DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0702
The axe carried by priests and priestesses 627
koptesx the ' Cutter,' beat out his victims with the iron mallet2 of
his father Polypemon3 or lopped their limbs to suit his fatal bed,
till Theseus came and served him as he had served others. Attic
red-figured vases from the end of the sixth century onwards depict
the hero attacking his ferocious host with uplifted double axe4.
Whence did he obtain the axe? Presumably he wrenched it from
the hand of Damastes and carried it afterwards in token of his
victory5. However that may be6, the western pediment in the
C. Robert in U. von Wttamowitz-Moellendorff Aits Kydaihen Berlin 1880 p. 227 pointed
out that rrpoKpoueiv is the technical term for beating out a plate or bar of metal.
1 Bakchyl. 17. 27 ff. HoXvTrrjfjLovos re Kaprepdv \ a<pvpav i^fiaXev HpoKOjrras, dpeiovos
tvx&v I (pctiros with Sir R. C. Jebb ad loc. O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2687 ff.,
following up a hint of YVilamowitz in the Go'tt. gel. Anz. 1898 clx. 142, holds that the
subject of the sentence is still Theseus, who is here described as TrpoKowras, the ' striker
of a lightning-blow,' in opposition to the more ponderous Polypemon (UpoKpoOffrris), who
because stronger is spoken of as dpeiovos...(puros. Ingenious, but unconvincing.
2 Soph. Aigens frag. 19 Nauck2, 20 Jebb ap. Poll. 10. 160 and Ilesych. s.v. Kearpa
o-lo-qpa. Cp. Bakchyl. 17. 27 f., Apollod. epit. 1. 4, Hyg. fab. 38, and schol. Eur. Hipp.
977 (of Sinis).
3 See J. Ilberg in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2683. O. Hofer ib. iii. 2684 ft"., after
G. Kirchner Attica et Peloponnesiaca Greifswald 1890 p. 64 n. 4 and O. YVulff Zttr
Theseussage Dorpat 1892 p. 179, thinks that Ho\virri[j.wv was originally an appellative of
Hades, who sank successively from a god to a hero, and from a hero to a brigand.
Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 595 says : ' er bedeutete den Todesgott, der die Menschen auf
das letzte, fiir alle gleiche Lager streckt; (but see the folk-parallels in Frazer Pausanias
ii. 502) and op. cit. p. 595 n. 3 adds: 'Der Hammer...ist Symbol des Totengottes ;
Charun, der etruskische Totengott, fiihrt den Doppelhammer' (infra p. 641).
4 Listed by O. Wulff op. cit. p. 45 ff., E. Sarnow Die cyclischen Darstellungen aus der
Theseussage in der antiken Kunst und ihre literarische Quelle Leipzig 1894 p. 57 ff,
L. Sechan in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. v. 227 n. 3.
0 We are nowhere actually told that Theseus took the weapon from Prokroustes,
though that is perhaps implied by Plout. v. Thes. 11 and is commonly assumed as self-
evident (Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath. p. 260, O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
2685, 2687). We need not think of the robber as possessing two implements, a hammer
to lengthen out the short and an axe to shorten the long : an axe-hammer would have
served both purposes.
6 A late black-figured skyphos at Petrograd bears on both front and back a design,
which has been interpreted as Theseus attacking Skiron with a double axe in the pre-
sence of Athena (Stephani Vasensamml. St. Petersburg \. 67 f. no. 116, id. in the Coi/ipte-
rendu St. Pe't. 1866 p. 155 fig., p. 177 f., Reinach Rep. Vases i. 55, 6, O. Waser in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 1011). And a red-figured kylix at Florence with cyclic illustrations
shows the hero making for Sinis with the same tool (L. A. Milani in the Museo Italiano
di antichita classica 1890 iii. 239 ft". P1, 3> Reinach Re'p. Vases i. 529). But it would
be unsafe to infer from such isolated representations that Theseus had a double axe
independently of Prokroustes. His ancestral weapon was, of course, the sword of
Aigeus.
There is, however, some reason to associate the double axe with the legendary kings
of Athens. When Kodros devoted his life for his country, he dressed as a woodman (Lyk.
Al. 1378 avaKTos rod SpvrjKoirov with Tzetz. ad loc.) and took in hand a double axe (Tzetz.
chil. 1. 194 ft 5 yvovs 6 Kodpos /ecu ffTo\rjv d\pdp.evos 5pvTop.ov, \ 7re\e/cet A&Kwvd tlvo. KTeivas
dvTavaipelTai) or bill-hook (schol. Plat. symp. 208 D yvoiis Se touto 6 Kodpos, crretXas
eavrov eiireXet fftcevfj (lis j;v\io~rr]v Kal dpewavov \aj3wv, iirl rov x<xpa/ca twv Tro\€fJ.iwv irporjei.
40 — 2
koptesx the ' Cutter,' beat out his victims with the iron mallet2 of
his father Polypemon3 or lopped their limbs to suit his fatal bed,
till Theseus came and served him as he had served others. Attic
red-figured vases from the end of the sixth century onwards depict
the hero attacking his ferocious host with uplifted double axe4.
Whence did he obtain the axe? Presumably he wrenched it from
the hand of Damastes and carried it afterwards in token of his
victory5. However that may be6, the western pediment in the
C. Robert in U. von Wttamowitz-Moellendorff Aits Kydaihen Berlin 1880 p. 227 pointed
out that rrpoKpoueiv is the technical term for beating out a plate or bar of metal.
1 Bakchyl. 17. 27 ff. HoXvTrrjfjLovos re Kaprepdv \ a<pvpav i^fiaXev HpoKOjrras, dpeiovos
tvx&v I (pctiros with Sir R. C. Jebb ad loc. O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2687 ff.,
following up a hint of YVilamowitz in the Go'tt. gel. Anz. 1898 clx. 142, holds that the
subject of the sentence is still Theseus, who is here described as TrpoKowras, the ' striker
of a lightning-blow,' in opposition to the more ponderous Polypemon (UpoKpoOffrris), who
because stronger is spoken of as dpeiovos...(puros. Ingenious, but unconvincing.
2 Soph. Aigens frag. 19 Nauck2, 20 Jebb ap. Poll. 10. 160 and Ilesych. s.v. Kearpa
o-lo-qpa. Cp. Bakchyl. 17. 27 f., Apollod. epit. 1. 4, Hyg. fab. 38, and schol. Eur. Hipp.
977 (of Sinis).
3 See J. Ilberg in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2683. O. Hofer ib. iii. 2684 ft"., after
G. Kirchner Attica et Peloponnesiaca Greifswald 1890 p. 64 n. 4 and O. YVulff Zttr
Theseussage Dorpat 1892 p. 179, thinks that Ho\virri[j.wv was originally an appellative of
Hades, who sank successively from a god to a hero, and from a hero to a brigand.
Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 595 says : ' er bedeutete den Todesgott, der die Menschen auf
das letzte, fiir alle gleiche Lager streckt; (but see the folk-parallels in Frazer Pausanias
ii. 502) and op. cit. p. 595 n. 3 adds: 'Der Hammer...ist Symbol des Totengottes ;
Charun, der etruskische Totengott, fiihrt den Doppelhammer' (infra p. 641).
4 Listed by O. Wulff op. cit. p. 45 ff., E. Sarnow Die cyclischen Darstellungen aus der
Theseussage in der antiken Kunst und ihre literarische Quelle Leipzig 1894 p. 57 ff,
L. Sechan in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. v. 227 n. 3.
0 We are nowhere actually told that Theseus took the weapon from Prokroustes,
though that is perhaps implied by Plout. v. Thes. 11 and is commonly assumed as self-
evident (Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath. p. 260, O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
2685, 2687). We need not think of the robber as possessing two implements, a hammer
to lengthen out the short and an axe to shorten the long : an axe-hammer would have
served both purposes.
6 A late black-figured skyphos at Petrograd bears on both front and back a design,
which has been interpreted as Theseus attacking Skiron with a double axe in the pre-
sence of Athena (Stephani Vasensamml. St. Petersburg \. 67 f. no. 116, id. in the Coi/ipte-
rendu St. Pe't. 1866 p. 155 fig., p. 177 f., Reinach Rep. Vases i. 55, 6, O. Waser in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 1011). And a red-figured kylix at Florence with cyclic illustrations
shows the hero making for Sinis with the same tool (L. A. Milani in the Museo Italiano
di antichita classica 1890 iii. 239 ft". P1, 3> Reinach Re'p. Vases i. 529). But it would
be unsafe to infer from such isolated representations that Theseus had a double axe
independently of Prokroustes. His ancestral weapon was, of course, the sword of
Aigeus.
There is, however, some reason to associate the double axe with the legendary kings
of Athens. When Kodros devoted his life for his country, he dressed as a woodman (Lyk.
Al. 1378 avaKTos rod SpvrjKoirov with Tzetz. ad loc.) and took in hand a double axe (Tzetz.
chil. 1. 194 ft 5 yvovs 6 Kodpos /ecu ffTo\rjv d\pdp.evos 5pvTop.ov, \ 7re\e/cet A&Kwvd tlvo. KTeivas
dvTavaipelTai) or bill-hook (schol. Plat. symp. 208 D yvoiis Se touto 6 Kodpos, crretXas
eavrov eiireXet fftcevfj (lis j;v\io~rr]v Kal dpewavov \aj3wv, iirl rov x<xpa/ca twv Tro\€fJ.iwv irporjei.
40 — 2