Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

12 2 The Pillar of Light
Gr. Vasenvialerci i. 284, Perrot— Chipiez Hist, de l'Art x. 707 ff. fig- 387 f.), has for
interior design Orpheus (^OP®E Vsj attacked by a Thracian woman. He sinks, bleeding,
to the ground, supported no doubt by his left hand, and defending himself with the lyre
uplifted in his right. His assailant holds in her right hand a double axe (missing portion
subsequently found Journ. Hell. Stud. 1894 xiv. 381), beneath which appears a kalos-
name (probably ^Xa^^-ONJ and an uncertain object (? handle of large spit : Miss Harrison
aptly cp. Mon. d. Inst, ix pi. 30). She grasps the singer's arm with her left hand, and
sets her foot against his thigh. She has three tattoo-marks—a small goat (not a stag ; the
legs are too short for that) on her right upper arm, a ladder beneath the bracelet on her
left wrist, and four vertical strokes on her neck. The vase may be dated c. 470— 460 B.C.
(2) PI. V, a 'Nolan' amphora from Capua, now in the British Museum {Brit. Mus.
Cat. Vases iii. 218 no. E 301), shows a similar scene painted in the style of Douris. The
Thracian woman in a, but not in b, has a check-pattern on the front of her neck, the
inside of her right forearm, and the instep of each foot. The photographs here reproduced
are by Mr R. B. Fleming.
'
(3) A Nolan' amphora from the Durand collection, now in the Louvre (Pottier Cat.
Vases du Louvre iii. 1 109 no. G 436, T. Panofka in the A)in. d. Inst. 1829 i. 265 fif.,
Mon. d. Inst, i pi. 5, 2, Reinach Rep. Vases i. 63, 4, O. Gruppe in Roscher Lex. Myth.
iii. 1 185), represents the same scene. The Thracian woman has a pattern of ivy-leaves (?)
down either arm.
(4) A 'Nolan' amphora at Munich (Jahn Vasensamml. Miinchen p. 126 f. no. 383,
A. Flasch in the Ann. d. Inst. 1871 xliii. 127, O. Gruppe in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
ri88) has the same design, the woman's arms being decorated with a »>-pattern
(? ivy-leaves).
(5) A red-figured stdmnos from the Campana collection, now in the Louvre (Pottier
Cat. Vases du Lotivre iii. [103 no. G. 416, A. Flasch in the Ann. d. Inst. 1871 xliii.
i26ff., AIo7t. d. Inst, ix pi. 30, Reinach R^p. Vases i. 186, O. Gruppe in Roscher Lex.
Myth. iii. ii84ff. fig. 10), amplifies the scene by adding five other Thracian women.
Four out of the six are tattooed, one with a series of short strokes on either arm, another
with short strokes on the neck and on the one arm visible, a third with short strokes on
the neck and a long line on either arm, a fourth with two vertical lines on the neck.
(6) A red-figured keUbe at Munich (Jahn Vasensamml. Miinchen p. 241 no. 777,
A. Flasch in the Ami. d. Inst. 1871 xliii. 127, O. Gruppe in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
1188) has obv. a Thracian woman, with sword in right hand, sheath in left, whose arms
and legs are painted with zig-zag patterns ; on either upper arm is a stag (' Hirsch '
Jahn), on the knee a star with a stag (' Hirsch' Jahn) beneath it : rev. a Thracian woman
running with outstretched arms ; her arms and legs are again patterned with zig-zags.
Orpheus does not appear.
These vases together with some others, on which the women are not tattooed,
presuppose—as O. Gruppe in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1184— 1188 points out—
' eine
gemeinsame Vorlage.' Possibly the original was an unrecorded fresco by Polygnotos (not
the Orpheus-scene in the Cnidian Lesche at Delphoi : supra i. 537), who as a Thasian by
birth would be familiar with the customs of Thrace.
For monumental evidence of tattooing in palaeolithic times see J. Dechelette Manuel
d'archdologie prehistorique Paris 1908 i. 203 ff. and Index p. 730, in neolithic times id. ib.
i. 565 ff. and Index p. 730. Bronze-age examples include a marble idol from Seriphos,
the face of which is painted with transverse rows of red dots across forehead, cheeks, and
chin (C. Blinkenberg ' Antiquites premyceniennes ' in the Mhnoires de la Sociiti royale
des Antiquaires du Nord Copenhague 1896 p. 48 fig. 13, J. Dechelette op. dt. i. 597 fig. 1 ),
a marble head from Amorgos with lines of red on forehead, nose, and cheeks (P. Wolters
' Marmorkopf aus Amorgos' in the Ath. Mitth. 1891 xvi. 46—58, Perrot— Chipiez Hist.
de PArt vi. 742 f. fig. 336), a white limestone idol from the neighbourhood of Sparta
with quadruple chevrons incised on its right upper-arm and quadruple squares on its left
upper-arm (P. Wolters in the Ath. Mitth. 1891 xvi. 52 f. fig. i, Perrot—Chipiez Hist.