Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

250 The Solar Wheel in Greece

Naples (fig. 180)1. Medeia on a car drawn by two snakes, which
are not winged, holds the reins in her left hand and one end of a
fluttering sail-like himdtion in her right. She turns her face towards
Iason, who pursues her hotly on horseback. He is accompanied by
a couple of followers, probably the Dioskouroi, for one of them
wears a pilos and above them we see two stars. Of the children,
one lies dead upon the ground, fallen on his face beside the fatal
sword; the other, dead also, is with Medeia in the car; the back of
his head and one arm being visible beside her. In front of and
facing Medeia stands Erinys, a nimbus round her head ; she holds
a sword in one hand, a torch in the other. Lastly, on the extreme
right Selene rides her horse: she too has her head circled with a
nimbus, which is painted red-brown and yellow. She is present
possibly as a goddess of magic, who might naturally be associated
with Medeia2, but more probably to furnish a variation on the
hackneyed sun-and-moon theme, Selene on the lunar horse forming

Fig. 180.

a pendant to Medeia on the solar car. There is every reason to
think with L. von Urlichs3 and C. Robert4 that the above-mentioned
sarcophagi—and this amphora cannot be separated from them—
present us with a scene ultimately derived from Euripides' play.
Mr J. H. Huddilston5 says with justice: 'I know of no monuments
of ancient art that grasp the spirit of a Greek tragedy more effectu-
ally than the Medeia sarcophagi. The strange and secret power of
the sorceress hovers over and pervades the whole. The dreadful
vengeance exacted by the slighted queen is shown in the most
graphic manner. Standing before the Berlin replica, which is the
best preserved and most beautiful of all the sculptures, one cannot

1 Heydemann Vasensamml. Neapel p. 506 ff. no. 3221, O. Jahn in the Arch. Zeit. 1867
xxv. 62 ff. pi. 224, 1, Reinach Rep. Vases i. 402, 2.

2 Supra p. 245.

3 L. von Urlichs op. cit. p. 13ft

4 Robert op. cit. ii. 205, cp. K. Seeliger in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 2511.

5 J. H. Huddilston Greek Tragedy in the light of Vase Paintings London 1898 p. 19.