DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0626
552 The deity of the double axe
mother. And that for two reasons. On the one hand, he is evidently
a lion-god, and so a fit partner for a lion-goddess like Rhea1. On
the other hand, he is a cutting blade, and so comparable with Kronos,
the 'Chopper.' J. Garstang2 and Sir J. G. Frazer3 both agree that
this dagger-god with his beardless head and leonine body must be
identified with the youthful god standing on a lioness (?) in the large
recess of the same rock-sanctuary4. And it will be remembered that
the god in question carries a double axe as well as a short sword.
But the double axe, as we have observed, was the weapon of the
sky-god. It is, therefore, reasonable to surmise that the divine
Dagger plunged into the ground, like the divine Axe hafted into a
leafy stem, betokens the all-important union of Sky with Earth.
Returning to Kronos, we note that the 'Minoan' representation
of him as posting through the sky with four wings5 is not without
Anatolian parallels. Silver coins of Mallos in Kilikia exhibit a four-
winged and sometimes Janiform god hasting on his way with a
disk in his hands ; and we have already adopted the view that he
is a solar Kronos6. Similarly bronze coins of Byblos in Phoinike,
struck by the Syrian kings from Antiochos iv Epiphanes (175 —
164 B.C.) to Antiochos viii Gr)'pos (125—96 B.C.)7 or issued as auto-
nomous and imperial pieces in the first century B.C., show Kronos,
the founder of the city8, as a nude deity equipped with three pairs
of wings. He stands resting his right hand on a sceptre and wearing
a head-dress of feathers (fig. 429This representation of the god
natures mysteriously co-existed.' E. Meyer op. cit. p. 100: 'das Symbol eines machtigen
Gottes des Krieges und der Jagd ' (cp. ib. p. 100 f. fig. 78 a relief from Sinjerli of a winged
lion with a human head growing upright from his neck behind the ears).
1 Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1900—1901 vii. 28 ff. fig. 9 published
a clay sealing from a recess off the central court of the palace at Knossos, which shows a
warrior-goddess on a mountain-top flanked by two lions, with a male worshipper to the
right and a sacred edifice to the left ('the prototype of the later Kybele and Rhea'). Id.
ib. 1902—1903 ix. 59 f. figs. 37 f. published two clay seal-impressions from the ' Temple
Repositories' of the same palace. One represents a warrior-goddess accompanied by a
lion ; the other, a warrior-god accompanied by a lioness (?). Id. in the Jotu'n. Hell. Stud.
1901 xxi. 163—168 figs. 43 and 44 f. further illustrates the ' Minoan ' seal-types of a god
or a goddess between two lions and concludes: ' The male divinity is not so much the
consort as the son or youthful favourite. The relationship is rather that of Rhea than of
Hera to Zeus, of Adonis rather than of Ares to Aphrodite.'
2 J. Garstang op. cit. p. 240. 3 Frazer op. cit.3 i. 139.
4 Supra i. 599 n. 6, 603, 605 fig. 476.
5 Supra p. 544 fig. 419. c Supra i. 297 f. figs. 221—223.
7 Head Hist, num.2 p. 791. G. F. Hill in the Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phoenicia p. lxii
states: ' Byblus seems to have been a mint of the Seleucidae only from the time of
Antiochus iv (175—164) to that of Antiochus vii (138—129).'
8 Philon Bybl. frag. 2 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 568 Miiller) ap. Euseb. praep. ev. 1. 10. 19.
9 E. Babelon Les Rois de Syrie, d''Armdnie et de Commagene Paris 1890 p. 85 no. 671
pi. 14, 18, Imhoof-Blumer Choix de monn. gr.1'2 pi. 7, 224 Antiochos iv (=my fig. 429),
mother. And that for two reasons. On the one hand, he is evidently
a lion-god, and so a fit partner for a lion-goddess like Rhea1. On
the other hand, he is a cutting blade, and so comparable with Kronos,
the 'Chopper.' J. Garstang2 and Sir J. G. Frazer3 both agree that
this dagger-god with his beardless head and leonine body must be
identified with the youthful god standing on a lioness (?) in the large
recess of the same rock-sanctuary4. And it will be remembered that
the god in question carries a double axe as well as a short sword.
But the double axe, as we have observed, was the weapon of the
sky-god. It is, therefore, reasonable to surmise that the divine
Dagger plunged into the ground, like the divine Axe hafted into a
leafy stem, betokens the all-important union of Sky with Earth.
Returning to Kronos, we note that the 'Minoan' representation
of him as posting through the sky with four wings5 is not without
Anatolian parallels. Silver coins of Mallos in Kilikia exhibit a four-
winged and sometimes Janiform god hasting on his way with a
disk in his hands ; and we have already adopted the view that he
is a solar Kronos6. Similarly bronze coins of Byblos in Phoinike,
struck by the Syrian kings from Antiochos iv Epiphanes (175 —
164 B.C.) to Antiochos viii Gr)'pos (125—96 B.C.)7 or issued as auto-
nomous and imperial pieces in the first century B.C., show Kronos,
the founder of the city8, as a nude deity equipped with three pairs
of wings. He stands resting his right hand on a sceptre and wearing
a head-dress of feathers (fig. 429This representation of the god
natures mysteriously co-existed.' E. Meyer op. cit. p. 100: 'das Symbol eines machtigen
Gottes des Krieges und der Jagd ' (cp. ib. p. 100 f. fig. 78 a relief from Sinjerli of a winged
lion with a human head growing upright from his neck behind the ears).
1 Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1900—1901 vii. 28 ff. fig. 9 published
a clay sealing from a recess off the central court of the palace at Knossos, which shows a
warrior-goddess on a mountain-top flanked by two lions, with a male worshipper to the
right and a sacred edifice to the left ('the prototype of the later Kybele and Rhea'). Id.
ib. 1902—1903 ix. 59 f. figs. 37 f. published two clay seal-impressions from the ' Temple
Repositories' of the same palace. One represents a warrior-goddess accompanied by a
lion ; the other, a warrior-god accompanied by a lioness (?). Id. in the Jotu'n. Hell. Stud.
1901 xxi. 163—168 figs. 43 and 44 f. further illustrates the ' Minoan ' seal-types of a god
or a goddess between two lions and concludes: ' The male divinity is not so much the
consort as the son or youthful favourite. The relationship is rather that of Rhea than of
Hera to Zeus, of Adonis rather than of Ares to Aphrodite.'
2 J. Garstang op. cit. p. 240. 3 Frazer op. cit.3 i. 139.
4 Supra i. 599 n. 6, 603, 605 fig. 476.
5 Supra p. 544 fig. 419. c Supra i. 297 f. figs. 221—223.
7 Head Hist, num.2 p. 791. G. F. Hill in the Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phoenicia p. lxii
states: ' Byblus seems to have been a mint of the Seleucidae only from the time of
Antiochus iv (175—164) to that of Antiochus vii (138—129).'
8 Philon Bybl. frag. 2 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 568 Miiller) ap. Euseb. praep. ev. 1. 10. 19.
9 E. Babelon Les Rois de Syrie, d''Armdnie et de Commagene Paris 1890 p. 85 no. 671
pi. 14, 18, Imhoof-Blumer Choix de monn. gr.1'2 pi. 7, 224 Antiochos iv (=my fig. 429),