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Hera of Kanathos and the Ludovisi Throne

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

S. Casson
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Extract

Of all the interpretations of the Ludovisi throne it is generally agreed that none is entirely convincing. For that reason any new suggestions that I have to bring forward here should only be interpreted as an attempt to indicate a fresh line of investigation that may perhaps lead to a more complete understanding of this most difficult of archaeological problems.

At the outset we are faced with the almost universally accepted view that the subject of the Ludovisi throne is the Birth of Aphrodite, with representatives of the cult or devotees shown on the side panels. Once this is admitted the explanation of the details of scene becomes a matter of purest academical or technical dispute. Similarly, the important corollary follows that the Boston counterpart, whatever we may think of its date or style, represents but other aspects, clearly more complicated, of the Aphrodite cult.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , 1920 , pp. 137 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1920

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References

1 During the spring of this year I had occasion to visit the Museum at Nauplia. The terracottas, of which I show photographs below, impressed me at the time as bearing some sort of relation to the Ludovisi throne. A re-reading of Pausanias, coupled with a close examination of the throne early in June, suggested what this relation might be. I must here express my indebtedness to Mr. A. W. Lawrence of New College, Oxford, for his help and collaboration. It was he who called my attention to the importance of the passage in Pausanias here dealt with (ii. 38. 2).

2 From SirSandys', John translation. For the meaning of τϵλϵία see Class. Rev. xv. p. 446Google Scholar. Mr. Bayfield denies that the word τϵλϵία in any way connotes ‘marriage’ though he admits that Ἥρα τϵλϵία was to Greeks the goddess of marriage rites. Sir John Sandys is clearly not in agreement with him in regard to the meaning of τϵλϵία. For another reference to Ἥρα τϵλϵία in the fifth century see Aeschylus, , Eum. 214Google Scholar.

3 Paus. ii. 36.

4 Id. viii. 22, 2.

5 Id. ix. 2. 5.

6 Some of these figures, such as that shown in Fig. 1 (left), seem to represent the ξόανον which Peirasos set up at Tiryns and which was seen later by Pausanias at the Heraeum (ii. 17, 5).

7 Paus. ii. 38. 2.

8 See Dickins, G., Acropolis Museum Catalogue, i. p. 33Google Scholar.

9 Amor. iii. 13.

10 A.J.A., 1918, p. 118.

11 One objection to the attribution of the Boston throne to the early fifth century that has not, I think, been noted before is that the wing feathers of the Eros are not of an early type but resemble rather the wing feathers from the Parthenon pediment or from the Nike Temple balustrade. (Cf. wing fragments nos. 176, 208, 3473–4, 3478–80 in the Acropolis museum and see Prandtl, in Ath. Mitth. 1908, Pl. II. 10Google Scholar.)