DOI chapter:
The mythology of Athenian local cults
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0079
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
Ixvii
altar is at the rape of the Leukippidae on the Meidias vase
(p. 161). The general meaning of the vase is, as it seems
to me, clear beyond a doubt. We have the companions of
Kephalos, who was caught out hunting. And the fact that they
gaze upwards in astonishment proves, I think, that the rape
took place actually—that Kephalos, though only pursued, was
unable to withstand Eos ; she had, after all, caught him up
on the high mountain the warrior is trying to climb. Had
Hieron known of the Prokris story in conjunction with that of
Eos, nothing would have been easier than to have introduced
the figure of Prokris in the hunting scene; but he knew only
of the rape, so he chooses it as the central scene, and then
adapts the groups of youths and men he loved so well to the
circumstance of the hunt.
One vase still remains for consideration before Eos is dis-
missed—the famous Blacas krater (fig. 13) of the British Museum
FIG. 13.—BLACAS KRATER '. EOS PURSUES KEPHALOS AT SUNRISE (BRITISH MUSEUM).
(Cat., E. 176), where the myth of Eos and Kephalos appears in
all the glory of its cosmic setting. A bygone school of mytho-
logists not only unhesitatingly stated that Eos was the dawn,
which she undoubtedly is, but went on to announce that
Kephalos must have an v to his name and become Knephalos
(κνεψα?, “the twilight”), and Prokris be “ der Mond unter dem
gewohnhichen Bilde einer Frau von ausgezeichneter Schonheit
und Wiirde ” (πρόκρις ή προκεκριρ^νη). The modern mytho-
logist is chary of his etymologies, and exceedingly shy of a
dawn or moon myth, but he cannot get rid of Eos as the
dawn goddess. There is, however, not the smallest reason,
because Eos is a native myth, to fit out the rest of the personale
with cosmic meanings. The hunter went out at dawn. It was
natural enough that the strong, beautiful woman who personified
Ixvii
altar is at the rape of the Leukippidae on the Meidias vase
(p. 161). The general meaning of the vase is, as it seems
to me, clear beyond a doubt. We have the companions of
Kephalos, who was caught out hunting. And the fact that they
gaze upwards in astonishment proves, I think, that the rape
took place actually—that Kephalos, though only pursued, was
unable to withstand Eos ; she had, after all, caught him up
on the high mountain the warrior is trying to climb. Had
Hieron known of the Prokris story in conjunction with that of
Eos, nothing would have been easier than to have introduced
the figure of Prokris in the hunting scene; but he knew only
of the rape, so he chooses it as the central scene, and then
adapts the groups of youths and men he loved so well to the
circumstance of the hunt.
One vase still remains for consideration before Eos is dis-
missed—the famous Blacas krater (fig. 13) of the British Museum
FIG. 13.—BLACAS KRATER '. EOS PURSUES KEPHALOS AT SUNRISE (BRITISH MUSEUM).
(Cat., E. 176), where the myth of Eos and Kephalos appears in
all the glory of its cosmic setting. A bygone school of mytho-
logists not only unhesitatingly stated that Eos was the dawn,
which she undoubtedly is, but went on to announce that
Kephalos must have an v to his name and become Knephalos
(κνεψα?, “the twilight”), and Prokris be “ der Mond unter dem
gewohnhichen Bilde einer Frau von ausgezeichneter Schonheit
und Wiirde ” (πρόκρις ή προκεκριρ^νη). The modern mytho-
logist is chary of his etymologies, and exceedingly shy of a
dawn or moon myth, but he cannot get rid of Eos as the
dawn goddess. There is, however, not the smallest reason,
because Eos is a native myth, to fit out the rest of the personale
with cosmic meanings. The hunter went out at dawn. It was
natural enough that the strong, beautiful woman who personified