Dancing Muses?

DANCING MUSES? Dancing Muses? Elisabet Frieslander Department of Art History, Tel Aviv University S everal relief sculptures and fragments of statues of the Hellenistic and Roman period have traditionally been identified as “Dancing Muses”, mainly on the basis of their movement motif and the composition of their mantle folds. However, I would like to contend that this interpretation does not always fit the iconographic content of some of these works of art, and would like to suggest different interpretative possibilities. Moreover, since examination of the Dancing Muse figures discloses significant dissimilarities between the various depictions, I believe that different archetypes were used to create these figures, rather than a specific and well-defined type. The dancing aspect of the Muses is explicitly stated by Hesiod, in a celebrated hymn to the Muses, which prefaces the Theogony: From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon, and dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring and the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and, when they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus, or in the Horse’s Spring of Olmeius, make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon and move with vigorous feet.1 This hymn is remarkable for several reasons: it introduces a new concept, the “Heliconian Muses”, unheard of before Hesiod; and it describes their character, the place and the preparations (the bathing) performed for their activities.2 Although the denomination “Heliconian Muses” refers to the main 1 ELISABET FRIESLANDER veneration site of the Muses at Helicon in Boiotia, these are actually the same Homeric Muses who inhabit Olympus.3 The cult activity seems to have been of a simple, rustic nature until the beginning of the fourth century BCE.4 In the Hellenistic period, the cult of the Muses expanded and they were allotted new functions and attributes. Thus, it is not surprising that Ptolemy I founded the famous Alexandrian library in their honor, and also established poetic competitions dedicated to Apollo and the Muses.5 Due to their close association with Nature, especially with mountains and water sources, the meaning and characteristics of the Muses are very similar to those of the Nymphs and Charites, to the extent that in several instances it is difficult to distinguish amongst them. In early visual portrayals, the Muses are depicted as a varying number of feminine figures of similar appearance who follow Dionysos, Apollo or Athena, and lack any characteristic traits or attributes. This “negative type” makes their identification in early works of art uncertain, and based mainly on the inscriptions which accompany the figures.6 Discrepancies also appear in the number of Muses, which is certainly related to the lack of consistency in ancient literary sources. While Homer addresses only one Muse in the famous lines which open his Epics, later on he invokes the Muses as a collective chorus, and even mentions their number as nine.7 Hesiod’s description is more precise and details the genealogy, number and names of the Muses: ‘nine daughters begotten by great Zeus, Cleio and Euterpe, Thaleia, Melponene and Terpsichore, and Erato and Polhymnia and Urania; also Calliope’.8 With regard to their nature and functions, both sources refer to the Muses in an abstract, philosophical manner: they embody a wide scope of cultural and intellectual abilities, such as singing and dancing, memory and prophetic inspiration, eloquence and persuasion. Though their personal names suggest an idiosyncratic, individual approach, they in fact formed an impersonal chorus and were not assigned specific roles or attributes. This fact undoubtedly influenced their representation in the visual arts. Only after a long and slow development, did different artistic types and corresponding attributes gradually emerge.9 Hesiod’s fifth Muse is called Terpsichore, i.e. ‘she that delights in the dance’.10 Pindar also mentions her, with emphasis on her attractive, sweet singing.11 One century later, she is noted by Plato as connected to the dancing chorus 12 as well as by a series of ancient authors who mainly refer to her genealogy.13 Her functions and attributes - as is the case regarding all Muses in the early period - are generic, undefined and circumstantial, and thus differ from one example to another. Though the depiction of Terpsichore on painted vases is most popular, 2 DANCING MUSES? her iconography does not specifically reflect her dancing any more than her musical occupation or her association with Apollo or Dionysos. Accordingly, Terpsichore is often depicted playing different musical instruments - such as the auloi, trigonon, harp or lyre, or standing without any attributes - or even holding a thyrsos. This last attribute may be understood in the light of the legendary association of the Muses with Dionysos, who (according to Plutarch) is also the god of ‘moist nature’.14 A black-figured lekythos in the Louvre Museum15 illustrates both the lack of differentiation amongst the Muses themselves, and the difficulty involved in creating specific types and scenes of Muses. We see Apollo, dressed in a chiton and a mantle, holding in his hands a kithara and plektron. Four Dancing Muses advance towards him, three of them holding krotala in their raised hands, and one of them a lyre. In addition to the identifying inscriptions, there are minor differences in each figure, whose clear purpose is to diversify the motif of the Dancing Muse rather than to create individuality. If we compare the Dancing Muses of the above mentioned lekythos with a black-figured hydria at Hamburg that depicts a Dionysiac scene,16 we see that the main difference lies in the context. The scene of the Muses is defined by their dancing for Apollo, whereas the scene of the Maenads is built around Dionysos. Nevertheless, the Maenads can be easily identified by their ivy-crowned heads and typical gestures, while the Dancing Muses perform occasional movements which are not peculiar only to them. This lack of a clear iconographic formula in the depiction of a Dancing Muse can also be observed in the sculptural media, as far as I can conclude from the few extant and partly damaged sculptured cycles of Muses, and some fragmented torsoi. What are the reasons for this phenomenon? As mentioned above, the written tradition, as embodied mainly by Hesiod, stresses already in the first lines of the Theogony the dancing aspect of the Muses, and describes very vividly its different steps and character. At first the Muses dance around the spring and altar, and then on the mountain, seemingly in a choral, circular dance of the type well known from many descriptions.17 Despite this, however, I know of only one example in Hellenistic sculpture (to be discussed in detail below) which reflects very closely Hesiod’s description. Even if we take into account the probability that similar works of art were made but did not survive, it is clear from the later iconographic tradition (as depicted on many Roman sarcophagi) that Muses were only occasionally represented performing dancing movements. On the other hand, we see that from early on it was the musical and poetical aspects of the Muses which were the more emphasized. This fact can be 3 ELISABET FRIESLANDER Fig. 1: Apollo and the Muses, Red-figured hydria, Berlin (after Daremberg-Saglio, III, Fig. 5207). explained both by the complexity of the meaning of the concept “Muse”18 and by the Greek choral tradition which stressed the close link among recitation, music and dancing. An illustration to this line of thought can be found on a red-figured hydria from Vulci, which depicts Apollo Kitharoedos in the company of seven Muses (Fig.1).19 The figures are paired in four groups: on the left side Apollo, wearing a laurel crown, is holding his kithara and facing a standing Muse who is reading an open papyrus. Facing him on the opposite side, another Muse is holding a barbiton, with yet another Muse playing the kithara whilst sitting on a rock. The other side of the painted frieze depicts on the left side a Dancing Muse, and in front of her a standing girl stretching out her right arm as if reciting. The pair of Muses on the right side comprise another girl sitting on a rock and playing the auloi, and a standing Muse who is holding an open writing tablet. The intervals between the figures are decorated with stylized trees that suggest - together with the rocks - the natural environment in which the Muses dwell. 4 DANCING MUSES? The Dancing Muse does not differ from her companions. She too wears a long peplos, which falls in regular, serene folds, and an himation, which is pulled across her left shoulder, similar to the other pair of Muses. Her hair is bound up and covered by a saccos. She is stepping forwards, her upper body bent down, and her right arm flexed up towards her neck. The feet are naked, and her step is short and performed on the flat sole. Her movement is minimal, closed and very restrained. This example illustrates the development that took place in depicting the Muses in the fifth century BCE. Each of the figures shown on this vase displays a different posture (mainly standing and sitting) and different attributes, which refer to the sphere of recitation, dancing and music. The pairing of the figures does not reflect any active interaction between them, but merely serves the aesthetic purpose of creating harmony and variation. Thus, we may conclude that after a long period of gestation, the general type of the Muse emerged, represented as a standing, sitting or reclining draped, female figure, who occasionally is portrayed holding different and varying attributes pertaining to the poetic and musical arts.

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