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

Marriage of the Sun and Moon in Crete 535

drama set forth the union of the sky-god Zeus with the earth-
goddess Europe. The part of Zeus would be played by one of the
Satyrs—if, at least, we may argue from the analogous myth of
Antiope, who was wooed by Zeus in the form of a Satyr1.

The purpose of this mimetic rite would presumably be to pro-
mote fertility. The marriage of the earth-goddess in her willow
would entail a prosperous year for the whole neighbourhood.
Somewhat analogous in its conception is a marble relief of the first
century A.D. found at Loukou near Astros in Thyreatis and now
at Athens (fig. 407)2. A matronly figure sits on a throne, which
is adorned with a Sphinx and bears the inscription Epzktesis,
' Increase.' Before her on a base is a statue of Euthenta, 1 Fer-
tility3,' holding a basket of fruit. Behind this goddess rises a
smooth Doric pillar, on the top of which stands another goddess in
the guise of Artemis Agrotera41, who uplifts her hand5 close to
the branch of a leafy tree. The tree is insufficiently characterised:
E. Gerhard took it to be a plane6, J. N. Svoronos an olive7; most
critics are content to call it a tree. Its stem is hidden by the pillar.
A fillet hangs from one of its boughs. A snake too, now barely
discernible, winds from behind the base of Euthenia over the tree-
trunk down towards the phidle resting on the lap of Epzktesis. In
the field beside the tree, and in all probability referring to the
goddess on the pillar, is the inscription Telete, 1 Initiation.' It is,

116), gladiatoribus (Cic. Phil. i. 36). Numismatic parallels are A IOC TON AI
{supra p. 151 fig. 119) and GIOVC TAMO I {Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lydia pp. cxlvi,
348 pi. 36, 8) at Tralleis attached to 'scenes in certain religious mysteries connected with
the Io legend' (B. V. Head id. p. cxlvi), perhaps also OPTYTOOH PA at Tarsos (Brit.
Mus. Cat. Coins Lycaonia, etc. pp. lxxxvif., 182 f. pi. 33, 7) as the name of a 'quail-hunt'
in the cult of Sandas or Herakles (see Frazer Golden Boughz : Adonis Attis Osiris2
pp. 85, 99 n. 2).

1 Infra ch. i § 7 (d). Another version made Zeus consort with Antiope in the form
of a bull (id.).

2 E. Gerhard in the Ann. d. Inst. 1829 i. 132—134 pi. C, Boetticher Baumkultus
pp. 98, 542 fig. 48, Friederichs—Wolters Gipsabgiisse p. 725 no. 1847, H. von Prott in the
Ath. Mitth. 1902 xxvii. 265 f., H. Schrader in the Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Berlin lx.
5, 33 n. 7, Stais Marbres et Bronzes: Athenes2 p. 239 n. 1390, Waser in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. vi. 1498, Svoronos Ath. Nationalmus. pp. 336—340 pi. 55.

3 Poll. 1. 240 el 8e 8e'v5poi>,...evd7)vovv,... " /ecu 8^v5pov...evdt]vLa.

4 Cretan coins struck by Domitian show not only a caduceus between two cornua
copiae inscribed EYOHNIA | EEBAETH (J. N. Svoronos Nitmismatique de la Crete
ancienne Macon 1890 i. 343 pi. 33, 15 f.), but also AIKTYNNA | 2EBASTH (infra
p. 542 n. 1) : see F. Imhoof-Blumer in the Journ. Intern, a"Arch. Num. 1908
xi. 143 f.

5 The gesture of the goddess is similar to that of the tree-nymph in the Real Museo
Borbonico Napoli 1839 xn pi* 8, Boetticher Baumkultus fig. 33.

6 E. Gerhard loc. cit. p. 133 'forse un platano.'

7 Svoronos Ath. Nationalmus. p. 337. 'wahrscheinlich ein Olbaum.'