Oedipe et le Cherubin: Les sphinx levantins, cypriotes et grecs comme gardiens d'Immortalite

This study explores the iconographical and functional filiation between

the Near-Eastern kerub and the Cypriot and Greek sphinxes. In biblical

texts as well as in Near Eastern iconography, the sphinx guarded the

Tree of Life, a metaphor for the Afterlife. The tutelary deity - most

often a goddess, except in the kingdom of Judah - guaranteed survival in

the afterlife, especially to the (God-)King. This was also the case in

Cyprus, where contextual analysis shows that the Great Goddess played a

similar role with regards to local dynasties. In both cases, the sphinx

assisted the deity, and ensured passage toward the Tree of Life - or, in

certain cases, denied access to it. Beginning with the well-known scene

on the Vatican cup, analysis of the different forms taken by the

creature in Greece (where it acquired the name sphinx ) shows that it

had the same function. This was so both in vase painting, where it

appeared most often in the heraldic position, and in statuary, as the

upper part of funerary steles or seated on top of columns. In the latter

cases, the volutes or palmettes placed immeditately below were a

synecdoche (pars pro toto) for the Tree of Life. The same conclusion can

be drawn from the Oedipean scenes (one or several men facing the

sphinx). Often found in funerary contexts, these representations

actually had an eschatological meaning. Evidence shows that these

beliefs were transmitted from the Near East (including Egypt) to the

Aegean, where they were particularly introduced in Orphic and

Dionysian contexts.