I was unaware of the dark side of the myth of Saturn (AKA Titan Chronus in Greek mythology) until I ran across a post on Atlas Obscura about a disturbing fountain in the middle of Bern, Switzerland. Atop the fountain is a statue of a man eating a baby, with two in a sack (he’s presumably saving them for later snacking). The fountain isn’t some controversial work of modern art; it’s the oldest in Bern, dating from the 16th century. Bernians don’t seem to know for certain the story behind their Child Eater, but there are two popular theories:
Theory A) The funny hat he wears resembles that which Jews were forced to wear once upon a time, and the statue is either a warning to Jews or some kind of deeply anti-Semitic propaganda regarding baby-eating.
Theory B) The statue is a representation of re-interpretation of the Greek God Chronus, AKA the Roman god Saturn, who, fearing his children would overthrow him, ate each one as they were born. (Nice.)
I kind of lean toward theory B, however, because the Child Eater statue reminds me of a painting by Francisco Goya called Saturn Devouring His Son. Actually, Goya never gave the painting a title — he made it during his notorious Black Period, when he was an old man living in semi-exile in a Spanish villa named Quinta del Sorda, or Deaf Man’s Villa, and was himself nearly deaf, an embittered and isolated genius tortured by paranoia and hysteria. The Black Paintings were all made around 1820 and painted directly on the interior walls of Goya’s house.
It may have been inspired by Rubens’ more refined version of the same scene, painted in 1636:
So there are three really disturbing works of art for you. Now every time I think about our solar system, this is what I’m going to be picturing. Thanks, Bern!
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The second album, entitled “Ennea”, released by the 1970s jazz-fusion band ‘Chase’ featured a jazz suite of six songs based on Greek mythology. One of the songs was entitled “Cronus” and contains these lyrics:
“Told by his own his time had come
That one of his sons would own his throne
So his children he devoured three plus two
One remained and his name was Zeus…”
A later song in this suite (“Zeus”) reveals that Chronus later disgorged (vomited up?) his filial feast:
“Zeus by Prudence your father disgorged
Your brothers and sisters to live with their lord
Zeus though you be the lord of the sky
One brother (Poseidon) owns the sea,
The other (Hades) has gone to hell…”
-”BB”-
posted by Bicycle Bill on 6-24-2010 at 5:10 am
OMG!!! Some of my friends recreated Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son. Their versions look just as awesome! My Spanish teacher would be so excited that there is a statue of that amazing painting!!!
posted by Rob Young on 6-24-2010 at 7:15 am
God of War anyone? Chronus and his appetite is one of the chapters in the game god of war. The mother eventually subsitutes a fake baby for Chronus to eat. The lucky lad grew up to be Zeus, who overthrew his father.
posted by Kratos on 6-24-2010 at 8:25 am
Ahhhh… nothing like starting off my day with a nice cup of coffee and some baby eatin’ pictures. Thanks, Ransom! You’re my favorite m_f blogger for a reason.
posted by nikki on 6-24-2010 at 9:19 am
I love Goya! I studied Spanish art history, including a focus on Goya one year in University and going to see them in the Pardo museum was amazing. Stepping into the room where the whole collection from his ‘Black Period’ is kept is eerie. The whites of Saturn’s eyes really get to you, no matter where you are in the room.
posted by ab on 6-24-2010 at 9:24 am
I thought the article was going to be about Albert Fish, but I don’t think there are any planets named after him.
posted by King Taco on 6-24-2010 at 10:16 am
These are crazy… Yet I can’t stop looking at them.
posted by chrystani on 6-24-2010 at 10:43 am
*shudder*
posted by Mark on 6-24-2010 at 11:29 am
I’m feeling deeply disturbed.
posted by Melissa J. on 6-24-2010 at 12:14 pm
There’s a great, relatively new series that airs on History International channel that’s centered on religious and literary mythology. I believe it’s called Clash of the Gods. The first episode was about Zeus, and it told of his birth, how his mother Rhea hid him and gave Chronos a stone to eat in Zeus’ place, and finally how he rose to defeat his father and the other Titans and become king of the gods. It’s a really interesting series, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in mythology.
posted by Beth on 6-24-2010 at 12:15 pm
i agree, nikki. Ransom is my FAVORITE blogger!! Thanks Mental Floss for a great talent.
posted by Lulu on 6-24-2010 at 1:07 pm
Looks like these artists missed an important detail: Chronos swollowed the babies whole. If he hadn’t:
1) he would have noticed the rocklike texture of young Zeus and Rhea’s trickery would have failed
2) all of Zeus’ siblings would have been vomited back up as chewed up pieces, rather than intact gods and goddesses to fight the Titans.
It’s not like these are minor details or anything.
posted by Admiral Byrd on 6-24-2010 at 1:07 pm
That’s so sad about Goya. I didn’t know that about that period of his life. I wonder what he might have produced if he had had access to modern hearing aids and modern mental health care.
posted by melissa on 6-24-2010 at 1:12 pm
I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Chronus, it’s so twisted. But could really have done without seeing these right before my lunch break, HA!
posted by Heather on 6-24-2010 at 1:23 pm
My class studied Greek and Roman mythology in fifth grade, and our teacher didn’t believe in holding back. I haven’t been able to stargaze since the tender age of eleven without thinking about psychotic inbred cannibals.
My favorite was when we studied Egyptian history and mythology complete with diagrams of how they removed a person’s brain through their nose. Spaghetti day was never the same.
posted by Chris on 6-24-2010 at 2:12 pm
Holy cats! My car eats kids?
posted by Joe Maz on 6-24-2010 at 9:58 pm
I think this should have come with a warning. I would have seen it anyway, but I wasn’t prepared for the visuals.
posted by Christian on 6-24-2010 at 10:08 pm
Admiral Byrd’s comment is what I remember about the story of Chronos as well. Zeus was the last to be “eaten” and after killing his father, he freed his siblings. The literal eating part is a too disturbing to think about.
posted by Lunedi on 6-24-2010 at 10:13 pm
I’m pretty sure that “Child-Eating Cannibal” is a big enough warning.
posted by t on 6-24-2010 at 11:41 pm
God or no god if I was his wife there would be no more nooky until he got clipped.
And yes I have a Saturn too. Speaking of mythology and cars I had a friend who named her car Ganymede. I told her if I ever rearended her in my white taurus I was holding her responsible.
posted by Angela on 6-25-2010 at 1:23 am
There is actually music that takes this statue as an inspiration. And it’s interesting, too. Check out Renegade Lightning Rebellion at their website, same name.
posted by natalie on 9-19-2011 at 9:28 am