DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0717
The Significance of the Bull 633
sometimes coupled1 or identified2, was essentially a thunder-god
with solar powers—'the Preserver of the Whole Sky,...a Provider
Invincible3.' The bull, therefore, on which he stands is comparable
with the bulls of other Anatolian deities already considered and
marks him as a god of fertilising sunshine and storm.
xxi. The Significance of the Bull in the cults of Zeus.
(a) The Bull as a Fertilising Power.
Those who have had the patience to accompany me through
the last twenty sections of our subject will be glad to rest awhile
And let the accumulated gain
Assort itself upon the brain.
We have gone the round of the Levant together, visiting succes-
sively Egypt, Crete, Syria, and Asia Minor. Everywhere we have
found traces of the same religious history—a local worship of the
bull, which drew its sanctity from immemorial usage and was
associated in a variety of ways first with the principal god of the
district and then with the Greek Zeus or the Roman Iupiter. In
Egypt, for example, the bull Apis came to be viewed as the avatar
of Osiris4 or the ' second life of Ptah5,' but under the name Epaphos
was affiliated to Zeus6. In Crete the bull was identified with the
sun-god7 and worshipped with mimetic rites8; but the sun-god
was later ousted by9, or fused with10, the Hellenic Zeus. In Assyria
1 Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 3908 = Dessau I user. Lat. sel. no. 4296 = 1^11 op. cit.
p. 46 no. 33 (Laibach) I. o. m. D. | et I. o. m. H(eliopolitano), cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. iii
Suppl. no. 11131 = Kan op. cit. p. 50 f. no. 42 (Carnuntum) I. o. m. | Dol. et rel(igioni?) |
pro sa[l(ute)] Aug(usti), where Kubitschek cj. that rel was a stone-cutter's error for
Hel(iopolitano)—a cult-title known to occur at Carnuntum {Corp. inscr. Lat. iii Suppl.
nos. 11137, 11138, 11139)-
2 Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 3462 = ^. iii Suppl. no. 13366 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no.
4297 = Kan op. cit. p. 45 no 31 (Aquincum) I. o. m. | Dulceno | Heliopolitan(o). An
altar from Carvoran {supra p. 552 n. 3), used as a trough in a stable at Thirl wall, perhaps
commemorates the same identified cult {Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 753 = Kan op. cit. p. 92 f.
no. 119 I. o. m. D(olicheno) ] H(eliopolitano ? cp. Corp. inscr. ,Lat. vii no. 752)).
3 Supra p. 608 f.
4 Supra p. 435.
5 Supra p. 435 n. 6. A bronze statuette of Apis from a Greek site in the Delta is in-
scribed in letters of the fifth century B.C. TOIPANEPIMANESITA^E^O^VAH^
= t£ Hdveiri (?) tx dvearaae Sw/cu5t?s. Mr H. B. Walters suggests that the deity may be
Ba-en-ptah {Brit. Mus. Cat. Bronzes^. 376 no. 3208).
6 Supra p. 438 ff. 7 Supra p. 467 ff.
8 Supra p. 490 ff. 9 Supra p. 522 f.
10 Talds, 'the Sun' {supra p. 468 n. 7), becomes Zeus Talaios or Tallaios {infra
ch. i § 6 (h) v).
sometimes coupled1 or identified2, was essentially a thunder-god
with solar powers—'the Preserver of the Whole Sky,...a Provider
Invincible3.' The bull, therefore, on which he stands is comparable
with the bulls of other Anatolian deities already considered and
marks him as a god of fertilising sunshine and storm.
xxi. The Significance of the Bull in the cults of Zeus.
(a) The Bull as a Fertilising Power.
Those who have had the patience to accompany me through
the last twenty sections of our subject will be glad to rest awhile
And let the accumulated gain
Assort itself upon the brain.
We have gone the round of the Levant together, visiting succes-
sively Egypt, Crete, Syria, and Asia Minor. Everywhere we have
found traces of the same religious history—a local worship of the
bull, which drew its sanctity from immemorial usage and was
associated in a variety of ways first with the principal god of the
district and then with the Greek Zeus or the Roman Iupiter. In
Egypt, for example, the bull Apis came to be viewed as the avatar
of Osiris4 or the ' second life of Ptah5,' but under the name Epaphos
was affiliated to Zeus6. In Crete the bull was identified with the
sun-god7 and worshipped with mimetic rites8; but the sun-god
was later ousted by9, or fused with10, the Hellenic Zeus. In Assyria
1 Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 3908 = Dessau I user. Lat. sel. no. 4296 = 1^11 op. cit.
p. 46 no. 33 (Laibach) I. o. m. D. | et I. o. m. H(eliopolitano), cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. iii
Suppl. no. 11131 = Kan op. cit. p. 50 f. no. 42 (Carnuntum) I. o. m. | Dol. et rel(igioni?) |
pro sa[l(ute)] Aug(usti), where Kubitschek cj. that rel was a stone-cutter's error for
Hel(iopolitano)—a cult-title known to occur at Carnuntum {Corp. inscr. Lat. iii Suppl.
nos. 11137, 11138, 11139)-
2 Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 3462 = ^. iii Suppl. no. 13366 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no.
4297 = Kan op. cit. p. 45 no 31 (Aquincum) I. o. m. | Dulceno | Heliopolitan(o). An
altar from Carvoran {supra p. 552 n. 3), used as a trough in a stable at Thirl wall, perhaps
commemorates the same identified cult {Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 753 = Kan op. cit. p. 92 f.
no. 119 I. o. m. D(olicheno) ] H(eliopolitano ? cp. Corp. inscr. ,Lat. vii no. 752)).
3 Supra p. 608 f.
4 Supra p. 435.
5 Supra p. 435 n. 6. A bronze statuette of Apis from a Greek site in the Delta is in-
scribed in letters of the fifth century B.C. TOIPANEPIMANESITA^E^O^VAH^
= t£ Hdveiri (?) tx dvearaae Sw/cu5t?s. Mr H. B. Walters suggests that the deity may be
Ba-en-ptah {Brit. Mus. Cat. Bronzes^. 376 no. 3208).
6 Supra p. 438 ff. 7 Supra p. 467 ff.
8 Supra p. 490 ff. 9 Supra p. 522 f.
10 Talds, 'the Sun' {supra p. 468 n. 7), becomes Zeus Talaios or Tallaios {infra
ch. i § 6 (h) v).