DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0690
Zeus in the East
from Kameiros (fig. 512)1 represents a male figure, presumably
Zeus2, grasping a pointed sword in one hand and a double axe in the
other as he advances to fight a beardless Centaur, who holds before
him a small tree, roots and all, behind him a branch. The type was
repeated by means of a wooden cylinder rolled round the clay vessel,
while yet moist: a second Centaur and parts of a second Zeus are
Fig- 513-
visible. Other fragments from Datcha on the Carian coast reverse
the motif (fig. 513)3, which was evidently popular for the decoration
of large pitlwi and is once at least treated in a more advanced style
(fig. 514)4. P. V. C. Baur6 rightly insists that this stamped pottery
exhibits certain patterns characteristic of Hittite art. And we have
noted Hittite traits, not only in the cult of Iupiter Dolichenus%, but
also in that of the Rhodian Zeus7. Very possibly, then, the axe-
1 A. Salzmann Necropole de Camiros Paris 1875 pi. 26 a ( = my fig. 512).
2 A. Salzmann loc. cit. regarded the subject as a combat between Centaurs and
Lapiths. J. L. Stokes in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1905—1906 xii. 78 speaks of 'An
archaic Lapith and Centaur scheme.' B. Sauer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 10461". fig. 3
took it to be the oldest representation of Herakles v. the Centaur. But P. V. C. Baur
Centaurs in Ancient Art (The Archaic Period) Berlin 1912 p. 85 gives reasons for dis-
senting from Sauer's view. A. Milchhofer Die Anfdnge der Ktinst in Griechenland
Leipzig 1883 p. 75 fig. 48 with p. 116 pronounced in favour of Zeus on the ground of
the double axe. E. H. Meyer Indogermctnische Mythen Berlin 1883 i (Gandharven-
Kentauren). 59, 131 reached the same conclusion ; which is accepted also by P. Jacobsthal
Der Blitz in der orientalisehen undgriechischen Kunst Berlin 1906 p. 10 n. 2.
3 F. Dtimmler ' Pithosfragmente aus Datscha ' in the Ath. Mitth. 1896 xxi. 230 f.
fig. 1 ( = my fig. 513), P. V. C. Baur op. cit. p. 85 fig. 17 (from a photograph). Baur
states that the Berlin Museum has recently acquired fragments from Datcha stamped
with the same design.
4 F. Diimmler loc. cit. 1896 xxi. 233 ff. pi. 6 ( = my fig. 514), P. V. C. Baur op. cit.
p. 85 f. pi. 11 no. 217 (photograph).
5 P. V. C. Baur op. cit. p. 85 f.
6 Supra i. 604 ff., 631 f., 634. 7 Supra i. 642 f.
from Kameiros (fig. 512)1 represents a male figure, presumably
Zeus2, grasping a pointed sword in one hand and a double axe in the
other as he advances to fight a beardless Centaur, who holds before
him a small tree, roots and all, behind him a branch. The type was
repeated by means of a wooden cylinder rolled round the clay vessel,
while yet moist: a second Centaur and parts of a second Zeus are
Fig- 513-
visible. Other fragments from Datcha on the Carian coast reverse
the motif (fig. 513)3, which was evidently popular for the decoration
of large pitlwi and is once at least treated in a more advanced style
(fig. 514)4. P. V. C. Baur6 rightly insists that this stamped pottery
exhibits certain patterns characteristic of Hittite art. And we have
noted Hittite traits, not only in the cult of Iupiter Dolichenus%, but
also in that of the Rhodian Zeus7. Very possibly, then, the axe-
1 A. Salzmann Necropole de Camiros Paris 1875 pi. 26 a ( = my fig. 512).
2 A. Salzmann loc. cit. regarded the subject as a combat between Centaurs and
Lapiths. J. L. Stokes in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1905—1906 xii. 78 speaks of 'An
archaic Lapith and Centaur scheme.' B. Sauer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 10461". fig. 3
took it to be the oldest representation of Herakles v. the Centaur. But P. V. C. Baur
Centaurs in Ancient Art (The Archaic Period) Berlin 1912 p. 85 gives reasons for dis-
senting from Sauer's view. A. Milchhofer Die Anfdnge der Ktinst in Griechenland
Leipzig 1883 p. 75 fig. 48 with p. 116 pronounced in favour of Zeus on the ground of
the double axe. E. H. Meyer Indogermctnische Mythen Berlin 1883 i (Gandharven-
Kentauren). 59, 131 reached the same conclusion ; which is accepted also by P. Jacobsthal
Der Blitz in der orientalisehen undgriechischen Kunst Berlin 1906 p. 10 n. 2.
3 F. Dtimmler ' Pithosfragmente aus Datscha ' in the Ath. Mitth. 1896 xxi. 230 f.
fig. 1 ( = my fig. 513), P. V. C. Baur op. cit. p. 85 fig. 17 (from a photograph). Baur
states that the Berlin Museum has recently acquired fragments from Datcha stamped
with the same design.
4 F. Diimmler loc. cit. 1896 xxi. 233 ff. pi. 6 ( = my fig. 514), P. V. C. Baur op. cit.
p. 85 f. pi. 11 no. 217 (photograph).
5 P. V. C. Baur op. cit. p. 85 f.
6 Supra i. 604 ff., 631 f., 634. 7 Supra i. 642 f.