Fresco depicting Ganymede at the Archaeological Museum of Naples in Italy

Ganymede, Pompeii, Casa di Meleagro

Ganymede

“The ruler of the gods once burned with love for the Phrygian Ganymede; there was a being in the world whom Jupiter preferred to take the form of rather than keep his own; however, the only bird he deigned to borrow was the one that could carry his thunderbolt.

Immediately, beating the air with his borrowed wings, he carries off the grandson of Ilus.”
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book X.

“Even today, it is this child who mixes the drink in Jupiter's cup and, despite Giunone, presents him with the nectar.”
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book X.