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

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0429

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Ba'al-hamman and Zeus Ammon 353

A brief fragment of it containing the invocation—

Ammon, lord of Olympos,—

is quoted by a Greek commentator on the Pythian odes1. Perhaps,
as O. Gruppe supposes2, a belief that Thebes in Boiotia was con-
nected with Thebes in Egypt may have led the inhabitants of the
one to honour with a temple the chief divinity of the other.

Having thus secured a firm footing on Greek soil, the cult of
Zeus Ammon continued for some centuries to flourish3, though it
never spread much further afield4. Its most brilliant episode was
undoubtedly the visit of Alexander the Great to the Oasis, when
the victor was recognised by the god as his very son. This was
indeed a memorable moment. No other mortal could claim the
allegiance of Europe, Asia, and Africa. No other god united in
himself the ideals of the same three continents. The former did
well to seek the sanction of the latter when inaugurating for the
first time in history a world-wide empire. But the climax marked
by Alexander's visit was followed by a decline protracted through-
out the Graeco-Roman age5. Strabon in the time of Augustus
already speaks of the oracle as fallen into much contempt and in
fact as well nigh forgotten6.

(S) Ba'al-hamman and Zeus Ammon.

In the last paragraph I described Zeus Ammon as at once
European, Asiatic, and African. The description stands in need of
further proof; for hitherto we have considered the god only as a
blend of the Greek Zeus with the Egyptian Amen. It is, however,
certain that his cult was not-altogether free from Semitic influence.

This appears in pinmis from the fact that, whereas Greek
writers invariably call him Zeus Ammon, Latin authorities com-
monly speak of Iupiter Hammo?i. The aspirate has come to him
through confusion with Ba'al-hamman, a Phoenician deity greatly

1 Pind. frag. 36 Schroder"K^xwv 'OXtifxirov beairoTa ap. schol. Pind. Pyth. 9. 89. On
another possible fragment of the hymn see infra p. 366 f.

2 Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 1559.

3 See the list of cult-centres in G. Parthey ' Das Orakel und die Oase des Ammon ' in
the Abh. d. berl. Akad. 1862 Phil.-hist. Classe pp. 154—156, and coins in Head Hist,
num? p. 963 Index.

4 Latin inscriptions rarely mention the god: Dessau Inscr. Lat. set. nos. 4424 (from a
quarry near Syene) I. o. m. Hammoni Chnubidi, | Iunoni Reginae, quor. sub | tutela hie
mons est. etc., 4425 (Carnuntum) I. o. m. | Ammoni etc., 4426 (Rome) Iovi | Hammoni |
et Silvano | etc., 4427 (Carthage) Iovi Hammoni | barbaro Silvano | etc.

5 See Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 1560 n. 1.

6 Strab. 813.

c. 23
 
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