Aktorione

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Vessel fragment from the Argive Heraion (last third of the 8th century BC) depicting Aktorione (?)
Boiotic plate fibula (shortly after 700 BC) with the battle of Heracles against the Aktorione (?)

Aktorione (also Molione , Molionen , Molioniden , Aktorione-Molione ) are semi-divine twins or double beings from Greek mythology called Kteatos and Eurytos ( Greek  Κτέατος and Εὔρυτος ).

Myth and Literary Tradition

Origin and name

The Aktorione, which are sometimes referred to as Molione or even as Aktorione-Molione in the same breath, are twins of Greek mythology, whose legends were mainly spread in Boiotia , Attica and the Peloponnese . In addition to the divine sire Poseidon , the Aktorione had a mortal father, Aktor , the brother of King Augias of Elis , after whom they were named. Her also common name as Molione is said to come from her mother Molione or Moliona. Kteatus and Eurytus are said to have been born from a silver egg and, according to some ancient sources (e.g. Hesiod , Ibykos , Pherecydes ) , grew together. It is also recorded that Kteatus and Eurytus were married to Theronike and Therophone and that they each had a son, namely Amphimachus and Thalpios.

Mythical events

Due to the many links described in some traditions (two heads, four arms, four legs) and the semi-divine descent, the Aktorione were considered unapproachably strong and (almost) invincible. Nestor says in one passage in the Iliad , the so-called Nestorie, that he once almost defeated the brothers at a young age on the occasion of a war between Pylos and Elis , but they were raptured from the battlefield by their father Poseidon in time. At the funeral games in honor of King Amarynkeus he met the Aktorione again in the chariot race, and although he surpassed everyone in all other disciplines, he could not win against the sons of the Aktor. Even one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology, Heracles , could not easily defeat the Aktorione. After King Augeias had denied the hero a promised reward for clearing out his stable, Heracles attacked Elis. On the side of the Epeier , the inhabitants of Elis, also Kteatus and Eurytus fought - as nephews of Augeias - who fought back Heracles and killed his brother Iphicles . This wanted revenge, later ambushed the two three isthmiads on the way to the Isthmian Games near Kleonai and killed them. Apparently there must have been a sanctuary and a tomb of the Aktorione in Pausanias ' time (2nd century AD), where they were probably venerated as dioscuri-like , heroic brothers.

Problem of equating Aktorione and Molione

However, some difficulties and inconsistencies arise from the written transmission of the myths in which the Aktorione or the Molione occur. While in some sources the twins appear as a naturally educated and rather positive pair of brothers who were heroically venerated, in other places they are described as having grown together, multi-parted and even monstrous. It can be assumed that the Aktorione and the Molione were originally two different pairs of twins: on the one hand the dioscurally venerated brothers Kteatos and Eurytos, the sons of Poseidon, with cult in Kleonai and on the other hand a monstrous two-body who was killed by Heracles. However, the Aktorione and the Molione were merged with one another at an early stage ( Homer , Pindaros ).

Representations and archaeological finds

Like many other mythical figures or mythical events, the Aktorione also appear in Greek visual art. In addition to an example from Amyklai , the throne of Bathycles , which has only been handed down in writing (by Pausanias ) , on which the deeds of Heracles and, among other things, the killing of the sons of the actor are said to have been depicted, there are some archaeological finds, all from late and subgeometric times on which unusual double figures appear, with which perhaps the Aktorione or mythical scenes from the Aktorione myths are meant. Above all, the often fragmentary state of the objects as well as inconsistencies in relation to the epic traditions make the interpretation of the Aktorione difficult. The relatively short-lived appearance of such double figure representations in Greek visual art and the often mentioned experimentation of the geometrical artists are the most common arguments put forward against a mythical interpretation of these representations and the double figures are seen as a solution to a perspective problem, namely the representation of two individual figures standing one behind the other (a phenomenon similar to that often found in horse and carts at that time). For the interpretation of the double figures on the Aktorione, on the other hand, the fact that there must have been Aktorione representations (as on the Amyclean throne), the conspicuous concentration of the relevant finds on areas that are closely connected to the myth of the Aktorione and not Finally, the many counter-arguments that seem implausible (e.g. double figures as two individual figures "squeezed together" for lack of space).

List of objects with double figure representations

  • Louvre crater A 517 (Attic, Late Geometric Ia; Dipylon painter )
  • Louvre crater A 519 (Attic, late Geometric Ia; Dipylon workshop)
  • Crater (?) - fragment from the National Museum Athens (Attic, Late Geometric Ia)
  • Crater New York 14.130.15 (Attic, late Geometric Ib; Hirschfeld painter )
  • Crater (?) - fragment from Heraion of Argos (Athens, National Museum; Argive, Late Geometric II)
  • Skyphos from Peribolus of Apollon in Corinth (Museum Corinth 27.22.5; Corinthian, Late Geometric II)
  • Oinochoe of the Athens Agora (grave G 12:12; Athens, Agora Museum P 4885; Attic, late Geometric IIa)
  • Vessel fragment from Sparta (Sparta, Archaeological Museum; laconic, Late Geometric IIb (?))
  • Boiler stand Munich (Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8936; Attic, early protoattic)
  • Intaglio on the underside of a bronze horse by Phigaleia (London, British Museum BM 1905.10-24.5; Peloponnesian, around 700 BC)
  • Bronze brooch from Ida cave on Crete (Athens, National Museum 11765; Boiotic, subgeometric)
  • Bronze Primer Heidelberg 65/8 (Archaeological Institute of the University of Heidelberg; Boiotic, subgeometric)
  • Bronze Brooch Heidelberg 62/8 (boiotisch, subegeometric)
  • Bronze Brooch Heidelberg 62/6 (boiotisch, subgeometric)
  • Silver brooch (Athens, National Museum 3697; Boiotic, subgeometric)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Hom. Il. 11
  2. ↑ pause. 5, 1, 10
  3. ↑ Twins of half-divine, half-human descent are to be found more frequently in Greek mythology, cf. z. B. the Dioscuri Castor and Poydeukes , Neleus and Pelias , Amphion and Zethos , Otos and Ephialtes
  4. ↑ Boiotien: special veneration of Heracles; Peloponnese: site of the battles of Heracles; Athens: reference of the Neleiden family who immigrated from Pylos to Nestor; Near Corinth and Argos to Kleonai

literature

  • Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen : Aktorionen . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1217-1222.
  • C. Auffarth: Aktorione. In: The New Pauly. Volume 1, 1996, p. 418.
  • R. Hampe: Aktorione. In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Volume 1, No. 1, 1981, pp. 472-476.
  • G. Ahlberg-Cornell: Myth and Epos in Early Greek Art. Representation and Interpretation. (= Studies in Mediterranean archeology. Volume 100). Åström, Jonsered 1992, ISBN 91-7081-017-6 .
  • ETH Brann: Late Geometric and Protoattic Pottery. Mid 8th to late 7th Century BC (= Athenian Agora. 8). Amer. School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton 1962, OCLC 299648245 .
  • J. Boardman: Attic Geometric Vase Scenes, Old and New. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies. Volume 86, 1966, pp. 1-5.
  • F. Canciani: visual art. (= Archaeologia Homerica. The monuments and the early Greek epic. Volume 2). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984, ISBN 3-525-25425-3 , pp. 29-127.
  • JN Coldstream: Geometric Greece. Ben, New York 1977, ISBN 0-510-27000-X .
  • MK Dahm: Not twins at all. The Agora oinochoe reinterpreted. In: Hesperia. Volume 76, No. 4, 2007, pp. 717-730.
  • K. DeVries: Eighth-Century Corinthian Pottery: Evidence for the Dates of Greek Settlement in the West. In: Corinth. Volume 20, 2003, pp. 141-156.
  • K. Fittschen: Investigations at the beginning of the legends representations with the Greeks. Hessling, Berlin 1969, DNB 456626042 .
  • AD Fraser: The Geometric Oenochoe with Crossed Tubes from the Athenian Agora. In: American Journal of Archeology. Volume 44, No. 4, 1940, pp. 457-463.
  • Chr. Grunwald: Early Attic battle depictions. (= Acta praehistorica et archaeologica. 15). Verlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-88435-080-3 , pp. 155-204.
  • R. Hampe: Early Greek legend pictures in Boeotia. German archaeol. Institute, Athens 1936, DNB 361452705 .
  • KF Johansen: The Iliad in early Greek Art. Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1967, OCLC 874167021 .
  • T. Keightley: The mythology of ancient Greece and Italy. London 1838.
  • JK Papadopoulos: Tricks and Twins: Nestor, Aktorione-Molione, the Agora Oinochoe and the Potter Who Made Them. In: Philip P Betancourt, Malcolm H Wiener (Hrsg.): Meletemata: studies in Aegean archeology presented to Malcolm H. Wiener as he enters his 65th year. (= Aegaeum. 20). Université de Liège, Liège 1999, OCLC 926928240 , pp. 633-640.
  • T. Rombos: The Iconography of Attic Late Geometric II Pottery. Åström, Jonsered 1988, ISBN 91-86098-77-2 .
  • K. Schefold: Early Greek legend pictures. Hirmer, Munich 1964, DNB 454322003 .
  • I. Sforza: Gli Attorioni Molioni e la categoria del “doppio naturale”: Omero, il mito e le immagini, AnnPisa. In: Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia. Volume 7, No. 2, 2002, pp. 297-320.
  • A. Snodgrass: Homer and the Artists. Text and picture in early Greek art. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 1998, ISBN 0-521-62022-8 .
  • TBL Webster: Homer and Attic Geometric Vases. In: The annual of the British School at Athens. Volume 50, 1955, pp. 38-50.
  • G. Wille (Ed.): Otto Weinreich. Selected Writings II. 1922–1937. BR Grüner, Amsterdam 1973, ISBN 90-6032-032-8 .

swell

  • Hes. ehoiai frg. 17a Merkelbach / West
  • Ibykos, frg. 4 Page, PMG
  • Il., 11, 747-752; 23, 627-645
  • Break. III, 18, 15; V, 2
  • Pherekydes, FGrH, frg. 79a
  • Pind. O. 10, 30