DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0098
88
even to living sovereigns, whom flattery had decked out vvitli
divine attributes ; as appears in the instance of Arsinoe the wife of
Ptolemy Philadelphia, who was honored with it.1 One of the
most solemn forms of adjuration in use among the ancient inhabi-
tants of Sweden and Norway was by the shoulder of the horse ; 2
and when Tyndarus engaged the suitors of Helen to defend and
avenge her, he is said to have made them swear upon the testicles
of the same animal.3
1 14. In an ancient piece of marble sculpture in relief, Jupiter
is represented reposing upon the back of a Centaur, who carries a
jdeerin his hand ; by which singular composition is signified, not
Jupiter going to hunt, as antiquaries have supposed ; 4 but the all-
pervading Spirit, or supreme active principle incumbent upon the
waters, and producing fertility; or whatever property or modifica-
tion of properties the deer was meant to signify. Diana, of -whom
it was a symbol, was in the original planetary and elementary wor-
ship, the Moon ; but in the mystic religion, she appears to have
been a personification of the all-pervading Spirit acting through
the Moon upon the Earth and the waters. Hence she compre-
hended almost every other female personification, and has innu-
merable titles and symbols expressive of almost every attribute,
whether of creation, preservation, or destruction ; as appears from
the Pantheic figures of her ; such as she was worshipped in the
celebrated temple of Ephesus, of which many are extant. Among
the principal of these symbols is the deer, which also appears
among the accessary symbols of Bacchus ; and which is some-
times blended into one figure with the goat, so as to form a com-
posite fictitious animal called a Tragelephus; of which there are
several examples now extant.5 The very ancient colossal statue of
1 Hesych. in v. Wm.
* Mallet. Introd. a l'Hist. de Danemara.
' Pausan. lib. iii. c. xx.
* Winkelman Monument. Antic, ined. No. ii.
5 TpaytXatytiiv TTporofiai octiweu were among the ornaments of the magnifi-
cent hearse, in which the body of Alexander the Great was conveyed from
Babylon to Alexandria (Diodor, Sic:. 1. xxviii. r. <20.); where it was deposited
even to living sovereigns, whom flattery had decked out vvitli
divine attributes ; as appears in the instance of Arsinoe the wife of
Ptolemy Philadelphia, who was honored with it.1 One of the
most solemn forms of adjuration in use among the ancient inhabi-
tants of Sweden and Norway was by the shoulder of the horse ; 2
and when Tyndarus engaged the suitors of Helen to defend and
avenge her, he is said to have made them swear upon the testicles
of the same animal.3
1 14. In an ancient piece of marble sculpture in relief, Jupiter
is represented reposing upon the back of a Centaur, who carries a
jdeerin his hand ; by which singular composition is signified, not
Jupiter going to hunt, as antiquaries have supposed ; 4 but the all-
pervading Spirit, or supreme active principle incumbent upon the
waters, and producing fertility; or whatever property or modifica-
tion of properties the deer was meant to signify. Diana, of -whom
it was a symbol, was in the original planetary and elementary wor-
ship, the Moon ; but in the mystic religion, she appears to have
been a personification of the all-pervading Spirit acting through
the Moon upon the Earth and the waters. Hence she compre-
hended almost every other female personification, and has innu-
merable titles and symbols expressive of almost every attribute,
whether of creation, preservation, or destruction ; as appears from
the Pantheic figures of her ; such as she was worshipped in the
celebrated temple of Ephesus, of which many are extant. Among
the principal of these symbols is the deer, which also appears
among the accessary symbols of Bacchus ; and which is some-
times blended into one figure with the goat, so as to form a com-
posite fictitious animal called a Tragelephus; of which there are
several examples now extant.5 The very ancient colossal statue of
1 Hesych. in v. Wm.
* Mallet. Introd. a l'Hist. de Danemara.
' Pausan. lib. iii. c. xx.
* Winkelman Monument. Antic, ined. No. ii.
5 TpaytXatytiiv TTporofiai octiweu were among the ornaments of the magnifi-
cent hearse, in which the body of Alexander the Great was conveyed from
Babylon to Alexandria (Diodor, Sic:. 1. xxviii. r. <20.); where it was deposited