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)

i68

Omphalos and Pillar

have been worshipped in aniconic form at the mother-town Megara1.
Drexler may be right or wrong'2; but in any case the Byzantine
pillar is of interest, because it exhibits the omphalos, earth's centre,
in combination with the Agyicus, heaven's prop3.

1 Paus. I. 44. 2 eari 8e ev tc3 yv/xvacrLu) rep dpxa'V irKriaiov tvv\Qv kclXov/jJvwv 7Zv/j.<pd5wv
Xidos 7rapexo/j.evos irvpapidos csyj]p.o. ov /j.eyd\rjs' tovtov (tovto codd., tovtov corr. M.
Muslims) 'AnoWwva ovop.dfavffi \\apivov, /ecu ~Ei\eidviwv eariv ivravda lepov. It is com-
monly supposed that this monument is represented on the coins of Megara (supra p. 162
fig. 108), though the small pyramid of Pausanias hardly squares with the Agyieiis-^iWax on
the coins (Overheck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon p. 4 f.). The epithet Kapiv6s is probably
related to Kdp, son of Phoroneus and first king of Megara (Paus. r. 39. 5, 1. 44. 6), after
whom the Akropolis of Megara was called Kapia (Paus. 1. 40. 6, Steph. Byz. s.v. Kapia):
K. Schwenck in the Rhein. A/us. 1838 vi. 575 and Gerhard Gr. My/k.p. 316 rashly regarded
Kapicos as a by-form of Kdpveios.

2 J. N. Svoronos in the 'Ec/>. 'Apx- 1889 p. 92 takes the obelisk on the Byzantine coins
to be one of the bronze kampteres of the hippodrome with a half-egg on top, citing Hesych.
Miles, frag- 4- 37 (Frag. Just. Gr. iv. 153 Muller) evtia /ecu vvy oi Kap.TTT7jpes drfKovffi rd
tQiv i(p6pcov (sc. rwv AiotTKOvpwv) yvupia/jLara 5ict tQv eiriKeip.ei'Uiv q>wv rois xaX^ois 6/3e\t-
o"/cou, Kodinos de signis Constantinopolitanis 30 A (p. 54 Bekker) Kai twu KapnrTrjpbiv oi
\idivoL KLova /ecu oi xaX/co? ofieXiaKOL roiv KaixirT-fipwv. But the top of the obelisk is much
more like an Agyiei'ts-f\mo\ than a half-egg, and the base is beyond all doubt an omphalos.

:s Less conclusive are the following : (1) Certain autonomous coppers of Kyrene, struck
between 323 and 305 B.C., have obv. head of Zeus Amnion, rev. an omphalos (?) topped by
a pillar, on which rests a vase (L. Muller Numismatiqite de Vancienne Afriqite Copenhague
i860 i. 54, 72 f. no. 234 fig. (=my fig. 114) and no. 235, Babelon Monti, gr. rom. ii. 3.
1095 f. pi. 267, 16 f.). A. Duchalais in the Rev. Num. 1850 pi. 16, 7 ( = my fig. 115).
ib. 1851 pp. 89—95, was the first to recognise the tomb of Battos. His view was accepted
by L. Muller locc. citt. and, more doubtfully, by E. Babelon loc. cit.

Fig. 116.

(2) A copper of Deultum in Thrace, issued by Gordianus iii (238-244 A.D.), has obv.
GORDIANVS IMP AVG bust of emperor, laureate, to left, with spear etc., rev. C F P D
(Colonia Flavia Pacensis Deullum) an omphalos (?), with a railing (?) in front of it, topped
by a short pillar or knob. I figure a specimen from my collection, formerly in that of
Prince Chakow ( Versteigerung in Wien am y.Janner 1908 Briider Egger (Collection de
Mr. le Prince Ch.) p. 20 no. 299 pi. 9 ' Cultbild der Artemis (?)'). Cp. J. Eckhel
Catalogus Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis numorum veterum Vindobonae 1779 i- 68

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