figure
Niobe
also: Ниобея
In Greek myth, the queen of Thebes whose boasting led Apollo and Artemis to kill her children; she wept without end and was turned to stone, becoming a stock classical figure for inconsolable grief. In "The Avenger," Sigayev imagines his widow following his coffin "like a Niobe," part of his self-pitying funeral fantasy.
Reading notes
- The Avenger §16 like a Niobe
In Greek myth, Niobe boasted of her many children and was punished when Apollo and Artemis killed them all; grief turned her to stone, and she is a stock classical figure for inconsolable maternal or wifely grief. Sigayev imagines his wife performing exactly this kind of theatrical mourning at his funeral -- part of his self-pitying revenge fantasy, not an actual event in the story.