Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/292

 266 Greek Votive Offerings.

how a musician broke his string and yet won the prize (Clem. Alex, protrept. i. i. i, alib.).'" A similar system of short-hand indicates what the god has done for the patient by means of anatomical models, which then as now were regularly hung in the shrines of healing powers (p. 210 ff.). (4) The prize won by the action blessed. Spoils of war were offered to the god ; or, in place of objects actually captured, votive models of them — e.g. the bronze group of horses and captive women sent to Olympia by the Tarentines after a victory over the Messapians (Paus. 10. 10. 3). Under the same category come prizes won in the games and musical contests : sometimes the real prize was presented, e.g. the tripod dedicated at Dodona by a rhapsode Terpsicles (Carapanos Dodone p. 40) ; some- times a facsimile of it, e.g. a model tripod in stone dedicated at Tremithus by Timalcus (Collitz D. I . i. 122). So with the crowns of honour awarded to states or individuals : they w^ere regularly dedicated by the recipient (p. 266 ff.). Craftsmen, too, offered choice samples of their work, e.g. the amphoras made by two potters of Erythrae, master and pupil, who tried to beat each other in turning out thin ware (Plin. nat. hist. 35. 46). An author might dedicate his book (Diog. Laert. 9. 6) or his poem {Bull, de corr. hell. xix. ^62, alib.). Here again models were permitted: the hunter gave a bronze hare (Rohl, /. G. A. 385) ; the corn- growing town, a golden sheaf (Strab. 264, Plut. de Pyth. or. 16); the engineer, a picture of his bridge (Hdt. 488); Hippocrates, the model of a corpse (Paus. 10. 2. 6)! (5) The implement or means by which success had been at- tained. Aristomenes, who single-handed put to flight a whole Spartan regiment, dedicated his shield to Tropho- nius at Lebadea (Paus. 4. 16. 7) ; and at Olympia can still be seen the huge stone which Bybon " with one hand threw over his head " (Rohl, /. G. A. 370). Models served the same purpose, e.g. a golden anvil at Delos [Bull, de corr. hell. vi. 47, 168). Slightly different is the case of