DAE´DALA
DAE´DALA,
DAEDALEIA (
δαίδαλα,
δαιδάλεια),
a term applied to the earliest iconic representations of the gods roughly
hewn out of wood (
ἄγαλμα ξύλου,
Paus. 9.3,
2;
δαίδαλον = later
ξόανον, ib.). From a very early period stones (
ἀργὸς λίθος, βαίτυλος) and trees received
divine honours. (Lucian,
Pseudom. 30; C. Bötticher,
d. Baumcultus d. Hellenen; Overbeck,
d. Cultusobj.
b. d. Gr.). Thus Artemis Soteira at Boiae was a myrtle (
Paus. 3.22,
12); the
Paphian Aphrodite a conical stone. The effigy of the god, down to the latest
times, was placed in a tree (in a cedar at Orchomenos, id. 8.13, 2; Cybele
on coins of Myra, Collign. p. 10). The immediate predecessor, however, of
the
δαίδαλον was a squared beam or flat
board, which, like the pillar, was probably draped and decorated (cf.
Callim. of Hera at Samos:
οὐπω Σμιλικὸν
[p. 1.593]ἔργον ἐΰξοον, ἀλλ᾽
ἐπὶ τεθμῷ |
δηναιῷ γλυφάνων
ἄξοος ἦσθα σανίς,
Euseb. Praep. Ev. 3.8; draped stone
on coin of Juliopolis (Gordium), Collignon, p. 13). Carved in shallow
relief, with human form, the plank became a
δαίδαλον; or later, with head, hands, and feet of marble
adjusted, the wood hidden by the drapery, an acrolith (
Paus. 3.16,
1). The uncouth character
of the most archaic type was shown in the omission or mere indication of all
detail (Tzetzes,
Chil. 1.538:
ἄχειρας, ἄποδας, ἀομμάτους,), and the stiff upright
attitude. The more realistic and varied conception of the later
ξόανον is ascribed to Daedalos (
Paus. 2.4,
5 ; 9.3, 2).
He separated the legs, raised the arms, and opened the eyes. Ancient
writers, however, are hardly consistent in their judgments of his reputed
works. Pausanias recognised high merit (
τι
ἔνθεον) in a rude art ; a Heracles was so lifelike that the god
himself threw a stone at it in the night (
Hesych. sub
voce
πλῆξαι); yet his Delian Aphrodite, with
arms, ended in a square block like a hermes (
Paus.
9.40,
2); and in Plato's time
(
Hipp. maj. p. 282 A) Daedalos would appear ridiculous.
The author of the
χορὸς of Ariadne [
Il. 18.590; according to
Paus. 9.40,
3, a
marble relief (a material not used before 20th Ol.)], of the
Cretan Labyrinth, &c., a contemporary of Minos and Theseus, who was
rather a mechanician and architect than sculptor, is separated by centuries
from the beginning of Greek art (7th or 8th cent.). But Attic legend
gradually evolved a quasi-historical Daedalus, patron of turners and
sculptors (Daedalids), with whose name an important reform in art was
conveniently associated.
Recorded
ξόανα: a sitting Hera in pear-wood
(
Paus. 17.5); a Britomartis at Olus, Crete
(id. 9.40, 2), &c.; attributed to Daedalus,
ξ.
γυμνὸν of Herakles, Corinth (id. 2.4, 5); a Heracles, on the
frontier of Messenia and Arcadia (id. 8.35, 2);
ξ. τὸ
ἀρχαῖον, Thebes (id. 9.11, 9), &c. Cf. Brunn,
Gesch. gr. Künstl. pp. 14, 15.
Archaeological evidence: archaic marble Artemis, showing wood technique,
Delos (
Bullet. Corr. hell. t. iii. pl. 1); archaic agalma of
Here, frieze at Phigaleia (Overbeck,
Kunstmyth. 2.2, 21; and
see under each god,
lb.).
Archaic or archaistic terra-cottas and marble idols from graves (ib. p. 25,
&c. ; Gerhard,
Akad. Abh. pl. lxi.;
Daedal.
Idolen ; Heuzey,
Les Fig. ant. de terre cuite,
&c.).
Coins: see above (also Blümner,
Technol. u. Termin. d. Gew.
u. Künsten, vol. ii. pp. 2, 177, 181; Overbeck,
Gesch. d. gr. Plastik,3 ch. 2 ; id.
Schriftquellen; Collignon,
Myth. Fig. de la
Grèce).
[
J.M]
