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)

68o The sword and the

(a) The sword and the sacred tree at Rhegion.

The appearance of the tree-mother as a bear suggests compari-
son with Artemis, whose relations to that animal are well known1.
It is therefore interesting to find that Orestes, when he fled from
the Taurian land with the image of Artemis, touched at Rhegion
for purposes of purification, built there a temple of Apollon, and on
departure left his sword in a tree, where it was long to be seen2.
The ' Swordsman's Harbour' at Rhegion perhaps commemorated
his exploit3. Further, he bore the image of Artemis done up in a
bundle of rods, from which circumstance she received her title
Pkakelttis* or Phakeline*, the goddess 'of the Bundle.' I have else-
where6 argued that this title enables us to regard as analogous cases
the axe projecting from a bundle of rods, which was carried by the
Roman lictor7, and the iron scimitar set up on numerous bundles of
sticks, which was worshipped by the Scythians8.

Another myth that should be considered in this connexion is
that of Myrrha, the daughter of Kinyras. According to one version9,
she loved her own father, made him drunk, and consorted with him10.
When he realised what had happened, he pursued her with a drawn
sword. Hereupon she was changed into a ' myrrh'-tree. Her father
struck it with his sword ; and from the tree Adonis was born. It
may be suspected that in this form of the story the sword has taken
the place of a double axe. For a copper of Myra in Lykia issued
by Gordianus iii Pius (238—244 A.D.) shows a tree, with a female

1 J. J. Bachofen Der Brer in den Religionen des Alterthums Basel 1863 p. 15 ff.,
S. Reinach in the Revue celtique 1900 xxi. 287 ff. with pi. 1 ( = id. Cultes, Mythes et
Religions Paris 1905 i. 55 ff. with fig. 1), Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. Index p. 1898 s.v. 'Bar,'

0. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1909 i. 176. Supra i. 417, 421 f., 442, 453 n. 5, 784.

2 Varro and Cato ap. Prob. in Verg. eel. praef. p. 348 Lion.

3 In Hesych. Si0/pof \ip.r}v AiVx^Xos TXavtcip llorvteu 6 Tropdfxos. ravra yap iravra
to, irepl 'Friyiov wpeiuv I. Casaubon cj. ^l<pripov, which F. G. Schneidewin Diana Phaee-
litis et Orestes apud Rheginos et Siculos Gottingae 1832 p. 11 corrected into ^icpr/povs.
A. Meineke in Philologus 1858 xiii. 510 f. proposed S,i<prjpovs \ifj.rju- and [ret] wept 'V-qyiov
.. ,'£lplwv(os tpyov) on the strength of Diod. 4. 85. See further J. Alberti and M. Schmidt
ad loe., A. Nauck on Aisch. frag. 33 Nauck2, Philipp in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i a.
496. It is uncertain whether ^Lcpripris refers to Orion, as in Eur. Ion H53, or t° Orestes
(cp. Strab. 239 ^icpriprjs ovv ecrriv del of the priest at Nemi, whose mythical prototype was
Orestes).

4 Serv. in Verg. Aen. 2. 116, Prob. loc. cit. Cp. Serv. in Verg. eel. praef. p. 95 Lion.

5 Lucil. sat. 3 frag. 72 Bahrens.

6 Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 362 n. 3.

7 Supra p. 633!!". 8 Supra p. 547 n. 3.

. 9 Interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 5. 72, Hyg. fab. 164, Fulgent, myth. 3. 8, Myth. Vat.

1. 200, 2. 34, 3. 11. 17. That Kinyras pursued his daughter with a sword is stated also
by Apollod. 3. 14. 4, Ov. met. 10. 471 ff., interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 10. 18.

10 On the significance of such incest see the convincing remarks of Frazer Golden
Bough3: Adonis Attis Osiris3 i. 43 f.