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.
gestures are sometimes gentle and compassionate,” 147 but de Grummond indicates that Charu(n)<br />
can strike the head of the deceased soul as is shown on the sarcophagus of the Etruscan<br />
magistrate Laris Pulenas. 148<br />
Even if his exact role is ambiguous, his meaning is somewhat easier to define. Charu(n)<br />
is a creature who is part of the transition between the worlds of the living and the dead. He is<br />
liminal, and his monstrous features may be intended to represent his “otherness” and transitional<br />
nature in much the same way as the Gorgon. 149 A further comparison to the Gorgon may be<br />
made in that Charu(n)’s hideous countenance may also be an apotropaic symbol meant to ward<br />
off evil; 150 Charu(n), like the fearsome Gorgon, incorporates the serpent into his physical form.<br />
This may help to explain Charu(n)’s confusing role as guard or enemy. Just as the Gorgon, a<br />
monster and a threat whom Perseus defeated, becomes a protective force, so Charu(n), perhaps<br />
meant as an incarnation of the deadly aspects of the serpent, becomes a tomb guardian. 151<br />
Charu(n) may also be an embodiment of the fear of death, sometimes shown as threatening,<br />
sometimes shown as friendly. 152<br />
Thus while Charu(n)’s iconography seems to be associated with the fearsome aspects of<br />
the serpent as a representative of the afterlife and death, his appearance in art is not so simple.<br />
Like the snake, a creature that moves in an undulating fashion without the aid of legs, Charu(n)<br />
is alien in coloration, form, and physique; he is humanoid, but certainly something other than<br />
human. The snake also possesses such ambiguity and is at once a venomous predator but also a<br />
mild and friendly household guardian 153 much as Charu(n) may menace the dead but also act as a<br />
psychopomp, 154 protector, or a participant in conversation. Like the serpent, Charu(n) is a<br />
147 Richardson 1976, 243.<br />
148 De Grummond 2006a, 215.<br />
149 Lada-Richards (1998, 68) suggests that the liminality and otherness of a mythological figure (Cheiron the centaur<br />
serves as her example) is representative of the ability of that figure to facilitate the transition of a mortal from one<br />
state to another while the “monstrous” character retains its own ambiguous nature.<br />
150 Croon (1955, 13) suggests that the gorgoneion preceded a “fully-formed” Gorgon and that it was intended as a<br />
representation of an underworld goddess meant to fulfill an apotropaic function. Croon’s interpretation of the<br />
gorgoneion’s origins as that of a mask used in ritual dances may suggest similar uses of Charu(n) masks which have<br />
been found in tombs.<br />
151 Howe (1954, 212-4) proposes that the Gorgon was originally “an expression of the terror the lonely wanderer felt<br />
in the beast-haunted night, and though solely of imaginative origin, the head was given this generalized animal-like<br />
form.” She follows this statement with the conclusion that by creating an image of the Gorgon, one could gain<br />
power of it and use it to one’s advantage. A further stage in conquering the fear symbolized by the Gorgon was her<br />
decapitation by Perseus.<br />
152 Ridgway (2000, 313) suggests that Charu(n)’s ugly appearance is a concrete representation that death is frightful.<br />
153 Edelstein and Edelstein 1945, 228-9.<br />
154 De Ruyt 1934, 224.<br />
35