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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#0851

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The Dioskouroi as Stars

761

And here it will be best to quote the available evidence before
considering the various interpretations that have been put upon it.

i. The dedication of Stars after the battles of Salamis

and Aigos Potamos.

In the battle of Salamis (480 B.C.) the ^Eginetans distinguished
themselves above the rest of the Greeks for their bravery1. The
Delphic Apollon therefore demanded of them a special thank-
offering for the victory, and they erected at the corner of his
temple three golden stars on a bronze mast2. H. Pomtow in his
plan of the Pythian precinct places the mast with its three stars
close to the south-east angle of the temple-platform3. Herodotos,
our sole informant, says nothing about the Dioskouroi; nor do we
know that they were specially worshipped in Aigina. But an
analogous incident, which occurred three quarters of a century
later, brings them well to the fore. After the battle of Aigos
Potamos (405 B.C.) the victorious Spartan general Lysandros set
up at Delphoi a magnificent trophy made from the spoils of the
vanquished Athenians. It included a great assemblage of bronze
statues, which in time became covered with a patina of exquisite
blue, and visitors commented on the appropriateness of the colour4.
Pausanias gives a list of the thirty seven statues5, and important
remains of the oblong chamber in which they stood, together with
their inscribed bases, have been discovered* by the French exca-
vators near to the principal entrance of the sanctuary on the right
hand side of the Sacred Way(i. Pausanias' list of the statues in

Harris has for years past made the subject peculiarly his own, and his contributions
towards the elucidation of divine twins in general and the Dioskouroi in particular (The
Dioscuri in the Christian Legends London 1903 pp. 1—64, The Cult of the Heavenly
Twins Cambridge 1906 pp. 1 —160 with 7 pis., 'Sons of Thunder' in the Expositor 1907
pp. 146—152, ' Some Points in the Cult of the Heavenly Twins' in the Transactions of
the Third International Congress for the History of Religions Oxford 1908 ii. 175 f.,
'The Cult of the Heavenly Twins' in The Contemporary Review 1909 xcv. 50—61,
Boanerges Cambridge 1913 pp. 1—424) have aroused a wide-spread interest in the
subject: see the comments of Gruppe Myth. Lit. 1908 pp. 57 f., 314 ff., 481 f., 563 f.

1 Hdt. 8. 93 : see further G. Busolt Griechische Geschichte Gotha 1895 ii.2 716 n. 2.

2 Hdt. 8. 122.

3 H. Luckenbach Erlauterungen zur, Wandtafcl von Delphi Miinchen and Berlin
1904 pp. 12 (perspective view by C. Schuster), 13 (plan by H. Pomtow).

4 Plout. de Pyth. or. 2 dre^fcDs OoXclttiovs rrj Xjooa /cat (3vdiovs ecrcirras.

5 Paus. 10. 9. 7 ff.

6 T. Homolle in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1894 xviii. 186, ib. 1897 xxi. 284—288, ib.
1898 xxii. 572—-579, and in the Comptes rendtis de rAcad, des inscr. et belles-lettres 1901
pp. 668—686, H. Bulle and T. Wiegand in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1898 xxii. 332 f.,
H. Pomtow in the Jahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1902 xvii Arch. Anz. pp. 14 ff.,
80f., and in the Ath. Mitth. 1906 xxxi. 492—563, A. Furtwangler in the Sitzungsber. d.
 
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