DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4761#0308
BELL-CRATERS. «0I
Milani, // Mito di Filottete (1879), P1- '> "»• ~i reproduces a fragment as given by Racul-
Rochette, loc. cit. Flasch, Angcbliche Argonautenbilder, p. 19, accepts the sacrifice in Chryse.
Mr. Cecil Smith, in J. H. S. ix, p. 1 ff., proposed to join the figure of Athene on to the
fragment of a draped figure in front of her, and to regard the whole scene as an ordinary
act of sacrifice to Athene on the Acropolis of Athens. Since then it has been found that the
fragments cannot be so joined without destroying the curve of the vase and the proportions of
Athene.
Stephani, in the Comptc-rcndupour 1869, pi. 4, fig. 1, p. 179, and again, 1876, pi. 5, fig. i;
p. 161, publishes certain fragments of a large vase found at Kcrtch, and now in St. Petersburg,
representing a similar scene of Heracles sacrificing at an ahar with two youthful ministrants,
of whom the one on the 1. is named Lichas, while the one on r. has lost his name, if he had one.
Stephani calls him Hyllos, and very rightly explains the scene.as the sacrifice made by Heracles
to Zeus Patroos at Mount Oeta, as described in the Trachiniae of Sophocles, on which occasion
both Hyllos and Lichas were present as youths.
Were it not for the presence of Lichas and what appears to indicate the poisoned peplos
behind Heracles, taken in comparison with the St. Petersburg fragments, our vase would seem
best to represent the sacrifice of Heracles at the altar of Athene in Chryse, in accordance with
the argument of the Philoctetes (h Xpva-ji \\6rjvai ^w^iiy). Among the other vases which illustrate
this episode is one which includes a Nike bringing fruits for the sacrifice. In no other instance,
except on the Museum fragments, is Athene herself present, though that is natural enough in
connection with Heracles.
The difficulty caused by the presence of Lichas at a sacrifice in Chryse is increased when
we find in many writers that Philoctetes also had a part in the sacrifice of Heracles at Mount
Oeta. For example, Hyginus, Fab. 36, after stating that Heracles, when the poisoned peplos
took fire, had cast Lichas into the sea, adds, " Tunc dicitur Philoctetes, Poeantis filius, pyram
in Monte Oetaeo construxisse Herculi eumque accendisse mortalitatem. Ob id bencficium
Philocteti Hercules arcus et sagittas donavit." And again, Fab. 102, speaking of the serpent which
bit the foot of Philoctetes, he says, " quern serpentem Juno miserat, irata ei ob id quia solus
prajter ceteros ausus fuit Herculis pyram construere cum humanum corpus est exustum et ad
immortalitatem traditum. Ob id beneficium Hercules suas sagittas divinas ei donavit." This
appears to have been the current view among later writers, and Sophocles seems to confirm
it when he makes Philoctetes claim to have received the bow for services rendered (Philoct.
662, and again 784 fob, while in 724 he expressly refers to the pyre as Mount Oeta). Apparently
the two legends had become confused in literary sources, and to some extent also by our vase-
painter, though no doubt the incident mainly in his mind was the sacrifice at the altar of Athene
in Chryse.
The drawing is of the finest period, perhaps shortly after the completion of the Athene
Parthcnos by Pheidias. The inner markings are of light brown, which is also used for shading
the drapery, the aegis and the rocks of the altar. The eyes are in profile, with a curious
formation of the eyelid.—[A. S. M.]
Heracles sacrificing. In the centre a burning altar made of unworked
stones (dpyol \1801), on which are four tiers of logs laid lengthwise and endwise
alternately, with a hook or horn of some animal (cf. E 455) on the top, on the r.
of which is the youth Lichas, ai[xaz, At'^a?, wreathed, and holding a piece of
meat on a spit over the fire; on the 1. has been another youth similarly employed ;
only the top of his head now remains. Apparently it is to this youth that the
name, ©iaoiket, ^>i\o{(t)k[t]^t[7j';, higher up on the vase refers. Behind the
altar is a xoanon of a goddess, draped and surmounting a fluted Doric column
with necking, to 1. a tree from which hang votive tablets, Tuvaicia, with designs
representing a Satyr, a Msenad, and two horsemen. On the 1. stands Heracles
Milani, // Mito di Filottete (1879), P1- '> "»• ~i reproduces a fragment as given by Racul-
Rochette, loc. cit. Flasch, Angcbliche Argonautenbilder, p. 19, accepts the sacrifice in Chryse.
Mr. Cecil Smith, in J. H. S. ix, p. 1 ff., proposed to join the figure of Athene on to the
fragment of a draped figure in front of her, and to regard the whole scene as an ordinary
act of sacrifice to Athene on the Acropolis of Athens. Since then it has been found that the
fragments cannot be so joined without destroying the curve of the vase and the proportions of
Athene.
Stephani, in the Comptc-rcndupour 1869, pi. 4, fig. 1, p. 179, and again, 1876, pi. 5, fig. i;
p. 161, publishes certain fragments of a large vase found at Kcrtch, and now in St. Petersburg,
representing a similar scene of Heracles sacrificing at an ahar with two youthful ministrants,
of whom the one on the 1. is named Lichas, while the one on r. has lost his name, if he had one.
Stephani calls him Hyllos, and very rightly explains the scene.as the sacrifice made by Heracles
to Zeus Patroos at Mount Oeta, as described in the Trachiniae of Sophocles, on which occasion
both Hyllos and Lichas were present as youths.
Were it not for the presence of Lichas and what appears to indicate the poisoned peplos
behind Heracles, taken in comparison with the St. Petersburg fragments, our vase would seem
best to represent the sacrifice of Heracles at the altar of Athene in Chryse, in accordance with
the argument of the Philoctetes (h Xpva-ji \\6rjvai ^w^iiy). Among the other vases which illustrate
this episode is one which includes a Nike bringing fruits for the sacrifice. In no other instance,
except on the Museum fragments, is Athene herself present, though that is natural enough in
connection with Heracles.
The difficulty caused by the presence of Lichas at a sacrifice in Chryse is increased when
we find in many writers that Philoctetes also had a part in the sacrifice of Heracles at Mount
Oeta. For example, Hyginus, Fab. 36, after stating that Heracles, when the poisoned peplos
took fire, had cast Lichas into the sea, adds, " Tunc dicitur Philoctetes, Poeantis filius, pyram
in Monte Oetaeo construxisse Herculi eumque accendisse mortalitatem. Ob id bencficium
Philocteti Hercules arcus et sagittas donavit." And again, Fab. 102, speaking of the serpent which
bit the foot of Philoctetes, he says, " quern serpentem Juno miserat, irata ei ob id quia solus
prajter ceteros ausus fuit Herculis pyram construere cum humanum corpus est exustum et ad
immortalitatem traditum. Ob id beneficium Hercules suas sagittas divinas ei donavit." This
appears to have been the current view among later writers, and Sophocles seems to confirm
it when he makes Philoctetes claim to have received the bow for services rendered (Philoct.
662, and again 784 fob, while in 724 he expressly refers to the pyre as Mount Oeta). Apparently
the two legends had become confused in literary sources, and to some extent also by our vase-
painter, though no doubt the incident mainly in his mind was the sacrifice at the altar of Athene
in Chryse.
The drawing is of the finest period, perhaps shortly after the completion of the Athene
Parthcnos by Pheidias. The inner markings are of light brown, which is also used for shading
the drapery, the aegis and the rocks of the altar. The eyes are in profile, with a curious
formation of the eyelid.—[A. S. M.]
Heracles sacrificing. In the centre a burning altar made of unworked
stones (dpyol \1801), on which are four tiers of logs laid lengthwise and endwise
alternately, with a hook or horn of some animal (cf. E 455) on the top, on the r.
of which is the youth Lichas, ai[xaz, At'^a?, wreathed, and holding a piece of
meat on a spit over the fire; on the 1. has been another youth similarly employed ;
only the top of his head now remains. Apparently it is to this youth that the
name, ©iaoiket, ^>i\o{(t)k[t]^t[7j';, higher up on the vase refers. Behind the
altar is a xoanon of a goddess, draped and surmounting a fluted Doric column
with necking, to 1. a tree from which hang votive tablets, Tuvaicia, with designs
representing a Satyr, a Msenad, and two horsemen. On the 1. stands Heracles