DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61301#0126
98
STUDIES IN GREEK ART.
who were with him inhabited the land and taught the
Hellenes many things; among others the use of writing,
which, as it seems to me,” he says, “ the Hellenes did
not possess before. They learnt this writing as it was
used by the Phoenicians ; in the course of time the form
of the letters changed with the language. From these
Phoenicians the lonians among whom they dwelt learnt
the letters, altered their form somewhat, and extended
their use. They fitly called them Phoenician letters,
since the Phoenicians brought them into Greece. I have
myself seen inscriptions in Cadmeian letters, in the
temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes.” These letters,
alas ! have perished, but the tradition of Phoenician
influence remains sure. Another story confirms our
evidence ; Cadmus, the tale goes (Herod, vi. 47), was
bidden by an oracle to follow after the cow which bore
on her back the symbol of the full moon, and where she
laid her down there to found a city. At length, after
long wandering, the cow laid her down where Thebes
now stands, and Cadmus built a citadel and called it
Cadmeia, later Thebes. The cow is but the transparent
symbol of the Phoenician moon-goddess, wearing the full
moon between her crescent horns. Seven-gated Thebes
itself recalls to us the influence of the East, for with
Semitic nations seven was always a mystic number of
sacred significance—the Theban Sphinx of later days
was but a riddle left by the East for the West to solve.
STUDIES IN GREEK ART.
who were with him inhabited the land and taught the
Hellenes many things; among others the use of writing,
which, as it seems to me,” he says, “ the Hellenes did
not possess before. They learnt this writing as it was
used by the Phoenicians ; in the course of time the form
of the letters changed with the language. From these
Phoenicians the lonians among whom they dwelt learnt
the letters, altered their form somewhat, and extended
their use. They fitly called them Phoenician letters,
since the Phoenicians brought them into Greece. I have
myself seen inscriptions in Cadmeian letters, in the
temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes.” These letters,
alas ! have perished, but the tradition of Phoenician
influence remains sure. Another story confirms our
evidence ; Cadmus, the tale goes (Herod, vi. 47), was
bidden by an oracle to follow after the cow which bore
on her back the symbol of the full moon, and where she
laid her down there to found a city. At length, after
long wandering, the cow laid her down where Thebes
now stands, and Cadmus built a citadel and called it
Cadmeia, later Thebes. The cow is but the transparent
symbol of the Phoenician moon-goddess, wearing the full
moon between her crescent horns. Seven-gated Thebes
itself recalls to us the influence of the East, for with
Semitic nations seven was always a mystic number of
sacred significance—the Theban Sphinx of later days
was but a riddle left by the East for the West to solve.