DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0492
422 The supports of the Sky personified
showing Ortkia might be rendered ' Goddess of Growth1' and
Virbuis, ' He who is concerned with Growth' or the like2.
vi. Zeus and the Twins.
Thus far we have traced the fortunes of the divine Sky, which
was represented, not only as a celestial archway, but also—-since it
was bright by day and dark by night—as a double-faced god3 with
a tendency to differentiation of the two faces4. It remains to notice
yet another development of the same primitive conception. To
put it briefly, the twofold Sky split into twins. The phrase sounds
extravagant. Fissiparism savours more of biology than of mytho-
logy5. Nevertheless we can mark the process by which the very
vault of heaven first produced a pair of pendant divinities and
afterwards underwent complete dichotomy.
(a) The supports of the Sky personified.
The initial step is taken when the supports of the Sky become
personified" as its supporters, the result being a couple of contrasted
sky-powers. The pillars of Herakles at one end of the Mediter-
ranean7, formerly called the pillars of Briareos8 and earlier still the
pillars of Kronos9, together with the analogous pillars of Proteus at
the other end10, those of Herakles in Pontos11 or far beyond Babylon12,
1 The alternative form 'Opduaia (Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. pp. 161 n. 12, 1284 n. 3,
O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1210ft"., 1214 f.) is definitely transitive in meaning
and would denote ' She who makes to grow.' Cp. Zeus 'Qpdilxrios (Dion. Hal. ant. Rom.
2. 50 'Opftcoaiq) Au'=Iovi Statori, Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 265 no. 73 (Aios) opdwcriov,
ib. i. 266 no. 65 (Aios) opdtocriov) with Cramer anecd. Oxon. i. 58, 15 opddoaw 'Qpduxxios,
Arkad. de accent, p. 41, 121". Barker opdwao/j-ai, opdwcrios.
2 See, however, another possible explanation given supra p. 395 n. 2 fin.
3 Supra p. 378. 4 Supra p. 387 ff.
5 Something of a parallel is provided by the Orphic theogonies, in which the primal
egg splits into Ouranos and Ge {infra Append. G).
6 Cp. supra p. 57 n. 1.
7 Greek references are collected by Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. vii. 752 A—C, W. Pape—
G. E. Benseler Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennamenz Braunschweig 1S75 i. 469;
Latin references, by De Vit Onomasticon i. 21, ii. 76, 3S6, iii. 349, Thes. Ling. Lat. iii.
1741, 22 ff. Tac. Germ. 34 locates the pillars on the German coast.
8 Aristot. frag. dub. 628 Rose ap. Ail. var. hist. 5. 3, Hesych. s.v. BpLapeco aTrjXai.
Cp. the hexameter line quoted by schol. Pind. Nem. 3. 40 with E. Abel's note ad loc.
9 Euphorion and Charax frag. 16 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 640 Muller) ap. schol. Dionys.
per. 64 and Eustath. ad loc.
10 Verg. Aeti. 11. 262 f. with Serv. ad loc.
11 Serv. in Verg. Aen. n. 262.
12 Iul. Valer. 3. 49 p. 157, 14 ff. Kuebler (two inscribed stelae of solid gold and silver
respectively, fifteen cubits high, two cubits thick, at a distance of ninety-five days' journey
from Babylon), cp. the itinerarium Alexandri 54 (ed. D. Volkmann, Naumburg 1871,
p. 29, 3 ff.) (two inscribed stelae of solid gold and silver respectively, twelve cubits high,
two cubits thick, at a distance of ninety days' journey from Babylon).
showing Ortkia might be rendered ' Goddess of Growth1' and
Virbuis, ' He who is concerned with Growth' or the like2.
vi. Zeus and the Twins.
Thus far we have traced the fortunes of the divine Sky, which
was represented, not only as a celestial archway, but also—-since it
was bright by day and dark by night—as a double-faced god3 with
a tendency to differentiation of the two faces4. It remains to notice
yet another development of the same primitive conception. To
put it briefly, the twofold Sky split into twins. The phrase sounds
extravagant. Fissiparism savours more of biology than of mytho-
logy5. Nevertheless we can mark the process by which the very
vault of heaven first produced a pair of pendant divinities and
afterwards underwent complete dichotomy.
(a) The supports of the Sky personified.
The initial step is taken when the supports of the Sky become
personified" as its supporters, the result being a couple of contrasted
sky-powers. The pillars of Herakles at one end of the Mediter-
ranean7, formerly called the pillars of Briareos8 and earlier still the
pillars of Kronos9, together with the analogous pillars of Proteus at
the other end10, those of Herakles in Pontos11 or far beyond Babylon12,
1 The alternative form 'Opduaia (Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. pp. 161 n. 12, 1284 n. 3,
O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1210ft"., 1214 f.) is definitely transitive in meaning
and would denote ' She who makes to grow.' Cp. Zeus 'Qpdilxrios (Dion. Hal. ant. Rom.
2. 50 'Opftcoaiq) Au'=Iovi Statori, Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 265 no. 73 (Aios) opdwcriov,
ib. i. 266 no. 65 (Aios) opdtocriov) with Cramer anecd. Oxon. i. 58, 15 opddoaw 'Qpduxxios,
Arkad. de accent, p. 41, 121". Barker opdwao/j-ai, opdwcrios.
2 See, however, another possible explanation given supra p. 395 n. 2 fin.
3 Supra p. 378. 4 Supra p. 387 ff.
5 Something of a parallel is provided by the Orphic theogonies, in which the primal
egg splits into Ouranos and Ge {infra Append. G).
6 Cp. supra p. 57 n. 1.
7 Greek references are collected by Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. vii. 752 A—C, W. Pape—
G. E. Benseler Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennamenz Braunschweig 1S75 i. 469;
Latin references, by De Vit Onomasticon i. 21, ii. 76, 3S6, iii. 349, Thes. Ling. Lat. iii.
1741, 22 ff. Tac. Germ. 34 locates the pillars on the German coast.
8 Aristot. frag. dub. 628 Rose ap. Ail. var. hist. 5. 3, Hesych. s.v. BpLapeco aTrjXai.
Cp. the hexameter line quoted by schol. Pind. Nem. 3. 40 with E. Abel's note ad loc.
9 Euphorion and Charax frag. 16 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 640 Muller) ap. schol. Dionys.
per. 64 and Eustath. ad loc.
10 Verg. Aeti. 11. 262 f. with Serv. ad loc.
11 Serv. in Verg. Aen. n. 262.
12 Iul. Valer. 3. 49 p. 157, 14 ff. Kuebler (two inscribed stelae of solid gold and silver
respectively, fifteen cubits high, two cubits thick, at a distance of ninety-five days' journey
from Babylon), cp. the itinerarium Alexandri 54 (ed. D. Volkmann, Naumburg 1871,
p. 29, 3 ff.) (two inscribed stelae of solid gold and silver respectively, twelve cubits high,
two cubits thick, at a distance of ninety days' journey from Babylon).