DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0213
Diana-Pillars
pillar : the pendants that dangle from it are not without analogy in
the cosmic notions of other races1. Finally, we observe that side by
side with these pillar-shrines there persisted the more primitive
tree-cult, in which the living tree was enclosed by a gateway con-
sisting of side-posts and lintel (fig. 99)- or by some later elabora-
Fig. 98.
1 See e.g. Sir G. Maspero The Dawti of Civilization^ London 1901 p. 16 n. 7 : ' The
variants of the sign for night—\ ^ -!, i ^ <—are most significant. The end of the rope
to which the star is attached passes over the.sky, i> g, and falls free, as though arranged
for drawing a lamp up and down when lighting or extinguishing it. And furthermore, the
name of the stars—hhadisu—is the same word as that used to designate an ordinary lamp.'
Cp. the sun suspended by cords on a Babylonian tablet [supra i. 262 ff.). J. Grimm
Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1883 ii. 722: 'The Lithuanians
beautifully weave shooting stars .into the fate-mythus : the verpeya (spinneress) begins to
spin the thread of the new-born on the sky, and each thread ends in a star ; when a man
is dying, his thread snaps, and the star turns pale and drops (Narbutt, 1, 71).'
Traces of such beliefs can be found here and there among the Greeks. Thus at the
Boeotian Daphnephoria the kopo was a staff of olive-wood with a bronze ball at the top
to denote the sun, a smaller ball below to denote the moon, a number of little balls
hanging from the topmost ball to denote the stars and planets (Nilsson Gr. Teste p. 164 f. :
I have discussed the rite in Tolk-Lore 1904 xv. 409 ff., supra i. 291 n. 5).
2 Fig. 99 is a stucco-relief from one of the vaulted rooms of a Roman town-house dis-
covered in 1878 in the garden of the Villa Farnesina [Mon. d. Inst. Suppl. pi. 35,
J. Lessing—A. Mau Wand- tmd Deckenschmuck eines roemischen Hazises aus der Zeit des
Augustus Berlin 1891 p. 14 pi. 15, M. Collignon ' Le styl decoratif a Rome' in the Revue
de Part ancien et vwderne 1897 i. p. 104 with pi., M. Rostowzew 'Die hellenistisch-
romische Architekturlandschaft' in the Rom. Mitth. 1911 xxvi. 34 ff. fig. 13 f. (after
Anderson's photograph no. 25o6 = my fig. 99), H. Bulle Der schbne Mensch im Altertuin'1
Munchen und Leipzig 1912 p. 601 f. pi. 298, Helbig Guide Class. Ant. Romexv. 22ofT.,
233 no. 1059, i6.3 ii. 117 ff. no. 1330). This relief, which is now in the Museo delle
Terme, represents a rocky landscape with a stream spanned by a bridge. On the bridge
are two women carrying pitchers, of whom the first gives drink to a kneeling beggar (cp.
Iuv. 4. n6ff. with J. E. B. Mayor ad loc). To the left of the bridge a large date-
palm (?) stands in a precinct between a couple of two-storied buildings. Over it is a gate-
way consisting of a pillar and a pilaster with an architrave, on which is set a fluted jar.
Adjoining this complex we see a circular walled structure with narrow openings, which is
pillar : the pendants that dangle from it are not without analogy in
the cosmic notions of other races1. Finally, we observe that side by
side with these pillar-shrines there persisted the more primitive
tree-cult, in which the living tree was enclosed by a gateway con-
sisting of side-posts and lintel (fig. 99)- or by some later elabora-
Fig. 98.
1 See e.g. Sir G. Maspero The Dawti of Civilization^ London 1901 p. 16 n. 7 : ' The
variants of the sign for night—\ ^ -!, i ^ <—are most significant. The end of the rope
to which the star is attached passes over the.sky, i> g, and falls free, as though arranged
for drawing a lamp up and down when lighting or extinguishing it. And furthermore, the
name of the stars—hhadisu—is the same word as that used to designate an ordinary lamp.'
Cp. the sun suspended by cords on a Babylonian tablet [supra i. 262 ff.). J. Grimm
Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1883 ii. 722: 'The Lithuanians
beautifully weave shooting stars .into the fate-mythus : the verpeya (spinneress) begins to
spin the thread of the new-born on the sky, and each thread ends in a star ; when a man
is dying, his thread snaps, and the star turns pale and drops (Narbutt, 1, 71).'
Traces of such beliefs can be found here and there among the Greeks. Thus at the
Boeotian Daphnephoria the kopo was a staff of olive-wood with a bronze ball at the top
to denote the sun, a smaller ball below to denote the moon, a number of little balls
hanging from the topmost ball to denote the stars and planets (Nilsson Gr. Teste p. 164 f. :
I have discussed the rite in Tolk-Lore 1904 xv. 409 ff., supra i. 291 n. 5).
2 Fig. 99 is a stucco-relief from one of the vaulted rooms of a Roman town-house dis-
covered in 1878 in the garden of the Villa Farnesina [Mon. d. Inst. Suppl. pi. 35,
J. Lessing—A. Mau Wand- tmd Deckenschmuck eines roemischen Hazises aus der Zeit des
Augustus Berlin 1891 p. 14 pi. 15, M. Collignon ' Le styl decoratif a Rome' in the Revue
de Part ancien et vwderne 1897 i. p. 104 with pi., M. Rostowzew 'Die hellenistisch-
romische Architekturlandschaft' in the Rom. Mitth. 1911 xxvi. 34 ff. fig. 13 f. (after
Anderson's photograph no. 25o6 = my fig. 99), H. Bulle Der schbne Mensch im Altertuin'1
Munchen und Leipzig 1912 p. 601 f. pi. 298, Helbig Guide Class. Ant. Romexv. 22ofT.,
233 no. 1059, i6.3 ii. 117 ff. no. 1330). This relief, which is now in the Museo delle
Terme, represents a rocky landscape with a stream spanned by a bridge. On the bridge
are two women carrying pitchers, of whom the first gives drink to a kneeling beggar (cp.
Iuv. 4. n6ff. with J. E. B. Mayor ad loc). To the left of the bridge a large date-
palm (?) stands in a precinct between a couple of two-storied buildings. Over it is a gate-
way consisting of a pillar and a pilaster with an architrave, on which is set a fluted jar.
Adjoining this complex we see a circular walled structure with narrow openings, which is