DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0305
chap, xvii LYRIC AND DRAMATIC POETRY
285
well-known metope of Selinus takes the form it does in conse-
quence of the views of Stesichorus;1 but when on some vases
the companions of Odysseus, whom Circe had bewitched, ap-
pear as men with the heads of animals, and on others in com-
plete animal form, this variety is not held to denote connection
with two different sets of legends. There are many ways in
which the metamorphosis of a human being into a plant or an
animal is depicted. On the monument of Lysicrates, the
pirates who were turned into dolphins appear as half men and
half fish. But Daphne, who became a laurel, appears in Pom-
peian paintings as human, with laurel sprays springing from
head and shoulders. And Thetis in her transformations retains
the human shape, while the animals into which she transforms
herself appear beside her (Fig. 78). Artistic custom thus vary-
ing, there is no sufficient proof of the influence on the metope
of Selinus of the writings of Stesichorus.
On a previous page (Fig. 52) I have figured an interesting
vase-painting representing the descent of Theseus into the sea,
to the court of Poseidon, to bring back the ring of Minos. This
story does not seem to have been known to the epic. Pro-
fessor Robert discussed it2 in 1889, and was then disposed to
consider the story of the love of Minos for Periboea and the
throwing of the ring into the sea as due to the play of Theseus
by Euripides, and taken thence by the painter. But a new
light has been thrown upon the subject by the discovery of
fragments of Bacchylides, in which the tale is given, and it
might now appear that it was Bacchylides who was the source.
But this can only be a conjecture; it is very likely that this
poet only gives form to floating Attic legends. All the Theseus
tales gain fresh popularity at Athens somewhat before the mid-
dle of the fifth century. At any rate, the mistaken view as to
the debt of -the vase-painter to Euripides should be a warning,
1 Bild und Lied, p. 26.
2 In the Arch. Anzeiger, 1889, p. 141.
285
well-known metope of Selinus takes the form it does in conse-
quence of the views of Stesichorus;1 but when on some vases
the companions of Odysseus, whom Circe had bewitched, ap-
pear as men with the heads of animals, and on others in com-
plete animal form, this variety is not held to denote connection
with two different sets of legends. There are many ways in
which the metamorphosis of a human being into a plant or an
animal is depicted. On the monument of Lysicrates, the
pirates who were turned into dolphins appear as half men and
half fish. But Daphne, who became a laurel, appears in Pom-
peian paintings as human, with laurel sprays springing from
head and shoulders. And Thetis in her transformations retains
the human shape, while the animals into which she transforms
herself appear beside her (Fig. 78). Artistic custom thus vary-
ing, there is no sufficient proof of the influence on the metope
of Selinus of the writings of Stesichorus.
On a previous page (Fig. 52) I have figured an interesting
vase-painting representing the descent of Theseus into the sea,
to the court of Poseidon, to bring back the ring of Minos. This
story does not seem to have been known to the epic. Pro-
fessor Robert discussed it2 in 1889, and was then disposed to
consider the story of the love of Minos for Periboea and the
throwing of the ring into the sea as due to the play of Theseus
by Euripides, and taken thence by the painter. But a new
light has been thrown upon the subject by the discovery of
fragments of Bacchylides, in which the tale is given, and it
might now appear that it was Bacchylides who was the source.
But this can only be a conjecture; it is very likely that this
poet only gives form to floating Attic legends. All the Theseus
tales gain fresh popularity at Athens somewhat before the mid-
dle of the fifth century. At any rate, the mistaken view as to
the debt of -the vase-painter to Euripides should be a warning,
1 Bild und Lied, p. 26.
2 In the Arch. Anzeiger, 1889, p. 141.