DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0373
Zeus and the Solar Disk 299
Hellenistic literature once or twice connects Zeus with the solar
disk. Lykophron describes how the body of Aias, cast up on the
beach, will be parched by ' the ray of Seirios' and hidden in the
sea-weed by Thetis—
Helper of Diskos, mightiest power, Kynaitheiisx.
The scholiast states that the word Seirios, which properly denotes
the Dog-star, is here used improperly of the sun ; that Diskos
means Zeus, who was so called in memory of the diskos or stone
swallowed in his stead by Kronos; and that Kynaitheus was a
cult-title of Zeus in Arkadia2. The scholiast's comment is repeated
by Tzetzes3 and apparently postulates a solar Zeus known as
Diskos. This squares with Nonnos' hymn to the sun, in which the
poet invokes that luminary not only as the Assyrian and Egyptian
' Zeus4,' but also as—
Driving around all heaven with fiery disk5.
Finally, it may be suspected that, when Mithraic (?) sun-worshippers
spoke of the Diskos as 'Father' and 'god6,' they were not inde-
pendent of the same religious conception.
iv. The Lycian Symbol.
Lycian coins of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. are character-
ised by a symbol, which might be called indifferently a wheel or a
disk. It consists of a central ring or circle, from which radiates a
1 Lyk. Al. 397 clktls Set/)ta, 400 Ai<tkov p.eyio'Tov rdppoOos Kvvaidews.
2 Schol. Lyk. Al. 397 ff. Sei'pios is used of the sun by Archil, frag. 58 Hiller ap.
Plout. symp. 3. 10. 1 and ap. Hesych. s.v. Zeipiov kvvos biKyv, cp. Hesych. s.v. aeipios'
6 77X105. Kai 6 tov kvvos do~TTjp, Orph. Arg. i2of. aeLpios.. .rjeXios, Souid. s.v. aeip, creipos'
6 rjXios and "ZeipLov ' tov ~K.dvam ore 8e Kai tov rfXiov. See further L. Meyer Handb. d. gr.
Ety7ti. iv. 49f., Prellwitz Etym. Wbrterb. d. Gr. Spr.2 p. 407. Kvvaidevs is understood
by Welcker Gr. Gotierl. ii. 197 as an epithet of Zeus in the Dog-days, cp. C. von Holzinger
on Lyk. Al. 400. Paus. 5. 22. 1, 8. 19. 1 describes a statue of Zeus dedicated at Olympia
by the Kvpaidaels of Arkadia as holding a thunderbolt in either hand—which hardly
supports the connexion with the Dog-star (see, however, Paus. 8. 19. 2f.).
3 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 397, 400.
4 Supra p. 197.
5 Nonn. Dion. 40. 371 iirivevwv eXiKrjdov o\oi> iroXov aido-rn 8Lo~K(p.
6 A. Dieterich Eine Mithrasliturgie'1 Leipzig and Berlin 1910 p. 6, 9 ff. oxpei yap
iKeivrjs t9)s rj/xe'pas Kai rrjs uipas Oeiav deaiv, tovs iroXevovras avafia'ivovras els ovpavbv deovs,
aXXovs 8e KarafiaLvovTas, 17 8e iropeia tQv bpwp.evwv Oe&v 5td rod 8io~KOv, irarpbs fxov, deov,
(pavrjaeTaf o/jloLus 8e Kai 6 KaXoti/xepos avXos, t/ &PXV r°v Xeirovpyovvros ave"u.ov' oipeL yap
cltto rod 8icTKov els avXbv Kpe/md/xevov, k.t.X., id. p. 8, 9 ff. obpicrov his Kai iroirirvcrov 8is Kai
evdiws 6\pei dirb tov 8lo~kov darepas 7rpoo~epxop.e'vovs TrevTabaKrvXiaiovs irXeicrTovs Kai TuirX&v-
Tas bXov tov depa* o~v be wdXiv Xeye' ccyrj, ffiyrj' Kai tov bio~kov dvocyevTos 6\peL direipov
Kv'K.Xup.a Kai dfipas irvpivas airoKeKXeio'p.e'vas.
Hellenistic literature once or twice connects Zeus with the solar
disk. Lykophron describes how the body of Aias, cast up on the
beach, will be parched by ' the ray of Seirios' and hidden in the
sea-weed by Thetis—
Helper of Diskos, mightiest power, Kynaitheiisx.
The scholiast states that the word Seirios, which properly denotes
the Dog-star, is here used improperly of the sun ; that Diskos
means Zeus, who was so called in memory of the diskos or stone
swallowed in his stead by Kronos; and that Kynaitheus was a
cult-title of Zeus in Arkadia2. The scholiast's comment is repeated
by Tzetzes3 and apparently postulates a solar Zeus known as
Diskos. This squares with Nonnos' hymn to the sun, in which the
poet invokes that luminary not only as the Assyrian and Egyptian
' Zeus4,' but also as—
Driving around all heaven with fiery disk5.
Finally, it may be suspected that, when Mithraic (?) sun-worshippers
spoke of the Diskos as 'Father' and 'god6,' they were not inde-
pendent of the same religious conception.
iv. The Lycian Symbol.
Lycian coins of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. are character-
ised by a symbol, which might be called indifferently a wheel or a
disk. It consists of a central ring or circle, from which radiates a
1 Lyk. Al. 397 clktls Set/)ta, 400 Ai<tkov p.eyio'Tov rdppoOos Kvvaidews.
2 Schol. Lyk. Al. 397 ff. Sei'pios is used of the sun by Archil, frag. 58 Hiller ap.
Plout. symp. 3. 10. 1 and ap. Hesych. s.v. Zeipiov kvvos biKyv, cp. Hesych. s.v. aeipios'
6 77X105. Kai 6 tov kvvos do~TTjp, Orph. Arg. i2of. aeLpios.. .rjeXios, Souid. s.v. aeip, creipos'
6 rjXios and "ZeipLov ' tov ~K.dvam ore 8e Kai tov rfXiov. See further L. Meyer Handb. d. gr.
Ety7ti. iv. 49f., Prellwitz Etym. Wbrterb. d. Gr. Spr.2 p. 407. Kvvaidevs is understood
by Welcker Gr. Gotierl. ii. 197 as an epithet of Zeus in the Dog-days, cp. C. von Holzinger
on Lyk. Al. 400. Paus. 5. 22. 1, 8. 19. 1 describes a statue of Zeus dedicated at Olympia
by the Kvpaidaels of Arkadia as holding a thunderbolt in either hand—which hardly
supports the connexion with the Dog-star (see, however, Paus. 8. 19. 2f.).
3 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 397, 400.
4 Supra p. 197.
5 Nonn. Dion. 40. 371 iirivevwv eXiKrjdov o\oi> iroXov aido-rn 8Lo~K(p.
6 A. Dieterich Eine Mithrasliturgie'1 Leipzig and Berlin 1910 p. 6, 9 ff. oxpei yap
iKeivrjs t9)s rj/xe'pas Kai rrjs uipas Oeiav deaiv, tovs iroXevovras avafia'ivovras els ovpavbv deovs,
aXXovs 8e KarafiaLvovTas, 17 8e iropeia tQv bpwp.evwv Oe&v 5td rod 8io~KOv, irarpbs fxov, deov,
(pavrjaeTaf o/jloLus 8e Kai 6 KaXoti/xepos avXos, t/ &PXV r°v Xeirovpyovvros ave"u.ov' oipeL yap
cltto rod 8icTKov els avXbv Kpe/md/xevov, k.t.X., id. p. 8, 9 ff. obpicrov his Kai iroirirvcrov 8is Kai
evdiws 6\pei dirb tov 8lo~kov darepas 7rpoo~epxop.e'vovs TrevTabaKrvXiaiovs irXeicrTovs Kai TuirX&v-
Tas bXov tov depa* o~v be wdXiv Xeye' ccyrj, ffiyrj' Kai tov bio~kov dvocyevTos 6\peL direipov
Kv'K.Xup.a Kai dfipas irvpivas airoKeKXeio'p.e'vas.