DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0057
THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE.
21
later copy of an original relief on wood, is open to scarcely less objection.
The true explanation is that of Ottfried Miiller,1 that Hephaestus re-
presented a ' dancing place' (the original meaning of ^opos),2 like that
which Daedalus once 1 arranged ' (fjaKyaev) for Ariadne in Cnossus, and
on which she danced with Theseus and the Attic youths, after the Cretan
manner, in honour of her hero's victory over the Minotaur.3 The same
subject is artistically treated in the paintings of the famous archaic vase
of Clitias and Ergotimus (called the Francois* Vase, now at Florence),
in which Ariadne and Theseus lead a dance of seven couples.
We meet with the names of two other artists belonging to this
mythical period, Argus of Argos, who made the wooden image of
Here which his son carried to Tiryns,5 and Epcius of Phocis, the
reputed fabricator of the Trojan horse.6 The name of the latter
occurs in Plato,7 in company with that of Daedalus and Theodorus
the Samian, and Pausanias mentions two goava8 of Aphrodite and
Hermes in Argos as works of Epeius and offerings of Hypermnestra.
Extant Works of the Prehomeric Period.
The wooden works of Daedalus, Argus, and Epeius have all doubt-
less perished ; but two very remarkable monuments of stone, older
than the time of Homer, still exist in Greece, although we should
hesitate to call them works of Grecian art; viz. the Lions of Myccntz
and the Niobe of Mount Sipylus.
The Lion-Gate of Mycenae.
The still existing walls, covered galleries, and gateways of Tiryns
and Mycenae, whose gigantic proportions and indestructible strength'1
1 Anli. d. Kuust, sec. 64, 1.
2 Horn. J Had, iii. 394.
■ Conf. Hrunn, A'.-G. i. 17.
' Vide Arch. Zeit. 1S49, 1850, pi. xxiii.
xxiv.; and O. Jahn's Die Ficoronische Cista,
Conf. l.a Cista Atlctica, con lllustrazioni,
Koma, 1848.
* Clemens Alex. Frotrcpti<cn (Cohortatio
ad Centcs), iv. p. 41 (ed. Toiler): Ar^+rpioj
tfvTipt? tuv 'Ap7«AiKo>r tqv «V TipuHJi
t^*"Hpas £odvuv Kal ryv uATjr uyxvyv Kal rhp
noir)TJiv 'Ap7oc dvayi>d<t>(t.
• Horn. /Had, xxiii. 665, 838 ; and Odys.
viii. 492. Pausan. ii. 19. 5. Virg. A'.n. ii. 264.
7 lo», p 538-
• Clem. Alex. Protrcpt. iv. p. 40, ^uava
TfHxrriyopfvfTo Sta to diro{f'<rflai (fljp utm (1trSai)
• Eurip. Fleet ra, 1167: KuKXuTrua oWrja
t«i'xi.
21
later copy of an original relief on wood, is open to scarcely less objection.
The true explanation is that of Ottfried Miiller,1 that Hephaestus re-
presented a ' dancing place' (the original meaning of ^opos),2 like that
which Daedalus once 1 arranged ' (fjaKyaev) for Ariadne in Cnossus, and
on which she danced with Theseus and the Attic youths, after the Cretan
manner, in honour of her hero's victory over the Minotaur.3 The same
subject is artistically treated in the paintings of the famous archaic vase
of Clitias and Ergotimus (called the Francois* Vase, now at Florence),
in which Ariadne and Theseus lead a dance of seven couples.
We meet with the names of two other artists belonging to this
mythical period, Argus of Argos, who made the wooden image of
Here which his son carried to Tiryns,5 and Epcius of Phocis, the
reputed fabricator of the Trojan horse.6 The name of the latter
occurs in Plato,7 in company with that of Daedalus and Theodorus
the Samian, and Pausanias mentions two goava8 of Aphrodite and
Hermes in Argos as works of Epeius and offerings of Hypermnestra.
Extant Works of the Prehomeric Period.
The wooden works of Daedalus, Argus, and Epeius have all doubt-
less perished ; but two very remarkable monuments of stone, older
than the time of Homer, still exist in Greece, although we should
hesitate to call them works of Grecian art; viz. the Lions of Myccntz
and the Niobe of Mount Sipylus.
The Lion-Gate of Mycenae.
The still existing walls, covered galleries, and gateways of Tiryns
and Mycenae, whose gigantic proportions and indestructible strength'1
1 Anli. d. Kuust, sec. 64, 1.
2 Horn. J Had, iii. 394.
■ Conf. Hrunn, A'.-G. i. 17.
' Vide Arch. Zeit. 1S49, 1850, pi. xxiii.
xxiv.; and O. Jahn's Die Ficoronische Cista,
Conf. l.a Cista Atlctica, con lllustrazioni,
Koma, 1848.
* Clemens Alex. Frotrcpti<cn (Cohortatio
ad Centcs), iv. p. 41 (ed. Toiler): Ar^+rpioj
tfvTipt? tuv 'Ap7«AiKo>r tqv «V TipuHJi
t^*"Hpas £odvuv Kal ryv uATjr uyxvyv Kal rhp
noir)TJiv 'Ap7oc dvayi>d<t>(t.
• Horn. /Had, xxiii. 665, 838 ; and Odys.
viii. 492. Pausan. ii. 19. 5. Virg. A'.n. ii. 264.
7 lo», p 538-
• Clem. Alex. Protrcpt. iv. p. 40, ^uava
TfHxrriyopfvfTo Sta to diro{f'<rflai (fljp utm (1trSai)
• Eurip. Fleet ra, 1167: KuKXuTrua oWrja
t«i'xi.