Earliest Reclined River Gods

[Molinari]

I’m doing some research into the earliest reclined River Gods in the Greek world.  I know there is a statue from the Parthenon, late 5th century, allegedly  depicting the Ilissos, but on coinage the earliest I could find was from Katane, mid 3rd century BC.  Does anyone know of others?  

[shanxi]

Some early coins show the "Great God of Odessos" reclined and with an inverted amphora. I wonder if he had a side job as a river god.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=81105q00.jpg&vpar=1557&zpg=17900&fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins/

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=94434


Even if we can't call him river god, at least the depiction is very similar.

[Jochen]

Dear Molinari!

There are some books that deal with this topic:

(1) F. Matz, The Personifications of Nature in Greek Art, Göttingen 1913
(2) F. W. Hamdorf, Greek cultural personifications of the pre-Hellenistic period, Mainz, 1964
(3) H. P. Isler, Acheloos, Berne 1970
(4) C. Weiss, River deities in pre-Hellenic times, Würzburg 1984
(5) Dohrn, ancient river gods
(6) Sylvia Klementa, Gelagerte Flußgötter, Cologne 1993 (Late Hellenism and Imperial Age)
(7) Reinhard Falter, A Collection of Depictions of River Gods on Coins of the Roman East, in "Salus Provinciarum, Schriften des Instituts für Naturphilosophische Praxis Nr. 3, 2009".

Klementa and Falter are in my library. I think Weiss sounds good for your project.

In classical fine arts the anthropomorphic representation of the river occurs in about the second quarter of the 5th century B.C., if the interpretation of the corner figures in the east gable of the temple of Zeus of Olympia as Alpheios and Kladeos mentioned in Pausanias (5, 10, 6f.) is correct (Sylvia Klementa, Gelagerte Flußgötter 1993). Then the representation as recling deity would be owed to the available triangular space in the gable.

But there are also other opinions:
(1) The origin in the reclining figures (Satyrs) of the Dionysian entourage.
(2) Curtius explains the reccling type with the fact that springs and places with flowing water are comfortable sites for laying down.
(3) The resting Herakles, who is connected to the water in various ways and also served as a fountain figure, is also mentioned as an ancestor.
(4) A relative of the reclining river god is the Great God of Odessos, whose connection to the water (amphora etc.) is unambiguous and so this relationship is not accidental.

I'm interested in your results.

Best regards
Jochen

[Molinari]

Thanks, both of those are useful, Ralf.

Jochen, I’ve read Isler and Weiss (and formally weighed-in on the debate between the two, if you remember translating that review for me !).  Maybe LIMC is the best place to look—Weiss has an entry there, too.  The trouble is, she insists the man-faced bull is a local river god so her entry might obscure things.

Ultimately, I just needed a few examples that would attest to the iconography in the mid fourth century. I was hoping someone knew some obvious examples from numismatics that I missed, but it appears it was fairly late on coinage.

[Molinari]

Thank you for the Klementa reference.  That is perfect.

[shanxi]

The Alpheios in the east gable of the temple of Zeus of Olympia, mentioned by Jochen, appers at least similar also on a coin, but much later and with the facial features of Antinoos.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=170405

[Molinari]

That’s a great coin.  It is particularly useful because I am interested in the notion of assimilation, so the incorporation of Antinoos actually helps! Thank you for this!

[Molinari]

Dear Molinari!

There are some books that deal with this topic:

(1) F. Matz, The Personifications of Nature in Greek Art, Göttingen 1913
(2) F. W. Hamdorf, Greek cultural personifications of the pre-Hellenistic period, Mainz, 1964
(3) H. P. Isler, Acheloos, Berne 1970
(4) C. Weiss, River deities in pre-Hellenic times, Würzburg 1984
(5) Dohrn, ancient river gods
(6) Sylvia Klementa, Gelagerte Flußgötter, Cologne 1993 (Late Hellenism and Imperial Age)
(7) Reinhard Falter, A Collection of Depictions of River Gods on Coins of the Roman East, in "Salus Provinciarum, Schriften des Instituts für Naturphilosophische Praxis Nr. 3, 2009".

Klementa and Falter are in my library. I think Weiss sounds good for your project.

In classical fine arts the anthropomorphic representation of the river occurs in about the second quarter of the 5th century B.C., if the interpretation of the corner figures in the east gable of the temple of Zeus of Olympia as Alpheios and Kladeos mentioned in Pausanias (5, 10, 6f.) is correct (Sylvia Klementa, Gelagerte Flußgötter 1993). Then the representation as recling deity would be owed to the available triangular space in the gable.

But there are also other opinions:
(1) The origin in the reclining figures (Satyrs) of the Dionysian entourage.
(2) Curtius explains the reccling type with the fact that springs and places with flowing water are comfortable sites for laying down.
(3) The resting Herakles, who is connected to the water in various ways and also served as a fountain figure, is also mentioned as an ancestor.
(4) A relative of the reclining river god is the Great God of Odessos, whose connection to the water (amphora etc.) is unambiguous and so this relationship is not accidental.

I'm interested in your results.

Best regards
Jochen

What is the citation for the Curtius rationale? I’d like to read him.

[Jochen]

Ernst Curtius, Plastik der Hellenen an Quellen und Bächen, Berlin 1876

And Reinhard Falter has a wonderful 14 pages introduction into the Philosophy of river gods in his preface to (7) Reinhard Falter, Eine Sammlung von Flußgottdarstellungen auf Münzen des römischen Ostens, in "Salus Provinciarum, Schriften des Instituts für Naturphilosophische Praxis Nr. 3, 2009".

Best regards
Jochen

[Molinari]

Thanks, these will be really helpful.