ILLUYANKA IN ATHENS
Bluebeard Pediment, Acropolis Museum, Athens
The identity of the Blue Beard, the tricorpor serpent
monster on the right hand side of the east pediment of early archaic
Hekatompedon temple on Acropolis, has been the subject of a long discussion.
There seems however an agreement on that he is Typhon, the primordial monster
defeated by Zeus. Typhon story is quite reminiscent of the Hittite Illuyanka,
upon whom the god Teshup takes his revenge. Both gods are deprived of their
vital parts of their bodies by their enemies, and they had to resort to ask for
help for retrieving them.
Teshup and Sharumma kills Illuyanka, orthostat from the Late Hittite citadel on the mound Arslantepe, Malatya. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara
A depiction of Illuyanka comes
from the orthostats of the Late Hittite citadel on the mound Arslantepe in
Malatya. On the relief Teshup is seen killing the monster with the help of his
son Sharumma. Three dead bodies hang from the monster’s serpentine body. The
scene displays the aftermath of the fight, diverting from the tradition of
depicting such fight scenes in progress.
Zeus kills Typhon, Chalcidican black figure vase, Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany
Although Typhon is usually
portrayed as a composite single bodied monster, with the head and torso of a
bearded man, wings and a snake tail, the Blue Beard reveals a distinctive
choose. Each man holds a symbol on their hands; a wave, a sheaf and a bird from
right to left respectively. Those symbols must represent the water, the land and
the air, three basic elements on earth.
Bluebeard Pediment, detail. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
Composite creatures are thought
to represent the three-season calendar. Each component of the body in Chimera,
Sphinx and Typhon could have alluded to such specific seasonal changes as
warming of the land, high temperatures, migration of birds etc. Killing those
monsters apparently symbolizes ending of a successive time period by divine
ordinance. The image of a lion killing the bull symbolized the victory of the
Leo constellation over Taurus, when towards the spring time Taurus
constellation gradually disappears on the horizon and Leo rises at the top. Moreover,
lion is associated with the sun, thanks to its manes resembling the sun rays. Bull’s
horns on the other hand attributes to the moon with its circular shape, which
also alludes the night and winter time.
Perseus beheads Medusa, metope from the Temple C at Selinus, Museo Archaeologico, Palermo, Sicily.
By the way, Medusa’s archaic
portrayal bears such feline features as long fangs and a tongue stuck out. While
Medusa is associated with the star Algol of the constellation Perseus, the
monster’s reminiscence to Tiamat is apparent. In a Neo-Babylonian terracotta plaque
Marduk slays a sun-headed Tiamat, from whose body emanates the earth. Similarly
Pegasus and Khrysaor emerges from the blood of Medusa.
The Blue Beard pediment has also
a scene of killing of the bull by lion in its center. Though there are rather
two lionesses attacking the bull, there is no reason to attribute that fact to
a distinctive symbolism. The Blue Beard figure has always been discussed apart
from the other figures. Here I will try to discuss it in connection with the
bull-killing scene and put forward the traditional features in common with the
Near Eastern imagination that still survive.
Bluebeard Pediment. Source: John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period: A Handbook
Arabic belief imagines descent of
three jamarat on earth at the
beginning of the spring. They fall onto weather, water and soil respectively.
Meaning “burning coals”, jamarat are
also the common name of three idols stoned by pilgrims in Kabah. The tradition
comes from Abraham’s stoning of three idols before his entrance into the sacred
precinct of Kabah. In his Muhammad and
the Golden Bough Jaroslav Stetkevych suggests a common origin for that
practice and throwing stones at specific points during journeys in pre-Classical
Greece. Stone heaps were later converted into herms. In a black figure vase
Perseus is seen throwing stones at the sea monster for rescuing Andromeda.
Perseus throws stones at sea monster Kotes. Corinthian black figure vase, Cerveteri, Altes Museum, Berlin
All those practices point to a
common approach to revolving time periods. The god or hero passes the
successive phases by killing the monster, thereby maintaining the divine order.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stephen R. Wilk, Medusa: Solving
the Mystery of the Gorgon
Robert Graves, The Greek Myths
David Ulansey, The Origins of the
Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World
John Boardman, Greek Sculpture:
The Archaic Period: A Handbook
Jaroslav Stetkevych, Muhammad
and the Golden Bough: Reconstructing Arabian Myth
U. Höckmann, ‘Zeus besiegt Typhon’, Archaeologischer Anzeiger 1991
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