12-31-2017, 03:38 PM
An extremely interesting series of remarks -- I think that, if it is intentional, it is very likely apotropaic. The Gorgoneion is certainly an apotropaic, whether one increased in efficacy by perspective or not.
A respectable academic source depicts a much later Roman oil-lamp emblazoned with the Gorgoneion amongst other apotropaic figures: http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-...-evil-eye/
Returning to Greece, in a military context, it appears at least twice to my very limited knowledge on shields (a) the Hippolyte Krater, c. 575-550 B.C.E., kept at the Louvre, and b) a vase approximately a century older than your source, c. 550-540 B.C.E., kept at Paris, showing Herakles fighting Geryon:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...e_E636.jpg
http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/L3.5.html
It is alleged to occur quite commonly on thresholds in Roman mosaic art (an Internet reference that needs confirmation: https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/201...gorgoneion.
Incidentally, many thanks once again for the continuing excellent photographs. It is to my mind quite as important to see smaller artefacts reconstructed with approximately their original colours as it is to see reconstructions of the splendid polychromy of Pheidias' frieze at the Parthenon (best known to us in part as the Elgin Marbles) or the Ara Pacis Augustae.
A respectable academic source depicts a much later Roman oil-lamp emblazoned with the Gorgoneion amongst other apotropaic figures: http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-...-evil-eye/
Returning to Greece, in a military context, it appears at least twice to my very limited knowledge on shields (a) the Hippolyte Krater, c. 575-550 B.C.E., kept at the Louvre, and b) a vase approximately a century older than your source, c. 550-540 B.C.E., kept at Paris, showing Herakles fighting Geryon:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...e_E636.jpg
http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/L3.5.html
It is alleged to occur quite commonly on thresholds in Roman mosaic art (an Internet reference that needs confirmation: https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/201...gorgoneion.
Incidentally, many thanks once again for the continuing excellent photographs. It is to my mind quite as important to see smaller artefacts reconstructed with approximately their original colours as it is to see reconstructions of the splendid polychromy of Pheidias' frieze at the Parthenon (best known to us in part as the Elgin Marbles) or the Ara Pacis Augustae.
Patrick J. Gray
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
