DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7898#0040
( 3o )
is doubtful, and they may be the Reledones or lynges (i), represented on the
roof of the Delphian and other temples. In magic ceremonies the latter played
a great part, and representations of them must have been common.
According to Homer, whose authority was generally followed, they were
considered as inferior deities of an odious nature; but other poets seem to have
viewed them in a more favourable light, and as being like the Muses, remark-
able for their melodious voices and musical skill. As emblems of these quali-
ties, we find them placed on the tombs of orators and poets (2). Unfortunately
we are not told how they Avere figured.
Though not contributing to remove the difficulties of the question, the pre-
sent monument, which preserves a fable little known, and appears for the first
time on works of art (3) is a valuable addition to our stock of figured Anti-
quity. The execution is of inferior order, and may be referred to the third
century of the Christian sera, when the arts were near the last stage of their
decline.
owls and hawks, to which human heads are
added. Sometimes the arms also are human.
V. Series 1, pag- 38.
Since the publication of the last mentioned
volume, two fictile vases which tend to throw
light on the question have been discovered.
One found near Athens, represents two com-
pound figures of birds with human heads and
arms. They are standing each on a hillock
supposed to be surrounded with trees. One
of them plays on the flute , the other wears a
helmet, and its wings are extended. The other
vase was found at Melos. A figure like the
preceding stands on a fluted truncated column,
between two old bearded male figures, who
are leaning on sticks, and listening to the
figure which is playing upon the lyre. They
are in the collection of Thomas Burgon, Esq.
(1) The mistaken reading of an inscrip-
tion on a Greek fictile vase, has induced some
antiquaries to think, that the Reledones men-
tioned by Pindar (Paean. Frag. I.), were fe-
males playing on the lyre : but the true read-
ing is RAAEAORE2, probably the name of the
possessor. Ardito, Illustrazione di un antico
vaso trovato nelle Rovine di Locri, Napoli
1791 , in-4°- — Heyne, notaj in Pindar, /. c.
Writers of a later age seem to have con-
founded the Reledones and lynges with the
Sirens, perhaps because the latter were re-
presented in the same manner as the two
former. Philostrat. Vita Apoll. lib. vi, cap. 2;
Athena;us. lib. vu, cap. 2.
(2) Philost. Vit. Sophist, lib. 1, cap. 17.
(3) A fragment representing two figures
only, but belonging to the same subject, has
been published by Winckelmann; Monumenti
Ined. n° 46.
is doubtful, and they may be the Reledones or lynges (i), represented on the
roof of the Delphian and other temples. In magic ceremonies the latter played
a great part, and representations of them must have been common.
According to Homer, whose authority was generally followed, they were
considered as inferior deities of an odious nature; but other poets seem to have
viewed them in a more favourable light, and as being like the Muses, remark-
able for their melodious voices and musical skill. As emblems of these quali-
ties, we find them placed on the tombs of orators and poets (2). Unfortunately
we are not told how they Avere figured.
Though not contributing to remove the difficulties of the question, the pre-
sent monument, which preserves a fable little known, and appears for the first
time on works of art (3) is a valuable addition to our stock of figured Anti-
quity. The execution is of inferior order, and may be referred to the third
century of the Christian sera, when the arts were near the last stage of their
decline.
owls and hawks, to which human heads are
added. Sometimes the arms also are human.
V. Series 1, pag- 38.
Since the publication of the last mentioned
volume, two fictile vases which tend to throw
light on the question have been discovered.
One found near Athens, represents two com-
pound figures of birds with human heads and
arms. They are standing each on a hillock
supposed to be surrounded with trees. One
of them plays on the flute , the other wears a
helmet, and its wings are extended. The other
vase was found at Melos. A figure like the
preceding stands on a fluted truncated column,
between two old bearded male figures, who
are leaning on sticks, and listening to the
figure which is playing upon the lyre. They
are in the collection of Thomas Burgon, Esq.
(1) The mistaken reading of an inscrip-
tion on a Greek fictile vase, has induced some
antiquaries to think, that the Reledones men-
tioned by Pindar (Paean. Frag. I.), were fe-
males playing on the lyre : but the true read-
ing is RAAEAORE2, probably the name of the
possessor. Ardito, Illustrazione di un antico
vaso trovato nelle Rovine di Locri, Napoli
1791 , in-4°- — Heyne, notaj in Pindar, /. c.
Writers of a later age seem to have con-
founded the Reledones and lynges with the
Sirens, perhaps because the latter were re-
presented in the same manner as the two
former. Philostrat. Vita Apoll. lib. vi, cap. 2;
Athena;us. lib. vu, cap. 2.
(2) Philost. Vit. Sophist, lib. 1, cap. 17.
(3) A fragment representing two figures
only, but belonging to the same subject, has
been published by Winckelmann; Monumenti
Ined. n° 46.