Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
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votive 592 (Fig. VI.7) and decorative context (Fig. VI.8). The identity of the “Swan Demon”<br />
remains uncertain, but several possibilities have been suggested. F. Gerke proposes that the<br />
“Swan Demon” is meant to be Apollo 593 but does so without offering any supporting evidence.<br />
One might assume that the youth of this “demon” and the connection to the swan, sometimes<br />
associated with Apollo, 594 forms the basis of this identification. 595 Other suggestions for<br />
identifying the “Swan Demon” include Cupid/Eros, a rain-bringing wind god, 596 a Lar, 597<br />
Cygnus, 598 or Ganymede. 599 These possibilities possess varying degrees of merit.<br />
The swan was not only sacred to the god Apollo and but also associated with the Roman<br />
goddess of love and sexuality Venus (Etruscan Turan), and her son Amor or Cupid (Etruscan<br />
Turnu). 600 As is demonstrated in the LIMC entry for “Amor, Cupido” surviving images of Cupid<br />
and Amor are quite varied, and there do not seem to be standard attributes for these figures. 601<br />
Amores are associated with a plethora of animals including the dolphin, swan, dove, and many<br />
more. Amores may carry any number of different implements and objects, including objects<br />
such as the pitcher and patera held by the Swan Demon in Fig. VI.8. Thus, while there is<br />
nothing that indicates an erotic context for this figure, this does not rule out the possibility that it<br />
is a representation of an Amor. However, there appear to be no examples in which Amor wears<br />
an animal-skin cap of any kind. The “Swan Demon” may not be Amor but still belong to the<br />
592<br />
Richardson (1983, 362-3) indicates that this bronze votive statuette is the only known representation of the<br />
“Swan Demon” from the archaic period; the “Swan Demon” was apparently more popular in the Hellenistic period<br />
during which it typically appears in a decorative context.<br />
593<br />
Gerke 1938, 231.<br />
594<br />
Ahl 1982, 374-85; Thompson 1895, 105.<br />
595<br />
Krappe (1942, 70) comes to the conclusion that the swan is critical to the identity of Apollo in the following<br />
statement, “… let us say that to the “Mouse Apollon” and to the Anatolian sun-god [whom he associates with<br />
Apollo Soranus] must now be added a third component of the classical Apollon, fully as important as the other two:<br />
the ‘Swan Apollon,” the god of the whooper swan…” As part of his argument, Krappe (1942, 362) suggests that<br />
Cygnus may be a heroic form of the god Apollo. He is not, however, entirely convinced of this possibility. Given<br />
the rarity of the iconographic type of the “Swan Demon” and that it is an Italian creation, it is not clear that the<br />
Etruscans would have conceived of Apollo in this way.<br />
596<br />
Bailey and Craddock 1978, 78.<br />
597<br />
Messerschmidt 1942, 14. Palmer (1974, 116) also records the possibility of the Lares being winged but does not<br />
mention an association with the swan.<br />
598<br />
Richardson (1983, 362) states, “The hero with the swan’s crest seems to be purely Etruscan; he has no connection<br />
with Cygnus.” I am not convinced that we must rule out Cygnus as a possibility, and perhaps what we instead have<br />
is an Etruscan adaptation of a Greek mythological figure.<br />
599<br />
Bailey and Craddock 1978, 78.<br />
600<br />
For the association of the swan with Turan see De Grummond (2006a, 85), with Venus see Ahl 1982, 374 n.1.<br />
For the identification of Turnu as the son of Turan see De Grummond 2006a, 94.<br />
601<br />
Blanc and Gury 1986, 952-1049.<br />
120