DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0780
The spear of Zeus
Nonnos in the fifth century of our era makes Nike pray to Zeus
as follows:
Do thou in battle lift
Thy lightning-flash, Olympos' luminous spear1.
Accordingly, when Zeus meets Typhon,
in the fray
His shield was thunder and his corselet cloud,
The spear he shook was lightning2.
And elsewhere in the same poem Zeus is termed
The javelin-thrower of the thunderbolt3.
It is probable that the poets were but adopting a popular belief; for
Eustathios in the middle ages explained that 'Zeus has a fiery spear4,'
and the modern Greek sailor with his eye on the storm-cloud will say
'God is throwing lightning like spear-strokes5.'
The axe-bearing Zeus of Karia is not unfrequently represented
with a spear". And, since he was worshipped as Slrdtios, 'Lord of
Hosts7,' this weapon might no doubt be explained as an indispens-
able part of his panoply. Nevertheless it is probable that the old
storm-god became the new war-god just because his thunderbolt was
conceived as a potent weapon, first a double axe and then a spear
or sword8.
At Hydisos in Karia Zeus Areios, the 'Warlike,' appears on a
bronze coin struck by Hadrian (fig. 635)9 as a soldier with helmet
and shield, though he still brandishes a thunderbolt in his raised right
hand. Bronze coins of the same town dating from the first century
1 Norm. Dion. 2. 2 11 f. fiapvafievos 8e \ do~Tepo-rrr)v Koixpi'^e ae\a<j(pbpov ^7%os OXv^ttov.
Conversely 47. 609 ff. Hera hurls at Dionysos a spear, daTepOTrijs ixifj.^p.a, debaavrov
aWoixevov irvp [... aekaatpopov aWorra \byxrlv-
2 Nonn. Dion. 2. 478 ff. ev 5e Kv5oip.u} \ ppovr-qv p.ev crd/cos elxe, ve<pos be ot '4Tr\ero
dibprj^, I /cat OTepoirr\v 86pv wdWe, k.t.X.
3 Nonn. Dion. 7. 163 Z77W...dKoururrTjpi Kepauvov.
4 Eustath. in II. p. 1240, 51 f. /cat Zei)s be irvpivov ixeL Sbpv, Tovreoriv Zyxos. e£ ov
/cat eyxeiKipavvos wapa Wivbapu Xeyerac.
5 B. Schmidt Das Volksleben der Neitgriechen Leipzig 1871 i. 32 6 debs pt7rret (more
often pLxvei) dcrTpairals adv Kovrapiais.
6 Supra pp. 574 ff., 593. 7 Supra pp. 576 ff., 590 f.
8 Supra p. 591 n. 1, infra p. 712 ff.
9 D. Sestini Lettere e dissertazioni numismatiche Firenze 1818 v. 44, 1820 ix pi. 3, 11,
id. Classes generates sen Moneta vetus urbium populorum et reguni1 Florentiae i82r p. 88,
F. Streber in the Abh. d. bayer. Akad. /Sj5 Philos.-philol. Classe pp. 232—239 pi. 4, 5,
T. Panofka in the Abh. d. berl. Akad. iSjj Phil.-hist. Classe pp. 32—42 ('Zeus Areios')
pi. 1—2, 2, Miiller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Kunst ii. 11 pi. 2, 21, Overbeck Gr. Kunst-
myth. Zeus pp. 208—210 Miinztaf. 3, 11 ( = my fig. 635), Head Hist, num.'- p. 620.
Sestini locc. citt. read IACCG0ON, Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 353 no. 291
lACeCON, Streber/^. cit. lAICGCON, Panofka loc. cit. IAC6HN, Wieseler loc. cit.
IAIC6C0N (for lACCeCON), Overbeck loc. cit. IAIC6HN. B. V. Head was the
first to transfer the coin from Iasos to Hydisos.
C. II. • 45
Nonnos in the fifth century of our era makes Nike pray to Zeus
as follows:
Do thou in battle lift
Thy lightning-flash, Olympos' luminous spear1.
Accordingly, when Zeus meets Typhon,
in the fray
His shield was thunder and his corselet cloud,
The spear he shook was lightning2.
And elsewhere in the same poem Zeus is termed
The javelin-thrower of the thunderbolt3.
It is probable that the poets were but adopting a popular belief; for
Eustathios in the middle ages explained that 'Zeus has a fiery spear4,'
and the modern Greek sailor with his eye on the storm-cloud will say
'God is throwing lightning like spear-strokes5.'
The axe-bearing Zeus of Karia is not unfrequently represented
with a spear". And, since he was worshipped as Slrdtios, 'Lord of
Hosts7,' this weapon might no doubt be explained as an indispens-
able part of his panoply. Nevertheless it is probable that the old
storm-god became the new war-god just because his thunderbolt was
conceived as a potent weapon, first a double axe and then a spear
or sword8.
At Hydisos in Karia Zeus Areios, the 'Warlike,' appears on a
bronze coin struck by Hadrian (fig. 635)9 as a soldier with helmet
and shield, though he still brandishes a thunderbolt in his raised right
hand. Bronze coins of the same town dating from the first century
1 Norm. Dion. 2. 2 11 f. fiapvafievos 8e \ do~Tepo-rrr)v Koixpi'^e ae\a<j(pbpov ^7%os OXv^ttov.
Conversely 47. 609 ff. Hera hurls at Dionysos a spear, daTepOTrijs ixifj.^p.a, debaavrov
aWoixevov irvp [... aekaatpopov aWorra \byxrlv-
2 Nonn. Dion. 2. 478 ff. ev 5e Kv5oip.u} \ ppovr-qv p.ev crd/cos elxe, ve<pos be ot '4Tr\ero
dibprj^, I /cat OTepoirr\v 86pv wdWe, k.t.X.
3 Nonn. Dion. 7. 163 Z77W...dKoururrTjpi Kepauvov.
4 Eustath. in II. p. 1240, 51 f. /cat Zei)s be irvpivov ixeL Sbpv, Tovreoriv Zyxos. e£ ov
/cat eyxeiKipavvos wapa Wivbapu Xeyerac.
5 B. Schmidt Das Volksleben der Neitgriechen Leipzig 1871 i. 32 6 debs pt7rret (more
often pLxvei) dcrTpairals adv Kovrapiais.
6 Supra pp. 574 ff., 593. 7 Supra pp. 576 ff., 590 f.
8 Supra p. 591 n. 1, infra p. 712 ff.
9 D. Sestini Lettere e dissertazioni numismatiche Firenze 1818 v. 44, 1820 ix pi. 3, 11,
id. Classes generates sen Moneta vetus urbium populorum et reguni1 Florentiae i82r p. 88,
F. Streber in the Abh. d. bayer. Akad. /Sj5 Philos.-philol. Classe pp. 232—239 pi. 4, 5,
T. Panofka in the Abh. d. berl. Akad. iSjj Phil.-hist. Classe pp. 32—42 ('Zeus Areios')
pi. 1—2, 2, Miiller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Kunst ii. 11 pi. 2, 21, Overbeck Gr. Kunst-
myth. Zeus pp. 208—210 Miinztaf. 3, 11 ( = my fig. 635), Head Hist, num.'- p. 620.
Sestini locc. citt. read IACCG0ON, Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 353 no. 291
lACeCON, Streber/^. cit. lAICGCON, Panofka loc. cit. IAC6HN, Wieseler loc. cit.
IAIC6C0N (for lACCeCON), Overbeck loc. cit. IAIC6HN. B. V. Head was the
first to transfer the coin from Iasos to Hydisos.
C. II. • 45