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

376 The Ram and the Sun in Egypt

to Rhea1. If so, the scene is presumably laid in the Ammoneion.
The bay-branches suggest that the Apulian artist based his concep-
tion of this far off spot on the more familiar oracle of the Delphic
Apollon. But it may be remarked that the elder Ammon wears a
bay-wreath on coins of Kyrene, Tenos, and Metapontum, as does
his younger counterpart on coins of Metapontum and Tenos. We
are not, therefore, forced to assume a confusion or contamination
of cults.

In view of the foregoing evidence it would, I think, be unsafe
to conclude that the connexion between Zeus Ammon and Dionysos
was essentially late. Herodotos2 states that at Meroe, where Zeus
{Ammon*) had an oracle, the only gods worshipped were Zeus and
Dionysos. And the coins at least suffice to prove the existence of
a youthful Ammon as early as the fifth century B.C.

(6) The Oasis of Siwah.

The last glimpse that we get of the Ammoneion in classical
times is a sad one. Athanasios states that in 356 A.D. many
elderly bishops of the Egyptian church were driven out by
Georgios the Arian persecutor; those from Libye were banished
to the Great Oasis, those from the Thebaid to the Ammonian
district4. After this, darkness descends and shuts out the view.

From the fourth to the eighteenth century we know nothing of
the Ammoneion beyond a few casual and partly fantastic references

1 According to the romantic version of Diod. 3. 71—73, Rhea and Kronos took with
them the Titans and attacked Ammon, who thereupon fled to Crete and, having married
Krete the daughter of one of the reigning Kouretes, became lord of the district. Mean-
time Kronos and Rhea had usurped the realm of Ammon. But Dionysos, helped by the
Amazons and Athena, vanquished the Titans and reinstated his father. He took the
usurpers captive, but promised them forgiveness and exhorted them to be reconciled with
him. Rhea loyally accepted his overtures: Kronos was insincere. After this, Dionysos
founded the oracle of Ammon, and made the child Zeus king of Egypt. Etc., etc.

2 Hdt. 2. 29. We must, however, remember that Dionysos may mean Osiris (id.
2. 42, 144).

3 Cp. Hdt. 2. 42 'Afiouv yap AlyijTTioi KaX^ovcrc rbv Ala, Plin. nat. hist. 6. 186 (of
Meroe) delubrum Hammonis et ibi religiosum et toto tractu sacella.

4 Athanas. ad imp. Const, apol. 32 (i. 316 f. ed. Bened.) oi 5e dav/nacrroi ttX^ov tl tt)s
arjs Trpovra^ews to\/j.wvt€s virep rpeis etrapxloLS els ipi)jxovs Kal arjdeis Kal cpo[3epovs rbirovs
i^wpiaav yepovras avdp&irovs Kal TroXvereis eirio-Kb-novs. oi p.kv yap airb rrjs Ai(3ur)s els rr}v
/xeyd\7]v "Oacn.v, ol 5e airb ttjs q7)j3at8os els tt\v 'AflfAtaviaicty ttjs AifitiTjs aireo-Ta\7)<rav, hist.
Arian. ad Monachos 72 (i. 387 ed. Bened.) koi e^&piaav p.ev einaKbirovs yripaaavras kv ry
KXrjpii} ical TroXvereis £v rrj eiriaKoirri airb 'AXetjavdpov ovras rod iirio-Kbirov, ^Afxfx&viov fxeu
Kal "Epfxrjv Kal 'Avayap-fpov Kal MapKou els tt]v duca "Oaaiv, Movlp 5e Kal ^evbaipiv Kal
NeiXd/x/^oofa Kal IIXtjvtjv Kal MdpKov Kal ''Ad-qvbbwpov els tt)v 'Ap,p.wvt.aKr)v, 5i ovbev erepov
t) ha dia t&v ep^ixwv dLepxb/uevoL TeXevTrjawcn, cp. apol. de fuga sua 6 f., Sokr. hist. eccl. 2.
28, Theodoret. eccl. hist. 2. 14.