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

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0606

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Marriage of the Sun and Moon in Crete 525

Basileus, Hera Henidche, ' and to Demeter, whom they surname
Europe, declaring that she is the nurse of Trophonios1.'

Moreover, the little that we know of Europe's own cult fully
bears out her chthonian and vegetative character. She had a
festival in Crete, the Hellotia, at which a garland of myrtle, twenty
cubits in circumference, was carried in procession. It was said to
contain the bones of Europe, and like Europe herself was called
Hellotis'1. This enormous wreath was clearly some sort of May-
garland, probably, as Dr M. P. Nilsson conjectures, with a puppet
inside it3. Now we have already seen that in Greece such garlands
are burnt on the Midsummer bonfire4. It is therefore noteworthy
that at Corinth, where the same festival was attached to the cult of
Athena, tradition tells of a fire on to which a certain Hellotis flung
herself and her little sister Chryse5.

1 Paus. 9. 39. 5 ArjfArjTpi rjv eirovopid^ovTes ~Eivpii>iry)v tov Tpo<pwviov (pacriv elvai rpocpbv.

2 Athen. 678 A—B lieXevKos 5e iv rats FXdbaaais eXXwTida KaXeicrdaL (prjcn tov £k
p,vpp'iV7)S -irXeKOfxevov arecpavov, ovra tt]v Trepi/meTpov Trrjx&v eiKoo~t, Trofiweveiv re ev ry tcov
'EWuriw!/ eoprrj. cpaal 5' ev avrtp rd tt)s Evpibw7]s dura Kop-ifecrdai, rjv eicdXovv 'EXAomSct.
ayeadai. 8e /ecu ev Kopivdq} ra 'EXXwria. Cp. Hesych. s.vv. 'EXXwria, eXXwrts.

3 Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 96 remarks that this can hardly be a case of actual hones
carried in procession, and suggests that originally a puppet or xdanon called Hellotis was
concealed in the wreath, which was later regarded as the relic of a dead heroine.

Farnell Cults of Gk. Stales ii. 479 'as the Cretan god dies, so his spouse, the earth-
goddess, dies, for we hear of the funeral rites of Europa in the Corinthian festival of
'EXXwria.' More exactly, 'in the Cretan festival of 'EXXwrta, which was celebrated also
at Corinth.'

F. Diimmler in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 1971 'In Gortyn feierte man unter
dem Namen Hellotia der Europe ein Totenfest.' This unduly emphasises the funereal
character of the rite, which in all probability involved not merely the death but also the
rebirth of the vegetation-goddess, laughter as well as tears.

The only other references to a definite cult of Europe in Crete are Dictys Cretensis

i. 2 ad eos re cognita omnes ex origine Europae, quae in ea insula summa religione
colitur, confluunt benigneque salutatos in templum deducunt. ibi multarum hostiarum
more patris immolatione celebrata exhibitisque epulis large magnificeque eos habuere.
itemque insecutis diebus reges Graeciae, et si ea quae exhihebantur magnifice cum laetitia
suscipiebant tamen multo magis templi eius magnitica pulchritudine pretiosaque extructione
operum afficiebantur, inspicientes repetentesque memoria singula quae ex Sidone a
Phoenice patre eius atque nobilibus matronis transmissa magno turn decori erant, Solin.

ii. 9 Gortynam amnis Lenaeus praeterfluit, quo Europam tauri dorso Gortynii ferunt
vectitatam. iidem Gortynii et Adymnum colunt Europae fratrem: ita enim memorant.
videtur hie et occurrit, sed die iam vesperato augustiore se facie visendum offerens (see
K. Tiimpel in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 2261).

4 Supra p. 338 ff.

5 The schol. Pind. 01. 13. 56 gives various atria for the Hellotia of Athena Hellotis.
Of these the oldest and most reliable (Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 96) is the following: Tt-ixavdpov
dvyarepes recrcrapes Kopivdcai ' 'EXXwri's, l&vpvTiibvr), Xpvar}, Korvrtb. aXotio-rjs ttjs 7r6\eais
T7]v vtav tt\v ~Kpvo~riv 17 "EXXwtIs apiraa-aaa eiarjXOev els tov vabv rrjs 'Adrjvas, Zvda TrepiKard-
\r)tttos yevo/xevr) fypiipev eavrty eis to wvp. Kadapaia ovv ayerai ry &€({>, driva ol fj.era
ravra 'AXtjtou <...?...> 'EXXcirta naXovaiv. Cp. et. mag. p. 332, 43 ff.

Nilsson op. cit. p. 95 infers that a large puppet called Hellotis was burnt (or two large
puppets, Hellotis and Eurytione) together with a small puppet called Chryse, and points
 
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