GODDESSES IN THE ART AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BLACK SEA Introduction The image of the snake- or tendril-limbed selni-human female Illonster is attested in various parts ofEurasia, in both archaeology and mythology. However, researchers usually either concentrate on the iconography of Rankenfrau, I or discuss the Scythian anguipede goddess with brief mention of analogues elsewhere. This chapter attempts a synthesis, using Mediterranean archaeology and comparative data frOlll other cultures. The Anguipede Goddess and the Scythian Genealogical Myth' There are five main versions of this myth: two are recorded by Herodotus (4.5 and 8-10); the others are found in Valerius Flaccus (6. 48-59), Diodorus Siculus (2.43) and the Tabula Albana (leXIV 1293 A 93-96). 1. Herodotus refers to his first version only briefly, saying that the parents of the first man, Targitaos, were Zeus and a daughter of the liver Borysthenes. 2. The second legend is nanated in detail. Heracles with Geryon's cattle reached a Scythian wasteland. His mares disappeared while he was asleep; looking for them he anived at a land named Hylaea (Wood- land). There, in a cave, he found a creature which was half-female, half-snake. She told him that she was the mistress of the country. This monster kept the horses, until Heracles gave her three sons; the 64 BED IGYOF Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Gaddesses youngest, named Scythes, became the forefather and first king of the Scythians. 3. According to Valetius Flaccus, Scythians were descendants of Colaxes, the son ofJupiter and Hora, a nymph with a half-animal body, living near the springs of Tibisis. 4. In Diodorus' account, the first Scythian named Scythes, who was also the first king, was the son of an earth-born snake-limbed maiden, impregnated by Zeus. 5. In the epigraphic version, Heracles would unite with a daughter of another liver-god, Araxes, whose name was Echidna. The offspring of this union were Agathyrsus and Scythes, the progenitors of Scythians. 65 EA Illonster is vHowever, lerifrau, I or analogues -chaeology th' dotus (4.5 rus Siculus ents 'iver lule was lOd- ale, rhis the The lllonstrous Scythian ancestress has the same principal characteristics in all these versions. As the daughter either of a river-god or of the earth, dwelling in a cave, she is manifestly chthonic. In all versions (save possibly the first) she is half-female, half-snake. Further, she is almost unanimously identified with Api' on two main grounds: firstly, in some versions Zeus is the partner of the snake- limbed monster, and Herodotus (4.59) called Api his wife; and secondly, the name of Api-Ce, the goddess of earth, 4 is taken to indicate a connection with water: the Scythian ancestress was a daughter of a river-god. But the identification will not do. First, the daughter of a local river-god can hardly be a cosmic primordial deity, equal in Herodotus' opinion to the Greek Ge (Hdt. 4.59). Secondly, especially given that Scythian kings had several wives (Hdt. 4.78), the Scythian Zeus could easily have had offspring from several partners other than Api, as did his Greek counterpart. Accordingly, Herodotus does not name the snake-female as Api. Small wonder that the other sources describe her as a "nymph with a semi-bestial body", Araxes' daughter, or an anguipede earth-born maiden. In cult, the Scythian ancestress is closely related to Argimapasa, Scythian Aphrodite Ourania.' Further the Scythian anguipede goddess also resembles another monstrous goddess, linked with Aphrodite ofAscalon, namely Derceto- Atargatis. For they both have monstrous bodies, fertility-vegetation symbolism, myths of sexuality and an association with Aphrodite. The name of the Scythian Aphrodite Ourania is usually rendered as 'Argimpasa' (Hdt. 4.59). It seems that Scythians believed that some of their fellows plundered the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Ascalon during their occupation of Asia (Hdt. 1.105). Aphrodite punished them and their descendants \vith a "female disease", which caused impotence. With the affliction the goddess gave also the gift of prophecy (Hdt. 4.67).6 While Scythian Argimpasa was certainly not identical \vith Aphrodite of Ascalon, the ScythiaJ1S of Herodotus' day were aware of their similarity. The sanctuary ofAphrodite in Ascalon was thought her most ancient sanctuary (Hdt. 1.105): no doubt she is the Semitic Astarte.' Ishtar, it should be mentioned, was believed to change men into women and WOIllen into men,s which is also a characteristic feature of the goddess of Ascalon. Diodorus (2.4.2-6) relates the myth ofDercet0 9 : she offended Aphrodite and Iconography of the Anguipede Goddess in Scythia An entire series of artefacts from Scythia (mainly from the fourth century Be and made by Greeks for the Scythian market) clearly represents the anguipede goddess of the Scythian genealogical myth. 12 Ahnost all CQlne from Yct some caution is needed: in Russian-language scholarship the term "anguipede goddess" is applied to several iconographic types, whereas only one of them depicts the snake-limbed monster proper. 14 A gold pendant from the Kul'-Oba tumulus (Fig. 6.1.4) portrays a goddess with snake-like legs, griffins' heads grmving below her waist, and lions' heads rising from her shoulders; she has small wings, wears a calathus J and holds a severed bearded head in her hane!. The snakes and griffins characterize this goddess as Potnia theron, and link her with Medusa and Echidna. The snake-limbed goddess is shown winged on pendant" frorn two indigenous sites in the Asiatic Bosporus: the Bol'shaya Bliznitsa tmuulus (Fig. 6.1.2-3) and the Ust'-Labinskaya group of settlements. E, A similar pendant was discovered ill a vault in Hellenistic Chersonesus, together with pendants featuring a severed head. 16 A group of horse-head plates from the Tsymbalova Mogila tumulus (Fig. 6.1.5) contains a forehead-piece representing a goddess with snake-like legs, griffins' heads and vegetal tendrils beneath her legs and above the calathus. suffered great shame and grief; finally, she threw herself into a deep lake ncar Ascalon, where she metamorphosed into a fish. The Semitic name ofDerceto is Atargatis. HJ And inscriptions mentioning Atargatis often identify her as Hagne Aphrodite. Further, Atargatis, the supreme goddess of Syria, had sacred pools in her sanctuaries; she was portrayed with fish, as well as with leaves or vines around her forehead. Fish (and the representation of the goddess in the form of a fish) perhaps symbolize the fertile power of water. Meanwhile, repre- sentations ofAtargatis with lions recall Cybele and the idea ofanimal fecundity. Lucian actually states that the Syrian goddess is very like Cybele (De Dea Syria 15) and tbat the myths and cults of both goddesses included self-castration and transvestite rites (De Dea Syria 15-27, 50-2). At Ascalon, however Derceto seems to have been subordinate to Aphrodite Astarte. The pairing ofa great and a minor goddess, the latter only semi-human, is known elsewhere. In Ephesus, Aphrodisias and other cui tic centres, where essentially very silnilar great goddesses 'were worshipped, a female creature with tendril-shaped legs also appeared: we shall return to them later. This splitting of the fertility-vegetation deity into two figures, one of them august and entirely anthropomorphic, and the second one half-animal, existed also in Scytho- Maeotian religion. II Accordingly, the literary evidence does not exclude a link between the Scythian chthonic/aquatic goddess and Api-Ge, short of identification. On the contrary, the snake-limbed ancestress of the Scythians is very much akin to Derceto- Atargatis, both of them connected with Aphrodite. 66 Scythians and Greeks F I 2 3. 4. 5. p lake near fDerceto is r as Hague ,cred pools res or vines n the fonn lile, repre- I fecundity. )e Dea Syria tration and Aphrodite- mi-huInan, :res, where ::ature with ,is splitting nd entirely in Scytho- Ie Scythian e contrary, J Dcrceto- entury Be mguipede 1 burials.].'\ the tcnn 18 only one a goddess )l1S' heads ld holds a :terize this ndigenous l.2-3) and covered in ; a severed mlus (Fig. ,-like legs, : calathus. Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 2. 1. 3. 4. Fig 6.1. 1. Pendant from the Butory tumulus (from Melyukova 1989, pI. 42: 23) 2. Gold pendant from the Bol'shaya Bliznitsa tumnlns (from Petro\, and Makarevich 1963, fig. 1: 4) 3. Ivory pendant from the Bol'shaya Bliznitsa tumnins (from Petrov and Makarevich 1963, fig. 1: 5) 4. Gold pendant from the Kul'-Oba tumulus (from Shelov 1950, fig. 18: 1) 5. Forehead-piece of the horse-harness [rom the Tsymbalova Mogila tumnlus (from Rayevskiy 1985, 172). 67 Stylistically ,'cry close to the Tsymbalka plate is a silver plaque. originating apparently from the Crimea. li The combination of chthonic and vegetal symbolism in the TSYlnbalka forehead-piece links this iconographic group 'with another: the group of goddesses with tendril-shaped legs. which includes a series of representations of a winged female figure wearing a calathus, with tendril-shaped legs and often surrounded with rich vegetal Sometimes the standard type of the tendril-lilnbecl goddess c\'okcd into a new pattern, of a still less human monster, as for instance on earrings from the Butnr)' tumulus (Fig. 6.1.1), on the plate [rom the GaYl1lallO\'a .. \Iogila tumulus (Fig. 6.2.3), on the sil\'er cup [rom or on the sil\'er \Tssel from a grmT in the area Depictions of the goddess with tendril-shaped legs, akin to the snake-limbed goddess, became predominant in the first centuries AD. This motifpenetrated the art of the Bosporan Greek cities and turned into recurrent designs on sarcophagi (Fig. 6.2.2); it also appeared in architectural decoration.'!] Repre- sentations ofthe anguipede goddess were disco\'ered also in Chersonesus, Illostly in gra\'es (Fig. 6.2.1). The general shape of these representations is reminiscent of1he Tree of Life, which lillks the lower ancl1he upper spheres of the l'ni\"erse, hut also symbolizes the supreme life-gi\'ing pO\\'er. and thus merges with the image of the fertility goddess.'!'! In the art of Scythia and the goddess usually clutches with both her hands \'egetal tendrils and animal heads that grow from her hody, often from beneath its lower part. The typical posture of the anguipede goddess with her hands and legs spread wide (the so-called ;'birth-gi\'ing" posture) appears on some Luristan pinheads. \"hich clearly show a human head emerging from between the parted legs of a woman, who is surrounded by rosettes and two gazelles.'!'" Accordingly, the Scythian anguipede goddess is associated not only with \'egetation, but with a general life-giving principle.'!I; Feline predators appearing near the goddess in Scythian and Luristan an'!7 make her also Patnirl theron. This cOlnplcx image reflects the amalgamation of three major fertility principles: human motherhood, \'egeLation, and animal life. She is the ancestress of the Scythians, so that her cult was connected with ancestor cult, \\-hi<:h (together with her apparently chthonic nature) may account for her regular occurrence ill burials. Con trolling the continuity of the life cycle, she IlIay also gi\'e eternal life. As to the se\"ered head held hy the goddess on the Kul'-Oba and Chersonesus pendants, it may signify the sacrificial offering ofa man, hanging on the Tree of Ljfe.'!:-: Snakes are complex symbols, in \'iew of, for example. their ability to disappear below ground, their \'el 101l1. skin-sloughing, fertility and sinuous mo\'eillcllt. They e\'oke the nether world, death, renewal, fertility and more, across a range of peoples. The union of snake and woman is to be understood as an enhance- ment of those cyocations. 68 c)'cythians and Greeks Fig. 6.2. 1. Tcrracotta plaque from the Chersonesus necropolis (from Bessonova 1983, fig. 3: 3) 2. Gable of a sarcophagus from the Bospoms (from Minns 1913, fig. 234) 3. Plate from the Gaymanova Mogila tumulus (from Bessonova 1983. fig. 21). 69 Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 1. 3. 2. .e-limbed
on .2 1 Repre- us, mostly ected with ayaccount e life cycle, less on the fering ofa ,e of Life, ymbolizes Le fertility tches with her body, Ie goddess ,) appears ging from s and two :l not only predators a.lso Potnia or fertility vmbalka ;roup of 'ntations nd often ) disappear nOVCluent. ass a range n enhance- ginating :d into a from the tUlnulus el from a Rankenfrau in the Mediterranean While the Rmkenfrau was important on the north coast of the Black Sea, her image was not confined to that area.:)0 Nor was Scythia and its environs the only area where it had religious significance, beyond simple decoration, though such has been argued..'!] For representations of the tendril-linlbed goddess have been discovered so often in funerary contexts throughout the Mediterranean world that it seems hard to deny its connection with the afterlife.. 32 Mainland Greece In the late fifth century female protomes, emerging from a scroll ornament, ,vere painted on Attic vases. 42 In particular, two lekythoi show a female helmeted head between branches, with a pomegranate in front of it.'13 rv16bius sees this as Athena, conceived as a fertility goddess, which seems unusual. "Vas she not rather a warlike Aphrodite or one of her counterparts?+! A Hellenistic relief fragment from the Athenian Acropolis shows a foliate-skirted goddess, with a sinalllion hiding beneath the foliage, hinting that the goddess was conceived as related to Cybele, or simply as Potnia theron.'" A tendril-hlnbed winged goddess is portrayed on a gold diadeln frOin Eretria. 41 '> A silnilar ilnage appears on two fourth- or third-century gold diadenls of unknown provenance, one showing a winged tendril-limbed female figure flanked by griffins,47 while the other one features the same design repeated six thues. 4H Curious is a fourth-century Attic tOlnbstone of Philippus son of Phoryscus, frOlll Pallene (IGIP 713S) .4<1 It features a standard farewell scene, but its unique Northern Balkans Mter Scythia, the ilnage occurs Illost often in fourth-century contexts in northern Greece. It recurs at A tOlnb-ste1e from Aetolia shows two human figures changing at the waist into acanthus stalks.:l 4 In Macedonia, female half- figures wearing calathi and foliatc skirts appear on a mosaic in the palace at Aegae (modern Vergina, Fig. 6.3.1).''' Also at Aegae, a winged tendril-limbed goddess wearing a calathus appears on the gables of fourth-century tOlnbstoncs. 36 As in Scythia, she belonged to the underworld. 37 Pilaster capitals from Perinthus feature three-quarter female figures rising from acanthus leaves.:\8 On a mosaic floor from Epidamnus (Illyria), a fcmalc hcad is shown emcrging from florals. 39 In Thrace, caryatids inside the burial chatnber of the early third-century tOlnb at Sveshtari have nonnal human bodies, but they 'wear chitons with apoptygma shaped as floral volutes and an acanthus leaf between them. The caryatids' hands either hold these volutes, or are raised, as if supporting the entablature. These seeln to be local interpretations of the tendril-limbed gocldess.'10 A wall painting in the lunette above the caryatids portrays a goddess standing on a pedestal, a crown in her hand, reaching out towards an approaching horseman. The scene evidently represents the posthumous heroization of a noble Thracian. 41 Scythians and Greeks 70 71 .. i\ !; , "- --- 3. 1. Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 2. Fig. 6.3. I. Mosaic floor from Vergina: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovskaya after Andronicos 1984, figs 19, 20) 2. Gold bracelet from Reinheim: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovs- kaya after Duval 1977, figs 19, 48) :\. Capital from Salamis, Cyprus: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovs- kaya after Cnrtius 1958, fig. 28). fom Eretria. 46 1 diadems of "male figure 1 repeated six <ts in northern vs two hlillian a, female half- the palace at :endril-limbed , tombstones. so :-Olll Perinthus 18 On a lllosaic frOlll florais. 3!l -century tOlnb th apoptygma .ryatids' hands llature. These l wall painting 1 a pedestal, a an. The scene lcian. 41 Black Sea, her virons the only 1, though such :less have been rranean world of Phoryscus, Jut its unique Jll ornament, ,ale helmeted lUS sees this as she not rather :lief fragment h a small lion :I as related to South and Central Italy In late Republican and Imperial times the motif of a tendril-limbed goddess appeared in Italy in paintings. stucco, terracotta and sculpture, including sarcophagi. It was very popular at Pompeii and Herculaneum,"" with a long acroterium shows an anguipede goddess almost identical to the Macedonian examples. From which Pallene did the deceased originate: was this the Attic deme or the westernmost peninsula of Chalcidice? Hundreds of siInilar Attic stelae lack any depictions of deities, while the anguipede goddess was certainly popular in Cha1cidice, as the Olynthus evidence demonstrates. A northern background seems possible for Philippus. The Near East In the Near East, winged female figures rising from foliage decorate one of the pediments at Baalbek." In Khirbet et-Tannur (Transjordan) in the temple of Atargatis, the goddess appears from a floral scroll, with leaves sprouting from her face and neck. 63 A Hellenistic cast of a helmet, featuring a tendril-limbed winged goddess, was found in Memphis, Egypt". It is perhaps to be related with the Macedonian tradition. 65 Scythians and Greeks 72 Ionia and Cyprus A late fourth-century snake-limbed goddess appears on a capital from Salamis on Cyprus (Fig. 6.3.3) ,'" a centre of the Aphrodite-Astarte cult. In Lycian "lyra, a tomb frieze with tendril-limbed female figures dates to c.350-300." A goddess with legs of vegetal shoots recurs in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor in the centres of the great goddesses of Anatolia. An acroterium of the temple of Artemis Leucophryene at Magnesia (third-second centuries) is a winged female torso wearing a calathusJ elnerging above acanthus leaves. 52 The SaIne design decorated the frieze in the cella of the Artemision," and the capitals of the temple of Zeus Sosipolis," closely associated with Artemis Leucophryene."" In Didyma the same image appeared on the frieze inside the temple of Apollo.56 The image appeared even in the decoration ofsecond-eentury "Megarian" bowls, produced at Pergamum. 57 Later, at Aphrodisias the foliate-skirted goddcss clutching stems of acanthus occurs on pilaster capitals of the Inain entrance to the Hadrianic baths. 58 The snake goddess appears too in the theatre at Termessus,59 while female figures emerging from the acanthus leaves decorated the propylaea of Aphrodite's temenos."" Evidently the image had a cui tic significance. Nude tendril-limbed figures alternate with bees on the dress of the Ephesian goddess herself. 6l A foliate- skirted female figure clutching floral stems crowns the entrance to Hadrian's temple, and winged creatures with snake-like or tendril-shaped legs appear on two depictions of tripods. Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 73 facedonian ,is the Attic imilar Attic 'as certainly I\. northern om Salamis ,ycian Myra, ;1 A goddess linor in the , temple of Igedfemale arne design )itals of the hryene. 55 In of Apollo.56 lrian" bowls, ed goddess entrance to theatre at ~ s decorated ,bed figures .61 A foliate- o Hadrian's ;s appear on 2. :e one of the Le temple of outing frDIn ,dril-limbed related with [)ed goddess e, including with a long Fig. 6.4. 1. Thymiatedon from the area of Croton: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovskaya after Stoop 1960, pI. 12) 2. Volute-crater, Berlin-Branca group: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovskaya after Trendalll989, fig. 191) 3. Gold plaque from Cerveteri (drawing by Helena Sokolovskaya after Marshall 1911, pI. 16, No. 1265). local tradition, besides any influence from further afield." A "proto-image" ofa tendril-limbed goddess first appeared as early as the seventh or sixth centuries, on twin gold plaques from Cerveteri (Fig. 6.4.3),&3 apparently the earliest example of the motif in the Mediterranean. They show a female creature, with two branches springing directly from below her chest and terminating in palmette- like ornaments, with lions' heads on either side; below the branches is an pahnette. A silver cista from Palestrina features a similar female head abm'e a palmette, with volutes instead of branches. li !! Although attributable to an Orientalizing trend in Etruscan art, this sYlnbolisll1 probably also made sense in Etruscan mythology: snake-lilnbcd winged [cIliale creatures appear Oll a series of Etruscan urns. 70 Plants and snakes have lunch in cmUlllon. Sprouting from the earth \\,11erc the dead are buried and blossoming anew each year, plants suggest feculldity. opulence, renewal and afterlife. 71 That was further amalgammed with hllll1an and vegetal elelnents in the tcndril-Ihnbed goddess or the head emcrg'ing from vegetation. This pattern of sYInbols recurs, especially in funerary contexts in South Italy, the Balkans and elsewhere in the Mediterranean and In Magna Graecia too, other therianthropic iInages recall the pattern: for example, a pisciform tritol1,73 tritonness,74 Scylla. 75 Although not quite snake creatures, various therianthropic lllonsters seem to have shared association with tlll' nether world. This association is especially evident in the gilded terracotta decoration of a fourth-century coffin frmn Tarentum,7i 'which looks like a duplicate of ornamented coffins from the Bosporus,7s save for one detail: Scylla takes the place of the anguipede or tendril-limbed goddess. Mythological Background and Symbolism of Half-Snake Creatures ,The role of the anguipede goddess as the ancestress of the Scythialls suggests that she existed in Scythian mythology before intensive contacts with the :\lcdi- terranean world. It has been argued 79 that Herodotus' second \Trsion of the Scythian genealogical Inyth resembles the story of ROSt.:'1Ill and Tahmina in the Inediaeval Iranian Shah-nama by Firdawsi: a hero arrives in a ne\\' COLlnlry: is deprived of his horses when asleep; the mistress of the country tells hilll her wish that he father her child; the hero accept.... ; leaving the cOLilltry and his partner, he gives her a token which is to be passed to his offspring, ',"c kllO\\'110( whether the two authors tapped a related Iranian traditioll or Firdawsi had read his Herodotus. SiInilar tales abound. An Ossetian legend on the birth of the greatest hero. Batraz, makes hirn a son of another hero, Khamytz, by a daughter of a riyer-god Don-bettyr, who wore a turtle's shell during daytime:'lO Again, there is the CcItic fairy MeIusine: breaking his oath, her nlortal husband saw her semi-reptile boch and thus forced her to leave him forcver. sl German mediaeval folklore also has a creature who is half-woman/half-snake, in a cave with a treasure.'';:.' In the Mediterranean, we find dryads elnerging from trees and the like.':; III Lycian Myra coins feature a wmnan cInerging frmn a tree, flanked by nn) snakes and attacked by two Inen with double axes. 84 This image is close to the tcndril- HInbcd goddess,s5 It has been suggested Sti that the coins illustrate the hirth of Adonis to Myrrha, who angered Aphrodite and was punished by her. She fell ill 74 Scythians and Greeks Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 75 inverted above a e to an sense in a series 1 where :undity, human 19from :exts in ld. 72 In ample, Lures,76 neLher )ration :ate of ~ e s the .res ggests Medi- of the in the try; is n her ld his wnot . read bero, r-god :eltic body ) has ,83 In akes dril- .h of ,II in love with her own father and had sex with him. Myrrha was turned into a myrrh- tree and later gave birth to Adonis, to be Aphrodite's lover (Apollod. 3.14.4; Ovid. Met. 10.490). The myth recalls that of Derceto, Aphrodite's wrath- ultimate shame of the girl who had provoked it-her pregnancy and the birth of the child-her metamorphosis. Snake-like and pisciform felnale monsters are known in Inainland Greece. In Phigalia (Arcadia) a goddess who was a fish below the hips was worshipped as Eurynome, taken to be a form of Artemis by the locals (Paus. 8.41.6).87 Better known is Echidna, with whom the Scythian anguipede goddess is compared by Diodorus. Hesiod in the 7lleogony (295ff.) gives her the torso ofa woman and a serpent's tail instead ofhuman legs. Like the Scythian ancestress, Greek Echidna dwelt in a cave (Theog. 302), and descended either from a river, the dreadful Styx (Paus. 8.18.1), or from Gaia, either directly (Apollod. 2.1.2), or via Chrysaor (Hesiod Iheog. 296). Echidna was born from Ge. There was also anguipede Cecrops, the first king of Athens, who introduced his people to religious rituals and marriage (FGH328 F. 94-89)." He was the paradigmatic autochthon: he had no parents, but emerged directly from the Earth (Hygin. Fab. 48). His half-animal form (human above the waist and ophidian below) indicates his dual charactec f19 Like the Scythian ancestress, he was a lilninal figure: founder of a dynasty, born into a primaeval world, only half-human and still resembling the snake, which passes freely between the two worlds of the living and of the dead.!lo The Origins of the Snake Goddess Motif Many hold that tlle snake goddess was essentially an oriental vegetation/fertility goddess, whose image spread over the Mediterranean."] However, she hardly appears in the rich repertory of Near Eastern and Anatolian Inonsters.92 In the Mediterranean world and it.Ii environs, the earliest exalnples of the tendril- or snake-lilnbed creature appear in Italy, South Russia and the northern Balkans. Only later, in the fourth century, are they attested in Lycia and on Cyprus. Moreover, in Northern Europe female creatures with snake-like legs recur through the Bronze and Iron Ages,!l3 earlier than in the Mediterranean. They are attested in early La Tene art, for example,94 on a magnificent gold bracelet from a princely burial at Reinheim (Fig. 6.3.2, dated c.400)-" Anguipede creatures appear too in Late Bronze Age Scandinavia and Germany.96 Indeed, the snake-lilnbed Medusa on the Vix crater, from the burial ofa Celtic princess, lIlay reflect an interpretatio Celtica of the Greek image,97 much as the predilection of Scythians for Gorgons resulted from their own anguipede goddess."' Meanwhile, an early first-millennium goblet froln Luristan shows a two-headed monster with a wOlnan's breasts, hands and hips, and reptile legs, clutching gazelles with both hands. 99 But if tllis Iranian motifinfluenced Greek iconography directly, why did it take Greeks half a millennium to use it? Moreover, the earliest female anguipedes in Greek art are snake-Iinlbed gorgons, not the snake WOlncn of Northern Greece and Scythia. Perhaps the Luristan monster and the Scythian anguipede both belong to a CDInmon Iranian tradition. Artefacts deposited in Scythian burials were produced by Greek artisans to Scythian taste. The Scythian style ofrepresenting the snake goddess was certainly perfected by Greek artisans, but it lnay well have existed earlier and been affiliated with ancient Iranian traditions, as is often the case with Scythian art. Even Greek images from Scythian contexts (e.g. Medusa) appear to connote also local mythological characters. Rather as Herodotus identified Scythian deities with Greek gods, so Scythians might see their ancestral gods in Greek images. 100 In detail the iconographic history of the snake goddess remains obscure, but there SeeIng no reason to seek a Mesopotamian or Anatolian origin for the motif in the Mediterranean world. Several hundred years divide the Luristan monsters froill the art of Ionia. The early occurrence of anguipedes all over Eurasia may imply a shared repertory, but it may also have emerged independ- ently in several places from Northern Europe to India. 101 Its diffusion into the Graeco-ROInan Mediterranean may well have started from Scythia and the northern Balkans. 102 Tendril-Limbed Creatures and Androgyny Winged tendril-limbed creatures, with griffins or panthers, 'were sOIuetimes given beards: on fourth-century marble thrones from Athens (Fig. 6.5.3),103 a winged deity with a calathus and women's clothes holds the ends of vegetal tendrils, flanked by winged griffins. On a contemporaryAthenian column base the deity appears in a similar context (Fig. 6.5.2). Especially interesting is a fourth-century acroterium (Fig. 6.5.4), showing a tendril-limbed, bearded deity, who has a high headdress and holds unicorn panthers (or maybe lions) by their horns. The acroterium belongs to the Hermitage: it was perhaps found to the north of the Black Sea W4 For a gold diadem from the Kul'-Oba tumuhlS (Fig. 6.5.5) 105 (where pendants with the anguipede goddess were found (Fig. 6.1.4)) features bearded and winged figures wearing calathi and legs ending in sea- Illonsters and sprouting pomegranates being eaten by birds. This finn provenance for a bearded version of the deity in turn supports the suggested provenance for the Hermitage acroteriuIl1. But what is the gender of the deity? The calathus is normally worn by a goddess, not a god;W6 symmetrically arranged felines are depicted on either side ofPotnia theron, the garments of the deity in all instances are undoubtedly female, and on the nude torso of the deity shown on the Hermitage acroteriuIll one can perhaps detect breasts, Yet scholars take this to be a male, whether Dionysus, j07 Sabazius, W8 a "Iuale fertility deity", W9 or the "Lord of the animals",l W I-fowever, Sabazius and Dionysus are never portrayed with wings. The solution is probably supplied by fourth-century bronze reliefs from Olynthus (Fig. 6.5.1),111 which 76 Scythians and Greeks Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 77 2. 4. 5. 1. 3. Fig. 6.5. I. Bronze relieffrom Olynthus (from Bessonova 1983, fig. 10) 2. Relief on a column base from Athens (from Bessonova 1983, fig. 10) 3. Relief on a marble throne from Athens (from Bessonova 1983, fig. 10) 4. Acrotclium of unknown origin (from Bessonova 1983, fig. 10) 5. Gold diadem from the Kul'-Oba tumulus: a fragment (drawing by Helena Sokolovskaya after Williams and Ogden 1994, fig. 85). cure, but 1 for the Luristan ; all over ldepend- into the and the les given I winged tendrils, :he deity -century IS a high ns. The .h of the ; (where learded . in sca- lis firm ggested rtisans to ;certainly md been thian art. connote Scythian in Greek ~ o d d e s s , fPotnia lIe, and )ne can lySUS, Hl7 owever, robably I which ,eWOlnen , Scythian Conclusions In areas where a goddess such as Aphrodite, Artemis or Cybele, had a major cult-whether in Asia Minor, the north Black Sea steppe, or at Ascalon, for exanlple-she seems to have been associated with a rather different deity, a half-animal monster which was often distinct from her, but also sOInetimes so close to her that the two almost merged. Anlbiguous by t11eir nature, therianthropic images are a "category of represent- show a bearded, winged deity, with emphasized breasts, a plant above the head and two panthers emergingfrom beneath the waist (i.e. almost the same design as on the Tsymbalka harness-plate (Fig. 6.5, as well as a bird between the panthers. If this bird is a dove, which is most likely,ll2 the Olynthus reliefs presumably represent the androgynous Astarte-Aphrodite.'13 An early fourth- century mosaic from Olynthus l14 shows a deity clutching its tendril-shaped legs, and flanked by two double-bodied sphinxes, but its schematic design does not allow one to discern the sex of the character. 115 The bearded Aphroditus is shown emerging from a scrotal sac on a seventh- century terracotta plaque from Perachora." 6 Photius (s.v. Aphroditos) explained that Aphroditus was Hermaphroditus, and cited fragments from Attic comedies mentioning the divinity. A bearded Aphrodite was worshipped on Cyprus (Paeon, FGH757 F I) and celebrated in Athens in a transvestite rite (Macrob, Saturn. 3.8, FGH328 F 184)."7 Meanwhile, the Scythian Enareis, punished by Aphrodite with the "female disease," are manifestly transvestite. I IS Meuli I 19 stressed their shaIuanic nature: transvestisIll and trans-gender behaviour are elements of shamanic culture. 120 Moreover, recent archaeology attests Scythian transvestitism. At the sanle time, the transvestite androgyny of Enareis suits the cult of Levantine Aphrodite, for castration and male impotence was deeply rooted in the rituals of Aphrodite and Astarte. 121 The deity on the thrones and base from Athens, on the acroterium [rOIIl the Hermitage, and on the Olynthus plaque is probably the androgynous Aphrodite. The Kul'-Oba diadem is an additional indication of the bisexual nature of the goddess to the north of the Black Sea. Most important, perhaps, the bearded androgynous Aphrodite-Astarte is shown here in a posture typical of the Black Sea anguipede goddess. This is a striking expression of the relationship between Aphrodite and the anguipede goddess, as otherwise shown in myth, ritual and iconography. 122 The snake-limbed goddess was in the eyes of the Scythians a primordial being, the progenitor of the human race. Ambiguity of gendel; probably expressing the deity's all-inclusiveness, was conunon to several divinities, who usually had a conventional gender, but deviated from it in cult, mythology and iconography."3 We may compare the German priInaeval god Tuisto, also bisexual, a scion of the earth and the parent of the first man, named Mannus (Tac. Germ. 2.3) ."4 78 Scythians and G,.eks I ation betwixt and between other categories ... [they] are frequently associated with rituals of transition and liminality, or with the intermediate stages of creation, when the world is in neither its primal nor its finished state". 125 At this transitional stage, when the conntry of Scythia already existed but was not inhabited by men, the angnipede goddess gave birth to the Scythian people. Similarly in Greek belief, in the primordial world before people learnt the laws of civilized life, angnipede creatures flourished. Snakes are creatures ofambignous character, gliding between the worlds above and below the earth, capable of bringing death and opulence. Plants growfrom the depth of the earth, where the dead depart; they evoke fertility and renewal. Accordingly, both snakes and plants embody the ideas of death and revival. The combination of human and vegetal or serpentine elements in a divine image implies the deity's power oflife and death. Further, the duality inherent in the combination of human and animal or vegetal elements is enhanced by the androgyny of the snake- and tendril-limbed creature. The androgyny shared by the Scythian "pair" of goddesses (Argimpasa- Aphrodite and the angnipede nymph) is evident in iconography, mythology and cult, as it is also in the examples from Attica and Olynthus. The ambiguity of gender seems congenital to therianthropic monsters. love the head ~ same design between the rnthus reliefs early fourth- I-shaped legs, sign does not on a seventh- os) explained ttie comedies rpms (Paeon, crob, Saturn. the "female lanie nature: lie cuIture. 12(1 le same time, phrodite, for )f Aphrodite urn [roIll the lSAphrodite. lature of the the bearded of the Black ;hip between h, ritual and ordial being, y expressing usually had a mography.l23 tI, a scion of mn.2.3).I24 had a major Ascalon, for rent deity, a )metimes so ::>f represcnt- Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses 79 194 Scythians and Greeks Savostina (1999, 200-1), pointing out the variety of details in the execution, assumes that they may have been made by different craftsmen but in one workshop, designated as the Pectoral Workshop. Schwarmaier also suggests a considerable chronological difference: she dates the pectoral from Tolstaya Mogila to c.3205, while the piece from Bol'shaya Bliznitsa to the early third century. 106. Cat. SchleffiJig1991, No. 106; Cat. Vienna 1993, No. 30. Kiev, Mus. of Hist. Treas., inv. AZS-3484. 107. Petrenko 1978, pI. 31, I; Galanina and Grach 1986, figs. 236-7; Cat. Hamhmg 1993, No. 65. Hermitage, inv. Kp 1891. 1/26. 108. Deppert-Lippitz 1985, 158, fig. 11; Pfrommer 1990a, 101, 105, pI. 17, 3; Williams and Ogden 1994, No. 96; Cat. Bonn 1997, No. 53. Hermitage, inv. P. 1854.28-9. 109. See, e.g., Williams and Ogden 1994, No. 93: from Pantikapaion, c.400; Cat. Bonn 1997, No. 51. Hermitage, iov. P. 1854.24. 110. Cherednichenko and Murzin 1996, 73, 76, fig. 10; Cat. San Antonio 1999, No. 100. Kiev, Mus. of Hist. Treas., inv. AZS-3079. Ill. Ognenova 1961, 528-32, figs. 15-16, 18; Cat. Vienna 1975, No. 282; Archibald 1985, 165 ff.; 1998,255-7; Bessios and Pappa n.d., 92a-b; Faklaris 1991, 1-16, pIs. 1-9, 11- 12; Musti et aI., 1992, 188, fig. 147.11; 273; Cat. Florence 1997, No. 144; Fornasier 1997, 137-40, fig. 47; Knll 1997b, 362, fig. 78, 3; 365. A fragmented piece was recently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum (Purchase. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Gift, 1996. 1996. 248). Its vertical neck-guard is ornamented with rectangular panels enclosing pairs of confronted seated lions, a cow's head between them, interspersed with eight-petalled rosettes, with concentric decorative bands below. See: Christie's Antiquities. 14June 1996 (NewYork). No. 45. 112. Fornasier 1997, 119-46, esp. 145-6. 113. Archibald 1985, 181. The Bosporan origin of the pectorals from l1uace and Macedonia, suggested by Hoddinott (1981, 106--7), seems very improbable. 114. Hoddinott 1975, 72-3, pI. 43; 1981, 106-7, fig. 100; Archibald 1985, 166-7, figs. 1-2; Faklaris 1991,8-9, pI. 9, Cat. Florence 1997, No. 144. Sofia, Arch. Museum, inv. 6401 (Mal-Tepe) . 115. See, for example, Themelis and Touratsoglou 1997, pIs. 14-16,74,75. Thessaloniki, Arch. Mus., inv B 1. 116. See Treister in press b. 117. Artamonov 1970, fig. 186; Rolle 1979,106; 1980, 141; Marazov 1980, 75, fig. 57; Bessonova 1983,94-5, fig. 18; Galanina and Grach 1986, fig. 144; Pfrommer 1990a, 73, note 26, No.5; Cat. Schleswig1991, 152, fig. 1; Cat. Hamburg1993, No. 52; Boardman 1994,209, fig. 6, 32;Jacobson 1995, 272-3, fig. 142; Michel 1995, 171-3, K 10, fig. on p. 224; Kull 1997b, 386-7, fig. 90, 2; Ustinova 1999,94-5, pI. 6, 1,6. Hermitage, inv. Dn 1868. 1/8. 118. Mozolevskiy 1979, 39, fig. 23; Rolle 1979, 106;Jacobson 1995,272. Kiev, Mus. of Hist. Treas. 119. See Treister forthcoming c. Moscow, private collection. 120. See above note 24. Hermitage, inv. Dn 1911. 1/11. 121. See above note 25. Kiev, Mus. of Hist. Treas., inv. AZS-2358. 122. See above note 26. Hermitage. 123. See above note 27. Hermitage, inv. 2495/31. 124. Detailed analysis, see Treister in press c. 6 Snake-Limbed and Tendril-Limbed Goddesses in the Art and Mythology of the Mediterranean and Black Sea 1. This term, as well as Rankengiittin and Rankenwesen, denotes a snake- or tendril-limbed semi-human female monster. Notes: pages 62-70 195 lSsumes ignated Cllogical ce from inv. , 'g 1993, lfiS and m 1997, 10. 100. d 1985, -9,11- " 1997, 'ecently 11dation - panels spersed
edonia, gs. 1-2; I IV. 6401 aloniki, t' fig. 57; . 1990a, ardman ,fig. on 1ge, inv. of Hist. t and -limbed 2. For a detailed discussion ofthe evidence on mythology and cult ofthe Scythian anguipede goddess, see Ustinova 1999, 87-99. 3. Artamonov 1961, 66; Rayevskiy 1977, 46-8; Bessonova 1983, 37. 4. For Api-Ge, see Ustinova 1999, 74-5. 5. For Argimpasa, see Ustinova 1999, 75-87. 6. For Enareis and their androgyny, see also below. 7. Boedeker 1974, 4; Schurer 1979, 31. 8. Flemberg 1991, 14. 9. For this cult, see Ustinova 1999, 80-3. 10. Straba 16.4.27; Plin. Nat. Hist. 5.19.81; Lucian, De Den Syria 14. For Atargatis, see Harig 1984; Bilde 1990. II. Ustinova 1999, 128. 12. Rostovtzeff 1922, 107; Ivanova 1951; Pyatysheva 1947; Rayevskiy ] 977,52-3; Bessonova 1983,93-8. 13. Bessonova 1983, 94. 14. Ivanova 1951; Petrov and Makarevich 1963; Bessonova 1983, 93. 15. Bessonova 1983, 93. 16. Pyatysheva 1971, 102. 17. Treister forthcoming. Michael Treister discussed this plaque in his paper 'Die Ranken- gottin - Ein neues Silberreliefvon der Krim,' delivered at the colloquium Griechen und NichtgJiechen am N(Jrdmnd des Schwarzen Meeres, in Munster Ganuary 2001). I am very grateful to Michael Treister for having kindly given me the manuscript of the relevant chapter from his forthcoming book. 18. Bessonova 1983, 94. 19. Stoop 1960, 53. 20. Curtius 1934, fig. 2. 21. Ustinova 1999, 155-7. 22. For the Tree of Life and fertility goddesses, see Przyluski 1950, 94, 148. For the Tree of All Remedies in Iranian beliefs, see Rashn Yasht 17; Yarshater 1983, 346, 352. For the association of snakes with the World-Tree in the Edda, see Welsford 1960, 420. 23. For the connections between artistic traditions of Scythia and Luristan see Ghirshman 1964,301-29; Bessonova 1983, 82. 24. Godard 1931, pI. 52; 1962, pI. 34. 25. Godard 1962, fig. 78; Ghirshman 1954, pI. 8a; 1964, ill. 58. 26. Rayevskiy 1977, 55; Bessonova 1983, 96. 27. Godard 1931, pI. 36; Ghirshman 1964,46. 28. For severed human heads in the art and cults of Scythians, Sarmatians and Thracians, see Ustinova 1999, 98-9, ]69. 29. MacCulloch 1960; Crooke 1960; Welsford 1960. 30. For a survey of the iconographic evidence on Rankenwesen from the Mediterranean, with an emphasis on Asia Minor, see Pfrommer 1990b; Veit (1990) adopts a broader approach, both in terms of geography and chronology, treating materials from the whole of Eurasia, dating from the antiquity to the modern epoch. 31. Mobius 1968, 717. 32. Cf. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950, 5; Curtius 1934, 231; 1958, 200; Schauenburg 1957,210,220. 33. To be discussed below, p. 34. 34. Stoop 1960, 61. 35. Andronicos 1984, figs 19,20. 36. Andronicos 1984, pI. 61. 37. A winged and foliate-skirted figure on the arch of Galerius at Saloniki, and a pair of pilaster capitals from Perinthus featuring female figures rising from acanthus leaves, may belong to the late Imperial, rather than local, tradition (Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950,31). 38. Ibid., 31. 39. Robertson 1975, pI. 152c. 40. Fa! et al. 1986, 116, figs. 29, 30; Chichikova 1989; figs. 2-6. 41. Fa! et al. 1986, 117; Chichikova 1989, 208. 42. Mobius (1968,717) interprets the female figure emerging from a scroll ornament, painted on a fifth-century Be lekythos, as a 'fancy creation ofthe author,' since it has no attributes of a divinity. Is not the fantastic shape sufficient to prove that the image on the vase was conceived as a supernatural being, and not just as a mortal? 43. Ibid., 716. 44. For this aspect of Aphrodite's divine personality, see Flemberg 1991; Pirenne-Delforge 1994, 33, 208-9, 450-4. 45. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950, 7. The lion was not intended just to 'enliven the scene,' as Toynbee and Ward Perkins claim. 46. Stoop 1960, 52. 47. Curtius 1958, fig. 34. 48. Marshall 1911, No. 1610. 49. Curtius 1958, 197-8. 50. Curtius 1958, 195, fig. 28; Schmidt-Colinet 1977, 229, No. W 35. 51. Schmidt-Colinet 1977, 219, No. W 9; Bean 1978, 125, fig. 14. 52. Humann et a1. 1904,67,69, figs. 57, 60; cr. Laumonier 1958, 532. 53. Humann et al. 1904,75,77, figs. 65, 69. 54. Ibid., 147, fig. 158. 55. Laumonier 1958, 535. 56. Wiegand 1941, pIs 107-9; Schmidt-Colinet 1977, 219, No. W II. 57. De Luca 1990, 161. 58. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950, 31, 34, pI. 24. 2. 59. Curtius 1934, 231. 60. Laumonier 1958, 482; pI. 10. Related designs are also rather common. A three-quarter- length female figure wearing calathus is portrayed emerging from a calyx and clutching leafY boughs on a stone table from Athena's sanctuary in Priene. A similar nude female figure appears on the main gable of the scenae frons at Aspendus. A winged goddess emerging from acanthus leaves was represented in the Pergamon Trajaneum. A series of terracotta incense-burners from South Italy feature female heads and busts, often nude, crowned by a flower and sometimes emerging from a floral calyx. They were discovered mainly in Heraion on the Sele, near Paestum, and are dated to the fourth and third centuries Be. Judging by the goddess' nudity and the representation of one or two Erotes above her shoulders, these thymiateria portray Aphrodite. An incense- burner from the sanctuary of Hera near Croton (Fig. 6.4a) is exceptional, as it shows a winged tendril-limbed goddess, clutching volutes spreading from below her waist, with a calathus, consisting of leaves or petals. A calyx that emerges from the calathus and the tendril-limbed goddess was apparent in Italy. Apulian vases often feature not only heads in floral scrolls on their necks and shoulders, but also sepulchral or undenvorld scenes on the bodies. Several hundred small clay altars from South and Central Italy and Sicily, dating from Archaic to Hellenistic times, show the same tendency: the majority are decorated with frontal representations of female heads surrounded by vegetal volutes, whereas some specimens feature complete tendril-limbed female figures. Thus, on terracotta thymiateria and arulae, as in vase painting, representations ofheads and busts emerging from florals dominate, but the Rankenfrau-type also occurs. Chthonic symbolism of the head emerging from vegetal scroll details featuring female heads surrounded by scrolls usually belong to tombs. Most terracotta arulae feature funeral subjects, such as sphinxes, griffins, Nereids or Bacchic scenes, and were found in tombs, or in sanctuaries of goddesses, connected with chthonic cults. Gold diadems were placed in graves, as well. In Etruria, a third-century BC sarcophagus from Cerveteri exemplifies 196 Scythians and Greeks the occurrence of the motif in sepulchral art. 61. Fleischer 1973, 100-2, figs. 7, 8, 19, 21, 33, 34. 62. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950, 31. 63. Glueck 1937, pis. 14, 15. 64. Toyubee and Ward Perkins 1950, 4-5, fig. on p. 4. 65. Stoop 1960, 61. 66. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950,7,9,18; Curtius 1934, 228-30, figs. 1,5; 1958, 195, 198-201,205, figs 29, 36, 43. 67. The Greek epithet of the deceased wife in a Latin epitaph from Rome (IG XIV 2036",IGUR 974), is perhaps to be related to this tradition, rather than to be interpreted asa 'female initiate into an esoteric religious association' ,asAronen 0996,132) suggests. 68. Marshall 1911, Nos. 1265-6; d. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950, 5. 69. Langlotz 1995, pI. 5. 1; Str0m 1971, figs. 104, 105; 1990,94, pI. 5. 70. Veit 1990, fig. 12. Several urns featuring similar motifs are preserved in the Archaeological Museum in Florence (inv. 5471, 5551, 5554). Male snake- and fish-limbed figures occur in Etruscan sepulchral art: a snake-limbed giant is painted in the first-eentury BC Tomb of the Typhon in Tarquinia (Pallottino 1952, 127), and a fish- or snake-limbed oarsman appears in the fourth-century BC Tomb of Stucco Reliefs in Cerveteri (Pallottino 1955, fig. 9; Mansuelli 1966, pI. 27). This oarsman, depicted next to Cerberos, is Charon, who is not only chthonic, but also an emphatically liminal figure, an embodiment of the transition between the world of the living and the world of the dead. 71. Cf. Burkert (1987) on the symbolism of Eleusinian and Dionysiac mysteries, both celebrated in honour ofvegetation/fertility deities. For plants and flowers in sepulchral art, see Schauenberg 1957,202-4. 72. The occurrence of nude female figures rising from the acanthus in Roman Gaul and Germany may derive from the artistic tradition ofImperial Rome. However, in the context of local culture they were perhaps conceived as associated with some indigenous personages. Twin reliefs from Noricum may illustrate this point. There are no indigenous features in the artistic style of these reliefs, featuring winged creatures with pisciform legs finishing in ivy tendrils, surrounded by dolphins, shells and cornucopia. Yet these rehefs, which are attributed to a syncretistic cult ofNoreia Isis, have no parallels elsewhere, and the nature of the cult implies that the monstrous image was meaningful both to the Roman colonists and to the local population. Figures of double nature, human/vegetal or human/ophidian, prevail in the Eastern Mediterranean, but form only a minority in Italy, whereas the situation regarding busts and heads, rising from or surrounded by floral elements is exactly the opposite, as Stoop rightly observes. They are relatively rare in the East, and predominate in the West. However, iconographic proximity of the two types, their occurrence in the same areas and their semantic interchangeability on art objects prevent clear distinction between them. Figures with legs in the form of coiling snakes are found only in Scythia and in the Eastern Mediterranean, besides the snake- limbed Medusa on bronze craters. The Pontic repertory, which includes not only semi- bestial and semi-vegetal, but also transitional forms, combining both tendrils and snakes, implies that the two types are contiguous 73. E.g. Langlotz 1995, figs. 122, 123. For the iconography of tritons, see Icard-Gianolio 1997,68-85. Tritons are very common in Etruscan art, and seem to have penetrated it under the Greek influence (Camporeale 1997, 85-90). 74. Trendall and Cambitoglou 1978-82, 2, pI. 397, 2-6. 75. E.g. Trendall and Cambitoglou 1978-82, vol. 2: 1025-1026, pis. 396: 6, 397; Trendall 1989, figs. 63, 270; Pugliese Caratelli 1996, cat. No. 345. Scylla, a man-eating monster, makes her first appearance in literature in the Odyssey (12. 73 f.). The scholiast on the Odyssey mentions also dogs at her sides, and the coiled form of her feet. For a survey of Greek and Roman sources on Scylla, and arguments for the monster's connection to Lamashtu, see D.R. West 1995, 303-7. I ornament, lce it has no Ie image on ne-Delforge enliven the ee-quarter- j clutching Lldefemale ;:.d goddess m. A series lUSts, often They were the fourth ion of one n incense- ; it shows a waist, with us and the only heads )rld scenes and Sicily, ajority are :al volutes, Thus, on ; and busts Chthonic lale heads re funeral lin tombs, ere placed {emplifies Notes: pages 70-74 197 76. Scylla is represented with one tail and in profile in early Greek art; when portrayed in frontal position, she acquired the second tail, the earliest example being an Attic red- figure fragment. These two tails sometimes end in dragons' heads rather than fins (Stoop 1960,59). For the development of Scylla's iconography, see Andreale 1999, 303-19. 77. Pugliese Cararelli 1996, cat. No. 298. 78. E.g. Minns 1913, fig. 277. 79. Tolstoy 1966, 245--6; Rayevskiy 1985, 38-45. 80. V.F. Miller 1882, 200; Tolstoy 1966, 245. 81. MacCulloch 1960,410; Boehlau 1989, 518. 82. Tolstoy 1966, 240--1, with refs. 83. Cf. Veit 1990,12. 84. Laumonier 1958, 496, pI. 12, 19; Cook 1914-40, vol. 2, fIg. 620. See above on the decorated tomb there. 85. Laumonier 1958, 496-7. 86. Cook 1914-40, 2, 680. 87. Jost 1985, 412-14. 88. Parker 1990, 197-8. 89. Eur. Ion 1163; Aristoph. Vesp. 438; Apollod. 3.14.1); Parker 1990, 193, 195. 90. Titans, the offspring of Ge, who also lived in the Golden Age and are called by Hesiod 'the former gods', struggled against Zeus and his siblings (Hesiod. Theog. 134ff., 621 ff.). Some myths regard them as progenitors of humans: mankind emerged from their ashes (Graf 1993, 97). In the late fifth-fourth century BC, Titans become synonymous with Giants (Bavant 1997,31-2). In early Greek art Giants are entirely anthropomorphic, but starting in the late fifth-early fourth century BC they were depicted as anguipedc (Vian 1988, 192,253). This transformation resulted from the assimilation of all the Titans to their awesome half-brother, the Earth-born Typhoeus (Theog. 820 ff.), who was represented as anguipede already in Archaic art (Touchefeu-Meynier and Krauskopf 1997,147-52). For the Near Eastern origin of the Greek conception of Titanomachia see Burkert 1992, 94-5; Penglase 1994, 192; M.L. West 1997, 296-300; for Typhoeus see M.L. West 1997, 300-4. Emphatic cosmic symbolism and representation of the nether-world are also suggested for two quite different later groups of anguipede creatures, giants on jupiter-Giants columns and cock-headed creatures with reptile legs portrayed on so- called gnostic amulets. Late second-third century AD juppitersaiile, found in the Rhineland, are crowned by triumphant horsemen supported by bending snake-limbed giants. Nilsson (1960) convincingly argues that these columns express cosmic symbolism, showing the highest god of Heaven, who holds sway over the upper and nether worlds, the latter denoted by the giant. The image engraved on the magical amulets conveys the same idea: the cock's head symbolizes the creature's power over the universe as the god of Sun and Heaven, whereas his ophidian legs indicate that he is also the Lord of the undenvorld. In Hesiod (11reog. 120), Eros is a cosmic ubiquitous force, and the god's pervasiveness (as well as the Italic tradition of showing him surrounded byflorals) may be the reason behind the trend to depict Erotes as Rankenwesen in Imperial art, for instance, on a relief from the Trajan's forum. Regrettably, no local myths of Rankenwesen survived to account for the popularity of these creatures in the art of Etruscans and Greeks. Indian Nagas' dual power over life and death, wealth and famine, as well as their role as progenitors of ruling families, and bestowers of king's authority, are characteristic of other anguipede therianthropic figures. 91. Curtius 1958, 196; Stoop 1960, 45-50, 57; Veit 1990, 21-4; d. von Lorentz 1937, 177. 92. Stoop (1960,45-6) cites Perrot (1937) for 'the motive of the human figure with vegetable elements developing from the head or the limbs or substituting a greater or smaller part of the body' as common in the art of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. However, these are figures havingfeetand shown either holding branches in their hands, or with branches 198 Scythians and Greeks attached to their cloths (Perrot 1937, 55-9, figs 30-33). So far, I have failed to find designs similar to Rankenfrau in the art of the Levant. Moreover, Stoop (1960, 57) cites von Lorentz (1937, 165) as suggesting that the motif in question was diffused from Ionia to Greek colonies east and west by means of the export of embroidered textiles. Yet von Lorentz refers to a single hypothetic Oriental predecessor of various Rankenwesen, a representation ofAhura Mazda inside a winged solar circle on a Persian cylinder, supposing that the tail of the eagle could later develop into tendrils (1937, 177), which is rather dubious. Thus, the hypothetic Oriental prototype of the iconographic scheme of Rankenwesen still remains to be found. 93. Gimbulas 1991, 132. 94. A male Celtic god Cernunnos is portrayed with ram-horned snakes forming his legs on a relief from Cirencester (Gloucestershire; Green 1992,227, fig. 7.18). On a stele from Vendoeuvres (Indre) Cernunnuos is flanked by two human-headed snakes (Ibid., 227-8) . 95. Scholars discussing this bracelet (Duval 1977, 61, figs. 19,48; Gimbutas 1991, 132, fig. 214; Green 1998, 189, fig. 95) fail to notice that the hands of the monster rest on her vulva, depicted in a realistic manner. Helena Sokolovskaya drew my attention to this detail. 96. cr. Gimbutas 1989, 132, fig. 214. 2 (Pictish). 97. The buried princess must have been a priestess, and the religious character ofthe Vix burial seems apparent to many scholars (Hatt 1970, 90), although it is questioned by others (Megaw 1966, 41). Hatt even suggests that the decoration of the crater, the procession of warriors round Artemis, represented 'in the eyes ofthe Gauls... a cavalcade of warriors in honour of a native goddess' (1970,91). 98. USlinova 1999, 110-11. 99. Godard 1962, pI. 34. 100. For indigenous and Greek elements in Scythian art, sec Ustinova 1999, 18-23, with refs. 101. Schauenburg (1957, 218) suggests spontaneous development of Rankenmotive in various parts of the HeIIenic world. 102. Stoop, although insisting on the Near Eastern provenance of the motif, arrives at similar conclusions concerning its diffusion in the Mediterranean (1960, 63) 103. Mobius 1926, 121; Kraus 1954. Although Richter (1954) maintains that these thrones are Roman copies of a common fourth-century BC Greek original, this does not affect the discussion of the iconographic type (d. Schauenburg 1957, 217). 104. Mobius 1926, 121. 105. Williams and Ogden 1994, 142-3. 106. There are some rare exceptions, limited to Zeus, Hades, Sabazios, Dionysos and Asclepios (Laumonier 1958, 337). 107. Langlotz 1932a, 182. 108. Toynbee and Ward Perkins 1950,5; Kraus 1954, 43; Picard 1961, 135; Mobius 1968, 717; Segall 1955, 212. 109. Ivanova 1954, 197. 110. Robinson 1941, 31; Bessonova 1983, 86. Ill. Robinson 1941,31, pI. 5,16. 112. It does not resemble an eagle, as Picard (1961, 135) argues. For pigeons depicted en face, their wings spread, see Ustinova 1999, 105-6. 113. For doves as birds sacred to Aphrodite and Astarte, see HeIck 1971, 274; Pirenne- Delforge 1994, 415-17. 114. von Lorentz 1937, pI. 44; Robinson 1941, pI. 6A. 115. There is no doubt that some male deities and other mythological figures were often portrayed as snake-limbed: Greek characters such as Cecrops and Giants, some Etruscan demons, putti in Imperial Roman art, and figures onJuppitersaule in Roman Germany 199 Notes: pages 74-78 'sted son 1 so- the ,bed ism, ~ l d s , veys the d of the als) art, ; of t of n the esiod ,621 their nous phic, pede I the .ne, 'ity, yed in ic red- Stoop -19. 77. ble Iler ese Iles ) was kopf chia Deus 200 Scythians and Greeks (all of them already discussed above). Some of these are winged: figures on Attic three- sided bases published by Mobius (1926, table 18), various anguipede giants (Vian 1988, 250-1) and Erotes. However, none of these wears female dress or headgear, and when the composition allows, their male genitalia are shown. Their general attitude differs from the fixed Rankengottin-type. 116. Payne 1940, pI. 102; Pirenne-Delforge 1994, 123. 117. Comastic cross-dressing is depicted on a series ofAttic vases (M.e. Miller 1999), gender ambiguity attested in other cuitic aspects of Dionysos (ibid., 242). However, comasts and Dionysus himself, even when transvestite, do not have wings. Transvestite festivals were also celebrated for Artemis (ibid., 242), but not in Athens. Thus, although Artemis was indeed portrayed as winged, Aphrodite remains the most plausible identification for the deities depicted on the objects under discussion. For Artemis and Aphrodite represented as winged, see Ustinova 1999, 109. Ephrat Habas-Rubin drew my attention to M.e. Miller's paper. ll8. Halliday 1910/ll; Khazanov 1973, 43; Taylor 1996, 2ll-14. ll9. Meuli 1935, 127-30. 120. For a detailed discussion of Scythian Enareis see Ustinova 1999, 76-9. 121. Delcourt 1958; Herter 1960, 71-5; Ustinova 1999, 37-8. 122. The androgyny of the Scythian goddess perhaps finds its clearest expression in a very curious terracotta figurine, probably produced on the Bosporus, which was discovered in a late Scythian (first century AD) grave near the village of Krasny Mayak, in the Lower Dnieper area (Symonovich 1981). The figurine is a herm "With male genitals; the head is, however, female, with a typical female headdress and a radiate nimbus. 123. Herter 1960, 75; Cook 1914-40, vol. 2, 674-5; Laumonier 1958, 77-81; Flemberg 1991, 13--14; M.e. Miller 1999, 242-3. For a discussion of androgyny in Indo-European and non-Indo-European cultures, see O'Flaherty 1982, 283-334. 124. Much 1967,51-2; Polomo 1987, 522; cf. Anderson 1938, 39. 125. Walens 1987, 481. , 7 Pericles, Cleon and the Pontus: The Black Sea inAthens c.440-421 * It is a pleasure to acknowledge the benefit I have gained from discussions of these matters with Daniel Ogden, Keith Sidwell andJohn Wilkins (on history and comedy), as well as David Blackman, Stephen Lambert and Anna Rusyayeva (on matters of epigraphy). Of course, I am responsible for the views expressed. 1. Modern scholarship on the expedition is surveyed well by Karamoutsou 1979, though her early date for the expedition is untenable: see Mattingly 1996b, with further hypotheses, on which more below. 2. Stadter 1989, 217 seems to agree, but he also allows that much of the account might be 'a rhetorical elaboration of the Sinope affair'. Yet it is not so elaborate or rhetorical and, crucially, the Sinope affair (under Lamachus almost as much as Pericles) looks more like an appendage to Pericles' expedition than vice versa. 3. Mattingly 1996a, 150 hears echoes at TIme. 2.41.4 and 62.2. See below on Hennippus too. 4. Strabo 12.3.11, p. 545 gives a first-hand account of the city and its defences, making clear why it was seldom taken by force. 5. See e.g. Mattingly 1996a, 148-9, noting that Lamachus' relative youth in the 430s tells against any attempt to locate the expedition much earlier; also Meiggs 1972, 197-9. However, the deposit of a coin hoard in the vicinity c.420 (Mattingly 1996a, 497-9) seems irrelevant to these matters of historical chronology. 6. On the close chronology and uncertain context/causes of Byzantium's revolt, see Fornara 1979, 7-8.