The Chorus of Ariadne

Author(s): Alfred Burns

Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Dec., 1974 - Jan., 1975), pp. 1-12
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
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 THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE*

The Homericpoems,' thoughgenerallyreflectingconditionof a much

later period, preserve some genuine Mycenaean material as demon-
stratedby the LinearB tablets and other archaeologicalevidence. Un-
doubtedlyan unbrokenoral traditionand the natureof formulaicpoetry
are mainly responsiblefor the preservationof images and scenes from
the bronze age in Homer.2 But the question I would like to raise is
whetherwe can credit oral poetry alone for transmittingover several
centuriesan apparentlyprecise knowledgeof certain aspects of a van-
ished civilization. Or is it likely that some visual mementosof the past
could have inspiredthe poets and helpedto keep the traditionalive?3 I
shall try to show that at least in one particularcase such remindersmay
have well existed, both in the form of ancientruins and relics, and of
continuinglivingrituals.
The descriptionwith which I will deal is the vignetteof the dance in
the palace of Knossos which constitutesthe last scene on the shield of
Achilles:
And the renownedsmith of the strong arms made elaborateon it a
dancingfloor, like that whichonce in the wide spacesof Knosos
Daidalosbuilt for Ariadneof the lovely tresses.
And therewereyoungmen on it and younggirls, soughtfor their
beauty
with gifts of oxen, dancing,and holdinghands at the wrists. These
wore, the maidenslong light robes, but the men wore tunics
of finespunwork and shiningsoftly, touchedwith olive oil.
And the girls wore fine garlandson their heads, while the young men
carriedgoldenknivesthat hung from swordbeltsof silver.

*I would like to thank Professors Frederick M. Combellak and Norman Austin

for reading this paper and making suggestions on certain points; I, of course, am
responsiblefor all faults and errors.
1Whenthe name of Homer is used in this paper, it will be with the understand-
ing that it may refer to the poet of the final composition or to one or more of his
predecessors responsible for the passage under discussion. I shall give a wide
berth to the problem of dating by assuming that the poems were committed to
writing some time after the ninth century B.C.
2Statementsof these views are too numerous to cite in full. The following are
some representativeexamples: C. H. Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition
(Cambridge, Mass. 1958) 27, 45; D. L. Page, History and the Homeric Iliad
(Berkeley 1959) 218-219, 232-264; M. Ventris and J. Chadwick, Documents in
Mycenaean Greek (Cambridge 1956) 107; G. S. Kirk, The Songs of Homer
(Cambridge 1962) 110-112.
8E. Vermeule, Greece in the Bronze Age (Chicago 1964) 100, 344 n. 2, 305-
306, cites examples of objects that might have survived into classical times.
1
2 ALFREDBURNS
At whileson theirunderstanding feet they would run very lightly,
as when a pottercrouchingmakestrialof his wheel, holding
it close in his hands,to see if it will runsmooth. At another
time they wouldformrows, and run,rows crossingeach other.
And aroundthe lovely chorusof dancersstood a greatmultitude
happilywatching,while amongthe dancerstwo acrobats
led the measureof song and dancerevolvingamongthem.
(II. 18, 590-605, transl.by R. Lattimore,Chicago1951)
The picture these lines create is as vivid as if the frescoes of the
Minoanpalace had suddenlycome to life.4 The scene not only conveys
the generalatmosphereof the elegantcourt society of Knossos,it is full
of accuratedetail. We recognizethe feeling of spaciousness(eni Kn6s6
eureit) and the dense throngof people remindsus of the sea of heads
that fills the backgroundof the many fragmentsof paintings. It does
not take much imaginationto see the young ladies in their finely spun
gowns (leptaiothonai);5 we can practicallysmellthe preciousperfumed
oil which ever so lightly (jka) glistenson the well textured(eunnetoi)
chit6nesof the young dandies.6The appropriatejewelrycompletesthe
apparelof this jeunessedorde. Beautifuldiadems(kalai stephanai) en-
circle the foreheadsof the girls,5while the young men carry golden
ornamentaldaggers(n.b. machairai,not xiphea)7suspendedfrom silver
belts. And their dance is as graceful as their appearance. Touching
hands at the wrists,they step nimbly (reia mal) in smooth circles and
cross-overson skilled (epistamenoisi) feet. As in the Knossian wall
paintings,a greatcrowd (homilos) of spectatorsenjoys the pageantled
by a "god-like"singer and the ever-presentkybistitere.8 The sexes
minglefreelyjust as in the "SacredGroveand DanceFresco." Although
some of the descriptivenoun-adjectivecombinationsare not uniqueand
appear also in other contexts, they seem especially felicitous in this
image and have the cumulativeeffect of seemingto recreatethe palace
muralsin spirit and in detail without any discordantnote. There are
two stereotypedhalf-lines; emelpeto theios aoidos which is repeated
in e.g. Od. 13. 27, and molpesexarchontoswhich correspondsto ercheto
molpes in Od. 6. 101, but otherwisethe passage contains no internal

4A. Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos (London 1930) III plate xviii
(Miniature Fresco of the Sacred Grove and Dance). The Minoan aspects of the
scene, of course, have been noted repeatedly, e.g.: G. Glotz, Aegean Civilization
(New York 1925) 290-291; F. Chamoux, "Un souvenir minoen dans les poemes
hom6riques,"L'information litteraire (1949) 69-71; J. V. Ooteghem, "La danse
minoenne dans l'lliade (XVIII, 590-606)," Et Cl 18 (1950) 323-333.
5Evans, Palace (above, note 4) plate xvii (Fresco of Ladies seated on gran-
stand).
6Ibid. II, part 2, Frontispiece, plate xiv. The use of perfumed oil on garments
is attested in Linear B tablets: L. R. Palmer, The Interpretationof Mycenaean
Greek Texts (Oxford 1963) 243.
'Evans, Palace I, 153 and fig. 111.
8lbid. III, plate xxi, 72 fig. 41, 217 fig. 148, 430 fig. 296.
 THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE 3
evidence of extensive frozen formulasand archaisms. In the specific
descriptionof the dancing,no similarityexists in contentor vocabulary
with other dance scenes in the poems (e.g. Od. 8. 370-380). Thus it
appearsdifficultto credit the vividnessand seemingauthenticityof the
scene to formulaicfossilizationalone. Even the associationin the poem
of Daedalus'name with the dancingplace might reflect some historic
truth. The word da-da-re-jo-deon a Knossostablethas been interpreted
as meaning Daidaleionde-"towards"or "into the Daidaleion," and
K. Kerenyiconjecturesthat it may referto the choros that Daedalusis
supposedto have built for Ariadne.9
If we deny the possibilityof the use of the linear scriptsfor literary
purposesand if we insiston the four-hundredyear gap in Greekliteracy
(in spite of the continuityinto historictimes of the Cypriotsyllabaries
derived from Linear A), we must in conformancewith many con-
temporaryscholarsascribethe preservationof the dance scene with its
seeminglyauthenticperiodsettingto its encapsulationin oral poetry. As
the palace of Knossoswas destroyedabout 1400 B.C., we are forced to
assume the existence of Minoan-Mycenaeanformulaic poems which
survivedthe destructionof the palace and the court society of Knossos,
the expeditions against Troy and Egypt, the collapse of Mycenaean
civilization,and the upheavalof the age of migrationsto be finally in-
corporatedinto the Trojan war epic. In other words, the epics com-
mitted to writingno earlierthan the eighth centurycontainmaterialin
its pristineformwhichantedatesthe war whichis the sourceand subject
matterof these poems by two hundredyears and their final versionby
at least six hundredyears.
No archaeologicalevidence exists that dances of the kind Homer
describesperformedby men and women intermixedwere customaryin
his own time. Geometricvase paintingsrepresentingdancers usually
show all male or all femaletroupes. Even the few exceptionsthat have
both men and women dancingshow them apartin two separategroups.
In some instancesa male figureleads a group of women but never on
geometricmaterialare men and women representedalternatingin the
same line of dancers."' If Homer had no occasion to witness such
intermixeddances, another possibilitywould be that he created the
vision and its specificdetailsout of his own imaginationbased on some
general memories of a bygone past." For it is in keeping with the
Greektraditionto trace the originof danceback to Crete. Homertesti-
fies to this traditionalso in otherplaces. Aeneas tauntsthe Cretanwar-
rior Meriones who has nimbly dodged Aeneas' spear: ".. . even though
9K. Kerinyi, "M6glicher Sinn von di-wo-no-so-jo und da-da-re-jo-de,"Atti e
memorie el 1* congreso internazionale di micenologia, 1967, vol. II (Rome
1968) 1024; cf. Palmer (above, note 6) 236.
'0M. Wegner, "Musik und Tanz," Archaeologica Homerica III (Gittingen
1968) 60ff.; L. B. Lawler, The Dance in Ancient Greece (London 1964) 46.
"Kirk (above, note 2) 126-138 and passim doubts the survival of Mycenaean
epic and suggests continuity of an oral prose tradition.
4 ALFREDBURNS
you are a dancer.. ." (I. 16. 617). If the whole Phaeacianepisode is
not to be consideredcomplete fairy tale, the Island of Scheria can
probablybe viewed as a Minoancolony; Poseidon'svengeanceagainst
the island can be connectedas logicallywith the Thera catastropheas
the Atlanticmyth."2Theremighteven be confusionbetweenthe similar-
soundingnamesof Theraand Scheria.
The Phaeaciansmay be surpassedin other pursuits,but are supreme
in the artsof "seafaring,the feet, the dance and song" (Od. 8. 253). In
additionto Homer, there exists the well-knowntraditionof the war-
dance of the semi-divineCuretesof Crete, who saved the infant Zeus
by drowning out his crying by their song and dance and clashing
weapons. They are mentionedin Hesiod as dancers (Frag. 123), in
Euripides (Bacchai 120), and their mythicalrole has been much en-
largedby later writers(e.g. Ap. Rhod. Arg. 2. 1234; see also Rose)."
I wonderif the word Curetescould not simplybe a variantof Kretes-
Cretan,for which the Linear B spellingwould be Ke-re-te."4Plato, a
great admirerof the Spartanpolitical and social system, believed that
the Lacedaemoniansderived the institutionsthat found his approval
from the Cretans (Min. 320a; Repub. 5. 452; 8.544). These included
gymnasticsand dancing, which Plato, too, thought derived from the
CretanCuretes (Laws 7. 796b). As Plato had in mind his ideal state
with equal status of women, his gymnasticsand dance exerciseswould
have been coeducational (Rep. 5.452; Laws. 7. 806a; 813d; 795d-e).
Therefore,Plato approvedespeciallythat aspect of the Spartansystem
which let young girls participatein music and dance (Laws 7. 806a).
But the Spartancustom, ridiculedby Aristophanes(Lysis. 81), was
clearly an abnormalityfor classical Greece and Plato's plea on philo-
sophicalgroundshas little to do with spontaneoussocial activities. On
the contrary,the whole discussion impresseson us how unthinkable
such mixed entertainmenthad become in historicalGreece, and how
far removed the Greek attitude towards dancing had become from
Homer's"Royal Ball" in Knossos. Thus, even if Homer was able to
draw on a traditionwhich creditedthe origin of dance to Crete, he
could hardlyhave visualizedthe luxuriousMinoan qualityof this par-
ticular dance with boys and girls alternatingand holding hands while
executinghighly skilled figures. Otherdance scenes in Homer (e.g. II.
18. 569-573: Od. 23. 146-8) indicateno more than a rhythmicfoot-
stompingand althoughboth sexes participate,they do not necessarily
dance in a single intermixedhand-holdinggroup. It is to be noted that
in each of the three dance passages, the Knossian and the two just

12R. F. Willetts, Cretan Cults and Festivals (London 1962) 127-129; W. B.

Stanford, The Odyssey of Homer (London 1965) 308, 325. N. Platon, Zakros,
The Discovery of a Lost Palace of Ancient Crete (New York 1971) 315-316;
J. V. Luce, The End of Atlantis (London 1969) 171.
13H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology (New York 1959) 171.
14Palmer(above, note 6) 336.
 THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE 5
cited, the vocabulary,especiallythe verbs denotingthe dancing-activity,
is entirelydifferent. The text thus offers no indicationof being pre-
served through encapsulationin formulaic expression. Furthermore,
the questionmightbe asked whetherHomer reallyfollowed an existing
traditionattributingthe inventionof dancing to Crete or if he could
have been himselfthe originatorof this tradition,for of the writerswho
mention it, some refer not only to Homer's testimonybut also quote
this very passage-the danceat Knossos-to prove theirpoint (Dionys.
Hal. 7. 9; Athenaeus5. 181a).
Therefore,it seems neitherconvincingthat the epics on the Trojan
war could have preserved a situation that had ended at least two
hundredyears before that same war, nor that a general oral tradition
alone, if it existed, should have producedsuch a sharply defined and
accuratepictureunlessthe poet had some additionalhelp. I would like
to suggestthat such help might have come from the palace of Knossos
itself. Some portionof the palace, a wall still standingwith its frescoes,
even some fallen piece of stucco may have presentedthe poet with the
picture.
Unfortunately,the ancient sources concerningthe state of the ruins
are scarce,late and contradictory.Pliny the Elder says of the labyrinth,
nulla vestigiaexstant (Nat. Hist. 36. 90). We do not know, however,
if Pliny ever visited the site and what his source of informationwas.
Strabotells us that he was familiarwith Knossos,but does not mention
a word aboutthe palace (Geog. 10. 4. 10). But some positive sources
do exist. DiodorusSiculus writes:
The myththe Cretansrelaterunslike this: Whenthe Cureteswere
young men, the Titans, as they are called, were still living. These
Titans had their dwellingin the land about Cnosus, at the place
where even to this day men point out foundationsof the house of
Rhea and a cypressgrove which has been consecratedto her from
ancienttimes. (5. 66. 1; Loeb transl.by C. H. Oldfather)

Thus, at least foundationsstill existed in classical antiquityand were

visible. The testimonyby Pausaniasis even more impressive:
Of the works of Daedalusare these two in Boeotia, a Heraclesin
Thebesand the Trophoniusin Labadeia. Thereare also two wood-
en imagesin Crete,a Britomartisat Olus and an Athenaat Cnossus,
in whichlatterplace is also Ariadne'sDance mentionedby Homer
in the Iliad, carved in relief (epeirgasmenos) on white marble
(epi leukoulithou). At Delos, too, there is a small wooden image
of Aphrodite,its right hand defaced by time, and with a square
base instead of feet. I am of the opinion that Ariadne got this
image from Daedalusand when she followedTheseus,took it with
her from home. Bereftof Ariadne,say the Delians, Theseus dedi-
cated the wooden image of the goddess to Delian Apollo, lest by
6 ALFRED BURNS

taking it home, he would be draggedinto rememberingAriadne,

and so findthe grieffor his love ever renewed. I know of no other
worksof Daedalusstill in existence. For the images dedicatedby
the Argivesin the Heraeumand those broughtfrom Omphaceto
Gela in Sicilyhave disappearedin courseof time. (9. 40. 3; Loeb
transl.by W.H.S.Jones)
It would indeedbe difficultto visualizethat a structureof the size of
the palace of Knossos should have been completelyobliteratedby any
naturalor man-madecatastrophewithin six-hundredyears short of a
massivecoveringby volcanic flows or ashes of which there is no evi-
dence. Thus there is no reason to disbelievethat substantialremnants
still existed in Homer'stime if Diodorus and Pausaniasafter another
eight hundred years were shown recognizableruins of the palace.
Pausanias'testimony, of course, is for us of the greatestimportance
since he claimsthe existenceof a representationof the very dance scene
which Homer described. Pausanias'statementhas been doubtedas an
anachronismas no marble reliefs have been found dating to Minoan
times."5Remnantsof a great numberof stucco reliefs, however, have
been found in the palace, and some of the wall frescoes have been
paintedon underlyingstucco relief work.16 I wonderif it is absolutely
necessaryto interpretPausanias'text as referringto marblereliefs. It
is true that "epeirgasmenos estin epi leukou lithou" would normally
mean ". . . is sculptured on marble," the customary material for such
work in classicaltimes, and leukos lithos is the usual term for marble,
but since its basicmeaningis "whitestone,"I do not thinkit is necessary
to take Pausaniasso literallyin a technicalsense. He may have seen a
relief on a white stone wall and may have simplyused the currentterm-
inology. Also, as the statementis partof an enumeration,not a descrip-
tion in situ, he might not have rememberedthe exact material. The
context also lends credibilityto his report. What Pausaniaspresentsis
a catalogueof worksof Daedalus,i.e., Minoanworksof art still known
or extantin his time. The inclusionof the dance relief with the other
objects, some realisticallydescribedas damagedor lost, reinforcesthe
probabilityof his story.
Thus it seems not unlikely that Homer or one of his predecessors
could have seen what Diodorusand Pausaniassaw. That the wandering
poets covereda great amountof territoryis usually taken for granted.
Homer's specific remarks on the composition of the population of
Crete, his descriptionof the harborof Amnisos with the near-bycave
of Eileithyia(Od. 19. 172-189) seemto indicatefirst-handacquaintance
with Crete.17I believe the internalevidenceof the shield-makingpass-

15E.g. by W. Leaf, A Companion to the Iliad (London 1892) 317.

16Evans, Palace I, 531 fig. 387; II. 779-785, figures 508-511.
17M. P. Nilsson, The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek
Religion (Lund 1950) 58.
 THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE 7

age also points in the directionof a personalexperienceby the poet. In

the shield Homer presentsa work of art with aspirationsvery similar
to his own. Like the Iliad, the shield is an attemptto depictthe human
condition."8The images and scenes on the shield are generaland time-
less aspects of the life of the common people, but the final scene, the
dance, is localized in a particularplace in a particularperiod and
identifiedwith an aristocraticsociety."9Thus it is set apart from the
universal every-day imagery as something specific.20 And it is this
specificscene that accordingto Pausaniasstill existed as a relief in the
ruins of the palace of Knossos.
Pausanias'story is also interestingbecause it leads us to another
possibilityof a visual link with Crete and the Minoanpast. He reports
a traditionconnectedwith Delos that Theseusreturningfrom his Cretan
expeditiondedicatedon Delos an image of Aphrodite,which he had
received from Ariadne. This traditionis confirmedby Plutarchwho
gives us additionaldetails:
On his voyage from Crete, Theseus put in at Delos, and having
sacrificedto the god and dedicated in his temple the image of
Aphrodite (t6 the6 thysas kai anatheisto aphrodision)which he
had received from Ariadne, he danced with his youth a dance
whichthey say is still performedby the Delians, being an imitation
of the circlingpassagesin the Labyrinth,and consistingof certain
rhythmicinvolutions(parallaxeis)and evolutions(anelixeis). This
kind of dance, as Dicaearchustells us, is called by the Deliansthe
Crane,and Theseusdancedit roundthe altarcalledKeraton,which
is constructedof horns ("kerata")taken entirelyfrom the left side
of the head. (Theseus 21; Loeb transl.by P. Perrin)
The associationof Theseus,Ariadneand the Labyrinthwith the Cretan
origin of the aphrodision,the memory of the Cretan sacrificialhorns
implied in the name of the "Keraton"altar, and the descriptionof the
dance seem to indicateclearlythat we are face to face with an unbroken
traditiongoing back to Minoan times.21 In the dance of course, the

18I believethis view has been so widely acceptedthat it does not need further
elaboration,e.g.: W. Schadewaldt,Von HomersWeltund Werk,"DerSchilddes
Achilleus"(Stuttgart,4th ed. 1965) 352, who creditsLessingwith this funda-
mentalinsight.
19Thiswas noted long ago by W. Leaf, The Iliad (London,2nd ed. 1900-1902)
II 313, in his commentaryto II. 18. 590.
20Thecontrastbetweenthe dancesceneandthe restof the imageryon the shield
was felt so acutelythat some 19th centuryphilologistsdeletedit as a later intru-
sion. Thus lines 590-606 are still bracketedin the Teubneredition (1908) by
K. F. Ameis and C. Hentze. Althoughthe scholarswho wantedto excise the
passagetried to adducelinguisticand criticalarguments,it seems that the basic
reasonwas their awarenessof the special qualitieswhich set it apartfrom the
milieuof the other imageson the shield.
21M.P. Nilsson, The MycenaeanOriginof GreekMythology(Berkeley1932)
170-171. Opinionsare dividedconcerningthe interpretation of the archaeological
8 ALFRED BURNS
anelixeiscorrespondto Homer'swhirlinglike a potter'swheel and the
parallaxeisto the formingof rows (epi stichas). The aphrodisionmust
be the damagedwooden image of Aphroditeon Delos mentionedin
Pausanias'catalog of Minoan works. The age of the Delian festival
is confirmedby the Homeric Hymn to Apollo which describes the
dancing and singing where the Delian girls "sing the song of ancient
men and womenand delightthe tribesof men. For they know to imitate
the voices (phdnas--speech?) and clackingsounds (krembaliastyn)of
all men" (157-163). The last sentenceseems to be an indicationthat
even songs in the long-forgottenMinoanlanguagewere still part of the
ritual.22Thus not only the relief sculpturesat Knossos, but also the
living ritual at Delos, or both, could have providedvisual inspiration
to the epic poets as to the later vase painters. The FrancoisVase and
some other parallelsmentionedby Schachermeyrshow the liberation
dance of Theseus and his troupe in just such a dance with boys and
girls alternatingand holdinghands.23
In this connection,it is interestingto note that in Plutarch'sversion
as in Pausanias',Theseus on his return from Crete has dedicated a
Minoan statue to the local god, Apollo. What he has brought is an
image of Aphrodite. But it is a common view (e.g. Evans, Schacher-
meyr)" that Ariadnewas the Greeknamefor the greatMinoangoddess,
the nature and fertility goddess, in other words, the equivalent of
Aphrodite. I realize that Nilsson contradictsthis view and considers
Aphrodite an Ishtar-typegoddess from the East imported at a later
time.25 Mylonas points out how doubtful attemptsare to identify the
po-ti-ni-ja'sof the Linear B tablets with the Minoan and Mycenaean
representations.26It is a fact, however, that the characteristicsand
functionsof these mother and naturegoddessesmust have conformed

evidence for continuity of use of the sanctuary on Delos from Mycenaean to

archaic times. T. B. L. Webster, From Mycenae to Homer (London 1964) 27,
111, 139, follows the opinion of the excavators, H. Gallet de Santerre and J.
Treheux (BCH 71 [1946-7] 148.) that occupation was continuous. A. M. Snod-
grass, The Dark Age of Greece (Edinburgh 1971) 395-396, suspects a gap in
spite of the presence of Mycenaean and proto-geometric remnants under the
eighth century sanctuary. V. R. d'A. Desborough, The Greek Dark Ages (Lon-
don 1972) 279 and 371, considers a continuity of occupation and cult at the site
of the Artemision on Delos possible. Desborough further points out (280, 283)
that the archaeological evidence can be misleading, citing as an example the
sanctuary of Hyakinthos at Amyklai where a hundred year gap exists in the
pottery but where the pre-Greek name of the deity points to a continuous cult.
22Forthe Minoan origin of the dance, see L. B. Lawler, "The Geranos Dance,"
TAPA 77 (1946) 112-130.
23A. Furtwiingler-K. Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei (Munich 1904)
plate 13; cf. F. Schachermeyr,Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta (Stuttgart
1964) 345, n. 18.
24Ibid.310; Evans, Palace III, 74; Willetts (above, note 12) 193-194.
25Nilsson(above, note 17) 397-398.
`6G. E. Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age (Princeton 1966) 159-160.
 THE CHORUSOF ARIADNE 9
sufficientlyto the universaltype so that eventuallythey could be ab-
sorbed and replacedby Artemis and Aphrodite. The identificationis
especially clear on Cyprus where a sanctuaryand festival existed in
Amathus devoted to "Ariadne-Aphrodite,"27 explicitly linking the two
names. Now the Theseusmyth, in its firstpart, is quite clear: Theseus
with the rest of the fourteenyouths and maidens, arrivingin Crete to
be sacrificed,entersthe Labyrinthand havingfound favor with Ariadne
slays the Minotaur,flees with his company by her help, and takes
Ariadne along. At this point the myth becomes vague and splits into
many differentversions. Accordingto the Odyssey, Ariadne is killed
by Artemis on Dia "on the testimonyof Dionysos" (11. 321-5); in
Hesiod she marriesDionysos (Theog. 947 ff.); in Plutarch Theseus
abandonedher on Naxos and she committedsuicide, or Theseus put
Ariadneon shore on Cypruswhen she was pregnant,and while he was
drivenout to sea by a storm,she died in childbirth(Theseus 20).
The accountsof Plutarchand Pausaniasof the Delos episodeprovide
an explanation. Since Ariadnewas not a humanbeing as the myth as-
serts, but a goddess,28she could not have accompaniedTheseus in
person. But as she was the local deity, Theseus could not have suc-
ceeded without her favor. In recognition,he propagatedher cult, and
brought her Minoan statuette with the attendantritual includingthe
bullhornaltar and the dance to Delos. Thus the legend preservesthe
memory of the introductionof a Cretan cult and representsan aetio-
logical myth to explain the survival of a Minoan religious ritual into
classical times.29Minoan-typeshrines and cult objects used into the
archaicera have been found on Delos.so We must rememberthat Delos
is the mythologicalbirthplaceof Artemis, considered also an early
equivalentof the Minoan goddess with the same surnamesof Brito-
martis and Eileithyia. Generally,the cult of Aphroditeis associated
with islandsonce underMinoaninfluence,such as Kythera,Cyprusand
Delos. All the strands of the Ariadne myth are localized on islands
where they were associatedwith some ancientritual or cult in historic
times, and where archaeologicalevidence for Minoan settlementhas
been found."3Thus in addition to Delos there may have been other
sites where the epic poets could have witnessedritual dances keeping
the traditionof the palace of Knossos alive and giving an animated
reality to the relief images of the ruins.
A most convincingparallelto the poets' possible response to visual
inspirationis pointed out by F. H. Stubbingsin his discussionof the

27Plutarch,Theseus 20; Nilsson (above, note 17) 526.

280n this point general agreement seems to exist, e.g.: Rose, Handbook (above,
note 13) 184; Nilsson (above, note 17) 523-527.
29Nilssonibid. 524.
3olbid.453. See also note 21 above.
31E.g.: Naxos, Cyprus.
10 ALFRED
BURNS
Cave of the Nymphs on Ithaca.32There, doubt is hardlypossible that
the poet was speakingfrom first-handexperience. Not only does the
descriptionin the Odysseyfit the topographyand the physicalfeatures
of the cave, but to quote Professor Stubbings, ". . . it was possible to
excavatea rich stratifieddeposit of potteryand votive offeringsranging
from the Bronze Age to the first centuryA.D. A numberof inscribed
sherdsprove that the cave was sacred to the Nymphs, and a fragment
of a terracottamaskof the firstor secondcenturyB.C., inscribedE YXHN
0 AY E I, 'a votive offeringto Odysseus,'showsthat it was associated
E.E
with Odysseus. In the late Helladic III stratumremains of a pave-
ment which suggeststhat the cave was a shrineeven at that date. ....
The most remarkableof all the objects found are twelve tripod-caul-
drons of the ninth to tenth centuries B.C. . . . It seems certain that this
shrinehelped to inspirethe descriptionof the Cave of the Nymphs in
the Odyssey . . . it is even possible to see in the bronze tripods the
'originals'of those which Odysseus in the poem brings home from
Phaeacia."
The many futile effortsto associateepisodes in the Homericpoems,
especiallyin the Odyssey,with actuallocalitiesimpresson us a need for
caution, but still, personal experiencewith certain places and objects
must have providedinspirationto the poets. The Cave of the Nymphs
is a case in point; I suggestthat the dance in Knossosmay be another.
We know from Homer how greatlyold and beautifulworks of crafts-
manshipwere treasuredby their owners. He gives us many examples
of the loving care with which such keimilia were passed from fatherto
son and hidden in the mychosof the house to be broughtout only on
the most solemnoccasions. Examplesare the cup of Achillesonly used
for libationsto Zeus (11. 16.225-254) and Nestor'scup with the dove
decorations (II. 11. 632-7). When, after more than three-thousand
years, we are fortunateenough to possess Schliemann'sdove cup, the
Vapheio cups and others in the National ArchaeologicalMuseum in
Athens, must we doubtthat the Homericpoets were describingobjects
they had seen? D. L. Page arguesthat certainancientobjects (such as
the boars-toothhelmet and Ajax' "tower-shield")could not have sur-
vived because they contained perishablematerials,and thus that the
knowledgeof the poet could not have been derivedfrom a specimen
but from the poetic formulaalone.33I believe this argumentoverlooks
the possibilityof the existenceof a pictorialrepresentationon a lasting
material. The helmet and the shield exemplifyexactly this possibility.
In the NationalMuseumin Athens the boars-toothhelmet is shown on
a small ivory carving and the tower-shieldon the inlaid dagger with
the lion-huntfrom the fourthshaftgravein Mycenae.

32J. B. Wace and F. Stubbings, A Companion to Homer (London 1962),

"Ithaka,"418-419.
3,Page (above, note 2) 218-219.
 THE CHORUS OF ARIADNE 11
The reverencewith which the poet describes ancient works of art
reflectsan attitudewhich musthave helped to preservemany heirlooms
of the past. In addition, accidental discoveries or even intentional
treasurehunts in ruins and burial sites must have continuedto yield
bronze age artifacts. A strongantiquarianinterestduringthe geometric
period is attested by the re-activationof bronze-age tombs and the
establishmentof sanctuariesin Mycenaeanruins." Relics from a mythi-
cal past became objects and centers of cults. Such objects together
with the monumentalruins of the palaces, the "cyclopean"walls in
many localities,could not help but keep the memoriesof a greaterand
richerpast alive and thus add truth and meaningto the stories of the
poets which otherwisemight no longer have been accepted or under-
stood. It may well have been the visual impressionswhich lent the true
heroic dimensionsto a past when a hero could throw a stone which "it
would take two of today'smortalsto move."
Nobody has believed for a long time that Homer might have been
faithfullydescribingan actual shield,"3and althoughmost scholarsagree
that the descriptionis entirelythe poet's own composition,they general-
ly concedethathe may have drawnhis inspirationfrom many sources.S"
He still mighthave seen a shield similarin workmanshipeven if not in
conceptor detail. Seeingthe beautifulinlay works on the daggersfrom
Mycenaeone can well visualize a shield similarlydecorated,especially
as decorativeshields seem to have had cultic significancein the My-
cenaean period."7The ideas for the various scenes could have come
from many sources and from representationsin differentmedia. For
instance,the processionof harvestersremindsone instantlyof the Hagia
TriadaVase depictingthe exuberantreturnof the singing farmhands."8
Long ago WalterLeaf noted the Mycenaeancharacterof the shield by
the almost complete absence of mythology in contrast to such later
descriptionsas the shield of Heraclesin which mythologicalmotifs pre-
dominatethroughout.39
Formulaicpoetryhad a tendencyto encapsulateand preservecertain
imagesand memoriesof the past, but like any other living art, it had to
keep adaptingitself to the changingcircumstancesand experiencesof
its audience. Various aspects of life no longer understandableunder
contemporaryconditionshad to give way to the reflectionsof a new

34Snodgrass (above, note 21) 192-194, 397; Webster (note 21) 137-139;
Desborough (above, note 21) 283.
35W.Reichel, Homerische Waffen (Vienna 1901) 146, was one of the propon-
ents of this view.
86E. g.: W. Helbig, Das Homerische Epos aus den Denkmiilern erlidutert
(Leipzig 1887) 395; R. C. Jebb, Homer, an Introduction to the Iliad and the
Odyssey (Glasgow 1892) 68; Leaf, Companion (above, note 15) 310-311;
Schadewaldt (above, note 18) 357.
"7Mylonas(note 26) 157-158.
38Evans,Palace II part 1 fig. 22.
SgLeaf,Iliad (above, note 19) Appendix 1, 607; Companion (note 15) 311.
12 ALFREDBURNS

setting."4No hint remainsin the poems of the bureaucratichierarchy

in the palace societies with their book-keepingand rationingand in-
ventorying.4"The two-horse chariot, once in massed formation the
supremeweapon, has deterioratedin Homer into the commutingve-
hicle of an individual.42No matterhow historicallytrue certaindetails
may have been, they lost their credibilityif they were totally foreignto
the listeners'experience. Neverthelesssome memoriesof a long dead
past which shouldhave been unbelievablesurvived. The vignetteof the
Chorusof Ariadnein the palace of Knossoswhich had been destroyed
over two centuriesbefore the fall of Troy and thus before the earliest
possible emergenceof Trojan War poetry, and seven centuriesbefore
"Homer,"is an especiallyincongruousremnanteven if we assume the
existenceof Mycenaeanand Submycenaeanepics for which there is no
proof.4 Since we deny the possibilityof any writtentraditionsand the
threadof continuityin oral memoryis so extremelytenuousand fragile,
I thinkwe are justifiedin our searchfor some less changeablerepository
of knowledgeof the past. Both physical objects and ritual practices
suggest themselves as such a repositorywhich may have helped to
assure greaterpermanenceof certain images in oral poetry or which
mighthave inspiredthe poets to paint such images. If I have suggested
the ruins of the "labyrinth'and the festival on Delos as possible store-
houses of memoryfor our episode,I did not meanit as a positiveasser-
tion but ratheras an exampleof the surviving"worksof Daedalus"of
whichPausaniasnine-hundredyears afterHomerstill enumeratesa list,
or of the "songsof ancientmen and women"mentionedin the Hymn
to Apollo, which may still have existed in many places duringthe age
of the Homericpoets.
ALFRED BURNS
Universityof Hawaii

40E.Vermeule (above, note 3) 311.

41Kirk(above, note 2) 123-124.
42Ibid.
43Ibid. 120, Kirk thinks the evidence for Mycenaean epic is inconclusive; Page
(above, note 2) 222, assumes its existence.