Afonso Costa Whipped by Talassa Before the Nation

This Portuguese political cartoon depicts Prime Minister Afonso Costa being lashed by Talassa (the sea personified as a classical female figure) while the Portuguese nation observes from a tower. A top-hatted figure on the left operates a mechanism launching spheres—likely representing political or economic consequences. The print, rendered in lithographic crayon technique with bold contrasts, employs classical allegory to condemn Costa's policies, possibly regarding maritime or colonial affairs. The cartoon belongs to the European tradition of political satire descending from Gillray and Daumier, where personified abstractions and grotesque caricature served as weapons in public debate. Portuguese graphic satirists of the early twentieth century adapted these methods to attack parliamentary figures and government actions during the volatile First Republic period (1910–1926).