DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0792
716
The sword of Zeus
Greeks—say Ionians of the coast-district—as the ' Bearer of a
Golden Sword.' Now we have seen that the Ionians of the Kyklades
had quite a penchant for arming their deities with the sword: on
the amphora figured above (pi. xxx) even Hera and Athena are
using this weapon with effect. We are therefore prepared to find
that Ionic minstrels, and after them the poets in general, spoke of
this, that, and the other divine personage as ' bearer of a golden
sword.' Apollon, for example, was chrysdoros1 or cJirysdor"-—an
epithet which certainly denotes him as god ' of the golden sword'
(dor), not, as it was misinterpreted by later critics, ' of the golden
quiver-strap {aorter), or lyre-strap, or lyre3.' Artemis too in an
oracle of Bakis was, like her brother, chrysdoros^. So was Demeter
in the Homeric hymn5. Orpheus was described by Pindar as chry-
sdor6. And Chrysaor, Chrysaorios, Chrysaoreus occur as theophoric
names, not only in Karia and countries adjacent7, but also in places
far afield8.
Nor must we forget Chrysaor the twin-brother of Pegasos.
Hesiod9 tells us that, when Perseus cut off the head of the Gorgon
Medousa,—
Forth sprang Chrysaor huge and Pegasos
The horse—this named from the founts of Ocean
Where he was born ; that grasped a golden sword.
Pegasos, quitting earth the mother of flocks,
Winged his way heavenward: in Zeus' home he dwells
Bearing the thunder-peal and lightning-flash
For Zeus the wise. Chrysaor met and knew
Great Ocean's child, the maid Kallirrhoe,
And had for son three-headed Geryon.
1 II. 5. 509, 15. 256, h. Ap. 395, h. Artem. 3, Hes. frag. 227, 3 Flach, 265, 3 Rzach
ap. schol. Pind. Nem. 2. 1, Ap. Rhod. 3. 1283 (xpwraopy 'AiroWwvi R. C. Seaton and
G. W. Mooney with codd. G. L 16. and two of the Vatican mss.), Schdll—Studemund
anecd. i. 267 'E7rt#era 'AttoWcovos no. 46 xPv<Taopov.
- H. Ap. 123, Hes. 0. d. 771, Pind. Pyth. 5. 104, Orph. Arg. 140, Ap. Rhod. 3. 1283
(xpvaaopi 'KttoWwvl vulg., but see supra n. 1).
3 Schol. II. 5. 509, 15. 256, Hesych. s.v. xpvcrdwp, Souid. s.v. xpi'faopo^. See Preller—
Robert Gr. Myth. i. 290 n. 5, O. Jessen in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 2484f.
4 Hdt. 8. n^Ant/i. Pal. 14. 98. 1 (Bakis).
5 H. Dem. 4. E. E. Sikes ad loc. comments: ' xPvffa°P0V '■ Hermann thought that the
epithet could only have been chosen by an interpolator. But Demeter is ^upTjcpopos in
Lycophr. 153, where the schol. notes iv rfj BoLwria tdpurai \rip.r\ri)p £t'(/>o? ^%oucra.'
6 Pind. frag. 139, 10 Schroder ap. schol. //. 15. 256 XPV<T°-°P0V' rfT0L XPwc"P®-<J~i'xvov■>
7) xPvao^v T0V aopTTjpa rrjs (papirpas £xovTa ?) tv^ Kid&pas, ovk£ti tov £i<povs- a-yvbs yap 6
deos (codd. A. D.). Kal HlvSapos x/wcdopa top 'Opcpea (prjai. rives 8e XPVC!0^V s'0°s ex0VTa
(codd. A. L., cp. cod. T.).
7 E. Sittig De Graecorum nominibus theophoris (Dissei'tationes philologicae Halenses
xx. 1) Halis Saxonum 1911 p. \i, W. Pape—G. E. Benseler Wbrterbuch der griechischen
Eigennamen3 Braunschweig 1875 ii. 1692.
8 De Vit Onomasticon ii. 266, Thes. Ling. Lat. Suppl. i. 419, 25 ff.
9 Hes. theog. 281—288.
The sword of Zeus
Greeks—say Ionians of the coast-district—as the ' Bearer of a
Golden Sword.' Now we have seen that the Ionians of the Kyklades
had quite a penchant for arming their deities with the sword: on
the amphora figured above (pi. xxx) even Hera and Athena are
using this weapon with effect. We are therefore prepared to find
that Ionic minstrels, and after them the poets in general, spoke of
this, that, and the other divine personage as ' bearer of a golden
sword.' Apollon, for example, was chrysdoros1 or cJirysdor"-—an
epithet which certainly denotes him as god ' of the golden sword'
(dor), not, as it was misinterpreted by later critics, ' of the golden
quiver-strap {aorter), or lyre-strap, or lyre3.' Artemis too in an
oracle of Bakis was, like her brother, chrysdoros^. So was Demeter
in the Homeric hymn5. Orpheus was described by Pindar as chry-
sdor6. And Chrysaor, Chrysaorios, Chrysaoreus occur as theophoric
names, not only in Karia and countries adjacent7, but also in places
far afield8.
Nor must we forget Chrysaor the twin-brother of Pegasos.
Hesiod9 tells us that, when Perseus cut off the head of the Gorgon
Medousa,—
Forth sprang Chrysaor huge and Pegasos
The horse—this named from the founts of Ocean
Where he was born ; that grasped a golden sword.
Pegasos, quitting earth the mother of flocks,
Winged his way heavenward: in Zeus' home he dwells
Bearing the thunder-peal and lightning-flash
For Zeus the wise. Chrysaor met and knew
Great Ocean's child, the maid Kallirrhoe,
And had for son three-headed Geryon.
1 II. 5. 509, 15. 256, h. Ap. 395, h. Artem. 3, Hes. frag. 227, 3 Flach, 265, 3 Rzach
ap. schol. Pind. Nem. 2. 1, Ap. Rhod. 3. 1283 (xpwraopy 'AiroWwvi R. C. Seaton and
G. W. Mooney with codd. G. L 16. and two of the Vatican mss.), Schdll—Studemund
anecd. i. 267 'E7rt#era 'AttoWcovos no. 46 xPv<Taopov.
- H. Ap. 123, Hes. 0. d. 771, Pind. Pyth. 5. 104, Orph. Arg. 140, Ap. Rhod. 3. 1283
(xpvaaopi 'KttoWwvl vulg., but see supra n. 1).
3 Schol. II. 5. 509, 15. 256, Hesych. s.v. xpvcrdwp, Souid. s.v. xpi'faopo^. See Preller—
Robert Gr. Myth. i. 290 n. 5, O. Jessen in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 2484f.
4 Hdt. 8. n^Ant/i. Pal. 14. 98. 1 (Bakis).
5 H. Dem. 4. E. E. Sikes ad loc. comments: ' xPvffa°P0V '■ Hermann thought that the
epithet could only have been chosen by an interpolator. But Demeter is ^upTjcpopos in
Lycophr. 153, where the schol. notes iv rfj BoLwria tdpurai \rip.r\ri)p £t'(/>o? ^%oucra.'
6 Pind. frag. 139, 10 Schroder ap. schol. //. 15. 256 XPV<T°-°P0V' rfT0L XPwc"P®-<J~i'xvov■>
7) xPvao^v T0V aopTTjpa rrjs (papirpas £xovTa ?) tv^ Kid&pas, ovk£ti tov £i<povs- a-yvbs yap 6
deos (codd. A. D.). Kal HlvSapos x/wcdopa top 'Opcpea (prjai. rives 8e XPVC!0^V s'0°s ex0VTa
(codd. A. L., cp. cod. T.).
7 E. Sittig De Graecorum nominibus theophoris (Dissei'tationes philologicae Halenses
xx. 1) Halis Saxonum 1911 p. \i, W. Pape—G. E. Benseler Wbrterbuch der griechischen
Eigennamen3 Braunschweig 1875 ii. 1692.
8 De Vit Onomasticon ii. 266, Thes. Ling. Lat. Suppl. i. 419, 25 ff.
9 Hes. theog. 281—288.