DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0541
Apollon and Artemis
469
her days and in due course died. Plouton from love of her bade
a white-poplar (leuke) to spring up in the Elysian fields. It was
from this tree that Herakles on his return from the nether regions
plucked a wreath. Other authorities add a few details1. Herakles,
when he dragged Kerberos from below, saw the white-poplar growing
beside the Acheron, marvelled at its beauty, wreathed himself with
it, brought it to the Upperworld, and showed it to Helios. The myth
was already current in the fourth century B.C., to judge from a
Scopaic type of the hero wearing his poplar-wreath (fig. 363)'2.
The wreath of white-poplar, thus associated with Herakles3, was
awarded to victors in the Rhodian Tlapolemeia, a festival com-
memorating Herakles' son Tlepolemos4, if not Herakles himself5.
Some would have it, however, that the festival belonged to Helios";
and natives of the island spoke of the white-poplar as ' Helios'
wreath7.' Virgil, describing the cult of Hercules at the Ara Maxima,
1 Eratosthenes (?) ap. schol. Theokr. 2. 121 (p. 290, 7 ff. Wendel), interp. Serv. in
Verg. Aen. 5. 134, schol. A. B.D. //. 13. 389, Eustath. in II. p. 938, 63 f. Serv. in Verg.
georg. 2. 66 (cod. G.) has a curious variant: populum significat arborem, quia de populo
fuit corona, quam portavit Hercules circa suum caput in infernum. ipse alibi: Hcrculea
bicolor {Aen. 8. 276). Arnepolis civitas (?cp. Steph. Byz. s.v."Apv-q -.. .Tpirr) 'SltaoTroTo.fx'ia.s.
??' = Arnebtirg (H. Oesterley Historisch-geographisches Worterbuch des deutschen Mitlel-
alters Gotha 1883 p. 27)) a Babyloniis Herculem pro tempore colere dicitur. idcirco
hanc arborem ei dedicatam populum dicunt. huius folia noctis et lucis imaginem decla-
rant, nec alia causa clavam ei adsignant, quanquam (leg. quam quod) sit inaequalibus
vulneribus, per quam dierum inaequalitas intelligitur. Cp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 8. 276
Hercidea populus; Herculi consecrata, qui, cum ad inferos descendens fatigaretur labore,
dicitur de hac arbore corona facta caput velasse : unde foliorum pars temporibus cohaerens
et capiti (P. Burman cj. ex capitis vel capitis) albuit sudore (abluit sudorem cod. Sangall.
alba sudore cod. Guelf. 1), pars vero exterior propter inferorum colorem nigra permansit.
2 The best preserved example of the type (on which see B. Graef ' Herakles des
Skopas und Verwandtes' in the Rom. Mitth. 1889 iv. 189—226 with pi. 8 f. and illustra-
tions in text) is the bust from Genzano in the British Museum (Brit. Mus. Cat. Sculpture
iii. 93 no. 1731 pi. 5, 2. My fig. 363 is from P. Wolters in the Jahrb. d. kais. dentsch.
arch. Inst. 1886 i. 55 f. pi. 5, 2. Fine Parian marble. Height o-40m). To the biblio-
graphy given by Mr A. H. Smith add Overbeck Gr. Plastik* ii. 24 ff. fig. 142, a—c,
H. Bulle Der schoene Mensch im Alterlicm2 Muenchen—-Leipzig 1912 p. 479 f. pi. 211
(left), Stuart Jones Cat. Sculpt. AIics. Capit. Rome p. 71 Stanzre terrene a dritta 1. 23
pi. 13, W. Helbig Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Sammlnngen klassischer Altertiimer in
Rom3 Leipzig 1912 i. 257 no. 405, 520 no. 919, 525 no. 926, A. H. Smith British
Museu??i: Marbles and Bronzes London 1914 p. 6 pi. 21.
3 Theokr. 2. 121 with schol. ad loc, Verg. eel. 7. 61, georg. 2. 66, Aen. 8. 276 f. with
Serv. ad locc, Ov. her. 9. 64, Plin. nat. hist. 12. 3, Phaedr. 3. 17. 4, Tert. de cor. mil. 7.
4 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 147.
5 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 145 TA^TroAe/xeta. 01 de "RpdKXeia' k.t.X. But the two festivals
were distinct: see Nilsson Gr. Feste pp. 450 f., 462 f.
6 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 146 citing Istros frag. 60 b (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 427 Miiller).
7 Frag. com. adesp. (Frag. com. Gr. ii. 7466°., v. 52 f. Meineke) ap. Dikaiarch. 1. 5
(Geogr. Gr. min. i. 100 Miiller) otolv Se ttjv XevKujv tis clvtCov irpaews | aXiaKov elvai aricpavov
divrj, irvLyo/xai \ k.t.X. Large bronze coins issued at Rhodes between 88 and 43 B.C. have
obv. head of Helios, radiate, facing; rev. full-blown rose to front, within a wreath (Brit.
469
her days and in due course died. Plouton from love of her bade
a white-poplar (leuke) to spring up in the Elysian fields. It was
from this tree that Herakles on his return from the nether regions
plucked a wreath. Other authorities add a few details1. Herakles,
when he dragged Kerberos from below, saw the white-poplar growing
beside the Acheron, marvelled at its beauty, wreathed himself with
it, brought it to the Upperworld, and showed it to Helios. The myth
was already current in the fourth century B.C., to judge from a
Scopaic type of the hero wearing his poplar-wreath (fig. 363)'2.
The wreath of white-poplar, thus associated with Herakles3, was
awarded to victors in the Rhodian Tlapolemeia, a festival com-
memorating Herakles' son Tlepolemos4, if not Herakles himself5.
Some would have it, however, that the festival belonged to Helios";
and natives of the island spoke of the white-poplar as ' Helios'
wreath7.' Virgil, describing the cult of Hercules at the Ara Maxima,
1 Eratosthenes (?) ap. schol. Theokr. 2. 121 (p. 290, 7 ff. Wendel), interp. Serv. in
Verg. Aen. 5. 134, schol. A. B.D. //. 13. 389, Eustath. in II. p. 938, 63 f. Serv. in Verg.
georg. 2. 66 (cod. G.) has a curious variant: populum significat arborem, quia de populo
fuit corona, quam portavit Hercules circa suum caput in infernum. ipse alibi: Hcrculea
bicolor {Aen. 8. 276). Arnepolis civitas (?cp. Steph. Byz. s.v."Apv-q -.. .Tpirr) 'SltaoTroTo.fx'ia.s.
??' = Arnebtirg (H. Oesterley Historisch-geographisches Worterbuch des deutschen Mitlel-
alters Gotha 1883 p. 27)) a Babyloniis Herculem pro tempore colere dicitur. idcirco
hanc arborem ei dedicatam populum dicunt. huius folia noctis et lucis imaginem decla-
rant, nec alia causa clavam ei adsignant, quanquam (leg. quam quod) sit inaequalibus
vulneribus, per quam dierum inaequalitas intelligitur. Cp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 8. 276
Hercidea populus; Herculi consecrata, qui, cum ad inferos descendens fatigaretur labore,
dicitur de hac arbore corona facta caput velasse : unde foliorum pars temporibus cohaerens
et capiti (P. Burman cj. ex capitis vel capitis) albuit sudore (abluit sudorem cod. Sangall.
alba sudore cod. Guelf. 1), pars vero exterior propter inferorum colorem nigra permansit.
2 The best preserved example of the type (on which see B. Graef ' Herakles des
Skopas und Verwandtes' in the Rom. Mitth. 1889 iv. 189—226 with pi. 8 f. and illustra-
tions in text) is the bust from Genzano in the British Museum (Brit. Mus. Cat. Sculpture
iii. 93 no. 1731 pi. 5, 2. My fig. 363 is from P. Wolters in the Jahrb. d. kais. dentsch.
arch. Inst. 1886 i. 55 f. pi. 5, 2. Fine Parian marble. Height o-40m). To the biblio-
graphy given by Mr A. H. Smith add Overbeck Gr. Plastik* ii. 24 ff. fig. 142, a—c,
H. Bulle Der schoene Mensch im Alterlicm2 Muenchen—-Leipzig 1912 p. 479 f. pi. 211
(left), Stuart Jones Cat. Sculpt. AIics. Capit. Rome p. 71 Stanzre terrene a dritta 1. 23
pi. 13, W. Helbig Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Sammlnngen klassischer Altertiimer in
Rom3 Leipzig 1912 i. 257 no. 405, 520 no. 919, 525 no. 926, A. H. Smith British
Museu??i: Marbles and Bronzes London 1914 p. 6 pi. 21.
3 Theokr. 2. 121 with schol. ad loc, Verg. eel. 7. 61, georg. 2. 66, Aen. 8. 276 f. with
Serv. ad locc, Ov. her. 9. 64, Plin. nat. hist. 12. 3, Phaedr. 3. 17. 4, Tert. de cor. mil. 7.
4 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 147.
5 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 145 TA^TroAe/xeta. 01 de "RpdKXeia' k.t.X. But the two festivals
were distinct: see Nilsson Gr. Feste pp. 450 f., 462 f.
6 Schol. Pind. 01. 7. 146 citing Istros frag. 60 b (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 427 Miiller).
7 Frag. com. adesp. (Frag. com. Gr. ii. 7466°., v. 52 f. Meineke) ap. Dikaiarch. 1. 5
(Geogr. Gr. min. i. 100 Miiller) otolv Se ttjv XevKujv tis clvtCov irpaews | aXiaKov elvai aricpavov
divrj, irvLyo/xai \ k.t.X. Large bronze coins issued at Rhodes between 88 and 43 B.C. have
obv. head of Helios, radiate, facing; rev. full-blown rose to front, within a wreath (Brit.