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An Orphic Bowl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

R. Delbrueck  and
W. Vollgraff
R. Delbrueck
Affiliation:
Bonn, Utrecht
W. Vollgraff
Affiliation:
Bonn, Utrecht
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Extract

The alabaster bowl which is our subject is at present in the possession of Dr. J. Hirsch of Geneva and is published with his kind consent. Until recently it was in a private collection in Leipzig; it was presumably acquired in the Mediterranean area several decades ago. Its principal dimensions are:—

Diam. at top, 22 cm.; h. 8 cm.; greatest depth, 5·5 cm.; diam. of the central knob of the base, 4 cm., and of the outer base-ring, 16 cm.; h. of arcade, 4 cm. Measurements seem to be based on an inch of about 2 cm.

The bowl was worked freehand, without the lathe, and is accordingly somewhat uneven and irregular in shape. A deep point in the middle of the bottom indicates that the compass was used to control distances. The carving was done with some form of knife; the cutting is plainly visible round and between the letters of the inscription (fig. 1), at the edges of the hair, and elsewhere.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , 1934 , pp. 129 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1934

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References

1 Lamer, H., Eine spätgr. Schale mit orphischer Aufschrift, in PhW. 51 (1931), 653 ffGoogle Scholar. (note, conclusions generally correct). Negatives and other illustrations of details at the Akad. Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Hofgartenstr. 2.

2 DS. s.v. phiala (Pottier); Walters, , Hist. Anc. Pottery, I, 191, fig. 53Google Scholar; Athenaeus, XI, 103 (ed. Kaibel, p. 105). Such a cup was called φιάλη βαλανειόμφαλος (Athen. ed. cit., p. 106, 17).

3 E.g. Matzulewitsch, Byzant. Ant. T. 2, 3 (early Byzantine silver cup).

4 Heckenbach, J., de nuditate sacra sacrisque vinculis RGVV. ix, 3, 13Google Scholar (Aristophanes, , Nubes 498Google Scholar).

5 On the form of the μ cf. Boeckh's remarks on the late inscr. from Smyrna, CIG. 3157, 3285, 3386.

6 Cf. Larfeld, , Gr. Epig.3 276Google Scholar.

7 Larfeld, 306 f.

8 Saturnalia I, c. 18, 12Google Scholar. O. Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, frg. 237.

9 Cf. Hymni Orphici vi, 1Google Scholar: , and 6: .

10 Cumont, , Mém. Miss. arch, de Perse, xx, 93Google Scholar.

11 De vocabulario hymn. Orph. et aetate, Utrecht, 1930.

12 Cf. Harrison, J. E., Themis, 463 f.Google Scholar: ‘The priceless fragment of the Melanippe.’

13 From the World-Egg sprang also Phanes or Protogonos, who is accordingly named ᾠογενής (Hymni Orph. VI, 2Google Scholar).

14 Orphic frg. 86 (Kern), . Frg. 87, .

15 Cf. further Contenau, Man. d'arch. orient. II, 805, fig. 563Google Scholar; Evans, , PoM. I, 478Google Scholar, fig. 342 b, 479, 3; fig. 343; 514, fig. 371; Hogarth, , JHS, 1902, 334, pl. 12Google Scholar; Reisinger, , Kret. Vasenm. T. 2, 13Google Scholar (interpretation incorrect).

16 Matzulewitsch, , Byz. Ant. T. 24Google Scholar.

17 E.g. Princeton Exped. to Syria, III, n. 763, 765 (Kanawat, Leathen); 813 (A.D. 605); 842 (A.D. 598/9), etc.

18 Delbrueck, , Consulardiptychen, N 70Google Scholar.

19 E.g. Perrot and Chipiez, IV, 687; V, 200.

20 Firmicus Maternus, de err. pr. rel. 18, 1.— Real-Enzyklopädie, s.v. Mysterien, 1324 (Th. Hopfner).

21 Real-Enzyklopädie, s.v. Mysterien 1279 ff. (O. Kern).

22 Rorimer, J. R., Ultra-violet Rays (New York, 1931)Google Scholar.

23 E.g. Lehner, , Germania, 1928, 117 ff.Google Scholar, with illustrations and references.