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of a lost Apulian drinking cup formerly in the Fenicia collection in Ruvo. This scene has been
linked to the rape of the young Trojan prince. That the scene in this tondo represents Ganymede
is confirmed by at least two other images of Ganymede being chased and/or abducted by a swan
on Apulian vases as well as a lost fragment which was decorated with the head of a swan,
surrounded by a nimbus and an inscription reading J r } y ~ o ~ q # A.J. Trendall also notes
that several images of Ganymede, before he is kidnapped by Zeus, include a swan, and states that
there must have been a local variant of this myth in which a swan replaced the eagle of Zeus. 623
Even so, S. Reinach identifies the bird in Fig VI.10 as an eagle even though it has quite a long
neck. 624
Given that Zeus was smitten by the young Trojan prince’s beauty, the substitution of
Aphrodite’s bird for the lordly eagle seems appropriate. A second, and more important objection
to the identification of the “Swan Demon” as Ganymede may be that Ganymede is abducted by a
swan; he does not metamorphose into a swan. 625 On the other hand, association with a swan may
not be out of the question due to Ganymede’s transcendence of mortality. 626 As mentioned
earlier, the swan can have funereal connotations because it sings a dirge. In his own way,
Ganymede, too, is a liminal figure who has actually conquered death by obtaining immortality as
Zeus’ cup-bearer. Ganymede will remain forever young and has transcended the boundaries of
life and death. Unfortunately, this interpretation must remain in the realm of speculation until
further evidence for the assimilation of kidnapper and victim can be provided.
Birds were associated not only with the heavens. Two Etruscan mythological figures link
the bird to the infernal realm. The first of these is an unidentified bird demon on a fragment of
Fig V.1, and we must remember not to say that an ancient artist, or in this case, a group of ancient artists, made a
mistake simply because we do not have a complete literary account. Sichtermann (1959) collects several examples
of Ganymede’s abduction by the swan in his text. Schauenburg (1969, Pl. 21,1.) illustrates one such Apulian volute
krater from a private collection in Berlin.
623
Trendall 1987, 144-5.
624
Reinach 1899, 335.
625
While no mythological traditions indicate that Ganymede could metamorphose into a swan, the same cannot be
said for Zeus, who took the form of a swan in order to court the Spartan queen Leda. Perhaps, the presence of a
swan in the myth of Ganymede is a conflation of myths concerning two of Zeus’ love interests.
626
Mayo (1967, 56) sums up the uses of the Ganymede myth in Classical art and literature as follows, “With far
more of an open mind than those of the succeeding centuries, the Greek or Roman viewed the Trojan youth as either
a symbol of sexual passion, a social phenomenon, a prototype of physical perfection, or the insurance of the soul’s
immortality.” Mayo demonstrates the validity of this last meaning with many examples throughout her discussion
of Ganymede in Greek and Roman myth and art.
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