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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#0302

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230 The Solar Wheel in Greece

and here she is seen holding a torch and drawn by two monstrous
snakes usually winged near the chariot-wheels1, or in more agitated
guise holding two torches and drawn by snakes winged at the
neck2. Sarcophagi of the former type show the snake's tail twined
about the hub of the wheel, which takes the form of a lion's
head (fig. 169)3. This detail perhaps points to the solar character
of the vehicle in question4. For Greeks and Romans alike,
therein agreeing with the Egyptians5 and the nations of the

Fig. 169.

nearer east6, looked upon the lion as an animal full of inward
fire and essentially akin to the sun7. The lion on Roman military

1 Overbeck op. cit. p. 612 f. Atlas pi. 17, 1, 3 = R. Foerster in the Ann. d. Inst. 1873
xlv. 72 ff. pi. EF 1, 2.

2 Overbeck op. cit. pp. 624 f., 642 Atlas pi. 17, 7, 9, 22, 24, cp. ib. 20, 21.

3 Overbeck op. cit. Atlas pi. 17, 3.

4 Against this explanation is the apparent presence of a leonine head on the hub of
Hades' chariot-wheel [Ann. d. Inst. loc. cit. pi. EF 1—it is not clearly seen in Overbeck
op. cit. Atlas pi. 17, 1). Yet Hades too may well have been credited with a fiery, if not
with a solar {Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 176), car.

5 E. A. Wallis Budge The Gods of the Egyptians London 1904 ii. 14, 359 ff. See
Plout. symp. 4. 5. 2, Ail. de nat. an. 5. 39, 12. 7, Horapoll. hierogl. 1. 17, Macrob. Sat.
1. 21. 16 f., Mart. Cap. 183.

6 F. X. Kortleitner Depolytheismo universo Oeniponte 1908 pp. 201 f., 268, F. Cumont
in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 3041, A. Jeremias ib. iii. 255.

7 Ail. de nat. an. 12. 7, Tertull. adv. Marc. 1. 13, Macrob. Sat. 1. 21. 16, Myth. Vat.
3- 8. 13.
 
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