DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26205#0042
40
and Koch 65. This is probably a mistaken view, since before the chariot of
Pelops there are female figures, not assumed by the rivers, and the authors
quoted by O. Palagia define these females as locality deities (Ortsgottheiten),
not suspecting them of being river personifications. Moreover, B. Andreae
in Helbig4, No. 3319, whom Palagia refers to at No. 11, does not mention
any river, and when offering another example of a sarcophagus decorated
with the scene of Pelops myth, now in the Vatican Museums (Helbig4,
No. 506), he writes: “Die gelagerte weibliche Gestalt ...liber Oinomaos
ist eine Ortsnymphe der Altis von Olympia, wo das Wettrennen stattfand”.
For this reason only mosaics yield the personifications of the Alpheus. On the
other hand, one of the sarcophagi decorated with the scenes of the Labours
of Heracles bears a symbolical image of this river in the form of a stream of
water outflowing from a shell (bound to clean the Stables of Augeas)66.
The images of the Eurotas are also associated with mythology. This river,
on whose banks the romance of Zeus and Leda took place, appears on the
mosaics from the 4th century A. D., found in Antioch 67 (Fig. 40) and Nea
Paphos 68 (Fig. 41). In both cases it makes one of the elements of a multifigural
composition and therefore is provided with an inscription. One example is
also known of sarcophagi sculpture where this river appears — a sarcophagus
dated to the 2nd century A. D., now in Aix-en-Provence 69, depicting Leda,
the Dioscuri and the Eurotas accompanying them (Fig. 42).
The identification is not completely solved of a torso kept in the Vatican
Museums, which according to some scholars represents the Eurotas resembling
in type the Orontes from the statue of Tyche of Antioch by Eutychides (cf.
Chapter II, p. 25 and note 55).
Among unique images in art rank the personifications of such rivers as
for example the Peneios accompanying Apollo and Daphne, shown on a mosaic
from the House of Dionysos at Nea Paphos (Fig. 43) 70, as the statue of the
Maeander found in Ephesus 71, further the image of the river Pyramos in the
06 No. 10: sarcophagus in Brussels (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 329), No. 11: sarcophagus in Villa
Albani in Rome (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 325; Helbig4, No. 3319; Sichtermann-Koch, No. 57,
PI. 144, 2), No. 12: sarcophagus in Museo Nazionale in Naples (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 328; Sichter-
mann-Koch, No. 58, Pis. 144, 1.145.).
66 A sarcophagus in Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. Cf. ASR, HI, 1, No. 104; Sichtermann-
Koch, No. 23, PI. 48, 2.50, 2.
67 Levi, Antioch, p. 272, PI. 63d; Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas, No. 3.
c8 In the House of Aion. Cf. W. A. Daszewski, Fouilles Polonaises a Kato Paphos, RDAC
1984; id., Dionysos der Erldser. Griechische Mythen in spdtantiken Cypern, Trier 1985; id., Researches
at Nea Paphos 1965—1984. Archaeology in Cyprus 1960—1985, Nicosia 1985, p. 286, Fig. 2, PI. 30, 2.
Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas, No. 5.
69 E. Esperandieu, Recueil general des bas-reliefs de la Gaule Romaine, I, 1907, p. 96; ASR,
II, No. 2, pp. 6—7, PI. 2, 2; Koch-Sichtermann, p. 156, note 1; Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas,
No. 6.
70 G. S. Eliades, La Maison de Dionysos, Paphos 1986, p. 37.
71 Quoted after H. Sichtermann, EAA, III, 1960, s. v. Fluviali Divinita, pp. 715—717.
and Koch 65. This is probably a mistaken view, since before the chariot of
Pelops there are female figures, not assumed by the rivers, and the authors
quoted by O. Palagia define these females as locality deities (Ortsgottheiten),
not suspecting them of being river personifications. Moreover, B. Andreae
in Helbig4, No. 3319, whom Palagia refers to at No. 11, does not mention
any river, and when offering another example of a sarcophagus decorated
with the scene of Pelops myth, now in the Vatican Museums (Helbig4,
No. 506), he writes: “Die gelagerte weibliche Gestalt ...liber Oinomaos
ist eine Ortsnymphe der Altis von Olympia, wo das Wettrennen stattfand”.
For this reason only mosaics yield the personifications of the Alpheus. On the
other hand, one of the sarcophagi decorated with the scenes of the Labours
of Heracles bears a symbolical image of this river in the form of a stream of
water outflowing from a shell (bound to clean the Stables of Augeas)66.
The images of the Eurotas are also associated with mythology. This river,
on whose banks the romance of Zeus and Leda took place, appears on the
mosaics from the 4th century A. D., found in Antioch 67 (Fig. 40) and Nea
Paphos 68 (Fig. 41). In both cases it makes one of the elements of a multifigural
composition and therefore is provided with an inscription. One example is
also known of sarcophagi sculpture where this river appears — a sarcophagus
dated to the 2nd century A. D., now in Aix-en-Provence 69, depicting Leda,
the Dioscuri and the Eurotas accompanying them (Fig. 42).
The identification is not completely solved of a torso kept in the Vatican
Museums, which according to some scholars represents the Eurotas resembling
in type the Orontes from the statue of Tyche of Antioch by Eutychides (cf.
Chapter II, p. 25 and note 55).
Among unique images in art rank the personifications of such rivers as
for example the Peneios accompanying Apollo and Daphne, shown on a mosaic
from the House of Dionysos at Nea Paphos (Fig. 43) 70, as the statue of the
Maeander found in Ephesus 71, further the image of the river Pyramos in the
06 No. 10: sarcophagus in Brussels (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 329), No. 11: sarcophagus in Villa
Albani in Rome (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 325; Helbig4, No. 3319; Sichtermann-Koch, No. 57,
PI. 144, 2), No. 12: sarcophagus in Museo Nazionale in Naples (cf. ASR, III, 3, No. 328; Sichter-
mann-Koch, No. 58, Pis. 144, 1.145.).
66 A sarcophagus in Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. Cf. ASR, HI, 1, No. 104; Sichtermann-
Koch, No. 23, PI. 48, 2.50, 2.
67 Levi, Antioch, p. 272, PI. 63d; Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas, No. 3.
c8 In the House of Aion. Cf. W. A. Daszewski, Fouilles Polonaises a Kato Paphos, RDAC
1984; id., Dionysos der Erldser. Griechische Mythen in spdtantiken Cypern, Trier 1985; id., Researches
at Nea Paphos 1965—1984. Archaeology in Cyprus 1960—1985, Nicosia 1985, p. 286, Fig. 2, PI. 30, 2.
Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas, No. 5.
69 E. Esperandieu, Recueil general des bas-reliefs de la Gaule Romaine, I, 1907, p. 96; ASR,
II, No. 2, pp. 6—7, PI. 2, 2; Koch-Sichtermann, p. 156, note 1; Steinhauer, LIMC, Eurotas,
No. 6.
70 G. S. Eliades, La Maison de Dionysos, Paphos 1986, p. 37.
71 Quoted after H. Sichtermann, EAA, III, 1960, s. v. Fluviali Divinita, pp. 715—717.