DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0280
Caldron of Apotheosis
219
Other writers confirm this account and enable us to trace it back
for more than four hundred years. Thus Tzetzes, the learned com-
mentator on Lykophron's Alexandra, says :
' Uionysos too was honoured at Delphoi along with Apollon in the following
way. The Titans, having rent the limbs of Dionysos, gave them to Apollon his
brother, after dropping them into a caldron; and Apollon put them away beside
the tripod, as is stated by Kallimachos and by Euphorion in the words—
They dropped Bakchos the divine above the bowl on the fire1.'
These passages prove, to my thinking, that the Thraco-Phrygian
myth of Dionysos had taken root at Delphoi at least as early as the
third century B.C., and that the caldron of apotheosis, an essential
feature of the myth, was then identified with the tripod of Apollon
himself. If Aischylos two centuries earlier can make his Pythia
say ' Bromios too possesses the place'2,' it will hardly be maintained
that we have here to do with a late and valueless tradition. The
burden of proof rests with those who contend that the Thraco-
Phrygian myth reached Delphoi later than the Thraco-Phrygian
god. Be that as it may, the tomb of Dionysos at Delphoi, like the
tomb of Zeus in Crete3, continued to be an object of interest till
Byzantine times4. Tatian indeed (c. 152 A.D.) confuses it with the
25 f.) ol be TiTaves, oi xai biaawdaavTes avTov, Xe^rjTa Tiva rp'nroOi ewiOevTes xai tov
Aiovvcrov e/j-fiaXovTes ra p^eXrj, Kadr]\povv wpdrepov 'iireiTa dfteXicMois wepi.Treipa.vTes (dp.irei-
pavres Euseb. H. after //. 2. 426) " Inreipexov 'H0cu'a"roio." Zei)s 5^ vcrrepov eirKpaveis—el
debs y,v, T&xa ttov rrjs xvicrris tQ>v birTu)p.evwv Kpe&v /xera\a/3a>i', r)s drj to " ye"pas Xaxelv "
b/xoXoyovcnv v/jlusv oi deoL—KepavvQ) roi)s TtraVas cu'/a'£era' KaL Ta P-eXiq tov Aiovvaov 'AirbXXuvi
Tip Traidi TTapaKaTaTideTai Ka.Tadd\pat. b be1, ov yap rjireidriae Ad, eh rbv Ilapvaaabv <pepwv
KaTdTtdeTai bieawafffxevov tov veKpbv.
1 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 208 ert/^aro 8e xai Acbvvcros ev AeXtpols auv 'AirbXXwvi ovTuai' oi
TiT&ves to, Aiovvaov pieXrj cnrapd^avTes 'AwoXXuvi dbeX(pip ovti avTov irapidevTO epfiaXbvTes
\e^y)TL, 0 be wapd Tip Tpiwobi dweOero uis (prjcri KaXXipiaxos {frag. 374 Schneider) xal
YiiKpopLuv {frag. 15 Meineke) Xeyuv "ev wvpi Bdxxov blov inrep <pidXi]v eftaXovTo" (ev 72.
eu b. fiaxxois or (3dxxas b. (3dx 7 2. Slav 7 2. btov b. i(3d\\ovTo b. 7 r. eppaXXovres 7 2.
C. A. Lobeck cj. ep, irvpi Ba/c%ea blov inrep (piaXiqs ej3d\ovTo. A. Meineke Analecta Alex-
andria Berolini 1843 p. 49 f. would read ev irvpi Bdxxov blov inrep (pidXris ej3dXovTo.
E. Scheer prints dv irvpi Bdxxav biav virep (pidX-qv e(3dXovTo sic). Cp. et. mag. p. 255, 13 ff.
Ae\0ot'...on Ta Aiovvcrov p.fkiq ffwapd^avres oi Tirades Tip 'AwbXXuvi wapidevTo ep.(3aX6vTts
\e(Br]Tf b de wapd Tip Tpiwobi dwedeTO wapd Tip dbeXipip (oi be wapd tu Tpiwobi cod. V.
omitting the last four words, which appear to be a note on t<2 'AwbXXwvi containing a
would-be etymology of AeXipoi).
2 Aisch. Eum. 24 Bpbpiios (sic cod. M. 5' £%ei codd. G. V. Fl. F.) tov x&pov, k.t.\.
3 Supra i. 157 ff4, 645 f., 663.
4 Plout. de Is. et Os. 35 xai AeXcpoi Ta tov Aiovvcrov \ei\pava 7rap' aureus (leg. avTOis)
wapd to xPrla"rVPl-ov dwoxeladai vopi^ovcri- k.t.\., Tatian. or. adv. Graec. 8 p. 9, 15 ff-
Schwartz iv Tip Tepevei tov Ar\Td'ibov KaXeiTai tis opupaXbs' b b' bp.<paXbs rdipos eariv
Aiovvaov (E. Schwartz cj. Aiovvaov Tatpos iariv), Euseb. chron. ann. Abr. ji? versio
Armenia (ii. 42 and 44 Schoene) secundum quosdam Dionisii gesta, et eiusdem apud
Indos res ; atque Licurgi, et Actaei et Penthei, necnon quomodo (et) a quo stans in
219
Other writers confirm this account and enable us to trace it back
for more than four hundred years. Thus Tzetzes, the learned com-
mentator on Lykophron's Alexandra, says :
' Uionysos too was honoured at Delphoi along with Apollon in the following
way. The Titans, having rent the limbs of Dionysos, gave them to Apollon his
brother, after dropping them into a caldron; and Apollon put them away beside
the tripod, as is stated by Kallimachos and by Euphorion in the words—
They dropped Bakchos the divine above the bowl on the fire1.'
These passages prove, to my thinking, that the Thraco-Phrygian
myth of Dionysos had taken root at Delphoi at least as early as the
third century B.C., and that the caldron of apotheosis, an essential
feature of the myth, was then identified with the tripod of Apollon
himself. If Aischylos two centuries earlier can make his Pythia
say ' Bromios too possesses the place'2,' it will hardly be maintained
that we have here to do with a late and valueless tradition. The
burden of proof rests with those who contend that the Thraco-
Phrygian myth reached Delphoi later than the Thraco-Phrygian
god. Be that as it may, the tomb of Dionysos at Delphoi, like the
tomb of Zeus in Crete3, continued to be an object of interest till
Byzantine times4. Tatian indeed (c. 152 A.D.) confuses it with the
25 f.) ol be TiTaves, oi xai biaawdaavTes avTov, Xe^rjTa Tiva rp'nroOi ewiOevTes xai tov
Aiovvcrov e/j-fiaXovTes ra p^eXrj, Kadr]\povv wpdrepov 'iireiTa dfteXicMois wepi.Treipa.vTes (dp.irei-
pavres Euseb. H. after //. 2. 426) " Inreipexov 'H0cu'a"roio." Zei)s 5^ vcrrepov eirKpaveis—el
debs y,v, T&xa ttov rrjs xvicrris tQ>v birTu)p.evwv Kpe&v /xera\a/3a>i', r)s drj to " ye"pas Xaxelv "
b/xoXoyovcnv v/jlusv oi deoL—KepavvQ) roi)s TtraVas cu'/a'£era' KaL Ta P-eXiq tov Aiovvaov 'AirbXXuvi
Tip Traidi TTapaKaTaTideTai Ka.Tadd\pat. b be1, ov yap rjireidriae Ad, eh rbv Ilapvaaabv <pepwv
KaTdTtdeTai bieawafffxevov tov veKpbv.
1 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 208 ert/^aro 8e xai Acbvvcros ev AeXtpols auv 'AirbXXwvi ovTuai' oi
TiT&ves to, Aiovvaov pieXrj cnrapd^avTes 'AwoXXuvi dbeX(pip ovti avTov irapidevTO epfiaXbvTes
\e^y)TL, 0 be wapd Tip Tpiwobi dweOero uis (prjcri KaXXipiaxos {frag. 374 Schneider) xal
YiiKpopLuv {frag. 15 Meineke) Xeyuv "ev wvpi Bdxxov blov inrep <pidXi]v eftaXovTo" (ev 72.
eu b. fiaxxois or (3dxxas b. (3dx 7 2. Slav 7 2. btov b. i(3d\\ovTo b. 7 r. eppaXXovres 7 2.
C. A. Lobeck cj. ep, irvpi Ba/c%ea blov inrep (piaXiqs ej3d\ovTo. A. Meineke Analecta Alex-
andria Berolini 1843 p. 49 f. would read ev irvpi Bdxxov blov inrep (pidXris ej3dXovTo.
E. Scheer prints dv irvpi Bdxxav biav virep (pidX-qv e(3dXovTo sic). Cp. et. mag. p. 255, 13 ff.
Ae\0ot'...on Ta Aiovvcrov p.fkiq ffwapd^avres oi Tirades Tip 'AwbXXuvi wapidevTo ep.(3aX6vTts
\e(Br]Tf b de wapd Tip Tpiwobi dwedeTO wapd Tip dbeXipip (oi be wapd tu Tpiwobi cod. V.
omitting the last four words, which appear to be a note on t<2 'AwbXXwvi containing a
would-be etymology of AeXipoi).
2 Aisch. Eum. 24 Bpbpiios (sic cod. M. 5' £%ei codd. G. V. Fl. F.) tov x&pov, k.t.\.
3 Supra i. 157 ff4, 645 f., 663.
4 Plout. de Is. et Os. 35 xai AeXcpoi Ta tov Aiovvcrov \ei\pava 7rap' aureus (leg. avTOis)
wapd to xPrla"rVPl-ov dwoxeladai vopi^ovcri- k.t.\., Tatian. or. adv. Graec. 8 p. 9, 15 ff-
Schwartz iv Tip Tepevei tov Ar\Td'ibov KaXeiTai tis opupaXbs' b b' bp.<paXbs rdipos eariv
Aiovvaov (E. Schwartz cj. Aiovvaov Tatpos iariv), Euseb. chron. ann. Abr. ji? versio
Armenia (ii. 42 and 44 Schoene) secundum quosdam Dionisii gesta, et eiusdem apud
Indos res ; atque Licurgi, et Actaei et Penthei, necnon quomodo (et) a quo stans in