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 double axe and Zeus Labrdyndos 565

holds grape-bunches and corn-ears1, had on Lydian soil come to be
regarded as Dionysos2 and had passed on his axe to Demeter and
Kore.

What happened in Lydia, happened with some variation in
Phrygia also. The labrys alone occurs on coppers of Eriza3 and
Eumeneia4. On others of Abbaitis it is surrounded by a bay-wreath

Fig- 453- Fig' 454- Fig. 455.

(fig. 453)5. At Hierapolis some specimens show its handle bound
with a fillet (fig. 454)6, or twined about with a snake7—a design
known earlier at Eumeneia (fig. 45 5)8. Other very remarkable coins
of Hierapolis represent the double axe erect on a two-stepped base
with its handle encircled by the snake and surmounted by a radiate
head (figs. 456—458)9. The axe-bearing rider is of frequent occur-
in W. v. Diest Nysa ad Maeandrum {fahrb. d. kais, deutsch. arch. Inst. Erganzungsheft
x) Berlin 1913 p. 86 no. 145 pi. 13, 145 Maximinus.

1 Supra i. 594 f. fig. 453.

2 A good collection of data for the worship of Dionysos in Lydia will be found in W.
Quandt De Baccho ab Alexandri actate in Asia Minore culto Halis Saxonum 1913
pp. 175—188, 191 f. That the Lydian Dionysos had some Hittite (?) prototype may perhaps
be inferred from Steph. Byz. s.v. Macrravpcf tt6\is Avdias, diro Ma?. Ma de Ty'Pe'a eiVero,
77 wapeduKe Zeus Aibvuaov Tpefpeiv. Kal 77 Ma 7rapa TTjs'Hpas epwTrideiffa, twos e'i-q to fipetpos,
"Apeos, ^<pv- Kal vapa Kapcrlv 6 Aiovvcros Mdcrapts 'IvQev tK\r\Br\. eKaXeiTo de Kal 17 'Pea Ma
Kal Tavpos avTrj edvero irapa Avdois, d0' 17s rj ttoXis (the etymologies of Mdcr-Taupa and
MdiT-apts are, of course, wholly unreliable).

3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 202 no. 1 of j. i B.C. (?) or later, Head Hist, num.2
P- 673.

4 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 216 no. 40 Nero.

5 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 2 no. 9 pi. 2, 3 and no. 10 of s. ii B.C. (?), Head
Hist. 7iu7n.'2 p. 663. I figure a specimen in the Fitzwilliam Museum (W. M. Leake
Niunismata Hellenica London 1856 Asiatic Greece p. 1 ' wreath of oak').

6 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 243 no. 93 pi. 31, 1 ( = my fig. 454) and no. 94
struck by Fabius Maximus in 5 B.C.

7 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 247 no. 117 Nero.

8 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 212 nos. 12, 13 pi. 27, 3 ( = my fig. 455), 14—19,
Plead Hist. num.~ p. 673 after 133 B.C. : obv. head of Dionysos with band across forehead
and ivy-wreath; rev. tripod containing libes with three handles, surmounted by flat cover
fringed with spikes (?); above, and on either side, three stars ; attached to tripod, on left
side, double axe with snake twined round handle, and on right side a bay-branch filleted.
The double axe with snake round handle recurs as the countermark on coins of Eumeneia
struck under Nero (ib. p. 217 no. 42 f.) and Domitian (ib. p. 218 no. 50 f., Imhoof-Blumer
Kleinas. Miinzen i. 230 no. 7 pi. 7, 23 with n. 1 Nero, Agrippina).

i( L. Ross and E. Gerhard in the Arch. Zeit. 1844 ii. 344 no. 50 bis from the Prokesch-
Osten collection, ib. 1845 iii pi. 32, 51 ( = my fig. 456), T. Panofka Asklepios und die