DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0157
147
two, sometimes by three, and sometimes by four of these animals ;
w hich is the reason of the number of Bigas, Trigae, and Quadriga?,
which we find upon coins : for they could not have had any refe-
rence to the public games, as has been supposed ; a great part of
them having been struck by states, which not being of Hellenic
origin, had never the privilege of entering the lists on those occasions.
The vehicle itself appears likewise to have been a symbol of
the passive generative power, or the means by which the emana-
tions of the Sun acted; whence the Delphians called Venus by
the singular title of The Chariot;' but the same meaning is more
frequently expressed by the figure called a Victory accompanying ;
and by the fish, or some other symbol of the waters under it. In
some instances we have observed composite symbols signifying
both attributes in this situation; such as the lion destroying
the bull, or the Scylla ;* which is a combination of emblems of
the same kind as those which compose the sphinx and chimasra,
and has no resemblance whatever to the fabulous monster described
in the Odyssey.
183. Almost every other symbol is occasionally employed as an
accessary to the chariot, and among them the thunderbolt; which
is sometimes borne by Minerva and other deities, as well as by
Jupiter; and is still oftener represented alone upon coins; it having
been an emblem, not merely of the destroying attribute, but of the
Divine nature in general: whence the Arcadians sacrificed to
thunder, lightning, and tempest;3 and the incarnate Deity, in an
ancient Indian poem, says, " I am the thunderbolt."-" I am
the fire residing in the bodies of all things which have life."+ In
the South-Eastern parts of Europe, which frequently suffer from
drought, thunder is esteemed a grateful rather than terrific sound,
1---0vTe Ae\(f>ovi (\eyxei \T}powras, Sri Ti)v AQpotiirqv apfia KaKovtriv. Plu-
tarch. Amator. p. 769.
1 See coins of Agrigentum, Ilcraclea in Italy, Allifa, &c.
3 Koi Ovowi avroOt aa-rpairais, km BvtMuis, Kai fipovrais. Pausan. lib. vii. c. 39.
4 Uagvat Gecta, p. 8G and 113.
A( VeTf/Mi ij/uxai Tvp curt. Phurnut. dc Nat. Dcor. c. ii.
two, sometimes by three, and sometimes by four of these animals ;
w hich is the reason of the number of Bigas, Trigae, and Quadriga?,
which we find upon coins : for they could not have had any refe-
rence to the public games, as has been supposed ; a great part of
them having been struck by states, which not being of Hellenic
origin, had never the privilege of entering the lists on those occasions.
The vehicle itself appears likewise to have been a symbol of
the passive generative power, or the means by which the emana-
tions of the Sun acted; whence the Delphians called Venus by
the singular title of The Chariot;' but the same meaning is more
frequently expressed by the figure called a Victory accompanying ;
and by the fish, or some other symbol of the waters under it. In
some instances we have observed composite symbols signifying
both attributes in this situation; such as the lion destroying
the bull, or the Scylla ;* which is a combination of emblems of
the same kind as those which compose the sphinx and chimasra,
and has no resemblance whatever to the fabulous monster described
in the Odyssey.
183. Almost every other symbol is occasionally employed as an
accessary to the chariot, and among them the thunderbolt; which
is sometimes borne by Minerva and other deities, as well as by
Jupiter; and is still oftener represented alone upon coins; it having
been an emblem, not merely of the destroying attribute, but of the
Divine nature in general: whence the Arcadians sacrificed to
thunder, lightning, and tempest;3 and the incarnate Deity, in an
ancient Indian poem, says, " I am the thunderbolt."-" I am
the fire residing in the bodies of all things which have life."+ In
the South-Eastern parts of Europe, which frequently suffer from
drought, thunder is esteemed a grateful rather than terrific sound,
1---0vTe Ae\(f>ovi (\eyxei \T}powras, Sri Ti)v AQpotiirqv apfia KaKovtriv. Plu-
tarch. Amator. p. 769.
1 See coins of Agrigentum, Ilcraclea in Italy, Allifa, &c.
3 Koi Ovowi avroOt aa-rpairais, km BvtMuis, Kai fipovrais. Pausan. lib. vii. c. 39.
4 Uagvat Gecta, p. 8G and 113.
A( VeTf/Mi ij/uxai Tvp curt. Phurnut. dc Nat. Dcor. c. ii.