DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0112
102
{(•4 have never seen any composition of this kind upon any monu-
ment of remote antiquity.1
131. Upon the pillars which existed in the time of Herodotus
in different parts of Asia, and which were attributed by the
iEgyptians to Sesostris, and by others to Memnon, was engraved
the figure of a man holding a spear in his right hand and a bow in
his left; to which Was added, upon some of them, yvvuixoc otiloiu,
said by the iEgyptians to have been meant as a memorial of the
cowardice and effeminacy of the inhabitants, whom their monarch
had subdued.1 The whole composition was however, probably,
symbolical; signifying the active power of destruction, and pas-
sive power of generation ; whose co-operation and conjunction are
signified in so many various ways in the emblematical monuments
of ancient art. The figure holding the spear and the bow is evi-
dently the same as appears upon the ancient Persian coins called
Darics, and upon those of some Asiatic cities, in the Persian dress ;
but which, upon those of others, appears with the same arms, and
in the same attitude, with the lion's skin upon its head.3 This
attitude is that of kneeling upon one knee ; which is that of the
Phoenician Hercules upon the coins of Thasus above cited :
wherefore we have no doubt that he was the personage meant to
be represented; as he continued to be afterwards upon the Bac-
trian and Parthian coins. The Hindoos have still a corresponding
deity, whom they call Ram ; and the modem Persians a fabulous
hero called Rustam, wbose exploits are in many respects similar
to those of Hercules, and to whom they attribute all the stupendous
remains of ancient art found in their country'.
1 The earliest coins which we have seen with this device are of Syracuse,
Tarentum, and Heraclea in Italy; all of the finest time of the art, and little
anterior to the Macedonian conquest. On the more ancient medals of Se-
linus, Hercules is destroying the bull, as the lion or leopard is on those of
Acanthus; and his destroying a centaur signifies exactly the same as a
lion destroying a horse ; the symbols being merely humanised.
" Herodot. lib. ii. 103 and 106. (
7 See coins of Mallus in Cilicia, and Soli in Cyprus in the Hunter Col-
ection.
{(•4 have never seen any composition of this kind upon any monu-
ment of remote antiquity.1
131. Upon the pillars which existed in the time of Herodotus
in different parts of Asia, and which were attributed by the
iEgyptians to Sesostris, and by others to Memnon, was engraved
the figure of a man holding a spear in his right hand and a bow in
his left; to which Was added, upon some of them, yvvuixoc otiloiu,
said by the iEgyptians to have been meant as a memorial of the
cowardice and effeminacy of the inhabitants, whom their monarch
had subdued.1 The whole composition was however, probably,
symbolical; signifying the active power of destruction, and pas-
sive power of generation ; whose co-operation and conjunction are
signified in so many various ways in the emblematical monuments
of ancient art. The figure holding the spear and the bow is evi-
dently the same as appears upon the ancient Persian coins called
Darics, and upon those of some Asiatic cities, in the Persian dress ;
but which, upon those of others, appears with the same arms, and
in the same attitude, with the lion's skin upon its head.3 This
attitude is that of kneeling upon one knee ; which is that of the
Phoenician Hercules upon the coins of Thasus above cited :
wherefore we have no doubt that he was the personage meant to
be represented; as he continued to be afterwards upon the Bac-
trian and Parthian coins. The Hindoos have still a corresponding
deity, whom they call Ram ; and the modem Persians a fabulous
hero called Rustam, wbose exploits are in many respects similar
to those of Hercules, and to whom they attribute all the stupendous
remains of ancient art found in their country'.
1 The earliest coins which we have seen with this device are of Syracuse,
Tarentum, and Heraclea in Italy; all of the finest time of the art, and little
anterior to the Macedonian conquest. On the more ancient medals of Se-
linus, Hercules is destroying the bull, as the lion or leopard is on those of
Acanthus; and his destroying a centaur signifies exactly the same as a
lion destroying a horse ; the symbols being merely humanised.
" Herodot. lib. ii. 103 and 106. (
7 See coins of Mallus in Cilicia, and Soli in Cyprus in the Hunter Col-
ection.