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

156 The Mountain as Marriage-place of Zeus

its real height, from the grandeur of its outline, or the abruptness
of its rise from the plain, (it) created in my mind a stronger im-
pression of stupendous bulk and loftiness than any mountain I
have seen in Greece, or perhaps in any other part of Europe1.'
Here surely was a mountain-bride worthy of Zeus himself. Pelasgos,
the forefather of the Pelasgians, was, according to one account, the
son of Zeus by Larissa2, whose name repeatedly occurs as that of
a Pelasgian burgh or rock-fortress3. And lastly a Sicilian myth
told how Aitne, the name-sake of Mount Aitne, had been embraced
by Zeus and then, through fear of Hera, hidden away in the Earth
till she bore twin sons, the Palikoi, whose strange volcanic springs
still interest travellers that visit the Lago dei Palici near the town
of Patagonia^.

Mountain-eponyms were either female or male. Zeus not only
consorted with the former, but also became the father of the latter.
Thus Gargaros5, Geraistos6, Olympos (?)7, Solymos8, Tainaros9,
were all regarded as his sons. Atlas, the supporter of the sky,
who as early as the middle of the fifth century B.C. was identified
with a great mountain in north-western Africa10, was, according to
one genealogy, the son of Zeus11. A daughter of Atlas12 named
Plouto13 bore to the same god Tantalos, whose name was given to

1 W. Mure Journal of a Tour in Greece Edinburgh and London 1842 ii. 221.

2 Serv. in Verg. Aen. 1. 624: cp. Rufin. recognit. 10. 23, who makes Tityos the son
of Zeus ex Larisse...Orcho/ueni, unless we should read ex (F)lar[iss]e, as O. Hofer in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 940 suggests on the strength of Pherekydes frag. 5 {Frag. hist.
Gr. i. 71 Midler) ap. schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 76i = Eudok. viol. 338 and Apollod. 1. 4. r,
Eustath. in Od. p. 1581, 56 ff.

3 A. Fick Vorgriechische Ortsnatnen Gottingen 1905 Index p. 165 s.vv. Adpicra,
Aapiaaiai irerpai.

4 Append. B Sicily.

5 Lb. Troas. fi lb. Euboia.

7 De-Vit Onoinasticon iii. 729 without citing his source. If this was the epigram in
Oros. 4. r. 14 pater optime Olytnpi, it is far from convincing, since Olympus may be
merely a poetic term for the gods collectively (see Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 857).

8 Append. B Pisidia.

9 lb. Lakonike.

10 Hdt. 4. 184: see also Pauly-Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 2119.

11 Rufin. recognit. 10. 23.

12 Myth. Vat. 1. 204, cp. Rufin. recognit. 10. 21 and 23. In Hyg. fab. 155 Tantalus
ex Plutone Himantis filia R. Unger cj. Atlantis, B. Stark Mimantis. The father of
Plouto is Tmolos in schol. Eur. Or. 5, Tzetz. chil. 5. 444 ff., Mantiss. proverb. 2. 94,
Kronos in schol. Pind. 01. 3. 41.

13 Asklepiades of Tragilos frag. 20 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 305 Midler) ap. schol. Od. 11.
582, Paus. 2. 22. 3, Ant. Lib. 36, Nonn. Dion. 1. 145 ff., 7. 119, 48. 729 ff., Apostol. 16.
16, Phot. lex. s.v. TavrdXov rdXavra, Souid. s.v. ra TavrdXov raXavTL^erat, schol. Eur.
0r" 345> Hyg.y^. 82, 155. Her name is otherwise given as Piute (Rufin. recognit. 10.
23), Plota (Natalis Comes mytholog. 6. 8 p. 337, cp. 335, ed. Patav. 1616), Plutis (Rufin.
recognit. 10. 21), or Plotis (Lact. Plac. in Stat. Theb. 2. 436).