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

544 Zeus and the Bull in Cretan Myth

late and superficial. Pasiphae's bull according to certain Roman
mythographers was sent by Zeus1, according to Christian writers of
the fourth and subsequent centuries was Zeus himself2. But no
ancient authority, either classical or post-classical, can be cited in
support of the view that the Minotaur was Zeus incarnate3.

On the other hand, from Hesiodic4 and even Homeric5 times
onward Zeus figured as the partner of Europe. The bull that bore
her from Phoinike to Crete, though sometimes said to have been
sent by Zeus6, is usually described as the god himself in animal
shape7. In short, Zeus as a bull is an integral part of the Europe-
myth. But here the moon was a much later accretion8, and the
sun a mere afterthought, perhaps not even that9.

307, Verg. culex 15, Solin. 11. 19) was derived from the Titaness Asteria or Asterie,
whose tale was variously told. To escape wedlock with Zeus, she flung herself into the
sea like a star (Kallim. h. Del. 36 ff.) or a quail (Apollod. 1. 4. 1). She scorned the
advances of Zeus, and he, to punish her, changed her into a quail and cast her into the
sea, where she became Ortygia, the ' Quail'-island, later called Delos (Hyg. fab. 53,
Lact. Plac. in Stat. Theb. 4. 796, cp. schol. Lyk. Al. 401, Serv. in Verg. Aen. 3. 73,
Myth. Vat. 1. 37, 2. 17, 3. 8. 3). She was ravished by Zeus, who took the form of an
eagle (Ov. met. 6. 108). She was wooed by Poseidon, not Zeus (Nonn. Dion. 2. 124 f.,
33. 336 ff., 42. 410). Zeus became a quail to consort with her sister Leto (schol. Pind.
Pyth. arg. p. 297 Boeckh) or changed Leto into a quail (Serv. in Verg. Aen. 3. 72).
Asteria bore to Zeus Hekate (Mousaios ap. schol. Ap. Rhod. 3. 467, Cic. de nat. deor. 3.
46) and the Phoenician Herakles (Eudoxos of Knidos ap. Athen. 392 D, Cic. de nat. deor.
3. 42). Others connected the name Asteria with the cult of Apollon (Solin. 11. 19).
(3) Asteria was an old name of Rhodes (Plin. nat. hist. 5. 132). (4) The 'Aarepiov
vrjcros off Lade contained a tomb of Asterios, son of Anax son of Ge, with a corpse ten
cubits long (Paus. 1. 35. 6). (5) Hesych. 'AarepLoc oi irpwroi ttjv Tevedov KaroiKricravTes.
(6) 'AarepLs, the island near lthake, was later known as 'Acrrepia (Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. ii. 1787).

1 Supra p. 467.

2 Epiphanios ancoratus 105, Nonn. narr. ad Gregorii invect. 1. 91 p. 158 = A. Wester-
mann Scriptores poeticae hisloriae Graeci Brunsvigae 1843 p. 369, 1, schol. Clem. Al.
protr. 4. 49. 3 p. 312, 15 Stahlin. Cp. the statements that Pasiphaa, daughter of Atlas,
bore Amnion to Zeus [supra p. 521 f.) and that Idaia, wife of Minos, bore Asterion to
the same god [supra p. 493 n. 2).

3 This view I rashly advanced in the Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 410, cp. Folk-Lore 1904
xv. 272. It is, I now think, untenable.

4 Hes. frag. 209 Flach and Bakchyl. frag. 47 Jebb ap. schol. //. 12. 292.

5 //. 14. 321 f.

6 Akousilaos frag. 20 {Frag. hist. Gr. i. 102 Muller) ap. Apollod. 2. 5. 7, cp. schol.
Caes. Germ. Araleap. 395, 24 ff. Eyssenhardt. See further L. Stephani in the Compte-
rendu St. Pet. 1866 p. 87 f.

7 Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1410 ff., Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 1295 f.

8 Supra p. 537 ff.

9 The circle of rays surrounding the bull [supra p. 472 fig. 328) and Europe [supra
p. 529 fig. 400) on coppers of Gortyna is possibly solar (cp. J. N. Svoronos in the Bull.
Corr. Hell. 1894 xviii. 118); but, since it occurs also on other coins of the same town
with types of an eagle grasping a snake (J. N. Svoronos Numismatique de la CrUe
ancienne Macon 1890 i. 174 pi. 16, 3, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Crete etc. p. 44 pi. n, 10)
or a naked male figure with shield and spear (Svoronos op. cit. i. 175 f. pi. 16, 8, 9, 10,