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)

17 B The Delphic Omphalos

who are known to have been deeply interested in Delphoi1,
the ' axle,' the ' tower of Zan,' and ' Apollon' were all synonymous
descriptions of the monad2; and an Orphic fragment uses 'Agyieus'
with the same signification3. Further, Apollon's 'lofty pillar' was
flanked by his ' pure doorposts4.' That is to say, we have once
more5 the association of the sacred tree or pillar with a doorway,
which we have already taken to denote the sky resting on its side-
supports6. If this be so, we are at last in a position to solve the old
problem of the Delphic m. It was simply a graphic expression for
the sky upborne by its central and lateral pillars7.

The likeness of the Delphic Agyieus, thus reconstituted, to the
Germanic Inuinsul is sufficiently striking. It becomes even more
so, when we note that the Irminsul described by Widukind8 was
erected at the gateway of the town with a pillar on either side of it

1 Iambi, v. Pyth. 82 t'l eari to ev Ae\<pois p-avreiov; rerpaKrvs ■ 07rep earlv rj app.ovla,
ev 17 ai ~2,eiprjves (II. Diels Die Fragniente der Vorsokratiker^ Berlin 1912 i. 358 n.
explains that the Sirens produced the music of the spheres, and A. Delatte op. cit.
p. 259 ft", adds that this harmony was the supreme revelation vouchsafed to men by Pytha-
goras as Apollon incarnate: see, however, supra i. 258 ff.), cp. Nikomachos of Gerasa
(? = Iambi, ffvvaycoyi] t&v TLvdayopeiwv boyp-driov 7: G. Mau in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. ix. 647, W. Kroll ib. ix. 650) ap. Phot. bibl. p. 144 a 16 Bekker who speaks of the
rerpds as app-ovira {sic) rj dppovia. Again, the Pythagoreans had their own name for the
tripod (Ilesych. rpio^' bvirb tGjv TLv8ayopiKu>v ev Ae\<po?s TpLwovs) and perhaps their own
interpretation of the mystic E {supra p. 177 n. o).

2 Nikomachos of Gerasa ap. Phot. bibl. p. 143 a 31 ff. Bekker d^wv re ecrriv {sc. 17
povds) avrots Kal rjXios Kal irvpdXws, Kal p.op(pu) be Kal Zavbs irvpyos, /cat o~Trepp,aTLTr)s Xoyos,
'AttoWuv re Kal Trpocprjrrjs Kal \6yios. But id. ib. p. 144a 36 ff. describes the irevrds in
somewhat similar terms : ... Kal kvk\lovxos Kal apideos Kal Zavbs wvpyos Kal didvfiala Kal
di^wv edpa'ia (A. Delatte op. cit. p. 154 cj. d^ovebpaia, cp. d^ovriXaros, in the sense 'celle qui
se tient ferme sur l'axe du monde').

3 Orph. frag. 144 Abel ap. Lyd. de mens. 2. 6 p. 22, 21 ff. Wunsch 'Op0ei)s be rbv
eva api.dp.bv Ayvtea KaXei, k.t.X.

4 Supra p. 169.

5 Supra pp. 158 ff. (Italian tree-cults with gateway or arch), 160 {dokana with
central tree or column), 160 f., 166 (Agyietis-pHlaxs before doorways), 161 (pillars of Zeus
Kataibdtes at Tarentum).

6 Supra p. 160.

' Cp. the Egyptian signs |||| and | j | | > which depict the sky resting on or falling

off the four pillars that support it (E. A. Wallis Budge Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hiero-
glyphs London 1899 P- 74' Sir G. Maspero The Dawn of Civilization4' London 1901
p. 17 nn. 1 and 2).

The same conception of the pillared sky found ritual expression in the great festival-
tent erected by Ion at Delphoi (Eur. Ion 1132 ff. 6 be veavias \ <rep,v£>s droixovs 7repi/3oXas
aK7]vojpdTiov j opdoffrdraLs Ibpved'...). That this was an imitation of the sky is clear, not
only from the fact that it was made big enough to hold the entire populace {ib. 1140,
1167 f.), but also from the cosmic decoration of its roof {ib. ii46ff.: see further R. Eisler
Welteiunantel und Himmelszelt JSlunchen 1910 i. 57ff., X56f.).

8 Supra p. 53 f.