DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0574
Lightning as a flash from an Eye 501
straw1.' But, as K. Wernicke2 points out, 'Artemis Basileia is merely
Herodotos' translation of the Thracian Bendis3; and we have not the
remotest reason to connect Bendis with Apollon. Again, the story
of Kleinis made that Mesopotamian worth}' accompany Apollon and
Artemis to the land of the Hyperboreans4. But, when they got
there, it was Apollon, not Artemis, that received the sacrifice; and,
in any case, a contaminated Hellenistic romance is a source of very
dubious value5. O. Crusius6 would emend Pindar's account of the
Hyperborean 'brute beasts ramping bolt upright (orthiariy1 in such
a way as to make the delighted spectator, not Apollon, but Artemis
OrtJua—a desperate expedient. Crusius urges that Pindar elsewhere
describes how 'Leto's horse-driving daughter' (Artemis) welcomed
Herakles to 'the Istrian land8.' But Pindar wishes us to believe that
Herakles brought thence the wild-olive and, as we have already
seen0, is giving a southern colour to a northern myth. Lastly, it
might be contended that the names of the Hyperborean maidens
Opis and Arge (Hekaerge), or Hyperoche and Laodike, imply the
cult of Artemis. That is probably true, and has been admitted10.
But they imply the cult of Artemis at Delos rather than in the land
of the Hyperboreans.
In short, we have no real ground for supposing that Artemis was
ab initio the twin sister of Apollon. There is more to be said for the
view that he first met her in Asia Minor or the Archipelago,
where she originated as the younger form of the Anatolian mother-
goddess, being related to Leto in much the same way as Persephone
to Demeter11.
(b) Lightning as a flash from an Eye.
W. Schwartz in a noteworthy chapter of his Indogermanischer
Volksglanbe collects a mass of evidence to show that lightning is
1 Hdt. 4. 33 olda Se avrbs tovtolcti tolctl ipotcri rode Troieu/xevov irpoffcpepes, ras Bp^uias
Kal ras llatovlSas yvvaiKas, eireav 6uio<tl rrj 'Apre/uuSi rrj BaciXetT;, oilK avev irvpCjv KaXdfArjs
ixovaas ra ipa.
- Iv. Wernicke in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 1370, 1381 : so also G. Knaack ib.
iii. 270.
3 Hesych. s.v. Bevbls- 77 "Aprefj,is, QpaKiarL, Palaiph. 31 (32) tt\v "Apre/xiv 9p£/ce? fxev
Hevdiv, k.t.X., schol. Plat. rep. 317 A tovtwv oe Kal QpaKes eKOLvwvow, dird Kal BeVSts Trap'
avToh 7)"Apre/j.is raXetVcu, k.t.X. Cp. Hesych. s.v. BovafiaToV rnqv "Aprep.iv. Qpaxes.
4 Supra p. 463 n. 1.
5 The same, or worse, must be said of Artemis' journey from the Hyperboreans as
sketched by Diodoros after Dionysios Skytobrachion {supra i. 244^).
6 O. Crusius in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2816 n., id. Die delphischen Hymnen {Philologus
1894 liii Erganzungsheft) Gottingen 1894 p. 52 n. 65, cj. bpCo<j\..'Opd'ia for bpwv.. .opdiav
in Pind. Pyth. 10. 36.
7 Supra p. 463. 8 Supra p. 465. <J Supra p. 466.
10 Supra p. 452. u Supra i. 396 f.
straw1.' But, as K. Wernicke2 points out, 'Artemis Basileia is merely
Herodotos' translation of the Thracian Bendis3; and we have not the
remotest reason to connect Bendis with Apollon. Again, the story
of Kleinis made that Mesopotamian worth}' accompany Apollon and
Artemis to the land of the Hyperboreans4. But, when they got
there, it was Apollon, not Artemis, that received the sacrifice; and,
in any case, a contaminated Hellenistic romance is a source of very
dubious value5. O. Crusius6 would emend Pindar's account of the
Hyperborean 'brute beasts ramping bolt upright (orthiariy1 in such
a way as to make the delighted spectator, not Apollon, but Artemis
OrtJua—a desperate expedient. Crusius urges that Pindar elsewhere
describes how 'Leto's horse-driving daughter' (Artemis) welcomed
Herakles to 'the Istrian land8.' But Pindar wishes us to believe that
Herakles brought thence the wild-olive and, as we have already
seen0, is giving a southern colour to a northern myth. Lastly, it
might be contended that the names of the Hyperborean maidens
Opis and Arge (Hekaerge), or Hyperoche and Laodike, imply the
cult of Artemis. That is probably true, and has been admitted10.
But they imply the cult of Artemis at Delos rather than in the land
of the Hyperboreans.
In short, we have no real ground for supposing that Artemis was
ab initio the twin sister of Apollon. There is more to be said for the
view that he first met her in Asia Minor or the Archipelago,
where she originated as the younger form of the Anatolian mother-
goddess, being related to Leto in much the same way as Persephone
to Demeter11.
(b) Lightning as a flash from an Eye.
W. Schwartz in a noteworthy chapter of his Indogermanischer
Volksglanbe collects a mass of evidence to show that lightning is
1 Hdt. 4. 33 olda Se avrbs tovtolcti tolctl ipotcri rode Troieu/xevov irpoffcpepes, ras Bp^uias
Kal ras llatovlSas yvvaiKas, eireav 6uio<tl rrj 'Apre/uuSi rrj BaciXetT;, oilK avev irvpCjv KaXdfArjs
ixovaas ra ipa.
- Iv. Wernicke in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 1370, 1381 : so also G. Knaack ib.
iii. 270.
3 Hesych. s.v. Bevbls- 77 "Aprefj,is, QpaKiarL, Palaiph. 31 (32) tt\v "Apre/xiv 9p£/ce? fxev
Hevdiv, k.t.X., schol. Plat. rep. 317 A tovtwv oe Kal QpaKes eKOLvwvow, dird Kal BeVSts Trap'
avToh 7)"Apre/j.is raXetVcu, k.t.X. Cp. Hesych. s.v. BovafiaToV rnqv "Aprep.iv. Qpaxes.
4 Supra p. 463 n. 1.
5 The same, or worse, must be said of Artemis' journey from the Hyperboreans as
sketched by Diodoros after Dionysios Skytobrachion {supra i. 244^).
6 O. Crusius in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2816 n., id. Die delphischen Hymnen {Philologus
1894 liii Erganzungsheft) Gottingen 1894 p. 52 n. 65, cj. bpCo<j\..'Opd'ia for bpwv.. .opdiav
in Pind. Pyth. 10. 36.
7 Supra p. 463. 8 Supra p. 465. <J Supra p. 466.
10 Supra p. 452. u Supra i. 396 f.