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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#0163

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io2 The cult of Zeus on Mount Olympos

height1, and therefore formed a fitting abode for Zeus the 'aetherial'
god2. It is sometimes stated3 that the only evidence of a Zeus-
cult on Mount Olympos is the name of the town Dion* at its foot.
But that is a mistake. Maximus Tyrius informs us that 'in
primitive times men dedicated to Zeus likewise, in place of statues,
the tops of mountains, Olympos and Ide and any other mountain
that nears the sky5.' An anonymous Latin mythographer records
an actual cult of Zeus on Mount Olympos6. And sundry details
concerning it are mentioned by Solinus, Plutarch and Augustine.
On the summit of the mountain there was an altar to Zeus, and
it was believed that offerings left upon it would not be affected by

1 Cp. aetheriits used of Olympus by Verg. Aen. 8. 319, 10. 621, n. 867, Mart.
ep. 9. 3. 3.

2 Stipra p. 26.

3 Farnell Cults of Gk, States i. 51.

4 At Alov Archelaos king of Makedonia established a festival of Zeus 'OXtifxwws (Diod.
17. 16, Arrian. 1. 11. 1, Ulp. in Dem. de fals. leg. p. 242, cp. Steph. Byz. s.v. Aiov, Dion
Chrys. or. 2 p. 73 Reiske), which was celebrated also by Philippos ii (Dem. de fals. leg.
192, Diod. 16. 55, Dion Chrys. or. 2 p. 73 Reiske), and by Alexandros hi (Diod. 17. 16, cp.
Arrian. r. 11. 1), who intended to rebuild the temple there (Diod. 18. 4). The existing
temple was pillaged by a band of Aetolians under Skopas in the reign of Philippos v
(Polyb. 4. 62, 5. 9). In 169 B.C. the Romans under the consul Philippus treated the
temple with greater respect (Liv. 44. 7). Later a Roman colony was founded at Dium
(Ptolem. 3. 13. 15, Plin. nat. hist. 4. 35); and coins struck there in imperial times show
Zeus standing with phidle, sceptre, and eagle (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Macedonia etc.
p. 71, Rasche Lex. Num. iii. 349 f. cp. 351, Suppl. ii. 605 ff.), with a snake erect before
him (fig. 84) or on either side of him (Rasche op. cit. iii. 350, Suppl. ii. 607), with
thunderbolt and sceptre (id. ib. Suppl. ii. 606), standing in a distyle temple (id. ib. iii.
349 f., Suppl. ii. 606). The snakes occur also with the figure of Athena (Brit. Mus. Cat.
Coins Macedonia etc. p. 71, Rasche op. cit. iii. 350, Suppl. ii. 605 f., 608). L. Heuzey—
H. Daumet Mission Archeologique de Macedoine Paris 1876 Texte p. 268 identify the site
of the temple of Zeus at Dion with that of the church of Haghia-Paraskevi.

5 Max. Tyr. diss. 8. 1 Dubner eTrecprj/jLLaav de kclI Ail ayakfxaTa ol TrpQroi dvdpcoiroi
Kopvcpas 6pCov,"0\vfX7rov Kal"I8rjv /cat e'i tl a\\o opos TrXyaiafei to" ovpavcp, cp. Loukian.
de sacr. to.

We must distinguish from this dedication of a mountain to a definite deity the old and
originally zoi'stic belief that the mountain had a divine life of its own : Dion Chrys. or.
12 p. 405 f. Reiske ttoWol t&v j3ap(3apcov irevia re /cat cnropiq. Texvrls °Py Geoi/s eirovo-
p-d^ovai, Max. Tyr. diss. 8. 8 Dubner opos KainradoKcus /cat debs /cat opi<os /cat aya\/j,a, cp. the
dyaXp^a of Mount Argaios on coins of Kaisareia in Kappadokia (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins

Galatia etc. p. xxxviii ff., G. Macdonald Coin Types Glasgow 1905
pp. 167 ff., 216). On the later personification of mountains in
general see A. Gerber Die Berge in der Poesie und Kunst der Alien
Miinchen 1882, Gruppe Gr. Myth. Pel. p. 1059 n- 2> an(^ on ^na^-
of the Mysian Olympos in particular, W. Drexler in Roscher Lex.
Myth. iii. 859 f. Fig. 75 shows Mt Sipylos on a copper coin of
Magnesia ad Sipylum in my collection (cp. Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins
Fig. 75. Lydia p. 141 f.): the type is probably derived from that of Zeus

(see ib. p. 139 f. pi. 16, 2 f.).

6 Myth. Vat. 1. 192 Iovis Olympici, id est caelestis; qui dictus Olympicus ab Olympo
monte, ubi colebatur, et poetae pro caelo ponere solent; est enim mirae altitudinis.
 
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