DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0275
;o PROTOTYPES OF THESEUS AND MARATHONIAN BULL
Heroic
feats of
kind in
Greece
traced to
Minoan
source.
traditions of the bull-grappling feats of Theseus and Herakles clearly
acknowledge a Minoan source. It was at the behest of Eurystheus,
King of Mycenae, that Herakles captured the Cretan bull, received by Minos
from Poseidon. In the case of the Marathonian bull, the feat, according
Fig. 161. Greco-Roman Relief showing Thessalian Taurokathapsia (Ashmolean
Museum).
to the legend,—obviously out of regard for Athenian susceptibility—had
been first unsuccessfully attempted by Androgeos, son of MinOs, and its
final achievement was reserved for the national hero, Theseus.
The metope of the Theseion, where the hero with superhuman might
masters the Marathonian bull, finds its true forerunner in a series of intaglio
scenes on Minoan gems. At times, as on the banded agate from Mycenae,
Fig. 162, the wrestler seems to lift the monster from the ground. A favourite
feat, as seen in Figs. 163,164 a, is to seize the animal by a horn in one hand
and the lower part of the jaw in the other so as to twist its neck.1 On a clay
sealing found in the Fifth Magazine (Fig. 163) - the champion wears the usual
peaked helmet adorned, it would seem, with rows of boars' tushes, though in
this case the design is somewhat marred by the barred 8 countermark. On a
green jasper lentoid (Fig. 164 a),3 where we meet with another similar design,
showing surpassing strength, the youthful performer is distinguished by an
exceptionally prominent nose, recalling the proto-Armenoid profile of the
1 For the banded agate lentoid from My- '' Drawn for me by Monsieur Gillieron. See,
cenae, Fig. 162, see Furtwangler, Antike Gem- too, Perrot, Greceprimitive, vi, Figs. 426, 24;
men, iii, p. 49, Fig. 2. Furtw., loc. cit, Fig. 27; A. Reichel, Ath.
* See A. E., Scripia Minoa, i, p. 43, Fig. 20. Mitth., 1909, PI. II, 5 ; and cf. A. E.,J. H. S.,
The back of the clay sealing bears an in- xli, p. 259, Fig. 12 and note 26.
scription of the Linear Class B.
Heroic
feats of
kind in
Greece
traced to
Minoan
source.
traditions of the bull-grappling feats of Theseus and Herakles clearly
acknowledge a Minoan source. It was at the behest of Eurystheus,
King of Mycenae, that Herakles captured the Cretan bull, received by Minos
from Poseidon. In the case of the Marathonian bull, the feat, according
Fig. 161. Greco-Roman Relief showing Thessalian Taurokathapsia (Ashmolean
Museum).
to the legend,—obviously out of regard for Athenian susceptibility—had
been first unsuccessfully attempted by Androgeos, son of MinOs, and its
final achievement was reserved for the national hero, Theseus.
The metope of the Theseion, where the hero with superhuman might
masters the Marathonian bull, finds its true forerunner in a series of intaglio
scenes on Minoan gems. At times, as on the banded agate from Mycenae,
Fig. 162, the wrestler seems to lift the monster from the ground. A favourite
feat, as seen in Figs. 163,164 a, is to seize the animal by a horn in one hand
and the lower part of the jaw in the other so as to twist its neck.1 On a clay
sealing found in the Fifth Magazine (Fig. 163) - the champion wears the usual
peaked helmet adorned, it would seem, with rows of boars' tushes, though in
this case the design is somewhat marred by the barred 8 countermark. On a
green jasper lentoid (Fig. 164 a),3 where we meet with another similar design,
showing surpassing strength, the youthful performer is distinguished by an
exceptionally prominent nose, recalling the proto-Armenoid profile of the
1 For the banded agate lentoid from My- '' Drawn for me by Monsieur Gillieron. See,
cenae, Fig. 162, see Furtwangler, Antike Gem- too, Perrot, Greceprimitive, vi, Figs. 426, 24;
men, iii, p. 49, Fig. 2. Furtw., loc. cit, Fig. 27; A. Reichel, Ath.
* See A. E., Scripia Minoa, i, p. 43, Fig. 20. Mitth., 1909, PI. II, 5 ; and cf. A. E.,J. H. S.,
The back of the clay sealing bears an in- xli, p. 259, Fig. 12 and note 26.
scription of the Linear Class B.