Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Objet de valeur, objet de désir et signes de pouvoir : « l’épaule » de Pélops et la marque des Pélopides

2013; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/gaia.2013.1606

2275-4776

Pierre Cuvelier,

Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

Precious object, object of desire and signs of power : the «shoulder » of Pelops and t he mark of the Pelopids The Greek hero Pelops, ancestor of the Pelopids, is physically characterized by a distinctive mark of variable aspect, generally on the shoulder or the arm. I detail here the great variety of contexts in which this mark appears, and their infl uence on its form and connotations. Though it doesn’t exist at all in the visual arts, the mark has an existence in two very distinct domains. It is on one hand a vestige of the hero, a precious object treasured near Olympia, where Pelops received a cult. On the other hand, the mark appears in other forms in several, mainly poetical works. The choice of linking or not linking the mark with the episode of the banquet of Tantalus reveals which of two main signifi cations the authors convey through the mark : either its status of artifi cial element disappears and the authors focus on the precious gleam of ivory in order to convey a hyperbolical masculine beauty, or the mark is used as a macabre testimony of Pelops’ lost sliver of fl esh after the cannibalistic banquet of the gods. In spite of this diversity of medias and contexts, the mark generally works as a sign of power, as it is the case for the distinctive mark that the members of Pelops’ genos, the Pelopids, were rumored to wear during the last centuries of Antiquity.