DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0624
550 The deity of the double axe
in allusion to the god's Jidrpe or sickle-knife—a Thracian1 weapon
found also among many peoples of Asia Minor2 (fig. 426Y. Saturn,
as successor of Kronos, sometimes has a hdrpe (fig. 427)-1 instead of
his usual sickle or bill-hook.
An analogous figure, at once weapon-divinity and divine weapon,
occurs among the Hittite rock-carvings of Boghaz-Keui. In the
small gallery at Iasily Kaya may be seen a remarkable relief, some
Fig. 426. Fig. 427.
eleven feet high, which represents (fig. 42s)5 a vast dagger stuck
vertically into the ground. Closer inspection shows that the handle
is a human head wearing a conical cap with ribs and rings, and
that below it, where we look for human shoulders and a human
body, there is a curious combination of four lions, two with heads
facing outwards, and two hung downwards each by a single hind-
leg. Beneath the lions is the great tapering blade with its raised
midrib. I would venture to regard this Mischweseu as no mere
Wa>iderzeit der graeko-italischen Stamme i Kronos und Zens Leipzig 1876 pp. 63 f., 82,
who supposes that Kronos, being armed with a sickle-shaped dpwr) or £ayK\r), was originally
entitled ' Ay Kv\o-fj.rj8r]s, ' Sichel-Herrscher,'—a title later altered into the epithet aynvXo-
/xtjtt/s. Hoffmann, I conceive, was on the right track as regards the first half of the com-
pound, but spoiled his explanation by an improbable, and indeed unnecessary, guess as to
the second half.
1 Clem. Al. strom. 1. 16 p. 49, 2 f. Stahlin val pjqv OpaKes Trpwroi rrjv KaKov/xevrjv dprriu
(ira.pp.-qv cod. L.) evpov tan 8e fxaxcupa Kafj-irvXi] = Euseb. praep. ev. 10. 6. 6.
2 S. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. ii. 970, M. Mayer in Roscher Lex.
Myth. ii. 1545.
3 J. N. Svoronos ap. M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1557 fig. 8 ( = my fig. 426)
draws attention to a coin of Tarsos, struck by Valerianus i (253—260 A.D.) and now at
Athens, which shows a bald-headed god moving to the left with a hdrpe in his hand.
4 E.g. Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 294 (wrongly described) pi. Neria, 1, Babelon
Monn. rip. rom. ii. 253 f. fig. ( = my fig. 427), G. Wissowa in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 430
fig. 1, Brit. Mns. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. i. 504 nos. 3950-3952 pi. 49, 11. This head
appears on coins struck by the two quaestores urbani, who administered the cierarium
Saturni (Babelon op. cit. i. pp. xl, xlix, ii. 657 Index).
0 G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet Exploreition arche'ologique de la Galatie et de la
Bithynie etc. Paris 1872 i. 358 f., ii pis. 49 and 50, 3, Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de VArt iv.
642 figs. 318 (face incorrectly turned to right) and 320, J. Garstang The Land of the
Hittites London 1910 pp. 228, 239 ff., 360 pi. 70 ( = my fig. 428), Frazer Golden Bough3:
Adonis Attis Osiris3 i. 131, 139 f., E. Meyer Reich und Ktdtur der Chetiter Berlin 1914
p. 100 f. fig. 77.
in allusion to the god's Jidrpe or sickle-knife—a Thracian1 weapon
found also among many peoples of Asia Minor2 (fig. 426Y. Saturn,
as successor of Kronos, sometimes has a hdrpe (fig. 427)-1 instead of
his usual sickle or bill-hook.
An analogous figure, at once weapon-divinity and divine weapon,
occurs among the Hittite rock-carvings of Boghaz-Keui. In the
small gallery at Iasily Kaya may be seen a remarkable relief, some
Fig. 426. Fig. 427.
eleven feet high, which represents (fig. 42s)5 a vast dagger stuck
vertically into the ground. Closer inspection shows that the handle
is a human head wearing a conical cap with ribs and rings, and
that below it, where we look for human shoulders and a human
body, there is a curious combination of four lions, two with heads
facing outwards, and two hung downwards each by a single hind-
leg. Beneath the lions is the great tapering blade with its raised
midrib. I would venture to regard this Mischweseu as no mere
Wa>iderzeit der graeko-italischen Stamme i Kronos und Zens Leipzig 1876 pp. 63 f., 82,
who supposes that Kronos, being armed with a sickle-shaped dpwr) or £ayK\r), was originally
entitled ' Ay Kv\o-fj.rj8r]s, ' Sichel-Herrscher,'—a title later altered into the epithet aynvXo-
/xtjtt/s. Hoffmann, I conceive, was on the right track as regards the first half of the com-
pound, but spoiled his explanation by an improbable, and indeed unnecessary, guess as to
the second half.
1 Clem. Al. strom. 1. 16 p. 49, 2 f. Stahlin val pjqv OpaKes Trpwroi rrjv KaKov/xevrjv dprriu
(ira.pp.-qv cod. L.) evpov tan 8e fxaxcupa Kafj-irvXi] = Euseb. praep. ev. 10. 6. 6.
2 S. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. ii. 970, M. Mayer in Roscher Lex.
Myth. ii. 1545.
3 J. N. Svoronos ap. M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1557 fig. 8 ( = my fig. 426)
draws attention to a coin of Tarsos, struck by Valerianus i (253—260 A.D.) and now at
Athens, which shows a bald-headed god moving to the left with a hdrpe in his hand.
4 E.g. Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 294 (wrongly described) pi. Neria, 1, Babelon
Monn. rip. rom. ii. 253 f. fig. ( = my fig. 427), G. Wissowa in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 430
fig. 1, Brit. Mns. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. i. 504 nos. 3950-3952 pi. 49, 11. This head
appears on coins struck by the two quaestores urbani, who administered the cierarium
Saturni (Babelon op. cit. i. pp. xl, xlix, ii. 657 Index).
0 G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet Exploreition arche'ologique de la Galatie et de la
Bithynie etc. Paris 1872 i. 358 f., ii pis. 49 and 50, 3, Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de VArt iv.
642 figs. 318 (face incorrectly turned to right) and 320, J. Garstang The Land of the
Hittites London 1910 pp. 228, 239 ff., 360 pi. 70 ( = my fig. 428), Frazer Golden Bough3:
Adonis Attis Osiris3 i. 131, 139 f., E. Meyer Reich und Ktdtur der Chetiter Berlin 1914
p. 100 f. fig. 77.