DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0179
Dioskouroi and Helene in Folk-Tales 1017
throughout ancient Greek mythology. The folk-tale hero rides off to get the
golden apple kept by forty dragons in a garden1. We think of Herakles,
the great twin brother of Iphikles, who seeks the golden apples of the Hes-
perides, apples that grow in the garden of Zeus and are kept by the dragon
Ladon2. The same folk-tale hero rides a green winged horse, which can thunder
and lighten3. We are familiar with the winged horse Pegasos, of whom Hesiod
wrote:
In Zeus' home he dwells
Bearing the thunder-peal and lightning-flash
For Zeus the wise4.
1 Supra p. 1003.
2 K. Seeliger in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2594 ff. 3 Supra p. 1003.
4 Hes. theog. 285 f., cp. Eur. Bellerophonies frag. 312 Nauck2 v(f> dp/j-ar' eXdibv Zr/vbs
acrrpairrifiope'i. I do not know any ancient representation of Pegasos as lightning-bearer.
But a very remarkable red-figured hydrta at Paris (De Ridder Cat. Vases de la Bid/. Nat. ii.
343 no. 449, J. B. Biot in the Ann. d. Inst. 1847 xix. 184 fF., Mon. d. Inst, iv pi. 39,2 ( = my
fig. 885), Reinach' Re'p. Vases i. 129. 4. R. Filler Weltenmantel undHimmelszelt Mtinchen
Fig. 885.
1910 i. 84 n. 2 fig. 26 (' Apotropaische Darstellung einer Sonnenfinsternis ')) appears to
represent him as a constellation in the sky. My friend Prof. E. T. Whittaker, late
Astronomer Royal of Ireland, has kindly supplied me with the following note on this
unique vase-painting :
' Four stars of approximately equal magnitude will be noticed forming a rectangular
figure flanked by two other stars. There are in the northern sky two well -known instances
of stars disposed in a rectangle, viz. the body of the Plough (Ursa Major) and the great
square of Pegasus. Here the addition of Pegasus himself puts the meaning beyond doubt.
The fact that the moon appears as a comparatively thin crescent shows that a time
throughout ancient Greek mythology. The folk-tale hero rides off to get the
golden apple kept by forty dragons in a garden1. We think of Herakles,
the great twin brother of Iphikles, who seeks the golden apples of the Hes-
perides, apples that grow in the garden of Zeus and are kept by the dragon
Ladon2. The same folk-tale hero rides a green winged horse, which can thunder
and lighten3. We are familiar with the winged horse Pegasos, of whom Hesiod
wrote:
In Zeus' home he dwells
Bearing the thunder-peal and lightning-flash
For Zeus the wise4.
1 Supra p. 1003.
2 K. Seeliger in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2594 ff. 3 Supra p. 1003.
4 Hes. theog. 285 f., cp. Eur. Bellerophonies frag. 312 Nauck2 v(f> dp/j-ar' eXdibv Zr/vbs
acrrpairrifiope'i. I do not know any ancient representation of Pegasos as lightning-bearer.
But a very remarkable red-figured hydrta at Paris (De Ridder Cat. Vases de la Bid/. Nat. ii.
343 no. 449, J. B. Biot in the Ann. d. Inst. 1847 xix. 184 fF., Mon. d. Inst, iv pi. 39,2 ( = my
fig. 885), Reinach' Re'p. Vases i. 129. 4. R. Filler Weltenmantel undHimmelszelt Mtinchen
Fig. 885.
1910 i. 84 n. 2 fig. 26 (' Apotropaische Darstellung einer Sonnenfinsternis ')) appears to
represent him as a constellation in the sky. My friend Prof. E. T. Whittaker, late
Astronomer Royal of Ireland, has kindly supplied me with the following note on this
unique vase-painting :
' Four stars of approximately equal magnitude will be noticed forming a rectangular
figure flanked by two other stars. There are in the northern sky two well -known instances
of stars disposed in a rectangle, viz. the body of the Plough (Ursa Major) and the great
square of Pegasus. Here the addition of Pegasus himself puts the meaning beyond doubt.
The fact that the moon appears as a comparatively thin crescent shows that a time