The Deities of the Sacred Axe 9781463220990

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T h e Deities of the Sacred Axe

A n a l e c t a Gorgiana

224 Series Editor George Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and

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monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utili2ed by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

The Deities of the Sacred Axe

Margaret Waites

l gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

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ISBN 978-1-60724-453-0

ISSN 1935-6854

Extract from The A^merican Journal of Archaeology, vol. 27 (1923).

Printed in the LTnited States of America

archaeological

Jtaitftute of America THE DEITIES OF THE SACRED AXE IN this paper, I shall attempt to explain the symbol of the double-axe with special reference to the religions of Greece and Asia Minor. After examining the origin, meaning, and application of the symbol, I shall proceed to point out its possible utility in the interpretation of the complicated mysteries of the Cabiri. The importance of the double~8tX6 as Eb sacred symbol in ancient Crete is too well-known to require discussion. It will suffice to mention here some of its more conspicuous manifestations. Axes appear, for instance, inscribed on the corner-stones and door-jambs of the palace at Cnossus, as well as on two columns perhaps erected as aniconic images.1 They occur again embedded in the sides of pillars on one of the palace frescoes; 2 they are wedged as votive offerings in the stalactite pillars of the- Dictaean cave.3 On a larnax from Palaikastro, a slender column supports the double-axe with the sacred horns; 4 the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada shows axes placed on pillars which are covered with foliage.5 The same symbol is frequently found on Minoan pottery,6 and occurs on stones and gems, such as the steatite lentoid found at Cnossus,7 and the agate intaglio of the bull's head from between l JJI.S. XXI, 1901, pp. 110 f. For the view that the axes are masons' marks, see Burrows, Discoveries in Crete, pp. 110 ff. 2 B.S.A. X, 1903-1904, p. 43. 3 B.S.A. VI, 1899-1900, p. 100. *BJS.A. VIII, 1901-1902, p. 299, pi. XVIII. 5 Von Duhn, according to Cook (Trans, of the Third Internat. Cong, for the History of Religions, II, p. 189). For a different view, cf. Paribeni, Rend. Acc. Lincei (Serie 5), XII, 1903, p. 344. 9 So at Cnossus: B.S.A. VII, 1900-1901, pp. 52 ff.; VIII, 1901-1902, pp. 103-106; IX, 1902-1903, p. 114. At Gournia: Gournia, Vasiliki, and Other Prehistoric Sites (Excavations of the Wells-Houston-Cramp Expeditions, 1908), pp. 42, 53, 60; pis. I, 2, K, and VII, 26. It is, of course, possible that in some cases such motifs have become purely decorative. •>BJS.A. VIII, p. 102, fig. 59.

American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series. Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, Vol. XXVII (1923), No. 1.

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the horns of which rises the axe. 1 On the great gold signet from Mycenae 2 it is inserted above the group of the seated goddess and handmaidens. Finally a small shrine in the palace at Cnossus contained a double-axe of steatite leaning against a pair of horns, and possible traces of two others originally inserted between the branches of this pair of horns and of a corresponding one upon the other side.3 In connection with the prominence of the double-axe in Cretan worship, Mayer has plausibly suggested 4 that labrys and labyrinthos are etymologically related, and Evans has conjectured that the labyrinth may have derived its name, "the House of the Double-Axe", directly from the worship of the axe-fetish. 5 A vase from Cyprus, where the worship of Zeus Labranios occurs, repeats the symbol. 6 Though in many of the cults of Asia Minor the axe survived as the special attribute of Zeus, the predominance of the female over the male element in divinity, manifested in the religions of both Crete and Anatolia,7 makes it antecedently probable that the axe originally belonged rather to the Mother-Goddess than to the Father-God. 8 And, in fact, the presence of three female ' B.S.A. IX, p. 114, fig. 70. 2 J.H.S. XXI, 1901, p. 108, fig. 4. For an example from the Tiryns treasure, see 'Apx. AeXr. II, 1917, pp. 13 ff. Compare also the mould from Siteia ('E. *ApX. 1900, p. 26, pi. 4), and the clay sealing from Zakro (J.U.S. XXII, 1902, p. 78, fig. 5, No. 6) where the form of the labrys resembles the type on the Mycenaean signet. 3 B.S.A. VIII, 1901-1902, p. 101, fig. 57. *Jb. Arch. I. VII, 1892, p. 191. 6 J.H.S. XXI, 1901, p. 109, n. 7. 6 Evans, op. cit. p. 107, fig. 3. Despite its prevalence, the axe-symbol is not a purely Minoan development, for a single axe was the ancient Egyptian character denoting divinity. A "Priest of the Double-Axe" is twice reported from the Fifth Dynasty, while the Twenty-Sixth produced a priest of " H a of the Double-Axe". See references given by Cook (Trans. of Third Internat. Cong, for the Hist, of Religions, II, 1908, p. 184), and compare also Evans, The Palace of Minos, I, p. 15. Schweitzer, Herakles, Aufsätze zur gr. Religions-und Sagengeschichte (Tübingen, 1922) suggests, pp. 21 ff. and p. 30, n.5, that we should look to the Carians, or rather to the great stock of which the Carians were a remnant, for the origin of the axe-cult. Schweitzer's interesting and suggestive monograph was called to my attention only after the text of this article was written. 7 Ramsay, in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, extra vol. 1904, p. 122. 8 So Evans, who associates the axe-fetish with the cult of Zeus, declares rather inconsistently (B.S.A. VII, 101 f.): "The presence of the female idols

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idols, among which is the Dove-Goddess, together with the steatite double-axe and possible traces of two more axes in the shrine at Cnossus; the steatite lentoid with a double-axe of the reduplicated pattern in the hands of what seems to be a female divinity; the schist mould from Palaikastro, 1 with the figure of a goddess holding a double-axe in each hand (Fig. 1); the seal impressions from Hagia Triada where the attendants of the goddess carry the axe; 2 the association of the symbol with the Snake-Goddess

F I G U R E 1 . — S C H I S T M O U L D OF G O D D E S S W I T H FROM

DOUBLE-AXE:

PALAIKASTRO,

on the same base as the Sacred Horns and Double-Axe seems to show t h a t this symbolic weapon was associated here with the cult of a Goddess as well as a God. . . . The Double-Axe, the proper emblem of the Male God, was also common to the Goddess . . . and there are indications that of the two it was Rhea who took precedence in Minoan cult." In The Palace of Minos, p. 447, I am gratified to find the bolder statement: " . . . Taken in connection with the traces of Minoan religion in its prevailing aspect, not at Knossos alone, but throughout the length and breadth of Crete, it is clear that the special aniconic form of the supreme Minoan divinity, as of her male satellite, was the Double-Axe." l

B.S.A. B.S.A.

2

IX, p. 92; IX, p. 60.

'ApX. 1900, pi. 4.

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at Gournia; 1 and finally the appearance of the double-axe on the gold signet from Mycenae above the seated goddess and her worshippers,—all confirm the impression that the axe indicates predominantly the power of the Mother. 2 Even the votive axes of the Dictaean and Idaean caves may remind us that in both Zeus was worshipped as the divine son, and therefore subordinate, of the divine mother. On the other hand, I have found no cases in Cretan worship where the double-axe is obviously the attribute of a male divinity only.3 To understand the meaning of such a cult, we may remember the well-nigh universal use of the axe among primitive peoples to denote thunder and the thunder-deity, 4 recalling also the fact that Cretan votive axes are marked with zig-zag lines which may well denote lightning. 6 In tracing the use and development of the thunder-stone, Blinkenberg has shown how the peoples of eastern Asia Minor, Assyria, and North Syria who employed the single-edged axe instead of the Minoan weapon, conferred their own peculiar tool upon their thunder-deities. A third thunder-weapon, the Babylonian trident, must, as he explains, also be taken into consideration, together with its Assyrian development, the double trident, which in its turn became the Greek keraunos. Both these forms of the thunder-weapon may have been affected by the doubleaxe.8 Lastly, where the spheres of influence approach each other, 1 In the shrine of the Snake-Goddess was discovered a fragment of a pithos on which a double-axe and a disk had been modelled in relief (Annual Reports of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute, 1904, pi. II, fig. 1, p. 570; Gournia, p. 47, pi. XI, 8). For the probable identity of Snake-Goddess and Mother-Goddess, cf. B.S.A. IX, pp. 85 f; Palace of Minos, p. 500. 2 So Mosso {Mem. Acc. Lincei, Serie 5a, XII, 1909, p. 510) characterizes, as the sole object of ancient Minoan worship, "il grande mistero della natura feconda e della terra madre della vita. Quando i Cretesi sentirono il bisogno di avere un simbolo della divinità ed un oggetto che la rappresentasse, scelsero il simulacro religioso della scure a doppio taglio. . . . " 3 If I am right, Farnell is mistaken when he says (Greece and Babylon, p. 93), that the double-axe in Minoan palaces belongs to the thunder-god, though occasionally the goddess might borrow it. 4 Cf. Blinkenberg, The Thunder-Weapon in Religion and Folklore, passim. 6 B.S.A. VII, p. 53, fig. 15. 6 A letter to an Assyrian king mentions the double-axe as carried for Dilbat (the planet Venus, identified with Ishtar). See Jastrow, Religion Babylontens und Assyriens, II, 616, n. 9; Delitzch, Beiträge zur Assyriologie, II, 31 f.

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as in the Hittite country, we find combinations of the single axe and the trident-like weapon, both of which are carried by the Hittite thunder-god, 1 whereas his descendant, Jupiter Dolichenus, bears the double-axe and the keraunos. The trident, indeed, appears on the coins of Carian Mylasa 2 together with the doubleaxe. It is found also in Crete, though apparently only as a mason's mark, 3 and here, too, in one case,4 a trident is combined with a double-axe. As, however, the trident in this instance has sometimes been interpreted as a branch, I shall later attempt another explanation of the compound character, which indeed may be quite devoid of religious significance. 6 As Blinkenberg points out, 6 the thunder-stone, at first represented by the stone axe, was replaced when this implement went out of use by the double-axe of bronze peculiar to the culture of the Minoan sphere of influence, including western Asia Minor. When the double-axe had once become established in cult, there was doubtless strong reason for its retention. For the Goddess-Mother, as the supreme source of life, unites in herself the male and the female elements, and such a combination finds appropriate expression in the double-axe.7 Then, too, if 1

Blinkenberg, op. cit. fig. 12. Blinkenberg, op. cit. figs. 22 and 23. 3 B.S.A. VIII, 1901-1902, p. 10; cf. IX, p. 101. 4 B.S.A. X, 1903-1904, p. 28. 5 The heaven-god, Tàf KpTiTayevZ/s, appears with the lightning-bolt on coins of Domitian (Milani, Stvdi e Materiali I, 1), but this evidence is, of course, too late to be significant. 6 Op. cit. p. 24. 7 This solution of the symbol is suggested by Legge, Forerunners ami Rivals of Christianity, II, 67, n. 3. It seems fairly well established that the sex-aspect of the primitive earth-goddess was so unstressed that she was virtually regarded as genderless. The double-axe would express the next stage in primitive thought; the two necessary elements for procreation are recognized, but the Mother, the source of life, combines them. I t is convenient, but not altogether correct, to use of such a combination the word "bisexual," for that implies an artificial conception, whereas the process was in reality the gradual emergence from primitive vagueness of the idea of the divine. In Caria and Cyprus, disgusting legends arose from the supposedly androgynous nature of the supreme deity, but these are the exception .rather than the rule. The "bearded Ishtar", often misinterpreted as bisexual, has been shown by Jastrow (Revue Archéologique, XVII, 1911, pp. 271 ff.) to be a phrase derived from the streaming rays of the planet Venus. The goddess-mother was one and yet two, as later she became one and yet a trinity. Cf. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, p. 93: "The distinction of sex is not . . . an 2

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before the axe became associated with the thunder-god, it denoted the Great Mother's power over the sky and the lightning, the double form may have seemed an appropriate symbol of a deity who united with this function the protection of the earth and the fruits of the earth. 1 It would be gratifying if we could support the hypothesis that the double-axe was originally the property of a goddess by evidence of its use outside Crete in this capacity, even when it has become predominantly the attribute of the heaven-god, her partner. Further, we should expect to find traces of the presence of the goddess when the axe has been replaced by the thunder-bolt. Lastly, if the double-axe in reality denoted a deity regarded as uniting male and female elements, we may look for some reflection of this belief on the monuments where the symbol and its developments occur. a) The Double-axe as the Property of a Goddess. Double-axes of geometric date were discovered in the shrine of Artemis Orthia at Sparta; similar offerings were made to Artemis of Lusoi. 2 An inscription of the third century B.C. from the Asclepieum of Cos mentions a double-axe as a holy implement used in the service of Demeter. 3 The local Demeter of Mostene in Lydia 4 bears the double ~8iXGj as does the divine ultimate and fundamental fact of the divine life: the god and the goddess, the Son and the Maiden, are mere appearances of the real and single divine life that underlies them." 1 Evidence that the Mother as the original deity was regarded as controlling heaven as well as earth may, perhaps, be found in the shadowy and purely theological nature of the Babylonian heaven-god, Anu, who has no great local cult except at Erech, the cult-centre of the mother-goddess. Compare also titles like that given to the Sumerian mother-goddess, gdsan anna gasan anki-a-ge, "The heavenly queen, queen of heaven and earth" (Langdon, Tammuz and Ishtar, p. 88, who, however, explains the title 'queen of heaven' as merely theological and secondary, ultimately meaning the female principle of Anu, the heaven-god). As to the solar power of the Minoan goddess, consult Evans, Palace of Minos, p. 479. For evidence of the power of mother-goddesses over the heavens, compare the Egyptian Isis and Hathor, examples which may have exercised influence on Crete. See Palace of . Minos, p. 509 f., and Roeder in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl. s.v. Isis, p. 2101. 2 B.S.A. XIII, 1906-1907, p. 116, fig. 6e; Jh. Oest. Arch. I. IV, 1901, p. 49, figs. 67-68; Schweitzer, op. cit. p. 38. 3 Schweitzer, loc. cit. 4 Brit. Mus. Cat. Lydia, p. LXXVI and pi. XVII, 9.

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horseman also worshipped in the t o w n . T h e city-goddesses of N y s a in Caria and Anazarbus in Cilicia 1 follow her example. On a n alliance coin of T h y a t i r a and Smyrna, S m y r n a is represented as an A m a z o n holding the double-axe and pelta. 2 A n other coin of T h y a t i r a 3 shows on t h e reverse a s t a n d i n g A m a z o n , clad in a short double chiton. Her right hand holds a spear, her left, t h e double-axe. T h e ordinary t y p e of double-axe was usually replaced in representations of the A m a z o n s during classical t i m e s b y the sagaris, a sort of pickaxe ascribed t o t h e m b y X e n o p h o n . 4 N e a r D i n d y m u s flowed the river Sangarius, whose daughter was, according t o one version, 5 t h e m o t h e r of Attis. 6 T h e river derived its n a m e from Sagaris, son of M y g d o n , who m a d d e n e d b y Cybele for despising her rites, sought d e a t h in its waters. 7 Lastly, t h e n y m p h Sagaritis was the cause of the unfaithfulness of Attis, at 1

Imhoof-Blumer, Lydische Stadtmünzen, p. 110, No. 16; Kleinasiatische Münzen, 433, No. 7. Cf. Ioannes Schäfer, De love apud Cares culto (Diss. Hal. XX, 1912), p. 369, n. 1. 2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Lydia, p. 321 (Gordianus Pius). On coins of the Roman Empire, the eponyms of many cities of Asia Minor are represented as Amazons armed with the double-axe. So Smyrna (W. Leonhard, Hettiter u. Amazonen (1911), p. 71, n. 4); Cyme (Brit. Mus. Cat. Troas, p. 121, pi. XXIV, 3); Aegae (Mionnet III, p. 3, No. 9), Klügmann, 'Ueber die Amazonen d. kleinas. Städte', Philologus, XXX, 1870, p. 545; Phocaea (Brit. Mus. Cat. Ionia, p. 225, No. 152); Magnesia ad Sipylum (Klügmann, op. at. p. 530); Cibyra (Brit. Mus. Cat. Phrygia, p. 140, No. 52, pi. XVII, 5; Ancyra (Brit. Mus. Cat. Galatia, p. 9, No. 6, pi. II, 4); Mazaca (Leonhard, op. tit. p. 75). 3 Imhoof-Blumer, Lydische Stadtmünzen, pi. VI, 29; type identical with that of Smyrna on coins of Domitian's time. The city-god of Thyatira, a combination of Apollo and Tyrimnus, bears the double-axe (op. cit. p. 151). A female rider, carrying the double-axe, is found on coins of Apollonia Salbace (Brit. Mus. Cat. Caria, p. 54, 2). The reverse of a coin of Heraclea Salbace (R. Num. XVI, 1851, p. 242) shows an Amazon, with patera in right hand and bipennis in left, standing between Artemis and a veiled goddess. 4 Anab. IV, 4, 16; Leonhard, op. cit. p. 117; see also infra, p. 39. 6 Arnob. Adv. nat. 5, 6. 6 It is possible that Cybele was called Dindymene because the double-peaked mountain symbolized to the ancients, like the double-axe, the twofold nature of the goddess. For a different explanation, cf. Eisler, 'Kuba-Kybele' (Philologus, LXVIII, 1909, p. 190, n. 202). The name Cybele itself is derived by Eisler (op. cit. p. 126, n. 27) from KvßtjXis • o ßamicds iriXacvs (Etym. Magn. 542, n. 47). Cf. also Sittig, De Qraecorum nominibus theophoris (Diss. Hal. XX, 1912), p. 148. 'Plut. Defluv. 12, 1.

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once divine son and divine lover, to the goddess-mother. 1 Heracles gave the labrys he had captured from the queen of the A m a zons t o Omphale 2 who by her very name, the N a v a l Stone, 3 shows her connection with the Great Goddess. According t o Appian (De Bell. Civ. 1, 97), Sulla dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite a t Aprodisias a golden wreath and an axe. The axe bore this inscription: T¿vSe ;P O Demeter)". Apparently unaware of Milani's conjectures, Cook in the Transactions of the Third International Congress for 2

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(i.e. the Great Mother in fetish form); Axiokersa is Persephone, (her daughter and double); Axiokersos is Hades (the male half of Persephone). 1 As has been frequently noticed, two glosses of Hesychius assist us in discovering the meaning of Axiokersos and Axiokersa. Kepaai h e defines b y refieiv, KO\pai, yaixrjaai, a n d neparjs b y ya.fj.os.

It would seem, then, that the two divinities are primarily " H e that smiteth with the axe," and "She that smiteth with the axe." That an Upds yanos could be symbolized by the stroke of the lightning which cleaves the earth, I have noted above. This would explain the secondary definition, yanrjaai, and would admit the possibility that Axiokersos and Axiokersa, as Cook suggests, might later become a pair of deities united in sacred marriage, so that Axiokersa would ultimately be regarded as a passive epithet, " She who is smitten." 2 But on the authority of Dionysodorus, the scholiast reports a fourth Cabir on Samothrace,—Casmilus or Hermes. From the phrasing of the statement, this deity would seem to be a comparatively late and subordinate addition to the triad, an impression which is confirmed by Varro's words: Casmil[l]us nominatur the History of Religions, II, p. 194, acutely remarks: "May we not venture to suppose that 'AJukepo-oj, "He who cleaves with the axe," and 'k^ionkpaa., "She who is cleft with the axe" are early titles for the Bridegroom and the Bride? At least the derivation from QIVTI, "an axe", and nkpaat, "to cleave" seems clear enough." It will be noted that both Cook and Milani translate Axiokersos actively and Axiokersa passively, a dangerous procedure. More correct is Eisler ('Kuba-KybelePhilologus LXVIII, 1909, p. 178, n. 175), who appears to imagine that he is translating Cook. " . . . 'Afukepow und 'A£tonkpoa (Axt-hauer und Axthauerin, A. B. Cook) und Axieros (heilige Axt schlechthin)". He then explains the triad as "Zeus IIa?ras, Attis und Kybele,—Aiva, TurkTeisbas und Pw." As my own interpretation differs from any of those cited, and as I reached my conclusion independently, my results may, perhaps, have an interest of their own. 1

It is rather interesting to remember that the old oath of Solon inscribed on wooden pillars, was an oath by the rpeis ffeoi, Hicesius, Catharsius, and Exacester, and that Cook has conjectured that these pillars represented in reality the triple Zeus. (Class. Rev. XVIII, 1904, pp. 85 f.). Is, then, their name, amoves, significant, and also the term for the later prisms which replaced them,—KipPus? (cf. Kopvffas = Assyr. kurubu, "mighty", and "Cabiri", "Megaloi Theoi". See Eisler, op. cit. p. 173, n. 164). The Kvpfias were the discovery of the Cretan Corybants (Theophr. Porph. Abst. 2, 21; Schol. Aves, 1354; Phot. s.v. Kvpf/ns). 2 So Caelum and Terra are identified with the "Di Magni". (Serv. on Aen. I l l , 12). 5

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Samothrace[s] mysteriis dius quidam amminister diis magnis.1 His presence may be explained on the theory that the triad of the Double-Axe and its anthropomorphized representatives at times developed into a quadruple cult by the recognition of the fetish itself as a deity combining male and female elements and, therefore, resolvable into two separate divinities, a male and a female. That such a process was taking place is proved in the cult of Samothrace by the identification of Axieros with Demeter. The next step would be the addition of the divine Son or Lover, Casmilus, differentiated from Axiokersos by his age.2 The combination of this divine Son with the divine Father would account for the deities worshipped on Samothrace as Dionysus and Zeus, and at Thebes as Dionysus-Cabirus and o xais.3 Other trinities might be formed from the group. The Chablais marble in the Vatican 4 represents a term with three faces,— Axiokersos, Axiokersa, Casmilus,—resembling the types of Dionysus, Kore, and Hermes,—while beneath they are interpreted by figures of Apollo, Aphrodite, and Eros, the last of whom we have seen issuing from the head of Mother Earth. A later development would be represented by the report in the Etymologicum Gudianum according to which the Cabiri were regarded merely as the attendants of the Great Mother or primal deity of the Axe. At Thebes we may remember the significant combination which appears in the name Demeter Cabiria. Lemnos also recalls the deities of the Axe. Hephaestus, father of the Lemnian Cabiri, carries as his attribute the hammer, in some cases the double-axe.6 Suggestive, also is Pliny's mention 1

Ling. Lat. VII, 103. So the Gnostics worshipped Father, Mother, Son, and Christus, their messenger. Legge, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, II, pp. 64 ff. 2 The combination of the Great Goddess and her Lover probably appears in Pliny's account of the statues of Aphrodite and Pothos which Scopas made for Samothrace. s Compare the statues of Prometheus and Hephaestus in the Academy, similarly differentiated in age. (See p. 42.) 4 Gerhard, Ant. Bildw. pi. 41. Kern in his article 'Kabeiros und Kabeiroi' (Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl. p. 1447), doubts the identification of the figures on the Chablais marble with the Cabiri. It is accepted by Furtwängler (Roscher's Lex. Myth. I, 1341), and Walters (J.U.S. XIII, 1892-3, p. 85). 6 L. von Schroeder, Griechische Götter u. Heroen, erstes Heft, Aphrodite, Eros, u. Hephästos, p. 88; Cook, Zeus, I, p. 216, n. 2. Velchanus has the double-axe on a Cretan inscription discovered by Halbherr (Farnell, op. cit. 389, n. a). With the Cabiri as xpoiroXoi, cf. the Maruts, attendants of

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of a labyrinth on Lemnos.1 Cabiro, wife of Hephaestus on Lemnos, is plainly 'The Cabira', the Great Mother. We have now attempted to explain the origin of the Cabiri conceived as (1) a trinity, (2) a group of four deities, (3) two male deities differing in age, (4) an indefinite number of propoloi. As we noted, the Great Gods received worship also as twin brethren identified with the Dioscuri. This aspect of their cult deserves particular attention, because it involves a triad of peculiar nature. I have previously 2 tried to show how the divinity of the doubleaxe was frequently accompanied by twin assessors, perhaps derived from the sacred posts of a shrine, and how these twin fetishes may have developed into the Dioscuri. To call such a collocation of deities a triad would be misleading. It differs from the examples we have been discussing because of the supreme importance of the central figure, and the subordinate character of the other two, who resemble each other, 3 but not the greater deity. That at times this group might become confused with a genuine triad, I shall presently try to prove. It was probably comparatively late in the history of the Cabiric cults that the Dioscuri or twin assessors of the doubleaxe became confused with the Cabiri. Fritze 4 has shown how on coins figuring the Cabiri the type develops in the third century B.C., by the gradual evolution from a Cabiric duality of a bearded man and a youth to a Dioscuric duality of twin youths who finally usurp the Cabiric title of Megaloi Theoi. The development reaches its culmination about 200 B.C. With the confusion of Dioscuri and Cabiri, a new sort of triad Indra, described by von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus, p. 50, as youths of equal age armed as warriors, sometimes with golden axes. 1 N. H. XXXVI, 90, if, indeed, the report is correct. See Pettazzoni, p. 712, n. 9 and Cook Zeus, I, p. 483, n. 12. 2 A.J.A. XXIII, 1919, pp. 1 ff. 3 There is, indeed, a possibility that one Dioscur may be a mere duplication of the other, occasioned by the striving for symmetry, as in the cases where Cybele appears with a lioD on either side, or, perhaps, by the origin of the Dioscuri in subordinate son-gods, like the Babylonian Tammuz and Ningishida. A connection with twins like Apollo-Artemis might also here be traced, for sometimes Ningishida is represented as female, wife of Tammuz, and sometimes the reverse takes place. 4 'Birytis u. die Kabiren auf Münzen', Zeitschrift f . Num. XXIV, 1903, pp. 123 f.

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became possible. It manifests itself in the cult of Macedonia and the tale of the three brothers. That this triad is influenced by those in which the central, important figure has as its assessors subordinate twins, is proved by the overwhelming predominance of the third brother, the martyr. 1 He occurs alone on the coins of Thessalonica with the ritual horn, the doubleaxe or hammer, and the ring round the neck which Prometheus, another Cabir,2 also wears (Fig. 6). A possible ancestor of the FIGURE 6 . — C O I N OF THESSALONICA. third Cabir may be traced in the tale of Trita Aptya recounted in the Rig Veda. Trita is preeminently " t h e Third", by whose appellation the names of his wicked brothers, Ekata and Dvita, seem to have been suggested.3 Like the third Cabir, Trita was a martyr, pushed by his cruel brothers into a well, from which he later rose victorious by the favor of the gods. In both stories, the brothers are merely foils for the hero. Grimm observes that Odhin too is " t h e Third One." So Zeus is vwrrip rpiros (Aes. Suppl. 27; Eum. 760, etc.; Welcker, Aes. Tril. p. 101, n. 122). Here, perhaps, despite the quantity of the first iota, belongs the much-disputed Tritogeneia. Some foundation for the assumption of a doublet TPITOS-TPLTOS is afforded by words like rplvaKpis, Tplvadri, Tplva.%, Qplvad-q, Qplva.%, but later Qpiva£.4 If this assumption is correct, Amphitrite would mean " She who is preeminently Third." Modern folklore shows the same emphasis in the many tales of three brothers or sisters, of whom the third and youngest invariably succeeds when the others fail. The principle of climax is, perhaps, sufficient to account for the preference thus given to the third place.6 1 This third Cabir is properly identified by Clement with Dionysus (Protr. 2, 19, 1-4, p. 15, 1 ff. (Stahlin)). 2 Bapp, loc. til. The wife of Prometheus bears the significant name Axiothea. 3 Kuhn in Hoefer's Zeitschrift f . die Wissenschaft d. Sprache, I, 1846, pp. 289 ff.; Usener, 'Dreiheit', p. 7. 4 Duntzer has conjectured (Zeitsch. fur vergleich. Sprachforsch. XII, 1863, p. 9) that the lengthening of the iota in such compounds as Tritogeneia is purely metrical. 6 So Lang, Introd. to Cinderella, by M. R. Cox, p. xiii: "The constant preference of the youngest child, boy or girl, might conceivably point to a time

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Not invariably, however, is the third place preferred. The Orphies termed Persephone MouyoYema, the "especial" or "single" daughter of Zeus.1 Possibly an attempt to harmonize the two views may be detected in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, 22 ff., where Hestia is called both eldest and youngest daughter of Cronus.2 A combination of a different sort meets us when we consider the Curetes and Corybantes. That both are forms of the father-god is plain from ancient information. In the case of the Corybantes, the male deity manifests himself in his subordinate rôle of partner and attendant. Julian 3 speaks of one Corybas whom he calls ô avvdpows rjy Mrjrpi Kai avvbruiiovpyûv. Cybele, according to Diodorus, 4 was the mother of this eponymous Corybas by the hero Iasion. In Orphic Hymn XXXIX, he appears (in connection with Deo, another aspect of the Mother), as a snake, a shape which was frequently assumed by the consort of the Goddess. But the Curetes and Corybantes manifest the same instability in numbers which we observed when dealing with the Cabiri. In the very oration which praises the one Corybas, Julian implies that the Corybantes are three. 6 Frequently regarded as indefinite irpôiroXot, the Corybantes became a triple triad, 6 or seven,7 or ten. 8 Their name, if properly connected with Assyrian kurubu, 'great', would again identify them as forms of Zeus Megisteus, attendants of the Great Mother. The Curetes likewise were forms of Zeus, himself the Koures, when the youngest child was the heir, as in Borough English: a very widespread custom, . . . Besides, in adventures, if there is to be accumulating interest, someone must fail; the elder sons would attempt the adventure first: consequently the youngest must be the successful hero." 1 Legge, op. cit. I, p. 124. Moeoyevijs is an epithet also of Hecate (Hesiod, Theog. 426, 448), and Athena (Or-phic Hymn, X X X I I , 1). 2 Hestia herself is, of course, a form of the mother-goddess. It is no accident that Cinderella, Cinderlad, and other worthies are so closely connected with the hearth. They are children of very ancient lineage. 3 Or. V, 167b. 4 V, 49, 2; Kore according to Serv. Leid. on Virg. Aen. I l l , 111. 1 168b: oi KopitflavTes, ai Tpeîs àpxMai TWV /¿era $eovs Kpeiaaovaiv yevwv VTToaTaffeLs. 6 In Orphic-Pythagorean mysticism, the number nine was the Kovpi)ris. 7 Nonnus Dionysiaca, XIII, 135 ff. 8 Schol. Plat. Sympos. 215e; Suidasse. Kopv^avres.

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or divine youth,1 The names of the first two of the three Carian Curetes, Panamoros, Labrandos, and Palaxos, or Spalaxos,2 are cult-titles of Zeus. Labrandos is of course the god of the doubleaxe.3 With these deities may be compared the three Cabiri of Lemnos, whose feminine counterparts are the three Cabiric nymphs. These in turn remind us of the three dancing maidens who surround the shrines of Hecate,4 and sometimes possess the attributes of Hecate herself. FIGURE 7 . — T H E T H R E E DIOSCURIC On Etruscan mirrors BROTHERS: ETRUSCAN M I R R O R . (Fig. 7), the three Dioscuric brothers, identified by Gerhard with the three Cabiri, 1

Miss Harrison, in B.S.A. XV, 1908-9, pp. 308 ff.; Themis, ch. 1; Prolegomena, pp. 499 ff. See also Cook, Zeus I, pp. 647 ff. 2 Etym. Mag. s.v. ECSWKOS. Cf. also Eisler, op. tit. p. 126, n. 27. 3 The Telchines, Dactyls and Titans, though their relation with the Cabiri is more remote than that of the Curetes, Corybants and Dioscuri, were all connected with the deities of the Axe. Thus two of the Telchines, Antaeus and Megalesius, bear names which are really appellations of the Great Mother. Rhea entrusted to their care the infant Poseidon. Strabo identifies the TelchiDes with the Curetes (X, 472). According to the author of i) TeAxieia/ci) ItTTopla (Athen. VII, 282e) they were the sacred fish created from the blood of Uranus together with Aphrodite. On the fish as an emblem of the Mother Goddess, see Evans, Palace of Minos, p. 635. The Dactyls were alternatives for the Curetes as nurses of Zeus. (Paus. V, 7, 6). Apollonius Rhodius (I, 1125) names Titias and Cyllenius as wiptSpm of the Idaean Mother, and identifies them with the Cretan Dactyls. For the Titans, sons of Uranus and Ge, as worshippers of Dionysus, see Cook, Zeus I, 655, and on their (probably late) association with the Cabiri see Pettazzoni, op. tit. pp. 687 f. In a Pergamene oracle, they appear as attendants at the birth of Zeus. (Kaibel, Epigr. Gr. 1035; Kern, Beiträge, zur Ges. der gr. Phil. u. Relig. p. 108.) 4 Petersen, Arch.-Ep. Mitth. aus Oesterreich, 1881, pp. 26 ff.

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support my theory of the origin of this triad in a confusion of a "Dioscuric" with a "Cabiric" or "Corybantic" trinity. A like amalgamation may meet us in Mithraic cult when the twin torch-bearers, Cautes and Cautopates, become epithets of Mithras TpnrXào-ios.1 The Cabiri as mere irpowo\oi perhaps occur on the relief from Hierapolis in Phrygia 2 representing four youths, with the characteristic attributes of neck-rings, loin-cloths, and double-axes, and in the similar group of five youths from Uzumlii near Magnesia, four of whom carry a hammer.3 No wonder that Pausanias halts among the Dioscuri, Curetes, and Cabiri in his attempt to explain the nature of the Anaktes Paides of Amphissa,4 or that he was puzzled by the four small bronzes, one of Athena and three resembling the Dioscuri which he saw on the headland at Brasiae.6 We fall back with relief upon the essential rightness of the good Strabo: 6 " T h e reports about the Curetes seem to resemble . . . the story told about the Satyrs and Sileni and Bacchi and Titures. For they who hand down to us the Cretan and Phrygian traditions say that the Curetes are demons or attendants of the gods, something like these. . . . Some declare that the Curetes are the same as the Corybants and Cabirs and Idaean Dactyls and Telchines; others that they are all related, but have little differences between their natures . . . being all given to Bacchic frenzy, . . . so that these holy rites are in a manner connected with those of the Samothracians and those on Lemnos and many others; because they say that the attendant deities are the same." Beginning with the worship of the double-axe as a symbol of the Great Mother, I have endeavoured to trace the transitions by which it became the property of the Father, and signified his ability to fertilize the Earth through lightning. I then proceeded to explain, by reference to the double-axe 1

Cumont, Textes et Monuments Figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra, I,

p. 208. 2 3

Ant. Skulp. Berlin, p. 386 f. No. 953. Kern, Strena Helbigiana, pp. 158 f.

X, 38, 7. 24, 5. « X, 3, 7, p. 466. 4

5 III,

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fetish, duplications like the double Athenas and the dyad of Demeter and Kore, those which differ in sex like Apollo and Artemis, and lastly those representing two male divinities. The members of the "family trinity" of Father, Mother, and Child may likewise be associated with the double-axe, and from this basic trinity numerous combinations may be developed, some of them even involving a quadruple cult. Applying these suggestions to the cult of the Cabiri and those of the Curetes and Corybants, I tried to trace in all these mysteries the presence of the deities of the double-axe. The importance of the sacred symbol itself, much as I have emphasized it, fades into insignificance beside the belief for which it stands,—a faith which may well be called fundamental, in the great Earth-Goddess,—Mother, Queen, and Ultimate Home of all mankind. MAEGARET M O U N T HOLYOKE COLLEGE SOUTH HADLEY,

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