DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5674#0071
examining Plate 28. of this volume, it will be found, ex-
cept in the article of the tripod , to resemble much the
two Plates we are speaking of-, that one represents the
oracle delivered by Apollo at Manto.
The idea of placing Apollo in a winged char may
have been suggested by the name of the the Architect,
who built the Temple of Delphos , who was called Pte-
ros w or winged , or by the following fable mentiond
by Strabo {b) and Claudian. Jupiter in order to determine
the position of Delphos on the surface of the Earth, sent
oss two eagles, one from the Easl:, and the other from
the West, which meeting at Delphos, gave reason to be-
lieve that spot to be its centre, and to call it the navel
of the Earth. In commemoration of this event there were
two golden eagles in the Temple of Apollo, and Pindar
says that that Priestess delivered the oracles sitting near
these eagles (c), one may then suppose, as in these Plates
one sees Apollo iti a winged char, that he was represen-
ted in the like manner at Delphos before they had sub-
stituted the tripod.
It might be also, that Apollo was represented in such
a char in some other place, then, another fable may ha-
ve been the occasion of it, that is, the fable related by
Mimnerine in the verses preserved by Athenseus {d) which
in substance is, that the sun after having finished his daily
course , and being arrived at the Ocean, found there a
Golden winged Bed made by Vulcan, in which he was
car-
(a) Paus. I. X. cap. III.
(b) L. IX. p. 419. & Ctaudien prolbg. in paneg. de
Conjidatu Mallii Tkeodori v. II. & feqq.
Jupiter ut perhibent fpatium cum discere yellsf
Naturce, regni nescius ipfe sui
Armigeros utrinque duos aequalibus alts