Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

2o6

The Delphic Tripod

is finely conceived by a fifth-century artist as sitting on the Delphic
tripod and fixing her gaze on thephidle, while she divines the future
for Aigeus (fig. 145)J. In this masterly painting Themis is but the
prototype of the Pythia: even the Pythia, when she mounts the
tripod (fig. 146, by-, lays by mortality and becomes more than human
in her insight and foresight.

Inst. 1832 iv. 333 ff., Man. d. Inst, i pi. 46 = my fig. 144, Lenormant—de Witte El. man.
cSr. ii. 20 ff. pi. 6, L. de Ronchaud in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. i. 315 fig. 370,
Baumeister Denkm. i. 102 fig. ro8, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon pp. 63 no. 13,
64 f., 360 Atlas pi. 20, 12, M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2839, K. Wernicke in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 93, Reinach Rip. Vases i. 79, 4, W. Helbig Fiihrer durch
die offentliclien Sammlungeu hlassischer Altertiimer in Rom3 Leipzig 1912 i. 311 no. 497,
Hoppin Red-fig. Vases i. 66 no. 51, supra i. 335). As to the further interpretation of the
scene, opinions differ. According to T. Panofka, C. Lenormant, J. de Witte, L. de
Ronchaud, Apollon is crossing the sea from Crete to Delphoi. J. Overbeck, M. Mayer,
S. Reinach, W. Helbig, hold that he is on his way from the land of the Hyperboreoi to
Delphoi, where his advent was celebrated in the spring. K. Wernicke speaks more
cautiously of 'der Meerfahrt des A. Delphinios.' A. Baumeister thinks 'dass hier das
Orakel des Gottes als Kolonien griindend und aussendend gedacht wird.' Is it over-rash
to see in this striking picture an artist's conception of the ecstasy or 'travelling clairvoyance'
of the god ? In any case an odd sequel to it is Artemid. oneirocr. 5. 21 e'Soije tis lirl kuk\u)
TpiiroSos 5iair\e'ii> ireXayos p.iya '. (pevywv (£<pvye B.) dSi^Tj/xdrwi/ ypa<piji> edAw /cat ets vfjerov
KCLTediK&crdr] ■ to yap wepiixov yv avTov irepippvTov, /cat e'ot/cos (ot/cos codd. Aid. J. G. Reiff
corr.) to o"x??^a tt\ vqau.

1 Fig. 145 is the interior design of a red-figured kylix from Vulci, now at Berlin (Furt-
wiingler Vasensamml. Berlin ii. 719 f. no. 2538), painted by an Attic master (? Aison:
see Hoppin Red-fig. Vases i. 16 no. 2) e. 440 B.C. The scene is laid in the temple at
Delphoi, which is suggested by the Doric column and entablature in the background.
AITEY2!, with himdtion, bay-wreath, and fillet, propping his left arm-pit on a staff,
awaits the response of 0EAMX, who sits on the tripod, wearing chiton, himdtion drawn
up over her head, ear-ring, and necklace. In her right hand she holds a sprig of bay, in
her left a phidle, which she is apparently using as a divining-glass (so first Miss P. B. Mudie
Cooke in the Joum. Rom. Stud. 1913 iii. 169, cp. supra i. 128). F. E. Bobbins 'The
Lot Oracle at Delphi' in Class. Philol. 1916 xi. 278—292 supposes that Themis is
reading lots {Class. Quart. 1916 x. 235). See further E. Gerhard Das Orakel der Themis
(Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Berlin vi) Berlin 1846 pp. 1 —11 pi., id. Auserl. Vasenb. iv.
102—104 pi. 327f. = Reinach Rep. Vases ii. 162, O. Benndorf in the Wien. Vorlegeil. A
pi. ir, 2 (after Gerhard), Furtwangler—Reichhold—Hauser Gr. Vasenmalerei iii. no—
113 pi. 140. My fig. 145 is after the last-named publication. I cannot, however, agree
with Hauser that the female figure on the tripod is but a priestess (id. p. no 'Sie wird
hier Themis.. .genannt mit einem mythologisch nicht gerechtfertigten Namen.') : see
Harrison Myth. Man. Anc. Ath. p. c fig. [9, ead. Themis p. 480 f. fig. 142, who rightly
remarks—' she is not the Pythia; the days of vEgeus are earlier than this ; she is Themis,
who came after Ge and before Apollo.'

2 A red-figured nestoris from Basilicata, now at Naples (Heydemann Vasensamml.
Neapel p. 155 f. no. 1984), shows on the one side Orestes pursued by two Furies, on the
other Orestes in the presence of Apollon at Delphoi. Both paintings are of interest. In
(a) the double row of striped pebbles may indicate the scene of murder (cp. Frazer Golden
Bough'6: The Scapegoat p. 15 ff.). The bared breast of the right-hand Fury recalls the
last appeal of the desperate queen (Aisch. cho. 896 ff., Eur. El. 1206 ff., Or. 526 ff., 839 ff.,
with C. Sittl Die Gebiirden der Griechen und Homer Leipzig 1890 p. 173). And the face
seen in the uplifted mirror is that of Klytaimestra herself—a masterly device to express