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)

458 The myth of Danae and analogous myths

1 There is a further difference of opinion as to whether mother and child are
behind the chest (Welcker op. cit. v. 279) or already within it (R. Rochette op. cit-p-

Akrisios bids him close the lid upon the protesting mother and
her unheeding child1. The starry decoration of the chest was perhaps
traditional, for it occurs with equal insistence on other representations
of the same scene (pi. xxxviii, figs. 295 \ 296s). Indeed, it is tempting
to conjecture that the star-spangled coffer was, by those who first
designed it, felt to be the equivalent of a gilded coffin3, fitting
sequel of the star-spangled vault in which Akrisios had confined
his daughter.

A red-figured oiuochoe in the Louvre again has Danae sitting
alone and looking upwards at the shower that falls upon her4.

'scheint mit einem Maasstab die Grosse der Lade zu messen. ' Overbeck Gr. KunsW1"'

Zeus p. 412 : 'mit einem in seinen Einzelheiten unaufgeklarten Apparat an dem Kaste11

arbeitet, entweder Maass nehmend...oder den Verschhiss herrichtend.' H. de "Vil^osse

in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. v. 120 with fig. 453 : 'un menuisier creuse un trou dan

une des traverses du coffre en bois' etc., cp. H. Heydemann 'Zur Danaevase (No- l>

der Petersburger Ermitage' in the Arch. Zeit. 1872 xxx. 37 f., who makes out a stro ^>

case for regarding the disputed tool as a ' Drillbohrer' or 'wimble'—Campana's oiig

interpretation. ,. „

standing

19

Gerhard op. cit. p. 2, Stephani op. cit. ii. 281 f., Overbeck op. cit. Zeus p. 412''. ^
former view is supported by the analogy of a red-figured stdmnos from Caere now "
Hermitage (Stephani op. cit. ii. 139 ff. no. 1357. Bibliography supra ii. U55 n'j*, at
My fig. 295 is from the Mon. ed Ann. d. Inst. 1856 pi. 8) and a red-figured hya>
Boston {Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston 1914 xii. 6 fig., J- j
Attic red-figured Vases in American Museums Cambridge Mass. 1918 p. 51 (attrl ya$es
to the 'Painter of the Diogenes Amphora') fig. 32 = my pi. xxxviii, H oppin Jttd'/S' jj
i. 206 no. 1, J. D. Beazley Attische Vasenmaler des rotfigurigen Stils Tubingen l91^?eC&d.e
(attributed to the Painter of the Munich Amphora 2303): both vases belong to ^^,erseljSi
490—480 B.C. and involve the same personnel—Akrisios, the carpenter, Danae, ^oston
the nurse (hardly Eurydike). The latter view relies on another red-figured hydria a■ ^ J.
(P. Hartwig in the Mon. Piot 1903 x. 55—59 pi. 8, R. Engelmann in ^ Ja f eric»
oest. arch. Inst. 1909 xii. 166 fig. 75, J. D. Beazley Attic red-figured Vases in *^ ^0
Museums Cambridge Mass. 1918 p. 162, id. Attische Vasenmaler des rotfig""^ ^ reCi-
Ttibingen 1925 p. 364 no. 5 (attributed to the 'Danaemaler')), on the fragment 0 ^jge
figured beYL-krattr (?) formerly in Deepdene (E. M. W. Tillyard The Hope Vases Ca ^ollt
1923 p. 81 no. 137 pi. 22 'Danae and Perseus in the chest....The fragment da'eandon
450 B.C. Beazley approaches it to the work of the Painter of the Boston Phiale J,
the vase recorded in the following note. » O^01^

- A red-figured kotyle of 'Italiote' style (J. D. Beazley Greek Vases in Pola" ^gf.
1928 p. 73 n. o) from Nola, now at Naples (Heydemann Vasensamml- Ncap<- V ^g)
no. 3140, A. de Jorio in the RealMuseo Borbonico Napoli 1825 ii pi. 3°) "> ^"perhard 'n
with p. 3 f. (Astyanax hidden in a tomb by his mother Andromeda sic), E- .^^s &
the Arch. Zeit. 1844 ii. 268 f. (Tenes and Hemithea), R. Rochette Choix de * ^^ifi
PompHYzxis 1853 p. 196 (Perseus and Danae), J. Overbeck ' Uber die Lade des^
in the Abh. d. sdchs. Gesellsch. d. PViss. Phil.-hist. Classe 1865 iv. 612 (24) I10'TenI,es
and Hemithea), E. Saglio in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. i. 362 fi£- 454
Hemithea)). word ^

3 II. 24. 795 Kal t& ye (sc. iaria) xpv<reii]i> es X&pvaica BTjxav e\6vres.
can mean 'coffin' as well as 'coffer.'

4 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 407 no. 2. Unpublished.