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

The Significance of the Ram 429

this aspect of them was usually late1, seldom early2, and never
original. Thirdly, it will not be denied that there was a well-
marked tendency for the ram-Zeus to mate with the earth-mother
and to beget a son in his own likeness—a god commonly known
as Dionysos.

These are the broad facts; and they do not countenance the
idea that the ram was a solar animal3 and on that account associated
with Zeus. Rather it was the principal beast of a pastoral popu-
lation, an obvious embodiment of procreative power4, and as such

1 E.g. the cult of Zeus Helios Sebdzios belongs to Roman times [supra pp. 390, 400).

2 Zeus was already identified with Amen-Ra in the sixth century B.C. {supra p. 350f.).

3 K. Schwenck Etymologische mythologische Andeutungen Elberfeld 1823 p. 41, A. de
Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872 i. 400 ff.

The curious statement that the ram sleeps on its left side from the autumnal to the
vernal equinox, but on its right side during the other half of the year (Ail. de nat. an.
10. 18, Macrob. Sat. 1. 21. 18, Myth. Vat. 3. 15. 1, cp. Plout. terrestr. an aquat. aniin.
siut callidiora 21), at most proves that a bond of sympathy was believed to unite the
earthly ram with its heavenly counterpart, the constellation Aries.

4 To the Greeks, as to others, the ram was von Haus aus a fertilising force. On the
amatory propensities of the creature see Aristot. hist. an. 6. 19. 573 b 17 ff., Varr. rer. rust.

2. 1. 17, 2. 2. 13 f., Colum. de re rust. 7. 3, Plin. nat. hist. 8. 188. A strip of ram's
skin was used in a love charm (Plin. nat. hist. 30. 141); ram's wool, as an aid in
child-birth (id. id. 20. 6) and female disorders (id. ib. 29. 32). A ram was said to have
been enamoured of Glauke a Chian citharist (Theophr. ap. schol. Theokr. 4. 3r,
Ail. de nat. an. r. 6, 5. 29, 8. 11, var. hist. 9. 39, Plout. terrestr. an aquat. anim. shit
callidiora 18, Plin. nat. hist. 10. 51). The tomb of Lai's at Corinth was surmounted
by a lioness standing over a prostrate ram (Paus. 2. 2. 4, cp. Imhoof-Blumer and
P. Gardner Num. Comm. Paus. i. 19 pi. E, 73—76, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Corinth, etc.
p. 92 pi. 23, 11, Head Hist, num.2 p. 405). The same idea probably underlies the
wide-spread use of the ram as a decoration of tombs in general (Frazer Pausanias iii. 187).
Its employment for fountain-jets etc. (L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1862
p. 138, cp. supra p. 370) is of like significance: the spring at the monastery of
Kaisariani on Mt Hymettos, which has been identified with the KvXXov Ilrjpa of the
ancients (Souid. s.vv. KuXXoj, KvWov li-qpav, Hesych. s.vv. KtXXetct, kvXKou ir-qpa,
Phot. lex. s.vv. KtXXeta, KuXXou irr^pav, Makar. 5. 41, Append, prov. 3. 52, Ov. ars am.

3. 687 ff.), still gushes out through an old ram's head of marble and as of yore is believed
to aid conception, pregnancy, and delivery (L. Ross Archaologische Atifsbtze Leipzig
1855 X' 220—2221 Miss M. Hamilton Greek Saints and Their Festivals Edinburgh
and London 1910 p. 151 f.).

Hence the ram was associated with the deities of generation, Hermes, Aphrodite,
Dionysos, Attis, etc. The evidence, literary and monumental, has been collected by
E. Gerhard 'Widdergottheiten' in the Arch. Zeit. 1850 viii. 149—160 pi. 15, 1—7,
L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1869 pp. 18—139 Atlas pi. 1, 13, 15, S. Eitrem
Beitrage zur griechischen Religionsgeschichte i. Der vor-dorische Widdergott Christiania
1910 pp. 1—24.

Conclusive is the fact that the phallos itself is sometimes made to terminate in a ram's
head. . So with a bronze pendant representing Hermes found at Herculaneum (Anticliita
di Ercolano Napoli 1771 vi (De' Bronzi di Ercolano ii) p. 389 ff. pi. 96, Roux—Barre Here,
et Pomp, viii Musee Secret p. 1976°. pi. 46) and a bronze statuette of the pantheistic
Khnemu at Marseilles (G. Maspero Catalogue du musee igyptieti de Marseille p. 131
no. 562, W. Drexler in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1257).

This combination of ram with snake in the cults of Zeus (supra, pp. 358 ff., 390 ft.,