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

Zeus and Bovine Omophagy 661

hand (fig. 509)1. At Gortyna coins of about the same period and
of even greater artistic merit represent their union as consummated
in the sacred tree2. Not unnaturally, therefore, when in the service
of Zeus a substitute was required for the human Zagreus, the
animal chosen was a bull. The resultant rites are described by
Firmicus Maternus in a passage of great and even painful interest,

though written of course from the view-point of a Christian Euhe-
merist. Firmicus, dilating On the Error of Profane Religions for the
benefit of the emperors Constantius and Constans (between 343
and 350 A.D.), expresses himself as follows3:

' There are yet other superstitions, the secrets of which must be set forth—to
wit, those of Liber and Libera. And here I must convey to your sacred senses
a systematic account with full details, that you may realise how in these profane
religions too sanctity attaches to the death of men. Liber, then, was the son of
Iupiter a Cretan king. Though born of an adulterous mother, he was reared by
his father with more care than he deserved. The wife of Iupiter, Iuno by name,
fired with the feelings of a step-mother, tried all manner of tricks to kill the
child. The father on going abroad, well aware of his wife's smouldering" rage
and anxious to avoid guile on the part of the angry woman, entrusted his son to
suitable guardians, as he supposed. Iuno, judging this a fitting opportunity for
her designs and being more than ever incensed because the father on setting
out had left both throne and sceptre to the boy, first bribed his g'uardians with
royal rewards and gifts, and next stationed her minions called Titans in the
heart of the palace and, by dint of rattles and a cleverly made mirror, so
beguiled the fancy of the child that he left his kingly seat and, thanks to his
childish desire, was led on to their place of ambush. Here he was caught and
butchered ; and, that no vestige of the murder should be found, the band of
minions cut up his limbs joint by joint and divided them among themselves.

1 J. N. Svoronos op. cit. i. 254 f. pi. 22, 35—37, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Crete etc.
p. 61 pi. 14, 16, Head Hist, num.'2 p. 473. The reverse represents Hermes seated on a
tree-stump (?) with a caduceus in his right hand and a petasos hanging from his shoulders.
I figure a specimen in the McClean collection.

Other silver coins of the same town show obv. forepart of bull, rev. head of Europe
(J. N. Svoronos op. cit. i. 255 pi. 23, 1, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Crete etc. p. 41 pi. 10, 9
attributed wrongly to Gortyna), or obv. head of Europe, rev. forepart of bull kneeling
(J. N. Svoronos op. cit. i. 255 pi. 23, 4, Hunter Cat. Coins ii. 192 pi. 42, 12, Head Hist.
num.'1 p. 473).

2 Supra p. 527 ff. figs. 391 ff. 3 Firm. Mat. 6. 1—5.

Fig. 509.