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

458

Zeus and Argos

mentions a priestly personage called the boukolikos1. His name
is placed next to that of Dionysos, whose connexion with the bull
is indicated by the bull's head carved above the Dionysiac symbols
at the top of the inscribed column2. The derivation of the name
Iobakchos is unknown3. But Diodoros' statement that Io was the
mother of Dionysos makes it probable that some ancient mytholo-
gists, no doubt wrongly, deduced it from Io and Bakchos. However
that may be, we are, I think, justified in inferring, from the analogy
of the Dionysiac boukolos tending the Dionysiac bull, that Argos,
who as boukolos tended the ' cow' Io, was but the mythical proto-
type of a priest tending an actual or nominal cow.

But, if Argos was human, he was also divine. We have already
seen that his name Argos 'the Glittering' is comparable with that
of Zeus 'the Bright One' and marks him as £a sort of Zeus4.' A
mortal Zeus, however; for his grave was shown at Argos5, where
he had a precinct and a sacred wood impiously burnt by Kleo-
menes6. He resembled Zeus in nature as well as in name. Zeus,
says Aischylos, became a bull to consort with Io7. Argos too was
not only regarded as a fertilising power8, but also connected by his
exploits with cattle. Being of exceptional strength, he slew a bull
that was laying waste Arkadia and himself put on its hide ; he
withstood and killed a Satyr, who was oppressing the Arcadians
and taking away their herds; he managed to destroy Echidna,
child of Tartaros and Ge, who seized passers by and carried them
off, by waiting till she fell asleep; and, lastly, he avenged the
murder of Apis by doing to death those who were guilty of it9. If

1 Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr? no. 737, 123 = Michel Recueil d''Inscr. gr. no. 1564,
123 = Roberts—Gardner Gk. Epigr. ii. 239 no. 91, 123.

2 See S. Wide in the Ath. Mitth. 1894 xix. 249, Svoronos Ath. Natioualmus.
pi. 234, J. E. Harrison Primitive Athens Cambridge 1906 p. 90 fig.

3 Bentley on Hor. sat. 1.3. 7 Io Bacche, cp. Eur. Bacch. 576 ft". AI. iw, \ k\v€t e/j.as
k\}j€t avdas, | ilo Bclkxcu, i'w Bct/c^cu, derives the name from the initial exclamation. And
there is much to be said in favour of this view. But was i'c6 merely an exclamation, or
rather the broken down form of some old cult-title ?

4 Supra p. 32. 5 Paus. 2. 22. 5.
6 Hdt. 6. 78 ff., Paus. 2. 20. 7, 3. 4. 1. 7 Supra p. 438 f.

8 Argos introduced agriculture into the Argive land: he sent for wheat from Libye
and founded a sanctuary of Demeter Mfivaaa at a spot called Charadra in Argos (Polemon
frag. 12 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 119 Midler) ap. schol. Aris.teid. p. 321 f. Dindorf). Kekrops,
or some one else, sent Argos to Libye and Sicily for the wheat that grew there unrecognised,
after which Triptolemos was the first to plough and sow (Tzetz. in Hes. o.d. 32). Apis
removed from Argos to Egypt, sent cattle to the king in Argos, and taught him how to
sow : he, having yoked (^ev^as) the cows for that purpose, dedicated a sanctuary to Hera
(sc. Zeu|i5ia), and, when the corn shot up and flourished (avdeiv), called .it the flowers
(avdea) of Hera (et. mag. p. 409, 28 ff.). In the reign of Argos, son of Apis, Greece
imported seeds and began to till the fields and raise crops (Aug. de civ. Dei 18.6).

9 Apollod. 2. 1. 2.