DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0069
58
A. J. Evans
monster here, it is true, has only one head, but the canine jaws, the water
boiling amid the rocks :
the onslaught on the vessel—the whole scene may be taken as an early
illustration of a fabled sea-monster, perhaps already localised in the
Sicilian Straits—of which the Odyssey retained a living tradition. The
forepart of the monster, in fact, singularly recalls the pistrix which Gelon
placed on the coinage of Syracuse as the symbol of his sea victory over
the Etruscans that gave him the mastery of the Straits.1
It is clear that many of the above seal-types had a religious signifi-
cance. The accumulated evidences of the intimate association of the
bull with Minoan Cult2 suggest the conclusion that the perform-
ances of the bull-ring, such as that illustrated by No. 47, were themselves
connected with sacred ceremonies. Of the ritual usage of the Triton
shell (No. 42) something has been already said.3 The trinity of trees
(No. 22) and the flying dove (No. 37) are recognised objects of the cult.
The repetition of the groups of the cow and calf and wild goat and
1 See Head, Coinage of Syracuse, p. io, and cf. Holm, Geschichte Sicilian, I. p. 572 and my
'Contributions to Sicilian Numismatics' Num. Chron. 1894, p. 212. The artistic tradition of
similar sea-monsters goes back to the very beginnings of a later classical art : witness an amygdaloid
gem of the ' Melian ' class in my own collection found at Epidauros Limera and exhibiting a
' pistrix' beneath the forepart of a war galley. This gem dates from about 700 b.C.
- For a fresh illustration, see p. 114 below, lrig. 70.
:1 See above, pp. 36, 37.
\e/3^5 ft>? ev irvpl ttoXXw
Tlda' dvefiop/uLvpeaKe kvkco/j.€V7]
Fig. 36.—Clay Seal Impression : Boatman and Sea-Monster (j).
A. J. Evans
monster here, it is true, has only one head, but the canine jaws, the water
boiling amid the rocks :
the onslaught on the vessel—the whole scene may be taken as an early
illustration of a fabled sea-monster, perhaps already localised in the
Sicilian Straits—of which the Odyssey retained a living tradition. The
forepart of the monster, in fact, singularly recalls the pistrix which Gelon
placed on the coinage of Syracuse as the symbol of his sea victory over
the Etruscans that gave him the mastery of the Straits.1
It is clear that many of the above seal-types had a religious signifi-
cance. The accumulated evidences of the intimate association of the
bull with Minoan Cult2 suggest the conclusion that the perform-
ances of the bull-ring, such as that illustrated by No. 47, were themselves
connected with sacred ceremonies. Of the ritual usage of the Triton
shell (No. 42) something has been already said.3 The trinity of trees
(No. 22) and the flying dove (No. 37) are recognised objects of the cult.
The repetition of the groups of the cow and calf and wild goat and
1 See Head, Coinage of Syracuse, p. io, and cf. Holm, Geschichte Sicilian, I. p. 572 and my
'Contributions to Sicilian Numismatics' Num. Chron. 1894, p. 212. The artistic tradition of
similar sea-monsters goes back to the very beginnings of a later classical art : witness an amygdaloid
gem of the ' Melian ' class in my own collection found at Epidauros Limera and exhibiting a
' pistrix' beneath the forepart of a war galley. This gem dates from about 700 b.C.
- For a fresh illustration, see p. 114 below, lrig. 70.
:1 See above, pp. 36, 37.
\e/3^5 ft>? ev irvpl ttoXXw
Tlda' dvefiop/uLvpeaKe kvkco/j.€V7]
Fig. 36.—Clay Seal Impression : Boatman and Sea-Monster (j).