DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0199
182
VOLTERRA.—The Museum.
[CHAP. XL1.
usually called Scylla,5 though wanting the peculiar charac-
teristic of that monster, who
Pube premit rabidos inguinibusque canes.
The male sea-divinities, which are of less frequent
occurrence, are commonly called Glaucus.6 On one urn
such a being is enfolding a struggling warrior in the coils
of each tail.7 In another, he has thus entangled two
figures of opposite sexes, and is seizing them by the hair.8
One of these deities, illustrated in the woodcut at the head
of this chapter, has an eye in either wing, a symbol, it
may be, of all-searching power, added to that of ubiquitous
energy.9
When, instead of fishes' tails, the woman's body termi-
nates in snakes, she is commonly called Echidna, the
5 Scylla, with the Greeks, seems to
have been the embodied emblem of the
sea, or of its monsters ; and she thus
personifies the perils of a maritime life.
Ann. Inst., 1843, p. 182.
6 Glaucus is very rarely represented
on ancient works of art. Never has he
been found on painted vases—only on
medals, gems, Etruscan urns, and in an
ancient painting in the Villa Adriana.
Ann. Inst., 1843, p. 184. M Vinet,
who writes the article cited, regards
Glaucus as the personification of the
colour of the sea (pp. 173, 181). He
thinks the word expressed " that clear
hue, verging on green or blue, but in
which white predominates, which the
sky or the surface of the waves assumes
under certain conditions, and at certain
hours of the day. On viewing these
effects of light, the people, who of the
seven-hued rainbow had formed Iris,
could not possibly have refrained from
increasing the abundant series of their
cerations, and Neptune henceforth
counted a new subject in his empire."
7 Were it not for the sex of the
monster this scene might represent the
companions of Ulysses encountering
Scylla ; or it may be an Etruscan ver-
sion of the same myth. Gori (I. tab.
148), however, represents it as a female.
3 Micali, Ital. av. Rom. tav. 23.
» Micali, Ital. av. Rom. tav. 24. This
writer (Ant. Pop. Ital. III. p. 180)
regards the eye in the wings as a
symbol of celerity and foresight; In-
ghirami (I. p. 79), of circumspection.
On another urn in this Museum, the
eye is represented on the wing of a
Charun, who is conducting a soul to the
other world, (Micali, op. cit. tav. 104,
1 ; Inghir. I. tav. 8); and on another,
where a female demon protects Paris
from the assaults of his brothers (ut
supra, p. 178). It is found also on the
wing of a Charun interfering in a battle-
scene, on a Volterran urn, from the
tomb of the CsecinaD, now in the Museum
of Paris. Micali, op. cit. tav. 105 ;
Ital. av. Rom. tav. 43.
VOLTERRA.—The Museum.
[CHAP. XL1.
usually called Scylla,5 though wanting the peculiar charac-
teristic of that monster, who
Pube premit rabidos inguinibusque canes.
The male sea-divinities, which are of less frequent
occurrence, are commonly called Glaucus.6 On one urn
such a being is enfolding a struggling warrior in the coils
of each tail.7 In another, he has thus entangled two
figures of opposite sexes, and is seizing them by the hair.8
One of these deities, illustrated in the woodcut at the head
of this chapter, has an eye in either wing, a symbol, it
may be, of all-searching power, added to that of ubiquitous
energy.9
When, instead of fishes' tails, the woman's body termi-
nates in snakes, she is commonly called Echidna, the
5 Scylla, with the Greeks, seems to
have been the embodied emblem of the
sea, or of its monsters ; and she thus
personifies the perils of a maritime life.
Ann. Inst., 1843, p. 182.
6 Glaucus is very rarely represented
on ancient works of art. Never has he
been found on painted vases—only on
medals, gems, Etruscan urns, and in an
ancient painting in the Villa Adriana.
Ann. Inst., 1843, p. 184. M Vinet,
who writes the article cited, regards
Glaucus as the personification of the
colour of the sea (pp. 173, 181). He
thinks the word expressed " that clear
hue, verging on green or blue, but in
which white predominates, which the
sky or the surface of the waves assumes
under certain conditions, and at certain
hours of the day. On viewing these
effects of light, the people, who of the
seven-hued rainbow had formed Iris,
could not possibly have refrained from
increasing the abundant series of their
cerations, and Neptune henceforth
counted a new subject in his empire."
7 Were it not for the sex of the
monster this scene might represent the
companions of Ulysses encountering
Scylla ; or it may be an Etruscan ver-
sion of the same myth. Gori (I. tab.
148), however, represents it as a female.
3 Micali, Ital. av. Rom. tav. 23.
» Micali, Ital. av. Rom. tav. 24. This
writer (Ant. Pop. Ital. III. p. 180)
regards the eye in the wings as a
symbol of celerity and foresight; In-
ghirami (I. p. 79), of circumspection.
On another urn in this Museum, the
eye is represented on the wing of a
Charun, who is conducting a soul to the
other world, (Micali, op. cit. tav. 104,
1 ; Inghir. I. tav. 8); and on another,
where a female demon protects Paris
from the assaults of his brothers (ut
supra, p. 178). It is found also on the
wing of a Charun interfering in a battle-
scene, on a Volterran urn, from the
tomb of the CsecinaD, now in the Museum
of Paris. Micali, op. cit. tav. 105 ;
Ital. av. Rom. tav. 43.