DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0044
S4
The refinement of Grecian art, however, when advanced to ma-
turity, contrived more elegant modes of distinguishing them ; and,
in a celebrated work of Phidias, we find the former represented
with her foot upon a tortoise, and in a no less celebrated one of
Scopas, the latter sitting upon a goat.' The tortoise, being an
androgynous animal, was aptly chosen as a symbol of the double
power ; and the goat was equally appropriate to what was meant
to be expressed in the other.
45. The same attribute was on other occasions signified by the
dove or pigeon,1 by the sparrow,3 and perhaps by the polypus;
which often appears upon coins with the head of the goddess, and
■which was accounted an aphrodisiac ;* though it is likewise of the
androgynous class. The fig was a still more common symbol;
the statues of Priapus being made of the tree,5 and the fruit being
carried with the phallus in the ancient processions in honor of
Bacchus;6 and still continuing, among the common people of Italy,
to be an emblem of what it anciently meant: whence we often
see portraits of persons of that country painted with it in one hand,
to signify their orthodox devotion to the fair sex.7 Hence, also,,
1 Tr)V [lev a> rev vaw KaXovatv ovpaviav e\etpavros 5c coti icai xpucou, rex^n $ei$iovt
rip Se ereprp ttooi em x^uvrts i8ej8)jire-Kai-—ayaAfna Ac/>po5iT7)s %a^KOVV e1r< Tpaytp
KaByrai xa\rcw. 2/co7ra tovto epyov, A(ppoBiri}v 5e UaySi^fiioi' ofofxa^oviri' ra 5e eirt
X^Aairp re Kai es to rpayov 7iapir]{j.t rois QeXovixiv etKa^eiv. Pausan. Eliac. ii. c. 25. s. 2.
* 'EAATjyes-vop-i^oviriv Upov Atppotiirris £"cooi> eivai ry\v irepiffrepav, Kai rov opa-
Kovra rrjs AQ-i}vas, Kai rov KOpaKa rov ATroAAwyos, Kai rov Kvva rrjs Apre/iioos. Plutarcll.
de Is. et Osir.
3 'H 5e arpovBos avaKeirai /J-evrri A^poSiT?) 5ia to noXvyovov, ,eri Se Kai Bepfxov es p.i%iv
tp B77 \oyep Kai 7} irepirfrepa oiKeiourai ttj too fxuOov Aippodirrj. Eustath. ill Homer, p.
226. ffrpovBovs---•?) jtoAAjj fiev ciStjctis oxevriKovs oi5e' TeptpiKXys Se tu Kai rovs
efupayovras avruv, Karafopovs \eyei irpos to 'eis AtppoSmjv yiveoBai. Id. in Oil. A.
p. 1411. 1. 10.
+ Alhenffi. Deipnos. lib. ii. c. 23.
J Horat. Sat. 1. i. Sat. viii. v. 1.
6 'H varpios rov Aiovvo-iuv eoprt) to raAaioi' e-nepiirero Sri/ioTiKus Kai l\apas, apipo-
pevs oivov Kai KAvjficiTir, ciTa Tpiryoi' tis e'i\Kev, aAAoj iirxaoW appmov t]KoXavBei ko-
V-ifav, em Train Se S tpaMos. Plutarch, irepi $iA07rA. 17'.
'Sceportraftof Tassoni prefixed tothc4to. edition of theSecchia Rapita,&c.
The refinement of Grecian art, however, when advanced to ma-
turity, contrived more elegant modes of distinguishing them ; and,
in a celebrated work of Phidias, we find the former represented
with her foot upon a tortoise, and in a no less celebrated one of
Scopas, the latter sitting upon a goat.' The tortoise, being an
androgynous animal, was aptly chosen as a symbol of the double
power ; and the goat was equally appropriate to what was meant
to be expressed in the other.
45. The same attribute was on other occasions signified by the
dove or pigeon,1 by the sparrow,3 and perhaps by the polypus;
which often appears upon coins with the head of the goddess, and
■which was accounted an aphrodisiac ;* though it is likewise of the
androgynous class. The fig was a still more common symbol;
the statues of Priapus being made of the tree,5 and the fruit being
carried with the phallus in the ancient processions in honor of
Bacchus;6 and still continuing, among the common people of Italy,
to be an emblem of what it anciently meant: whence we often
see portraits of persons of that country painted with it in one hand,
to signify their orthodox devotion to the fair sex.7 Hence, also,,
1 Tr)V [lev a> rev vaw KaXovatv ovpaviav e\etpavros 5c coti icai xpucou, rex^n $ei$iovt
rip Se ereprp ttooi em x^uvrts i8ej8)jire-Kai-—ayaAfna Ac/>po5iT7)s %a^KOVV e1r< Tpaytp
KaByrai xa\rcw. 2/co7ra tovto epyov, A(ppoBiri}v 5e UaySi^fiioi' ofofxa^oviri' ra 5e eirt
X^Aairp re Kai es to rpayov 7iapir]{j.t rois QeXovixiv etKa^eiv. Pausan. Eliac. ii. c. 25. s. 2.
* 'EAATjyes-vop-i^oviriv Upov Atppotiirris £"cooi> eivai ry\v irepiffrepav, Kai rov opa-
Kovra rrjs AQ-i}vas, Kai rov KOpaKa rov ATroAAwyos, Kai rov Kvva rrjs Apre/iioos. Plutarcll.
de Is. et Osir.
3 'H 5e arpovBos avaKeirai /J-evrri A^poSiT?) 5ia to noXvyovov, ,eri Se Kai Bepfxov es p.i%iv
tp B77 \oyep Kai 7} irepirfrepa oiKeiourai ttj too fxuOov Aippodirrj. Eustath. ill Homer, p.
226. ffrpovBovs---•?) jtoAAjj fiev ciStjctis oxevriKovs oi5e' TeptpiKXys Se tu Kai rovs
efupayovras avruv, Karafopovs \eyei irpos to 'eis AtppoSmjv yiveoBai. Id. in Oil. A.
p. 1411. 1. 10.
+ Alhenffi. Deipnos. lib. ii. c. 23.
J Horat. Sat. 1. i. Sat. viii. v. 1.
6 'H varpios rov Aiovvo-iuv eoprt) to raAaioi' e-nepiirero Sri/ioTiKus Kai l\apas, apipo-
pevs oivov Kai KAvjficiTir, ciTa Tpiryoi' tis e'i\Kev, aAAoj iirxaoW appmov t]KoXavBei ko-
V-ifav, em Train Se S tpaMos. Plutarch, irepi $iA07rA. 17'.
'Sceportraftof Tassoni prefixed tothc4to. edition of theSecchia Rapita,&c.