Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

The altars of Zeus Kataibdtes

I5

from 421 B.C. onwards1, and is by the universal testimony of the
grammarians and lexicographers the god ' who makes to descend '
the thunderbolts2. This indeed is not quite exact as a rendering of
his title, which should rather be the god 'who descends' himself in
the form of a thunderbolt; but it sufficiently indicates that the
epithet denoted the fall of the lightning-flash from sky to earth.

(a) The altars of Zeus Kataibates.

Zeus Kataibdtes did not often acquire civic importance. But in
Syria, where the cult of the thunderbolt played a large part3, he
rose to the rank of a state-deity. Imperial coppers of Kyrrhos
show Zeus enthroned on a rock4 with thunderbolt and sceptre,
and the legend expressly designates him ' Zeus Kataibdtes of the
Cyrrhestians' (fig. 3)3. Frequentlyan eagle is added at his feet (fig.4)6.

tcepavvQiv oi fxev KarapaTcu k.t.X., and without a second substantive Niket. Chon. de Isaacio
Angelo I p. 471 Rekker a>s KaTaifiaTrj TrXrjyevTes rj (3povTrjs ijxq> e£cu<uas irapaKoirevTes ibv
vovv.. .avefiaWovTO T-qv fiaxv ^ai e^eracraovro pa66p.ws. Cp. the Apolline oracle cited by
Porph. ap. Euseb. praep. ev. 6. 3. 1 (Cougny Anth. Pal. Append. 6. 146. 11 f.) ovde
p.evov<nv I eiaideeLV oaaoiai Karaidaaiov Aids ?7X0S.

1 Aristoph. pax 42 (where with H. Sharpley read Aids aKaTaL(3oTov to point the jest),
Klearchos frag. 9 [Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 306 f. Muller) ap. Athen. 522 D—F, Lyk. A/. 1370,
Orph. h. Zeus 15. 6, Apollod. frag. 34 {Frag. hist. Gr. i. 434 Muller) ap. schol. Soph.
O.C. 705, Cornut. theol. 9 p. 9, 13 Lang, Aristeid. or. 1. 8 (i. 11 Dindorf), Paus. 5. 14. 10,
Poll. 1. 24, 9. 41, Liban. or. 15. 32 (ii. 131, n f. Foerster), Hesych. s.v. Karai^dr^s,
Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 265, 266, 274, 282.

2 Schol. Aristoph. pax 42, Souid. s.v. Karat^dr^s Zeils, et. mag. pp. 341, 7 ff., 494,
41 f.

3 Infra § 3 (c) iv (e).

4 Supra i. 124.

5 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Galatia, etc. p. 133 pi. 17, 4 Trajan AIOCKATAI BATOY
KYPPHCTCON with mint-mark B in exergue, Hunter Cat. Coins iii. 134 Trajan,
Eckhel Doctr. num. vet.- iii. 260 f., Rasche Lex. Num. ii. 1167
M. Aurelius, 1168 Commodus, Overbeck Gr. K2insl?iiyth. Zeus
p. 214 Munztaf. 3, 16.

The cult of Zeus at Kyrrhos is attested also by coppers of
Alexandros i Balas, king of Syria, struck in 148 B.C., which have as
reverse type Zeus standing with uplifted wreath and an owl at his feet
{Brit. Mtis. Cat. Coins Seleucid Kings of Syria p. 56 pi. 16, 1.4, Hunter
Cat. Coins iii. 66, Eckhel Doctr. num. vet.2 iii. 260, Rasche Lex. 2'
Num. ii. 1166, Suppl. ii. 349, Head Hist, mem.2 pp. 766, 777). I figure a sample in the
Leake collection at Cambridge (fig. 2).

6 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Galatia, etc. p. 134 ff. Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius, L. Verus,
Commodus (I illustrate p. 135 no. 20 L. Verus [AI 0CKAT£BAT]OY KY PP HCTHN
with mint-mark A in exergue), Hunter Cat. Coins iii. 134^ Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius,
L. Verus, Commodus, Eckhel Doctr. num. vet.'2 iii. 260 f., Rasche Lex. Num. ii. 1167 f.
Trajan, Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius, L. Verus, Suppl. ii. 350 M. Aurelius, Head Hist,
num.? p. 777.