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

Zeus Dolichatos and Iupiter Dolichenus 607

wearing boots, hose, a short chiton with a broad belt, and a kdndys
or cloak, which is fastened round his neck and is blown back by
the wind.

Syrian troops—and, to a less extent, Syrian merchants, slaves
and freedmen—carried the cult of this obscure divinity far and
wide through the Roman world1. It is attested by a numerous
series of inscriptions2 dating from c. 130 to c. 265 A.U., that is, from
the time of Hadrian to the time of Gallienus3. They are most in
evidence during the reigns of Commodus (180—192 A.D.), Septimius

Fig. 478.

Severus (193—211 A.D.), Caracalla (211—217 A.D.), and Alexander
Severus (222—235 A.D.)4. Commodus was an enthusiastic votary
of such deities as Isis and Mithras5. Septimius Severus was much
under the influence of Iulia Domna, his Syrian wife. Caracalla,
their son, himself visited Syria in 215 A.D. Alexander Severus
had spent his childhood in Syria as priest of the sun-god Elaga-
balos6, and was, owing to the designs of Artaxerxes king of Persia,

1 Kan op. cit. p. 11 ft'., F. Cumont in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1276 f.

2 They are collected and arranged in geographical order by Kan op. cit. pp. 34—109.
A good selection of them is given by Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. nos. 4296—4324.

3 Kan op. cit. pp. 16—19, F. Cumont in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1276—1278.

4 Kan op. cit. p. 17 f., F. Cumont loc. cit. pp. 1276, 1278.
0 Lamprid. v. Commod. 9. 4 and 6.

6 Herodian. 5.3.3 f.