DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.808#0041
'THE RING OF NESTOR,' ETC. 39
the second figure, and the sheath hung transversally, from which he has drawn
his weapon, is a feature reproduced in the case of the youthful hero attacking
the Sphinx on No. 11.
The central actor and protagonist in the scene turns rapidly about and
appears to be making a dash towards the flying female figure. In his right
hand, as seen on the original, Eig. 39, he grasps the dagger or short sword
with which he seems already to have dispatched his rival, and his left is
raised as if to seize the lady by the hair of her head. She is depicted as if
in abject fright, her head turned towards her pursuer, her right hand palm
downwards, her left thrust out before her, starting to run, but with her legs
much impeded by her heavy flounced skirt. The tresses of her hair curl up
artificially above her forehead and fly out behind her in long, apparently
jewelled locks. She appears to be wearing a bodice open at the bosom, and
Fig. 39.—Princely Hero wreaks Vengeance on Guilty Lovers.
From Original Intaglio on Bead-seal, (f)
below her narrow girdJe is an elaborately embroidered gown with flounces
showing chevrons and dots, and above these what appears to be an indication
of a spiraliform pattern. As we cannot in this case have to do with a
Goddess, such surpassing richness of apparel clearly indicates a Queen.
It will be seen that the attitude of the princely protagonist, with the
left arm thrown forward, and the bent right knee, closely corresponds with
that of the hero attacking the Sphinx on No. 11, and it can hardly be doubted
that both designs are by the same hand.107 We have here a curiously
naive but at the same time powerful presentation of a dramatic scene in which
three royal personages, two male and one female, seem to have taken part-
Clearly the hero has surprised a guilty pair and proceeds to wreak a summary
vengeance.
The scheme agrees too nearly in outline with the fate that befell Aigisthos
and Clytemnestraat the hands of Orestes not to suggest the conclusion that
we have here again, as in the case of the Oedipus story, an actual illustration
of ancient tragedy, which here at least may correspond to historic fact, of a
date not later than the early part of the fifteenth century B.C.
107 ^he yQung pr[nce helping to assist of the earth on No. 6, Fig. 16, also presents a
the Spring Goddess to rise from the bosom near analogy in pose and style.
the second figure, and the sheath hung transversally, from which he has drawn
his weapon, is a feature reproduced in the case of the youthful hero attacking
the Sphinx on No. 11.
The central actor and protagonist in the scene turns rapidly about and
appears to be making a dash towards the flying female figure. In his right
hand, as seen on the original, Eig. 39, he grasps the dagger or short sword
with which he seems already to have dispatched his rival, and his left is
raised as if to seize the lady by the hair of her head. She is depicted as if
in abject fright, her head turned towards her pursuer, her right hand palm
downwards, her left thrust out before her, starting to run, but with her legs
much impeded by her heavy flounced skirt. The tresses of her hair curl up
artificially above her forehead and fly out behind her in long, apparently
jewelled locks. She appears to be wearing a bodice open at the bosom, and
Fig. 39.—Princely Hero wreaks Vengeance on Guilty Lovers.
From Original Intaglio on Bead-seal, (f)
below her narrow girdJe is an elaborately embroidered gown with flounces
showing chevrons and dots, and above these what appears to be an indication
of a spiraliform pattern. As we cannot in this case have to do with a
Goddess, such surpassing richness of apparel clearly indicates a Queen.
It will be seen that the attitude of the princely protagonist, with the
left arm thrown forward, and the bent right knee, closely corresponds with
that of the hero attacking the Sphinx on No. 11, and it can hardly be doubted
that both designs are by the same hand.107 We have here a curiously
naive but at the same time powerful presentation of a dramatic scene in which
three royal personages, two male and one female, seem to have taken part-
Clearly the hero has surprised a guilty pair and proceeds to wreak a summary
vengeance.
The scheme agrees too nearly in outline with the fate that befell Aigisthos
and Clytemnestraat the hands of Orestes not to suggest the conclusion that
we have here again, as in the case of the Oedipus story, an actual illustration
of ancient tragedy, which here at least may correspond to historic fact, of a
date not later than the early part of the fifteenth century B.C.
107 ^he yQung pr[nce helping to assist of the earth on No. 6, Fig. 16, also presents a
the Spring Goddess to rise from the bosom near analogy in pose and style.