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)

384 The significance of Ianus' double face

of the divine Sky, or at least stood in such a relation to him that

Fig. 291.

they could borrow his bifrontal type. And in the development of

Saglio III, 2, 1802 bibl. (: gr. opxirj " *desir passionnel" et confusion avec eppaKes) sont
desuetes.'

Id. ib. p. 281 f. distinguishes (1) ep/xa for *fffep/xa, ' prop, post' : (2) 'ipfxa for *fep<jp.a,
' rock ': (3) epfxa for Vepua, ' earring.' Attempts to connect "&pp.rjs with ep/xa have hitherto
operated with epp.a, 'rock' (Preller—Robert Gr. Myth. i. 385 n. 5 ' Grosse Wahrschein-
lichkeit hat die vom Verf. in der ersten Ausgabe [1854] vorgetragene Ableitung von ep/xa,
vgl. AiVetas alvos, A^Yei'as avyq ; wie denn die epfxaia, ipfxaloi \b(poi, eppuxKes, d. h. die
aufgeschutteten Steinhaufen auf Bergen und an den Strassen, die alteste Vergegenwar-
tigung des Hermes waren; vgl. Dio Chryst. or. 78 p. 420 R uxrre [xey&Xa ep/xara adpoi^eadcxL
Xiduv.' K. O. Muller JAmdbuc/i der Archaeologie der Kunst2, Stuttgart 1878 p. 586 n. 1
' Wahrscheinlich ist die Pfeilerbildung des H. so alt wie der Gott selbst, da 'Ep^s deutlich
mit epfxa, ep«a£ zusammenhangt.') ; and it is no doubt possible to assume that this word
developed in Greek a meaning similar to that of its Irish congener farr, ' column, pillar'
(Boisacq op. cit. p. 282). I should, however, prefer to suppose that 'Ep/x?)? is related to
ep.ua, ' prop, post,' and that the earliest Greek effigy of the god was a wooden phallic
pillar [e.g. Furtwangler—Reichhold Gr. Vasenmalerei ii. 292 f. pi. 115), forerunner of the
stone or marble herm {e.g. E. Gerhard ' Ueber Hermenbilder auf griechischen Vasen' in
his Gesammelte akademische Abhandlungen und kleine Schriften Berlin 1868 ii. 126—148
pis. 63—67).

Hermes was, bien entendu, a god of many parts, at once terrestrial and celestial. We
shall see reason to compare him with Zeus Kt?j<x£os (Append. H Jin.), and we shall find
analogous deities represented by phallic herms (Append. L Jin.). It may be added that his
combination of earthly with heavenly powers is well brought out by the description of
him as Slclktopos apyeicpovrris—an old pre-Homeric tag (cp. supra i. 444). On the one hand,
J. B. Bury (in the Beitrdge zur kunde der indogermanischen sprac/ien [892 xviii. 295),
A. Fick (ib. 1894 xx. 179), F. Solmsen (' Ai&Kropos' in the Indogermanische Forscliungen
1894 iii. 90—99), and P". Bechtel (Lexilogus zu Homer Halle a. d. S. 1914 p. 100), all
relate 5ia'-/cropos to Krepas, /crepea, /crepffw (cp. Zonar. lex. s.v. di&Kropos •.. .eirl 5e tov
'EppLou b to. Krepea /cat ra 6v/xara tols TeTeXevrrjKoai kolli^wv = et. mag. p. 268, 18 f. eirl 8e
tov "Eppiov (pad irapa. to ra Krepea (so P. K. Buttmann for to Keap or to to, xicxp codd.)
tQp TeTe\evTT)koto)v Kopifeiv). Fick remarks that Hermes in //. 24. 397 feigns to be the
son of TloXu-KTwp, and that Lyk. Al. 679 uses RVapos as a title of Hermes himself (schol.
and Tzetz. ad loc). Solmsen argues that the root Krep meant ' schenken, geben,' and that
dcd-KTopos had the force of' Spender, Geber,' 5ia- denoting transference as in 8^dj3o\os,