An interesting representation of this dance occurs on an Etruscan Polledrara vase, painted by an Ionian artist, and found in Cyprus, where the dance was at one time performed in Amathus in honour of Aphrodite-Ariadne; according to tradition Theseus led the Attic youths and maidens in this dance[100]. The representation is superbly executed. The connexion of the name of Ariadne with this dance is sufficient to show its originally religious character, and probably it remained so always, theoretically; but even as early as the time of Homer, according to the following account from the Iliad, the religious element does not appear prominently:
Also with cunning art he wrought a dancing-floor; like unto that which erst, in broad Knossos, Daidalos had made for fair-haired Ariadne. Thereon young men and comely damsels were dancing, that clasped each other by the wrist. The damsels were arrayed in vestures of fine linen, and the men in fine-spun tunics, glossy with oil. And the damsels wore fair coronals, while the men carried golden dirks hanging from baldrics of silver. Now they would dance with cunning feet, lightly, as when a potter sitting at his task maketh trial of the wheel that is ready to his hands, to see if it run; now they would dance in long lines, facing one another. And a great company stood around the beauteous dancing-place, rejoicing; and two tumblers, leading the dance, kept whirling through the midst[101].
This dance was adopted by the Romans from the Greeks. Virgil compares its complicated evolutions with the windings of the Cretan labyrinth[102]; and
that the comparison is more than a mere poetical flourish appears from a drawing on a very ancient Etruscan vase found at Tragliatella. The drawing represents a procession of seven beardless warriors dancing, accompanied by two armed riders on horseback, who are also beardless. An inscription proves that the scene depicted is the “Game of Troy”; and attached to the procession is a figure of the Cretan labyrinth, the pattern of which is well known from coins of Cnossus, on which it is often represented. The same pattern, identified by an inscription, Labyrinthus, hic habitat Minotaurus, is scratched on a wall at Pompeii, and it is also worked in mosaic on the floor of Roman apartments, with the figures of Theseus and Minotaur in the middle[103].
After pointing out the widespread occurrence of this labyrinth pattern, both for the purpose of games as well as of decorations, Frazer continues:
A dance or game which has thus spread over Europe, and survived in a fashion to modern times must have been very popular, and bearing in mind how often with the decay of old faiths the serious rites and pageants of grown people have degenerated into the sports of children, we may reasonably ask whether “Ariadne’s Dance,” or the “Game of Troy,” may not have had its origin in religious ritual. The ancients connected it with Cnossus and the Minotaur. Now we have reason to hold, with many other scholars, that Cnossus was the seat of a great worship of the sun, and that the Minotaur was a representative or embodiment of the sun-god. May not, then, “Ariadne’s Dance” have been an imitation of the sun’s course in the sky? And may not its intention have been, by means of sympathetic magic, to aid the luminary to run his race on high?... If there is any truth in this conjecture it would seem to follow that the sinuous lines of the labyrinth which the dancers followed in their evolutions may have represented the ecliptic, the sun’s apparent annual path in the sky. It is some confirmation of this view that on the coins of Cnossus the sun or a star appears in the middle of the labyrinth, the place which on other coins is occupied by the Minotaur[104].
Frazer’s interesting suggestion points to the originally religious character of “Ariadne’s Dance,” which in course of time it lost. Like the dances at Harvest and Vintage festivals, “Ariadne’s Dance” was one of the mediums whereby the sacred dance developed into a purely secular amusement. The same may be said of the Geranos, or “Crane Dance,” danced at Delos, which was apparently derived from “Ariadne’s Dance[105]”; and also of the Hormos, or “Chain Dance,” which was also performed by youths and maidens holding their hands in a changing line[106].
Finally, reference may be made to a few representations of the sacred dance found in Cyprus, in addition to those already mentioned. On a vase, numbered cxxxii. 1 by Ohnefalsch-Richter[107], a dance is represented in which men and women are taking part, two of the former hold semi-circular instruments with which they accompany the dance; also, three of the men, one of whom seems to be acting as the leader, carry small swords at their sides; this illustrates the words of Homer in the quotation given above (lines 597-8). Again, on two bronze vases, numbered cxxix. 2 and cxxx. 1, the dance represented shows women only, some of whom are playing instruments, pipe, harp, and drum[108]; a similar representation occurs on a painted Etruscan vase (cxxxii. 4), while on a thin golden plate from a grave near Corinth[109] women are portrayed dancing and clothed with long garments; this is numbered xxv. 15.
VI
In turning now to the sacred dance among the Romans we find that there is not nearly the amount of material from which to gather information that there is among the Greeks. Cicero said: “No man who is in a sober state and not demented would dance either privately or in decent company[110].” If, as we may suppose was the case, this reflected the general opinion, one can well understand why it was that dancing never played such a part in the national life of the Romans as it did in that of the Greeks. Cicero, however, as is clear from the context of this quotation, was referring to dancing as a pastime, which respectable Romans regarded as inconsistent with their dignity. The dance in worship was a different matter. Nevertheless, even in this domain it did not play the part, nor anything like it, that it did among the Greeks. And what there was of it was, in the main, due to Greek influence[111]. Not altogether, however; and the influence of oriental cults must not be overlooked. Reinach, in speaking of the effect that eastern religions produced upon that of Rome, pointedly contrasts the hypocrisy of the sceptical priests in Italy (“deux aruspices, disait Coton, ne peuvent se regarder sans rire”) with the earnestness and sincerity of the oriental priest: