Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

and the Soul-Ladder 123
de PArt vi. 741 ff. fig. 334), a female (?) head in painted plaster from Mykenai with
a rosette of red dots on forehead, chin, and either cheek (Ch. Tsountas ' KecpaXi] iK
Mi'Ki7i'cDf ' in the 'E0. 'Apx- 1902 pp. i— 10 pi. i). Even in the iron age similar practices
persisted : the Louvre possesses an archaic terra cotta, said to have been found in Greece,
which represents a nude standing female with incised circles of dots round her breasts,
round her navel, and on her thighs (E. Pottier in the A'ev. Arch. i8Qg i. 10 fig. 7), and
an archaic terra cotta from Boiotia, which shows a draped standing female with a circular
black patch on either cheek (Collignon Hist, dc la Sctdpt. gr. i. 109 fig. 55). A kylix of
Ionic style from Vulci, now at Berlin, has a running Maenad with a small circular red
patch on her cheek (J. Endt Beiiriige zjcr /onisc/ieii Vaseuntalerei Prag 1899 p. 35 fig. 15,
J. Boehlau ' Die Jonischen Augenschalen ' in the Ath. Mitth. 1900 xxv. 50 ff. fig. 10 ' ein
unverkennbares rotes Schonheitspflasterchen ' !). The black-brown figures represented
on Tanagra-ware (S. Wide ' Eine lokale Gatlung boiotischer Gefasse ' in the Ath. Mitth.
1901 xxvi. 143— [56 pi. 8) have sometimes, if not always, a group of three dots in thinned-
out colour on either cheek {Brit. Mas. Cat. Vases iii. 385 no. E 813 pi. 21, i, ih. iii. 385
no. E 814 pi. 21, 2 f. : but see Wide loc. cit. p. 146 no. 3 = Collignon— Couve Cat. Vases
d'Ath^nes p. 350 no. 11 19, p. 146 f. no. 4, pp. 147 f. 150 ff. pi. 8 = Collignon—Couve
op. cit. p. 350 no. 1120). On a terra-cotta antefix from Thasos (C. Fredrich in the Ath.
Mitth. 1908 xxxiii. 245 f. pi. 10 Gorgoneion with floral design on forehead, rosette on
nose, etc.) and on various classes of black-figured ware prophylactic faces show tattoomarks
{e.g. De Ridder Cat. Vases dc la Bibl. Nat. i. 90 f. no. 182 fig. 9 Ionic vase-lid
Gorgoneion with four dots on forehead, id. ib. i. 219 ff. no. 322 fig. 39 Attic kylix—
Gorgdneion with large round black spot on forehead, id. ib. i. 216 ff. no. 321 fig. 38 Attic
kjdix— interior, Gorgdneion with row of dots on forehead; exterior, eyes forming .part of
face with four dots on forehead).
Literature attests the custom of tattooing for Thracians (Hdt. 5. 6, Klearchos /ra^. 8
{Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 306 Mtiller) ap. Athen. 524 D— E, Phanokles ap. Stob. yftjr. 64. 14
(ed. Gaisford ii. 419), Cic. de off. 2. 25, Strab. 315, Plout. de sera num. vind. 12, Dion
Chrys. or. 14 p. 442 Reiske, Artemid. oneirocr. i. 8, Eustath. in II. p. 933, 7, id. in
Dionys. /cr. 322, anon. Pythag. diss. 2 de honesto et turpi (T. Gale Opuscida inythologica,
ethica et physica Cantabrigiae 1671 p. ^6=0pusctda inytkologica physica &^ ethica AmsieXxdami
1688 p. 712 f.) and for Agathyrsi (Verg. Aeti. 4. 146, Mela 2. 10, .Solin. 15. 3,
Amm. Marc. 31. 2. 14, interp. Serv. i)i Verg. Aen. 4. 146, cp. Plin. tiat. hist. 4. 88),
Daci (Plin. nat. hist. 7. 50, 22. 2), Geloni (Verg. georg. 2. 115 with Sqvw. ad loc, Claud.
in Rufin. 1. 313), Getai (Artemid. oneirocr. i. 8, cp. Dionysophanes ap. Porph. v. Pyth.
14 f.), Harii (Tac. Germ. 43), lapodes (Strab. 315), Illyrioi (Strab. 375), Sarmatai (Plin.
nat. hist. 22. 2, Sext. Pyrrhon. hypot. 3. 24 p. 286 f. Fabricius), as also for Britanni
(Caes. de bell. Gall. 5. 14, Mela 3. 51, Plin. nat. hist. 22. 2, Herodian. 3. 14. 7, cp. Solin.
22. 12), Picti (Claud, de bello Getico 4166"., Isid. orig. 19. 23. 7), Scoti (Isid. orig. 9. 2.
103), Kylikranes (PolemonyVrt^. 56 {Frag. hist. Gr.\\\. 133 Miiller) ap. Athen. 462 a and
Hesych. s.v. Ki^Xi/cpdi'coi'), Mossynoikoi (Xen. an. 5. 4. 32), Aithiopes (Sext. Pyrrhon.
hypot. I. 14 p. 66 Fabricius, cp. ib. 3. 24 p. 287, Lyd. de mens. 4. 53 p. no, 16 ff.
Wunsch and Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie Kahun, Gurob, and Haivara London 1890 p. 30,
id. lllahttn, Kahun and Gurob London 1891 p. 9 pi. 13, 20), Assyrioi (Loukian. de dea
Syr. 59 : supra i. 593 no. o). Mithraic 'soldiers' were marked on the forehead (Tertull.
de praescr. haeret. 40, cp. Greg. Naz. adv. lulian. i. 70 (xxxv. 592 Migne))— a practice
compared by G. Anrich Das antike Mysterienwesen in seinem Einfluss auf das Christentum
Gottingen 1894 p. 123 f., not only with the Roman custom of marking military recruits
(Veget. epit. rei milit. i. 8, 2. 5, Actios of Arnida 8. 12, T. Ruinart Acta martyrum
Ratisbonae 1859 P- 34'
^'^^'^ Maximiliani), but also with such usages as those of Kybele-
worshippers (Prudent, peristeph. 10. 1076 ft.) and other devotees (Philon de monarch, i. 8),
the followers of the Gnostic Marcus (Eiren. c. haeres. r. 20. 4=Hippol. ref. haeres. 7. 32
p. 404 Duncker— Schneidcwin), and even the Christian crcppayU ('baptism') (Herakleon
prag. 49 Brooke ap. Clem. Al. eel. proph. 25. i p. X43, 22 ff. Stiihlin). See further
J. Rhodius on Scribonius Largus coviposit. fned. 231 (ed. Patav. 1655 p. 308 ff.), Schrader