aphrodite on a ladder

17 Pages·2008·0.45 MB·English

APHRODITE ON A LADDER
(PLATES 17-19)
N JULY OF 1981, in Byzantinel evelsa bovea ndw est of what was soont o be identified
as the Stoa Poikile, the excavatorso f the Athenian Agora found two joining fragmentso f
a Classical votive relief (P1. 17:a).1 The relief is framed by simple moldings: taenia and
ovolo at top and a plain band at the right side. In the pictorial field is preservedt he head of a
young woman carved in low relief. She gazes down to the left at a vessel raised in her right
hand. Her head is coveredb y a short veil. Above and behind the veil are two rungs and the
vertical supports of a ladder whose upper end disappearsb ehind the frame. Although frag-
mentary and weathered, the relief provides a precious document for the study of Classical
relief sculpture, and its unusual iconographyg ives a valuable clue to the identity of one of
the deities worshiped in the area.
Most of the figure'sp rofile is broken away, but the carefully carvedl ines of the lips and
eye show that the sculptor took pains to give her delicate features. Her hair, where it ap-
pears below the veil, is mostly worn away. Along the side of her face appear waves of hair
with a scallopedc ontour.N o trace of her ear is preserved.I t was either very small or hidden
beneath her hair. Folds of the veil cross her head in bifurcating linear patterns of rounded
ridges. Below her hair two folds fall down along her neck, while others, from the hidden
right side of her head, blow out behind in sweeping curves. The edge of the cloth is pre-
served along the outer support of the ladder, but wear on this part of the relief surface has
erased most traces of its linear pattern. Traces of thumb and fingers show that she grasped
the vessel in her right hand firmly aroundt he base. The vessel itself has a rather broad stem
I T. L. Shear, Jr., "The Athenian Agora: Excavationso f 1980-1982," Hesperia 53, 1984, p. 38. Inv. no.
S 3344. P.H. 0.22 m., p.W. 0.23 m., Th. 0.055 m. Lower left fragment found July 7, 1981 in 9th-century
levels near a Byzantine wall west of the Stoa Poikile (J 3). Upper fragment found July 23, 1981 in 6th-cen-
tury levels in fill abovet he western steps of the Stoa (J 3). The joining pieces preservet he upper right cornero f
the relief. Broken on left diagonally above and along side. Lower fragment broken diagonally below; upper
fragment broken horizontally below. Back rough picked. Top and right sides smooth. Fine-grained white
marble with many calcite crystals.
I thank Professor T. Leslie Shear, Jr., Director of the Agora Excavations, for permission to study and
publish the relief. Professor Homer A. Thompson kindly granted permissiont o reproducet he two previously
unpublished reliefs S 1491 and S 1944. Discussions with Professor Evelyn B. Harrison were especially help-
ful; I thank her for her time and interest.
Works frequently cited will be abbreviateda s follows:
Atallah = W. Atallah, Adonis dans la litte'rature et l'art grecs, Paris 1966
Furtwangler = A. Furtwangler, "Neue Denkmaler antiker Kunst. 4. Aphrodite Pandemos als Lichtgottin,"
SBMunich 2, 1899
Hauser = F. Hauser, "Aristophanesu nd Vasenbilder,"O Jh 12, 1909, pp. 90-99
Knigge = U. Knigge, <<?Oa 'o-n'pr fis 'AOpot'r?>>,A thMitt 97, 1982, pp. 153-170
Metzger = H. Metzger, Les repre'sentations darnsl a cerramiquea ttique du IVe siecle, Paris 1951
Nicole G. Nicole, Meidias et le style fieuri darnsl a ce'ramique attique, Geneva 1908
Schefold K. Schefold, Untersuchungen zu den kertscher Vasen, Berlin and Leipzig 1932
Weill N. Weill, "Adoniazousai,"B CH 90, 1966, pp. 664-674
American School of Classical Studies at Athens
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to
Hesperia ®
www.jstor.org
60 CHARLES M. EDWARDS
and flaring foot; the wide bowl has a small handle attached at the rim. The shape most
closely resemblesl ate 5th-centuryt huribleso r incense burners.2
From what remains,a late 5th-centuryd ate seems best for this piece. The simple mold-
ing along the top finds good parallels among works of that period, before architectural
frames became popular for votive reliefs.3 The narrow fillet at the right side may have
merged with the taenia which projectsf arther than the ovolo. This is an unusual feature
that does not easily find parallels. It seems early and experimental.4
As for the small amount of draperyp reservedo n our figure, one can comparet he cloak
of the charioteero n the Elgin relief in the British Museum.5 Not only does one find the same
round-edgedf olds that swing in sweeping patterns,b ut the hollows between the folds have
irregular depths and widths. This draperys tyle finds its best parallels among figures from
the Erechtheionf rieze and the later stages of the Nike Parapet.6T he edges of the cloth do
not have the crisp, brittle forms found on the veil of one of the Nymphs from the Xeno-
krateiar elief or on Hegeso's veil on the famous stele in Athens.7B oth these monumentsa re
usually dated around 400 Nor have the folds on the Agora relief the symmetricalc urv-
B.C.
ing patterns made clear by wide and regular intervenings paces as on the Dexileos monu-
ment and the public monument to the Corinthian war dead, both dated ca. 394 The
B.C.8
face of the figure on the Agora relief finds its closestc omparisoni n the figure of a young girl
on a grave stele from the Kerameikos.9T he eyes are similarly placed and formed,t he lips
2 On the thurible see Sparkesa nd Talcott, Athenian Agora, XII, Black and Plain Pottery, Princeton1 970,
pp. 182-183, nos. 1359-1363. Accordingt o Sparkesa nd Talcott, the "low variety"o f the thurible belongs "in
the main to the late fifth century."T hey state that "generallyt he bowl has two small vertical handles"w hich
were "providedw ith rings hanging free."T he bit of a handle on the relief is badly worn. In general the thu-
rible on the relief resemblest he vase paintings cited by Sparkesa nd Talcott in note 10, p. 182. On the Agora
relief the lip of the thurible is straighta nd carefullys moothed.P ainted flames may have indicatedt he glowing
incensew ithin.
I
The most recent discussion of framing of votive reliefs is in G. Neumann, Probleme des griechischen
WeihreliefsT, uibingen1 979, pp. 48-51.
4 For the differentt ypes of framesu sed on late 5th-centuryr eliefs see G. Waywell, "AF our-Horse Chariot
Relief,"B SA 62, 1967, p. 22 and note 34.
In additiont o the frame, one other feature of the Agora relief is relevanta s a dating criterion.T he back-
groundo f the pictorial field is smoothw ith hardly any traces of tool marks. It is not, however,l evel but gently
undulates,r ising especially at the right edge behind the ladder.T his detail, in additiont o the quality of carv-
ing, assures us that we are dealing with a Classical, not classicizingp iece.
I
British Museum 814: Waywell, op. cit., pp. 19-26, pls. 1-3. Neumann, op. cit. (footnote3 above),p p. 49,
65, pl. 27:b. E. G. Pemberton," Dedicationsb y Alkibiadesa nd Thrasyboulos,"B SA 76, 1981, pp. 310-313.
6 Erechtheionf rieze:c omparet he mantle blown out on Acropolis2 825 (P. N. Boulter, AntP X, 1970, pls.
1, 2) and the draperyb lowing back on Acropolis 1291 (ibid., pl. 29:b and fig. 12). Nike Parapet:c omparet he
folds over the wing of Acropolis 995 (R. Carpenter, The Sculptureo f the Nike Parapet, Cambridge,M ass.
1929, pl. 15).
7Xenokrateia relief: Athens N.M. 2756, I. N. Svoronos, Das Athener Nationalmuseum, Athens
1908-1937, pl. 181. Neumann, op. cit. (footnote 3 above), p. 49 and note 50 with previous bibliography.
Hegeso stele: Athens N.M. 3624, H. Diepolder, Die attischen Grabreliefs,B erlin 1931, pl. 20; Lullies and
Hirmer, Griechische Plastik, Munich 1979, pl. 182.
8 Dexileos Stele: Conze, Die attischen Grabreliefs,B erlin 1903-1922, no. 1158, pl. 248; Lullies and Hir-
mer, op. cit., pl. 188. Public monument:C onze, op. cit., no. 1157, pl. 24 and no. 1529, pl. 317. Bruckner,
AthMitt 35, 1910, pls. 11, 12.
B. Schldrb-Vierneisel," Drei neue grabreliefsa us der heiligen Strasse,"A thMitt 83, 1968, pp. 89-101,
9
APHRODITE ON A LADDER 61
identicallyc arved,a nd the chins short and small. The veil that coverst he girl's head on the
stele is carved with patterns so similar to those on the Agora relief that one could believe
both were works by the same artist. Schlorb-Vierneiseld ates the grave relief shortly before
410 on stylistic as well as ceramice vidence.10
E. G. Pemberton has compared motifs of the Elgin relief to works dated around
410 The halo of folds around the charioteer'sh ead recalls similar motifs used by the
B.C.11
Meidias Painter.12T here is somethingM eidian about the Agora relief, too, not only in the
veil which finds good parallels among works by that painter, but in the general spirit of the
relief.13E ven in its sadly mutilated state one can feel in our lady something of the quiet,
emphemeralb eauty that was one of the themes of the Meidias Painter'sw ork.
The identity of the figure on the Agora relief is made certain by a series of vase paint-
ings from the first half of the 4th century and a relief, now lost, once in the Museo Kir-
cheriano (P1. 19:c).14A ll these depict Aphrodite on a ladder. Closest to the figure on the
Agora relief are the Aphroditeso n a hydria in the British Museum (P1. 19:b) and on an
aryballosi n Berlin.15T hat it is the goddessh erself on the vases is confirmedb y the Erotes
who flutterb eside her. At the foot of the ladder,o n both examples, stands a woman holding
up a thurible into which Aphrodites prinklesi ncense.
The short veil is also indicativeo f Aphrodite.T he goddessw ears such a veil on a kylix
painted by Makron in Berlin.16S hort veils often have bridal significance,a nd it is not far-
fetched to imagine such a meaning lay behind the depiction of the goddess on the Agora
relief.17P erhaps it is a votive dedicatedb y a girl who had recentlyb een married.18
pls. 33, 34. D. Ohly, "Kerameikos-GrabungT, atigkeitsbericht,1 956-1961," AA (JdI 80), 1965, p. 359, figs.
42, 43. N?XT 17, 1961/62, XpovLKa['1 963], pl. 18.
10 Schlorb-Vierneisel, op. cit., pp. 97-98.
1 Pemberton,o p. cit. (footnote5 above), pp. 311-312.
12 CompareP olydeukes'm antle on the hydriai n the British Museum (E 224: ARV2, p. 1313, no. 5; Parali-
pomena, p. 477) or that worn by Aphroditeo n the hydria in Florence (inv. no. 81947: ARV2, p. 1312, no. 2;
Paralipomena, p. 477).
13 Comparet he flutteringv eil on the Nymph Leura on the Florence hydria (footnote1 2 above), as well as
the folds of the himation that blow back from Hippodameia'sf ace on a neck-amphorai n the manner of the
Dinos Painter (Arezzoi nv. no. 1460: AR V2 p. 11 57, no. 25; Paralipomena,p . 458).
14 Vases: Metzger, pp. 92-99, nos. 41-46. Relief: C. Watzinger, "Adonisfest,"A ntike Plastik, Festschrift
Amelung, Berlin and Leipzig 1928, pp. 261-266; Atallah, pp. 193-195; LIMC I, i, Zurich and Munich 1981,
p. 227, no. 50, s.v. Adonis (B. Servais-Soyez).
15 British Museum E 241: ARV2, p. 1482, no. 1 (reproducedo n Plate 19 courtesyo f the Trustees of the
British Museum); Schefold,n o. 181, pl. 19:2; Metzger, p. 93, no. 43, pl. 7:5; LIMC I, i, p. 228, no. 48b, pl.
170.
Berlin 3248: ARV2, p. 1482, no. 5; Schefold, no. 290, ill. 32, pl. 19:1; Metzger, p. 93, no. 44, pl. 7:3;
LIMC I, i, p. 227, no. 48.
16 F 2291: ARV2, p. 459, no. 4; Paralipomena,p . 377; CVA, Berlin 2 [Germany2 1], 84 [1013]:1 and 85
[1014]:4.
Good examples of wedding scenes where the bride wears the short, shoulder-lengthv eil are a pelike by
17
the Syleus Painter (Louvre G 226: ARV2, p. 250, no. 15; CVA, Louvre 6 [France 6], 44 [273]:4-7, 9) and a
pyxis by the Wedding Painter (Louvre L 55; ARV2, p. 924, no. 33; Paralipomena,p . 431; Pfuhl, Malerei und
Zeichnung der Griechen, Munich 1923, pl. 230, fig. 580). Alkestis, certainly representeda s a bride on the
Eretria Painter'se pinetroni n Athens, wears a short, fringedv eil (Athens N.M. 1629: ARV2, p. 1250, no. 34;
Paralipomena,p . 469; E. Simon and M. and A. Hirmer, Die griechischen Vasen, Munich 1976, pl. 216).
Comparea lso the veil worn by Thetis on the Peleus Painter'sn ame vase in Ferrara (inv. no. 2893: AR V2, p.
62 CHARLES M. EDWARDS
The meaning of Aphrodite on a ladder involves a controversym ore than a century old.
In 1844 and 1846 Otto Jahn and Jean de Witte exchanged lettres in the Annales. Among
other topics, they debated the significanceo f an early 4th-century lekythos in Karlsruhe.19
On that vase a woman wrapped only in her himation stands on the first rung of a ladder.
From Eros she receives a broken amphora, turned upside down and bristling with small
flecks. A similar broken amphora sits on the ground between them. To the right of Eros is a
vase on a stand. Similar flecks and round objectsa ppear above its lip. To either side of the
central scene stand women with their hands raised in surprise. F. Creuzer had identifiedt he
scene as Aphrodite gathering apples.20A ccordingt o his interpretation,h er dress was dis-
arrayedb ecause she had been frightenedf rom sleep by the news of the wounding of Adonis.
The act of gathering apples thus relatedt o the preparationf or the Adonis festival.J ahn took
opposition to Creuzer's interpretationa nd in the "lettrea M. de Witte"e xplained the scene
as only "unes orte d'idylleg racieuse, dans laquelle ii neefautc herchera ucune allusion mytho-
logique."21 In response, De Witte affirmedC reuzer's interpretationa nd identifiedt he bro-
ken vases as the ostrakai n which the gardenso f Adonis were planted.22L ater, Furtwangler
and Nicole sided with Jahn in their denial of any connection between the scene on the
lekythos and the Adonis cult, but they did give a name to the goddesso n the ladder:A phro-
dite in the act of gathering incense.23
In 1909, F. Hauser took up the Adonis cause again.24H e confirmedt hat the vase of-
fered by Eros to Aphrodite was indeed broken (Furtwangler had denied it) and suggested
that the ladder'ss ignificancew as to be found in the cult itself. We know from Aristophanes'
Lysistratat hat the ritual mourning for Adonis was practicedb y women on the roofs of their
houses.25A scholiast to this passage tells us that the ephemeral gardens of Adonis were
carriedu p to the roofs. The practicei s confirmedb y the definitioni n the Suda Lexicon of the
gardens as The ladder on the Karlsruhe lekythos was interpreted by
/.tETE(OpOL K7TOL.26
Hauser as a referencet o the act of carrying the budding ostrakat o the roof. He went on to
assemble a series of vases from the late 5th through the mid-4th centuries, all with women
1038, no. 1; Paralipomena, p. 443; Simon et al., op. cit., pls. 194, 195).
18 Veiling the head is not necessarilye ither Aphrodisiano r bridal, but it can be as the examples cited above
in footnotes 16 and 17 show. The short veil, however, may be exclusively bridal. In relief sculpture of the
general period of the Agora relief we can compare Hegeso on the well-known stele in Athens (see footnote 7
above), one of the Nymphs on the Xenokrateiar elief (see footnote7 above), and Timarista on the grave stele in
Rhodes (E. Pfuhl and H. Mobius, Die ostgriechischenG rabreliefsI , Mainz 1977, pp. 22-23, no. 46, pl. 12).
On all these examples the figure in question wears a short, shoulder-lengthv eil. It is possible to interprete ach
in an Aphrodite/bridal context. The problem is an interestingo ne but too complex to investigate fully here.
19 0. Jahn, " Sur les representationsd 'Adonis, lettre a M. J. de Witte," AnnInst, 1845, pp. 347-386. J. de
Witte, "Sur les representationsd 'Adonis , lettre a M. 0. Jahn," AnnInst, 1845, pp. 387-418.
Lekythos Karlsruhe B 399: Metzger, p. 92, no. 41, pl. 7:2; CVA, Karlsruhe 1 [Germany 7], 27 [35]:1-4;
Schefold, p. 140, no. 4; LIMC I, i, p. 227, no. 47, pl. 169.
20 F. Creuzer, Auswahl unedirter griechischer Thongefasse, Heidelberg 1839, p. 66.
21 Jahn, op. cit. (footnote 19 above), p. 385.
22 De Witte, op. cit. (footnote 19 above), pp. 413-414.
23 FR II, Munich 1909, pp. 98-99. Nicole, pp. 149-150.
Hauser.
24
25 Lysistrata, 388-396.
26 Suda, s.v. 'AAbzhElol KapTOL.
APHRODITE ON A LADDER 63
assembleda rounda ladder,w hich to him signifiedt he activitieso f the cult of Adonis. Bruck-
ner had interpreteds uch a scene on a lebes gamikos in Athens as a representationo f the
Epaulia or Anakalypteria,t he day after a wedding when the bride receivedh er friends (P1.
19:c).27H auser reproachedB ruckner'sa nalysis for ignoring the ladder. It was then neces-
sary for Hauser to postulatea hierosg amos as part of the Adonis celebration,a weddingt hat
would precedet he mourningr itual.28T heokritos describeda similar mythologicalc elebra-
tion in his fifteenthi dyll.
Metzger rejectedt he possibility of any depictiono f the Adonis cult on the vases of the
5th century.29A mong the 4th-centurye xamples he saw two groups:( 1) Karlsruhea nd New
York lekythoi, which depictedt he scene of ascendingt o the roof with the Adonis gardens,
and (2) later 4th-century vases with a more general depiction of the burning of incense.
Metzger thought the secondg roup representeda later stage in the Adonis ritual. A. Neppi
Modona and W. Atallah more or less shared Metzger's scepticismsa nd interpretations.30
Most recently, N. Weill published a fragmentf rom Argos now in the Athens National
Museum.31 This fragment, identified by Beazley as belonging to the Methyse Painter,
shows a girl descendinga ladder and is the earliest of such depictions. Weill went on to
reinstate the 5th-century examples that Metzger had rejecteda s irrelevantt o the Adonis
cult.32S he therefore reconstructeda series of Adonis scenes running from the mid-5th to
mid-4th century. By her own admission it is the ladder which constitutest he link among
these depictions.33
Laddersa re utilitarianp ieces of furniture,u sed to get from one place to anotherh igher
or to descendt o a lower level. They appear in Greek art as a means of access to a beached
ship.34L adders are part of the siege scene on the reliefs from Trysa and probably were
27 Athens N.M. 1454: AR V2, p. 1178, no. 1; Paralipomena, p. 460; E. Bruckner," AthenischeH ochzeits-
geschenke,"A thMitt 32, 1907, pp. 96-97, pl. 5:2. On the celebrationo n the day after the wedding, see L.
Deubner, "EFIAYAIA,"Jd I 15, 1900, pp. 144-154. On the ancient sourcest hat sometimesr efer to the same
ceremony as the avaKaXv7ITTqptsae, e Deubner, op. cit., pp. 146-151 and Einleitung in die Altertumswissen-
schaft,4 th ed., II, i, E. Gercke and E. Norclen, edd., Leipzig and Berlin 1932, p. 61 (E. Pernice).
28 Hauser, p. 94. Although no ladder appears in it, Hauser also wished to identify the scene on the epine-
tron by the Eretria Painter as a depictiono f the Adonis cult (see footnote 17 above). This interpretationm et
with some favor. It was repeatedi n Pfuhl, op. cit. (footnote1 7 above), p. 570, by A. Neppi Modona, "AAfl-
NIA e AAQ?NIzO KHFIOI nelle raffigurazioniv ascolari attiche," RendPontAcc 27, 1951-1954, pp.
183-184, and by Nilsson, Geschichted ergriechischeR eligion I, 2nd ed., 1955, p. 728. B. Schweitzer( Mythi-
sche Hochzeiten, Heidelberg 1961, pp. 27-28) seems to have given the final blow to Hauser's theory. It has
been rejectedb y all scholarss tudyingt he Adonis cult since then.
29 Metzger, pp. 95-96.
30 Neppi Modona, op. cit. (footnote2 8 above), pp. 177-187. Atallah, pp. 188-193.
31 N.M. 19522: Weill. Cf. Paralipomena,p . 400.
32 In her collectiono f Adonis scenes for the LIMC, B. Servais-Soyezi ncludes the Argos fragment and a
fragmenti n the Louvre (see below, p. 64 and footnote4 1) but omits the Athens lebes gamikos.S he mentionsa
fragmentaryh ydria by the Meidias Painter in the Athens National Museum (N.M. 1179: AR V2, p. 1312, no.
3; Paralipomena, p. 477) as a comparisont o the Karlsruhe lekythos but does not define the relationship
(LIMC I, i, p. 277, nos. 45-47). For the correctr econstructiono f the Athens hydria see Nicole, pp. 132-143,
pls. 4, 8:4. The drawing reproducedb y Atallah, fig. 50, and by Weill, fig. 5, is incorrect.
3 Weill, p. 671.
34 E.g. a volute-krateri n Ruvo, the name vase of the Talos Painter (no. 1501: ARV2, p. 1338, no. 1; Parali-
pomena, p. 481) and the Ficoroni Cista: Pfuhl, op. cit. (footnote1 7 above), fig. 628.
64 CHARLES M. EDWARDS
depictedo n the shield of Athena Parthenos.35I t is likely that they played a part in some of
the influential monumentalw all paintings.36T he simplest meaning of the ladder is as a
means of ascent or descent. Given this definition,l et us look back at the 5th-centuryv ases
acceptedb y Hauser and Weill as depictionso f the hieros gamos of the Adonis cult.
The most complete representationo f the hieros gamos is on the lebes gamikos in the
Athens National Museum (Pl. 19:a).37T he main scene shows a woman seated on the lap of
Aphrodite.T he goddessi s identifiedb y Eros who flutterso ver her shoulders,p rofferingt wo
wreaths, one to Aphrodite,o ne to the perplexed-lookingg irl on her lap. The goddessp laces
a crown on the girl's head. To the right are attendantw omen and the lower supports and
rungs of a ladderw hich anotherg irl ascends.F urtherr ight, undert he handle, is preserveda
woman seated on a klismos. Only her lower half is preserved.S he is attendedb y a figure
who stands behind a lebes gamikos.T he lid of this vessel is being lifted, probablyb y the at-
tendant.A winged figure, Nike, flies toward these two women and holds a box and a fillet.
On the other side of the main scene, six women come forwardb earingv arious gifts.
The original interpretationo f this scene as an Epaulia is the best.38T he bride, unveiled
for the first time, is honoredb y Aphroditea nd Eros. After the wedding night she is worthy
of the crown. The lebes gamikosw hose lid is removedi s one symbol of her new state. Per-
haps it is the groom'sm otherw ho sits beforet his vessel and acceptst he bride into her house-
hold.39N ike approachest he open vessel as a final blessing. Behind Aphroditet he bride's
friendsc ome forwardw ith their gifts.
What about the ladder?T he thalamos, or bridal chamber,w as locatedi n the women's
quarterso n the second floor in more affluent homes.40T he presenceo f the ladder with its
attendants,l ike the uncoveredl ebes gamikos,r ecalls the events of the previousn ight, when
the then maiden ascendedt he ladder and her state in life was foreverc hanged.A t least this
explanation accounts for the ladder in the broader context rather than imposing a cultic
significancef or which there is no other reference.
Two other late 5th-centurys cenes can be read in the same way. On a fragmenti n the
Louvret he bride has alreadyr eceivedh er crown.41 Eros hoversb eforet he left shouldero f an
adjacentf igure. This woman must be Aphrodite.S he sits on a diphrosa nd rests her left arm
II Trysa reliefs:W . A. P. Childs, The City Reliefs of Lycia, Princeton1 978, pl. 5:1. Parthenoss hield: E. B.
Harrison, "Motifso f the City-Seige on the Shield of Athena Parthenos,"A JA 85, 1981, pp. 298-299.
36 In the Knidian Lesche at Delphi Polygnotosp ainted Echoiax coming down the gangplank (66ro/3cWpa).
The vase paintings suggest that this was a ladder rather than a moderng angplank( Pausanias, X.25.2).
See p. 63 and footnote2 7 above.
37
38 Bruckner,l oc. cit. (footnote2 7 above);P ernice, loc. cit. (footnote2 7 above).
39 So Bruckner,o p. cit. (footnote 27 above), p. 97. Beazley identified the woman seated before the lebes
gamikosa s a secondr epresentationo f the bride. The identificationo f the figure as the mother-in-lawi s plausi-
ble given her importantr ole in the bridal ceremony.S he definitelym et the bridal processiona t the door of her
house, and she may have led the bride up to the thalamos. See scholiast to Euripides' Phoinissai, 344; W.
Erdmann, Die Ehe im alten Griechenland, Munich 1934, p. 258.
40 For the women's quartersa bove connectedb y a laddert o the men's quartersb elow see Lysias, I, On the
Murder of Eratosthenes, 9.
41 Louvre CA 1679 by the Painter of Athens 1454: ARV2, p. 1179, no.3; Nicole, pp. 144-149, pls. 8:2 and
9; Hauser, pp. 93-94, fig. 55; L. Deubner, AttischeF este, Berlin 1932, p. 221, pl. 25:2; Metzger, p. 95; Weill,
pp. 668-670; LIMC I, i, p. 227, no. 46, pl. 169.
APHRODITE ON A LADDER 65
in the bride's lap. The bride sits on a klismos, indicativeo f her new at-home status. An at-
tendant behind holds a chest and a box, gifts for the Epaulia. A crowneda ttendanta scends
the ladderw hile lookingb ackt o the bride. She holds a dish of grapes.42A notherE ros hovers
behind the attendant,h is eyes fixed on the room above. A third attendant,a lso looking up,
steadiest he ladder.
What is the significanceo f the plate with three buncheso f grapes?O ne of the principal
and most important events of the marriage ceremony was the bride's eating in her new
home.43W hether the meal took place before the bride and groom consummatedt heir rela-
tionship or later in the thalamos, we do not know. The dish of grapes on the Louvre frag-
ment probably refers to this significant event.44T emporally the food was eaten the night
before, not on the day of the Epaulia. There seems to be a kind of synchronismo f events
depictedh ere, where the ladder and fruit can be taken as referencest o the wedding night.
The descendingg irl on the fragmentf rom Argos is probablya ppearingf or the first time
after the wedding night.45H er rich chiton with an overfall so long that it is looped up over
her belt is appropriatef or a bride.46T he himation is carefully renderedi n stacked folds
behind her neck, which suggests that she has only just unveiled herself. Indeed her hand
lifting the himations eems to be engagedi n the processo f uncovering.T he box behind her is
one of the post-weddingp resents. The plate of fruit indicatest he economics ignificanceo f
her change of residencea s well as the sensuous aspect of the previousn ight's events.47
42 The plate of grapes has played an inordinatelyl arge role in determiningt he date of the Adonis festival.
Deubner connectedt he grapes to a passage in Theokritosw hich suggestst hat fruit of all kinds was offeredt o
the dying god (Deubner, op. cit.). These fruits suggestedt o Deubner a date in the early autumn. In his review
of Deubner'sb ook Nock defendeda springtimec elebration( Gnomon 10, 1934, pp. 289-295). He was scepti-
cal about the meaning of the Louvre fragment:" Apartf rom the formal analogy of the laddera nd the presence
of the winged Eros, no one would think of associatingt his vase with the Adonia:t he connectioni s very dubi-
ous, and if it exists we may regardt he detail as imaginative;s uch representationso f cult acts were neverp hoto-
graphic"( ibid., p. 291). Weill (pp. 675-698) takes great pains to reinstate the grapes as part of the Adonis
cult, but argues for a midsummerd ate for the festival. It would take us too far afield to go into this problem
thoroughly.A s for the Louvre fragment,s ee below.
43 Plutarch, Moralia, 279 F (Rom. Quaest., 65); Moralia, I38 D (Gam. Parang., i); Solon, 20. These pas-
sages refer to Solon's decree that the bride eat a quince in her husband'sh ome. Is it a quince that lies in the
basketb eforet he brideo n the Argos fragment( footnote3 1 above)?O n a loutrophorosb y Polygnotosi n Toron-
to the bride is led home by the groom whose mother greets the couple, indicatingt hat the processionh as al-
ready reachedt he groom'sh ouse. The bride is unveiled and carriesa fruit in her right hand (Toronto C 935:
ARV2, p. 1031, no. 51; D. M. Robinson and C. G. Harcum, A Catalogue of the Greek Vases in the Royal
Ontario Museum of Archaeology II, Toronto 1930, no. 635, pl. CVII).
44 Althought here is no specificm entiono f grapes as part of the wedding-nightc eremony,t his fruit did have
erotic significancea nd would be appropriatef or the occasion.S ee a red-figuredk ylix by the Euaion Painter in
Richmond (Virginia) on which grapes are exchangeda s a love gift by a man and a woman (inv. no. 62-1-4,
ARV2, p. 895, no. 101; Paralipomena, p. 419; Ancient Art in the Virginia Museum, Richmond, Va. 1973, no.
112, p. 96).
Weill.
45
46 See the bride from the west pedimenta t Olympia (B. Ashmole and N. Yalouris, Olympia,L ondon 1967,
pls. 98, 101, 105). She wears a long, rich chiton and a mantle. Also the bride on the loutrophorosi n Toronto
(footnote4 3 above) wears a chiton with a deep kolpos looped over an elaborateb elt.
47 See footnote4 3 above. Whether the fruit in the dish is a quince or an apple, it certainly must have sug-
gested the world of Aphrodite. See B. 0. Foster, "Notes on the Symbolism of the Apple in Classical An-
tiquity,"H SCP 10, 1899, pp. 39-55.
66 CHARLES M. EDWARDS
This descriptiona nd interpretationo f the fragmentaryw edding vases is necessaryt o
dissociatet hem from the Adonis scenes. On these examples the ladder is not a referencet o a
cult practiceb ut rather a physical part of the wedding ceremony.A ny Athenian bride look-
ing at these vases would have immediatelyu nderstoodt he implication.
More and more evidence is accumulatingt hat the ladder could also have a symbolic
meaning. Ursula Knigge has recentlyi nterpretedt he ladderso n a 4th-centurys ilver disk in
the Kerameikos,a votive relief from Sparta, and gold pendantsf rom Thessaly and Delos as
an "allegoryf or the rising and setting stars."48P indar refers to the ladderb y which Themis
ascended from the Ocean to Olympos and in another context to the OoaoVK XLjkaKoav pavov
es at1rv. I The image of the heavenly ladder is vouched for in Egyptian texts and seems
close to Near Eastern sensibility.50
When Aphrodited escendss uch a ladderi t is a clear referencet o her aspect as Ourania.
This is most strikingly illustratedb y the votive relief once in the Museo Kircheriano,b ut
now lost (P1. 19:c).I n 1928 C. Watzingerp ublisheda photographo f the relief and described
the representation.5A1 phrodite with her head veiled descendsa ladder that runs from the
upper left cornero f the relief. She holds in her left hand a vessel, much like the thurible of
the Agora relief. Eros clings to her side and holds in his hand what Watzingerd escribeda s a
great sea shell. Beside the deities, in the upper right corner of the relief, stands a mother-
goat nursing her kid. The sickle-shapedm oon is above them.52B elow the ladder, in the
48 Knigge, pp. 159-160. Silver medallion: Knigge, pl. 31. Votive relief from Sparta: Furtwangler, pp.
598-599; EA, no. 1314; Knigge, pl. 33:1. Gold pendants from Thessaly and Delos: Stella G. Miller, Two
Groups of Thessalian Gold, University of California Publications, Classical Studies 18, Berkeley 1979, pls. 22,
23.
49 Pindar, frag. 30; frag. 162.
F. Cumont,A strologya nd Religion, New York 1912, reprinted 1960, p. 101; A. B. Cook, Zeus II, Cam-
50
bridge 1925, pp. 121-140. Cook quotes extensivelyf rom E. A. Wallis Budge who cites tomb texts "inscribed
upon the walls of the corridorsa nd chamberso f the pyramids of Unas, Pepi, and other early kings." Osiris
himself made use of the ladderb etween heaven and earth. The ladder'sg uardiansw ere Horus and either Rd
or Set. Twice is the heavenly ladder mentioned in the Theban Book of the Dead. For us the most famous
heavenlyl adderi s the Biblicalo ne in Jacob's dream.B abylonianz igguratsm ust have serveda similar function
as an access to the god. At least Herodotos'i nterpretationo f the one in Babylon implies that he thought so
(I.I8If.).
51 Watzinger,o p. cit. (footnote1 4 above), p. 266, datedt he relief to the early 4th centuryB .C. and suggested
a South Italian origin. Of coursei t is difficultt o judge from Watzinger'sp hotographa lone, but stylisticallyt he
folds of draperya nd the poses of the figures compareb etter to late Hellenistic classicizingm onumentst han to
4th-centuryv otive reliefs. Comparef or example one of the dancingf igures from the north frieze of the temple
of Hekate at Lagina (A. Schober,D er Fries des Hekateionsv on Lagina, Baden bei Wien 1933, pl. 11). Like-
wise the numbera nd density of symbolico bjectsf illing the pictorialf ield is somethingo ne would expect in the
Hellenistic period, rather than in the Classical.
52 Is there astral symbolismi n the she-goat suckling her kid? Watzinger explained the group as a votive
dedicationt o AphroditeO urania and suggestedt he image of the nourishingg oddessa s a goat derivedf rom the
CypriotA phrodite.T he story that Amaltheia,t he goat who nourishedt he infant Zeus in the Cretan cave, was
turned into a star,,t he oi'pavia aLe, is handled down by Musaios (Eratosthenis catasterismorum reliquiae,
I OO.I3, C. Robert, ed.). 0. Rossbach, Griechische Antiken des Archdologischen Museums in Breslau, Breslau
1891, 33f., note 1, first suggestedt he identificationo f the o' pava aL with the goat who carries Aphrodite
throught he sky. See also Furtwangler,p p. 599-600 and Knigge, p. 154 and note 3. The o Lpavoa ale and the
EpLc oL, her two kids, were known as starst hat forecasts tormsa t sea and were thereforeo f particulari nterestt o
sailors (Aratus,P hainomena,I 57). For a furthers ignificanceo f the nourishings he-goats ee below, footnote6 3.
APHRODITE ON A LADDER 67
lower left corner, the relief is mostly broken away. The head and right wing of a second
Eros appear, and behind him is a curvedo bjectt hat Watzinger said was the headresto f a
kline.53T he moon in the upper right cornera nd the "kline"i n the lower left show that the
laddero n this relief bridgest he area between heaven and earth.
Such astral and terrestrial symbolism is missing on the two vase paintings that most
closely resemblet he Agora relief. On these examples we do seem to see some ceremonyo f a
cult performed.O n the hydria in the British Museum, Aphrodites prinkles incense into a
thurible held up by a woman standinga t the foot of the ladder (P1. 19:b).54A n aulos player
behindp rovidesm usic for three mantle dancersa nd a krotalistd ancer.E ros fluttersb etween
the two at the right. A small Pan rushes into the scene at the upper left.55T he scene on the
lekythos in Berlin shows Aphroditea nd the woman with the thurible in attitudesi dentical
to those on the British Museum hydria.56E ros flies above the thurible and a large thymia-
terion. To the right of the laddera woman seatedo n a diphrosp lays the aulos. Behind her is
a swan, sometimesa n attributeo f AphroditeO urania.57A bove stands a woman who strikes
a large tympanum. Behind her are a mantle dancer, in pose and drapery identical to the
dancera t left on the British Museum hydria, and, above and behind her, a krotalistd ancer.
Although the photographi s unclear, I doubt Watzinger'sk line. To me what the curvedo bjectr esembles
5
most of all is the prow of a ship, like the one depictedo n the grave stele of Antipatrosi n Athens, N.M. 1488,
Conze, op. cit. (footnote8 above),n o. 1175, pl. 258. The sea shell in the left hand of the Eros abovea dds to the
imagery and could indicate that Aphrodite Ourania on the Kircherianor elief is depicted in her aspect of
Euploia, the bringero f victorya t sea. On the other hand, I know of no parallels for such an interpretation,a nd
indeed my ship's prow is unusually small even in comparisont o the goddess'h eight. If the objecti s the head-
rest or fulcrum to a kline (Watzinger thought he could detect a bolster), Eros' shell might have sexual con-
notations.W e shall probablyn ever know the exact meaning of the Kircherianor elief.
54S ee footnote 15 above. Neppi Modona calls the vase held by the woman at the foot of the laddera phiale,
but the clearlyd epictedh andlesi ndicatet he vessel is a thurible. Neppi Modona, op. cit. (footnote2 8 above),p .
182.
55P an's presenceo n the hydria has been explained as a referencet o the ritual's rural setting:M etzger, pp.
98-99. Walter (Pans Wiederkehr,M unich 1980, pp. 78-79) sees no particular significance in Pan's ap-
pearanceh ere other than that, in the 4th-century,h e turns up more and more frequentlyi n sceneso f everyday
life, especiallyt hose that depict women's activities.A bronze mirrorc over,o nce in the Greau Collection,n ow
lost, depicts the goat-legged god carrying a goddess on his back in the ephedrismoss cheme (W. Ziichner,
GriechischeK lappspiegel,J dI-EH 14, Berlin 1942, p. 10, no. KS 8). A great star is behind the goddess'h ead,
and Eros or Phosphorosb earing a torch precedes the group. The scene was interpreteda s Pan's love for
Selene, until Furtwangler pointed out the inappropriatenesso f the ephedrismoss cheme for a "Liebesver-
haltnis"( p. 603). The image reminds one of the startled Pans who surroundA phroditea t her birth on some
vase paintings (C. Berard, Anodoi, Essai sur l'image'rie des passages chthoniens, Neuchatel 1974, pp.
153-160; see, e.g., a pelike in Rhodes:i bid., pl. 18, fig. 63). The eschatologicali mplicationso f the ephedrismos
scheme may be significant: see C. Picard, Manuel d'arche'ologieg recque, La sculpture II, Paris 1939, p. 716;
Metzger, pp. 200-202. Without a ladderi t is impossiblet o get to heaveno n foot. Divine or mortalb eings make
celestial journeys on the back of some animal (Cumont, op. cit. [footnote 50 above], pp. 101-106). On the
mirror cover Pan, the terrestrialb eing par excellence, may have indicatedt he "rising"f rom the earth of the
heavenlyA phrodite.T he goat-leggedg od does seem to have both feet on the ground, as Zuchner pointed out.
On the mirror cover, as on the Kircherianor elief, the celestial and terrestrialw orlds are brought into broad
contrast.
56 See footnote 15 above.
That the bird is a swan and not a goose seems certainb ecauseo f its long, curvingn eck. For Aphroditea nd
5
the swan see Knigge, p. 161. Aphroditer iding a swan is epigraphicallyi dentifieda s Ourania on a votive stele
in the Hermitage (inv. no. 1876.102: E. Simon, Die Geburtd er Aphrodite,B erlin 1959, ill. 19).
68 CHARLES M. EDWARDS
On the other side, behind the woman with a thurible are a figure who seems to hold a
necklacea nd another, seated beside a spindly, fruit-bearingt ree. Another small Eros plays
at her feet. On the vases that show Eros descendingt he ladder, some of these same figures
appear along with variations.58
We are in the presenceo f a women'sc ult. The activitiesi ncludem usic, dancing,a nd the
burningo f incense. Metzger's suggestiont hat this ritual representst he celebrationa fter the
mourningf or Adonis seems to have been generallya ccepted.59A gain it is the laddert hat has
made this interpretations eem plausible. If we read the ladder as an attributeo f Aphrodite
Ourania, rather than as the accesst o the roof for the mourningo f Adonis, then nothing else
in the image suggestst he Adonia.60O ur sourcest ell us Ouraniaw as worshippedb y hetairai
and by married women as well.61 These vases must represent some activity of that cult,
perhaps the dancing and burning of incense used to evoket he deity's presence.
Knigge has presenteda series of representationso f Aphroditef rom the late 5th and 4th
centuries and suggestedt hat the iconographicd istinctionb etween AphroditeO urania and
AphroditeP andemosd ividesa long lines where the formeri s the goddesso f the mornings tar
and rides a swan, while the latter governs the evening star and crosses the heavens on the
back of a goat.62I f we look back to the Kircherianor elief we see that female goats were
associatedi conographicallyw ith Ourania, as the sourcesw ould have us believe.63I t is hard
58 1. Lekythos, Hermitage 928: Metzger, p. 93, no. 45, pl. 7:4; Schefold,n o. 292, fig. 43, pl. 18:1, 2, dated
360-350 B.C.
2. Lekythos, British Museum E 721: Metzger, p. 94, no. 46; Schefold,n o. 298; Nicole, pl. 8:1; Atallah,
p. 187, fig. 47.
3. Athens, Acropolis Museum, no. 1960-NAK 222: Brouskari, The AcropolisM useum, Athens 1974,
p. 119, figs. 230, 231.
59 Metzger, pp. 96-99; Atallah, p. 191; Brouskari,o p. cit., p. 119.
60 Hauser and others asssumed the burning of incense played a part in the Adonis ritual since the god's
mythologicalm other was Smyrna or Myrrha, a girl metamorphosizedi nto the incense tree (Hauser, p. 97;
Ovid, met X.435-5I8; Hyginus,fab. 58; Apollodoros, III.I4.4). Although there is no specific literary reference
to the burning of incense in the Adonis cult, the possibility can not be ruled out and is indeed likely. On the
other hand incense as an offering to Aphroditec an be easily verified (H. von Fritze, Die Rauchopferb ei den
Griechen, Berlin 1894, pp. 29-30). On a mid-4th-centuryh ydria in the Metropolitan Museum, Aphrodite
sprinklesi ncense into a thurible placed on top of an altar (M.M.A. 26.60.75: Schefold,n o. 191, pl. 11:1). On
one side of the Ludovisit hrone a veiled bride sprinklesi ncense into a thymiaterion.E . Simon has arguedt hat
the main scene on the throne representst he birth of AphroditeO urania (op. cit. [footnote5 7 above]).
61 For Aphrodite Ourania worshiped by hetairai and married women see Simon, op. cit. (footnote 57
above), pp. 24-26. Also F. Muthmann, Mutter und Quelle, Mainz 1975, pp. 189-191.
62 Knigge, pp. 164-165.
63 Plutarch (Theseus, i8) tells the story that before sailing for Crete, Theseus, on the commando f the Del-
phic Apollo, was sacrificing the aLyav 0'XGav ov:-av to Aphrodite, when the animal was miraculously
changed into a billy goat, hence the goddess'e pithet Epitragia. Since Pausanias tells us that Theseus' father
Aigeus introducedt he cult of AphroditeO urania to Athens (I.I4.7) and not until later did his son found the
cult of Pandemos( I.22.3), it is logical to assumet hat the original sacrificer eferredt o by Plutarchw as dedicated
to Ourania.
Watzinger, (op. cit. [footnote1 4 above],p p. 246-266) interpretedt he depictionso f the she-goatss uckling
their young as images of nourishmenta nd fertility. Amaltheia,t he oi'pavia alz, was such a nourisher.F or her
relationshipt o other Earth Mother figures see Muthmann, op. cit. (footnote6 1 above), p. 130. Amaltheia's
appearancew ith AphroditeO urania underscorest he relationshipn otedb y othersb etweenA phroditeO urania
and the Mother of the Gods (S. Lattimore,A JA 84, 1980, p. 220; E. B. Harrison, "A Classical Maiden from