When Cupid hits a little too hard

When Cupid hits a little too hard

This miniature is part of one of the manuscripts of the Ovide Moralisé, created by an anonymous artist in the 14th century, as a moralizing reinterpretation of Ovid's text.

The scene depicted is the one in which Apollo punishes Coronide - the princess of the Lapiths with whom he had fallen in love - for her betrayal with the young Ischi, by piercing her with one of his arrows.

In Greek mythology, Coronis (/kɒˈrəʊnɪs/; Greek: Κορωνίς, translit. Korōnís) is a Thessalian princess and a lover of the god Apollo. She was the daughter of Phlegyas, king of the Lapiths, and Cleophema. By Apollo she became the mother of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. While she was still pregnant, she cheated on Apollo with a mortal man named Ischys and was subsequently killed by the god for her betrayal. After failing to heal her, Apollo rescued their unborn child by performing a caesarean section. She was turned into a constellation after her death.

The two characters are dressed in fourteenth-century clothes. The crow is not depicted, an animal commissioned by the god to watch over the girl, who subsequently warned him of his beloved's infidelity.

Apollo and Coronis, Ovide Moralisé, c. 1385, Municipal Library of Lyon, ms. 742, fol. 32 v.

All What's You Should Know— where you'll discover the most interesting things that you Should know