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

The youthful Ammon

373

reason to suppose that he was himself ever regarded as a ram or
represented with ram's horns. There is more to be said for the
proposed identification of the youthful horned head with that of
Apollon Karneios. This deity too was worshipped as Zeus at
Argos1; moreover, he was essentially a ram-god2, and one who,
as we have already seen3, was associated at Gythion with Zeus
Amnion. Nevertheless a comparison of the towns issuing coins of
the youthful Amnion type4 with the known cult-centres of Apollon
Karneios* is disappointing. Kyrene is the only name common to
the two lists.

L. Muller in his great work on the coinage of north Africa was
the first to set this question on a more satisfactory basis by
adducing the available literary evidence6. He pointed out that
Zeus Ammon was connected with Dionysos, partly by certain tales
recorded above—how the former brought sheep to the latter7, how
the latter founded the temple of the former8—but partly also by
the definite belief that Dionysos was the son of Ammon and horned
like his father9. Hence L. Muller10 and subsequently L. Stephani11
did not hesitate to identify the youthful Ammon of the coins with
the Libyan Dionysos12. By way of confirmation they note that on
the coins of Aphytis, Tenos, and Mytilene the reverse type is

the olo-rroXos dall/XMis of Pind. Pyth. 4. 49 f. as 'a sheep-pasturing god' and identifies
him with Aristaios. Welcker Gr. Gotterl. i. 489 cites from J. R. Pacho Relation d'tm
Voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrenaiqtie, etc. Paris 1827—1829 pi. 51 a Cyrenaic
tomb-painting, which shows Aristaios with a ram on his back, a pedum in his hand,
surrounded by sheep and encircled by fish.

1 Theopomp. frag. 171 {Frag. hist. Gr. i. 307) ap. schol. vet. Theokr. 5. 83 on rbv
aurov (sc. Kdpveiov ' AtoWwvci) rat Ata, rat 'HyrjTopa KaXovaLU 'Apyeloc, 5tct to KaKetvov
^y-qaaadai rod arparov. Perhaps, however, Theopompos merely meant that at Argos
Apollon bore the title' AyrjTcop (Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 41) as Zeus did at Sparta
(Wide Lakon. Kulte pp. 1, 13).

2 Supra p. 351 n. 7. 3 Supra p. 351.

4 Supra p. 371 f.

5 K. Wernicke in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 55 f.

6 L. Muller Nuniismatique de VAncienne Afrique Copenhague i860 i. 101 ff.

7 Supra p. 367 f.

8 Supra p. 369 f.

9 Diod. 3. 73 etcrt 5' ot pLvOoXoyouvres aura: (sc. t<$ " Afxp^wvC) irpbs aXrjdeiav yevecrdcu
ra#' etcarepov jxepos tQp Kporacpcov Keparia ■ St6 rat top Alovvctov, vlbv avrou yeyovbra, ttjv
bixoiav exew irpoaoipiv, rat to?s eTriyLVop.evoLS tCov avdp&irwv wapadeSocrOai rbv debv tovtov
yeyovbra Kepariav. Cp. Leon irepi tu>i> /car' MyvirTOv deQu frag. 6 (Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 332
Muller) ap. Hyg. poet. astr. 2. 20 qui autem Libero factum voluerunt adsignare, quod non
petierit ab Hammone, sed ultro ad eum sit adductum, simulacra ilia cornuta faciunt et
arietem memoriae causa inter sidera fixum dicunt. The context is given supra p. 368.

10 L. Muller loc. cit.

11 L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1862 p. 76 ff.

12 The first to suggest Dionysos was Eckhel Doctr. num. vet? iv. 118; and his
suggestion has been widely accepted (see L. Muller op. cit. i. 102 f.).