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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#0123

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64 Wolf-god or Light-god ?

be derived from lykos: it must be an adjective formed from a sub-
stantive lyke1. But there is in Greek no such word as *lyke, 'wolf ;
and, if there were, it would mean ' a she-wolf2,' whereas the myths
of Mount Lykaion mention none but he-wolves. Far more probable
is the theory of those who understand Lykaios as ' god of Light8.'
The word lyke is quoted by Macrobius as an old Greek word for
'day-break4,' and its compound arnphi-lyke is used in the Iliad of
' twi-light5.' They belong to a well-known family of words with

of a totemic Wolf-clan. L. R. Farnell Cults of Gk. States i. 41 is disposed to accept his
theory. J. G. Frazer on Paus. 8. 38. 7 (iv. 386) says: ' The connexion of Lycaean Zeus
with wolves is too firmly established to allow us seriously to doubt that he is the wolf-
god.' C. W. Vollgraff De Ovidi mythopoeia Berolini 1901 pp. 5—36 holds that the
ritual of Zeus Aitocuos and the myth of Avk&up presuppose the Arcadian cult of a sacred
wolf, to which human victims were offered.

1 Adjectives in -cuos naturally derive from a- stems. The only exceptions are words
like bddlos, vrjacuos, ktjttcuos, which have been formed on the analogy of dyopaios etc. and
so go back to locatives in -at (K. Brugmann Griechische Grammatik^ Miinchen 1900
p. 181: see also F. Bechtel in Collitz-Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 507 no. 5295 and

0. Hoffmann Die Makedonen Gottingen 1906 p. 173 f.). But Avxaios, even if we write it
as Avicaios, can hardly be thus explained as a locatival formation.

2 'A she-wolf is regularly Xixaiva (cp. Kairpiuva), never *X\jkt]. See W. Pape
Etymologisches Worterbuch der griechischen Sprache, zur Ubersicht der Wortbildung nach
den Endsylben Berlin 1836 p. 36. Lyk. Al. 481 XvKatPOfxbpcpwp Nvtcrifiov Kpeapbfiup is
criticized as a gross blunder by Tzetzes ad loc. 6 rpdyos (sic) /ca/cws 2<f>T]' XvK0/x6p(puip yap
<l(peL\ei> eiireiv ov yap Atf/ccufcu, dXXd Xvkol yeybpacrip oi AvKaopos iraides Kara tovtop.

3 C. O. Midler The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race trans. H. Tufnell and
G. C. Lewis Oxford 1830 i. 326 ff., id. Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftlichen Mythologie
Gottingen 1825 p. 290 f., J. F. Lauer System der griechischen Mythologie Berlin 1853
p. 180 ff., Gerhard Gr. Myth. p. 161 f., K. Schwenck Die Mythologie der Griechen
Frankfurt a/M. 1843 P- J9' id. m tne Rhein. Mus. 1839 vi. 541 f., Welcker Gr. Gotterl.

1. 210, L.-F. A. Maury Histoire des Religions de la Grece antique Paris 1857—1859 i.
58 ff., L. Preller in Pauly Real-Enc. iv. 589, P. Welzel De love et Pane dis Arcadicis
Vratislaviae 1879 pp. 4, 22 (' luce enim clarius est Iovem 'Afidpiop eundem esse ac Dies-
pitrem et Avkcuov eundem ac Lucetium' cp. Macrob. Sat. 1. 15. 14), Preller-Robert Gr.
Myth. i. 127. E. Meyer Forschungen zur alten Geschichte Halle 1892 i. 61 (followed by
C. Albers De diis in locis editis cultis apud Graecos Zutphaniae 1901 p. 33 f.) argues that
' ein in Wolfsgestalt verehrter Gott zum Lichtgott Zeus geworden ist,' but that the
names Aikcuos, Avuduv, etc. 'sind Ableitungen von dem verschollenen nomen XvKa
(\vk7)) " Licht (Tag?)*" und haben mit Au/co-s...nichts zu thun.' The latest and most
efficient champion of the ' light'-theory is H. Usener Gotternamen Bonn 1896 pp. 177
—216, who holds that Aijkos was an ancient god of light replaced by Zeus Avkcuos and
Apollon Aijkclos or Avkios.

4 Macrob. Sat. 1. 17. 37ft. prisci Graecorum primam lucem, quae praecedit solis
exortus, \{ikt}v appellaverunt curd tov XevKov. id temporis hodieque Xu/co0ws cognominant.
Etc.

5 77. 7. 433 rjfJ.os 8' our' dp 7rw rjibs, en 5' dfupiXvKr) vvt~ with schol. A. D. V. to naXoti-
fxevov XvKocpios, to Trpbs opQpov. tovt^cttlv b j3a6vs opdpos, xapa rrju \vkt)v [\{>yr)v D. V.), o
€<ttl aKOTiav (cidav V.), otoi>et XvKocpws tl op, to jxr] Kadapbp (pus dX\' £ri <tkotQ8€S, schol.
T. 7rapct tt\v \vyrjp, 6 ecrrt (TKidp- nai Xv/c60a;s to /xera^i) ckotovs Kal 0wrds, and Eustath. in
II. p. 689, 15 ff. to trap ijfup IduoTLK&Tepop Xeybfxepop Xi/k6c6ws, adding derivations from
Xvyrj 'darkness' and Xvnty 'a wolf-skin' as also ib. p. 809, 40ff.
 
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