Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

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

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0714

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
630 The Bull and the Sun in Syria

wide through Romanised lands. Still, something more than this
seems needed to account for the constant association of an Aurelius
or an Aurelia with Iupiter Dolichenus. Thus H. Dessau prints
thirty-two Latin inscriptions bearing on this divinity1. They in-
clude two emperors (M. Aurelius Antoninus and L. Aurelius Com-
modus)2 and no less than sixteen other persons of the same gentile
name: three out of the sixteen are expressly described as priests
of the god3, one as the curator of his temple4, and three others as
holding various offices connected with his cult5. It seems probable
therefore that the Aurelii, whose name pointed at once to the sun-
god6 and to gold7, considered themselves bound by special ties of
connexion with Iupiter Dolichenus.

Several dedications append to the name of this deity the
curious title 'where iron is born'8; one inscription speaks of him
as himself' born where iron arises9.' These expressions have been
usually interpreted of iron-mines in the neighbourhood of Doliche.
But A. H. Kan justly objects that there is not a particle of
evidence to show that such mines were ever to be found in that
locality10. His own notion, however, that ' iron' means ' iron-water'

1 Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. nos. 4296—4324.

2 Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. nos. 4312, 4310.

3 Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. nos. 4299, 4305, 4316.

4 Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 43x6.

5 Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 4316.

6 Paul, ex Fest. p. 23, 16 f. Muller, p. 22, 5 ff. Lindsay Aureliam familiam ex Sabinis
oriundam a Sole dictam putant, quod ei publice a populo Romano datus sit locus, in
quo sacra faceret Soli, qui ex hoc Auseli dicebantur, ut Valesii, Papisii pro eo, quod
est Valerii, Papirii. Quint, inst. or. 11. 2. 31 also alludes to the origin of the name.
Auselius> Aurelius \s> in fact derived from the same root as aurora (Walde Lat. etym.
Worterb. p. 57).

7 Paul, ex Fest. p. 9, 2 f. Mviller, p. 8, 14 Lindsay (aurum) alii a Sabinis translatum
putant, quod illi ansum dicebant. Vanicek and other philologists have referred aurum
(Ital. *ausoni) to the root *aues-, ' to shine,' seen in aurora etc. (Walde op. cit. p. 57).

8 Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 423* = ^. vi no. 30947 — Dessau Lnscr. Lat. sel. no. 4302 -
Kan op. cit. p. 82 no. 92 (from the Carrafa vineyard on the Quirinal at Rome) Iovi
optimo maximo | Dolicheno ubi ferrum nascitur | C. Sempronius Rectus | cent(urio)/'
( = centurio) frumentar(ius) d. d.

Corp. inscr. Lat. iii Suppl. no. 11927 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 4301= Kan op. cit.
p. 57 no. 60 (Pfiinz: a bronze tablet found near the camp of the first cohort of the
Breuci) I. o. m. | Duliceno j ubi ferum (sic) | [nascitjur || T E (according to Mommsen,
these are the initials of the dedicator ; according to Kan, they may be read as I E -
i(ussu) E(sculapii)).

See also the inscription cited supra p. 627 n. 2.

9 Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 1128 = Dessau Lnscr. Lat. sel. no. 4303 = Kan op. cit.
p. 26 ff. (found in 1840 A.D. at Apulum in Dacia) numini et virtutibu[s Iovis optimi

maximi Dolicheni], | nato ubi ferrum exor[itur ............] | naturae boni even[tus et

numini imp. Caes. T. Aeli Hadri]|ani Antonini Au[g. Pii ............] | Terentiu[s........].

10 Kan op. cit. p. 26.
 
Annotationen