DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0502
432 The Dioskouroi as the halves of the Sky
mirrors1, by a curious convention, gives the heroes but one arm
apiece, as though to indicate their conjoint being2. Other bronzes
of Etruscan make represent them with two arms each, but only a
single wing (fig. 338)1
(/3) The Dioskouroi as the halves of the Sky.
Looking back, we realise that the divine Sky has little by little
transformed its supports into anthropomorphic supporters. Tyn-
dareos has been joined by the Tyndaridai. Zeus has begotten the
Dioskouroi. But the process is still incomplete. For it cannot be
said that the Sky itself has as yet suffered cleavage or split into a
pair of Twins. The fact is that, so long as men believed in a fiat
earth overarched by a solid sky resting on side-props, further de-
velopment was impossible. But with the dawn of philosophy a
better cosmology appeared4. Ionic speculation in the sixth century
B.C. led on to the view, first clearly enunciated by Parmenides and
zealously propagated by the Pythagoreans, that this earth of ours
is a sphere5. It then became natural to conceive of the Sky as
composed of two hemispheres, respectively light and dark. And
some unknown thinker, perhaps Empedokles6, more likely a Stoic7,
ventured to identify them with the Dioskouroi. His explanation
appealed to rational minds and found favour in a materialistic age.
For instance, Philon the Jew, speaking of ingenious mythologists in
his treatise On the Decalogue (c. 40 A.D.), says :
which are carved in relief with standing figures of temple-servitors wearing their official
caps. The resemblance to the scene on the Etruscan mirrors is singularly complete.
1 For a larger collection of evidence see Gerhard Etr. Spiegel iii. 33 ff. pis. 45 ff.
2 Supra i. 768. Since writing on the subject I have acquired a mirror (pi. xxiv), which
retains the usual type of the Dioskouroi with Phrygian cap, short chiton, bent leg, single
arm, and connective pediment, but adds between the brothers their mother Leda (?) in a
Phrygian cap and their sister Ilelene (?) with rayed hair. The stars are here absent, unless
the pattern on the two shields can be claimed as stellar. Length o'245m. Breadth o'i i6m.
Cp. Gerhard Etr. Spiegel iii. 317 pi. 227, 2 = Babelon—Blanchet Cat. Bronzes de la Bibl.
Nat. p. 525 f. no. 1313 %
3 I figure a pair of belt-hooks, obtained by Mr E. J. Seltman in Capri, and now in
my possession. The Twins, whose heads are rayed, bear a dagger and a knife in their
right hands. The left hand in each case is empty and clumsily rendered, being perhaps
no part of the original design. A wolf's head terminates each hook above and below;
but it must not hastily be assumed that this is due to contamination with Romulus and
Remus {infra p. 440 ff.). Height o'i04m. Cp. Brit. Mns. Cat. Bronzes p. 351 no. 2858.
Another belt-hook of the same provenance and of similar design (fig. 339) omits the wings,
but connects the heads of the Twins by means of a forked bar.
4 For a clear perception of this sequence of ideas I am indebted to friendly criticisms
received from Miss Harrison (Sept. 23, 1918).
5 O. Gilbert Die tueteorologischen Theorien des griechischen Altertums Leipzig 1907
p. 273 ff.
s Id. id. pp. 112, 490, 683 f. 7 Id. id. p. 284 n. 1.
mirrors1, by a curious convention, gives the heroes but one arm
apiece, as though to indicate their conjoint being2. Other bronzes
of Etruscan make represent them with two arms each, but only a
single wing (fig. 338)1
(/3) The Dioskouroi as the halves of the Sky.
Looking back, we realise that the divine Sky has little by little
transformed its supports into anthropomorphic supporters. Tyn-
dareos has been joined by the Tyndaridai. Zeus has begotten the
Dioskouroi. But the process is still incomplete. For it cannot be
said that the Sky itself has as yet suffered cleavage or split into a
pair of Twins. The fact is that, so long as men believed in a fiat
earth overarched by a solid sky resting on side-props, further de-
velopment was impossible. But with the dawn of philosophy a
better cosmology appeared4. Ionic speculation in the sixth century
B.C. led on to the view, first clearly enunciated by Parmenides and
zealously propagated by the Pythagoreans, that this earth of ours
is a sphere5. It then became natural to conceive of the Sky as
composed of two hemispheres, respectively light and dark. And
some unknown thinker, perhaps Empedokles6, more likely a Stoic7,
ventured to identify them with the Dioskouroi. His explanation
appealed to rational minds and found favour in a materialistic age.
For instance, Philon the Jew, speaking of ingenious mythologists in
his treatise On the Decalogue (c. 40 A.D.), says :
which are carved in relief with standing figures of temple-servitors wearing their official
caps. The resemblance to the scene on the Etruscan mirrors is singularly complete.
1 For a larger collection of evidence see Gerhard Etr. Spiegel iii. 33 ff. pis. 45 ff.
2 Supra i. 768. Since writing on the subject I have acquired a mirror (pi. xxiv), which
retains the usual type of the Dioskouroi with Phrygian cap, short chiton, bent leg, single
arm, and connective pediment, but adds between the brothers their mother Leda (?) in a
Phrygian cap and their sister Ilelene (?) with rayed hair. The stars are here absent, unless
the pattern on the two shields can be claimed as stellar. Length o'245m. Breadth o'i i6m.
Cp. Gerhard Etr. Spiegel iii. 317 pi. 227, 2 = Babelon—Blanchet Cat. Bronzes de la Bibl.
Nat. p. 525 f. no. 1313 %
3 I figure a pair of belt-hooks, obtained by Mr E. J. Seltman in Capri, and now in
my possession. The Twins, whose heads are rayed, bear a dagger and a knife in their
right hands. The left hand in each case is empty and clumsily rendered, being perhaps
no part of the original design. A wolf's head terminates each hook above and below;
but it must not hastily be assumed that this is due to contamination with Romulus and
Remus {infra p. 440 ff.). Height o'i04m. Cp. Brit. Mns. Cat. Bronzes p. 351 no. 2858.
Another belt-hook of the same provenance and of similar design (fig. 339) omits the wings,
but connects the heads of the Twins by means of a forked bar.
4 For a clear perception of this sequence of ideas I am indebted to friendly criticisms
received from Miss Harrison (Sept. 23, 1918).
5 O. Gilbert Die tueteorologischen Theorien des griechischen Altertums Leipzig 1907
p. 273 ff.
s Id. id. pp. 112, 490, 683 f. 7 Id. id. p. 284 n. 1.