Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Diana-Pillars 149
spears that the)^ carry, the pair of hounds attending them, and the
stag- bounding through a rocky archway in the background, all
show that this is the cult of Diana Nemorensis. Grattius expressly
mentions puppies and wreaths and weapons in his description of
her woodland rite^ Who the long-robed figure in the lower lefthand
corner may be, we cannot say. But it is noteworthy that the
pillar-shrine of the goddess is duplicated and even triplicated in
the same view. To the right of the pine and rather more in the
background rises a second club, narrowing upwards and topped by
a disk which apparently carries a tray or lik7ion. To the club are
bound a short thick stick (?) and other votive offerings. By it stands
the second efifig}- of Diana, this time an unmistakable herm. She
bears again a moditis on her head, holds on her shoulder a short
sceptre (?), and extends her right hand. Club and herm alike are
painted in dull violet to express distance. Away to the right a low,
broad tripod, white and yellow, is placed on a round, whitish base.
Adjoining this are bushes of bay (?); in the background, rocks and
trees. On the left, above the arched rock, is seen yet a third club-
pillar set on a square step beside an ancient,
leafless tree. The painting as a whole may
indeed be taken to illustrate no fewer than
six stages in the evolution of religious art—the
living tree, the dead tree, the club, the pillar,
the herm, and the statue on its plinth. More-
over, it should be observed that here, as in the
contemporary fresco from Herculaneum^, the
artist is fitting figures originally drawn from
the gallery of Greek nn^th into a frankly Italian
framework. Hippolytos, immortalised by Eu-
ripides^ as presenting a garland to his patron
goddess Artemis, is thus transformed into the
hunter offering his wreath to Diana Nemorensis
—a subtly appropriate transformation, when
we call to mind the belief that Hippolj'tos
came to life again in Diana's grove at Nemi-*.
In passing I may note a parallelism of form,
and perhaps of function, which would repay
further study. The pillar of Diana as repre-
sented on the frescoes was a stout post, rising
from a stepped base, wound about with a fillet and crowned by a
^ Gratt. cyneg. 483 ff. (supra i. 274).
- Supra p. [43 f.
a £,jr. Hipp. 70 ff.
* Supra i. 225 n. 4, 282 11. i, infra §3 (a) v [v).
Fig. 89.