DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0053
SYMBOLS. HERMjE.
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but shapeless beam (Xslov sSos). ' The image of Artemis (Diana)
in Icarus was a log of unwrought wood ; * * * and that of Here at
Samos, as says ^Ethlius, was once a board (aavis)'1 Dionysus (Bacchus)
TTspiKcovios was represented at Thebes by a pillar overgrown with
ivy, and the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) at Sparta by two posts
(86>cava) united at the top and bottom by cross beams. The people of
Orchomcnus venerated certain stones which, they said, fell down
from heaven and were taken up by Eteocles.'2
How long the so-called anciconic (without definite form) period
lasted it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty. It seems
probable that when the vague notions of the powers of nature were, so
to speak, crystallised by fable and poetry, the first rude attempts were
made to represent them in wood, the most plentiful as well as the most
tractable material. The term %6ava was originally confined to wooden
images, the makers of which, so long as they were mere shapeless
symbols, were unknown, and which, like 'the great Diana of the
Ephesians,' were supposed to have fallen from heaven. The first ad-
vance from the shapeless log as symbol was probably marked by the
Hcrm<x,\n which an attempt is made to bring the image into more con-
spicuous relation to the deity represented by adding the head, and short
projections by way of arms to support the numerous attributes ascribed
to him by the popular faith. These Hermae, which were square pillars
surmounted by a bust (rsTpd'ywvos ipyaala3), were most common in
Arcadia, the chief seat of the worship of Hermes (Mercury).
We must not suppose, however, that the artistic merit of these ob-
jects of actual worship kept pace with the increasing skill and taste of
successive generations. The rude idol was hallowed in men's eyes by
its mysterious origin, its hoary antiquity, and the reverence of preceding
generations. The pious artist would deem it a sacrilegious thing to
alter the form which he had worshipped from his infancy, and from
which he had received unnumbered favours. Who should dare to give
to the Divinity another shape than that in which he had chosen to reveal
himself to his worshippers ? When the founder (oiKicrrrjs) of a colony
sought to place his expedition under the protection of the God of the
1 Clemens Alexandr. /><?/;<//. iv. p. 4 («!■ I'o»<-'r)-
2 I'aus. ix. 18. I. ' Thucydidcs, vi. 27.
C
i7
but shapeless beam (Xslov sSos). ' The image of Artemis (Diana)
in Icarus was a log of unwrought wood ; * * * and that of Here at
Samos, as says ^Ethlius, was once a board (aavis)'1 Dionysus (Bacchus)
TTspiKcovios was represented at Thebes by a pillar overgrown with
ivy, and the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) at Sparta by two posts
(86>cava) united at the top and bottom by cross beams. The people of
Orchomcnus venerated certain stones which, they said, fell down
from heaven and were taken up by Eteocles.'2
How long the so-called anciconic (without definite form) period
lasted it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty. It seems
probable that when the vague notions of the powers of nature were, so
to speak, crystallised by fable and poetry, the first rude attempts were
made to represent them in wood, the most plentiful as well as the most
tractable material. The term %6ava was originally confined to wooden
images, the makers of which, so long as they were mere shapeless
symbols, were unknown, and which, like 'the great Diana of the
Ephesians,' were supposed to have fallen from heaven. The first ad-
vance from the shapeless log as symbol was probably marked by the
Hcrm<x,\n which an attempt is made to bring the image into more con-
spicuous relation to the deity represented by adding the head, and short
projections by way of arms to support the numerous attributes ascribed
to him by the popular faith. These Hermae, which were square pillars
surmounted by a bust (rsTpd'ywvos ipyaala3), were most common in
Arcadia, the chief seat of the worship of Hermes (Mercury).
We must not suppose, however, that the artistic merit of these ob-
jects of actual worship kept pace with the increasing skill and taste of
successive generations. The rude idol was hallowed in men's eyes by
its mysterious origin, its hoary antiquity, and the reverence of preceding
generations. The pious artist would deem it a sacrilegious thing to
alter the form which he had worshipped from his infancy, and from
which he had received unnumbered favours. Who should dare to give
to the Divinity another shape than that in which he had chosen to reveal
himself to his worshippers ? When the founder (oiKicrrrjs) of a colony
sought to place his expedition under the protection of the God of the
1 Clemens Alexandr. /><?/;<//. iv. p. 4 («!■ I'o»<-'r)-
2 I'aus. ix. 18. I. ' Thucydidcs, vi. 27.
C