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Hygieia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

A bas-relief of Pentelic marble found about twelve years ago in Argolis portrays with much beauty the family of the God of Medicine awaiting, in the presence of their father, the approach of male and female suppliants. In the two youths who form part of the group immediately behind Asklepios, it is easy to recognise his sons Machaon and Podaleirios; while the three maidens near them must be his daughters Hygieia, laso and Panakeia. One other female figure, who wears a veil and Stephane, and is of more stately aspect, would seem to be Epione, the wife of Asklepios. Aegle and Akeso, who are also sometimes named as daughters of the god, are here omitted. Epione, in spite of her intimate relations with Asklepios, appears to have been chiefly honoured locally—at Epidaurus, and it is her eldest daughter Hygieia who is really the most important member of the Aesculapian family. The almost constant association of Hygieia with her father brought her into the fullest prominence as a medical divinity, though at the same time it, to a great extent, prevented her from attaining to an independent exercise of power. Most modern writers on Greek mythology and religion have generally suffered her to be absorbed in the greater and more interesting personality of her associate, and have often had but little to tell of Hygieia, except that she was represented ‘as a virgin dressed in a long robe, feeding a serpent from a cup.’

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Research Article
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Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1884

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References

page 82 note 1 Lueders, O, Annali, vol. xlv. (1873)Google Scholar, Tav. d'agg. M N, page 114 f.

page 82 note 2 The five sisters are mentioned in Suidas, s.v. Ἠπιόνη; Pliny, N. H. xxxv. 40, 31 and in an Athenian inscription published in the Ἀθήναιον, vi. p. 143, No. 24, cf. Schol. Aristoph, . Plutus, 701Google Scholar. Telesphoros, the companion of Asklepios and Hygieia, probably cannot be traced back, from existing works of art, farther than the time of Hadrian (see Journ. Hell. Stud. 1882, ‘Telesphoros.’) It is perhaps worth while to suggest that the παῖς in the Plutus (701) who attends Asklepios in his midnight visit to the patients in the temple may be a prototype of Telesphoros; unless indeed he is a mere invention of the poet.

page 83 note 1 Hygieia was almost invariably considered to be the daughter of Asklepios; see Paus. i. 23, 4; Suidas, s.v. Ἠπιόνη; Aristides (ed. Dindorf) i. 79: plin. N. H. xxxv. 40, 31; Ἀθήναιον, vi. p. 143, No. 24: exceptionally, in Orph. H. 66, 7, she is called the wife of Asklepios, and in Proclus, ad plat. Tim. iii. 158 is said to be the daughter of Eros and Peitho.

page 83 note 2 For the employment of as the name of an Athenian ship and, occasionally, as a woman's name, see Benseler-Pape, Wörterbuch, s.v. &c.

page 83 note 3 See P. Girard, L'Asclépieion d'Athènes, passim. It is curious that the author of the Plutus makes no mention of Hygieia, especially as both laso and Panakeia are spoken of as accompanying their father.

page 84 note 1 Murray, , Hist, of Grk. Sculpt, i. p. 136Google Scholar; Overbeck, , Gesch. griech. Plastik. i. p. 107Google Scholar.

page 84 note 2 Paus. ii. 11, 6.

page 84 note 3 Athen, xv. 702, A. See Bergk, . Poet. Lyr. Gr. (3rd ed.) pp. 12491250Google Scholar and his remarks on Ariphon (whose date is not certain) and Likymnios. Cf. Lucian, , De lapsu inter sal. c. 6Google Scholar; Maxim. Tyr. xiii. 229.

page 84 note 4 Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca, No. 1027 = C. I. G. No. 511, and addenda, p. 913.

page 85 note 1 Ἀθήναιον vi. p. 143, No. 24.

page 85 note 2 Paus. ii. 11, 6.

page 86 note 1 Ἀθήναιον for 1881, pp. 59–67.— Kavvadias.

page 86 note 2 On this group see Overbeck, , Gesch. d. griech. Plastik, i. p. 298Google Scholar; Michaelis, , Der Parthenon, p. 193, No. 2Google Scholar; Newton, , Brit. Mus. Guide to the Elgin Room, part i. p. 28Google Scholar f. and Michaelis's review of the Guide in The Academy, for Oct. 1880, p. 280. For the Kekrops interpretation see esp. Petersen, , Kunst des Pheidias, p. 182Google Scholar and Murray, , Hist. of Gr. Sculpt., II., p. 88 and p. 94Google Scholar.—Beulé and Stark proposed to name two figures among the divinities of the central portion of the Parthenon East Frieze, Hygieia and Asklepios, but these figures have been more correctly denominated by most recent archaeologists, Athene and Hephaistos: see Newton, , Guide, pp. 6667Google Scholar and Flasch, , Zum Parthenonfries, pp. 1718Google Scholar.

page 87 note 1 See Gardner, , Types of Greek Coins, Pl. ix. 5, page 162Google Scholar; Lenormant, , Gazette Archéol. 1879, p. 24Google Scholar; Wroth, , Cretan Coins, p. 56Google Scholar (= Num. Chron. 1884, p. 56); cf. a gem in Overbeck, Griech, Kunstmythologie, Bd. iii. Gemmentafel, iv. 9, called by him Demeter, ib. p. 507.

The palm-tree is not merely an ornamental accessory, for it appears by itself as the type of other coins of Priansus, and must have had some local religious significance.

page 87 note 3 Compte rendu (St. Petersburg), 1860, p. 102. ‘Die Statuen sitzender Frauen mit Schlangen, die man gewohnlich auf Hygieia bezieht, stellen ohne Zweifel wenigstens zum Theil, wie das ihnen verliehene Füllhorn beweist, vielmehr Ge da. Vergleiche Clarac, , Mus. de Sculpt. Pl. 554, 1166Google Scholar; 557, 1186; 558, 1186, A. B. C. und eine ähnliche Statue in der Kaiserlichen Ermitage.’

page 87 note 4 Brit. Mus. Cat. Grk. Coins, , Sicily, page 142, No. 39Google Scholar; cf. Noa. 40–43; Gardner, , Types, p. 162Google Scholar

page 88 note 1 Waddington, Voy. num. en As. Min. Pl. iv. No. 18; Mionnet, tom. iv. p. 305, No. 634.

page 88 note 2 For this relief see Descript. of Anc. Marb. in Brit. Mus. part ix. pl. xxxviii.; pp. 174, 175: cf. Wieseler-Müller, Denkmäler, No. 784; Gardner, , Types, page 162Google Scholar.

page 88 note 3 Michaelis, , Anc. Marb. in G. Brit. page 604, No. 13.Google Scholar

page 89 note 1 On these reliefs see Von Duhn, loc. cit.; Girard, in Bull de Corr. hell. ii. pp. 6595Google Scholar (‘Ex-voto à Esculape trouvés sur la pente méridionale de I'Acropole’); cp. ib. i. pp. 156–169, and Girar's, L' Asclépieion d'Athènes, p. 101Google Scholar, ff.

page 89 note 2 See Michaelis, Anc. Marb, in Gr. Brit. Brocklesby Hall, No. 10, who is no doubt correct in describing the divinities as Asklepios and Hygieia, though other names have been proposed; cf. Lebas, , Annali dell'Inst. 1845, p. 240Google Scholar (Zeus and Europa); Kekulé, , Hebe, p. 47Google Scholar (Zeus and Hebe); Overbeck, , Kunstmythologie, ii. p. 576Google Scholar, note 110.

page 89 note 3 Von Duhn points out that on the earlier Athenian reliefs—those belonging to the best period—Hygieia has a more youthful and maiden-like appearance than on the later examples.

page 89 note 4 The oenochoe occurs on the Gortys relief, referred to below on page 90, note 3. Compare also an Athenian relief of Asklepios and Hygieia in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, of tolerable style though rather coarsely executed (Michaelis, Anc. Marb. in. G. B. Cambridge, Fitz. Mus. No. 16), on which the goddess holds in her lowered right hand a cup; there being no sign of the presence of the serpent.

page 90 note 1 Overbeck, , Griech. Plastik, ii. p. 11Google Scholar.

page 90 note 2 Overbeck, op. cit. ii. 68; ii. 142.

page 90 note 3 A relief from Gortys in Crete represents a bearded male figure seated, a female figure in chiton, mantle and veil, holding an oenochoe, and a youth in a chlamys, who have been called by E. Curtius (Arch. Zeitung, 1852, p. 418 f. and Pl. 38, 1) Zeus, Hygieia and Asklepios, youthful. He supposes that the last-named figure may recall the youthful Asklepios of Skopas made for the Arcadian Gortys. Overbeck, however (Griech. Plastik. note 10 to Book 4; cf. his Kunstmythol. ii. page 169 f.), names the female figure Hebe, and he certainly seems justified in refusing to call the young male figure, Asklepios (cp. Journ. Hell. Stud. vol. iv. p. 46 ff, ‘A statue of the youthful Asklepios’). If, however, an Aesculapian interpretation is to be applied to this relief, the three figures may fairly be named Asklepios (bearded), Hygieia with oenochoe) and her brother Machaon.

page 90 note 4 See, however, above, page 86 on the ‘Polykleitos’ Hygieia.

page 91 note 1 Cat. Grk. Coins in Brit. Mus. Italy, p. 383, No. 100; cf. Nos. 113–115. The coin seems to be assigned to too early a period in the catalogue. I may remark that representations of Hygieia are rare on coins till Imperial times. Mention should perhaps be made of one of the Asiatic electrum hectae (fourth cent. B.C.) obv.:—Head of Apollo, r. laureate; rev. Female head, r. with hair in sphendone; behind the head, serpent: the whole in linear frame. Wt. forty-five grains. Brit. Mus. Coll. The serpent seems an integral part of the type, and the head, which has a youthful appearance not very suitable to Demeter, is therefore probably Hygieia. Cf. the hecte with head of Asklepios, before which is a serpent (Num. Chron. 3rd ser. vol. ii. Pl. i. No. i.).

page 91 note 2 Beulé, Engraved, Monn. d'Athènes, p. 259Google Scholar; a specimen is in Brit. Mus.

page 91 note 3 Brit. Mus. Coll. Lampros, P., Νομίσματα τñς νήσου Ἀμοργοῦ (Athens, 1870)Google Scholar Plate, fig. 28.

page 91 note 4 Paus, ii 27, 5; 29, 1.

page 92 note 1 Kleine Schriften, 1837, vol. ii. p. 128.

page 92 note 2 Aelian, , De nat. animal, xi. 16Google Scholar; Properthis, Eleg. lib. iv. carm. 8.

page 92 note 3 Aelian, , De nat. anim. xi. 2Google Scholar. Though omen-taking seems to be the action in which Hygieia is engaged, I do not wish to contend that every female figure in ancient art who is represented extending a patera to a serpent is necessarily performing the same function. For instance, on the relief in the British Museum (Ellis, , Townley Gallery, i. p. 133)Google Scholar representing a woman—probably Medea—holding out a patera to a serpent coiled round a tree, on which is the Fleece, simple feeding and not omen-taking is perhaps intended. (Cf. the seated Pallas holding patera to serpent coiled round tree on a coin of Nieaea (Bithyniae), Mion. t. ii. p. 455, No. 240; Panofka, Asklepios, Pl. v. Fig. 3, and similar figures.) The feeding of a serpent on Sepulchral Monuments also calls for a special interpretation of its own.

page 93 note 1 Æ. Caracalla. Brit. Mus. Coll.

page 93 note 2 Æ. Lucilla. Brit. Mus. Coll.

page 93 note 3 Æ. Sabina. Brit. Mus. Coll.

page 93 note 4 Wieseler-Müller, Denkmäler, No. 782; Jahn, O., Archäol. Beiträge, pp. 221224Google Scholar; Gell, , Pompeiana, vol. ii. Pl. lxviiiGoogle Scholar.

page 93 note 5 Æ. Brit. Mus. Coll.

page 93 note 6 Froehner, , Les Médaillons rom. p. 86, Fig. 2.Google Scholar

page 93 note 7 Wieseler-Müller, Denkmäler, No. 792b; Maskell, , Ivories, p. 21Google Scholar.

page 93 note 8 Paus. ii. 10, 3. Cf. Lenormant, , Les Origines de l'Hist. d'après la Bible (2nd ed.) p. 84Google Scholar (note); Koch, K., Die Baumen des alt. Griechenlands, p. 32Google Scholar.

page 94 note 1 Ἀθήναιον vol. v. p. 318; C I. A. No. 181a; Sybel, Katalog der Sculpturen zu Athen, No. 4092.

page 94 note 2 C. I. G. No. 5980, line 13.

page 94 note 3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Grk. Coins, , Italy, p. 242, No. 62Google Scholar; cf. Nos. 63, 64, 65.

page 94 note 4 Cat. of Grk. Vases in Brit. Mus. vol. ii. No. 1263; Lenormant, and De Witte, in Revue Archéol. 1845, p. 550Google Scholarff. and their Mon. Céram. ii. p. 61; iv. Pl. lxxxiv.

page 95 note 1 Contemporary Review, vol. xxxviii. pp. 431, 432.

page 95 note 2 Gerhard, , Abhandl. d. K. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1839, pp. 295303Google Scholar; Cat. of Grk. Vases in Brit. Mus. vol. ii. No. 1264.

page 95 note 3 Aristid. opera (ed. Dindorf.), vol. i. p. 73.

page 96 note 1 Compte rendu (St. Petersburg), 1869, p. 11; 1870–71, p. 202 and the atlas for 1870–71, Pl. vi. No. 7.

page 96 note 2 Plut. Pericl. iii.; Aristid. ii. p. 25c.; Michaelis, , Mittheil. d. D. arch. Inst. i. p. 293Google Scholar; Bohn, , Mittheil. d. D. arch. Inst. v. p. 331Google Scholarf. Cf. the article ‘Athen’ in Baumeister's Denkmäler, page 204, col. 2.

page 96 note 3 C. I. A. No. 335; Ross, , Arch. Aufs. i. 185ffGoogle Scholar; Murray, , Hist of Grk. Sculp, ii. p. 232Google Scholar.

page 96 note 4 Michaelis, l.c. p. 284f.

page 96 note 5 l.c.

page 96 note 6 On Athene Hygieia see further, Panofka, , ‘Die Heilgötter der Griechen,’ in Abhandlungen, d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, 1843, p. 295fGoogle Scholar; Flasch, in Annali, 1873Google Scholar, ‘Statua d'Igia nel Belvedere. del Museo Vaticano.’ The head of this statue, which does not belong to its present body, has a Stephanos adorned with gorgoneion and two serpents. Flasch thinks it may be the. head of a statue of Athene Hygieia; C. I. A. ii. 163 (Athenian sacrifice to Ath. Hyg.); Harpocration,

page 97 note 1 Of Athene Hygieia there was an altar in the deme of Acharnae, Paus. i. 31, 6.

page 97 note 2 Imperial copper coins of Irenopolis in Cilicia, under Domitian and Trajan (Brit. Mus.) show Hygieia holding a branch as well as the serpent and patera (cf. the Pompeian painting referred to above, p. 93).

page 98 note 1 Toelken, , Erklärendes Verzeichniss der ant. vertieft. geschnit. Steine (Berlin) Nos. 1200—1208Google Scholar; Chabouillet, , Catalogne des camées et pierres gravées de la Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 233Google Scholar, No. 1720 intaglio of Nemesis with serpent and patera of Hygieia, cf. No. 1722, and a similar gem in Brit. Mus. from Blacas Coll. On the sard engraved in King, , Handbook of Engraved Gems, p. 367Google Scholar, No. 42, Hygieia feeds the serpent from a cone held in her hand: see also Tassie-Raspe and other sources.

page 99 note 1 This gem is set in a ring: it has unfortunately been broken in two, and has not been joined with perfect exactness.

page 99 note 2 Michaelis, Anc. Marb. in Gt. Brit. especially ‘Broadlands,’ No. 14 (= Clarac, iv. 557, 1181); ‘Oxford, Uni versity Galleries,’ NO. 30 (= Clarac, v. 978 D, 2524 I) and the ‘Deepdene’ (Hope) and Lowther Castle Hygieias; Clarac, Pl. 546, 1151 B and text iv. pp. 5, 6 (group of Asklepios and Hygieia, a good deal restored, cf. Bullettino, 1870, page 36; Clarac, Pl. 556, 1174, text, iv. p. 17 = Brunn, , Descript. de la Glyptothèque (Munich), 2nd d. franc. 1879, p. 218, No. 174Google Scholar; and see others in Clarac, more or less restored; Flaseh in Annali, xlv. 1873, ‘Statua d'Igia nel Belvedere del Museo Vaticano’; cf. Bullttino, 1872, pp. 11, 12, and 134; Ἀθήναιον, 1882, p. 542f. (Epidaurian statues, Roman); marble pedestal inscribed Dyer, , Ancient Athens, p. 380Google Scholar (cf. Paus. i. 23). Brit. Mus. Guide to Graeco-Roman Sculptures, pt. ii. (1876) p. 9, No. 17, &c.

page 99 note 3 Michaelis, , Anc. Marb. in Gt. Brit. ‘Deepdene,’ No. 7Google Scholar; Wieseler-Müller, , Denkm. ii. 61, 780Google Scholar; Clarac, iv. 555, 1178.

page 100 note 1 Michaelis, op. cit. ‘Lansdowne House,’ No. 10.

page 100 note 2 Michaelis, op. cit. ‘Lowther Castle,’ No. 4.

page 100 note 3 Cf. Wieseler-Müller, Denk. No. 792b.

page 100 note 4 The serpent of Salus seems, however, borrowed from the Greek representations of Hygieia.

page 100 note 5 See Marquardt, and Mommsen, , Handbuch, d. röm. Altertth. vi. p. 361Google Scholar; Preller, Pauly, &c.

page 101 note 1 The coins which follow are all aurei in the Brit. Mus. Coll.