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Jedakk's Masterpiece

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Jedakk
I wonder if in the future you could find time to illustrate the execution of Lucilla at her twelfth and last crucifixion?

Finding the time is the key! Before I can illustrate it I have to write it, and the last thing I want to do is have that turn out disappointing. It's not enough just to write a narrative of that last crucifixion, even if they would give her some special treatment and make a spectacle out of it.

All of that has to revolve around a plot, so I'll have to come up with that first, then create the story around that. Once that's done to my satisfaction, I can start creating illustrations for it.

Lucilla was supposed to be a character who was incidental to Sabina's story. She was a real over-the-top character, condemned to a punishment she didn't deserve and the reverse of the way a crucifixion victim was supposed to act. What we were supposed to get was this brief snapshot of her life, after which we'd move on with Sabina's story. But instead she caught everyone's imagination, including my own, and everyone wanted to know what became of her after Sabina's narrative ended.

We will see, but this is going to take some time.
 
Finding the time is the key! Before I can illustrate it I have to write it, and the last thing I want to do is have that turn out disappointing. It's not enough just to write a narrative of that last crucifixion, even if they would give her some special treatment and make a spectacle out of it.

All of that has to revolve around a plot, so I'll have to come up with that first, then create the story around that. Once that's done to my satisfaction, I can start creating illustrations for it.

Lucilla was supposed to be a character who was incidental to Sabina's story. She was a real over-the-top character, condemned to a punishment she didn't deserve and the reverse of the way a crucifixion victim was supposed to act. What we were supposed to get was this brief snapshot of her life, after which we'd move on with Sabina's story. But instead she caught everyone's imagination, including my own, and everyone wanted to know what became of her after Sabina's narrative ended.

We will see, but this is going to take some time.
I'll buy the fucking burial plot so get busy or I will go on air 24 hours relieved only by Sean Hannity...
cigar rush 001.jpg
Rush L.

:confused::doh::eek:
 
Roman prostitutes, at least about the time of the late republic/early empire, were required to wear red togas ("flame red" according to Colleen McCullough, not sure where she got that). The toga was generally reserved for men, but prostitutes were an exception, maybe because a toga was quick and easy to get out of. I didn't have a toga to put on Verina, so I settled for a short chiton instead, and I made it flame red because I wanted her to stand out.

I've been reading an article on Roman female clothing [Kelly Olson (2002) Matrona and Whore: The Clothing of Women in Roman Antiquity, Fashion Theory, 6:4, 387-420] and noted this:

It is one contention of this study that the toga was not in fact the “normal” dress of the whore, but only one of many types of dress prostitutes could adopt. Although this has been stated by Thomas McGinn, an account of the descriptive details of prostitute clothing is lacking, and needs to be provided comprehensively. There are many passages in classical literature in which whores, depending on their station, appear in everything from rich clothing all the way down to little (or no) clothing at all: passages in which, moreover, the toga as their distinctive dress is not named.​
 
I've been reading an article on Roman female clothing [Kelly Olson (2002) Matrona and Whore: The Clothing of Women in Roman Antiquity, Fashion Theory, 6:4, 387-420] and noted this:

It is one contention of this study that the toga was not in fact the “normal” dress of the whore, but only one of many types of dress prostitutes could adopt. Although this has been stated by Thomas McGinn, an account of the descriptive details of prostitute clothing is lacking, and needs to be provided comprehensively. There are many passages in classical literature in which whores, depending on their station, appear in everything from rich clothing all the way down to little (or no) clothing at all: passages in which, moreover, the toga as their distinctive dress is not named.​
'Roman' is of course ambiguous. There might have been laws in the city of Rome (at least at some time) about who could wear what and/or how prostitutes should make their trade known, but it's hard to believe such laws applied throughout the Roman world. And anything about prostitutes in (male) classical sources has to be taken with a pinch of salt, much of it a mixture of hypocritical moralising and ill-disguised wishful thinking!
 
'Roman' is of course ambiguous. There might have been laws in the city of Rome (at least at some time) about who could wear what and/or how prostitutes should make their trade known, but it's hard to believe such laws applied throughout the Roman world. And anything about prostitutes in (male) classical sources has to be taken with a pinch of salt, much of it a mixture of hypocritical moralising and ill-disguised wishful thinking!
Indeed, the idea of prostitutes in Arabia or Scotland donning togas is absurd on its face (and other body parts). It is known that by the time of Hadrian it was difficult enough to make senators and equestrians wear it in Rome itself. Speaking of the sources: mulier togata in many cases could be less than a literal description.
 
With the setting of her titulus at the top of her cross, Sabina's executioners have completed the work of crucifying her and she has begun the slow agonized struggle that will wring her life out, drop by drop. Now all of her weight hangs by the cold iron nails driven through her wrists and feet; her only possibility of any rest will come when she is desperate enough to fit the horn of the cornu between her legs either into her rectum or vagina; and the final humiliation is the sign above her head that tells everyone who she is and what she did to deserve this punishment.

Julia Lepida remarks on how many have died on this cross, and how the nail holes from their crucifixions are all beyond her fingertips and below her feet. She is the smallest of all of the victims who have agonized their lives away on this cross.

These timbers had held many tortured criminals and slaves before her; the gods only knew how many, but there were at least a dozen nail holes in the broad patches of dried blood beyond her fingertips and twice that many in the blood-soaked wood below her toes. Those who had struggled their lives out on this cross had all been much larger than either of us.

She and I had watched many crucifixions back in Pompeii, but those were all slaves and criminals that meant nothing to us, a morning’s entertainment. As horrible as the cross was, everyone accepted its torture as the fitting punishment for slaves, the slower the better, with death merely being the end of their punishment. A victim who died after suffering only two days on the cross was said to have died rather quickly.​
 
'Roman' is of course ambiguous. There might have been laws in the city of Rome (at least at some time) about who could wear what and/or how prostitutes should make their trade known, but it's hard to believe such laws applied throughout the Roman world. And anything about prostitutes in (male) classical sources has to be taken with a pinch of salt, much of it a mixture of hypocritical moralising and ill-disguised wishful thinking!
With the Veil Removed: Women's Public Nudity in the Early Roman Empire [PDF]
Molly Pasco-Pranger. Classical Antiquity, Vol. 38 No. 2, October 2019; (pp. 217-249).

An interesting, if laced with rather heavy doses of cultural-studies-speak, treatment of the subject.
 
With the Veil Removed: Women's Public Nudity in the Early Roman Empire [PDF]
Molly Pasco-Pranger. Classical Antiquity, Vol. 38 No. 2, October 2019; (pp. 217-249).

An interesting, if laced with rather heavy doses of cultural-studies-speak, treatment of the subject.
On a quick skim, it looks a very interesting article, with some insightful readings of Ovid, Catullus etc.
(though I wonder how typical their - especially Ovid's - insights into the complexities of human sexual feelings
really were, even of their own, very high-status, class) Compared to quite a lot of academic writing
in the humanities that comes my way, it's quite readable, at least the 'cultural studies' jargon
is kept under control and not simply paraded as a symbol of cleverness.
 
On a quick skim, it looks a very interesting article, with some insightful readings of Ovid, Catullus etc.
(though I wonder how typical their - especially Ovid's - insights into the complexities of human sexual feelings
really were, even of their own, very high-status, class)
Speaking of Ovid -- he must've had some insights into the crux thing, having supervised executions and prisons while serving as triumvir capitalis. Pity putting them on paper wasn't a done thing in Augustan Rome!
 
Well, I don't think the PDF that Admi posted is actually one I released, although it might be. It has the right number of pages, but the file size is different from my version and I think someone may have pasted the chapters together themselves to create this. That being said, it looks like it's all there.

I posted the story of Sabina a long time ago, back in 2007 or so I think. Then over a period of years, I expanded the story and created all of the illustrations. There are about 200 pics in the story and I have probably a thousand or more that I didn't use. There were stories within the story that I wanted to address, such as Lucilla, condemned to be crucified twelve times, and Salonina. who visited Sabina in her cell on the eve of her crucifixion; what do you say to a person who is facing the cross? I had to write it, and I might write it a little differently now.

The Serpent's Eye is the story of a young girl who is crucified. It is told from different perspectives - the narrator switches from the victim to her domina to the executioner. It's hard to write that way. You have to decide which character is best to tell different parts of the story, and you have to figure out where the transitions from one narrator to another should take place, at the same time avoiding re-telling what the reader already knows. If I did it correctly, no one will notice the breaks and transitions.

But getting back to the story itself, Sabina is not what she seems, and neither is her domina, Julia Lepida. There is a surprise ending which , according to people who have read the story, no one saw coming. There are some subtle clues that no one is likely to see unless they go back and look at the story carefully.

I had hoped for some discussion of this story when I posted it about a year and a half ago on the Foundation, but I was greatly disappointed. I eventually deleted it from the site and pretty much withdrew from sharing anything further. I rarely post anything now, but I'd be happy to discuss this story if anyone should wish to.
Master Jeddak !
I admire your work with the Serpent´s Eye truly and know it since many years !
Are there other pics available and do you publish also different stories ? I also think that your eyrly images on cruxfoundation archiv are really excellent
i would be greatful for your advice
Thank you
 
Master Jeddak !
I admire your work with the Serpent´s Eye truly and know it since many years !
Are there other pics available and do you publish also different stories ? I also think that your eyrly images on cruxfoundation archiv are really excellent
i would be greatful for your advice
Thank you
Master Jeddak,
I also am in awe of your work, especially with Sabina in "The Serpent's Eye". Per haps some of your other inspiriting illustrations that you didn't use in the story might be made available, in whatever fashion was suitable for you. It seems a shame that some much of your inspired drawing may not be enjoyed by your adoring fans.

Thank you for the endless enjoyment you have given so very many of us. Thank you.

Sincerely, ranger1.
 
Master Jeddak,
I also am in awe of your work, especially with Sabina in "The Serpent's Eye". Per haps some of your other inspiriting illustrations that you didn't use in the story might be made available, in whatever fashion was suitable for you. It seems a shame that some much of your inspired drawing may not be enjoyed by your adoring fans.

Thank you for the endless enjoyment you have given so very many of us. Thank you.

Sincerely, ranger1.

Sadly Jeddak has departed the forum. I certainly hope he returns, but he has not been seen in some time. Search the forum for Jeddak and Serpent's Eye will reveal a couple of threads of extra art that did not get in the finished book.
 
Sabina is chained to the whipping post. She can move and twist this way and that, but she can't escape the whip. She is completely naked, humiliated before the crowd that has gathered to witness her punishment, to hear her screams of pain. Her titulus which shows her name and her crime, has been set up on the top of the whipping post for all to see.

Sabina narrates what happens to her:

I wanted to hide, to crawl in a hole and pull it in after me, but there was no way to shut out the jeering crowd. The men in the crowd hooted and laughed at me, made rude suggestions and gestures and several offered to buy me from Julia Lepida right there, before I was whipped. Balbus had tried to persuade her to sell me to him, too. She had turned him down and she simply ignored the offers of these others. This gave me some shred of hope; after all of our years together, how could she harden her heart enough to let them crucify me?

But I was so embarrassed; I’m not a virgin, but I’d never been naked in public before and certainly never had any man handle me roughly like that. It was humiliating but there was a part of me that found it… exciting, too. The Nubians were so big and so strong! I looked around for Julia Lepida, wanting to appeal to her not to have me whipped, but when I caught her eyes they were hard, impassive, and I felt real fear in the pit of my stomach. I knew my whipping would go on.

I was used to wearing my long hair down, so having it bound up on my head felt strange and was a constant reminder of why Salonina had put it up that way for me the night before. Even though I was already completely nude, it made me feel even more naked. There was absolutely nothing between my bare skin and the knotted leather of the whip. I felt the tickle of sweat trickling down my sides from my armpits. I was already panting in anticipation of what was coming.



I caught a glimpse of movement to my left and twisted around to see the lictor, a big, red-haired German, take his stance and shake his whip out to free its tails. I shrank away when I felt the tails barely brush my back as he measured his distance. As he drew back for the first stroke I wanted to look away, close my eyes, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the whip as it swung forward. It was a shock when the first stroke seared my buttocks; I threw my head back and shrieked in pain.


When I wrote the whipping scene originally, I had Sabina sagging down to hang by her wrists, almost on her knees. While that sounded ok in writing, when I started illustrating it I realized that she really had to have a lot of range of motion and a lot of slack in her chains to enable her to both stand and almost kneel.

Before I could pose her standing as she is in these pictures, I had to pose her hanging by her wrists, almost kneeling, to know how long the chains needed to be, how high the post, where the nail would go that the chain is fastened to, etc. And the post also had to be the right height for Hercules to be able to reach over it as he does in some of the previously posted images.

All of those dimensions, including the length of the chain, cascade back all the way to the first images in this set where she is standing fully clothed, waiting for her whipping. And all of those things were determined by her pose when she is hanging by her wrists. Sorry if that is not particularly interesting to most, just a little background.

Now, a little about the first stroke of the whip. I almost felt like that image of the whip stroke across her bare ass was too cliche', kept trying to avoid doing that, but in the end Gundericus, the lictor, couldn't resist the pull of that tight, sculpted bare ass right there in front of him, quivering in anticipation. I felt that he wanted to do it so badly that I had to give in. So there it is, the classic whip stroke across the naked girl's ass and her surprised scream at how much it hurts.


I would have liked to have seen her completely sagging at the end of the whipping her body covered in stripes and not able to take another lash
 
Thanks, it's just really hard to guess what this audience is interested in seeing.

Those clothes are a technological achievement for me. I have tried for years off and on to get those to work. They are dynamic cloth, which actually has to fall and settle onto the figure so that it folds naturally. There are lots of variables involved in that to get it to work and look right. You can even control whether the fabric is soft and flowing like silk, or stiffer like linen. Now I've got it, and I have a whole repertoire of figures that are dressed in Roman clothing like that. All of the characters in this scene I posted earlier about Arria's Punishment are wearing dynamic clothing as well.
View attachment 303134
What ever happened to Arria? Want to find what i can! Love this scene, I can almost taste the humiliation
 
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