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 the labarum 613

uiterable wilt reveal all that is wrought by writings unique or sovereign remedies,
yea all the hidden meaningofknife or double axe. Let these words be said as the
mysteries of the Vine.;' It has also other orderly virtues, so that among mortals
its name must not be taken in vain. Next, the sacred account, as given in the
Kyranis, saith as follows: "Blessed God-sent queen, God-sent cluster-bearing
mother of every divine nature—EUA — thou that art foremost among plants of
earth—EAOE IEO EUEIE—being a denizen of OlymposT Having said this
into a cup, empty it into a jar, whence all drink and depart with good cheer, no
man having come to words.;

Harpokration's allusion to 'the hidden meaning of knife or double
axe' as 'the mysteries of the Vine' certainly seems to imply some
quasz-J}'ionysia.c survival of the Idbrys. It is unfortunate that further
details are wanting.

One other fact in connexion with the double axe should here be
noted. Its pictograph passed readily into linear forms, and thence
into syllabic and alphabetic characters. Sir Arthur Evans1 has

pointed out that the Aegean \ or X is comparable with X the
Sabaean form of the Semitic letter zain, whose name is held to
denote 'a twofold weapon.' It follows that the double axe was the
original source, from which was derived, not only the Phoenician 7,
but also the shape (though not the name) of the Greek l or Z, the
Latin Z, and the English Z2. Again, the monograms above cited
from the Graeco-Scythian coinage of Bactria and India (s. iii—i B.C.)
were clearly suggested in the first instance by the outline of a double
axe3. Simias of Rhodes (c. 295 B.C.) even arranged a whole poem
on the axe of Epeios in such a way as to resemble its two-bladed
subject4.

Suppose, then, that Constantine during his stay in the east had
observed the double axe, a symbol of ancient and mysterious
sanctity with a marked tendency to take on the shape of definite
letters, he might well enough think of adopting it as a sign that
would appeal at once to pagans and to Christians. For, just as the
trophy-cross, symbol of Iupiter Feretrius, was modified into the

1 Sir A. J. Evans in the fourn. Hell. Stud. 1894 xiv. 365 f., id. Scripta Minoa Oxford
1909 i. 81, 86 f. fig. 41.

2 Other forms that fall to be considered are the Iberian l>j<l tM X mem on coins
of the Turdetani (P. Berger Histoire de ricriture dans Vantiqtiite' Paris 1891 p. 336,

Sir A. J. Evans Scripta Minoa i. 99 fig. 44*), the Cypriote \ le {id. ib. i. 71 fig. 39), the
Sicyonian \ epsilon (Roberts Gk. Epigr. i. 136), the Venetic, Sabellian, Etruscan, and
Faliscan sibilant X (J. Schmidt in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i. 1617 ff.), and the
Latin numeral X futile (J. C. Egbert Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions
London—Bombay 1896 p. 75). Of course, it must not be hastily assumed that similar
characters are of similar origin.
'■' Supra p. 608.

4 C. Haeberlin Carmina Eigurata Graeca Hannoverae 1887 p. 70.