DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0377
The Lycian Symbol and the Kyklops 303
Nor can we dismiss this as the figment of a late grammarian ; for
Hesiod1, perhaps a thousand years earlier, had spoken of the
Kyklopes as Onranidai, i sons of the Sky,' and Zenon the Stoic
c. 300 B.C. gave a physical explanation of the name2.
Again, there is reason to connect the Kyklopes with Lykia.
The seven Kyklopes, who built the great walls of Tiryns for king
Proitos, were brought over for the purpose from Lykia3. Thus,
whereas Theophrastos declared that towers were invented by the
Tirynthians, Aristotle referred their invention to the Kyklopes4.
Towers to the modern ear are not suggestive of a sky-god ; but we
must bear in mind Pindar's mysterious statement that the souls of
the righteous—
travel the road of Zeus to Kronos' tower5,
and also the names applied by the Pythagoreans to the central
fire of the universe, viz. 'the tower of Zan,' 'the watch-tower
of Zan,' ' the house of Zeus6.' A revolving tower, as we have
seen7, was a Celtic conception of the Otherworld. Some such
belief may underlie the reputation, which the Kyklopes enjoyed
in ancient times8, of being master-builders. We still speak of
' Cyclopean' masonry.
Next we have to consider the possibility of deriving the one-
eyed giant of Sicily from the solar wheel of Lycia in point of actual
shape. The Lycian symbol appears to have developed in two very
different directions. On the one hand, by the beginning of the
fourth century B.C. it had become reduced to a simpler combination
of lines9. The central circle had dwindled to a dot, from which
1 Hes. theog. 502 Ovpavidas.
2 Zen. frag. 116 Pearson ap. schol. Hes. theog. 139 waidas 54 (prjaiv clvtovs rod Ovpavov
eireidr] iravra ravra ra irddy] wepl tqv ovpavbv eiai. The reference is to the names Bpovrrjs,
1lTep6irr]s,"Apyr]s, which Zenon may have found in Hes. theog. 140.
3 Apollod. 2. 2. 1, Strab. 372 (cited also by Eustath. in II. p. 286, 3of., in Od.
p. 1622, 53 f.). Cp. schol. Eur. Or. 965.
4 Plin. nat. hist. 7. 195.
6 Pind. 01. 2. 70 £rei\av Atos bdbp irapa Kpbvov ripaLV. The context is Pythagorean
(schol. vet. Pind. 01. 2. 104, 106, 123).
6 Aristot. de caelo 2. 13. 293 b 3 f. 8 Atos <pv\aKT]v bvop-d^ovcn, to raiTr\v %xov rVv X&Pav
irvp, Simplic. ad loc. = Aristot. frag. 199 Rose ol [xkv Zavbs (Tit^vbs Diels) irvpyov avrb
Ka\ovo~iv, ws avrbs ev rots UvdayopiKOis iarbprjcrev, ol 5£ Atos (pvXaKrjv, cos ev toijtois, ol 5e
Atos dpbvov, ws aXAot <paaiv, Prokl. in Plat. Tim. ii. 106, 21 ff. Diehl (cp. i. 199, 2 ff.) kuI
ol Hvdaybpeioi de Zavbs irtipyov 7) Zcxpos <pv\aKriv aireKakovv to /xicrov, Philolaos a/>. Stob.
eel. 1. 22. id p. 196, 18 ff. Wachsmuth $tX6Xaos irvp h /jLeo-cp wept to KtvTpov, birep eaTlav
rod tcclvtos /caXet koX Atos oIkov /cat f^ijTepa OeQv, ^w/xbv re /cat crvvoxw ^ai /xeTpov (ptio-eus.
7 Supra p. 243.
8 Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1687 ff. Note Sen. Thy. 407 f. Cyclopum sacras | turres.
9 The change is already noticeable on a coin of the Lycian dynast Thibd.. (Babelon
Monn. gr. rom. ii. 2. 211 f. pi. 94, 12).
Nor can we dismiss this as the figment of a late grammarian ; for
Hesiod1, perhaps a thousand years earlier, had spoken of the
Kyklopes as Onranidai, i sons of the Sky,' and Zenon the Stoic
c. 300 B.C. gave a physical explanation of the name2.
Again, there is reason to connect the Kyklopes with Lykia.
The seven Kyklopes, who built the great walls of Tiryns for king
Proitos, were brought over for the purpose from Lykia3. Thus,
whereas Theophrastos declared that towers were invented by the
Tirynthians, Aristotle referred their invention to the Kyklopes4.
Towers to the modern ear are not suggestive of a sky-god ; but we
must bear in mind Pindar's mysterious statement that the souls of
the righteous—
travel the road of Zeus to Kronos' tower5,
and also the names applied by the Pythagoreans to the central
fire of the universe, viz. 'the tower of Zan,' 'the watch-tower
of Zan,' ' the house of Zeus6.' A revolving tower, as we have
seen7, was a Celtic conception of the Otherworld. Some such
belief may underlie the reputation, which the Kyklopes enjoyed
in ancient times8, of being master-builders. We still speak of
' Cyclopean' masonry.
Next we have to consider the possibility of deriving the one-
eyed giant of Sicily from the solar wheel of Lycia in point of actual
shape. The Lycian symbol appears to have developed in two very
different directions. On the one hand, by the beginning of the
fourth century B.C. it had become reduced to a simpler combination
of lines9. The central circle had dwindled to a dot, from which
1 Hes. theog. 502 Ovpavidas.
2 Zen. frag. 116 Pearson ap. schol. Hes. theog. 139 waidas 54 (prjaiv clvtovs rod Ovpavov
eireidr] iravra ravra ra irddy] wepl tqv ovpavbv eiai. The reference is to the names Bpovrrjs,
1lTep6irr]s,"Apyr]s, which Zenon may have found in Hes. theog. 140.
3 Apollod. 2. 2. 1, Strab. 372 (cited also by Eustath. in II. p. 286, 3of., in Od.
p. 1622, 53 f.). Cp. schol. Eur. Or. 965.
4 Plin. nat. hist. 7. 195.
6 Pind. 01. 2. 70 £rei\av Atos bdbp irapa Kpbvov ripaLV. The context is Pythagorean
(schol. vet. Pind. 01. 2. 104, 106, 123).
6 Aristot. de caelo 2. 13. 293 b 3 f. 8 Atos <pv\aKT]v bvop-d^ovcn, to raiTr\v %xov rVv X&Pav
irvp, Simplic. ad loc. = Aristot. frag. 199 Rose ol [xkv Zavbs (Tit^vbs Diels) irvpyov avrb
Ka\ovo~iv, ws avrbs ev rots UvdayopiKOis iarbprjcrev, ol 5£ Atos (pvXaKrjv, cos ev toijtois, ol 5e
Atos dpbvov, ws aXAot <paaiv, Prokl. in Plat. Tim. ii. 106, 21 ff. Diehl (cp. i. 199, 2 ff.) kuI
ol Hvdaybpeioi de Zavbs irtipyov 7) Zcxpos <pv\aKriv aireKakovv to /xicrov, Philolaos a/>. Stob.
eel. 1. 22. id p. 196, 18 ff. Wachsmuth $tX6Xaos irvp h /jLeo-cp wept to KtvTpov, birep eaTlav
rod tcclvtos /caXet koX Atos oIkov /cat f^ijTepa OeQv, ^w/xbv re /cat crvvoxw ^ai /xeTpov (ptio-eus.
7 Supra p. 243.
8 Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1687 ff. Note Sen. Thy. 407 f. Cyclopum sacras | turres.
9 The change is already noticeable on a coin of the Lycian dynast Thibd.. (Babelon
Monn. gr. rom. ii. 2. 211 f. pi. 94, 12).