History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
History
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)
Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
Mythology, Classical, in art; Pottery, Ancient; Pottery, Etruscan; Pottery, Greek; Pottery, Roman
The story of _Kronos_, who swallowed the stone given to him by his wife
Rhea in place of his children, is possibly depicted on one vase,[891]
though the genuineness thereof is open to doubt. The stone is enveloped
in drapery to prevent discovery. A bust of Kronos has also been
identified on a vase.[892] The story of Zagreus and his destruction by
the Titans, which belongs to the same cycle, also finds one or two
representations. One vase appears to represent them devouring him
piecemeal.[893]
Another personage who may perhaps be regarded as of pre-Olympian origin
is _Themis_, who comes between Gaia and Apollo in the occupation of the
prophetic stool at Delphi (Aesch. _Eum._ 2). Aigeus, the father of
Theseus, is represented as consulting her seated on her tripod,[894]
and one vase has been supposed to depict her conversing with Zeus
before the birth of Dionysos.[895] She also appears at the Judgment of
Paris.[896]
_Kybele_, the mother of the gods, only occurs in one or two doubtful
instances, with the lion which is usually associated with her.[897]
Among the primitive and recondite Greek cults which go back to a remote
origin, that of =the Kabeiri= may perhaps be mentioned here. Previous
to the discovery, in 1887–88, of their sanctuary near Thebes, little
was known, either from literary or monumental sources, of these
mysterious deities; but the excavations on this site yielded large
quantities of pottery with scenes relating to their cult, mostly of a
burlesque character.[898] Among these was one very interesting fragment
representing (with names inscribed) the Kabeiros and his son (Pais)
banqueting, and attended by two deities known as Mitos and
Pratoleia.[899] Lenormant noticed that the spectator-deities on an
under-world vase in the British Museum correspond exactly to the four
Cabeiric deities as described by certain ancient authorities.[900]
Turning next to myths which treat of the semi-divine personages of the
earliest cosmogony, we have the legends given by Hesiod of Prometheus
and the creation of =Pandora=; and we may include with them the Titan
Atlas. Pandora, it has been already noted, is only a variation of
Gaia,[901] and this is borne out by the name given to her on a
beautiful polychrome cup in the British Museum representing her
creation, completed by Hephaistos and Athena.[902] She is there named
Ἀνεσιδώρα, “She who sends up gifts,” _E.g._ from the earth. The subject
is not so popular as might have been expected, but appears on two other
vases in the Museum, in each case with Olympian deities as spectators
of the event, and on a beautiful vase now at Oxford.[903] The story of
the opening of the πίθος has not found its way into art, but its
connection with the Athenian feast of the πιθοίγια is curiously
illustrated in one instance.[904]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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