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)

The birth of Athena in art

675

open palms as though they would conjure the new-born maiden to
appear. Other deities are present. To the left of the central group,
and separated from one another by the rapidly retreating figure of
Hephaistos, are Dionysos and Hermes. The former wears an ivy-
wreath and holds a kdntharos. The latter, in festal attire, bears
a caduceus of unusual form and announces his presence with the
naive remark—' I am Hermes of Kyllene.' To the right of Zeus
and his attendant goddesses is a god, probably Poseidon1, conversing
with a goddess, probably Aphrodite2, while behind them stands
Apollon with bow and arrow in his hands3.

Fig. 486,

4th ^° ^oeschcke in tlie -Arch. Zeit. 1876 xxxiv. 109, R. Schneider Die Geburt der
»*a\Vien 1880 p. 9, and with a query Reinach Rip. Vases i. 197. The mutilated
probably an appellative of Poseidon; Furtwangler loc* cit. says 'am
en Wo] Eip]i'/i^5[oii/ wenn man ein schiefgestelltes A zulasst,' cp. O. Jessen in
0(. y~Wisso\va Real-Enc. vi. 1334. Less likely is 0>/uA[ij—there is not much room
°ne. More improbable still, Wilamowitz' reading rav]v/j.ri5[ris. Quite impossible, a
BVenng 'T/i^oiof.

l,y j, llrlwangler loc. cit. proposes 'A(/i)0[riy>/rTj, which is accepted, again with a query,
/I/,,,/"130'1 loc- c'1- But Poseidon is more than once paired with Aphrodite (Gruppe Gr.

I ' ^e'' P- "4? n. 4f.), and the initial'A0[---is beyond question.

oteworthy variations on the theme of this vase include the following:
■4'is / 1)lack.figured amphora from Vulci, now in the British Museum (Gerhard
Brit i Vasenb- '• 6 ff- P1- 2> Lenormant—de Witte El. man. cir. i. 196 f. pi. 58>
20, S' Cat- Vases '55 no- B J+4 with fig 21 011 P- Reir>ach Vases
J. 'rfT,5, lL B- Walters History of Ancient Pottery London 1905 ii. 16 fig. 113), which
'Ant'j ley in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1927 xlvii. 78f. fig. 16 f-, 82 attributes to his
and r",enes Pai»ter' f. 530— 520 B.C. My pi. lv is from the official photograph. Zeus
on ,,, 'lena a|e flanked by a pair of Eileithyiai with Hermes on the left and Hephaistos
e fight

Mat - ^figured hydria from Nola, now in Paris (De Ridder Cat. Vases de la BibL
('ka^j.' 337 ff- no- 444 fig- 74 ( = my fig. 486), Pfuhl Malerei u. Zcichnung d. Gr. ii. ,542
at"rtnhafte Schlankheit') iii. 196 fig. 518), which J. D. lieazley assigns to his

43—2