DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0720
The decoration of the double axe 645
superb moth of the stylised sort, with spiral antennae, a ringed
body, and two scalloped wings showing circular eyes. It re-
sembles the moths on the golden disks (figs. 561, 562)1 and plaques2
from the third shaft-grave at Mykenai3 and, like them, betokens the
presence of a soul4. Incidentally, its round open eyes on head and
take the Talos-story as proof that the Minoan artist knew hollow bronze casting—but the
myth about the nail and the vein would be consistent with solid casting : there is as yet
no archaeologic evidence that the Minoans knew the hollow process.'
1 H. Schliemann Alyceihc London 1878 p. 165 ff. fig. 243, p. 196 ff. fig. 301 f.,
C. Schuchhardt Schliemann's Excavations trans. E. Sellers London 1891 p. 204 ff.
fig. 193, Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de PArt vi. 968 with fig. 543. My figs. 561, 562 are from
electrotypes of three of the disks.
2 H. Schliemann op. cit. p. 176 fig. 256, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. vi. 968 with fig. 544.
3 Sir A.J. Evans The Palace of Minos London 1921 i. 705 f. figs. 528, 529 shows
that these 'Late Minoan i' representations were preceded by 'Middle Minoan iii' seal-
types (Zakro, Knossos), in which eyed butterfly-wings formed one element in a complex
of fantastic decoration.
4 On the soul as a butterfly or moth see O. Jahn Archaologische Beit rage Berlin 1847
p. 138 ff., L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1877 pp. 66—79, 94—139, O. Waser
in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 3234—3237, Frazer Golden Bough3: Taboo pp. 29 n. r, 41,
51 f., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 436—442, supra i. 532 n. 12.
According to O. Keller loc. cit., the death's-head moth (Acheroutia atropos), so common
in southern Europe, flitting about the garden-tombs of a summer's evening, with its weird
mask, its uncanny squeak, and its fondness for honey, was early held to be an embodiment
of the soul and as such is represented on the gold-work from Mykenai. In the Alexandrine
age the moth was displaced by the butterfly—a gayer and more frolicsome insect associated
with Aphrodite and Eros, Dionysos and Priapos. Hence fvxv came to be used of the
butterfly, especially of the 'cabbage white' (Pieris brassicae or the like), first in Aristotle
(H. Bonitz Index Aristotelicus Berolini 1870 p. 866 a s.v. i/'t'X??), while conversely papilio
is sometimes found in the sense of 'soul' {Corp. inscr. Lat. ii no. 2i46 = P\ Bticheler
Carmina Latina epigraphica Lipsiae 1897 ii. 850 f. no. 1851 (from Obulco in Hispania
Baetica) heredibus mando etiam cinere ut m[era vina ferant,] volitet meus ebrius papilio,
etc., cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 26011 = F. Bticheler op. cit. ii. 489 no. 1063 (from Rome)
papilio volita(n)s | texto religatus | aranist: illi praejda rep(e)ns, huic | data mors subit|ast).
Ultimately the brief life and the senselessness of the butterfly, which gets its wings singed
in the nearest flame, led Christians to regard it as the very type of a careless and worldly
soul. From sombre moth (all that !) to frivolous butterfly (only that !)■—an instructive
chapter in semantics.
A banded sardonyx at Copenhagen (L. Miiller Description des intailles et camies
antiques du Musie Thorwaldsen Copenhague 1847 p. 164110. 1510,
L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1877 p. 90, Furtwangler
Ant. Gemmen i pi. 24, 59 ( = my fig. 563), ii. 122) shows a butterfly
approaching an ithyphallic herm, while a peacock is seated on the
edge of the fountain-basin : fine work of the Roman period. Other
gems combine a large phallos with a butterfly and a snail : so on
an agate, belonging to a private collection in the Netherlands
(L. J. F. Janssen Nederlandsch-Romeinsche Daktyliotheek Leyden
1844 pi. 3, 58, L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pet. 187T
p. 282 : the stone is inscribed KvBwv) and on a cornelian in the
Hermitage (L. Stephani id. 1877 p. 89). But the closest parallel
is furnished by an early Attic black-figured amphora at Berlin
(Furtwangler Vasensamml. Berlin i. 222 no. 1684 : on the right,
a bearded man dancing; on the left, a bearded man playing the double flute—' sein
superb moth of the stylised sort, with spiral antennae, a ringed
body, and two scalloped wings showing circular eyes. It re-
sembles the moths on the golden disks (figs. 561, 562)1 and plaques2
from the third shaft-grave at Mykenai3 and, like them, betokens the
presence of a soul4. Incidentally, its round open eyes on head and
take the Talos-story as proof that the Minoan artist knew hollow bronze casting—but the
myth about the nail and the vein would be consistent with solid casting : there is as yet
no archaeologic evidence that the Minoans knew the hollow process.'
1 H. Schliemann Alyceihc London 1878 p. 165 ff. fig. 243, p. 196 ff. fig. 301 f.,
C. Schuchhardt Schliemann's Excavations trans. E. Sellers London 1891 p. 204 ff.
fig. 193, Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de PArt vi. 968 with fig. 543. My figs. 561, 562 are from
electrotypes of three of the disks.
2 H. Schliemann op. cit. p. 176 fig. 256, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. vi. 968 with fig. 544.
3 Sir A.J. Evans The Palace of Minos London 1921 i. 705 f. figs. 528, 529 shows
that these 'Late Minoan i' representations were preceded by 'Middle Minoan iii' seal-
types (Zakro, Knossos), in which eyed butterfly-wings formed one element in a complex
of fantastic decoration.
4 On the soul as a butterfly or moth see O. Jahn Archaologische Beit rage Berlin 1847
p. 138 ff., L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1877 pp. 66—79, 94—139, O. Waser
in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 3234—3237, Frazer Golden Bough3: Taboo pp. 29 n. r, 41,
51 f., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 436—442, supra i. 532 n. 12.
According to O. Keller loc. cit., the death's-head moth (Acheroutia atropos), so common
in southern Europe, flitting about the garden-tombs of a summer's evening, with its weird
mask, its uncanny squeak, and its fondness for honey, was early held to be an embodiment
of the soul and as such is represented on the gold-work from Mykenai. In the Alexandrine
age the moth was displaced by the butterfly—a gayer and more frolicsome insect associated
with Aphrodite and Eros, Dionysos and Priapos. Hence fvxv came to be used of the
butterfly, especially of the 'cabbage white' (Pieris brassicae or the like), first in Aristotle
(H. Bonitz Index Aristotelicus Berolini 1870 p. 866 a s.v. i/'t'X??), while conversely papilio
is sometimes found in the sense of 'soul' {Corp. inscr. Lat. ii no. 2i46 = P\ Bticheler
Carmina Latina epigraphica Lipsiae 1897 ii. 850 f. no. 1851 (from Obulco in Hispania
Baetica) heredibus mando etiam cinere ut m[era vina ferant,] volitet meus ebrius papilio,
etc., cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 26011 = F. Bticheler op. cit. ii. 489 no. 1063 (from Rome)
papilio volita(n)s | texto religatus | aranist: illi praejda rep(e)ns, huic | data mors subit|ast).
Ultimately the brief life and the senselessness of the butterfly, which gets its wings singed
in the nearest flame, led Christians to regard it as the very type of a careless and worldly
soul. From sombre moth (all that !) to frivolous butterfly (only that !)■—an instructive
chapter in semantics.
A banded sardonyx at Copenhagen (L. Miiller Description des intailles et camies
antiques du Musie Thorwaldsen Copenhague 1847 p. 164110. 1510,
L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1877 p. 90, Furtwangler
Ant. Gemmen i pi. 24, 59 ( = my fig. 563), ii. 122) shows a butterfly
approaching an ithyphallic herm, while a peacock is seated on the
edge of the fountain-basin : fine work of the Roman period. Other
gems combine a large phallos with a butterfly and a snail : so on
an agate, belonging to a private collection in the Netherlands
(L. J. F. Janssen Nederlandsch-Romeinsche Daktyliotheek Leyden
1844 pi. 3, 58, L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pet. 187T
p. 282 : the stone is inscribed KvBwv) and on a cornelian in the
Hermitage (L. Stephani id. 1877 p. 89). But the closest parallel
is furnished by an early Attic black-figured amphora at Berlin
(Furtwangler Vasensamml. Berlin i. 222 no. 1684 : on the right,
a bearded man dancing; on the left, a bearded man playing the double flute—' sein