Britomartis Jumps into the Sea 

Etienne Delaune rendered this image of Britomartis jumping into the sea using engraving techniques. Notice the dramatic moment captured, filled with symbols of pursuit and escape. Britomartis leaps into the turbulent sea to flee the amorous advances of King Minos. The dogs and the figure of Minos are gestures of the hunt, deeply rooted in the collective psyche. The act of jumping into the sea reminds us of similar motifs—the flight and transformation found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where figures escape earthly bounds through metamorphosis. Water, in its dual nature, is both a zone of danger and of purification, like the narratives of baptism. The sea, a recurring motif through time, becomes a threshold, a boundary crossed in moments of crisis. The image is less about the specific tale of Britomartis and more about a broader, cyclical narrative of flight and transformation.