DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0095
85
/ "-'• .-*; Uii >rij p>*K fit? tei '" ••,.>'■ - -..i •;, 1
tyris in iEgyptand also one of the Pegasus or the winged
horse:* nor does the winged bull, the cherub of the Hebrews,
appear to be any other than an iEgyptian symbol, of which a pro-
totype is preserved in the ruins of Hermontis.3 The disguised
indications, too, of wings and horns on each side of the conic or
pyramidal cap of Osiris are evident traces of the animal symbol of
the winged bull *
112. On the very ancient coins found near the banks of the Stry-
mon in Thrace, and falsely attributed to the island of Lesbos, the
equine symbol appears entirely humanised, except the feet, which
are terminated in the hoofs of a horse: but on others, apparently
of the same date and country, the Centaur is represented in the
same action ; namely, that of embracing a large and comely
woman. In a small bronze of very ancient sculpture, the same
priapic personage appears, differing a little in his composition; he
having the tail and ears, as well as the feet of a horse, joined to a
human body, together with a goat's beard ;5 and in the Dionysiacs
of Nonnus we find such figures described under the title of Satyrs ;
which all other writers speak of as a mixture of the goat and man.
These, he says, were of the race of the Centaurs ; with whom they
made a part of the retinue of Bacchus in his Indian expedition ; *
and they were probably the original Satyrs derived from Saturn,
who is fabled to have appeared under the form of a horse in his
addresses to Philyra the daughter of the Ocean ;7 and who, having
been the chief deity of the Carthaginians, is probably the personage
1 Denon. pi. cxxxii. n. 2. 1 lb. pi. cxxxi. n, 3. 3 lb. pi. cxxix. n. 2.
4 See pi. ii. vol. i. of the Select Specimens.
5 Inaccurately published in the Recherches sur les Arts de la Grece. pi.
xiii. vol. i.; M. D'Hancarville having been misled by his system into a sup-
position that the animal parts are those of a bull. The figure is now in the
cabinet of Mr. Knight..
6 Lib. xiii. and xiv.
7 Talis et ipse jubarn cervice effundit equina
Conjugis adventu pernix Satumus, et altum
Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto.
Virg. Gcorg. iii. 92.
/ "-'• .-*; Uii >rij p>*K fit? tei '" ••,.>'■ - -..i •;, 1
tyris in iEgyptand also one of the Pegasus or the winged
horse:* nor does the winged bull, the cherub of the Hebrews,
appear to be any other than an iEgyptian symbol, of which a pro-
totype is preserved in the ruins of Hermontis.3 The disguised
indications, too, of wings and horns on each side of the conic or
pyramidal cap of Osiris are evident traces of the animal symbol of
the winged bull *
112. On the very ancient coins found near the banks of the Stry-
mon in Thrace, and falsely attributed to the island of Lesbos, the
equine symbol appears entirely humanised, except the feet, which
are terminated in the hoofs of a horse: but on others, apparently
of the same date and country, the Centaur is represented in the
same action ; namely, that of embracing a large and comely
woman. In a small bronze of very ancient sculpture, the same
priapic personage appears, differing a little in his composition; he
having the tail and ears, as well as the feet of a horse, joined to a
human body, together with a goat's beard ;5 and in the Dionysiacs
of Nonnus we find such figures described under the title of Satyrs ;
which all other writers speak of as a mixture of the goat and man.
These, he says, were of the race of the Centaurs ; with whom they
made a part of the retinue of Bacchus in his Indian expedition ; *
and they were probably the original Satyrs derived from Saturn,
who is fabled to have appeared under the form of a horse in his
addresses to Philyra the daughter of the Ocean ;7 and who, having
been the chief deity of the Carthaginians, is probably the personage
1 Denon. pi. cxxxii. n. 2. 1 lb. pi. cxxxi. n, 3. 3 lb. pi. cxxix. n. 2.
4 See pi. ii. vol. i. of the Select Specimens.
5 Inaccurately published in the Recherches sur les Arts de la Grece. pi.
xiii. vol. i.; M. D'Hancarville having been misled by his system into a sup-
position that the animal parts are those of a bull. The figure is now in the
cabinet of Mr. Knight..
6 Lib. xiii. and xiv.
7 Talis et ipse jubarn cervice effundit equina
Conjugis adventu pernix Satumus, et altum
Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto.
Virg. Gcorg. iii. 92.