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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#0843

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Zeus as god of the Starry Sky 753

and Thalassa recumbent: Gaia holds a cornu copiae; Thalassa
wears a head-dress of crab's-claws and is equipped with a rudder
and a prow. The whole design is enclosed by the zodiac, as
before. An autonomous bronze coin of Sardeis, described by
Eckhel1, had Zeus with Nike in his hand enthroned amid the signs
of the zodiac. An imperial coin of Tios or Tion in Bithynia,
mentioned by B. V. Head2, again shows Zeus with the zodiac.
On a bronze coin of Amastris in Paphla-
gonia, struck by Iulia Maesa, Zeus and Hera,
both holding sceptres, stand facing each
other within the same border (fig. 5 53)3-
Two bronze coins of Alexandreia, struck by
Antoninus Pius in 145 A.D.4, play further
variations on the same theme : one of them
duplicates the zodiacal belt and places in the
centre jugate busts of Sarapis wearing his
kdlathos and Isis wearing her disk and horns5; the other substitutes
for the inner zodiac a circular band adorned with busts of Kronos,
Helios, Selene, Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite—the deities repre-
senting the days of the week—and gives as the central figure Sarapis
wearing his kdlathos*. It will be observed that all the coins on

1 Eckhel Doctr. num. vet? iii. 115, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 161 n. a.

2 Head Hist, num.'2 p. 518. Cp. Steph. Byz. s.v. TLor...Arj/uLoa8^vtjs §' ev BidvvictKois
(the fragment should be added to the Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 384 f. Muller) (prjai kthtt7)i> t??s
irdXecos yeveadat lldrapov (Arrian. frag. 37 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 593 Muller) ap. Eustath.
in Dionys./<?r. 322), eXovra UcMpXayoviav, /cat e/c rod Ti/xav top Ata Tiov irpocrayopevcrcu.
The great cult of the place, to judge from its coin-types, was that of Zeus livpyavT-qs or
livpyaaTTjios (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Pontus, etc. p. 203 ff. pi. 36, 5 and 10, Rasche Lex.
Num. ix. 1367 ff., Imhoof-Blumer Gr. Miinzen p. 64 f., Head Hist, num.'2 p. 518). The
meaning of the title is unknown (see Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. viii. 1502 b—c and
M. Schmidt on Hesych. ^vpydarcjp- <rvo(pop(36s. kclc ovofxa (3apj3apii<6v): But the cult
appears to have travelled westwards; for at Adzilare near Philippopolis a certain
Thracian proved his gratitude to a god called Hovpeyedrjs (Arch.-ep. Mitth. 1895 xviii.
112 'Ayadiji. tijxv-' ^ovpeyedrj e-rrrjKOLp K6[tv]s 'PoifA7]£eveos evxapiar-qpiov cited by
Dessau Lnscr. Lat. set. no. 4078), and at Renzano on the Lacus Benacus a Greek paid a
vow to Surgasteus and Patrus, i.e. to the chief deity and the founder of Tios (Corp. inscr.
Lat. v no. 42o6 = Orelli—Henzen Lnscr. Lat. set. no. 5915 —Dessau Lnscr. Lat. set. no.
4078 dis paternis | Surgasteo | magno | Patro, | Q. M. Tryphon | v. s. 1. m.).

3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Pontus, etc. p. 89 pi. 20, 13, Waddington—Babelon—
Reinach Monn. gr. o?As. Min. i. 155 pi. 21, 15, Anson Num. Gr. vi pi. 2, 127, Head
Hist, num? p. 506.

4 See G. Dattari in the Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 1901 xiv. 157—183.

5 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Alexandria p. 126 no. 1078 pi. 12, Anson Num. Gr. vi pi. 2,
130, Head Hist, num.'2 p. 863 (who cites as another astronomical type at Alexandreia:
' Zodiac in circle round busts of Helios and Selene').

6 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Alexandria p. 127 no. 1079 I2' J- Svoronos in the
Journ. Intern. d'Arch. Num. 1899 n- ^4 P*- z'> *> Anson Num. Gr. vi pi. 1, 129, Head
Hist, num.2 p. 863.

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