DIOSCURI IN ANCIENT ASIA

 Η ΛΑΤΡΕΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΔΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΩΝ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΣΙΑ

Η ΠΟΡΠΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ Keshengzhuang[1]

Πόρπη ζώνης από το Keshengzhuang με παράσταση δύο παλαιστών[2]

The site of Keshengzhuang (Keshengzhuang yizhi 客省庄遗址) is situated at about ten kilometers west of Xi’an City, near the ancient capital of the first emperor of the Qin (Qin Shihuangdi 秦始皇, 260–210 BC). In 1955 archaeologists found bronze belt buckles (or horse harnesses) at this site[3] with decorations that represent two wrestlers (Fig. 1–5). Dating from the middle to the end of the Warring States period (475–221 BC), it is the oldest representation of wrestling in China.

These buckles are of Western Scythian origin, according to Emma C. Bunker, a metallurgy specialist on ancient China. In earlier publications, these wrestlers have, it appears, been wrongly associated with the Xiongnu of Mongolia (Di Cosmo 2002, Wu 1995, Lin 1994, Shao 1986).

The Keshengzhuang buckles exhibit two tall, elegant horses (not of the shorter Takhi or Mongolian type) in harnesses of a Scythian style, showing also two trees with their leaves turned upward and a flying swan or goose holding an object (perhaps an egg or a weight) that seems to be pinning the two wrestlers together. The swan is represented as having a human hand (Fig. 1–2) that holds an object. The two wrestlers look similar, like twins, with long wavy hair, and both are wearing Scythian-style loose trousers. The two wrestlers are holding each other tightly, each man’s head on the other’s shoulder, the left wrestler holding the waist of his opponent with his right hand, and catching the back of the other’s knee with his left hand, in a tackling pose. The right wrestler holds his opponent with his right arm around the other’s neck, right hand grasping his opponent’s right shoulder, while his left hand is grasping the underside of his opponent’s right thigh, trying to defend against the tackle. I have proposed earlier in two articles (Christopoulos 2010, 2012) that these two wrestlers represent the Dioscuri in the act of wrestling. According to Greek mythology, Leda, the queen of Sparta, was impregnated by Zeus, who took the form of a swan to seduce her. Leda produced two eggs from this union, from which hatched two sets of twins; the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces) and Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. In Sparta, the pear tree was associated with the Dioscuri, and images of the two twin gods were hung in its branches. Polydeuces was also one of the principal legendary creators of boxing: he supposedly taught the art to the Bebryces tribe (Βάβρυκες), of the Black Sea region (Philostr. Gymn 9; Theocr. Idyll 22).

Philostr. Gymn 9

ποτε βαρβάρους ἦλθεν, ἄριστά τε αὐτῇ Πολυδεύκης ἐχρῆτο, ὅθεν οἱ ποιηταὶ αὐτὸν ἐκ τούτων ᾖδον. ἐπύκτευον δὲ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τάδε: κράνη Λακεδαιμονίοις οὐκ ἦν, οὐδ᾽ ἐγχώριον ἡγοῦντο τὴν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῖς μάχην, ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἀσπὶς ἀντὶ κράνους τῷ μετ᾽ ἐπιστήμης φέροντι. ὡς οὖν φυλάττοιντο μὲν τὰς κατὰ τοῦ προσώπου πληγάς, πληττόμενοι δὲ ἀνέχοιντο, πυγμὴν ἐπήσκησαν καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα οὕτω ῾στέγειν᾽

Έχει ενδιαφέρον να σημειωθεί ότι η παλαιότερη παράσταση του θέματος δύο παλαιστών σε Κινεζικό έδαφος απεικονίζεται σε ορειχάλκινη πόρπη από το Keshengzhuang του τέλους της περιόδου των Αντιμαχομένων Κρατιδίων, η οποία αποδίδεται σε Σκύθες. Άλλωστε έχει επισημανθεί ότι Σκύθες / Σάκες του κύκλου Pazyryk διέθεταν πόρπες από ήλεκτρο με το ίδιο κατά βάσιν θέμα![4]

BACTRIAN KING, EUKRATIDES, 171-135 BC........Helmeted bust r./The Dioskouroi[5]

ΟΙ ΔΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΟΙ ΣΤΟ DILBERJIN[6]

                  Dilberjin “Temple of the Dioscuri” (after Kruglikova 1986)[7]

Dilberjin Tepe

Χρυσά Σκυθικά κοσμήματα με τους Διοσκούρους[10]

Διόσκουροι στην Κίνα ? [12]

ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ

[1]. Christopoulos 2015.

[2]. https://www.facebook.com/wrestlingroots/posts/3752275231496579?__cft__[0]=AZV68WW6UKGQ8y6Gbnm40LhsWdNb-VHzlVTV5bbkb5T8G13RLyeOiR0uTALvfw6bTFSvCK8Wsu9mEWCKkTTTTXLCpfIL4wYkFB5TY2Q9mAoYqDVEBpPAwMhC39AdF6bRaEehB2SZehhhkjcBZlKpc-Sy&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

[3]. http://www.kaogu.cn/en/Chinese%20Archaeology/3/On%20the%20Origin%20of%20Bronze%20Belt%20Plaques%20of%20Ancient%20Nomads%20in%20Northern%20China.pdf (.. the two bronze plaques with wrestling double human figures in openwork unearthed from M140 in Keshengzhuang 客省庄 Village, Chang’an 长安 County, Shaanxi 陕西 Province ..).

[4]. 4_71. Christopoulos 2015, p. 3, fig. 9.

[5]. British Museum, Museum number IOC.24.

[6]. Lo Muzio 1999.

[7]. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Dilberjin_Tepe%2C_Dioscuri_mural.jpg/800px-Dilberjin_Tepe%2C_Dioscuri_mural.jpg. Fresque de Siva et de Parvati. 

[10]. Babenko 2021, fig. 3: 2,3.

[12]. https://kknews.cc/culture/4k6mnrv.html

ΒΙΒΛΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp260_wrestling.pdf
Christopoulos, L. 2015. “Greek Influences on the Pazyryk-style Wrestling Motif of the Keshengzhuang Bronze Buckles,” Sino-Platonic Papers 260, pp. 1-13.

 
https://www.academia.edu/3588068/The_Dioscuri_at_Dilberjin_Northern_Afghanistan_Reviewing_their_Chronology_and_Significance
Lo Muzio, C. 1999. “The Dioscuri at Dilberjin (Northern Afghanistan): Reviewing their Chronology and Significance,” Studia Iranica 28 (1), pp. 41-71.

https://www.academia.edu/2944507/The_Um%C4%81mahe%C5%9Bvara_in_Central_Asian_Art
Lo Muzio, C. 2003. “The Umāmaheśvara in Central Asian Art,” Rivista degli Studi Orientali LXXVI (1-4), pp. 49-86.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/638874

Sens, A. 1994. "Hellenistic Reference in the Proem of Theocritus, Idyll 22," The Classical Quarterly 44 (1), pp. 66-74.

https://books.google.gr/books?id=lKJyCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=Kruglikova,+Temple+of+the+Dioscuri&source=bl&ots=ypkTxwO1G7&sig=ACfU3U02nyNe2Bva_osTasWciVMk9hcEKQ&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQsszk_oj0AhXtgf0HHRs3AqAQ6AF6BAgUEAM#v=onepage&q=Kruglikova%2C%20Temple%20of%20the%20Dioscuri&f=false

Stančo, L. 2012. Greek Gods in the East, Prague.

https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1977_num_121_2_13377

Kruglikova, I. 1977. "Les fouilles de la mission archéologique soviéto-afghane sur le site gréco-kushan de Dilberdjin en Bactriane," Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 121-2, pp. 407-427.

https://chs.harvard.edu/book/nagy-gregory-greek-mythology-and-poetics/

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Nagy.Greek_Mythology_and_Poetics.1990

Nagy, G. 1990. Greek Mythology and Poetics, CHS.

  

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Frame.The_Myth_of_Return_in_Early_Greek_Epic.1978. Frame, D. 1978. The Myth of Return in Early Greek Epic, CHS.

https://adiu.com.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/398/391

Babenko, L. L. 2021. “Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla as a Reminiscence of the Shield of Achilles: Searching the Origin of idea (пекторАлЬ З тоВстої Могили Як реМінісЦенЦіЯ ЩитА АхіллА: В поШУкАх ВитокіВ ЗАдУМУ),” Археологія і давня історія України вип. 3 (40), pp. 31-46.

https://el.art1lib.org/dl/48141142/0c3f6e

Gnoli, G. 1963. "The Tyche and the Dioscuri in Ancient Sculptures from the Valley of Swat (New Documents for the Study of the Art of Gandhāra)," East and West 14 (1/2), pp. 29-37.