DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0412
Zan an older Zeus
345
Again, the famous tomb in Crete was inscribed with an epitaph
which, according to the best attested version, ran :
' Here lies Great Zan, whom men call Zeus*1.'
If the cult of the Cretan Zeus resembled that of Adonis or Tammuz-
and in historical times involved an annual festival, at which the
god was killed and eaten in the form of a bull3, there is point in
the curious variant of his epitaph :
' Here lies a Great Ox, whom men call Zeus4.'
The votaries of the Cretan Zeus actually ate of the Great Ox as
part of their mystic rites. When, therefore, the watchman in the
Agamemnon exclaims—
' For the rest I'm silent : a Great Ox hath come
Upon my tongue5,'
he was, I take it, simply repeating a formula* of the Cretan mysteries
that had passed into a proverb for sworn secrecy.
1 Anth. Pal. 7. 746 Pythagoras (supra p. 341 n. 6 s.v. Zdv) =Kyrill. Al. c. Lilian.
10. 342 (lxxvi. 1028 Migne) u8e /j.eyas Keirai 7idv (leg. Zdv) 8v At'a KiKk-qaKovaiv.
2 Supra i. 645 f. :! Supra i. 651 ff., 659 ff., 675, cp. i. 468 n. 8.
4 'Qoe jaeyas Keirai /3o0s, 8v At'a KiK\rjcn<ov<ji (supra p. 341 n. 6 s.v. Zdv).
:< Aisch. Ag. 36 f. rd 8' dXXa crtyiS- /3o0s eVt yXwaay /xeyas \ (3e(3rjKev. The current
explanations are, as every scholar knows, unsatisfactory. See A. Sidgwick, A. W. Verrall,
F. H. M. Blaydes, W. Headlam, etc. ad loc. Cp. Menand. dXtets frag. 1 (Frag. com. Gr.
iv. 74 Xleineke) ap. Athen. 549 c 7ra%i)s yap us ?/cetr' eiri <jro,ua.
e I seize this opportunity of attempting to explain another mystic formula, which has
come down to us in two versions :
(1) Firm. Mat. 18. 1 habent enim propria signa, propria responsa, quae illis in istorum
sacrilegiorum coetibus diaboli tradidit disciplina. in quodam templo. ut in interioribus
partibus homo moriturus (A. Dieterich Eine Mithrasliturgie- Leipzig—Berlin 1910 p. 103 :
' der in sakramentalem Sinne sterben soil.' C. A. Lobeck cj. oraturus. C. Bursian,
followed by C. Halm, cj. introiturus) possit admitti, dicit : ' de tympano manducavi, de
cymbalo bibi, et religionis secreta perdidici,' quod Graeco sermone dicitur : in rvixirdvov
fiefipwKa, £k KVfifUdXov -rreirtoKa, yeyova fxvarTjs "Arrews.
(2) Clem. Al. protr. 1. 15. 3 p. 13, 10 ff. Stahlin rd avix(3o\a rr/s ixvqaews ravrris
(for context see supra i. 392 n. 5)..."f/c Tv/uirduov ecpayov • e/c Kv/j.0d\ov eiriov ' eKepvo-
(poprjtra' iiwd tov iraarov v^^e8vv.,, Cp. schol. Plat. Gorg. 497 c ereXetro 5£ ravra Kal Atjol
teal Kop??, on ravrr/p /lev YI\ovtuv dpird^eie, Atjoi 8e pLiyeir] Zeus' iv ols 7roXX<x /j.Zv £ttpdrrero
attrxpa, eXe-ye-ro 8e irpbs twv pLvovp-evuv ravra " e/c rv/xirdvov tcpayov, £k kv/j./3d\ov eirLov,
£Kepvo(p6p'rj<ra " (nepvos 8£ rd Xlkvov ijyovv to ittvov ecrriv [but see L. Couve in Daremberg—
Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 822 ff.]), " vtto rbv iraurov inreovov " /cat rd e£?}s.
Now the timbrel was made from the stretched hide (supra i. 650 n. 1: add Eur. Hel.
1347, Bacch. 513, Hesych. s.v. Txifxtrava, Phot. lex. s.v. rv/u-iravov, Souid. s.v. rvp-iravov,
et. mag. p. 771, 43 f., Zonar. lex. s.v. rvpLiravov, Favorin. lex. p. 1783, 42 f., et. Gud.
p. 537, 40) of a bull (Ov.fast. 4. 342, Nonn. Dion. 10. 390 f., 14. 351, 20. 307 : cp. the
account of Indian drums in Souid. s.v. rvp-irava), which was probably credited with the
powers of the living animal (in Opp. cyneg. 3. 282 ff. we are told that a rvfj,iravov of wolf's-
skin will silence other rv/nrava, because the dead wolf is feared by the dead sheep !).
Hence I should conjecture that to eat food out of the timbrel was a civilised surrogate for
the earlier practice of eating the bull raw (supra i. 659 ft., 695). The mystic thereby
became one with his god (supra i. 650, 673).
345
Again, the famous tomb in Crete was inscribed with an epitaph
which, according to the best attested version, ran :
' Here lies Great Zan, whom men call Zeus*1.'
If the cult of the Cretan Zeus resembled that of Adonis or Tammuz-
and in historical times involved an annual festival, at which the
god was killed and eaten in the form of a bull3, there is point in
the curious variant of his epitaph :
' Here lies a Great Ox, whom men call Zeus4.'
The votaries of the Cretan Zeus actually ate of the Great Ox as
part of their mystic rites. When, therefore, the watchman in the
Agamemnon exclaims—
' For the rest I'm silent : a Great Ox hath come
Upon my tongue5,'
he was, I take it, simply repeating a formula* of the Cretan mysteries
that had passed into a proverb for sworn secrecy.
1 Anth. Pal. 7. 746 Pythagoras (supra p. 341 n. 6 s.v. Zdv) =Kyrill. Al. c. Lilian.
10. 342 (lxxvi. 1028 Migne) u8e /j.eyas Keirai 7idv (leg. Zdv) 8v At'a KiKk-qaKovaiv.
2 Supra i. 645 f. :! Supra i. 651 ff., 659 ff., 675, cp. i. 468 n. 8.
4 'Qoe jaeyas Keirai /3o0s, 8v At'a KiK\rjcn<ov<ji (supra p. 341 n. 6 s.v. Zdv).
:< Aisch. Ag. 36 f. rd 8' dXXa crtyiS- /3o0s eVt yXwaay /xeyas \ (3e(3rjKev. The current
explanations are, as every scholar knows, unsatisfactory. See A. Sidgwick, A. W. Verrall,
F. H. M. Blaydes, W. Headlam, etc. ad loc. Cp. Menand. dXtets frag. 1 (Frag. com. Gr.
iv. 74 Xleineke) ap. Athen. 549 c 7ra%i)s yap us ?/cetr' eiri <jro,ua.
e I seize this opportunity of attempting to explain another mystic formula, which has
come down to us in two versions :
(1) Firm. Mat. 18. 1 habent enim propria signa, propria responsa, quae illis in istorum
sacrilegiorum coetibus diaboli tradidit disciplina. in quodam templo. ut in interioribus
partibus homo moriturus (A. Dieterich Eine Mithrasliturgie- Leipzig—Berlin 1910 p. 103 :
' der in sakramentalem Sinne sterben soil.' C. A. Lobeck cj. oraturus. C. Bursian,
followed by C. Halm, cj. introiturus) possit admitti, dicit : ' de tympano manducavi, de
cymbalo bibi, et religionis secreta perdidici,' quod Graeco sermone dicitur : in rvixirdvov
fiefipwKa, £k KVfifUdXov -rreirtoKa, yeyova fxvarTjs "Arrews.
(2) Clem. Al. protr. 1. 15. 3 p. 13, 10 ff. Stahlin rd avix(3o\a rr/s ixvqaews ravrris
(for context see supra i. 392 n. 5)..."f/c Tv/uirduov ecpayov • e/c Kv/j.0d\ov eiriov ' eKepvo-
(poprjtra' iiwd tov iraarov v^^e8vv.,, Cp. schol. Plat. Gorg. 497 c ereXetro 5£ ravra Kal Atjol
teal Kop??, on ravrr/p /lev YI\ovtuv dpird^eie, Atjoi 8e pLiyeir] Zeus' iv ols 7roXX<x /j.Zv £ttpdrrero
attrxpa, eXe-ye-ro 8e irpbs twv pLvovp-evuv ravra " e/c rv/xirdvov tcpayov, £k kv/j./3d\ov eirLov,
£Kepvo(p6p'rj<ra " (nepvos 8£ rd Xlkvov ijyovv to ittvov ecrriv [but see L. Couve in Daremberg—
Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 822 ff.]), " vtto rbv iraurov inreovov " /cat rd e£?}s.
Now the timbrel was made from the stretched hide (supra i. 650 n. 1: add Eur. Hel.
1347, Bacch. 513, Hesych. s.v. Txifxtrava, Phot. lex. s.v. rv/u-iravov, Souid. s.v. rvp-iravov,
et. mag. p. 771, 43 f., Zonar. lex. s.v. rvpLiravov, Favorin. lex. p. 1783, 42 f., et. Gud.
p. 537, 40) of a bull (Ov.fast. 4. 342, Nonn. Dion. 10. 390 f., 14. 351, 20. 307 : cp. the
account of Indian drums in Souid. s.v. rvp-irava), which was probably credited with the
powers of the living animal (in Opp. cyneg. 3. 282 ff. we are told that a rvfj,iravov of wolf's-
skin will silence other rv/nrava, because the dead wolf is feared by the dead sheep !).
Hence I should conjecture that to eat food out of the timbrel was a civilised surrogate for
the earlier practice of eating the bull raw (supra i. 659 ft., 695). The mystic thereby
became one with his god (supra i. 650, 673).