Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky — Cambridge, 1914

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0078

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
26

Zeus Aitherios^ Zeus Atthrios

the clouds1.' On one occasion he sent a portent to the Achaeans
' out of dither2,' on another he helped Hektor ' from aither* j on
another he came near to flinging Hypnos ' from ait her' into the
sea4. Euripides in his Melanippe the Wise made one of the
characters cry:

I swear by holy aither, home of Zeus5.
Aristophanes after the manner of a caricaturist slightly distorts
the phrase and ridicules the poet for saying 'aither, room of Zeus6.'
Again in his Chrysippos Euripides wrote an invocation of earth and
sky beginning—

Mightiest Earth and aither of Zeus7—
and in another fragment described Perseus as—

The Gorgon-slayer that winged his way to the holy aither of Zeus8.

The Latin poets followed suit and used the borrowed word aether
to denote the habitual abode of Iupiter9.

(b) Zeus Aitherios, Zeus Atthrios.

Writers of both nationalities call Zeus (Iupiter) aitherios
{aetherius), 'god of the burning sky10'—an epithet which gains
importance from the fact that it was a cult-title possibly in
Arkadia11 and certainly in Lesbos. A decree found at Chalakais,
on the site of the ancient town Hiera, records the sacred offices
held by a certain Bresos, among them the priesthood of Zeus
Aitherios1'1. Aristotle in his treatise On the Universe links with
Aitherios the epithet Atthrios, 'god of the Bright Sky13.' This too

I II. 15. 18 ff. 2 II. 11. 54. 3 //. 15. 610 interpol. 4 77. 14. 258.

5 Eur. Melanippe frag. 487 Nauck2 o/jlvv/xi 8' iepbv aldip', o'Lurjaiv Aids.

6 Aristoph. thesm. 272 quotes the line correctly, but ran. 100 and 311 substitutes
aidepa, Aids 8wp.aTiov, which reduces the sublime to the ridiculous.

7 Eur. Chrys. frag. 839 Nauck2, quoted infra ch. ii. § 9 (e) ii. For the combination
cp.frag. 1023 Nauck2 Aidepa Kai Taiav iravTwv ■yeverei.pav aei8(a.

8 Eur. frag. 985 Nauck2.

9 E.g. Verg. Aen. 12. 140 f., Ov.fasi. 2. 131, Val. Flacc. 2. 117 ff., Sil. It. 15. 3631".,
Stat. Theb. 5. 177 f.

10 Anth. Pal. 9. 453. 1 Meleagros, Nonn. Dion. 7. 267 (id. 312 rjepios), 18. 263,
Mousaios 8, Loukian. philopatr. 4, Theod. Prodr. ep. 2. 3 (not. et extr. viii. 2 p. 184),
Anon. Ambr. 19 (Scholl-Studemund anecd. i. 265), Schol. B. L. 77. 15.610. Cp. Niket.
Eug. 5. 108 Boissonade Zeu...aidepoKparop.

Ov. Ibis 476, Lucan. 5. 96, Stat. silv. 3. 1. 108, Theb. 1. 704, 11. 207, Ach. 2. 53,
Ilias Latina 536 (Bahrens Poetae Latini minores iii. 34), Priscian. 1. 126 (Bahrens op. cit.
v. 269).

II Ampel. 9 cited infra p. 27 n. 3.

12 Inscr. Gr. ins. ii no. 484, 9 f. ovra At'o? | Aldepl(*)...(? ei'pea), O. Hoffmann Die
Griechischen Dialekte Gottingen 1893 ii. 119 f. no. 168.

13 Aristot. de mund. 7. 401 a 17 /cat atdpios Kai aidipios.
 
Annotationen