The mythology of Greece and Rome, with special reference to its use in art

by Otto Seemann

With regard to the artistic representation of Hebe, statues of this goddess appear to have been very rare in ancient times; at least, among all the numerous statues that have been discovered, none can be safely identified with Hebe. She is the more often met with on ornamental vases and reliefs, on which the marriage of Heracles and Hebe is a favourite subject. She is usually depicted as a highly-graceful, modest maiden, pouring out nectar from an upraised vessel. She appears thus in the world-renowned masterpiece of the Italian sculptor Canova, so well known from casts. In default of an ancient statue, we give an engraving of this work (Fig. 30).

8. Ganymedes.—A similar office in Olympus was filled by the son of Tros, the King of Troy, Ganymedes, who was made immortal by Zeus, and installed as cupbearer of the gods. Neither Homer nor Pindar, however, relate the episode of Zeus sending his eagle to carry off Ganymedes. This feature of the story, which is a favourite subject of artistic representation, is first found in Apollodorus. The Roman poet, Ovid, then went a step farther, and made the ruler of Olympus transform himself into an eagle, in order to carry off his favourite.

Fig. 31.—Ganymedes and the Eagle. From Thorwaldsen.

The rape of the beautiful boy is often portrayed in ancient art. The most famous monument is a bronze group of Leochares, an artist who flourished in the fourth century B.C. A copy of it still exists in the celebrated statue of Ganymedes in the Vatican collection. In modern art the story has been treated with still greater frequency. There is an extremely beautiful group of this kind by Thorwaldsen, in which Ganymedes is represented as giving the eagle drink out of a bowl (Fig. 31).

2. The Phenomena of the Heavens.

1. Helios (Sol).—Helios (Latin Sol), the sun-god, belongs to that small class of deities who have preserved their physical meaning intact. His worship was confined to a few places, the most important of which was the island of Rhodes. An annual festival, attended with musical and athletic contests, was here celebrated with great pomp in honour of the sun-god. He is portrayed by the poets as a handsome youth with flashing eyes and shining hair covered with a golden helmet. His daily office was to bring the light of day to gods and men, which he performed by rising from Oceanus in the east, where the Ethiopians live, and completing his course along the firmament. For this purpose the post-Homeric poets endow him with a sun-chariot drawn by four fiery horses; and though Homer and Hesiod do not attempt to explain how he passed from the west where he sets, to the east where he rises, later poets obviate the difficulty by making him sail round half the world in a golden boat (according to others a golden bed); and thus he was supposed again to arrive at the east. In the far west Helios had a splendid palace, and also a celebrated garden, which was under the charge of the Hesperides. He is described as the son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, whence he himself is called a Titan. By his wife Perse, a daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of Æëtes, King of Colchis, celebrated in the legend of the Argonauts, and of the still more celebrated sorceress Circe. Another son of Helios was Phaëthon, who, in attempting to drive his father’s horses, came to an untimely end.

Helios sees and hears every thing; whence he was believed to bring hidden crimes to light, and was invoked as a witness at all solemn declarations and oaths.

All the stories relating to Helios were gradually transferred to the Roman Sol, who was originally a Sabine deity, chiefly by means of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. The untiring charioteer of the heavens was also honoured as the patron of the race-course; but he never attained a prominent position in religious worship.

Helios, or Sol, is depicted as a handsome youth, his head encircled by a crown, which gives forth twelve bright rays corresponding to the number of the months, his mantle flying about his shoulders as he stands in his chariot. It was chiefly in Rhodes, however, that Helios was made the subject of the sculptor’s art. Here, in 280 B.C., was erected in his honour the celebrated colossal statue which has acquired a world-wide celebrity under the name of the Colossus of Rhodes, and which was reckoned as one of the seven “wonders of the world.” It was the work of Chares of Lindus, and was 105 feet in height.