The three corners of the Doge's Palace

I must have walked past the Doge Palace hundreds of times while I was living in Venice and contemplated its beauty while trying to avoid the hordes of tourists trying to get a selfie with the Bridge of Sighs or the never ending queue to get in the palace.  However, I must confess I have never asked myself what the figures at the corners represented, even though, I have always guessed that one was obviously Adam and Eve and the figure with the long beard must have been Noah. And this information was luckily correct. 

In the three corners of the Doge Palace there are three groups of sculptures. In the corner near the Ponte della Paglia the group of Noah with his three sons, in the main corner the scuptures of Adam and Eve and, finally, on the corner near the Porta della Carta the representation of the Judgment of Salomon.

Noah is here represented with his two sons Shem and Ham, the third son Japeth is represented further away, after the first arch.

Noah 

Noah and his sons - Shem is covering his father while Ham looks like if he despises him.

Japheth is represented further away from them with his hands up and his palms turned up almost as a gesture to say that he does not want anything to do with this. 

In the last corner, the one closer to the Basilica, the Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew bible. Two young women both claimed to be the mother to the same child. As it was impossible to judge who was telling the truth, King Solomon asked for a sword in order to split the child in two so to give half to each woman. Of course, the true mother opposed herself to this terrible verdict and asked Solomon to give the child to the other woman. The love of the true mother for her son prevailed (she would have surrendered her baby to somebody else rather than having her baby hurt) and therefore Solom was able to declare the true mother and give back the child to her.