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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#0841

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Zeus as god of the Starry Sky 751

In any case it is obvious that astrology played no small part in
the Commagenian cult of Zeus Oromdsdes.

(b) Zeus as god of the Starry Sky.

Zeus is occasionally, but not often, brought into connexion
with the stars in ancient literature and art.

He is more than once conceived by Euripides as dwelling in
the starry sky. The Satyrs associate him with the stars and
Orion1. Menoikeus swears 'by Zeus and all his stars2'—a phrase
that impressed Plutarch3. Kreousa's handmaidens sing of the
night-procession from Athens to Eleusis on Boedromion 20—

What time the star-eyed sky of Zeus himself
Joins in the dance4.

Achaios went one step further, perhaps we should say one step
further back, and spoke of ' Zeus the starry-eyed V Finally,
Nonnos tells how Zeus stooped from heaven to earth for the sake
of Semele :

Then Zeus of the air quitted his starry home
For Semele's side6.

But it will be observed that these are all poetic fancies with little
or no support in actual cult.

When Propertius describes the temple of Zeus at Olympia as
'imitating the sky7/ he is in all probability alluding to a coffered
ceiling8 with gilt stars on a blue ground9—a device common to

1 Eur. Cycl. 211 ff. {supra p. 6 n. 4).

2 Eur. Phoen. 1006 fxa rbv fxer acrrpwv Zrjp' "Aprj re (poiviov, k.t.X. The schol. ad loc.
takes Ttrjva here to be the sun (schol. A.B.M.I, rbv tjXlov <pr\ai koX Tov"Aprjv rbv rod efxov
(pbvov airiov. k.t.X., schol. CM. rbv rjXibv <paai beairoT^v tGjv aarpwv, top oura ev rots
dcrrpots debv, rbv atriov rod ifxov cpbvov). But he is certainly wrong (cp. supra p. 187).

3 Plout. de aud. poet. 6.

4 Eur. Ion 1078 f. {supra p. 65 n. 4).

5 Achaios Azanes frag. 2 Nauck2 {stipra p. 65 n. 3).

6 Nonn. Dion. 7. 312 f. aarepbev Tore 8S)/j,a -KapeGTiyev V^PL0S Zeus | els Ze/^A^s vfxivaiov,
cp. 7. 359 tL irXeov ijdeXes aXXo fxer aldepa /cat iroXov aarpwv ;

7 Prop. 3. 1. 18 nec Iovis Elei caelum imitata domus.

8 Cp. Manil. 5. 288 f. sculpentem faciet Sanctis laquearia templis | condentemque
novum caelum per tecta Tonantis (with 1. 5321".), Stat. silv. 4. 2. 30f. (on Domitian's
palace) fessis vix culmina prendas | visibus auratique putes laquearia caeli, Mart. ep. 7.
56. 1 ff. astra polumque pia cepisti mente, Rabiri (Domitian's architect), | Parrhasiam
mira qui struis arte domum. | Phidiaco si digna Iovi dare templa parabit, | has petat a
nostro Pisa Tonante manus.

With regard to the inner ceiling in the temple of Zeus at Olympia W. Dbrpfeld in
Olympia ii. [ 1 writes : ' Wie die aus Holz bestehende Decke im Einzelnen gebildet war,
lasst sich nicht bestimmen; in den Erganzungen [pis. 11, 2, 12] sind deshalb einfache
Balken und eine glatte Verschalung angenommen.'

9 H. Thedenat in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 903, A. Marquand Greek
Architecture New York 1909 p. 236 ('The recessed coverings were ornamented in various
 
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