Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
hyta. 611 On the other hand, the swan could be linked to the underworld and dying mortals due to<br />
its funeral song, 612 and the swan cap and wings may perhaps be meant to denote its connection to<br />
the underworld and its transitional nature. In this case, perhaps we should read the object held<br />
by the youth in Fig. VI.7 as a pine cone, a symbol of fertility often used as a grave stele. The<br />
pouring out of the pitcher and the presence of a patera could then be interpreted as an offering<br />
made for the deceased.<br />
The last two possibilities, Cygnus and Ganymede, may be the most likely identifications<br />
of the “Swan Demon.” As Picus was transformed into a woodpecker, Cygnus was a mortal who<br />
was transformed into a swan, and the cap worn by this figure may be a shorthand way of<br />
representing this metamorphosis. For reasons which she does not state, Richardson proposes that<br />
this figure has nothing to do with the Cygnus myth, 613 but this denial necessitates examination.<br />
A.L. Brown notes the presence of ten or more characters named Cygnus in the repertoire of<br />
classical myth, 614 but the tale of a man taking on the form of a swan appears in Vergil’s<br />
Aeneid 615 and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Ovid records the story of the Ligurian Cygnus, cousin of<br />
Phaethon, in Metamorphoses Book II.<br />
Stheneleian Cygnus was present at this portentous event,<br />
who, although related by the blood of your mother,<br />
was nevertheless more like Phaethon in mind. Having<br />
left behind his empire (for he ruled the Ligurians and their great cities),<br />
he filled the green banks and the water of the Eridanus<br />
and the wood augmented by his sisters with mourning.<br />
When his voice grew thin, and feathers<br />
hid his white hair, and his neck was extended by a long breast<br />
and a web joined his rosy fingers,<br />
feathers covered his side, and his mouth held a dull beak.<br />
Cygnus had become a new bird… 616<br />
611<br />
Brown 1971, 334.<br />
612<br />
Arnott 1977, 149-53.<br />
613<br />
Richardson 1983, 362.<br />
614<br />
Brown 1996, 417-8. Ahl (1982, 387) identifies seven distinct mythical figures named Cygnus.<br />
615<br />
Verg. Aen. X.189-92.<br />
616<br />
Ov. Met. II.367-77. Latin Text taken from Ovid Metamorphoses Books I-VIII, Vol. 3, edited by G.P. Goold, Loeb<br />
Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard <strong>University</strong> Press, 1999, p. 84, 86. (Translation by Author.)<br />
Adfuit huic monstro proles Stheneleia Cygnus, / qui tibi materno quamvis a sanguine iunctus, / mente tamen,<br />
Phaethon, propior fuit. Ille relicto / (nam Ligurum populos et magnas rexerat urbes) / imperio ripas virides<br />
amnemque querellis / Eridanum implerat silvamque sororibus auctam, / cum vox est tenuata viro, canaeque capillos<br />
/ dissimulant plumae, collumque a pectore longe / porrigitur, digitosque ligat iunctura rubentes, / penna latus velat,<br />
tenet os sine acumine rostrum. / Fit nova Cygnus avis…<br />
122