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 axe carried by priests and priestesses 631

pita1. The pontifical axe that appears on denarii struck by

Fig- 536-

glossariorum Latinorum Lipsiae 1888 ii (ed. G. Goetz—G. Gundermann). 13 no. 9 acceres
(sic) d£ii'<?7> lepo<pdvTov lis HXavros and other glosses cited in the Tkes. Ling. Lat. i.
399, 69 ff. Walde Lat. etym. Worterb? p. 8 says : ' nach Eiicheler Rh. Mus. xi.vi (1891),
233 ff. zu acies "Schneide, Scharfe," aciarium " vulgarer Name des Stahls " (s. acer).
Bildung unklar.'

1 Paul, ex Fest. p. 336, 9 Miiller, p. 453, 16 f. Lindsay secespitam alii securim, alii
dolabram aeneam, alii cultellum esse putant. But see Fest. p. 348 a 4 ff. Miiller. p. 472,
19 ff. Lindsay <s>ecespitam esse Antisti<us Labeo (frag. 21 Funaioli) ait cultrum>
ferreum, oblongum, mani<brio eburneo rotund >o, solido, vincto ad ca<pulum argento
auroque,'> fixum clavis aeneis, ae<re Cyprio, quo flami>nes, flaminicae, virgi<nes
pontificesque ad sa>crificia utuntur = interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 4. 262. This more
detailed account is borne out by Suet. Tib. 25 nam et inter pontifices sacrificanti simul
pro secespita plumbeum cultrum subiciendum curavit. Walde op. cit? p. 692 : 'jedenfalls
zu seco..., obgleich die Bildung (oder Zusammensetzung?) unklar ist (s. caespes).'

Fest. p. 318^ 16 ff. Midler, p. 422, 32 ff. Lindsay scena ab aliis, a quibusdam sacena
appellatur dolabra pontificalis, Paul, ex Fest. p. 319, 8 Miiller, p. 423, 13 Lindsay scena
sive sacena dolabra pontificalis. Walde op. cit? p. 668 : 'aus *sacesna, zu saxum..., secdre,
scena.' De Vit Lat. Lex. s.vv. 'sacena,' ' sescenaris' explains Liv. 41. 15 bovis sesce?iaris
as ' an ox struck by the pontifical axe.'