DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0751
676 The double axes of Tenedos
by a monogram of the Greek letters KO, and there is frequently
(figs, 614, 617) a countermark which appears to represent a double
axe in a circle1. Now Proculeius is known to have been interested
in the religious and mythical antiquities of the neighbourhood. For
a small piece struck by him shows an Agytetis-piWar (fig. 616)'-, and
Fig. 616. Fig. 617.
a large piece shows the ray-fish3 whose poisonous tail, used as a
spear-head4 by Telegonos, caused the death of Odysseus (fig. 617)5.
It is therefore likely enough that the double axe associated with
Zeus in Korkyra was none other than the weapon of the old
'Minoan' sky-god.
1 M. Bahrfeldt Nachtrdge icnd Berichtigungeu zur Miinzkunde Wien 1897 p. 227.
2 M. Bahrfeldt op. cit. p. 227 fig. ( = my fig. 616) pi. 10, 241.
3 Numismatists for more than a century past {e.g. S. Havercamp in Morell. Thes. Num.
Fam. Rom. i. 361 pi. Proculeia, 2, Rasche Lex. Num. vii. 171 f., 723) have described the
type of this interesting coin as a ray-fish. F. Imhoof-Blumer and O. Keller Tier- und
Pflanzenbilder auf Miinzen und Gemmen Leipzig 1889 p. 43 pi. 6, 42 specify the thorn-
back (Raja clavatd). O. Keller Die antike Tiei-welt Leipzig 1913 ii. 376 f. pi. 2, 3 repeats
this opinion, and further regards the death of Odysseus as due to the same fish. J. van
Leeuwen, commenting on Od. 11. 1346°. (ed. 2 Lugduni-Batavorum 1917), argues that
the spear-head of Telegonos was the tail of a sting-ray (Raja pastinaca),, which is not
merely a formidable weapon (Plin. nat. hist. 9. 144) but actually poisonous (Opp. depise.
2. 470 ff., cp. A. C. L. G. Gtinther An Introduction to the Study of Fishes Edinburgh 1880
p. 190 fig. 98, p. 342, R. Lydekker The Royal Natural History London 1896 v. 545).
A. C. Pearson, d propos of Soph. 'Odvacrevs aKavdoirXr}^ rj Nt7rrpa (The Fragments of
Sophocles Cambridge 1917 ii. 105 ff.), by a curious slip takes Telegonos' fish to have been
a roach. W. Radcliffe Fishing from the Earliest Times London 1921 justly protests that
'the absolutely harmless Roach' will not do, and agrees with J. van Leeuwen that the
fish must have been a sting-ray. Returning to the subject in The Times Literary Supplement
for Jan. 5, 1922 p. 13 Mr Radcliffe accepts a suggestion of Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson
(ib. for Dec. 15, 1921 p. 844) that the precise species was 'a great Eagle-Ray' (Myliobatis
aquild).
4 Dr A. C. Haddon informs me (Jan. 23, 1922) that spears tipped with spines of the
sting-ray are well known in Melanesia generally and also in Queensland (e.g. British
Museum: Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections London 1910 p. 121 fig. 99, a from
the Fiji Islands). Kwoiam, a legendary hero of the Torres Straits, killed his mother by
means of a spear pointed with three sting-ray spines (A. C. Haddon Reports of the
Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits Cambridge 1904 v. 71)—a perfect
parallel to the story of Telegonos.
5 Fig. 617 is from Babelon Afonn. rep. rom. ii. 388 fig. ('Jupiter en Terme.' Haver-
camp loc. cit.: 'Terminalis Jovis vel Neptuni.' Rasche op. cit. vii. 171: 'Neptuni.'
Imhoof-Blumer loc. cit.: 'Hermenkopf').
by a monogram of the Greek letters KO, and there is frequently
(figs, 614, 617) a countermark which appears to represent a double
axe in a circle1. Now Proculeius is known to have been interested
in the religious and mythical antiquities of the neighbourhood. For
a small piece struck by him shows an Agytetis-piWar (fig. 616)'-, and
Fig. 616. Fig. 617.
a large piece shows the ray-fish3 whose poisonous tail, used as a
spear-head4 by Telegonos, caused the death of Odysseus (fig. 617)5.
It is therefore likely enough that the double axe associated with
Zeus in Korkyra was none other than the weapon of the old
'Minoan' sky-god.
1 M. Bahrfeldt Nachtrdge icnd Berichtigungeu zur Miinzkunde Wien 1897 p. 227.
2 M. Bahrfeldt op. cit. p. 227 fig. ( = my fig. 616) pi. 10, 241.
3 Numismatists for more than a century past {e.g. S. Havercamp in Morell. Thes. Num.
Fam. Rom. i. 361 pi. Proculeia, 2, Rasche Lex. Num. vii. 171 f., 723) have described the
type of this interesting coin as a ray-fish. F. Imhoof-Blumer and O. Keller Tier- und
Pflanzenbilder auf Miinzen und Gemmen Leipzig 1889 p. 43 pi. 6, 42 specify the thorn-
back (Raja clavatd). O. Keller Die antike Tiei-welt Leipzig 1913 ii. 376 f. pi. 2, 3 repeats
this opinion, and further regards the death of Odysseus as due to the same fish. J. van
Leeuwen, commenting on Od. 11. 1346°. (ed. 2 Lugduni-Batavorum 1917), argues that
the spear-head of Telegonos was the tail of a sting-ray (Raja pastinaca),, which is not
merely a formidable weapon (Plin. nat. hist. 9. 144) but actually poisonous (Opp. depise.
2. 470 ff., cp. A. C. L. G. Gtinther An Introduction to the Study of Fishes Edinburgh 1880
p. 190 fig. 98, p. 342, R. Lydekker The Royal Natural History London 1896 v. 545).
A. C. Pearson, d propos of Soph. 'Odvacrevs aKavdoirXr}^ rj Nt7rrpa (The Fragments of
Sophocles Cambridge 1917 ii. 105 ff.), by a curious slip takes Telegonos' fish to have been
a roach. W. Radcliffe Fishing from the Earliest Times London 1921 justly protests that
'the absolutely harmless Roach' will not do, and agrees with J. van Leeuwen that the
fish must have been a sting-ray. Returning to the subject in The Times Literary Supplement
for Jan. 5, 1922 p. 13 Mr Radcliffe accepts a suggestion of Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson
(ib. for Dec. 15, 1921 p. 844) that the precise species was 'a great Eagle-Ray' (Myliobatis
aquild).
4 Dr A. C. Haddon informs me (Jan. 23, 1922) that spears tipped with spines of the
sting-ray are well known in Melanesia generally and also in Queensland (e.g. British
Museum: Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections London 1910 p. 121 fig. 99, a from
the Fiji Islands). Kwoiam, a legendary hero of the Torres Straits, killed his mother by
means of a spear pointed with three sting-ray spines (A. C. Haddon Reports of the
Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits Cambridge 1904 v. 71)—a perfect
parallel to the story of Telegonos.
5 Fig. 617 is from Babelon Afonn. rep. rom. ii. 388 fig. ('Jupiter en Terme.' Haver-
camp loc. cit.: 'Terminalis Jovis vel Neptuni.' Rasche op. cit. vii. 171: 'Neptuni.'
Imhoof-Blumer loc. cit.: 'Hermenkopf').