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

182 Zeus superseded by Saint Elias

phenomena. ' He prayed fervently that it might not rain ; and it
rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he
prayed again ; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit1.' On the former occasion ' the heaven was shut
up2.' On the latter, as a Greek liturgy has it, ' Elias by his fasting
opened the heavens3.' Carmel was connected with 'clouds and
wind, and...a great rain4;' Horeb, with ' a great and strong wind5':
even on the Mount of Transfiguration ' there came a cloud over-
shadowing them6.' During the time of drought Elijah was fed by
ravens7, as Zeus was fed by doves8. Lastly, Elijah, like Zeus, was
associated with various manifestations of celestial brightness. On
Carmel 'the fire of the Lord fell9.' Horeb witnessed 'after the
earthquake a fire ; but the Lord was not in the fire : and after the
fire a still small voice10.' Twice Elijah, from the hill-top on which
he dwelt, called down fire from heaven and destroyed the troops of
Ahaziah king of Israel11. When the end came, 'there appeared
a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,...and Elijah went up by
a whirlwind into heaven12.' Such an one fitly shared in the glory
of the Transfiguration. And such an one, we may add, was not
unsuitably substituted by the Christian church for the Greek
sky-god Zeus.

'This hilltop saint,' says Miss M. Hamilton13, 'is believed by the
peasants to be lord of sunshine, rain, and thunder. In several
ways these powers are indicated in his worship ; the site of his
chapels is the place where the sun shines longest from its rising to
its setting, and where rain is first seen and felt....On the island
of Kastellorizo14...the festival of St. Elias is celebrated by the

1 James 5. 17 f., cp. 1 Kings 17. 1, 18. 1—46.

2 Luke 4. 25.

3 N. Nilles Kalendarium nianuale utriusque ecclesiae orientalis et occidentalis
GEniponte 1881 ii. 105 'HXtas vr] a redacts ovpavotis aireKXeure.

4 1 Kings 18. 45.

5 1 Kings 19. 11.

6 Mark 9. 7.

7 1 Kings 17. 3—6. St Elias has a raven as one of his attributes, and is invoked
against drought (D. H. Kerler Die Patronate der Heiligen Ulm 1905 p. 71 f.).

8 Od. 12, 62 ff. with scholl. ad loc. and Eustath. in Od. p. 1712, 35 ff., Moiro ap. Athen.
491 b. See Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 185 f.

9 1 Kings 18. 38.

10 1 Kings 19. 12.

11 2 Kings 1. gff., cp. Luke 9. 54.

12 2 Kings 2. it. The attribute of St Elias at Naples, viz. a wheel (T. Trede Das
Heidentum in der romischen Kirche Gotha 1890 ii. 143), presumably refers to the chariot
of fire.

13 Miss M. Hamilton in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1906—1907 xiii. 353 f.

14 'Eo-n'a 1889 p. 63 cited by Miss M. Hamilton id.