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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes — Cambridge, 1940

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0190

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136 The Tritopatores or Tritopatreis

sea with threatening breakers. A rock-bound coast looms up on
either hand. From the headland on the right, where a tree is
growing, a veiled woman with a lyre steps down towards the water,
attended by Eros. In front of her a Triton, or perhaps rather a
personification of the Wind, holds a mantle to serve as her ferry-
boat across the flood. On the cliff to the left sits a man, who leans
his head on his hand in an attitude of deep dejection. In front of
him a second and unmistakable Triton turns away, blowing a blast
on his horn. Finally, in the distance is seen a rocky island, on which
stands Apollon holding out his hand as if to welcome the woman.
F. Fornari1, one of the two scholars first privileged to publish this
wonderful composition, saw at once that the subject must be the
last voyage of the soul over the waters of death to the Islands of
the Blest. Much has been written on the relief since then2, and,
though various points of content3 and style4 remain uncertain, it

by G. Bendinelli in the Mon. d. Line. 1926 xxxipls. 11 ( = mypl. xix), 12 (centre), 13 (right
side), 14 (drawing). To photograph well an apsidal relief in such a position is something
of a technical triumph.

1 F. Fornari in the AW. Scant 1918 p. 49, being part of the initial publication (E. Gatti
and F. Fornari 'Brevi notizie relative alia scoperta di un monumento sotterraneo presso
Porta Maggiore' in the Not. Scam 1918 pp. 30—39 and 39—52).

2 The bibliography given by J. Carcopino La basilique pythagoricienne de la Porte
Majeure Paris 1927 pp. 388—391 mentions thirty-nine articles, paragraphs, and letters
dealing directly with the basilica. And the end is not yet. The most important accounts
are the following: F. Cumont 'La basilique souterraine de la Porta Maggiore' in the
Rev. Arch. 1918 ii. 52^—73, R. Lanciani 'II santuario sotterraneo recentemente scoperto
adSpcm Veterem' in the Bull. Comm. Arch. Comun. di Roma 1920 pp. 69—84, R. Leopold
' La basilique souterraine de la Porta Maggiore' in the Milanges d'Archtologie et d'ffistoire
1921 xxxix. 165—192, G. Bendinelli 'II mausoleo sotterraneo altrimenti detto Basilica di
Porta Maggiore' in the Bull. Comm. Arch. Comun. di Roma 1922 pp. 85—126,
H. Lietzmann 'Orphisch-neupythagoraische Katakombenkunst in Rom' in the Jahrb. d.
kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1922 xxxvii. Arch. Anz. pp. 348—351, id. 'Der unterirdische
Kultraum von Porta Maggiore in Rom' in the Bibliothek Warburg: Vortrage 1922—ig23
ii. 66—70, J. Hubaux 'Le plongeon rituel' in the Muste Beige 1923 p. 5 ff., E. Strong and
N. Jolliffe 'The Stuccoes of the Underground Basilica near the Porta Maggiore' in the
Joum. Hell. Stud. 1924 xliv. 65 —111. To these must be added the clear-headed and well-
documented monograph of J. Carcopino op. cit. pp. 1—414 with 24 plates and 6 plans, and
finally the sumptuous publication of G. Bendinelli ' II monumento sotterraneo di Porta
Maggiore in Roma' in the Mon. d. Line. 1926 xxxi. 601—860 with 54 figs, and 43 pis-

:i It is a. priori probable that the conch of the apse represented a myth rather than a
belief. There was therefore something to be said for the suggestion of C. Densmore Curtis
'Sappho and the "Leucadian Leap'" in the Am. Joum. Arch. 1920 xxiv. 146—15° tn£lt
the stucco portrays 'a well-known story, namely the famous " Leucadian Leap " of Sappho
in her attempt to be freed from her hopeless love for Phaon' (Ov. her. 1.5. 157—'8+''
F. Cumont 'La basilica sotterranea presso Porta Maggiore a Roma' in the Rassegi'"
d'Arte 1921 pp. 37—44 held that this explanation of the scene was possibly compatible
with his own Pythagorean hypothesis. J. Carcopino 'Encore la Basilique de la "Porta
Maggiore'" in the Rev. Arch. 1923 ii. 1—23 turned possibility into something very tiM
certainty by pointing out that the Pythagoreans were much concerned with the myth ot
 
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