Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/206

 touch, their connexion with the sea, is not, I think, to be explained as another loan from the Sirens. On the contrary the Gorgons were it would seem deities of the sea, when the Sirens were still dwellers upon the shore; and it was their originally marine character which enabled them to absorb the qualities once attributed to the Sirens. Thus according to Hesiod the three, Gorgons were daughters of the sea-deities Phorcys and Ceto, and their home was at the western bound of Ocean. Further one of their number, Medusa, was loved by the sea-god Poseidon, and gave birth both to the horse Pegasus whose name may be a derivative of [Greek: pêgê], 'water-spring,' and whose resort was certainly the fountain of Pirene, and also to Chrysaor whose bride was 'Callirrhoe, daughter of far-famed Ocean.' Whether this mythological problem is capable of solution in terms of natural phenomena does not here concern us; but it is a straightforward and necessary inference from these genealogical data, that an early and intimate connexion existed between the Gorgons and the sea. And here art comes to the support of literature. In the National Museum of Athens are two vases of about the sixth century, depicting Gorgons in the company of dolphins. The first, an early Attic amphora represents the three Gorgons, of whom Medusa appears headless, surrounded by a considerable number of them. The second, a kylex with offset lip of the Kleinmeister type, pourtrays a single Gorgon with a dolphin on either side. These artistic presentments furnish the strongest possible corroboration of Hesiodic lore, and justify the assertion that from the earliest times the Gorgons were deities of the sea. It was clearly then in virtue of their own marine character that they were able later to usurp also the place of the Sirens.

But the Sirens are not the only ancient beings who have contributed to the formation of the popular conception of modern Gorgons. In one story the personality of Scylla is unmistakeable beneath the disguise of name. This fusion is the more natural in that Scylla was from the beginning a monster of the sea,with [Greek: gargara] and Sanskr. garya, garyana, in sense of 'the noise of the waves.' Cf. Maury, ''Hist. des relig. de la Grèce antique, p. 303.], l.c.'' p. 269.]