Beethoven Frieze: centre wall (detail)

The detailrepresents the hostile forces: Typhoeus, the giant, against whom even gods fought in vain, and his daughters, the three Gorgons. The longings and wishes of mankind fly over their heads. In the centre of the group lurks Typhoeus, a giant monkey-like monster, which according to mythology, is the offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia, and the god of the underworld, Tartaros. To his left side are his daughters, the three Gorgons: “sickness, madness, and death.” On his right side, Typhoeus’s other daughters appear: “lust, unchastity and intemperance.” Above the Gorgons, the skeletal female figure of death lurks in unmatched dramatism.