will soon fall in love with the priestess Chariclea, riding in an ox-drawn carriage at right.
Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651), Theagenes and Chariclea at the Pythian Games at Delphi, ca. 1625–1628. Black chalk and pale brown wash, with white opaque watercolor. Purchased as the gift of the Fellows, 1961.26