Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

47 6 Apollon and Artemis
known elements. Hence the appreciation of our critics. On the
other hand, the transformation of the HeHades is hardly to be dis-
missed as a group of mechanical or meaningless items. The designer
had at his disposal sundry vintage-stamps^ including a vine-dresser,
a ladder, a dancing Satyr^ and a dancing Maenad^. By dexterous
repetition of the first and last he has contrived to tell his story,
though it must be admitted that the poplar-sprays on the bay-leaved
willow-trunk are, as H. Goez protests, a Naturwunder*. It is noticeable
that no indication of locality is given except the twisted column
and the ladder. The action, doubtless, takes place on the banks
of the Eridanos, a river usually identified with the Padus or the
Rhodanus, but also set in the sky as the constellation Eridanus or
Flumen^ The scene is thus at once earthly and heavenly. Is it a
mere coincidence that we have already found both the spiral column^
and the ladder' used as links between earth and heaven ? Moreover,
we have seen reason to connect the sky-pillar^ and sky-ladder* with
the Milky Way. And, with regard to the mythical personages here
concerned, it will be remembered, not only that we identified the
road up which the Heliades escorted Parmenides as the Milky Way***,
but also that certain Pythagoreans explained the Milky Way as the
track made by a star which fell with the falling Phaethon".
I am inclined to surmise that the Galaxy at one time played a
considerable role in the myth of Phaethon^-. There are at least three
^ For vintage-scenes as part of the Arretine potter's repertoire see H. B. Walters op.
cit. ii. 492 f.
^ Cp. F. Hauser op. cit. pi. i, 17
(right arm altered).
^ Cp. F. Hauser op. cit. pi. 2, 25 (reversed). The type is derived from the Maenad of
Skopas [supra i. 666 n. i).
* H. Goez loc. cit. p. 478. For examples of composite trees on moulded ware from
Roman Gaul see J. Dechelette Les vases ciramiques ornh de la Gaule Romaine Paris 1904
ii. 159 f. nos. 1 127— 1129.
Escher-Biirkli in Pauly—Wissowa
^ E. H. Bunbury in Smith Diet. Geogr. i. 849, J.
Real-Etic. vi. 446 ff. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 6. 59 states that Phaethon son of Helios was
originally called Eridanos, that he was renamed from his fiery fall, and that he gave his
previous title to the river in which he fell.
^ Supra p. 107. ^ Supra p. I24ff.
* Supra p. 44 ff. ^ Supra p. I24ff.
1" Supra p. 42 f. '1 Supra pp. 40 n. 4, 43 n. i.
'2 This myth has been studied in detail by F. Wieseler Phaethon Gottingen 1857
pp. I— 74 with figs. 1— 12, H. d'Arbois de Jubainville 'Sur les origines de I'ambre,
Phaethon, I'Eridan, les Ligures et les Celtes' in the Bulletin de la socidte nationale des
antiquaires de France 1876 pp. 134— 142, U. von Wilamowitz-MoUendorff 'Phaethon'
in Hermes 1883 xviii. 396—434, C. Robert 'Die Phaethonsage bei Hesiod' ib. 1883 xviii.
434—441, M. Mayer ' Excurs iiber Wygxxv fab. 152 und 154' ib. 1885 xx. 135—143, A.
Bangert De fabula Phaethontea Halis Saxonum 1885 pp. i— 41, G. Knaack Quaestiones
Phaetonteae Berolini 1886 pp. i 8j, id. 'Zur Phaethonsage' in Hermes 1887 xxii. 637^
640, id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2175—2202 with figs, i — 3
(the most comprehensive