DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0057
The Diosemia or c Zeus-sign '
public service of humiliation and prayer, and the sacrifice of larger
victims both on the Capitol and on the promontory of Minerva in
Campania ; they further directed that games lasting ten days be
celebrated as soon as possible for Iupiter Optimns Maximus. But
the haruspices declared that the presage was a happy one, portending
increase of territory and destruction of enemies1. Shortly before
the death of Augustus, his statue on the Capitol was struck by
lightning, and the word Caesar on its base lost the initial C. The
seers concluded that he would live but C, i.e. a hundred, days longer
and then become an aesar, i.e. the Etruscan term for a god2. One
of the omens that marked out Antoninus Pius for the throne was
the following: 'a thunderbolt fell from a clear sky on his house and
did no damage3.' Another omen of more doubtful character heralded
the rise of the elder Maximinus : his lance was split by a thunder-
bolt, which bisected even the iron blade. The haruspices inferred
that two emperors called by the same name would spring from his
house, but would not reign for long4. At Interamna the cenotaphs
of the emperor Tacitus and his brother Florianus were surmounted
by two marble portraits thirty feet in height. These statues were
shivered and scattered by lightning. Thereupon the haruspices pre-
dicted that a thousand years later a member of the imperial house
should conquer the whole of the known world and, after resigning
supreme power to the senate, die at the age of a hundred and
twenty without leaving an heir behind him5.
Thus the Zeus-sign retained its significance, good as well as bad,
throughout the classical period of Greece and Rome. Julian,
writing to Libanios, can still say: 'From Litarba I went to
Berroia, and Zeus showed nothing but propitious signs, exhibiting
his Diosemia for all to behold. There I stopped for a day, saw the
akropolis, and sacrificed a white bull to Zeus in kingly fashion6.'
In dealing with Zeus as god of the weather it will be convenient
to consider separately the evidence that connects him with lightning,
thunder, earthquakes, clouds, wind, dew, and rain.
1 Liv. 42. 20. 2 Suet. Aug. 97, Dion Cass. 56. 29.
8 Iul. Capit. v. Ant. pii 3. 5.
4 Iul. Capit. v. Alaximiii. duor. 30. 2 (v. Maximin. iun. 4. 2).
5 Flav. Vopisc. v. Tacit. 15. 1—5 {v. Florian. 2. 1—5).
6 Ioul. epist. 27 Heyler airo tCjv Airapfiiov els ttjv Beppoiav iiropevb)j.riv, Kal 6 Zeus a'iaia
■wavra ea-fjixrivev, ivapyrj deltas Trp> Aio<n]/j.iai> (Sioari/xelai> cod. H corr., followed by Heyler
who cp. Ioul. or. 7 p. 212 B dioarj/xeLuv). iirifidvas 5e rj/j.epav eVel, rrjv aupbiroKiv elSov, Kal
edvaa Ad j3a<ri\iKws ravpov \evK6v.
public service of humiliation and prayer, and the sacrifice of larger
victims both on the Capitol and on the promontory of Minerva in
Campania ; they further directed that games lasting ten days be
celebrated as soon as possible for Iupiter Optimns Maximus. But
the haruspices declared that the presage was a happy one, portending
increase of territory and destruction of enemies1. Shortly before
the death of Augustus, his statue on the Capitol was struck by
lightning, and the word Caesar on its base lost the initial C. The
seers concluded that he would live but C, i.e. a hundred, days longer
and then become an aesar, i.e. the Etruscan term for a god2. One
of the omens that marked out Antoninus Pius for the throne was
the following: 'a thunderbolt fell from a clear sky on his house and
did no damage3.' Another omen of more doubtful character heralded
the rise of the elder Maximinus : his lance was split by a thunder-
bolt, which bisected even the iron blade. The haruspices inferred
that two emperors called by the same name would spring from his
house, but would not reign for long4. At Interamna the cenotaphs
of the emperor Tacitus and his brother Florianus were surmounted
by two marble portraits thirty feet in height. These statues were
shivered and scattered by lightning. Thereupon the haruspices pre-
dicted that a thousand years later a member of the imperial house
should conquer the whole of the known world and, after resigning
supreme power to the senate, die at the age of a hundred and
twenty without leaving an heir behind him5.
Thus the Zeus-sign retained its significance, good as well as bad,
throughout the classical period of Greece and Rome. Julian,
writing to Libanios, can still say: 'From Litarba I went to
Berroia, and Zeus showed nothing but propitious signs, exhibiting
his Diosemia for all to behold. There I stopped for a day, saw the
akropolis, and sacrificed a white bull to Zeus in kingly fashion6.'
In dealing with Zeus as god of the weather it will be convenient
to consider separately the evidence that connects him with lightning,
thunder, earthquakes, clouds, wind, dew, and rain.
1 Liv. 42. 20. 2 Suet. Aug. 97, Dion Cass. 56. 29.
8 Iul. Capit. v. Ant. pii 3. 5.
4 Iul. Capit. v. Alaximiii. duor. 30. 2 (v. Maximin. iun. 4. 2).
5 Flav. Vopisc. v. Tacit. 15. 1—5 {v. Florian. 2. 1—5).
6 Ioul. epist. 27 Heyler airo tCjv Airapfiiov els ttjv Beppoiav iiropevb)j.riv, Kal 6 Zeus a'iaia
■wavra ea-fjixrivev, ivapyrj deltas Trp> Aio<n]/j.iai> (Sioari/xelai> cod. H corr., followed by Heyler
who cp. Ioul. or. 7 p. 212 B dioarj/xeLuv). iirifidvas 5e rj/j.epav eVel, rrjv aupbiroKiv elSov, Kal
edvaa Ad j3a<ri\iKws ravpov \evK6v.