A mighty dandy of Assyria. 

Or the second mythical dandy after Narcissus. We all are familiar with Greek legend dedicated to Sardanapalus, right? The story of the last king of Assyria who set himself on fire together with all treasures, numerous wives and kids, as well as supporters, right in his own palace. Instead of surrendering in the face of so-called opposition that had been trying to enter the palace, Sardanapalus became the master of own death. For a little after-note, Sardanapalus' story and image left quite a huge mark in culture. To give few examples, it's Delacroix's painting 'The Death of Sardanapalus', Joncieres' opera 'Sardanapalus', Berlioz's overture 'Death of Sardanapalus' and Lord Byron's play 'Sardanapalus'.
Question is: 'What does this character has inherited from dandy kind of personality?'. First of all, according to various sources, Sardanapalus preferred highly luxurious fabrics, was always aware of what his dress looked like and paid a lot of attention to own appearance. Important to point out that this over-selfishness and love towards idleness and luxury brought him to a very tragic end. Secondly, when we speak about common features of Sardanapalus and average dandy, it's worth to remember that one of the biggest dandies in history, Lord Byron, found this character as an inspiring personality for one of own plays. One dandy inspired another one... isn't it the best story of them all?



Image Courtesy: (Wikipedia.org) Eugene Delacroix (1827)