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)

582 The double axe and Zeus Labrdyndos

And an extract from Machon the Alexandrine comedian, likewise
cited by Athenaios1, tells an anecdote which emphasises the dual
aspect of the Mylasian deity:

Once on a time the flute-player Dorion
Came to Mylasa, but could find no lodging,
So sat him down within a certain precmct
That chanced to be before the city-gates,
There saw the temple-sweeper sacrificing.
'I' the name,' quoth he, 'of Athena and the gods,
Tell me, my friend, whose temple this may be.'
'Zenoposeidon's, sir !' the man replied.
Then Dorion : 'And how could anybody
Expect a room for one here, where they say
The very gods are lodging two by two ! '

The name Zenoposeiddn, which thus goes back to the time of Machon
(s. iii B.C.), if not to that of Dorion (s. iv B.C.)2, appears in the local
inscriptions from c. 200 B.C. onwards3, and is not altogether forgotten
by the Byzantine scholarship of the twelfth century4. Concerning
the ritual of the god we know little or nothing. But P. Le Bas points
out that the Taurophonia, mentioned in a decree of the Otorkondeis
as the occasion of a solemn traditional assembly, were perhaps cele-
brated on his behalf5.

The fact that the Carians recognised a Zeus-like Poseidon or a
Poseidon-like Zeus is to me at least of considerable interest. For I
have long contended that the Hellenic Poseidon himself was originally
but a specialised form of Zeus. In 19036, accepting with some modi-
fication the views of H. L. Ahrens7 and W. Sonne8, I took the name

1 Machon ap. Athen. 337 c—D. 2 Cp. Athen. 435 B—c.

3 Supra p. 578 n. 4 no. (i)fi'.

4 Eustath. in II. p. 763, 50 f. (on //. 9. 457 Zei>s re Karaxdbvios k.t.X.) ort Zeus /ecu
evravda Karaxdbvios b "Ai8r]S, ihs edv rts elvoi drip inrbyeios. ei 5e Kara rraXaiav iuTopiav
irepi TLva KapiKOv wora/xov Tirjvbs Tloaeibuivos r)v iepbv, ibov to Zeus ■fjTOi Ziijv kolvov bvop.a
Albs Kai HoaeiSuivos Kai "Ai8ov tGiv dSeXcfr&v.

5 Lebas—Wadclington Asie Mineure no. 404 (of s. i B.C.), 1 ff. [erri] <jTe<p\avrj(pbpov

' Iepo/cAe/ous] rod ^Slev'nnrov, fxr/vbs [...........], eKKXr/aias Kvpia[s yevo/JLevr/s ev T] avpo<povtois

Kara rd Trdrpia, rvxr/l tt)l dyadr)[i, els fii(rdw<TW~} ebtoKev 17 <pvXr/ 7/ r()t(op[Kov5etov, k.t.X.].
Lebas ad loc. cp. the bull-sports of Karyanda, at no great distance from Mylasa (Lebas—
Waddington Asie Mineure no. 499, 5 ff. fJ.era be ravra yevbfxevos dirb rrjs (f>vX?i^\Tavpa(beTr)s
ov fi[bvov TTjV rod deov iopr'qv /j.e]\yaXo/xepois Kai (piXayddws awereXecrev, clXXd /cat npbs rots
[e/c tQiv rrjs (pvXrjs /j.eXXov] \ ctlv d<pedr)vo.l vir' avrov Kai aXXovs e/e rrjs idias 01/cri'as d<pr)Kev
r[avpovs irXeiovas'] \ irpbs be tovtols iravTeXGis fiovXbfxevos (piXayadeiv drpr)Kev [ravpov koX-
Xiarou ets] I Kvvr)yiov, rd re Kpeara dirb rod epe(d)i^o/xevov ravpov dievei/xev r[ots (pvXerais,
5ebop.f\vLov yepwv tlol drvb rrjs (pvXrjs tepet' k.t.X.).

6 Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 175 f.

7 H. L. Ahrens ' Ueber den Namen des Poseidon' in Philologies 1866 xxiii. 1 ff.,
193 ff. = id. Kleine Schriften Hannover 1891 i. 390 ff.

8 W. Sonne 'Helios Poseidon'in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschuug
1861 x. 181 ff. See also Gilbert Gr. Gotterl. p. 168 f.: ' Der Name Poseidon ist nemlich