BIRD AND BEAST IN ANCIENT SYMBOLISM. 187 



Eeading the statements in the light of astronomical symbolism, we are at once 

 struck by the following circumstances. The constellation Aquila is adjacent to the 

 constellation Cygnus ; the former rises immediately after and as it were in pursuit of 

 the latter, but the Swan, lying further to the north, has a longer course to make above 

 the horizon, and accordingly is still visible for a while after 

 Aquila has set. Aristotle tells us, in a passage of hitherto 

 unquestioned zoological import, that the Eagle attacks the 

 Swan, but is in turn defeated by it. I can find no zoological 

 truth in the statement, but the astronomical coincidences 

 here related accurately correspond to it. As regards the 

 Hare, we note that the constellation Lepus is on the eastern 

 horizon when Aquila is precisely on the western. Not far 

 from Aquila stands the constellation Vultur; and Aquila 

 and Vultur are frequently associated together, both by Fig. 9.— Decadrachm of 



Agrigentum. 



classical writers and by the Arabs, as Aquila or Vultur 



cadens and volans, or yty /cafl^ei/o? and -7rer6ixevo<s, nesr-el-waki and nesr-el-tair, 

 whence our modern names Vega and Altair applied to their two principal stars. 

 These, then, are the two eagles that devour the Hare on the famous decadrachm of 

 Agrigentum and in the great simile of the Agamemnon, olwvwv fia<ri\evg fiaaihevcri vewv. 

 a KeXaivos, o t e^oiriv apyas, . . . fiocrKO/Aevoi \aylvav. 



It remains to be seen whether we can discover any reason for these particular 

 phenomena of the heavens attracting particular attention and being especially selected 

 for representation. The Hare rises, and the Eagle, pursued by the Swan, sets just as 

 Cancer has risen. The Crab is in like manner a frequent subject on coins, and in some 

 very beautiful coins of the same city of Agrigentum we have the Crab on one side and 

 the Eagle on the other. The whole symbolism probably, therefore, has reference to the 

 tropic of Cancer, and to the midsummer rising of the sun in that sign in the classical 

 epoch as in the older days it was at the same season of the year associated with Leo. 



The multitudinous numismatic representations of the Dolphin (on coins inland as- 

 well as maritime) provide us with a severe test of the validity of the astronomic 

 hypothesis. The constellation of the Dolphin set very nearly as the Lion, the Hydra, 

 the Hare, and the Dog-star rose ; it is associated with the Lion on coins of Syracuse, 

 Tarentum, Velia, and Nacona, with the Serpent on coins of Priansus, Motya and 

 Messene, with the Hare on those of Messene, and with the Dog on those of Phocaea. # 

 With the circumstance that it stood directly opposite to the Lion, setting as the 

 latter rose, we may correlate its title of King of Fishes under which it ruled side by side 

 with the King of Beasts, reigning over Oceanus while the Lion was Lord of the visible 

 sky. It stood, with Capricorn, in mid-heaven at the rising of Aries, and is associated 

 with the Goat and Ram on coins of Delphi and with the former animal on those of 

 Paros. It rose as Argo and Gemini set, and is figured with a ship on coins of Megara 



* As well as on a gem figured by Imhoof-Blumer and Keller, pi. xx. fig. 18. 

 VOL. XXXVIII. PART I. (NO. 3). 2 B 



