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

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0763

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The Origin of Tragedy

677

who allegorises her rites1, speaks of ' the feeding on milk, as though
we were being born again ; after which come rejoicings and garlands
and, as it were, a return up to the Gods2.' Let us suppose, then,
that the early Thraco-Phrygian ' kings,' the Titdnes of the myth8,
after killing Dionysos as a kid, pitched him into their caldron and
boiled him in milk with a view to his being born again. The
mystic who aspired to be one with his god underwent, or at least
claimed to have undergone, a like ordeal. He had fallen as a slain
kid into the milky caldron : henceforward he was 1 a god instead of
a mortal4.'

Qe&v dyo/xe'vT], ev y e\povcn {e\povcri A. Mommsen) tt]v yaka^iav. eari 8e ttoXtos Kpidtvos
£k yaXaKTOs {ev yaXaKn A. Mommsen), Hesych. s.v. Yakd^ia (yaXe^ia cod., 7aXa£ta
Musurus, yaXa^ia Ruhnken) • eoprij, ev fj expovai yaka^iav. eari 8e ttoXtos npidivos ev
yaKaKTL. Cp. Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 1 no. 470, 13 (of the epheboi), edvaav Se /cat rots
Ta\at;io[i]s r\rj l^r]t~\pi tQv OeQiv /cat dve8r]Kav (ptdXrjv dirb 8pax/*&v eKarbv k.t.X. Mommsen
Feste d. Stadt At hen p. 449 refers the TaXa^ta to Elaphebolion on the ground that in the
Delian calendar Elaphebolion was called TaXa^tos [leg. YaXa^nbv). See farther P. Stengel
and Bischoff in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 559 f. and 571.

1 Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 1541 n. 7.

2 Sallustius 7rept deQv /cat KocrfMov 4 e7rt tovtols ydXaKTos rpocprj, cocnrep dvayevvwiievwv,
eft oh tXapetat /cat crrecpavoL /cat irpbs roi/s 6eovs olov e7rdvo8os trans. G. Murray.

3 Supra p. 655 f.

4 A somewhat similar belief may lie at the back of the Roman Lupercalia; for here
too human 'goats' underwent rites, which are best explained (W. Mannhardt Mythologische
Forschungen Strassburg 1884 p. 99 f.) as a mimic death and resurrection by means of milk.
The relevant facts are the following. On Feb. 15 the celebrants met at the Lupercal, a
cave in the Palatine Hill, and sacrificed goats (Plout. v. Rom. 21, Ov. fast. 2. 445 cp.
441, Val. Max. 2. 2. 9, Quint, inst. or. 1. 5. 66, Serv. in \rerg. Am. 8. 343 and interp.
ad loc.) and a dog (Plout. v. Rom. 21, quaestt. Rom. 68, 111). In the Lupercal was an
image of the god whom Justin calls Lupercus, nude but girt with a goat-skin (lust. 43.

1. 7). The luperci too were nude and wore about their loins the pelts of the newly-sacri-
ficed animals (Q. Aelius Tubero {Hist. Rom. frag. p. 200 f. Peter) ap. Dion. Hal. ant.
Rom. 1. 80). They ran round the base of the Palatine striking those whom they met with
strips or thongs cut from the goat-skins (Plout: v. Rom. 21, Ov.fast. 2. 445 f.,'\ral. Max.

2. 2. 9, interp. Serv. in \rerg. Aen. 8. 343, Nikol. Damask, frag. 101, 21 {Frag. hist. Gr.
iii. 441 Midler)). These luperci are described not merely as ' human flocks' (\/Tarr. de
ling. Lat. 6. 34 lupercis nudis lustratur antiquum oppidum Palatinum gregibus humanis
cinctum), but actually as crept (Paul, ex Fest. p. 57 Muller, p. 49 Lindsay), i.e. 'goats'
(Paul, ex Fest. p. 48 Muller, p. 42 Lindsay, Isid. orig. 12. 1. 15 : see S. Bugge in the
fahrb. f. Philol. u. Pddag. 1872 cv. 92 f., Preller—Jordan Rom. Myth.3 i. 389, W. M.
Lindsay The Latin Language Oxford 1894 p. 98). Wissowa Rel. Kult. Rom.- p. 209
n. 8 says : ' man kann die Tpdyoi-adrvpoi des griechischen Dionysos-dienstes zum Ver-
gleiche heranziehen'—an analogy noted by W. Mannhardt Wald- und Feldkulte2 Berlin
1905 ii. 200. The ritual of the luperci is given with most detail by Plout. v. Rom. 21 :
' They sacrifice goats. Then two young men of high rank are brought to them; where-
upon some touch the forehead of the young men with a bloody knife, and others promptly
wipe off the blood, applying wool steeped in milk. After this wiping the young men are
obliged to laugh. Next they cut up the skins of the goats and run round naked except
for their girdles, striking with the whips any one who encounters them. Young women
do not avoid this whipping, because they deem it a help towards easy labour and con-
ception. It is a peculiarity of the festival that the luperci sacrifice a dog likewise.' See
 
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