THE LIFE STORY OF A CULT STATUE AS AN ALLEGORY: KALLIMACHOS’ HERMES PERPHERAIOS*
Ivana Petrovic
The poet Kallimachos was obviously particularly interested in gods’ stat- ues.Inhisopuswefindstatuaryeverywhere.1 The settings of three of his six Hymns are festivals in which a cult statue plays a prominent role. In the Hymn to Athena, it is the ritual washing and dressing of a cult statue; in the Hymn to Demeter,itisaprocessionwithacultstatue.TheHymn to Apollo starts with an account of the opening of the temple doors and the greeting of the statue of the god by the chorus of youths and the gathered worshippers.2 In the Hymn to Delos, the arrival of the ancient statue of Aphrodite at Delos and the local rituals performed in its honour are depicted.3 The Hymn to Artemis offers an aition for the Ephesian statue of the goddess and the ritual dance performed by the Amazons.4 In the Aitia, an elegiac poem in four books narrating the origins of unusual rituals and cults, Kallimachos also mentions statuary frequently.5
* I wish to thank the audiences at Durham, San Diego, and Erfurt for stimulating discussions. I am very grateful to Markus Asper, George Boys-Stones, and Marco Fantuzzi for their comments on the paper. 1 On statues in Kallimachos’ poems see Manakidou , –; Acosta-Hughes , –. 2 On the role of statues in Kallimachos’ mimetic hymns see Petrovic , – with further bibliography. 3 Hym. Del. –. 4 Hym. Dian. –. See on this Petrovic , –. 5 The extant fragments include the following references to statues: the Graces are usually represented naked, but on Paros they are wearing garments (Aetia , Fr. .– Pf.);thestatueofArtemisinLeukadiahasamortaronherhead(Aetia , Fr. b–e Pf.); the tyrant Phalaris had a bronze bull in which he used to shut people and roast them alive (Aetia , Fr. and Pf.); the citizens of Lokri destroyed the bronze statue of Olympian winner Euthykles and were punished by Apollon (Aetia , Fr. and Pf.); two statues of the Lokrian athlete Euthymos were struck by lightning in one day, one in Olympia and one in his home town (Aetia , Fr. Pf.); the most ancient statue of the Samian Hera was a simple plank of wood until Scelmis carved it into a human form; Danaos had one such simple statue of Athena set up at Lindos (Aetia , Fr. Pf.); another statue of Hera at Samos has a vine around her hair and a lion’s skin at her feet as spoils of Zeus’ unlawful ivana petrovic
Perhaps the best-known example, though, is a compelling allegorical interpretation of the statue of Apollon at Delos.6 This particular statue of Apollon held the Graces in its right hand and a bow in its left. In typical Kallimachian fashion, the explanation is delivered in the form of a dialogue resembling the epigrams, which were usually inscribed on the base of the statues.7 Tothe questions of the unidentified speaker, who asks why he is holding the Graces in his right hand and the bow in his left, the god himself offers an answer: he was more inclined to offer blessings than to inflict punishment. In both Hymns and Aitia, Kallimachos displays a particular interest in old images.8 However, whereas the statues in the Hymns are frequently described in their ritual setting, in the Aitia, Kallimachos is more inter- ested in the origin and peculiarities of each statue. He displays consider- able knowledge of the technicalities of statue production9 and even offers conclusions about the development of their forms.10 His remarks about the unusual attributes of cult statues, like the mortar on the head of the Leukadian Artemis, the vine and lion’s skin of the Samian Hera, or the garments of the Parian Graces, are a testimony to his (and his audience’s) familiarity with statue-types. In short, in the Aitia Kallimachosissome- thing of an art historian, whereas in the Hymns hisinterestisprimarily a religious one. Even when describing such unusual images as the Eph- esian Artemis in the Hymn to Artemis, Kallimachos is more interested in theritualdanceperformedarounditthaninitsform.11 Unsurprisingly, statues are also frequently mentioned in Kallimachos’ Epigrams.12 However, whereas the statues mentioned in the Hymns and Aitia are venerable, archaic, or unusual statues referred to in the epigrams tend to be of a humble and modest nature. Even when the size of the children Herakles and Dionysos (Aetia , Fr. Pf.); in Arcadia, there is a statue of the “strangled” Artemis (Aetia Frg. incert. libri Pf.); the statue of Athena in Arcadia has a bandaged thigh (Frg. incert. libri Pf + SH .) 6 Aetia Fr. incert. libri Pf. See on this Pfeiffer ; Bing , ; Manakidou , –; Acosta-Hughes , –. On the archaeological background, see von Hesberg , –. The fragment mentions the statues of Milesian and Delian Apollon and, as suggested by D’Alessio , – and D’Alessio , –, possibly even a third, Argive object, associated with the horses of Diomedes. 7 Zanker , draws an interesting parallel between Kallimachos’ allegorical explanation of the work of art and contemporary “riddle” epigrams, real and fictional. 8 Manakidou , . 9 See for instance Fr. Pf. and Manakidou , . 10 See Aetia Fr. , and Donohue , –. 11 Hym. Dian. –. 12 On Kallimachos’ epigrams see Meyer ; Meyer ; Bing .