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#0371

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
Zeus and the Solar Disk

297

analogue occurs on silver coins of Mallos in Kilikia c. 425—385 B.C.
(fig. 220)\ Here we see a beardless god, draped from the waist
downwards, winging his way in hot haste and
holding in both hands a disk, on which is an eight-
rayed star. Two details deserve attention. The
spiral on the top of the god's head recalls the
similar adornment of other winged figures2 and is
suggestive of a feather head-dress3: as such it would
point us towards Crete and north Africa. The
god's skirt too might be compared with those of the young men on
the Haghia Triada sarcophagus4. Now Talos the sun-god appears
on coins of Phaistos as a beardless youth, winged and hastening
along with a round stone in either hand5. And the Minotaur,
another solar personage, is a very similar figure on coins of
Knossos6. I should conjecture, therefore, that the disk-bearing
god on the coins of Mallos is a solar deity akin to the Cretan
Talos or Minotaur. Fortunately it seems possible to trace his type
back to earlier forms. A stater at Berlin shows him with Janiform

1 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycaonia etc. pp. cxx, 97 f. pi. 16, 8—13, Imhoof-Blumer
Kleinas. Miinzen ii. 467 pi. 18, 2, Babelon op. cit. ii. 2. 8731!. pis. 137, 21—-23, 138,
1 f., Head Hist, num.2 p. 723.

2 Cp. the coiffure of the winged goddess on certain silver pieces originally attributed
by Imhoof-Blumer to Mallos (Monn. gr. p. 356 f.), but now to Aphrodisias in Kilikia
[Kleinas. Miinzen ii. 435 f., Head Hist, num.2 p. 717), though Babelon adheres to the
former attribution (op. cit.n. 1.557 f-P'» 25> 7? 9)5 that of the Sphinx on 'Minoan' ivories
etc. (Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de VArt vi. 833 f. figs. 416—-418, E. Pernice in the Alh. Mitth.
1895 xx. 119 f.), a gold plate from Kypros (Rev. Arch. 1897 ii. 333), electrum coins of
Chios (Babelon op. cit. ii. 1. 189 ff. pi. 8, 6), and certain early^vase-fabrics ((1) Rhodian
pinakes—De Ridder Cat. Vases de la Bibl. Nat. i. 30 no. 73 pi. 2, id. ib. i. 30 f. no. 74,
Bull. Corr. Hell. 1895 xix. 75 fig. 2, Arch. Zeit. 1872 xxx. 38 fig., Reinach Rip. Vases i.
413, 1: (2) ' Cyrenaic' kylix—Pottier Cat. Vases du Louvre ii. 528 no. E 664, id. Vases
antiques du Louvre 2me Serie Paris 1901 p. 62, Arch. Zeit. 1881 xxxix pi. 12, 4 and pi. 13,
6, Reinach Rip. Vases i. 435, 4 and 12 : (3) the ' Francois '-vase—Furtwangler-Reichhold
Gr. Vasenmalereii. 59 pi. 13) ; that of the Seiren (H. Thiersch " Tyrrhenische" Amphoren
Leipzig 1899 p. 97, G. Weicker Der Seelenvogel Leipzig 1902 p. 107 ff. figs. 38 f., p. 124
fig. 49, p. 145 ff. figs. 69 f., id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 623^ figs. 16 f.) and Griffin
(A. Furtwangler in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1751, 1752 fig-, 1753, 1761 fig., 1767,
Furtwangler—Reichhold Gr. Vasenmalerei i. 7 pi. 3, 1) in archaic art. On 'Cyrenaic'
kj/likes not only Nike (?) but also the cavalier, whom she attends, is similarly plumed
(Pottier Cat. Vases du Louvre ii. 528 f. no. E 665, id. Vases antiques du Louvre 2me Serie
p. 62 f., Arch. Zeit. 1881 xxxix pi. 13, 3, Reinach Rip. Vases i. 435, 9; Brit. Mus. Cat.
Vases ii. 49 no. B 1, Arch. Zeit. 1881 xxxix. 217 pi. 13, 2).

3 See G. Weicker Der Seelenvogel Leipzig 1902 p. 76 and the reff. cited ib. n. 1, to
which add O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 385, H. R. Hall in the Journ. Hell. Stud.
1911 xxxi. 119—123.

4 Lnfra ch. ii § 3 (c) i (j3).

5 Infra ch. i § 6 (h).

6 Infra ch. i § 6 (g) xv.
 
Annotationen