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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#0138

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Human sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios 79

neighbourhood1, more often still as Lykaon's son2 Nyktimos3 or
grandson Arkas4. The child was according to one account
sacrificed on the altar of Zeus5, but according to the usual version
dished up for his consumption at table6. Punishment for this
impious act fell on Lykaon, who was transformed into a wolf7, or
struck by lightning8, or had his house struck by lightning while
he himself became a wolf9. Some said that his sons suffered with
him, all alike being killed by lightning10, or that they were killed
by lightning and he changed into a wolf11; some even said that
the sons were punished as guilty and not the father12. Many added
that the flood followed in consequence of the crime13.

These rillets of tradition cross and recross one another with
such complexity that it is difficult to map them or to make out
which after all is the main stream. Nevertheless it seems certain
that many, if not most, of them derive from distant sources of
genuine folk-lore. Probably we shall not be far wrong,, if—
anticipating the results of a later section—we attempt to rewrite
the story thus. Lykaon, king of the country and representative
of Zeus Lykaios, was as such held responsible for the weather and
the crops14. If the land were distressed with drought, the king,
in accordance with primitive custom15, must be put to death,
passing on his divine rights and duties to a less impotent successor.
In course of time this stern rule was modified16; The king might

1 Apollod. 3. 8. 1 eva tG>v tirixwpLwv iraida, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 481 eiri.x.&piov iraida,
pseudo-Hekat. loc. cit. eva rwu i^xwP'lwv iraidapLcav.

2 Interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 6. 41, Arnob. adv. nat. 4. 24.

3 Clem. Al. protr. 2. 36. 5 p. 27, 19 ff. Stahlin, Nonn. Dion. 18. 20 ff., schol. Lyk.
Al. 481.

4 Pseudo-Eratosth. catast. 8, Hyg. poet, ctstr. 2. 4, schol. Caes. Germ. Aratea 89.

5 Paus. 8. 2. 3.

6 Zeus had come in the guise of a working-man (Apollod. 3. 8. 1, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al.
481, pseudo-Hekat. loc. cit.) or stranger (Nikol. Dam. and Souid..citt.).

7 Paus. 8. 2. 3, Serv. in Verg. Aen. 1. 731, Myth. Vat. 1. 17, 2. 60.

8 Interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 6. 41.

9 Pseudo-Eratosth. catast. 8, Hyg. poet. astr. 2. 4, schol. Caes. Germ. Aratea 89, Ov.
met. 1. 230 ff., Lact. Plac. in Stat. Theb. n. 128.

10 Apollod. 3. 81, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 481. The youngest, Nyktimos, escaped, for Ge
held up her hands, clasped the right hand of Zeus, and assuaged his anger.

" Hyg.fab. 176.

12 Nikol. Dam. and Souid. locc. citt., schol. Lyk. Al. 481. A second version given by
schol. Lyk. id. states that Zeus destroyed the sons of Lykaon with lightning till Ge
stretched forth her hand and interceded for them, and that he turned some of them into
wolves (cp. pseudo-Hekat. loc. cit.).

13 Apollod. 3. 8. 2, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 481, interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 6. 41, Myth.
Vat. 1. 189.

14 Frazer Golden Bough*- i. 154 ff., 3The Magic Art i. 396 ff.

15 Id. ib.2 i. 158 f., 3The Magic Art i. 352 ff.

16 Id. ib.2 ii. 55 f., 3The Dying God p. 160 ff. See also Folk-Lore 1904 xv. 392 ff.
 
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