Zeus - A Study in Ancient Religion - Vol III Part I

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ZEUS A STUDY IN A N C I E N T R E L I G I O N

V O L U M E III PART I

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS L O N D O N : BENTLEY HOUSE NEW YORK, TORONTO, BOMBAY CALCUTTA, MADRAS: MACMILLAN TOKYO: MARUZEN COMPANY LTD All rights reserved

ZEUS A STUDY IN A N C I E N T RELIGION

BY

A R T H U R B E R N A R D COOK, LITT.D. VICE-PRESIDENT OF QUEENS' COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

VOLUME III ZEUS GOD OF THE DARK SKY (EARTHQUAKES, CLOUDS, WIND, DEW, RAIN, M E T E O R I T E S ) o) Zevs aXXoKa pels TreXet at^oio?, aXXo/ca 8' vet THEOKRITOS 4. 43

PART I TEXT A N D N O T E S

Cambridge at the University Press

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PREFACE

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OLUME III with its two Parts comprises the third, and final, instalment of my work on Zeus: numero deus impare gaudet. It may be thought that a task taken in hand as far back as 1907 ought to have been completed long before 1939. But kindly critics will remember that the task itself was one of formidable complexity, that the leisure left to a teacher occupied throughout with College and University duties is necessarily limited, and that the commotions of our time have hardly been conducive to a peaceful investigation of the past This at least I can claim that, year in, year out, I have steadily pursued the plan originally laid down for the scope and contents of the book. Volume I was to deal with Zeus as god of the Bright Sky, Volume II with Zeus as god of the Dark Sky—an arrangement of essentials approved by the high authority of Otto Weinreich (Archiv f. Rel. 1937 xxxiv. 138). Accordingly, Volume I included not only the Hellenic worship of the Bright Zeus, god of the Upper Sky, but also the Hellenistic attempts to connect him with Sun, Moon, and Stars, while Volume II was devoted to the Dark Zeus, god of Thunder and Lightning, in all his multifarious aspects. Thunder and Lightning proved to be so wide-spread and far-reaching that much had perforce to be left over for a third, at first uncontemplated, volume. This concerns itself with Zeus in his relations to a further series of cosmic phaenomena—Earthquakes, Clouds, Wind, Dew, Rain, and Meteorites. But I need not here enter into a detailed account of sections and subsections, as I have later endeavoured to trace in sequence the whole evolution of the cult of Zeus (pages 943 to 973), concluding with a statement of what I conceive to be its ultimate significance (PP- 973, 974). The work as a whole sets out to survey the range and influence of the Greek Sky-god. It would, I suppose, have been possible to do this in less discursive fashion by means of tabulated statements and statistics—a list of his cult-centres, an index of his appellations, a classified catalogue of his representations in art—in short, to adopt the dictionary-method, admirably carried out by E. Fehrle, K. Ziegler, and O. Waser towards the end of Roscher's great Lexikon (vi. 564—759). But my notion of a survey is somewhat different. I find a road-map less helpful than an ordnance-sheet.

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The former may simplify things and enable you to get more directly to your destination. But the latter invites you to explore the neighbourhood, marks the field-paths, puts in the contour-lines, colours the water-ways, and prints in Gothic lettering the local antiquities. Time is lost, but knowledge is gained, and the traveller returns well-content with his trapesings. So I have deliberately chosen the more devious method, and I can only fall back on Herodotos' plea that 'my subject from the outset demanded digressions.' Indeed, it was just this need for latitude that led me to widen the title Zeus by adding the subtitle 'a Study in Ancient Religion.' That is the real justification for long-winded footnotes and a fringe of Appendixes. With regard to the Appendixes I regret, not so much the fifteen that I have written, as the three that I have failed to write—letters C, D, and O. Ideally C should have dealt with Zeus at Corinth, D with Zeus at Dodona, O with Zeus at Olympia. I did indeed pen a screed on 'Korinthos son of Zeus,' but I suppressed it because the aetiological myth that I thought to detect implied the existence of customs for which I could produce no adequate evidence. As to Dodona, I have made certain interim observations in the Classical Review for 1903 xvii. 178—186, 268 f., 278; but the problems presented by the oracular cult cannot be securely solved till the oracle itself has been fully excavated (infra p. 1131). On Olympia too I have said my say both in the Classical Review for 1903 xvii. 270—277 and in Folk-Lore for 1904 xv. 397— 402. To describe the material remains of the famous temenos was no part of my programme. Dr E. N. Gardiner has covered the ground (Olympia Oxford 1925), and Dr W. Dorpfeld dug deep beneath it (Alt-Olympia Berlin 1935). The quarter-century that has intervened between the publication of Volume I and that of Volume III has of course brought an annual harvest of discoveries and discussions bearing on the subject of Zeus, all grist to my mill. Hence the mass of miscellaneous Addenda from page 1066 onwards—'1066 and all that'! It was a cheer to find that these additions, almost without exception, fitted well into the framework of the book and very seldom called for the retraction of a definitely expressed opinion. As before, I write with a sense of profound obligation to others. First and foremost stands my debt of gratitude to the Syndics of the University Press, who once again have borne the whole financial

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burden of publishing, despite all difficulties, this costly and unprofitable work. Zeus, I am happy to say, has been begun, continued, and ended under the auspices of two old friends, old in years but young in outlook—Sir James Frazer and Dr Rendel Harris. It was they who first welcomed the inception of the work, and, though quite aware that I often dissent from their findings, they have wished me well from start to finish. I have further been able to count on the co-operation of many loyal helpers. Where my enquiries have trenched upon unfamiliar ground I have not hesitated to call in expert advisers. On points of Semitic lore I have consulted Professor S. A. Cook (p. 1072), the late Professor S. Langdon (p. 550 n. o), and the Reverend H. St J. Hart (p. 891). In Mesopotamian matters I have been assisted by Mr Sidney Smith (p. 8326°.) and Dr H. Frankfort (p. 1196). Egyptian usages have been made plain to me in conversations with Mr Sidney Smith, Mr P. E. Newberry, and the late Mr J. E. Quibell (P- 3°5)- Sir John Marshall gave me his opinion on the origin of Diva's trident (p. 1156). Professor H. W. Bailey has reported on Sanskrit and Persian etymologies (pp. 916 n. I, 925 n. 3). Mr A. Waley identified the source of a Chinese inscription and translated it for me (p. 1138). Dr B. F. C. Atkinson allowed me to rifle his unpublished work on Illyrian names (p. 364 n. 8). Lastly, Dr F. R. C. Reed enabled me to determine the material of an ancient cameo, while Dr F. C. Phillips as official mineralogist and petrologist made analyses on my behalf (p. 898 n. 4). Reviewers in general have been benevolent, but superficial and sometimes woefully misunderstanding. Signal exceptions have been the detailed and very helpful critique of Charles Picard (Revue de Vhistoire des religions 1926 xciii. 65—94) and a most heartening notice by Otto Weinreich (Archiv f, Rel. 1937 xxxiv. 137—139). For such shrewd objections and penetrating judgments I can but feel immense respect. Critics of this type are all too rare. Among friends that have put an active shoulder to my wheel I would name first my colleague Mr C. T. Seltman, who with his amazing knowledge of ancient art and modern art-collectors has been endlessly useful. It was, for example, through his good offices that I secured the unique double axes from Crete and Athens (figs. 894, 895), the new Orpheus-vase published in pi. xvi, and that most notable of all Greek coppers the Mytilene-medallion

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of pi. i. But Mr Seltman has no monopoly of kindliness. Not a few of my former pupils, while engaged on quests of their own, have spared time to forage on my behalf. In particular, Mr A. D. Trendall, Fellow of Trinity College and our foremost authority on South Italian vases, has sent me a flight of valuable photographs from Athens (pi. xlvi, 2), Capua (pi. Ixxv), Rome (pi. Hi), Taranto (pis. xiii, xv, 2, Ixxi), Berlin (pis. liv, Ix), Bonn (pi. xiii, 3), Gotha (pi. Ixiii), Leipzig (pis. Ixii, Ixv, i), and Vienna (fig. 4/6). Mr J. D. S. Pendlebury, Fellow of Pembroke College, has more than once put his intimate knowledge of modern Crete at my service (pp. 1070, 1143) and himself photographed for me an early Greek stdmnos from Knossos (pi. xxv). Mr E. J. P. Raven procured for me photographs of an interesting pttkos-\\d from the same place (pi. Ixxxi) and of the relief-plaque from Athens representing a primitive form of Athena (pi. xxvi). And Mr R. M. Cook furnished me with the photograph of a small bronze statuette recently found in Bulgaria and important as being clearly inspired by Pheidias' Zeus Olympics (pi. Ixxxii). Others have gone far afield to record mountain-scenes difficult of access. Dr N. Bachtin gave me prints of Mount Ossa and of the chapel on its summit from photographs taken by Mrs Bachtin in 1934 (figs. 908, 909), and three times over climbed Mount Pelion to investigate the alleged discoveries of Arvanitopoulos (p. 1161). Ossa, Pelion, and—to complete the proverbial pile—Olympos. Mr C. M. Sleeman, Fellow of Queens' College, ascended Olympos twice, in 1926 and 1929, bringing home with him a wonderful series of views, which included not only the actual summit (pi. Ixviii) but all the principal peaks (figs. 911, 912) and the little chapel of St Elias (fig. 913). Mr Sleeman in 1926 also photographed the summit of Parnassos (fig. 907), and, being an indefatigable mountaineer, in 1936 climbed Mount Argaios and supplied me with striking photographs of the top (fig. 915) and of a rockpinnacle beneath it (fig. 916). Mr W. K. C. Guthrie, Fellow of Peterhouse and now Public Orator, in 1932 discovered and photographed a double rock-cut throne on Findos Tepe (figs. 858—860). Mr N. G. L. Hammond, Fellow of Clare College, in 1931 told me of Mount Emertsa on the Albanian frontier, which he had found to be locally identified with Dione in repose (p. 1173). But of all these mountain-exploits none is more arresting than the narrative dictated to me by Mr H. Hunt, who in 1929 went on pilgrimage

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with Bektashite monks to the summit of Mount Tomori near Berat and there actually witnessed the sacrifice of a white bull to ' Zefs' (p. 1171). For other photographs, too numerous to specify in detail, I am indebted to a host of contributors both at home and abroad. My debt has, I think, always been acknowledged in a footnote. But I cannot refrain from mentioning here certain cases of outstanding interest. Mr Sidney Smith, Honorary Fellow of Queens' College and Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, presented me with a magnificent photograph of the newlydiscovered 'Lilith' and added to his kindness by discussing with me^ her status and attributes (pi. Ixi). The late Dr A. H. Lloyd gave me an exquisite plate of the golden barley found amid the dust and d&bris of a grave near Syracuse (pi. xxxi). Professors G. M. Columba and E. Gabrici supplied a fine photograph of the Oknos-vase at Palermo (pi. xxxvi); Professor D. M. Robinson, several views of the Bouzyges-vase at Baltimore (pi. xlv); Professor P. P. Jacobsthal, the print of a vase at Marseilles representing, he holds, the oracle of Orpheus' head (pi. xviii). Casts of coins and gems have again been sent me without charge and without stint by the authorities of the British Museum, to whom I am further indebted for much encouragement and helpful talk. I am particularly beholden to Mr H. Mattingly, Mr E. S. G. Robinson, and Mr Sidney Smith, of whose prompt aid I have availed myself time after time with shameless persistence. Mr R. B. Whitehead also was good enough to send me a series of choice impressions from his own unrivalled store of Bactrian coins (figs. 369, 371). Monsieur le Comte Chandon de Briailles supplied the cast of a gem representing Kroisos on the pyre (fig. 329), and Mr C. D. Bicknell that of a gem in the Lewis Collection showing Athena as a human-headed bird (fig. 608). Permission to produce or reproduce plans and illustrations has been generously granted by Messrs F. Bruckmann and Co. of Munich (pis. vi, vii, xxiii, xxxvii), by Sir Arthur Evans (figs. 202, 265), by Mr N. Glueck of the American School of Oriental Research, Jerusalem (fig. 876), by the Council of the Hellenic Society (figs. 578, 579), by Dr F. Matz of the Staatliches Lindenau-Museum at Altenburg (fig. 619), by Dr H. Meier of the Warburg Institute (pi. xl), by the late Mr J. E. Quibell (fig. 195), by Monsieur Richard, Conservateur des Musees at Abbeville (fig. 888), by Miss G. M. A.

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