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

Zeus superseded by Saint Elias 175

Eleutherios1. Sometimes the actual name of the deity was dropped,
but the cult-title preserved and the distinctive characteristics that
went with it assigned to the Christian homonym. Thus H. Usener
has made it probable that behind Saint Pelagia lurks the goddess
Aphrodite Pelagia'1, behind Saint Tychon the god Hermes Tychon

This folk-tale has been impugned by J. Psichari Etudes de philologie ndo-grecque Paris
1892 p. lxxxix, but is justly vindicated by L. M. J. Garnett Greek Folk Poesy London
1896 ii. 171 ff., 451 ff. and J. C. Lawson Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek
Religion Cambridge 1910 p. 79 ff. N. G. Polites Me\er?7 e7rt rod j3iov t&v Newrtpwv
^BXXrjvwv Athens 1871 i. 46 m cites as partial parallels J. G. von Hahn Griechische und
albanesische Marchen Leipzig 1864 ii. 33 ff. no. 68 and ii2ff. no. 97. It would seem,
then, that the rape of Persephone by Hades (transformed under Ottoman misrule into
a Turkish ago), the wanderings and woes of Demeter, the hospitality of Metaneira
and Keleos (here Marigo and Nicolas : the latter name—as Lenormant remarks—has
in Albanian the diminutive Kolio), and the travels of Keleos' son Triptolemos, all
survive in the long-lived memory of the people.

Lenormant op. cit. i. 402 n. supposes that a shift of sex has taken place in the legend
of St Demetrios, a young man who on account of his good looks was carried off by a
tchiflik-bachi named Kara-Scheitdn ('Black Devil') and done to death for refusing his
infamous desires. The cult of this saint originated near Jannina. J. G. Frazer Pausanias
v. 6 records G. B. Grundy's conjecture that the church of St Demetrios or Demetrion
about a mile to the north of Kriekouki in Boiotia occupies the site of a sanctuary of
Demeter mentioned by Hdt. 9. 57, 62, 65 and Plout. v. Aristid. n. Miss M. Hamilton
in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1906—1907 xiii. 350= Greek Saints and Their Festivals p. i3f.
writes: ' St Demetrios is the popular patron of Greek husbandmen and shepherds, and the
protector of agriculture in general. The functions of the Earth-Mother are perpetuated
in him, and his festival in October [Oct. 26], just before sowing-time, has great importance
in the land of peasant-farmers. All over the country, at Eleusis as in every other district,
his churches are found.' Miss Hamilton does not, however, consider it proved 'that
St Demetrios was given to the new converts as representative of the banished Demeter.'
But, whether this is a case of ecclesiastical policy or not, J. T. Bent is at least justified in
asserting that 'the attributes of Demeter have been transferred to St Demetrios' {The
Journal of the Anthropological Institute 1885-6 xv. 392). The same writer elsewhere
observes : ' Demeter, in the present order of things, is also represented by a man,
St Demetrius, who in certain places is the special protector of flocks, herds, and
husbandmen, and in this capacity is called "of the dryland" (Sreptctz'os), as opposed
to St Nicholas, the saint of the sea' (The Cyclades London 1885 p. 339): cp. J. C.
Lawson op. cit. pp. 43 f., 79.

1 The old metropolitan church of Athens is called not only after the Panagia
Gorgoepekoos [infra ch. ii § 9 (h) ii (a)) but also after St Eleutherios, a saint invoked by
women in childbirth (eXevdepwvei reus yvvcunes, they say). The church stands on ground
once occupied by a cult of Eileithyia (Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. 1586, cp. Paus. 1. 18. 5).
Popular etymology transformed 'EiXeidvia, 'EXeidvLa into 'EXetiduia, "EXevdia, 'EXevdib etc.
(Pauly-Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 2102 f.), whence the transition to 'EXevOtpios was simple:
see B. Schmidt Das Volksleben der Neugriechen Leipzig 1871 i. 38 n. 7 and especially
K. Michel and A. Struck in the Ath. Mitth. 1906 xxxi. 3146°. In Crete too Eileithyia
has been succeeded by St Eleutherios (E. Bybilakis Neugriechisches Leben Berlin 1840
p. 2). Indeed, the same thing has happened throughout the archipelago (J. T. Bent
in The Journal of the Anthropological Instittite 1885-6 xv. 392). See further
Miss M. Hamilton Greek Saints and Their Festivals p. 18 f.

2 H. Usener Legenden der heiligen Pelagia Bonn 1879 P* ivff- (supplemented by
F. C. Burkitt in The Journal oj Theological Studies 1910 xi. 61 ff. and E. Maas
'Aphrodite und die heilige Pelagia' in the Neue Jahrb. f Mass. Altertum 1910 xxv