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

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0083

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Zeus identified with Aither 31

Another philosopher, who availed himself of the belief that
the fiery sky is Zeus, was Empedokles of Agrigentum. This
remarkable thinker recognised four elements or ' roots' of things,
viz. Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, particles of which were combined
and separated by the moving forces of Friendship and Enmity.
In the extant fragments of his poem On Evolution he clothes his
ideas in mythological language, speaking of the elements as Zeus,
Here, Ai'doneus, and Nestis respectively, and of the moving forces
as Aphrodite (Kypris) and Ares (Eris). Thus he writes:

For first hear thou the four roots of all things :

Bright Zeus, life-bringing Here, Aidoneus,

And Nestis, whose tears flow as a fount for men1.

The author of the compilation On the Dogmas of the Philosophers,
a work wrongly ascribed to Plutarch2, quotes the second line as
commencing with the words 'Zeus Aither' instead of 'Zeus arge's]
i.e. ' Zeus the Burning Sky' instead of ' Zeus the Brilliant! But
that is perhaps an emendation on the part of a copyist familiar
with Stoic phraseology and ignorant of the poet's vocabulary3.
The word arges means 'bright' or 'brilliant' and is used by Homer
five times of the thunderbolt hurled by Zeus4, once of the shining

4. 176 p. 183, 9 Wiinsch Zeus yap 6 drjp /card tovs (pvaiKoiis Aeyercu /c.r.X., ib. i. 12 p. 6,
25 Aios 7]tol depos.

Diogenes of Apollonia, a belated follower of Anaximenes, likewise equated Zeus with
'Arjp: Philodem. irepi evaefieias 6b = H. Diels Doxogr. p. 536b 2 fF. Aioyevrjs eirawel tov
"Ofx-qpov, Cos ov fivdwCis 6XK dXrjdQs virep tov deiov 5LeCKeyp.ivov. tov depa yap avrbv Aia
vofxl^eiv cfyrjGLv, eVeiS^ irdv eidevai tov Aia \eyei.

The same equation is found many centuries later in Tzetz. alleg. Od. 6. 132 irdvTa rd
devdpa yap 6 Zei)s ijyovv arjp itcTpecpec, 8. 76 Zeus Se dr)p tls k.t.\.

1 Empedokl.y9'<2^. 6 Diels Teaaapa yap irdvTwv pt^w^ara irp&Tov aKOve- \ Zeus dpyrjs
"Uprj re (pepeafitos rjd"AiScovevs \ N^trrts d\ r) daxpuois Teyyeu tcpotivufia fipoTeiov.

2 See e.g. W. Christ Geschichte der griechischen Litteratuf5 Miinchen 1911 ii. 1. 391.

3 Plout. deplac. phil. 1. 3. 20 Zeus aidrjp MSS. The passage is cited from Plutarch by
Euseb. firaep. ev. 14. 14. 6, where the MSS. have aprjs. Herakleitos the Stoic in his
exposition of the line {quaest. Horn. p. 38, 1 fx. Soc. Philol. Bonn.) says Zrjva p.ev dire tov
aldepa. But there is no doubt that dpyrjs is the true reading: see H. Diels Poetarum
philosophorum fragmenta Berolini 1901 p. 108. With the pseudo-Plutarch's comment
Ata /j.ev yap \eyei tj)v £eo-t.v /cat tov aldepa cp. the erroneous derivation of Zet^s from fe'w in
et. mag. p. 409, 4 f., et. Gud. p. 230, 30, Clem. Rom. horn. 4. 24 (ii. 173 Migne), 6. 7
(ii. 201 Migne), Athenag. sipplicatio pro Christianis 6 p. 7 Schwartz and 22 p. 26
Schwartz, Prob. in Verg. eel. 6. 31 p. 351, interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 1. 47, cp. Arnob.
adv. tiat. 3; 30 flagrantem vi flammea atque ardoris inextinguibili vastitate, Lact. div.
inst. 1. 11 a fervore caelestis ignis, Myth. Vat. 1. 105 Iovem...id est ignem; unde et
Zeus (quod est vita sive calor) dicitur, ib. 3. 3. 1 Iovem...id est ignem...Graece Iuppiter
Zeus dicitur, quod Latine calor sive vita interpretatur, quod videlicet hoc elementum
caleat; et quod igni vitali, ut Heraclitus vult, omnia sint animata. See also supra
p. 30 n. 5.

4 //. 8. 133, Od. 5. 128, 131, 7. 249, 12. 387. Cp. dpywepawe of Zeus in //. 19. 121,
20. 16, 22. 178.
 
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