DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0066
14 The Transition from Sky to Sky-god
Thus a movement, which began on the plane of feeling, passed
upwards through that of volition, and ended by evoking all the
powers of the human soul.
Incidentally we have arrived at another conclusion, deserving
of a moment's emphasis. We have, if I may use the phrase,
ventured to analyse the divinity of Zeus. This analysis, tentative
(be it remembered) and provisional in character, has detected two
distinct elements, both of a primitive sort,—on the one hand the
vast mysterious impersonal life of the blue sky, on the other the
clear-cut form and fashion of the weather-ruling king. To speak
with logical precision, though in such a matter logic was at best
implicit, the primeval sanctity of the sky gave the content, the
equipment of the magician-turned-king gave the form, of the
resultant sky-god Zeus1.
(c) Zeus Amarios.
The transition from the day-light Sky to the day-light Sky-god
is perhaps best exemplified by the Latin terms dies, 'day,' and
Diespiter, 1 Day-father.' The vocative case of Diespiter came to be
used as a new nominative, the more familiar Iupiter*.
1 An objection must here be met. It may be argued that, if my view were true, the
Homeric Zeus ought to be recognisable as a magician, whereas notoriously magic is
scarce in Homer and never associated with the Homeric Zeus.
To this I should reply (i) that the Homeric poems as we have them bear ample
traces of earlier expurgation affecting many savage practices (see the convincing chapter
of Prof. G. Murray The Rise of the Greek Epic*2, Oxford 1911 pp. 141—166), and (2) that
such expurgation has in point of fact failed precisely where failure might have been
expected, viz. in eliminating the pre-Homeric 'fixed epithets1 of Zeus. These are simply
redolent of the magician. Zeus is often Kpovov irons ayKvXopirjrew, 'son of the wizard
Kronos.' He is himself /xririera, a 'mage' rather than a 'sage.' The word /jLTjTioeis is
used thrice, in h. Ap. 344 and h. Hest. 5 of Zeus (so Hes. 0. d. 51, theog. 457, Moiro ap.
Athen. 491 b), in Od. 4. 227 of magic herbs prepared by the daughter of Zeus. Again,
Zeus alone is d<pdcTa pLtjSea eiddos {II. 24. 88, h. Aphr. 43, Hes. theog. 545, 550, 561,
frag. 35, 2 Flach), cp. the names of the sorceresses Medeia, Agamede, Perimede. Mestra.
Thirty-six times in the 77. and Od. he is described as vecpek-qyepeTa, a transparent
synonym of 'rain-maker.' And what of his constant appellation aiyioxosl The aiyis,
when shaken, produced a thunderstorm (//. 17. 593 ff., cp. 4. 166 ff.), and Virgil at
least seems to have regarded it as part of the rain-maker's paraphernalia (Aen. 8. 352 ff.
Arcades ipsum | credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem | aegida concuteret
dextra nimbosque cieret, cp. Sil. It. 12. 719 ff.). It was presumably as a magical means
of securing fertility that at Athens the priestess brought the sacred aiyis to newly-wedded
wives (Souid. s.v. aiyis). Further, Zeus causes an earthquake by nodding his head and
shaking his hair {supra p. 2 f.)—a procedure that savours strongly of the magician's art.
Lastly, the frequent mention of the /3ov\rj or (3ov\ai of Zeus (from II. 1.5 Aids <5' ireXeiero
(3ov\->i onwards: see H. Ebeling Lexicon Homericum Lipsiae 1885 i. 236) gains fresh
meaning, if seen to imply the will-power characteristic of the magician-king.
2 F. Stolz Historische Grammatik der lateinischen Sprache Leipzig 1894 i. 1. 305,
Thus a movement, which began on the plane of feeling, passed
upwards through that of volition, and ended by evoking all the
powers of the human soul.
Incidentally we have arrived at another conclusion, deserving
of a moment's emphasis. We have, if I may use the phrase,
ventured to analyse the divinity of Zeus. This analysis, tentative
(be it remembered) and provisional in character, has detected two
distinct elements, both of a primitive sort,—on the one hand the
vast mysterious impersonal life of the blue sky, on the other the
clear-cut form and fashion of the weather-ruling king. To speak
with logical precision, though in such a matter logic was at best
implicit, the primeval sanctity of the sky gave the content, the
equipment of the magician-turned-king gave the form, of the
resultant sky-god Zeus1.
(c) Zeus Amarios.
The transition from the day-light Sky to the day-light Sky-god
is perhaps best exemplified by the Latin terms dies, 'day,' and
Diespiter, 1 Day-father.' The vocative case of Diespiter came to be
used as a new nominative, the more familiar Iupiter*.
1 An objection must here be met. It may be argued that, if my view were true, the
Homeric Zeus ought to be recognisable as a magician, whereas notoriously magic is
scarce in Homer and never associated with the Homeric Zeus.
To this I should reply (i) that the Homeric poems as we have them bear ample
traces of earlier expurgation affecting many savage practices (see the convincing chapter
of Prof. G. Murray The Rise of the Greek Epic*2, Oxford 1911 pp. 141—166), and (2) that
such expurgation has in point of fact failed precisely where failure might have been
expected, viz. in eliminating the pre-Homeric 'fixed epithets1 of Zeus. These are simply
redolent of the magician. Zeus is often Kpovov irons ayKvXopirjrew, 'son of the wizard
Kronos.' He is himself /xririera, a 'mage' rather than a 'sage.' The word /jLTjTioeis is
used thrice, in h. Ap. 344 and h. Hest. 5 of Zeus (so Hes. 0. d. 51, theog. 457, Moiro ap.
Athen. 491 b), in Od. 4. 227 of magic herbs prepared by the daughter of Zeus. Again,
Zeus alone is d<pdcTa pLtjSea eiddos {II. 24. 88, h. Aphr. 43, Hes. theog. 545, 550, 561,
frag. 35, 2 Flach), cp. the names of the sorceresses Medeia, Agamede, Perimede. Mestra.
Thirty-six times in the 77. and Od. he is described as vecpek-qyepeTa, a transparent
synonym of 'rain-maker.' And what of his constant appellation aiyioxosl The aiyis,
when shaken, produced a thunderstorm (//. 17. 593 ff., cp. 4. 166 ff.), and Virgil at
least seems to have regarded it as part of the rain-maker's paraphernalia (Aen. 8. 352 ff.
Arcades ipsum | credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem | aegida concuteret
dextra nimbosque cieret, cp. Sil. It. 12. 719 ff.). It was presumably as a magical means
of securing fertility that at Athens the priestess brought the sacred aiyis to newly-wedded
wives (Souid. s.v. aiyis). Further, Zeus causes an earthquake by nodding his head and
shaking his hair {supra p. 2 f.)—a procedure that savours strongly of the magician's art.
Lastly, the frequent mention of the /3ov\rj or (3ov\ai of Zeus (from II. 1.5 Aids <5' ireXeiero
(3ov\->i onwards: see H. Ebeling Lexicon Homericum Lipsiae 1885 i. 236) gains fresh
meaning, if seen to imply the will-power characteristic of the magician-king.
2 F. Stolz Historische Grammatik der lateinischen Sprache Leipzig 1894 i. 1. 305,