DOI chapter:
The mythology of Athenian local cults
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0140
cxxviii
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
youths who were cup-bearers at a certain festival of Poseidon
were called Ταύροι.
The death of the monster was celebrated by a festal
dance. Plutarch relates that this took place at Delos after the
desertion of Ariadne, and that the dance was that practised by
Delians to this day. It consisted of involutions and evolutions,
in imitation of the mazes of the labyrinth; possibly some
sacred dance connected with the theoria to Delphi helped
FIG. 31.—FRANCOIS VASE I LANDING SCENE (FLORENCE).
out the tradition of the labyrinth. The dance was called
the Crane, and was danced round the famous Delian altar of
the horns.
Vase-painters, however, depict the dance in closer and
more cheerful context with Ariadne. Perhaps the most de-
lightfully fresh and naive of all the scenes depicted on the
Frangois vase is that which shows the beginning of this festal
dance; it is given in figs. 31 and 32. They should be con-
FIG. 32.—FRANCOIS VASE I CHORUS AFTER SLAYING OF MINOTAUR (FLORENCE).
secutive, but the long frieze is divided for convenience. To
the left (fig. 31) is a ship with its excited crew. The ship
is close to land; one eager sailor can wait no longer, and
plunges swimming to the shore; the rest gesticulate with joy.
The main interest of the scene centres in the right portion of
the frieze (in fig. 32). A little group of the principal actors
stand on a raised ground. Theseus (ΘΕΣΕΥΣ) in long gar-
ments plays his lyre, and facing him is Ariadne (APIA . . . );
near her, her diminutive nurse (ΘΡΟΦΟΣ); behind Theseus
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
youths who were cup-bearers at a certain festival of Poseidon
were called Ταύροι.
The death of the monster was celebrated by a festal
dance. Plutarch relates that this took place at Delos after the
desertion of Ariadne, and that the dance was that practised by
Delians to this day. It consisted of involutions and evolutions,
in imitation of the mazes of the labyrinth; possibly some
sacred dance connected with the theoria to Delphi helped
FIG. 31.—FRANCOIS VASE I LANDING SCENE (FLORENCE).
out the tradition of the labyrinth. The dance was called
the Crane, and was danced round the famous Delian altar of
the horns.
Vase-painters, however, depict the dance in closer and
more cheerful context with Ariadne. Perhaps the most de-
lightfully fresh and naive of all the scenes depicted on the
Frangois vase is that which shows the beginning of this festal
dance; it is given in figs. 31 and 32. They should be con-
FIG. 32.—FRANCOIS VASE I CHORUS AFTER SLAYING OF MINOTAUR (FLORENCE).
secutive, but the long frieze is divided for convenience. To
the left (fig. 31) is a ship with its excited crew. The ship
is close to land; one eager sailor can wait no longer, and
plunges swimming to the shore; the rest gesticulate with joy.
The main interest of the scene centres in the right portion of
the frieze (in fig. 32). A little group of the principal actors
stand on a raised ground. Theseus (ΘΕΣΕΥΣ) in long gar-
ments plays his lyre, and facing him is Ariadne (APIA . . . );
near her, her diminutive nurse (ΘΡΟΦΟΣ); behind Theseus