DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0164
154
as well as their parent, were wholly unknown to the ancient poets.
Neither do they appear to have been known in iEgypt, though a
late traveller was so singularly fortunate as to find a mask of a Ca-
prine Satyr upon an ancient ./Egyptian lyre represented in the an-
cient paintings of the Thebaic!; in a form, indeed, so unlike that of
any ancient people, and so like lo a Welsh or Irish harp, that we
cannot but suspect it to be merely an embellishment of an idea that
he carried out with him.1 M. Denon, in his more accurate and
extensive survey of the same ruins, found nothing of the kind.
189. The Nymphs, however, the corresponding emanations of
the passive productive power of the universe, had been long known:
for whether considered as the daughters of the Ocean or of Jupiter,1
their parent had long been enrolled among the personages of the
vulgar mythology. Upon monuments of ancient art, they are usually
represented with the Fauns and Satyrs, frequently in attitudes very
licentious and indecent: but in the Homeric times, they seem to
have been considered as guardian spirits or local deities of the
springs, the vallies, and the mountains ;3 the companions of the
river gods, who were the male progeny of the Ocean ; 4 though the
mystic system, as before observed, allowed them a more exalted
genealogy.
190. Pan is sometimes represented ready to execute his charac-
teristic office, and sometimes exhibiting the result of it; in the for-
mer of which, all the muscles of his face and body appear strained
and contracted; and in the latter, fallen and dilated; while in both
the phallus is of disproportionate magnitude, to signify that it repre-
sented the predominant attribute.5 In one instance, he appears
1 See print irum Mr. Brace's drawing, in Dr. Burney's History of Music.
a -Geriitor Nyinpharum Oceanus. Cati-tll. in Gell. v. 84. See also
Callimach. Hymn, hd Di'ari. v. 13., and jEschyJ. Prorneth. Desmot.
3 Nv/jupai opeariaSes, Kovpai Aios aiywxoio. II. Z. 420.
Nu^awy, al €Xou(r opeoiv ai-ntiva icapyua,
Kai iryyas TrorafiQjv, Kat 7reicr€a -jroiTjerro. II. 105.
Oi/5€ fiaBuppzvrao fxeya aQzvos ClKiavoio
E£ oft 7rcp iravres irorafxoi, Kai naaa OaXaaaa,
Kai 7rao-ai Kpi)vai, Kai cppeiara fiaKpa vaovaiv. Odys6. Z. 123.
5 The figures are frequent in collections of small bronzes.
as well as their parent, were wholly unknown to the ancient poets.
Neither do they appear to have been known in iEgypt, though a
late traveller was so singularly fortunate as to find a mask of a Ca-
prine Satyr upon an ancient ./Egyptian lyre represented in the an-
cient paintings of the Thebaic!; in a form, indeed, so unlike that of
any ancient people, and so like lo a Welsh or Irish harp, that we
cannot but suspect it to be merely an embellishment of an idea that
he carried out with him.1 M. Denon, in his more accurate and
extensive survey of the same ruins, found nothing of the kind.
189. The Nymphs, however, the corresponding emanations of
the passive productive power of the universe, had been long known:
for whether considered as the daughters of the Ocean or of Jupiter,1
their parent had long been enrolled among the personages of the
vulgar mythology. Upon monuments of ancient art, they are usually
represented with the Fauns and Satyrs, frequently in attitudes very
licentious and indecent: but in the Homeric times, they seem to
have been considered as guardian spirits or local deities of the
springs, the vallies, and the mountains ;3 the companions of the
river gods, who were the male progeny of the Ocean ; 4 though the
mystic system, as before observed, allowed them a more exalted
genealogy.
190. Pan is sometimes represented ready to execute his charac-
teristic office, and sometimes exhibiting the result of it; in the for-
mer of which, all the muscles of his face and body appear strained
and contracted; and in the latter, fallen and dilated; while in both
the phallus is of disproportionate magnitude, to signify that it repre-
sented the predominant attribute.5 In one instance, he appears
1 See print irum Mr. Brace's drawing, in Dr. Burney's History of Music.
a -Geriitor Nyinpharum Oceanus. Cati-tll. in Gell. v. 84. See also
Callimach. Hymn, hd Di'ari. v. 13., and jEschyJ. Prorneth. Desmot.
3 Nv/jupai opeariaSes, Kovpai Aios aiywxoio. II. Z. 420.
Nu^awy, al €Xou(r opeoiv ai-ntiva icapyua,
Kai iryyas TrorafiQjv, Kat 7reicr€a -jroiTjerro. II. 105.
Oi/5€ fiaBuppzvrao fxeya aQzvos ClKiavoio
E£ oft 7rcp iravres irorafxoi, Kai naaa OaXaaaa,
Kai 7rao-ai Kpi)vai, Kai cppeiara fiaKpa vaovaiv. Odys6. Z. 123.
5 The figures are frequent in collections of small bronzes.