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

530 Marriage of the Sun and Moon in Crete

' Willow1.' And a nurseling of the willow might naturally be mated
with a willow-bride. If Europe was indeed a willow-goddess, she
probably patronised basket-work ; and the flower-basket that she
herself bears is a significant attribute2. The Greek painter is

,Q,\evLr}v 5e fALv alya Aids KaXeovcr' vtto (pTjrac 5t]\Qv tov tottov, 8l6tl irXrjaiov
'QXev-q, abridged by Eustath. in II. p. 292, 10 ff.

According to Hyg. fab. 139, Amaltheia as nurse of the infant Zeus in Crete hung his
cradle on a tree, in order that he might not be found in heaven or on earth or in the sea,
and, to prevent his cries from being heard, bade the young Kouretes clash their small bronze
shields and spears round the tree. Unfortunately we are not told whether the tree in
question was a willow. In a Czekh tale the nymph of a willow-tree married a mortal
and bore him children. One day the willow was cut down and the nymph died. But
a cradle fashioned out of its wood had the power of lulling her babe to sleep (W. R. S.
Ralston in the Contemporary Review 1878 i. 525, Mrs J. H. Philpot The Sacred Tree
London 1897 p. 62). A Japanese tale likewise tells how Higo, the nymph of a willow-
tree, weds Heitaro, a young farmer, and bears him a child Chiyodo, but vanishes when
her tree is cut down (R. Gordon Smith Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan London 1908
p. 12 ff., F. Hadland Davis Myths db Legends of Japan London 1912 p. 177 ff.).

1 Theophr. hist. pi. 3. 13. 7 KaXovai 8t 01 irepi 'ApKadiav ovk ireav dXXd e\iK7)v to
Sevdpov oiovrai 8e, wairep 4\ex0y, KaL napirbv %xeLV avTTjv ybvip.ov.

2 O. Jahn Die Entfiihrung der Europa auf antiken Kunstzverken Wien 1870 p. 23

acutely surmised that Europe's basket was not a mere piece
of prettiness but 'vielmehr ein Attribut von tieferer Bedeu-
tung.' In addition to the amphora at St Petersburg and
the passage from Moschos, he was able to cite from the
Waldeck collection at Arolsen a copper of Tyre struck by
Gallienus, on the reverse of which appears Europe with her
basket (fig. 402). He noted also that a copper struck by
Valerian with the same type had been sold at Berlin in 1845.
An example of this latter coin now in the British Museum
is, however, thus described by Mr G. F. Plill: ' Europa,
wearing long chiton and himation, standing to front, holding

in 1. a vase, r. hand on breast; on L, approaching her out of the water, forepart of a bull;
above it, the Ambrosial Rocks with olive-tree between them; below, murex-shell; in
field r., eV!P0O|TTH I inscr. COL TV RO MET' (Brit. Mus. Cat.
Coins Phoenicia pp. qxlii, 290 pi. 34, 13).

Possibly the flower-basket of Europe was derived from a custom
akin to the 'gardens of Adonis.' Mosch. 1.37 (cp. 1. 61) speaks of
the former as xp&recH' rdXapov ; Theokr. 15. 113 f., of the latter as
aTraXol kolttol irecpvXayfievoL ev raXapLaKois | apyvpeois. The Cretan
Zeus was akin to Adonis (stipra p. 157 n. 3, infra ch. i § 6 (g) xxi).

The wicker basket on coins of Kibyra in Phrygia (Brit. Mus.
Cat. Coins Phrygia pp. xlviii. 135 ff. pis. 16, 9, 17, 5—7, 18, 1 f.,
4, 8 f., 51, 3 f.) may have the same significance. I figure two
specimens from my collection, a quasi-autonomous copper from
the time of M. Aurelius (fig. 403) and a copper struck by Trajan
Decius (fig. 404).

Certain silver coins of Gortyna c. 200—67 B.C. have obv. head
of Zeus, rev. Athena holding Nike etc. or Apollon seated on a
i"ock. Both these reverse types are inscribed TOPTTNIfilS"
91 BOS. The word 9IB0S has been taken for a dialect form of
!g- 4°4- Ttj7ros (B. V. Head in the Num. Chron. New Series 1873 x*n- XI7>

cp. Zeitschr. f. Num. 1874 i. 381), or for a magistrate's name (J. N. Svoronos