DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0674
The double axe and Zeus Labrayndos 599
Cesnola's note-book. As to the elliptical temple, it appears that—
'the ellipse is truncated at one end, through the middle of which end was the
entrance. Near the other end, inside, against either wall and opposite each
other, are the pedestals (probably) of the two statues referred to.'
These statues were votive offerings by a man named Oliasas1 and
another named Demetris and may be dated between the third
and the fifth centuries A.D. Fragments of a third statue seem to
belong to the cult-image, though neither head nor double axe2 were
found. Hall saw that Zeus Labrdnios is simply the Cypriote equiva-
lent of Zeus Labrdyndos'\ remarking that 'this part of Cyprus was
settled by Carians or Lycians.'
Whether the lupiter Laprius mentioned by Lactantius4 is another
form of the same deity, as M. Mayer8 supposes, is doubtful. O. Hofer6
would find in him a Zeus Ldphrios comparable with Apollon Ldphrios
and Artemis Laphn'a. Others7 have thought of the Cretan Zeus
Elaphros. And a corruption of Zeus Lape'rsws8 is a further possibility.
All these and dozens of other names—Greek, Latin, Etruscan,
Iberian, and Celtic—are regarded by W. Vollgraff9 as metamorphoses
of the same Protean Idbrys.
clxx, id. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesiiola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York New York 1903 iii pi. 143 nos. 1, 2.
1 Hall cp. Oliatos of Mylasa, one of the Ionian tyrants (Hdt. 5. 37).
2 A tetrobol struck c. 400 B.C. at some uncertain mint in Kypros has for obverse type
a panther (?) scratching his right foreleg with his right hind paw. Above him is the head
of a double axe and an inscription in Cypriote characters, which has been read as
?Sa• fit'to• <re---(Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Cyprus p. 71 pi. 13, 12, Babelon Monn.
gr. rom. ii. 2. 825 f. pi. 136, 18). Conceivably this stands for —auir^s, which occurs as
a title of Zeus at Thespiai (Paus. 9. 26. 7 f.), and of Dionysos at Troizen (Paus. 2.31. 5)
and Lerne (Paus. 2. 37. 2), if not also at Thespiai (cp. Anth. Pal. 9. 603. 1 (Antipatros of
Sidon)—referred by O. Benndorf to the Thespiades of Praxiteles).
Zeus Labrdyndos (?) on a copper of Keramos is accompanied by a lioness (?) or
panther (?) (supra p. 575 n. 6); and it is on a lioness (?) or panther (?) that the Hittite
bearer of the double axe stands at Boghaz-Keui (supra i. 599 n. 6, 603, 605 fig. 476, ii.
552> 360).
3 I. H. Hall in the Journal of the American Oriental Society 1885 xi p. clxviii f. So
also G. Karo in the Archiv f. Rel. 1904 vii. 124 f, J. Schaefer op. cit. p. 360 f, J. L. Myres
op. cit. p. 322.
4 Supra p. 588 n. 1.
5 M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1506 (correcting Lap?-ios into Labrios).
6 O. Hofer in Roscher Lex Myth. ii. 1850.
7 Ae. Forcellini ap. De Vit Onomasticon iii. 736, citing Hesych. 'E\a<pp6s' tvfia.GTa.KTos,
Kovcpos. r) Zei)s tv KprjTrj, where W. Dindorf ap. Stephanum Thes. Gr. Ling. iii. 687 D
wrongly assumes confusion with FeAxayos. Cp. Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 265 no. 39
eXacppiov (sc. Aios), 266 no. 26 e\a(pptov (sc. Aios). On the Cnidian month 'E\d<ppios see
W. Dittenberger in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 2234.
8 Infra Append. I.
9 W. Vollgraff 'Ad/3pus' in the Rhein. Mus. 1906 lxi. 149—165—one of the wildest
articles ever perpetrated in the name of ' Philologie.'
Cesnola's note-book. As to the elliptical temple, it appears that—
'the ellipse is truncated at one end, through the middle of which end was the
entrance. Near the other end, inside, against either wall and opposite each
other, are the pedestals (probably) of the two statues referred to.'
These statues were votive offerings by a man named Oliasas1 and
another named Demetris and may be dated between the third
and the fifth centuries A.D. Fragments of a third statue seem to
belong to the cult-image, though neither head nor double axe2 were
found. Hall saw that Zeus Labrdnios is simply the Cypriote equiva-
lent of Zeus Labrdyndos'\ remarking that 'this part of Cyprus was
settled by Carians or Lycians.'
Whether the lupiter Laprius mentioned by Lactantius4 is another
form of the same deity, as M. Mayer8 supposes, is doubtful. O. Hofer6
would find in him a Zeus Ldphrios comparable with Apollon Ldphrios
and Artemis Laphn'a. Others7 have thought of the Cretan Zeus
Elaphros. And a corruption of Zeus Lape'rsws8 is a further possibility.
All these and dozens of other names—Greek, Latin, Etruscan,
Iberian, and Celtic—are regarded by W. Vollgraff9 as metamorphoses
of the same Protean Idbrys.
clxx, id. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesiiola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York New York 1903 iii pi. 143 nos. 1, 2.
1 Hall cp. Oliatos of Mylasa, one of the Ionian tyrants (Hdt. 5. 37).
2 A tetrobol struck c. 400 B.C. at some uncertain mint in Kypros has for obverse type
a panther (?) scratching his right foreleg with his right hind paw. Above him is the head
of a double axe and an inscription in Cypriote characters, which has been read as
?Sa• fit'to• <re---(Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Cyprus p. 71 pi. 13, 12, Babelon Monn.
gr. rom. ii. 2. 825 f. pi. 136, 18). Conceivably this stands for —auir^s, which occurs as
a title of Zeus at Thespiai (Paus. 9. 26. 7 f.), and of Dionysos at Troizen (Paus. 2.31. 5)
and Lerne (Paus. 2. 37. 2), if not also at Thespiai (cp. Anth. Pal. 9. 603. 1 (Antipatros of
Sidon)—referred by O. Benndorf to the Thespiades of Praxiteles).
Zeus Labrdyndos (?) on a copper of Keramos is accompanied by a lioness (?) or
panther (?) (supra p. 575 n. 6); and it is on a lioness (?) or panther (?) that the Hittite
bearer of the double axe stands at Boghaz-Keui (supra i. 599 n. 6, 603, 605 fig. 476, ii.
552> 360).
3 I. H. Hall in the Journal of the American Oriental Society 1885 xi p. clxviii f. So
also G. Karo in the Archiv f. Rel. 1904 vii. 124 f, J. Schaefer op. cit. p. 360 f, J. L. Myres
op. cit. p. 322.
4 Supra p. 588 n. 1.
5 M. Mayer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1506 (correcting Lap?-ios into Labrios).
6 O. Hofer in Roscher Lex Myth. ii. 1850.
7 Ae. Forcellini ap. De Vit Onomasticon iii. 736, citing Hesych. 'E\a<pp6s' tvfia.GTa.KTos,
Kovcpos. r) Zei)s tv KprjTrj, where W. Dindorf ap. Stephanum Thes. Gr. Ling. iii. 687 D
wrongly assumes confusion with FeAxayos. Cp. Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 265 no. 39
eXacppiov (sc. Aios), 266 no. 26 e\a(pptov (sc. Aios). On the Cnidian month 'E\d<ppios see
W. Dittenberger in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 2234.
8 Infra Append. I.
9 W. Vollgraff 'Ad/3pus' in the Rhein. Mus. 1906 lxi. 149—165—one of the wildest
articles ever perpetrated in the name of ' Philologie.'