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

Ba^al-tars and Zeus Tersios

On the right stands Datames himself in chiton and himdtion raising
his hand with a gesture of adoration. On the left is the nude form
of Herakles with arm outstretched towards the satrap. Before
Datames is his name in Aramaic lettering—Tddmw\ Behind
Herakles on certain specimens (fig. 455) room is found for a second
Aramaic word—ana2. Now it has been universally supposed that
Ana must be the name of the naked god, and attempts have been
made to connect him with the Assyrian Anu'K But I am informed
by my friends Prof. R. H. Kennett, Prof. F. C. Burkitt, and
Mr N. McLean, that ana is ordinary Aramaic for ' I (am),' and
that ' I am Datames' would have been the normal commencement
of a royal or quasi-royal proclamation. I would therefore suggest
that this much-disputed4 type simply represents Datames an-
nouncing himself as a worshipper of Herakles (Sandas).

Sandas as figured on coins of Tarsos from about 164 B.C.

Fig. 462. Fig. 463. Fig. 464.

onwards (figs. 462—46s)5 bears a much closer resemblance to the
ancient Hittite son-god6. He stands on the back of a lion, which

1 I have to thank my friend Mr N. McLean, Lecturer in Aramaic to the University
of Cambridge, for examining a number of these coins and deciphering their legend.
Mr McLean tells me that it might possibly be read as Tdnmit, but that there is in
Aramaic no such use of a sonant n as would justify the transcription Tadnmti (Head
Hist, num.'2 p. 731).

2 This word is placed either in the narrow space at the back of Herakles' knee
(Babelon Monti, gr. ro'm. ii. 2. 413 f. pi. 109, 13 and 15) or outside the frame behind
Herakles (id. id. pi. 109, 14 = 111)' fig. 455).

3 E. Babelon Les Perses Achemenides Paris 1893 pp. clvi—clix, id. Monn. gr. rom. ii.
2. 413 ff., G. F. Hill in the Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycaonia, etc. p. lxxx, Head Hist.
mem.2 p. 731.

4 P. Gardner Types of Gk. Coins p. 171 pi. 10, 29 regards as plausible an interpreta-
tion put forward by Honore d'Albert, due de Luynes Numismatique des satrapies et de la
Phenicie Paris 1846 p. 20, viz. that Sardanapalos represented by the Greek artist as an
effeminate Zeus or Dionysos is here snapping his fingers (Athen. 530 A ff.) at Herakles,
who exhorts him to better things ! But such moralising is, as Prof. Gardner admits,
' a rare or unprecedented occurrence among Greek coins.' Frankly, it is unthinkable.

5 Brit. Mus. Cat. Corns Lycaonia, etc. pp. 178 f., 186, 206 pis. 32, 13—16, 33,
1, 34, 2, 36, 9, Hunter Cat. Coins ii. 548 pi. 60, 11, Head Hist, mem.2 p. 732 f.,
P. Gardner Types of Gk. Coins p. 206 pi. 13, 20.

6 In the rock-carvings of Iasily Kaya near Boghaz-Keui the Hittite son-god stands on
the back of a lioness (or panther—if the animal is really turned as in Perrot—Chipiez
Hist, de VArt iv. 637 fig. 313; for the panther, as opposed to the lion, in early art is