DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0084
74
98. It appears, therefore, that the asterisk, bull, or Minotaur, in
the centre of the square or labyrinth, equally mean the same as the
Indian lingam—that is, the male personification of the productive
attribute placed in the female, or heat acting upon humidity.
Sometimes the bull is placed between two dolphins,1 and some-
times upon a dolphin or other fish ;* and in other instances the
goat or the ram occupy the same situation ;3 which are all different
modes of expressing different modifications of the same meaning in
symbolical or mystical writing. The female personifications fre-
quently occupy the same place; in which case the male personifi-
cation is always upon the reverse of the coin, of which numerous
instances occur in those of Syracuse, Naples, Tarentum, and other
cities.
99; Ariadne, the fabled wife of Bacchus, is a personage concern-
ing whom there has been more confusion of history and allegory
than concerning almost any other. Neither she, nor Bacchus, nor
Theseus, appear to have been known to the author of the Iliad; the
lines concerning them all three being manifestly spurious: but in
the Odyssey, she is said to have been the daughter of Minos, and to
have been carried away from Crete by Theseus to Athens, where
she was killed by Diana—that is, died suddenly, before he enjoyed
her.* Such appears to have been the plain sense of the passage, ac-
cording to its true and original reading: but Theseus having become
a. deified and symbolical personage, in a manner hereafter to be ex-
plained, Ariadne became so likewise ; and was therefore fabled to
have been deserted by him in the island of Naxus ; where Bacchus
found and married her; in consequence of which she became the
female personification of the attribute which he represented ; and
as such constantly appears in the symbolical monuments of art, with
1 See brass coins of Syracuse.
1 On a gold coin of Eretria in the cabinet of Mr. Payne Knight. Hence
the curious hymn or invocation of the women of Elis to Bacchus :—Ex«
y ovrws <5 vnvos (raiv HXeiuv yvvaiKav) " E\8eiv ripai, Aiorare, a\iov cs vaov ajvov, aw
Xaptreafftv es vaov rep jSoep ttoSi 0tw." Eito Sis (nqdowiv " Afie ravpe." Plutarch.
Qua:st. Gritc.
. 3 On gold coins of Mgx and ClazomenK, in the same collection.
* A. 320.
98. It appears, therefore, that the asterisk, bull, or Minotaur, in
the centre of the square or labyrinth, equally mean the same as the
Indian lingam—that is, the male personification of the productive
attribute placed in the female, or heat acting upon humidity.
Sometimes the bull is placed between two dolphins,1 and some-
times upon a dolphin or other fish ;* and in other instances the
goat or the ram occupy the same situation ;3 which are all different
modes of expressing different modifications of the same meaning in
symbolical or mystical writing. The female personifications fre-
quently occupy the same place; in which case the male personifi-
cation is always upon the reverse of the coin, of which numerous
instances occur in those of Syracuse, Naples, Tarentum, and other
cities.
99; Ariadne, the fabled wife of Bacchus, is a personage concern-
ing whom there has been more confusion of history and allegory
than concerning almost any other. Neither she, nor Bacchus, nor
Theseus, appear to have been known to the author of the Iliad; the
lines concerning them all three being manifestly spurious: but in
the Odyssey, she is said to have been the daughter of Minos, and to
have been carried away from Crete by Theseus to Athens, where
she was killed by Diana—that is, died suddenly, before he enjoyed
her.* Such appears to have been the plain sense of the passage, ac-
cording to its true and original reading: but Theseus having become
a. deified and symbolical personage, in a manner hereafter to be ex-
plained, Ariadne became so likewise ; and was therefore fabled to
have been deserted by him in the island of Naxus ; where Bacchus
found and married her; in consequence of which she became the
female personification of the attribute which he represented ; and
as such constantly appears in the symbolical monuments of art, with
1 See brass coins of Syracuse.
1 On a gold coin of Eretria in the cabinet of Mr. Payne Knight. Hence
the curious hymn or invocation of the women of Elis to Bacchus :—Ex«
y ovrws <5 vnvos (raiv HXeiuv yvvaiKav) " E\8eiv ripai, Aiorare, a\iov cs vaov ajvov, aw
Xaptreafftv es vaov rep jSoep ttoSi 0tw." Eito Sis (nqdowiv " Afie ravpe." Plutarch.
Qua:st. Gritc.
. 3 On gold coins of Mgx and ClazomenK, in the same collection.
* A. 320.