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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#0259

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192 Direct identifications of Zeus with the Sun

The mask of Zeus wearing an oak-wreath is seen between the
spread wings of an eagle, which stoops its head and grips with its
talons a snake coiled in a circle. The tail of the reptile, first seized
by its jaws and then passed round its neck, symbolises both the
universe and eternity1, and attests the character of the Syrian Zeus.

At Tripolis in Phoinike the local Ba'al was Hellenised as a
celestial and probably solar Zeus Hdgios. Coins of imperial date
show a square-topped and sometimes battlemented structure with
a radiate bust of the god in a pediment and a lighted altar below

Fig. 139.

between figures representing the sun and moon (figs. 139, 140)2.
This is perhaps a great altar of semi-oriental form, comparable with
the Persian fire-altars3.

1 Horapoll. hierogl. I. r alG>va...ypa\pai fiovXb/jievoL 6<pLv fcoypacpovcriv exovra ttjv ovpav
virb to \ot,7rbv trCo/xa KpvirTopievrjv, ib. i. 2 KocrpLov (3ov\bp.evoi ypdxpai bcpiv faypacpovai rr\v
iavrov eadLovra ovpav, Macrob. Sat. \. 9. 12 hinc et Phoenices in sacris imaginem eius
exprimentes draconem finxerunt in orbem redactum caudamque suam devorantem, ut
appareat mundum et ex se ipso ali et in se revolvi, Lyd. de mens. 3. 4 p. 39, 1 fif. Wiinsch
evLavTbs...kvk\os yap icrrcv itp' eavrbv e'ikov^evos...bdev /ecu AlyvirTioi /cat?' iepbv \byov
dp&KOvra ovptjlSbpov reus Trvpafxlaiv eyyXvcpovtnv, Myth. Vat. 3. 1. 1 Saturnum...draconem
etiam flammivomum, qui caudae suae ultima devorat, in dextra tenentem inducunt—
collected by Cumont, who cites also a Mithraic relief showing a bearded serpent of this
sort with rays on its head and a crescent on its tail (F. Cumont Textes et monuments
figures relatifs aux mysteres de Mithra Bruxelles 1896 ii. 208 no. 25 fig. 36). The same

idea recurs in the magical papyri : G. Parthey Zwei griechisc'he Zauberpapyri Berlin 1866

p. 124 pap. 1, 145^ kvkKlp be avrov bpanovra \ ovpofibpov in a charm

irpbs 17X101/, C. Wessely Neue griechische Zauberpapyri Wien 1893

p. 39 pap. Lond. 121, 596 f. 0 bpaKiov \ ovpo(3opos = F. G. Kenyon

Greek Papyri in the British Museum London 1893 i. 102 f. no. 121,

586 f. in a charm irpbs baipiovas, irpbs cpavrda^ara, irpbs iraaav vbcrov

Kal irddos, cp. Corp. inscr. Att. App. defix. p. xiii tab. Befol. 1 a

_. 7 aKpovpoBbp-n with R. Wiinsch's n. ib. p. xx b.

r lfj. 141. 1 1

Many illustrations may be found in the Abraxas-gems published

by Montfaucon Antiquity Explained^trans. D. Humphreys London 1721 ii. 227 ff. pi. 48 ff.,

e.g. p. 230 pi. 50 no. 8 (my fig. 141) after Chifflet, obviously a solar talisman.

2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phoenicia pp. exxii 2146°. pis. 27, 14, 17, 28, 3, 4, 43, 11
(my fig. 140), 12 (my fig. 139), Hunter Cat. Coins iii. 262 pi. 76, 30.

3 Sir Cecil Smith ib. p. exxii n. 2. See, however, G. F. Hill in the Journ. Hell.
Stud. 1911 xxxi. 62 n. 28.
 
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