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)

120

The Pillar of Light

The lines may be paraphrased : I have escaped from the dreary
cycle of life's changes1; I have set foot on the Milky Way2. In a
word, I have regained my lost paradise, and am henceforward a god
in heaven, not a man on earth. The astonishing beauty of this pro-
fession must not, however, blind us to its crude material aspect.
Such formulae presuppose a definite ritual3; and it may be asked

reads like a careless repetition of the verse i/xeprov 5' eirefiav k.t.X.; and such it pre-
sumably is, though the verb may have been changed to suggest that the soul now returning
to the Milky Way had originally come from it.

1 For this use of kijkXos cp. Diog. Laert. 8. 14 irpCoTov re <pa<n tovtov (sc. Pythagoras)
dirocprjvai. tt)v ipvxty kvkXov dvdyKrjs dp.ei(3ovo~av &XXot' aXXots evbelodai fcpots, Emped.
frag- 17, 12 f. Diels2 rj be StaXXatrtrocra biapurepes ovda/ma Xyyei, | ravrrj 6" aiev 'iaaiv
clkivtjtol Kara kvkXov, Orph. frag. 223, 1 f. Abel ap. Prokl. in Plat, rernp. ii. 339, 1 ff.
Kroll ovv€k' d/j.ei/30/uLevr] xf/vxy Kara ra/cXa xPovoio (so Herwerden for xpovoitri) | dvOpwiruv
faoiai fj.€t^pxeraL dXXodev aXXots, Orph. frag. 22-, Abel ap. Olympiod. in Plat. Phaed.
p. 131,9 ff. Norvin 6Vt iraXaibs 6 Xbyos, '()p<pLKos re yap rat NvOaybpeios, 6 irdXiv dywv rds
ipvxds eis to criSjua /cat TrdXiv dirb tov ffw/maTOS dvdyojv rat tovto kvkXui iroXXaKLS (see also
Norvin's Index p. 263 s.v. kvkXos), Orph. frag. 226 Abel ap. Prokl. in Plat. Tim. iii.
296, 7 ff. and 297, 6 ff. Diehl fda auTijpia ttjs ipvxv^ o-vttj irapd tov biipuovpyov irpoTeiveTai
tov kvkXov ttjs yeviaews diraXXaTTovaa rat ttjs iroXXr/s irXdvrjs /cat ttjs dvrivvTov %urt\s, 1) irpbs
rd voepbv eloos ttjs ipi'xys dvabpo/ii) /cat tj <pvyi) irdvTUV tC)v e/c ttjs yeveaews rpuuv irpoffirecpv-
kotlov ■... irdcrav be tt)v \f/vxi)v sis tt)v evbai/J.ova ■wepidyovaa ftoTjp airb ttjs ?rept tijv yeveaiv
irXdvrjs, rjs rat ot 7rap' 'Op0et tu Aiovuo~ip rat ttj KopTj TeXovfxevoL Tvxew evxovTai, " kvkXov t
dv Xij^aL rat dvawvevaai kclkot^tos." k.t.X., Simplic. in Aristot. de caelo p. 377, 12 ff. Heiberg
evbeOrjvai be virb tov to rar' dt'iav irdaiv d(popi^ovTOS bij/XLOvpyov deov ev Ttp ttjs eip.app.evTjs
T€ /cat yeveaews Tpox^p, ovirep dbvvarov diraXXayTjvaL raTa tov 'Opipea ptTj tovs deovs
€Keivovs iXeucra/xevov, " ots iirira^ev" 6 Zeus " kvkXov r' dXXvaai (dXXrj^ai cod. A.) rat dvaxf/v^at
(a/xi/'Ofat cod. A.) kclkottjtos " Tas avdpuirtvas ipvxds, Porph. ap. Stob. eel. I. 49. 60 p. 446,
11 ff. Wachsmuth 0/u.Tjpos be ttjv ev kvkXoj irepLobov rat irept<popdv waXiyyevecrias KipKrjv
Trpoo"t]ybpevKev.

- The use of the word arecpavos to denote the Galaxy resembles Parmenides' use of
o-Te<pdvTj (Aet. 2. 7. 1 ap. Stob. eel. 1. 22. ia p. 195, 4ff. Wachsmuth: see O. Gilbert Die
tneteorologischen Theorien des griechischen Altertums Leipzig 1907 pp. 9611. i, 102 n. i,
103 n. 1, and 684 n. 3). A. Dieterich de hymnis Orphicis Marpurgi Cattorum 189c
p. 34 f. ( = Kleine Schriften Leipzig and Berlin 1911 p. 95) goes off on a wrong tack.
Miss J. E. Harrison in her Proleg. Gk. Rel? p. 592 f. gets nearer to the truth.

3 This is seen by Miss J. E. Harrison Proleg. Gk. RelP- p. 588 ff.. who—perhaps
wisely—refrains from attempting to determine the precise nature of the rites involved.
J. H. Wieten op. cit. p. 97 ff. is more venturesome. On the strength (none too strong) of
Psell. t'ivo. ire pi 5aip.6vwv do%a£ovaw "EXXyves; (printed in Psell. de operatione daemonum
ed. J. F. Boissonade Norimbergae 1838 p. 36 ff.) p. 41 f. Tri/pd be iroXXd kijkX<£ nvl
irept.ypa.<povTes e^aXXovrat ttjs (pXoybs. t)v be Kai tovto ttjs 7raXatas /3a/cxet'as, tVa jitTj Xeyco
pLavlas, p.epis...b be ye kvkXos KaToxrjs ^x€L Svvapuv (quoted by Miss Harrison) and of Dion
Chrys. or. 12 p. 388 Reiske eVt be, el (sc. irepixopevoiev olvtov) KaOdirep elibdacnv ev tu
KaXov/JLevu dpovio-fj.w KadiaavTes tovs ixvovfxevovs ot TeXoOfTes kvkXui irepi.xopeveiv he suggests
that the initiate at Thourioi was placed in a circle of fires or surrounded by torch-bearing
dancers and expected to leap over the fiery ring. He further contends (id. p. 100 ff.) that,
having leapt out of the ring, the initiate next stepped quickly into a garland lying on the
ground. Hence the golden garlands in the Bacchic procession of Ptolemy ii Philadelphos
(Kallixenos of Rhodes frag. 2 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 64 Muller) ap. Athen. 202 d) : and
hence too the Pythagorean symbol 41 Mullach o-T^cpavov /xtj tLXXciv (Porph. v. Pyth. 42).
But the part of Ptolemy's show here adduced was subsequent to the Bacchic procession