Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/51

CUSTOMS AND RELIGION OF THE PHRYGIANS. 35 FIG. 5. Cybele seated on throne. Reverse of bronze coin. Cadi, Phry- gia. DuRUY,/fi'j/. des Remains, torn. i. P- 534- homes, the fascination they exercised over the civilized nations of the old world, are our justification for dwelling, in this place, upon the customs and the religion of a people which has left no images of its gods or heroes. Types which may be traced back to Phrygia and Lydia will be found in the sequel of these studies. Such would be Cybele, her head surmounted by a tall turreted crown, now enthroned, a lion at her side (Fig. 5), now driven in a chariot or riding the king of ferae (Fig. 6), along with a long list of gods and heroes Menes, Atyses, Midases, and Marsyases, whose nationality is rendered unmistak- able by the Phrygian cap and the trailing broidered robe. To these may be added the Amazons, whose noble type so often figures on ancient Greek vases, where they preserve the character- istics of their national costume. The orgies of Dionysius offered stupendous opportunities to the Greek artist for his portraiture of the human figure in all its varying outline. Under his touch it became a living, pulsating reality, the like of which had never been seen or attempted before ; whether in the endless variety of fold of the disordered dress and dis- hevelled hair, caught up by the breeze, flying far behind, helping not a little the movement of the scene, or the audacious attitudes of the worshippers, men and women, whose conflicting passions, caused by wine and religious frenzy, struggled on to the surface, and were reflected in their whole being. If the name of the deity in whose honour festive bands moved on Mount Cithaeron is different from that with which the sanctuaries of Asia Minor have made us familiar, the oldest examples of orgies are those of Cybele and Atys ; during which nervous excitement trenched on those curious pathological phenomena designated in a general way as hysteria, and which in our day have received the careful attention of the medical profession. Our practical everyday life has nothing which resembles the tumult and rebellion of the senses, the periodical fits of madness, which seized the followers of Cybele during the performance of what may be termed their FIG. 6. Cybele seated on a lion. Reverse of bronze medallion of the Empress Sabina, wife of Hadrian. DURUY, Hist, des Romains, torn. i. p. 524.