Illustrations to Bacchylides

The Editors of this Journal have reason to think that a considerable body of its readers will be glad to be furnished with reproductions of the monuments, mainly vase paintings, that are discussed in connexion with Bacchylides. Even those to whom the published illustrations are readily accessible will probably find it convenient to have them brought together for reference, in a collection made from this point of view.III. The story of Croesus.—In the story as told by Bacchylides, Croesus voluntarily ascends his pyre, with wife and daughters; he invokes the gods, and more especially Apollo; he orders the pyre to be kindled; Zeus extinguishes the flames, and Apollo takes Croesus and his children to the land of the Hyperboreans. According to Herodotus, Croesus with his companions is placed on the pyre by order of Cyrus. After Cyrus has changed his mind, and his servants have made ineffectual attempts to extinguish the pyre, Croesus invokes Apollo, who extinguishes the flames. Fig. 1 shows the well-known vase in the Louvre, representing the subject. It had already been interpreted, before the discovery of Bacchylides, as evidence of an alternative version of the story, in which the sacrifice was voluntary. Croesus sits enthroned, and makes a solemn libation, while an attendant Euthymos is busy with the pyre. Some of the commentators interpret the objects that he holds as torches, but they are quite unlike torches, as usually represented (cf. J.H.S. xi. Pl. 6), and resemble more nearly the whisks for sprinkling lustral water. If this is the correct interpretation their use further emphasises the ceremonial character of the scene.