Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

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

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0472

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
The Ram and the Sun in Phrygia 395

fertilising powers of their goddess by thus thrusting upon her their
own fertility. As Dr Frazer1 has argued d propos of eunuch priests
in the service of Asiatic goddesses generally,—' These feminine
deities required to receive from their male ministers, who per-
sonated the divine lovers, the means of discharging their beneficent
functions : they had themselves to be impregnated by the life-
giving energy before they could transmit it to the world.' Further
reflexion will, I think, show that herein lies the true explanation
of the Phrygian rite. Sabdsios-mystics referred their action to the
example of the god—'this wether-sheep Zeus' {verveceus Iuppiter),
as Arnobius contemptuously calls him'2. Nay more, they were
believed to have borrowed his name and to have been dubbed
Sabot because he was Sabos*. It is therefore hard to resist the

possibly of phallic form, erected over them : this I infer from Hesych. daXafiat • o-r^Xat
€TriKeLixevat rots aidoioLS tQv airoKoiruiv. See further the passages quoted by Hepding
op. cit. p. 164. Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 1545 f. justly observes that such practices
attest 'die alte Vorstellung von der Ehe mit der Gottin.'

1 Frazer Golden Bough*: Adonis Attis Osiris2 p. 224.

2 Arnob. adv. nat. 5. 21 cited supra p. 392 n. 5 med.

A. de Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872 i. 414 gives an interesting
parallel from the legend of Ahalya in the Rdmdyanam : ' It is said in this passage that
the god Indras was one day condemned to lose his testicles by the malediction of the
rishis Gautamas, with whose wife, Ahalya, he had committed adultery. The gods,
moved to pity, took the testicles of a ram and gave them to Indras, who was therefore
called Meshandas; on this account, says the Ramayanam, the Pitaras feed on wethers,
and not on rams, in funeral oblations.' Indras is himself called a ram in a Vedic hymn
(Rig-veda 1. 51. 1 cited ib. i. 403).

3 Phot. lex. s.v. 2a/3oi)s /cat 2a/3ds /cat 2a/3aftous* tovs (3aicxevovTas 2a/3aft'y to yap
crapd^etv ra> deQ tovto- vtto oe* tivwv 6 Aiowaos 2a/3ds /caAetVat, Harpokr. s.v. 2a/3or
A-q fxoo~ 6 ev7]s virep Kt^ctk/kS/'tos (Dem. de cor. 260 evot aafioi). oi jxev 2a/3oi)s Xeyevdat tovs
TeXov/mevovs 2a/3aftt£>, tovt€o~ti Tip Aiovbaip, Kaddwep tovs tcj Bd/c%y Bd/c%ous. tov de
avTov elvat Xaj3d^Lov /cat Alovvctov <pao~iv dXXot re /cat 'Apicpideos devTepcp -wepi 'Hpa/cXetas
(Nymphis frag. 11 [Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 14 Miiller)). ovtcj de 0acrt /cat Tovs"EXXr)vds TLves
tovs Bd/c%ous 2a/3ous /caXetf. Mvaaeas de 6 HaTapevs vldi> elvai <pr]o~i tov Alovvo~ov Haftdfaov
(frag. 36 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 155 Miiller)), Souid. s.v. 2a/3dftos' 6 ai>Tos ecrTi
Aiovvcq}. Ztvxc de tt)s Trpoarjyopias Tabryjs 7rajod tov yivbfxevov irepl avTov deiao~[x6v. to
yap evd^eiv oi f3dp(3apoL era/Safety <pao~iv. dOev /cat tlov 'EWrjvwv Tives duoXovOovvTes tov
evacrfxbv o~a(3ao-/j.6v Xeyovaiv • 'e'vOev 2a/3dftos 6 Aiovvcros. 2d/3oi/s eXeyov /cat tovs afiiepw-
ixhovs avTip tottovs /cat tovs Bd/c%ous avTov (cp. et. mag. p. 707, 14 ff., schol. Aristoph. av.
874 and vesp. 9), Hesych. s.v. 2a/3d£"toj* eirwvv/nov Alovvgov. oi de viov Aiovbaov /cat
"Sdfiov evLoTe naXovcriv avTov. <&pvi; de 6 2a/3dftos, id. s.v. crd^os1 /3a/c%eta, id. s.v.
etfcraua-.../cat aa^aiOL (crd/3ar ot Voss) fiaicxevovTes, Orph. h. Hipp. \ {."\irirav /ct/cX^cr/cw,
HaKxov Tpo(p6v, evdda Kovprjv, \ /xvaTiiroXov, TeXeTrjo~iv dyaXXo/u,evr)v 2a/3oi/ dyvov, Plout.
symp. 4. 6. 2 olfiai de /cat ttjv tG>v 2a/3/3drtti' eopTrjv /htj iravTairao-Lv aTrpocrdLovvaov elvai.
2a/3/3ous yap /cat vvv §tl ttoXXol tovs Hdicxovs koXovctl /cat raijTrjv d^tact ttjv <pwvi]v orav
6pyid£wo~l tQ 6e<£, Eustath. in Od. p. 1431, 45 f. r\ 'Pea. fj (pao-iv 6 tcaTexop^evos fj /cat
aXXcp daifxovi /carax/aTjcrrt/cws, Kijf37]8os eXeyero. 6 /cat o~d[3os /cat cra/3dftos /cat /3d/c%os /cat
(3a(3diCT7]s /cat /3d/3a^ /c. r.X.

It is obvious that such passages would lend themselves indifferently to two opposite
views: (a) that the Sabot were called after Sabos, (b) that Sabos was called after the
 
Annotationen