Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

vm] The Dioscuri as Agathoi Daimones 305
They form as it were a double sanctuary of the ' Lords,' the Anakes,
a title they share with Cecrops and many another hero. Between
Fig. 84.
Argenidas and the Dioscuri is a table, on it two tall amphorae.
Are they funeral urns containing the ashes of the Dioscuri ? I
think not. They perform, I believe, the
function of the Kadiskoi of Zeus Ktesios,
and I suspect they contain ambrosia, a
pankarpia or a panspermia, for to the right
of them is coiled in the air a daimon, a
snake. On another relief, in Fig. 85 \ the
dokana have snakes. This shows, I think,
not that the Dioscuri are dead men, but
that they are daimonic; they are, in the
strict sense of the word, 'heroes.'
Fig. 85.
The Dioscuri are heroes or daimones full of instruction, as
another monument 2 in Fig. 86 will show. The design is from
a votive-relief found in Thessaly, of late date and somewhat rough
though vigorous workmanship. It represents the scene familiar
1 Sparta Cat. 588, from a photograph kindly sent me by Mr Wace.
2 In the Louvre Museum. W. Frohner, Deux Peintures de Vases Grecs, 1871,
PI. ii., and see my Mythology and Monuments, 1890, p. 159, for the simple meal
provided in the Prytaneion at Athens for the Dioscuri.
H. 20