DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0789
The sword of Zeus
7*3
and that the weapon brandished in his right hand appears to be a
thunderbolt of unusual form. The other combatants are grouped
in pairs1. Hera stabs Harpolykos (?). Athena seizes Enkelados by
the crest of his helmet and swings up a short sword for the coup de
grace. Poseidon, in a scaled cuirass, with a black rock (the island
Nisyros) on his left shoulder and a trident in his right hand., dis-
patches Polybotes. And Hermes, in pe'tasos, pelt, and endromides,
plunges a lance into Polybios. The inscriptions, according to
P. ■ Kretschmer2, suggest that the painter hailed from Keos, or
possibly Naxos or Amorgos. Our business, however, is not with
the subject as a whole, but with the weapon of Zeus in particular.
O. Jahna, J. Overbeck4, and M. Mayer5—three highly competent
critics—all took it to be a sword. But E. Pottier13—an authority of
equal eminence—described it as the thunderbolt. And P. Jacobsthal7
has argued in the same sense: he points out that Zeus, unlike the
other swordsmen of the vase, has neither sheath nor sword-belt;
that the attitude of his arm implies the action of hurling, not
striking; and that the lines engraved on the bolt can be paralleled
from the Etruscan mirror already discussed8. I accept this con-
clusion and assume that the front half of the thunderbolt is supposed
to be hidden by the swan-head crests of Zeus' helmet.
We are on surer ground, though in a less Hellenic atmosphere,
when we pass from the Kyklades to Karia. In the temple at
Labranda near Mylasa Zeus was worshipped as Strdtios, and his
ancient image had a sword slung beside it:'. Here we can be
1 On this type-form see Overbeck op. cit. Zeus p. 341 ff. and H. B. Walters in the
Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases ii. 9 ff.
- P. Kretschmer in the Zeitschriftfiir vergleichende Sprachforschung 1889—1892 xxxi.
292 fF., id. Die Griechischen Vaseninschriften Giitersloh 1894 pp. 59—61 ('Keische Vase'):
*VHl=Zefc,.. .40* A1 A= 'A7ao-^Hs], 2019SHP V='Ttt^os, HI PI A ATE S
~Eirtd\rV,, APPOA . . . .='ap7t6\[vkos], HE .. ="h[pv], £H3MS3H='Ep/M}j,
P .. . BIO£=n[0\u]/3t0S, AOENAH = "A<v<"?, SOAAA3HI3H = 'E(7)[V]tfuSoy,
. 3TOaVAOn =IIo\ii/3wr)7[s]. The same irregularity in the writing of ^-sounds is,
according to Kretschmer, a feature of Cean inscriptions (but see A. Thumb Handbuch
der griechischen Dialekte Heidelberg 1909 p. 346 f.).
3 O. Jahn in the Ann. d. Inst. 1863 xxxv. 246 : ' una larga spada.'
4 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 349: ' nicht seinen Blitz, sondern ein gewaltiges
Schwerdt.'
5 M. Mayer Die Giganten und Tiianen Berlin 1887 p. 285 : ' ein Schwert.'
H E. Pottier Vases antiques du Louvre 2me Serie Paris 1901 p. 68: 'Zeus brandit le
foudre de la main droite.'
7 P. Jacobsthal Der Blitz in der orientalischen und griechischen Kunst Berlin 1906
p. 15 n. 2.
8 Supra p. 709 ff. pi. xxix.
9 Ail. de fiat. an. 12. 30 quoted supra p. 591 n. 1.
7*3
and that the weapon brandished in his right hand appears to be a
thunderbolt of unusual form. The other combatants are grouped
in pairs1. Hera stabs Harpolykos (?). Athena seizes Enkelados by
the crest of his helmet and swings up a short sword for the coup de
grace. Poseidon, in a scaled cuirass, with a black rock (the island
Nisyros) on his left shoulder and a trident in his right hand., dis-
patches Polybotes. And Hermes, in pe'tasos, pelt, and endromides,
plunges a lance into Polybios. The inscriptions, according to
P. ■ Kretschmer2, suggest that the painter hailed from Keos, or
possibly Naxos or Amorgos. Our business, however, is not with
the subject as a whole, but with the weapon of Zeus in particular.
O. Jahna, J. Overbeck4, and M. Mayer5—three highly competent
critics—all took it to be a sword. But E. Pottier13—an authority of
equal eminence—described it as the thunderbolt. And P. Jacobsthal7
has argued in the same sense: he points out that Zeus, unlike the
other swordsmen of the vase, has neither sheath nor sword-belt;
that the attitude of his arm implies the action of hurling, not
striking; and that the lines engraved on the bolt can be paralleled
from the Etruscan mirror already discussed8. I accept this con-
clusion and assume that the front half of the thunderbolt is supposed
to be hidden by the swan-head crests of Zeus' helmet.
We are on surer ground, though in a less Hellenic atmosphere,
when we pass from the Kyklades to Karia. In the temple at
Labranda near Mylasa Zeus was worshipped as Strdtios, and his
ancient image had a sword slung beside it:'. Here we can be
1 On this type-form see Overbeck op. cit. Zeus p. 341 ff. and H. B. Walters in the
Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases ii. 9 ff.
- P. Kretschmer in the Zeitschriftfiir vergleichende Sprachforschung 1889—1892 xxxi.
292 fF., id. Die Griechischen Vaseninschriften Giitersloh 1894 pp. 59—61 ('Keische Vase'):
*VHl=Zefc,.. .40* A1 A= 'A7ao-^Hs], 2019SHP V='Ttt^os, HI PI A ATE S
~Eirtd\rV,, APPOA . . . .='ap7t6\[vkos], HE .. ="h[pv], £H3MS3H='Ep/M}j,
P .. . BIO£=n[0\u]/3t0S, AOENAH = "A<v<"?, SOAAA3HI3H = 'E(7)[V]tfuSoy,
. 3TOaVAOn =IIo\ii/3wr)7[s]. The same irregularity in the writing of ^-sounds is,
according to Kretschmer, a feature of Cean inscriptions (but see A. Thumb Handbuch
der griechischen Dialekte Heidelberg 1909 p. 346 f.).
3 O. Jahn in the Ann. d. Inst. 1863 xxxv. 246 : ' una larga spada.'
4 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 349: ' nicht seinen Blitz, sondern ein gewaltiges
Schwerdt.'
5 M. Mayer Die Giganten und Tiianen Berlin 1887 p. 285 : ' ein Schwert.'
H E. Pottier Vases antiques du Louvre 2me Serie Paris 1901 p. 68: 'Zeus brandit le
foudre de la main droite.'
7 P. Jacobsthal Der Blitz in der orientalischen und griechischen Kunst Berlin 1906
p. 15 n. 2.
8 Supra p. 709 ff. pi. xxix.
9 Ail. de fiat. an. 12. 30 quoted supra p. 591 n. 1.