Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

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

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0307

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
234 The Solar Wheel in Greece

that thunderest on high, king AdonaT, lord IaooueeV Apollon
Kldrios, whose ancient oracle near Kolophon in Asia Minor enjoyed
a new lease of life in Roman times2, was once questioned concerning
the nature of the dread mysterious Iao3. His answer has—thanks
to Macrobius—been preserved :

They that know mysteries should conceal the same.
But, if thy sense be small and weak thy wit,
Mark as the greatest of all gods Iao—
In winter Hades, Zeus when spring begins,
Helios o' the summer, autumn's soft Iao4.

1 C. Wessely Griechische Zauberpapyrus von Paris und London Wien 1888 p. 115
Brit. Mus. pap. 46. 483 ff. iirLKaXoufxai ere top Svvd<tt7]v t&v deQv, v\pi(3pe/jt.eTa Zev Zed,
Ttipavve 'Adwvat (so Buresch for MS. adaivaL sic), Kijpie 'laioovrje (sic) — F. G. Kenyon
Greek Papyri in the British Museum London 1893 i. 80 no. 46, 469 ff.

2 K. Buresch Klaros Leipzig 1889 p. 38 ff.

3 Hardly less remarkable was the response given by Apollon Klarios touching his
own godhead (Cougny Anth. Pal. Append. 6. 140, cp. the Tubingen Xprja/xol tQv
'EX\r)piKQi> deGiv in Buresch op. cit. p. 97 f. ; Lact. div. inst. 1. 7). The two oracles are
confused in Kedren. hist, cotnp. 41 c f. (i. 73 f. Bekker).

4 Oracl. (Cougny Anth. Pal. Append. 6. 135) ap. Macrob. Sat. 1. 18. 19 ff. Macrobius
introduces the oracle as follows: eh Zei/s, eh 'AtS^s, ets"H\tos, eh Alovvctos. huius versus
auctoritas fundatur oraculo Apollinis Clarii, in quo aliud quoque nomen soli adicitur, qui
in isdem sacris versibus inter cetera vocatur 'law. Clearly, then, the autumn-god of the
oracle must be some form of Dionysos. Hence for the concluding words afipbv 'law
C. A. Lobeck Aglaophanms p. 461 ingeniously conjectured afipbv *kbwviv and L. Jan
ad loc. yet more ingeniously afipbv"laKxov. Baudissin op. cit. i. 215 quotes in support of
Jan's emendation a gem inscribed IAO0 IA H ABPA IAXH 100 4>GGE AGO, which he
renders : ' Iao, la, der voile Jubelruf, Io, Licht, AO.' But Buresch op. cit. p. 52 f.
surmises that the gem should be read IAC0 IAH ABPAZAE H I GO etc. ; in which case
Baudissin's argument collapses. Indeed, Baudissin now (Adonis und Esmun Leipzig
1911 p. 124) supports Lobeck's conjecture. Buresch himself op. cit. p. 49 and Gruppe
Gr. Myth. Pel. p. 1603 n. 4 defend the text afipbv 'law, on the ground that the epithet
d§pbv suffices to describe the Dionysiac character of the Jewish deity.

This identification of Jehovah with Dionysos is later than the identification with Zeus.
In fact it seems possible to trace the steps by which the transition was effected. On the
Phoenician coin under discussion Jehovah appears as a solar Zeus (supra p. 232 f.). To
Antiochos Epiphanes he was Zeus Olympios, Xinios, Hellenios (supra p. 233). Varro,
perhaps following Poseidonios, equated him with Iupiter Capitolinus (Gruppe Gr. Myth.
Rel. p. 1603 n. 4, quoting Reitzenstein Zxvei religionsgesch. Fr. p. 78 n.). The first hint
of the new comparison occurs in the age of Tiberius (Val. Max. 1. 3. 3 Cn. Cornelius
Hispalus...Iudaeos, qui Sabazi Iovis cultu Romanos inficere mores conati erant, repetere
domos suas coegit). After this we find successive identifications with Bacchos (Plout.
symp. 4. 6. 2), Liber pater (Tac. hist. 5. 5), Dionysos (Lyd. de mens. 4. 53 p. in, 7ft0.
Wiinsch).

The connexion of Jehovah with Helios may have been facilitated by the belief that
Iao meant 'Light' (Lyd. de mens. 4. 53 p. no, 256°. Wiinsch 6 8e 'Pco/xacos Bdppwv irepl
avrov 8ca\a(3<Jov <pr\o~i irapa ~Ka\5aLois £v rots iawtikois avrbv \e*yecr6ai Tdw avrl rod <pu>s
vo-qTov rrj Qoiv'ikwv yXdoaarj, u>s <p-qaiv "Epevvios, Kedren. hist. comp. 169 A (i. 296 Bekker)
otl Haw irapa XaXSatot? epfx-qveveTai. 0(i>s vorjTov rrj QoivLkwv yXwaar] where for Haw
Baudissin rightly read law). The gem cited above has 0w£ for 0ws, as another gem
gives Mi6pa% for Midpas (Baudissin Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte i. 215).
The Anastasy papyrus invokes (pwafybp 'law (C. Wessely op. cit. Brit. Mus. pap. 46.
 
Annotationen