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 axes of Tenedos

adding that in Lemnos they were treated as gods and called
the children of Hephaistos. This amazing statement—matched
only by what we hear of the lobster in Seriphos1—carries us
back to a primitive age, when the crab was not so much a gro-
tesque as an awesome thing. Nippers, after all, are no joke;
and the role played by the crab in religion2, mythology3, and

M. Schmidt ad loc. says: ' KapKivoi h.e. forcipes, irvpdypai.'' I. Voss cited Eustath. in Od.
p. 1389, 26 ff. ws be Kal Kapibas iarlv ov 17 TOLavrr] Xei;is (sc. Ka/x/uopos) ffrifAaivei brjXoL
'Adrjvaios iv rip Kd|xp.opoi ' kcu ti yevos Kaptbwv virb 'Fiofiaicov ovtlo KaXov/xevov' (cp. Athen.
306 C—d). Kal icrws ivrevdev oi xuScuoi tovs Ka(3ovpovs irapecpdeipav : but see J. Alberti s
n. on the Hesychian gloss.

1 Ail. de nat. an. 13. 26 'io~Ti be apa Kal reTTii; ivdXios.. .ov anovvTai be avrbv oi ttoXXol,
vofii^ovres iepbv. ^lepupiovs be clkovu Kal ddirreiv vexpbv eaXwKOTa ■ £wvra de is biKTVov
ifxirecrbvTa ov Karexovcriv dXXd dTrobibbaai rrj daXdrrr] add is. dprjvovai be apa avrovs diro-
davbvras, Kal Xeyovcri Hepaews tov Albs dftvp/xa avrovs elvai.

2 Alex. Polyhist. (?) frag. 135 a {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 239 Miiller) ap. Ail. de nat. an.
17. 1 ' AXe^avbpos iv tu> irepiirXip rr/s 'Upvdpas 6aXdrrr)s Xeyei.. .eopaKevai.. .Kal yivos KapKivwv,
ois to jxev barpaKov rrjv wepi<fiipeiav 6i%e Travra~)(_bdev irbba, xrfKal be r\prr\p.evai /niyiarai
irpoelxov, iiriftovXeveadaL be vtt' ovbevbs avrovs. to be a'iriov, lepol Xeyovrai IToaeibuivos.
Kal dcpiipwvrai rip deep, olov dvadrj/j.ara efoai ixeivov denvr/ re Kal dvenif3ovXevra oi KapKivoL.
Cp. O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 491, 609.

3 A. de Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872 ii. 354—359 ('The crab'),
L. Hopf Thierorakel und Orakelthiere in alter und nener Zeit Stuttgart 1888 p. 226
{'Krebse'), O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 485—500 ('Krebse'), O. Dahn-
hardt Natursagen Leipzig and Berlin 1907—1912 i—iv Index to each vol. s.v. 'Krebs.'

The monstrous crab sent by Hera to attack Herakles during his fight with the Hydra
(A. Furtwangler in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2198 f., 2224, 2243, O. Gruppe in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. Suppl. iii. 1033 ff-) appears first on fibulae of the Geometric period
(Brit. Mas. Cat. Bronzes p. 373 ff. no. 3205 (a) fig. 87, W. N. Bates in the Am. Journ.
Arch. 1911 xv. iff. figs. 2, 3). Okeanos on imperial coins of Tyre is a reclining figure
with a head-dress of crab's-claws (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phoenicia pp. cxlii, 289 no. 464,
296 pi. 35, 5): cp. a monochrome mask of Okeanos in a painting from Pompeii (Helbig
Wandgem. Camp. p. 205 no. 1023 ' mit Hornern wie von Krebsscheeren,' figured by
G. Fiorelli Giornale degli scavi di Pompci Napoli 1861 p. 16 pi. 3, 6). Thalassa on a
coin of Perinthos likewise wears a head-dress of crab's-claws (supra i. 752 f. fig. 552),
as did a statue in the Forum Constantini at Constantinople representing Thetis (Arethas
ap. schol. Aristeid. ii. 710 Dindorf 17s dvriKpv iv be^ia eiaiovcn rwv TrpoirvXaiwv Kal 17 tov
'Ax'XXews dvaKeirai Qins, Kaprdvois rr\v Ke<paXrjv biacrrecp-qs- k.t.X.) or Amphitrite (Kedren.
hist, cotnp. 323 A (i. 565 Bekker) 7rpds be rr\v dvaroXr/v 17 'Ap.(pirpiry\, x??X<is ^xov<Ta KapKivov
iirl tQv KpordcpLov. k.t.X.). This device became, in fact, a commonplace of marine subjects
(e.g. Brit. Mus. Cat. Bronzes p. 176 no. 964 bust of Triton: 'above the forehead are two
lobster's or crab's claws,' ib. p. 177 no. 971 sea-god (?): 'he has lobster's claws on his
head,' Amelung Sculpt. Vatic, ii. 250 ff. sarcophagus with sea-divinities: ' ein biirtiger
Meerkentaur mit Krebsscheren am Kopfe.' See also W. Drexler in Roscher Z<?x. Myth.
i. 1585).

'Aura/cos or "AaraKos, a town on the Gulf of Olbia in Bithynia, had as eponym
Astakos, son of Poseidon by the nymph Olbia (Arrian. frag. 29 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 592)
ap. Steph. Byz. s.v. "AaraKos). The name 'AaraKos or " AaraKos has been plausibly derived
from daraKos, ' a lobster' (W. Pape—G. E. Benseler Wbrterbuch der griechischeti Eigeu-
namen* Braunschweig 1875 i. 162 'Krabbe'). For the lobster abounded in these waters
(Archestratos frag. 8 Ribbeck ap. Athen. 104 F f., Aristot. hist. an. 5. 17. 549 b 15 f.) and
furnished an obvious type parlant to silver coins of Astakos struck in s. v B.C., which