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)

The deity of the double axe 547

Barbarised copies of the drachma of Rhode [Rosas) in Spain (shortly before c. 250 B.C.),
struck in silver by the Volcae Tectosages of Gallia Narbonensis and the Sotiates of Aqui-
tania, often exhibit an axe, the type of which is referable usually to the La Tene period,
but sometimes to the Hallstatt period, and even to the Bronze Age (R. Forrer Keltische
Numismatik der Rhein- tind Donaulande Strassburg 1908 p. 47 f. figs. 90—92, p. 67
fig. 118, p. 69 f. figs. 126 f., 129—134, pi. 5, 118, 129—134, pi. 22, 127, id. Real/ex. p. 73
pi. 23, 11—20). It is at least possible that these axes are symbols of an axe-bearing god
like Esus (Lucan. 1. 444 ff. with schol. ad loc, Lact. div. inst. t. 21), who in Gallia
Lugudunensis was associated with Iovis and Volcanus, and in Gallia Belgica with Mer-
curius and Rosmerta (?) [supra i. 481 n. 9: see further S. Reinach ' Teutates, Esus,
Taranis' in the Revue celtique 1897 pp. 137 —149 — id. Cultes, mythes et religious Paris
1905 i. 204—216, M. Ihm in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 694 ff.).

Latin tomb-inscriptions from Gallia Lugudunensis are very frequently marked with
the sign of an adze, either incised or carved in relief, and end with the formula : ' So-and-so
dedicated this monument under the adze.' The phrase sub ascia dedicare has for the last
two centuries provoked the curiosity of the learned. Monographs have been devoted to
it, and the literature is already large (a helpful summary in Sir J. E. Sandys Latin
Epigraphy Cambridge 1919 pp. 78—82). Most scholars, including A. Mau in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 1522 f., take it to mean that the monument was dedicated before
it was finished, being still, so to say, ' under the adze ' of the stone-mason. But O. Hirsch-
feld, who has edited these inscriptions for the Berlin Corpjts, records his emphatic opinion
that the tombs in question were under the protection of some Gallic divinity symbolised
by a sacred adze (Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii p. 256). And E. Guimet E Ascia des Egyptiens
Lyon 1872 has adduced certain facts which point clearly in the same direction. For
example, at Avignon ten sepulchral urns of stone were found arranged in a circle with a
bronze axe in the middle of them [id. op. cit. p. 1), while in some Italian columbaria the
urns are covered with a tile of marble or terra cotta on which is the representation of an
adze—they are literally sub ascia [id. ib. p. 2 pi. 1, 10).

A parallel to these Gallic tombstones ' dedicated under the adze' may be found in
certain runic tombstones dedicated under, or at any rate marked with, the hammer of
Thor. Two good examples from Hanning and Lseborg in Denmark were published by
H. Petersen Ueber den Gottesdienst und den Gbtterglauben des Nordens wahrend der
Heidenzeit trans. M. Riess Gardelegen 1882 pp. 39—41 fig. 1 f., cp. P. U. Chantepie de
la Saussaye The Religion of the Teutons Boston and London 1902 p. 239. The parallel
suggests that the adze on the Gallic tombs was, like Thor's hammer, the tool of a
thunder-god.

R. Eisler Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt Miinchen 1910 ii. 765, after Kiientzle in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1018, explains el. Gud. p. 581, 1 f. /ecu arpov [leg. aarpov) ovtw
[leg. ovtco) Ka\ovfj.evov [sc. 'tlpiuv), rj Xeyofiivri liKewapvea as an allusion to the shape of the
constellation ('das Orionsternbild wegen seiner Form • ] ■ als aKenapfov =" Doppelaxt "
aufgefasst wurde').

2 Kaineus once planted a javelin in the midst of the market-place and bade men count
it as a god (schol. //. 1. 264, Eustath. in LI. p. 101, 14 f.): the proverb to Kawews 86pu
arose from the fact that he forced passers by to swear by his spear (schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 57).
Parthenopaios the Arcadian used to swear by his spear and reverence it more than a god
(Aisch. s. c. Th. 529 f.). The god whom the Chaeroneans honoured most was the sceptre
that Hephaistos had made for Zeus. It had subsequently belonged to Hermes, Pelops,
Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon. The Chaeroneans worshipped it, calling it Spear (Aopv).
It had no temple; but the man who acted as priest kept it in his house for a year. Sacri-
fices were offered to it daily, and a table was set beside it covered with all sorts of flesh
and cakes (Paus. 9. 40. 11 f. : supra i. 406. See further Folk-Lore 1904 xv. 371 f.).

The oldest image of Mars at Rome was a spear (dopv, hasta) kept in the Regia and
apparently addressed as Mars (Varro ap. Clem. Al. protr. 4. 46. 4 p. 35, 23 f. Stahlin and
Arnob. adv. nat. 6. 11, Plout. v. Rom. 29,'Serv. hi Verg. Aen. 8. 3).

3 The Scythian cult of Ares, according to Hdt. 4. 62, was as follows. Bundles of

35—2