DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7897#0049
( 3i )
We find mention of a sphcpra celebrated in ancient mythology. Apollonius
Rhodius relates (9) that on the arrival of the Argonauts at Colchis , Jnno and
Minerva being anxious for the success of the enterprise,solicited the assistance
of Venus, and engaged her to inspire Medea with a passion for Jason. Venus,
in compliance with their wishes, proceeds to Olympus, where she finds her son
playing at osselets with Ganymede, in the garden of Jupiter; she tells him the
object of her coming, and as a reward for his immediate obedience, pro-
mises him the golden sphsera made by the nymph Amalthea for the infant
Jupiter in the Idasan cavern. Love, eager to possess the splendid toy, instantly
obeys his mother's orders, flies to Colchis and pierces with one of his arrows
the heart of Medea. This fable formed also the subject of a picture described
by Philostratus (10) ill which the three goddesses were represented applying
to Love for his assistance (11).
The present composition, in which we see Venus and Love with the sphaera,
seems to relate to this story; in which case the word implied in the inscription
might be 9sai (the goddesses), alluding to the means by which Love obtained
the ball. This explanation however, can only be offered as a conjecture,
and we must wait till the discovery of further monuments may confirm or
disprove it.
This painting is at all events of very great importance to the study of one
of the most interesting branches of antiquity, as it proves that the circular
object so frequently seen on the reverse of vases (12), and of which such con-
tradictory and absurd explanations have been given (i3), is simply a sphaera
or ball.
(9) Argon, lib. 111, vers 2 5— 175.
(10) Philostrat. Jun. Icones, lib. 11, cap. 8.
(11) The Sphaera was a toy which seems to
have been often attributed to Love ; who is
described by Anacreon as throwing him a ball
and engaging him to play.
2<pa''p7) &eu-re j/.e TropipupEri
BaWaov ^puc&/to|j.7i? Epw;,
N'jvi tcoixiXos ^aix(3avto,
2uaTvai(eiv rpoxa^eiVai.
Fragm. exAthenseo, lib. xm, cap. 72.
Sophocles composed a drama called HXuvxpiai,
in which he introduced Nausicaa and her dam-
sels playing at this game.
(12) Tischbein , Vases d'Hamilton, torn. 11,
pi. 61 and 62. Millin. Peint. de Vases, torn. 1,
pi. 20, torn. 11, pi. 8.
In another painting published in the same
work, torn. 1, pi. 25, representing iEgina car-
ried away by an eagle, is a sphaera. The object
under it seems also to be intended for juvenile
amusements, being very similar to our chess-
board , and used by the ancients for a game
of the same kind called &iaypau.f/.i<j[/.bs. Pollux,
lib. ix, 101. Eustath in Homer, 663 — 64.
(13) A learned writer taking the seams of
the ball for a cross, has supposed that these
objects were symbols of the vivifying princi-
We find mention of a sphcpra celebrated in ancient mythology. Apollonius
Rhodius relates (9) that on the arrival of the Argonauts at Colchis , Jnno and
Minerva being anxious for the success of the enterprise,solicited the assistance
of Venus, and engaged her to inspire Medea with a passion for Jason. Venus,
in compliance with their wishes, proceeds to Olympus, where she finds her son
playing at osselets with Ganymede, in the garden of Jupiter; she tells him the
object of her coming, and as a reward for his immediate obedience, pro-
mises him the golden sphsera made by the nymph Amalthea for the infant
Jupiter in the Idasan cavern. Love, eager to possess the splendid toy, instantly
obeys his mother's orders, flies to Colchis and pierces with one of his arrows
the heart of Medea. This fable formed also the subject of a picture described
by Philostratus (10) ill which the three goddesses were represented applying
to Love for his assistance (11).
The present composition, in which we see Venus and Love with the sphaera,
seems to relate to this story; in which case the word implied in the inscription
might be 9sai (the goddesses), alluding to the means by which Love obtained
the ball. This explanation however, can only be offered as a conjecture,
and we must wait till the discovery of further monuments may confirm or
disprove it.
This painting is at all events of very great importance to the study of one
of the most interesting branches of antiquity, as it proves that the circular
object so frequently seen on the reverse of vases (12), and of which such con-
tradictory and absurd explanations have been given (i3), is simply a sphaera
or ball.
(9) Argon, lib. 111, vers 2 5— 175.
(10) Philostrat. Jun. Icones, lib. 11, cap. 8.
(11) The Sphaera was a toy which seems to
have been often attributed to Love ; who is
described by Anacreon as throwing him a ball
and engaging him to play.
2<pa''p7) &eu-re j/.e TropipupEri
BaWaov ^puc&/to|j.7i? Epw;,
N'jvi tcoixiXos ^aix(3avto,
2uaTvai(eiv rpoxa^eiVai.
Fragm. exAthenseo, lib. xm, cap. 72.
Sophocles composed a drama called HXuvxpiai,
in which he introduced Nausicaa and her dam-
sels playing at this game.
(12) Tischbein , Vases d'Hamilton, torn. 11,
pi. 61 and 62. Millin. Peint. de Vases, torn. 1,
pi. 20, torn. 11, pi. 8.
In another painting published in the same
work, torn. 1, pi. 25, representing iEgina car-
ried away by an eagle, is a sphaera. The object
under it seems also to be intended for juvenile
amusements, being very similar to our chess-
board , and used by the ancients for a game
of the same kind called &iaypau.f/.i<j[/.bs. Pollux,
lib. ix, 101. Eustath in Homer, 663 — 64.
(13) A learned writer taking the seams of
the ball for a cross, has supposed that these
objects were symbols of the vivifying princi-