DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0545
The Bull and the Sun in Crete 467
was the one made by Daidalos, a building which by means of intricate windings
led astray those that would escape from it.'
The other version of the myth connects the bull with Zeus, not
Poseidon. The first Vatican mythographer tells it thus1:
' Minos, the son of Zeus and Europe, once drew near to the altars to sacri-
fice to his father, and prayed the godhead to furnish him with a victim worthy
of his own altars. Then on a sudden appeared a bull
of dazzling whiteness {nimio candorc perfusus). Minos,
lost in admiration of it, forgot his vow and chose rather
to take it as chief of his herd. The story goes that Pasi-
phae was fired with actual love for it. Zeus, therefore,
being scorned by his son, and indignant at such treatment,
drove the bull mad. It proceeded to lay waste, not only
the fields, but even the walls of the Cretans. Herakles,
sent by Eurystheus, proved to be more than a match for
it and brought it vanquished to Argos. There it was
dedicated by Eurystheus to Hera. But Hera, loathing the gift because it
redounded to the glory of Herakles, drove the bull into Attike, where it was
called the bull of Marathon and subsequently slain by Theseus, son of Aigeus
(fig. 324)2.'
Both Apollodoros and the Vatican mythographer are evidently
concerned to present the reader with a consecutive and consistent
story. The myth, as they relate it, is composite. I do not propose
to discuss in detail its several parts, but rather to call attention to
the fact that, taken as a whole, it bears a strong resemblance to
two types of Greek tales, represented respectively by the golden
lamb or ram and by the white cow that we have already con-
sidered.
xi. The Bull and the Sun in Crete.
The golden lamb found among the flocks of Atreus and the
golden ram found among the flocks of Athamas we regarded as a
divine beast, the animal form of Zeus, which by a secondary
development came to symbolise the sun3. The lamb of Atreus
was for Simonides purple, the ram of Athamas purple or white4.
1 Myth. Vat. i. 47. The same version is found in Myth. Vat. 2. 120, Lact. Plac. in
Stat. Theb. 5. 431.
2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Attica p. 106, E. Beule Les monnaies d' Athenes Paris 1858
p. 398 f. fig., Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner Num. Comm. Paus. iii. 145 f. pi. DD, 7f.,
Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath. p. 522 fig. 79. The coin has been thought to represent
a dedication by the township of Marathon on the akropolis at Athens (Paus. 1. 27. 10 with
J. G. Frazer ad loc.): but this notion is disproved by the extant fragment of the group
(O. Benndorf 'Stiertorso der Akropolis' in the Jahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1898 i. 191 ff.),
which agrees with the scene on a red-figured kylix at Florence (L. A. Milani in the Museo
italiano di antichita classica iii. 239 pi. 3, Reinach Rip. Vases i. 529).
3 Supra pp. 405, 409, 419 f. 4 Supra pp. 406, 419.
30—2
was the one made by Daidalos, a building which by means of intricate windings
led astray those that would escape from it.'
The other version of the myth connects the bull with Zeus, not
Poseidon. The first Vatican mythographer tells it thus1:
' Minos, the son of Zeus and Europe, once drew near to the altars to sacri-
fice to his father, and prayed the godhead to furnish him with a victim worthy
of his own altars. Then on a sudden appeared a bull
of dazzling whiteness {nimio candorc perfusus). Minos,
lost in admiration of it, forgot his vow and chose rather
to take it as chief of his herd. The story goes that Pasi-
phae was fired with actual love for it. Zeus, therefore,
being scorned by his son, and indignant at such treatment,
drove the bull mad. It proceeded to lay waste, not only
the fields, but even the walls of the Cretans. Herakles,
sent by Eurystheus, proved to be more than a match for
it and brought it vanquished to Argos. There it was
dedicated by Eurystheus to Hera. But Hera, loathing the gift because it
redounded to the glory of Herakles, drove the bull into Attike, where it was
called the bull of Marathon and subsequently slain by Theseus, son of Aigeus
(fig. 324)2.'
Both Apollodoros and the Vatican mythographer are evidently
concerned to present the reader with a consecutive and consistent
story. The myth, as they relate it, is composite. I do not propose
to discuss in detail its several parts, but rather to call attention to
the fact that, taken as a whole, it bears a strong resemblance to
two types of Greek tales, represented respectively by the golden
lamb or ram and by the white cow that we have already con-
sidered.
xi. The Bull and the Sun in Crete.
The golden lamb found among the flocks of Atreus and the
golden ram found among the flocks of Athamas we regarded as a
divine beast, the animal form of Zeus, which by a secondary
development came to symbolise the sun3. The lamb of Atreus
was for Simonides purple, the ram of Athamas purple or white4.
1 Myth. Vat. i. 47. The same version is found in Myth. Vat. 2. 120, Lact. Plac. in
Stat. Theb. 5. 431.
2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Attica p. 106, E. Beule Les monnaies d' Athenes Paris 1858
p. 398 f. fig., Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner Num. Comm. Paus. iii. 145 f. pi. DD, 7f.,
Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath. p. 522 fig. 79. The coin has been thought to represent
a dedication by the township of Marathon on the akropolis at Athens (Paus. 1. 27. 10 with
J. G. Frazer ad loc.): but this notion is disproved by the extant fragment of the group
(O. Benndorf 'Stiertorso der Akropolis' in the Jahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1898 i. 191 ff.),
which agrees with the scene on a red-figured kylix at Florence (L. A. Milani in the Museo
italiano di antichita classica iii. 239 pi. 3, Reinach Rip. Vases i. 529).
3 Supra pp. 405, 409, 419 f. 4 Supra pp. 406, 419.
30—2