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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0623
The deity of the double axe 549
too in his work On Crete told how the cave on Mount Ide called
Arkesion had come by its name. It had 'helped' (arkesai) the
Kouretes, when they fled from Kronos and concealed themselves
in its depths1. Since the Kouretes in the rites of Zeus Idatos posed
as Zagreus2, the infant thunderer slain by the Titans3, it is probable
that originally one of the initiates was done to death and eaten by
the rest as a re-birth of the 'Minoan' sky-god4. The grim legend of
Kronos swallowing his own children finds at last an explanation5.
And here it is permissible to conjecture that the word Kronos,
whatever it meant to ' Minoan ' ears, was understood by the Greeks
as 'Chopper6'—a name appropriate, not only to the axe-bearer, but
to the axe that he bore. The distinctive Homeric epithet of Kronos
is ankylometes1, which I would interpret as 'he of the crooked blade8'
1 Xenion frag. 2 (Frag, hist. Gr. iv. 528 Muller) ap. et. mag. p. 144, 33 ff. WpKeatov
ovrco KaKovfxevov avrpov rrjs \\prjTLKrjs "Iotjs- irapa rb dpKeaai, to ^OTjd^aaL, (paaiv avrb vwb
KovprjTuv ovop.aadrjvai, on tov Kpbvov auTols <peuyovo~i, /cat eis avrb Karaovelo'i (F. Sylburg
cj. Karabvai) Kal KpuTTTOfxevois, eirqpKeaev. ovtu ^eviwv iv toIs 7rept Kptjttjs.
2 Supra i. 648 ff. 3 Supra i. 398 f., 647. 4 Supra i. 654 ff.
6 For previous attempts to explain the myth see M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii.
1538 ff. Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 425 speaks of it as 'den an ein Menschenopfer sich
anlehnenden Mythos von der Verschlingung der eigenen Kinder.'
6 As dpbvos is derived from the root dher (Prellwitz Etyju. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr.- p. 187,
Boisacq Diet. etym. de la Langue Gr. p. 349 f.), and xpwos from the root gher or gher
(Prellwitz op. cit. p. 515), so Kpbvos presupposes the /cep of Keipw, 'I cut.' My expert
friend Dr P. Giles, whom I consulted on the matter, kindly sends me (Oct. 22, 1911) the
following responsum: ' your derivation seems to be quite possible. The root would be in
the weak grade Kp- and the suffix -ovo- ' (see further Append. A.). The connexion of
Kpbvos with Keipu had, in fact, long since been divined by that acute investigator H. D.
Muller Mythologie der griechischen Stamme Gottingen 1861 ii. 137 f. ('Auch sein Name
ist wohl der physischen Seite seines Wesens entlehnt. Derselbe, von K€ipu,...ist = b xeipwv,
was ent\veder...geradezu auf den Erndtegott sich beziehen lasst oder auf seine mythische
That des Verzehrens, Verschlingens'), cp. id. in Philologus 1857 xii. 555 f. Support for
it may be found in the words Kopvos, 'prick' (Iiesych. s.v. Kopvos' Kevrpov. ixvpaLvr)
(M. Schmidt accepts Stephanus' cj. KevrpoixvpaLvr), cp. Hesych. s.v. ffKopvos). Zt/ce\oi),
Kopvd>Trt5es, 'pricking beasties' (Hesych. s.v. Kopvth-wibes' Kuvwire^, cp. Strab. 613 Kopvo-
iriuva = Eustath. in II. p. 34, 26). Other derivations of Kpovos are listed by Gruppe Gr.
Myth. Rel. p. 1104 n. 2. Add now A. Carnoy ' Le nom de Cronos ' in Le Muse'e Beige 1920
xix—xxiv. 14—20 (cp. Celtic Cera, Italian Cents-Ceres: the root is that of creo, cresco).
7 H. Ebeling Lexicon Homericum Lipsiae 1885 i. 14 s.v. dyKuXo-fxriTris. The same
word was used as an appellative of Zeus (Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 264 no. 13 dyKvXo-
pL-rjTeLo (sc. Aios), 266 no. 1 ayi<v\o/j.r}Tew (sc. Aids), 274 1x7KvKofx-qT^s (sc. Zew), 282 dyKv\o-
/tnjrTjs (sc. Zeus)), and of Prometheus (lies, theog. 546 Ilpo/xr/deus dyKv\op.r]Tr]s, 0. d. 48
W.pop,r\Qeus dyKu\o^r\Ti)s with Proklos and Moschopoulos ad loc. In Orph. h. Kron. 13. 7
Kronos himself is addressed as 'Peas irbai, <yep.ve \lpop.rjdeu, on which see M. Mayer in
Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1546).
8 The analogy of dyKuXbro^os suggests that the epithet is objective, not subjective.
For the second element in it see Walde Lat. etym. Worterb? p. 482 s.v. ' meto,' I mow :
Tdg. *met- steht neben ..oder *ame- in gr. d/xdw "mahe, ernte," dfj.dop.ai "sammle"
ahd. ?)iaan, ags. mawan, nhd. mahen, ahd. mad " Mahd," ags. mcep> " das Mahen, das
gemahte Heu" = gr. dp.r/rbs " abgemahte Frucht, abgeerntetes Feld."'
This interpretation has been in part anticipated by E. Hoffmann Mythen aus der
too in his work On Crete told how the cave on Mount Ide called
Arkesion had come by its name. It had 'helped' (arkesai) the
Kouretes, when they fled from Kronos and concealed themselves
in its depths1. Since the Kouretes in the rites of Zeus Idatos posed
as Zagreus2, the infant thunderer slain by the Titans3, it is probable
that originally one of the initiates was done to death and eaten by
the rest as a re-birth of the 'Minoan' sky-god4. The grim legend of
Kronos swallowing his own children finds at last an explanation5.
And here it is permissible to conjecture that the word Kronos,
whatever it meant to ' Minoan ' ears, was understood by the Greeks
as 'Chopper6'—a name appropriate, not only to the axe-bearer, but
to the axe that he bore. The distinctive Homeric epithet of Kronos
is ankylometes1, which I would interpret as 'he of the crooked blade8'
1 Xenion frag. 2 (Frag, hist. Gr. iv. 528 Muller) ap. et. mag. p. 144, 33 ff. WpKeatov
ovrco KaKovfxevov avrpov rrjs \\prjTLKrjs "Iotjs- irapa rb dpKeaai, to ^OTjd^aaL, (paaiv avrb vwb
KovprjTuv ovop.aadrjvai, on tov Kpbvov auTols <peuyovo~i, /cat eis avrb Karaovelo'i (F. Sylburg
cj. Karabvai) Kal KpuTTTOfxevois, eirqpKeaev. ovtu ^eviwv iv toIs 7rept Kptjttjs.
2 Supra i. 648 ff. 3 Supra i. 398 f., 647. 4 Supra i. 654 ff.
6 For previous attempts to explain the myth see M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii.
1538 ff. Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 425 speaks of it as 'den an ein Menschenopfer sich
anlehnenden Mythos von der Verschlingung der eigenen Kinder.'
6 As dpbvos is derived from the root dher (Prellwitz Etyju. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr.- p. 187,
Boisacq Diet. etym. de la Langue Gr. p. 349 f.), and xpwos from the root gher or gher
(Prellwitz op. cit. p. 515), so Kpbvos presupposes the /cep of Keipw, 'I cut.' My expert
friend Dr P. Giles, whom I consulted on the matter, kindly sends me (Oct. 22, 1911) the
following responsum: ' your derivation seems to be quite possible. The root would be in
the weak grade Kp- and the suffix -ovo- ' (see further Append. A.). The connexion of
Kpbvos with Keipu had, in fact, long since been divined by that acute investigator H. D.
Muller Mythologie der griechischen Stamme Gottingen 1861 ii. 137 f. ('Auch sein Name
ist wohl der physischen Seite seines Wesens entlehnt. Derselbe, von K€ipu,...ist = b xeipwv,
was ent\veder...geradezu auf den Erndtegott sich beziehen lasst oder auf seine mythische
That des Verzehrens, Verschlingens'), cp. id. in Philologus 1857 xii. 555 f. Support for
it may be found in the words Kopvos, 'prick' (Iiesych. s.v. Kopvos' Kevrpov. ixvpaLvr)
(M. Schmidt accepts Stephanus' cj. KevrpoixvpaLvr), cp. Hesych. s.v. ffKopvos). Zt/ce\oi),
Kopvd>Trt5es, 'pricking beasties' (Hesych. s.v. Kopvth-wibes' Kuvwire^, cp. Strab. 613 Kopvo-
iriuva = Eustath. in II. p. 34, 26). Other derivations of Kpovos are listed by Gruppe Gr.
Myth. Rel. p. 1104 n. 2. Add now A. Carnoy ' Le nom de Cronos ' in Le Muse'e Beige 1920
xix—xxiv. 14—20 (cp. Celtic Cera, Italian Cents-Ceres: the root is that of creo, cresco).
7 H. Ebeling Lexicon Homericum Lipsiae 1885 i. 14 s.v. dyKuXo-fxriTris. The same
word was used as an appellative of Zeus (Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 264 no. 13 dyKvXo-
pL-rjTeLo (sc. Aios), 266 no. 1 ayi<v\o/j.r}Tew (sc. Aids), 274 1x7KvKofx-qT^s (sc. Zew), 282 dyKv\o-
/tnjrTjs (sc. Zeus)), and of Prometheus (lies, theog. 546 Ilpo/xr/deus dyKv\op.r]Tr]s, 0. d. 48
W.pop,r\Qeus dyKu\o^r\Ti)s with Proklos and Moschopoulos ad loc. In Orph. h. Kron. 13. 7
Kronos himself is addressed as 'Peas irbai, <yep.ve \lpop.rjdeu, on which see M. Mayer in
Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1546).
8 The analogy of dyKuXbro^os suggests that the epithet is objective, not subjective.
For the second element in it see Walde Lat. etym. Worterb? p. 482 s.v. ' meto,' I mow :
Tdg. *met- steht neben ..oder *ame- in gr. d/xdw "mahe, ernte," dfj.dop.ai "sammle"
ahd. ?)iaan, ags. mawan, nhd. mahen, ahd. mad " Mahd," ags. mcep> " das Mahen, das
gemahte Heu" = gr. dp.r/rbs " abgemahte Frucht, abgeerntetes Feld."'
This interpretation has been in part anticipated by E. Hoffmann Mythen aus der