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

Characteristics of Zeus (Adad) 591

(£) Characteristics of the Syrian Zeus (Adad).

As at Heliopolis1, so at Hierapolis and elsewhere the bulls asso-
ciated with Adad (Zeus) marked him as a god of thunder and fertility.
The Rhosian coin, which represents him with a thunderbolt and a
crux ansata, indicates both aspects of his being. At Hierapolis
the latter was the more prominent, to judge from the local myth2
and ritual3. He was here a fitting partner of Atargatis (Hera), a

1 Supra p. 576 ff.

2 According to Loukian. de dea Syr. 17 ff., the temple at Hierapolis was rebuilt by
Stratonike [the second wife of Seieukos i Nikator], who was afterwards married to her
step-son [Antiochos i Soter]. Stratonike was bidden by Hera in a dream to raise to her
the temple at Hierapolis. The king [Seieukos] sent her thither under the charge of his
friend Kombabos, a very handsome youth. Kombabos, fearing the result of this com-
mission, mutilated himself, put his aidoca in a small jar along with myrrh, honey, and
other perfumes, sealed it and gave it to the king as a priceless treasure to be kept against
his return. The king set another seal upon it and entrusted it to his stewards. When
Stratonike had been three years building the temple, Hera, angry at the delay, struck her
with a passion for Kombabos. At first she concealed her feelings ; but at last she made her-
self drunk and confessed her love. Kombabos rejected her overtures. She then threatened
to lay violent hands upon herself. Whereupon he told her of his mutilation and so cured
her madness. But she still loved him and enjoyed his company. Meantime the king
sent for Kombabos. (Some say falsely that Stratonike accused Kombabos to him of
attempting her honour : cp. the tales of Sthenoboia and Phaidra.) Kombabos was
imprisoned, arraigned, and condemned to death. He then called for his treasure, broke
the seal, and proved his innocence by exhibiting the contents. The king, convinced,
promised to put his accusers to death, to bestow upon him much gold and silver, Assyrian
raiment, and royal horses, and to grant him the right to approach himself unannounced
'even'—said he—lrjv yvvaiKi d/ma evpa^/icu.' Kombabos finished the temple and in
future dwelt there. A bronze statue of him by Hermokles of Rhodes, which stands in
the temple, shows a feminine form in masculine attire; for such was his aspect. But
a stranger woman, who once came to a festival, fell in love with him and, on discovering
his condition, slew herself; so he, discouraged at it, changed his practice and put on a
woman's dress. His friends showed their sympathy with him by mutilating themselves
and sharing his mode of life. (Others tell a sacred tale to the effect that Hera loved
Kombabos and, to prevent him from being lonely, sent upon his friends this desire for
self-mutilation.)

In this myth Kombabos is obviously a Syrian parallel to Attis, who, according to one
version (Prudent, peristeph. 10. 196 ff.), unmanned himself to escape the embraces of
Kybebe: cp. Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel.^. 1542 n. 3. Hera, i.e. Atargatis, here corresponds
with Kybebe. The transference of the tale from the goddess Hera to the mortal Stratonike
perhaps implies that the Syrian queen played the part of the goddess. Those who
identified Atargatis with Rhea ascribed the foundation of her temple and cult to Attis
(Loukian. de dea Syr. 15).

a The statements of the pseudo-Lucian with regard to the ritual at Hierapolis may
here be summarised :

In this Propylaia stand two <pa\\oL, dedicated by Dionysos to his step-mother Hera,
and reaching to a height of thirty fathoms. Twice a year a man climbs up one of them
and spends seven days on the top. Most persons say that he associates up there with the
gods, invoking their blessing upon the whole of Syria, and that the gods, since he is near
them, hear his prayers. Others connect the custom with Deukalion's flood, when men,
to escape the water, climbed mountains and high trees [cp. supra p. 584 n. 1]. Lucian
compares rather the vevptxnraaTa of the Greeks, small wooden men with large aidua