1-158-893 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Scene from Byron's poem Mazeppa, c1820. Published in 1819, this narrative poem is based on a passage in Voltaire's Charles XII. Mazeppa, a Polish nobleman, was discovered in an affair with another nobleman's wife. He was stripped and bound to a wild horse which was lashed into madness. It galloped until it reached the plains of Ukraine and there dropped dead. Mazeppa, near death, was rescued by Cossacks, joined their army, and became a Tartar prince. The original of Mazeppa was the Polish nobleman Ivan Stepanovitch.