DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0772
The axes of Penelope
an appellative of Zeus, who is known to have taken on occasion the
shape of a hoopoe (epops)1. Popular etymology, always rife among
the Greeks and busied with this myth in the fifth century B.C.2, would
readily equate Tereils the 'Watcher3' with Zeus Epopsios the 'Over-
seer4.' In reality the Thracian Tereits correlates with the Phrygian
Terete, an epithet of the mother-goddess worshipped on a mountain
near Lampsakos5. This tends to confirm our impression that to
Thracian believers Tereus the hoopoe was in some sense an embodi-
ment of the father-god.
Those who see in Odysseus a former fire-god6 or sun-god7 and in
Penelope a divinised duck can at least claim to detect a certain ap-
bility is mooted by Dr J. Rendel Harris, who in conversation has pointed out to me
(Feb. 1920) that, since the woodpecker is named Hadad or Heddad the "Smith" in north
Africa (J. Rendel Harris Boanerges Cambridge 1913 p. 304 f.), it is tempting to regard
IIi/cos 6 Kal Zevs as the Greek translation of Hadadrimmon [supra i. =.77) and Picus as the
Italian equivalent of Ben hadad [Boanerges p. 36 n. 1).
In weighing these various hypotheses we must not lose sight of the fact that IliVos 6 Kal
Zeus is consistently said to have been buried in Crete. Now the Idaean Cave has yielded
a tympanon of the ninth or eighth century B.C., which represents the youthful Zeus or
Zagreus in definitely Assyrian guise [supra i. 644 ff. pi. xxxv). Moreover, we have seen
reason to surmise that at Hagia Triada the soul of the prince embodying this deity took
the form of a jay {pica)—a bird whose bright plumage suggested comparison with the wood-
pecker [picas) [supra pp. 522, 523 f.). It is, then, conceivable that the phrase JIikos 6 Kal
Tievs finds its ultimate explanation in an actual Cretan cult, and that this cult was known,
at least by tradition, to the chronographer who first tacked the history of Rome on to that
of Assyria. When Euelpides in Aristoph. av. 480 spoke of Zeus as 'soon destined to re-
store the sceptre to the Woodpecker,' it was no mere flight of fancy but a genuine piece of
folk-belief [Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 81, J. Rendel Harris Boanerges Cambridge 1913 pp. 15,
35 f-> 357)- A trace of it survives even in the dull catalogue drawn up by Niketas, bishop
of Serrhai, towards the close of the eleventh century A. D. (Scholl—Studemund anecd. i.
265 'E-n-idera Aws no. 81 tt'lkov, 266 'ETridera Aw's no. 76 tt'lkov, 274 Niket. rhythm, de
duodec. deor. epith. 1. 1 ff. 'Ewidera Al6s...ttIkos, 281 f. 1 'E7ri'#era tou Aios...vIkos).
1 Infra Append. M med.
2 Aisch. frag. 304 Nauck2= Soph. frag. 581 Jebb ap. Aristot. hist. an. 9. 49. 633 a
17 ff. (cp. Plin. nat. hist. 10. 86) tovtov 8' eirowTriv eVo^a tQv clvtov kclkwu | 7re7rotK-tXoj/ce
KaTrodrjXwaas exei | dpaauv ireTpalov opviv iv TravTevxlq.- | k.t.X. A. C. Pearson ad loc,
following F. G. Welcker Die Griechischen Tragbdien Bonn 1839 i. 384, E. Oder in the
Rhein. Mus. 1888 xliii. 541 ff., Gruppe Gr. Myth. Ret. p. 92 n. 4, and others, makes out
a good case for transferring the fragment from Aischylos to Sophokles.
3 Schol. Aristoph. av. 102 6 \eyop.evos Trjpevs Trapa to Trjpelv tt\v 'Iai (sic), el. mag.
P- 757' 45 Tvpevs' 0 T7)pQ)v to. ijSovrjv aye?pa.l [eyeipai cod. V.) <5vva.fj.eva Kal aKpaala
7]5ovQ]v \e\rifjLfj.evos. Oder loc. cit. p. 553 cp. Ach. Tat. 5. 5 Kal 6 Trjpevs avrals crvvava-
j3alv€l, Kal opvis yiverai- Kal Trjpovaiv eVi tou wddovs ttjv elKova.
4 Supra i. 737, infra Append. M med.
5 77. 2. 829 Type'iys opos aiirv with Eustath. in II. p. 356, 11 ff. and especially Strab.
589 (cp. 565) ot 5' airb TeTTap&KOVTa aTaSlwv A.ap.\j/aKov deiKvvoucri \6<pov, e<p' o5 MrjTpos 6eQv
lepbv ko-Tiv ayiov, TTjpeirjs (so A. Koraes for r??s peirjs codd.) eTn.Ka\ovp.evov. See further
Oder loc. cit. p. 552 f. and M. Mayer in Hermes 1892 xxvii. 494 ff.
6 Supra i. 327 f.
7 Refuted by J. A. Scott ' Odysseus as a Sun God ' in Class. Philol. 1917 xii. 244—252
[Class. Quart. 1918 xii. 52).
an appellative of Zeus, who is known to have taken on occasion the
shape of a hoopoe (epops)1. Popular etymology, always rife among
the Greeks and busied with this myth in the fifth century B.C.2, would
readily equate Tereils the 'Watcher3' with Zeus Epopsios the 'Over-
seer4.' In reality the Thracian Tereits correlates with the Phrygian
Terete, an epithet of the mother-goddess worshipped on a mountain
near Lampsakos5. This tends to confirm our impression that to
Thracian believers Tereus the hoopoe was in some sense an embodi-
ment of the father-god.
Those who see in Odysseus a former fire-god6 or sun-god7 and in
Penelope a divinised duck can at least claim to detect a certain ap-
bility is mooted by Dr J. Rendel Harris, who in conversation has pointed out to me
(Feb. 1920) that, since the woodpecker is named Hadad or Heddad the "Smith" in north
Africa (J. Rendel Harris Boanerges Cambridge 1913 p. 304 f.), it is tempting to regard
IIi/cos 6 Kal Zevs as the Greek translation of Hadadrimmon [supra i. =.77) and Picus as the
Italian equivalent of Ben hadad [Boanerges p. 36 n. 1).
In weighing these various hypotheses we must not lose sight of the fact that IliVos 6 Kal
Zeus is consistently said to have been buried in Crete. Now the Idaean Cave has yielded
a tympanon of the ninth or eighth century B.C., which represents the youthful Zeus or
Zagreus in definitely Assyrian guise [supra i. 644 ff. pi. xxxv). Moreover, we have seen
reason to surmise that at Hagia Triada the soul of the prince embodying this deity took
the form of a jay {pica)—a bird whose bright plumage suggested comparison with the wood-
pecker [picas) [supra pp. 522, 523 f.). It is, then, conceivable that the phrase JIikos 6 Kal
Tievs finds its ultimate explanation in an actual Cretan cult, and that this cult was known,
at least by tradition, to the chronographer who first tacked the history of Rome on to that
of Assyria. When Euelpides in Aristoph. av. 480 spoke of Zeus as 'soon destined to re-
store the sceptre to the Woodpecker,' it was no mere flight of fancy but a genuine piece of
folk-belief [Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 81, J. Rendel Harris Boanerges Cambridge 1913 pp. 15,
35 f-> 357)- A trace of it survives even in the dull catalogue drawn up by Niketas, bishop
of Serrhai, towards the close of the eleventh century A. D. (Scholl—Studemund anecd. i.
265 'E-n-idera Aws no. 81 tt'lkov, 266 'ETridera Aw's no. 76 tt'lkov, 274 Niket. rhythm, de
duodec. deor. epith. 1. 1 ff. 'Ewidera Al6s...ttIkos, 281 f. 1 'E7ri'#era tou Aios...vIkos).
1 Infra Append. M med.
2 Aisch. frag. 304 Nauck2= Soph. frag. 581 Jebb ap. Aristot. hist. an. 9. 49. 633 a
17 ff. (cp. Plin. nat. hist. 10. 86) tovtov 8' eirowTriv eVo^a tQv clvtov kclkwu | 7re7rotK-tXoj/ce
KaTrodrjXwaas exei | dpaauv ireTpalov opviv iv TravTevxlq.- | k.t.X. A. C. Pearson ad loc,
following F. G. Welcker Die Griechischen Tragbdien Bonn 1839 i. 384, E. Oder in the
Rhein. Mus. 1888 xliii. 541 ff., Gruppe Gr. Myth. Ret. p. 92 n. 4, and others, makes out
a good case for transferring the fragment from Aischylos to Sophokles.
3 Schol. Aristoph. av. 102 6 \eyop.evos Trjpevs Trapa to Trjpelv tt\v 'Iai (sic), el. mag.
P- 757' 45 Tvpevs' 0 T7)pQ)v to. ijSovrjv aye?pa.l [eyeipai cod. V.) <5vva.fj.eva Kal aKpaala
7]5ovQ]v \e\rifjLfj.evos. Oder loc. cit. p. 553 cp. Ach. Tat. 5. 5 Kal 6 Trjpevs avrals crvvava-
j3alv€l, Kal opvis yiverai- Kal Trjpovaiv eVi tou wddovs ttjv elKova.
4 Supra i. 737, infra Append. M med.
5 77. 2. 829 Type'iys opos aiirv with Eustath. in II. p. 356, 11 ff. and especially Strab.
589 (cp. 565) ot 5' airb TeTTap&KOVTa aTaSlwv A.ap.\j/aKov deiKvvoucri \6<pov, e<p' o5 MrjTpos 6eQv
lepbv ko-Tiv ayiov, TTjpeirjs (so A. Koraes for r??s peirjs codd.) eTn.Ka\ovp.evov. See further
Oder loc. cit. p. 552 f. and M. Mayer in Hermes 1892 xxvii. 494 ff.
6 Supra i. 327 f.
7 Refuted by J. A. Scott ' Odysseus as a Sun God ' in Class. Philol. 1917 xii. 244—252
[Class. Quart. 1918 xii. 52).