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

The Golden or Purple Ram of Phrixos 417

of Hiberi and Albani regarded themselves as descended from
Iason and his Thessalians1.

But, without attempting to determine the ethnology of this
myth, for which task the data available are hardly sufficient, we may
at least note that the golden ram has something to do with Zeus.
Athamas is about to sacrifice Phrixos to Zeus, when the ram
appears and carries him in safety through the air to a land in the
far north-east2. Much the same thing happened to Iphigeneia,
when she was on the point of being sacrificed to Artemis at
Aulis3: the goddess suddenly substituted for her a stag, according
to the usual tradition, or a bear4, or a bull5, or an old woman6, and
carried off the intended victim in a cloud to be her own priestess
among the Tauroi. Now these animals, the stag, the bear, the
bull, are precisely those that were regarded as most sacred to
Artemis herself7. It is therefore highly probable that the golden
ram was the sacred animal—whatever that implies—of Zeus La-
phystios. This accounts for the belief, current in the vicinity of
the Boeotian Mount Laphystion, that it was Zeus who sent the
ram with the golden fleece8. The commonly received version of
the myth makes Phrixos sacrifice the ram that has saved him to
Zeus Phyxios, 1 the god of escape9.' Hyginus says simply ' to
Zeus,' and adds that the hero ' fastened the skin in the temple10,'
that is, in the temple of Zeus11. The Latin commentary on the
Aratea of Germanicus Caesar states that Phrixos 'sacrificed the
ram, and dedicated its golden fleece to Zeus12.' Finally, we are
told by Apollonios that Aietes would not have received Phrixos in
his halls, had not Zeus himself sent Hermes from heaven to pre-
pare the way before him13. Clearly Zeus had his share in the
action throughout14.

1 Tac. ami. 6. 34, lust. 42. 2. 12. 2 Supra p. 415 f.

3 Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 298 ff.

4 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 183, cp. schol. Aristoph. Lys. 645.

5 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 183, Ant. Lib. 27. 0 Tzetz. in ~L.yY.Al. 183, 194.

7 Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 1436 f. Hirschkuh, 1434 Barin, 1399 f. Tavpo-rroXos,
Tavpib.

8 Paus. 9. 34. 5, cp. Myth. Vat. 3. 15. 1.

9 Apollod. 1. 9. 1, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 22, Ap. Rhod. 2. 1150 with schol., 4. 119,
Eudok. viol. 342, 478, 954, schol. Pind. Pyth. 4. 428, Eratosth. ap. schol. Arat.
phaen. 225.

10 Hyg. poet. astr. 2. 20. 11 Tiirk in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2462.

12 Schol. Caes. Germ. Aratea p. 401, 1 ff. Eyssenhardt. 13 Ap. Rhod. 3. 584 ft".

14 Other deities involved are Ares, Hermes, and Poseidon. The fleece was hung on
an oak in the grove of Ares (Apollod. 1.9. 1, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 22, Val. Flacc. 5. 228 ff.,
cp. 1. 528 f., Ap. Rhod. 2. ii47f., Hyg. fab. 188) or in the temple of Ares (Hyg.y^. 3,
Myth. Vat. 1. 23, 2. 134). Hermes supplied the ram (Apollod. 1. 9. 1, Tzetz. in Lyk.
Al. 22), or gilded its fleece (Ap. Rhod. 2. 1146^ with schol.) : it was sacrificed to Zeus

C. 27