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)

620 The axe carried by priests and priestesses

at Mogontiacum (Mayence) Sucaelus the mallet-god1 was apparently
equated with Iupiter Optimus Maximus*. Finally, Saxo Gramma-
ticus3 in his History of the Danes, writing c. 1200 A.D., states that
in 1130 A.D. Magnus, son of Nicolaus (the Danish king Niels), after
demolishing an ancient heathen temple on an island in or near
Gothia (Gotland in Sweden), brought back in triumph certain enor-
mously heavy bronze hammers known as ' Iupiter-mallets' and be-
lieved to be the means by which Iupiter (Thor) made his thunder.

It will be seen that in western and northern Europe the double
axe as a divine weapon gave place, from the Bronze Age onwards,
to the single axe and the hammer.

(fju) The axe carried by priests and priestesses:

Among the sculptures decorating the gateway of the Hittite
palace at Eyuk4 is a relief (fig. 518)5, which represents two pairs of
male figures engaged in some ritual or ceremonial action hard to
interpret. On the left a couple of men clad in short tunics confront
each other. The taller man wears a conspicuous earring and grasps
a long staff, which is grasped also by his shorter companion. On
the right is a second couple again consisting of a taller and a shorter
man. The one wears a close-fitting cap, an earring, a trailing robe
with a surplice over it, and tip-tilted shoes : he holds with both
hands an axe of unique design"—the blade being crescent-shaped

1 S. Reinach ' Sucellus et Nantosvelta' in the Revue celtique 1896 xvii. 45—59 ( = id.
Cultes, Mythes et Religions Paris 1905 i. 217—232), R. Peter in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv.

1579 f-

2 Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6730 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. set. no. 4615 (on an altar found
at Mogontiacum in 1882) I. o. m. | Sucaelo et | Gen. loci pro | salute C. [ Calpurni |
Seppiani p. p. | leg. xxn Pr. p., | Trophimus | actor [et?] canjabari ex | voto. I do not
agree with R. Peter loc. n't., who comments : ' doch wohl Iuppiter O. M. und Sucaelus.'

3 Sax. Gram. hist. Dan.. 13 p. 421, 29 ft". Holder cuius operam valenter editam
consimili probitatis genere emulatus Magnus, inter cetera tropheorum suorum insignia
inusitati ponderis malleos, quos Ioviales vocabant, apud insularum quandam prisca
virorum religione cultos, in patriam deportandos curavit. cupiens enim antiquitas toni-
truorum causas usitata rerum similitudine comprehendere, malleos, quibus celi fragores
cieri credebat, ingenti ere complexa fuerat, aptissime tante sonoritatis vim < machinarum
(ins. S. J. Stephanius)> fabrilium specie imitandam existimans. Magnus vero, Christiane
discipline studio paganam perosus, et phanum cultu et lovem insignibus spoliare sanctitatis
loco habuit. et adhuc quidem eum Sueones, perinde ac celestium spoliorum raptorem,
sacrilegum autumant.

4 Supra i. 636.

5 G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet Exploratio7i archioiogique de la Galatie et de la
Bithynie etc. Paris 1872 i. 360, ii pi. 56, 2, Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de VArt iv. 672 f.
fig- 335 ( = my fig- B1^)' J- Garstang The Land of the Hittites London 1910 p. 266 f.,
E. Meyer Reich und Knllnr der Chetiter Berlin 1914 p. 84 n. 1. Length 1 •66"': minimum
height i-22m.

6 Its character as an axe is recognised by A. J. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet.
Ant. iv. 1167 n. 9 and by E. Meyer loc. cit. G. Perrot's original comparison with the