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

lynx

259

Now Monsieur S. Reinach in an ingenious and penetrating article
has argued that the early Greeks, conforming to a custom wide-
spread throughout western Europe, sought to protect their temples
against lightning by means of an eagle, the lightning-bird par
excellence, bound and fastened to a post in either pediment: the
pediment in fact thence derived its name aetos, aetoma1. I would
suggest that on or in both pediments of the primitive temple at
Delphoi was another bird bound and fastened with like intent—the
lynx on its wheel (later replaced by a simple ij/nx-wheel), which
secured the protecting presence of the sun itself. This suggestion
may be reinforced by two lines of argument. On the one hand,
when we come to deal with the solar disk, we shall find that the
pediment of a sacred edifice was the favourite place for that
symbol2. On the other hand, Apulian vases often depict a pair of
four-spoked wheels hanging from the roof of a temple3 or palace4
or chieftain's hut5. These wheels are commonly supposed to be
chariot wheels6. But, although in heroic days the wheels of a
chariot when not in use might doubtless be taken off and kept
separately7, we should hardly imagine that they were habitually

following form : xPv(T€aL 5' e£ vweperov (or viraperov) aeiSov K.rj\7)ixoves. But Galen, in
Hippocrat. de articulis 3. 23 (xviii. 1. 519 Kiihn) has /ecu 6 TLtvSapds (p-qcTLv ev reus HXeiacriv
(leg. to?j irai.a<n) ■ X9v(Tea & b^virrepa aierov aeiSov KXySoves. Hence Schneidewin proposed
£if vwep aierov, Bergk e^virepd' aierov, Casaubon /07A77doves. Of recent editors C. A. M.
Fennell frag. 30 prints XpuVtcu 8' e£ vweperov | aeidov KrjXrjSoves, W. Christ frag. 53 Xp6o~eaL
8' i^virepd' aierov | aeiSov Ts-TjXrjSoves, O. Schroeder frag. 53 xPv<7eaL & e^vTrepd' aierov |
aeiSov K7]\y]S6ves. The fragment is referred to by Athen. 290 E r&v wapa Tliv8apip KtjXy}-
86vwv, at Kara rbv avrbv rpoirov rats 2ieiprjo~i rovs aKpowjxevovs eiroiovv eTuXavOavo/jLevovs rcov
rpo<pQv 81a rrjv rj8ovr)v &<pavabecrdai. The passage from Athenaeus in turn is alluded to
by Eustath. in Od. pp. 1689, 33 f., 1709, 58 ff.

1 S. Reinach 'Aetos Prometheus' in the Rev. Arch. 1907 ii. 59 ff. = Cultes, mythes et
religions Paris 1908 iii. 68 ff., cp. J. E. Harrison ' Promethee et le culte du pilier' in the
Rev. Arch. 1907 ii. 429 ff. and 'Bird and Pillar Worship' in the Transactions of the Third
International Congress for the History of Religions Oxford 1908 ii. 159.

2 Infra p. 292 ff.

3 The temple of Apollon at Delphoi (O. Jahn Vasenbilder Hamburg 1839 p. 1 ff. pi. 1,
K. Boetticher Der Omphalos des Zeus zu Delphi ( Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Berlin) Berlin
1859 pi. 1 ; and perhaps Reinach R£p. Vases i. 351). The temple of Hera at Thebes (?)

v (Id. ib. i. 161, 4).

4 The palace of Hades (Id. ib. i. 258, ^ = infra ch. ii § 9 (d) ii (7), i. ^i)=supra
p. 200, i. 455, 1). The palace of Lykourgos at Nemea (Id. ib. i. 235).

5 The hut of Achilles (Am. Journ. Arch. 1908 xii. 406 ff. pi. 19).

a Raoul-Rochette Monumens inMits d'antiquite'figure"e Paris 1831 p. 210 n. 2, Preller—
Robert Gr. Myth. i. 805 n. 1. In the Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 176 I adopted this explana-
tion myself, but took the chariot in question to be that of the sun. I was, as I now see,
half-wrong, half-right.

7 //. 5. 722 f. "H/Jry 5' aficf) oxeecro-L do&s (3dXe Ka/xwvXa KiKXa, \ xctX/cea 6KraK.vqp.a,
cnSyiptip &%ovi d/j,(p'is. The chariot itself, as distinct from the wheels, was put on a stand and
carefully covered with a cloth (//. 8.441, cp. ib. 2. jy^ f.). Before the wheels were removed
the chariot might be set atilt against the front wall of the building (//. 8. 435, Od. 4. 42).

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