Dancing Nymphs on Lesbos: Dedications by Hermogenes and Daphnis

A bas-relief excavated near Mytilene (Charitonidis 1968, 29, plate 10a) portrays three dancing figures and bears the inscription Ἑρμογένης θέας Νύνυας. Longus also portrays the ἀγάλματα of three dancing Nymphs in Daphnis and Chloe (DC) 1.4. Hermogenes’ dedication was not discovered in an archaeologically datable context, and the iconography offers little help with dating; but the letter-forms of the inscription are consistent with the range of dates usually proposed for Longus. Although the bas-relief demolishes MacQueen’s assertion (1990: 160) that “Lesbos ... was not a likely place to find oneself in an idyllic grove consecrated to the Nymphs,” and Schönberger (1998: 288) suggested that Longus was describing an actual work of art, neither discusses the relief, and it has received little attention from other scholars of Longus such as Morhan and Hunter. The relief was found in a spring (άγιασμα) associated with a church 2.5 km from Mytilene. Longus’ Cave of the Nymphs, located in an estate adjacent to that of Dionysophanes, is sometimes described as a whole day’s journey (DC 4.33.2), or 200 stades = (37 km) from Mytilene (DC 1.1.2.) But nothing in the accounts of the babies’ exposure (DC 4. 22. 3; 4.35.4) suggests that their parents or nurse undertook daylong journeys in each direction to expose them, and an alternative MS reading places the estate 20 stades (3.7 km) from the city. The find-spot of Hermogenes’ dedication does lend some support to the idea that the Cave was close to the city; note also that caves are more common in the limestone geology of the Mytilene region than in the volcanic landscape further afield (Higgins & Higgins 1996, 132-135, fig. 13.2.) Longus’ account of the Nymphs (DC 1.4 2-3) corresponds in several details (loose hair, bare feet and arms, and high empire waist) to Hermogenes’ relief. Much of this is conventional iconography, but there are some unusual features. Longus ἀγάλματα suggest three in-the-round statues, but all e archaeological parallels are all much more like Hermogenes plaque, in relied, with the three Nymphs in a single image. Longus’ statues are indeed quite inappropriate for a small rural shrine, and probably represent an example of his preferring sophisticated urban tastes over actual rural practice. In Greece, dancing Nymphs are generally accompanied by Pan or Hermes or a flute-player (LIMC 8.1, 899-902), see, the fine Athenian examples in the National Museum (Svoronos 1911: 2. 441-450) and the new Akropolis Museum). Unaccompanied dancers are attested at Budrica in Thrace (IGBulg 3.1: 1339-1368, photos 168-173), but this seems an unlikely source for Longus. In his case, genes’ the absence of another figure is necessary for the story, since Pan’s role has yet to be appreciated by Daphnis and Chloe; but it is striking that the closest parallel is also from Lesbos.