A Theriomorphic Representation of Hekate-Artemis
| Autor: | Rudolph Reitler |
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| Rok vydání: | 1949 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | American Journal of Archaeology. 53:29-31 |
| ISSN: | 1939-828X 0002-9114 |
| DOI: | 10.2307/501210 |
| Popis: | T HE following little study was called forth by an archaic Greek scarabaeoid from my collection, bought in Lattakia (Syria), which is remarkable for its high artistic qualities as well as its unconventional design. The seal is made from hard black stone measuring in its original condition 15 X 19 mm. with a height of 7 mm. Its back is damaged on both ends of the bore hole, obviously due to the removal of a ring of precious metal, but, fortunately, the design is almost perfectly preserved. The many details, hardly visible in the original size, are brought out only by enlargement (pl. vI, A). The design represents a female dog in the moment of whelping. The animal is lying in the characteristic position, well known to every dog breeder, with the tail lifted towards the back, both forelegs and one hindleg cramped in the ground, the other hindleg raised and the head turned attentively backwards to the exposed vulva, ready to snatch the arriving puppy and to liberate it with her teeth from the umbilical cord and the amniotic membrane in which puppies are born. The bulging abdomen presses the ribs outwards and shows two superimposed rows of teats, five in each row. The face of the animal, with the lips retracted backwards and the eyes directed to the abdomen, expresses at the same time strain and attention -a mixture of opposing emotions quite typical for the act of whelping in dogs. The whole representation betrays an intimate knowledge of canine behavior and is masterly executed. In spite of its very small size all the details are meticulously worked out as, for instance, the expression of the muzzle made by the curved and retracted lips, the mane on the neck, the collar, the claws and the shaggy tail. But in contrast to the otherwise correct proportions, the size of the teats is definitely exaggerated. The picture is set in a very fine cable-border frame and it should be noted how an equilibrium is achieved, within the given space, by the movements of head and lifted hindleg, enclosed by the graceful curves of neck and tail. The linear composition of the whole design is based on two crossing Sshaped lines (one formed by the neck and the resting hindleg, the other one by the tail and both forelegs), a composition scheme favored by seal cutters since early Sumerian times. According to its style our seal belongs to the Eastern Greek (Ionian) glyptic of the end of the sixth century B.C. The breed of the dog can easily be identified by the fox-like head on a sturdy body with moderately long and rather slender legs. It is the "Lacedaemonian dog" mentioned by Aristoteles as a hybrid of fox and dog (De part. anim., viii, e7) and probably identical with Xenophon's aXwnWtKs (Kyneget. 3). Representations of this breed are found on vase paintings of the sixth and fifth centuries B.c.1 But does the picture really mean nothing else than a whelping Lacedaemonian bitch? Subjects from the daily life of animals apparently without any magic or religious purpose, are found on seals only from the classical period onwards. In earlier seal pictures of this |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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