DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0173
m
female draped figure terminating below in the same square form.
These seem to be of the Venus Architis, or primitive Venus; of
whom there was a statue in wood at Delos, supposed to be the
work of Diedalus ;1 and another in a temple upon Mount Liba-
nus, of which Macrobius's description exactly corresponds with
the figures now extant; of which one is given in plate lviii. of
vol. i. of the Select Specimens. " Her appearance," he says,
" was melancholy, her head covered, and her face sustained by
her left hand, which was concealed under her garment."1 Some
of these figures have the mystic title ASMdSJA upon them, signi-
fying perhaps the welcome or gratulation to the returning spring :
for they evidently represent nature in winter, still sustained by the
inverted obelisk, the emanation of the sun pointed downwards ;
but having all her powers enveloped in gloom and sadness. Some
of'these figures were probably, like the Paphiau Venus, androgy-
nous ; whence arose the Hermaphrodite ; afterwards represented
under more elegant forms, accounted for as usual by poetical fables.
Occasionally the attribute seems to be signified by the cap and
wings of Mercury.
200. The symbol of the ram was, it seems, explained in the Eleu-
siniau mysteries ;3 and the nature and history of the Pelasgian Mer-
cury in those of Samolhrace ; 4 the device on whose coins, is his em-
blem either of the ram or the cock ;5 and where he was distinguished
by the mystic title Casmilus or CaiUmlus ;6 of which, probably,
■notuv cj TtTpxyavov (r^/ia. Fails, ill Hctot. c. xi. 6. 3.
1 Capitc obnupto,specie tristi, faciim manu la?va intra amictum sustinens.
Sat. i. c. 21.
? Pausan. lib. ii. c. 3.
* Herodot. lib. ii. c. 51.
5 Mus. Hunter, tab. xlvi. fig. 21. et nummul. argent, ined. apud K. P.
Knight, Londiiii.
6 Mvovmat 5e ev -rri "Xafwdpnurf toij KaQeipois, !ov yivajeas *;;tri kcu ra avo/xara.
Ttatrapes Se uai tov apiOfiov, Afie/ms, KfyoKcpaa., A^ioKeperoj. A|k/jos fiev ow «mv ij
Ari/JLTiTrip- A£ioit(ptra 5e f) Tltpa&povr)' A^ioKtpiros 5c iS 'A57jr. 6 5e irpoartBcfievos rirapras
Kcw/iiAos d 'Ep/j.ijs tmtv, iis laTopn AwvvuiSapos. Scliol. ill Apoll. Klioil, lib. 1.
v. 917.
Ol 5e irpo(T7i()tB.oi Kai Teraprov KatyuKoy. tori 5' ovtos & 'Ey»;«. ibid.
female draped figure terminating below in the same square form.
These seem to be of the Venus Architis, or primitive Venus; of
whom there was a statue in wood at Delos, supposed to be the
work of Diedalus ;1 and another in a temple upon Mount Liba-
nus, of which Macrobius's description exactly corresponds with
the figures now extant; of which one is given in plate lviii. of
vol. i. of the Select Specimens. " Her appearance," he says,
" was melancholy, her head covered, and her face sustained by
her left hand, which was concealed under her garment."1 Some
of these figures have the mystic title ASMdSJA upon them, signi-
fying perhaps the welcome or gratulation to the returning spring :
for they evidently represent nature in winter, still sustained by the
inverted obelisk, the emanation of the sun pointed downwards ;
but having all her powers enveloped in gloom and sadness. Some
of'these figures were probably, like the Paphiau Venus, androgy-
nous ; whence arose the Hermaphrodite ; afterwards represented
under more elegant forms, accounted for as usual by poetical fables.
Occasionally the attribute seems to be signified by the cap and
wings of Mercury.
200. The symbol of the ram was, it seems, explained in the Eleu-
siniau mysteries ;3 and the nature and history of the Pelasgian Mer-
cury in those of Samolhrace ; 4 the device on whose coins, is his em-
blem either of the ram or the cock ;5 and where he was distinguished
by the mystic title Casmilus or CaiUmlus ;6 of which, probably,
■notuv cj TtTpxyavov (r^/ia. Fails, ill Hctot. c. xi. 6. 3.
1 Capitc obnupto,specie tristi, faciim manu la?va intra amictum sustinens.
Sat. i. c. 21.
? Pausan. lib. ii. c. 3.
* Herodot. lib. ii. c. 51.
5 Mus. Hunter, tab. xlvi. fig. 21. et nummul. argent, ined. apud K. P.
Knight, Londiiii.
6 Mvovmat 5e ev -rri "Xafwdpnurf toij KaQeipois, !ov yivajeas *;;tri kcu ra avo/xara.
Ttatrapes Se uai tov apiOfiov, Afie/ms, KfyoKcpaa., A^ioKeperoj. A|k/jos fiev ow «mv ij
Ari/JLTiTrip- A£ioit(ptra 5e f) Tltpa&povr)' A^ioKtpiros 5c iS 'A57jr. 6 5e irpoartBcfievos rirapras
Kcw/iiAos d 'Ep/j.ijs tmtv, iis laTopn AwvvuiSapos. Scliol. ill Apoll. Klioil, lib. 1.
v. 917.
Ol 5e irpo(T7i()tB.oi Kai Teraprov KatyuKoy. tori 5' ovtos & 'Ey»;«. ibid.