{"id":15692,"date":"2018-01-03T09:21:26","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T13:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=15692"},"modified":"2018-01-03T09:21:26","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T13:21:26","slug":"two-texts-by-clayton-eshleman-1-orpheus-in-lascaux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/two-texts-by-clayton-eshleman-1-orpheus-in-lascaux\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Texts by Clayton Eshleman: (1) Orpheus in Lascaux"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ORPHEUS IN LASCAUX<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Lascaux Pit\u2019s visionary scene is much more formidable & larger than I had\u00a0anticipated before climbing down a narrow 16 foot ladder to it in May\u00a01997. Around 6 and a half feet in length the scene possesses its wall space with\u00a0black, aggressive, calligraphic strokes. In reproductions it often appears cramped,with a bird-headed man, a wounded bison, & a rhinoceros done in a puerile,primitive\u201d fashion. As I stood before them, these figures struck me as commanding\u00a0as the images of bison & horses in the Rotunda & Axial Galleries above. The manganese\u00a0glistens; the six dots right behind the incomplete rhinoceros\u2019s anus shine, as if still wet!<\/p>\n

The bird-headed man, his bird-topped staff, & these six dots were possibly the\u00a0original figures on the Pit\u2019s wall. This naked figure with an erection & outstretched\u00a0handless four-fingered arms appears to be in a trance & I propose that he may be\u00a0the first indication of the presence of Orpheus in our world. The bird perched on the staff\u00a0right below his right arm is staring at (given their placement) the six turds, probably\u00a0the first marks made in one of the terminal areas of Lascaux (another, also marked\u00a0by six dots, being at the end of the Chamber of the Felines, the area farthest from\u00a0the cave\u2019s entrance). The Pit\u2019s turd dots are directly over an inverted V-like fissure\u00a0in the wall that widens into a small but gaping hole going nowhere.<\/p>\n

The Greek poet Simonides wrote that \u201cabove Orpheus\u2019s head flutter innumerable\u00a0birds.\u201d One European root for \u201cOrpheus\u201d offers \u201cor-n\u201d or \u201cerne\u201d from old English\u00a0earn, or eagle. A second suffixed form is the Greek \u201cornis,\u201d the stem of \u201cornith,\u201d\u00a0bird<\/i> (ornithology).<\/p>\n

It should also be noted that one of the two sorcerer-like figures engraved on the\u00a0wall of the Apse indirectly over the Pit appears to be a human figure inside a dried\u00a0grass costume, whose head area contains two eyes & a one-eyed bird\u2019s head.\u00a0This figure also seems to be wearing a witch-like hat! Thus there appear to be two\u00a0bird shamans in this area of Lascaux.<\/p>\n

The historical Orpheus appears to have been conceived in a Thracian cave during the\u00a06th<\/sup> century BC. As the son of Apollo, he enchanted animals as well as birds, & as one of the\u00a0Argonauts, his lute was \u201cstrung with poets\u2019 sinews.\u201d After the Bacchae tore him to pieces,\u00a0his shamanic head, which Philostratus wrote ended up in Lesbos, continued to deliver\u00a0spells & incantations. Pythagoras wrote that the poet must not tear apart this god within\u00a0himself. Orpheus\u2019s relationship to the underworld was confirmed when he descended into\u00a0Hades, that unfathomed mine of souls, in an attempt to bring Eurydice back to earth.<\/p>\n

The bison above and to the right of the Orphic bird-man is the most difficult figure\u00a0to contextualize in this visionary scene.\u00a0 Its head is unnaturally lowered with both of its\u00a0horns pointing at the man\u2019s elongated torso, & its front legs have been pulled back to the\u00a0extent that it could not stand; its beard, neck and withers appear to be unconnected\u00a0to its head (which can also be seen as a horse head facing in the opposite direction).\u00a0A spear laid across its anus points diagonally to the left crossing the animal\u2019s distended\u00a0belly in front of its disgorged intestines. Some of these peculiar aspects may be intended\u00a0to emphasize that the bison is dead. Unlike the quite alive rhinoceros\u2019s flipped backward\u00a0tail, the bison\u2019s tail is flipped forward\u2014another indication of its death?<\/p>\n

Based on the number of engravings in the Apse & Apsidole (indirectly above the Pit),\u00a0& the number of lamps & tools found on the Pit\u2019s floor (more than in any other area\u00a0of the cave), these two areas may have been the most visited & sacred for those who\u00a0decorated Lascaux.\u00a0 These places quite possibly hosted workshops where tools inspired\u00a0by images on the walls were fashioned.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Note: in all writings on Lascaux that I have read, the Pit is referred to as the Shaft.\u00a0Since a shaft is usually identified as a passage through the floors of a building, as in\u00a0an elevator shaft, I have preferred to identify this deep enclosed area as a pit.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A further text by Clayton Eshleman, “Orphic Ontologies 2” will be posted tomorrow here on NOMADICS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ORPHEUS IN LASCAUX The Lascaux Pit\u2019s visionary scene is much more formidable & larger than I had\u00a0anticipated before climbing down a narrow 16 foot ladder to it in May\u00a01997. Around 6 and a half...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1956,90],"tags":[250,1737],"class_list":["post-15692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essay","category-poetics","tag-clayton-eshleman","tag-prehistoric-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15692"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15705,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15692\/revisions\/15705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}