DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0549
The Sacred Cattle of Gortyna 471
Hermonthis, which is known to have been consecrated to the sun,
was said to change its colour every hour1.
A ' Caeretan' Jiydria in the Louvre (fig. 327)2 represents Zeus
as a three-coloured bull bearing Europe across the sea to Minos'
Fig. 327.
isle; but the coloration is here a matter of Ionian technique, not of
Cretan mythology.
xiii. The Sacred Cattle of Gortyna.
Further evidence of the Cretan cult of a solar bull and a lunar
cow is forthcoming at Gortyna and at Knossos. A Cretan name
for the Gortynians was Kartemnidesz, which in all probability
means ' Cow-men' or ' Cow-herds,' since the Cretans said kdrten
for 'cow' and Gortynians kartaipos for 'ox' or 'bull4.' Special
1 Supra p. 436.
2 Pottier Cat. Vases dit Louvre ii. 535 f. no. E 696, id. Vases antiqties du Louvre
2me Serie Paris 1901 p. 65, id. in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1892 xvi. 254, Mon. d. Inst.
vi—vii pi. 77, W. Helbig in the Ann. d. Inst. 1863 xxxv. 2Toff., Reinach Rep. vases
i. 162, if. 3 Hesych. s.v. Kapre/xpides' 01 ToprtivLoi. Kprjres.
4 Hesych. s.v. Kapr-qv ttjp (3ovp Kp^res. Kal top oiKer-qv ol avroL M. Schmidt adloc.
hazards the suggestion that we should read oIkigtt}v and explain it of an eponymous
founder Kaprvv = Y6pTvv. I. Voss Catull. p. 203 would correct Kprj/j-via in Steph. Byz.
s.v. YbpTvv to Kapre/u-pia: he cites Strab. 478 to prove that Gortyna lay 'in a plain' and
could not therefore be called 'Precipitous.' J. Alberti on Hesych. loc. cit. quotes from
Soping a comparison with the first element in Carthago and the story of the bull's hide
(Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1013, Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 426): this of course assumes
a folk-etymology for Carthago as well as for the Byrsa.
I would rather suppose a connexion with ra Kapraiiroda, which occurs in the laws of
Gortyna to denote 'oxen' (Michel Recueil d'Lnscr. gr. no. 1333^. 3 5 f, = Collitz—Bechtel
Gr. Dial.-Lnschr. iii. 2. 265 no. 4991 iv. 35 f. ra Trp6j3aTa Kal KapTa[l]iro8a, cp. id.
iii. 2. 282 no. 4998 i. 12 ff. ai 8e na <xvs Kapraiiros iraptbaeL 7} KaraaKeurj, top re avv iirl
Trdao-ra ^\ixy]v c3 /c' § to Kaprcuiros k.t.X.) and, in an all but identical form, was used by
Pindar of 'a bull' (Pind. 01. 13. 81 K.apTalirob'' with schol. ad loc. Kapraiiroda top raupop.
ovtw &e\<pol iSiws iK&\ovp). Dedications to the Kouretes as guardians of kine (Kw/jt/cu
tois irpb Kapranrodup) have been found by Prof. De Sanctis at Hagia Barbara (G. De
Sanctis in the Mon.d. Line. 1907 xviii. 346 f.) and at Pluti near Gortyna (R. C. Bosanquet
in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1908—1909 xv. 353).
Hermonthis, which is known to have been consecrated to the sun,
was said to change its colour every hour1.
A ' Caeretan' Jiydria in the Louvre (fig. 327)2 represents Zeus
as a three-coloured bull bearing Europe across the sea to Minos'
Fig. 327.
isle; but the coloration is here a matter of Ionian technique, not of
Cretan mythology.
xiii. The Sacred Cattle of Gortyna.
Further evidence of the Cretan cult of a solar bull and a lunar
cow is forthcoming at Gortyna and at Knossos. A Cretan name
for the Gortynians was Kartemnidesz, which in all probability
means ' Cow-men' or ' Cow-herds,' since the Cretans said kdrten
for 'cow' and Gortynians kartaipos for 'ox' or 'bull4.' Special
1 Supra p. 436.
2 Pottier Cat. Vases dit Louvre ii. 535 f. no. E 696, id. Vases antiqties du Louvre
2me Serie Paris 1901 p. 65, id. in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1892 xvi. 254, Mon. d. Inst.
vi—vii pi. 77, W. Helbig in the Ann. d. Inst. 1863 xxxv. 2Toff., Reinach Rep. vases
i. 162, if. 3 Hesych. s.v. Kapre/xpides' 01 ToprtivLoi. Kprjres.
4 Hesych. s.v. Kapr-qv ttjp (3ovp Kp^res. Kal top oiKer-qv ol avroL M. Schmidt adloc.
hazards the suggestion that we should read oIkigtt}v and explain it of an eponymous
founder Kaprvv = Y6pTvv. I. Voss Catull. p. 203 would correct Kprj/j-via in Steph. Byz.
s.v. YbpTvv to Kapre/u-pia: he cites Strab. 478 to prove that Gortyna lay 'in a plain' and
could not therefore be called 'Precipitous.' J. Alberti on Hesych. loc. cit. quotes from
Soping a comparison with the first element in Carthago and the story of the bull's hide
(Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1013, Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 426): this of course assumes
a folk-etymology for Carthago as well as for the Byrsa.
I would rather suppose a connexion with ra Kapraiiroda, which occurs in the laws of
Gortyna to denote 'oxen' (Michel Recueil d'Lnscr. gr. no. 1333^. 3 5 f, = Collitz—Bechtel
Gr. Dial.-Lnschr. iii. 2. 265 no. 4991 iv. 35 f. ra Trp6j3aTa Kal KapTa[l]iro8a, cp. id.
iii. 2. 282 no. 4998 i. 12 ff. ai 8e na <xvs Kapraiiros iraptbaeL 7} KaraaKeurj, top re avv iirl
Trdao-ra ^\ixy]v c3 /c' § to Kaprcuiros k.t.X.) and, in an all but identical form, was used by
Pindar of 'a bull' (Pind. 01. 13. 81 K.apTalirob'' with schol. ad loc. Kapraiiroda top raupop.
ovtw &e\<pol iSiws iK&\ovp). Dedications to the Kouretes as guardians of kine (Kw/jt/cu
tois irpb Kapranrodup) have been found by Prof. De Sanctis at Hagia Barbara (G. De
Sanctis in the Mon.d. Line. 1907 xviii. 346 f.) and at Pluti near Gortyna (R. C. Bosanquet
in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1908—1909 xv. 353).