DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0798
722 Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt
authority and falls into line with the folk-concepts of various
peoples1. If valid, it leads us to conclude that Zeus Chrysaoretis
of Stratonikeia was viewed by the Greeks as a lightning-god,
' He of the Golden Sword,'—a deity essentially akin to Zeus
Strdtios the sword-bearer of Labranda.
iv. The thunderbolt of Zeus.
Zeus regarded as a lightning-god was, we have seen, sometimes
armed with an axe, occasionally with a spear, very seldom with a
sword or dagger, never—be it observed—with bow and arrows2 (like
Apollon) or with club (like Herakles). But far more frequent than
any or all of these is another weapon. Innumerable passages of
Greek literature and innumerable monuments of Greek art repre-
sent Zeus equipped with a thunderbolt. Of the literary allusions
I have already said something and shall have to say more. We are
here concerned only with the artistic representations, and with the
light that they throw upon the development of popular belief3.
(a) Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt.
O. Gruppe4 has remarked that the thunderbolt, which from the
sixth century B.C. onwards characterises the figure of Zeus, falls
gradually into the background. ' Men seem to have realised,' he
says, ' that a sense of majesty is produced not so much by the
exercise of power as by the power to exercise it.'
To this progressive elimination of the thunderbolt there was one
significant exception. In the Council Hall at Olympia even as late
as the second century A.D. stood the formidable figure of Zeus
Horkios5, ' God of Oaths,' still grasping a thunderbolt in either hand
1 See F. L. W. Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mythologie Berlin i860 pp. 103, 231, 235,
282 f., id. Indogermanischer Volksglaube Berlin 1885 pp. 26 n. r, 104, 141, 143, 225,
E. H. Meyer Germanische Mythologie Berlin 1891 p. 92.
J. F. Campbell Popular Tales of the West Highlands Edinburgh i860 i pp. lxxiv, 1 ff.,
ii. 238 ff. gives two tales, which have points in common with the myth of Perseus,
Chrysaor, and Pegasos. In no. 1, 'The young king of Easaidh Ruadh,' the hero beheads
the king of the oak windows and obtains two treasures belonging to him, viz. a white-
faced black horse, the best in Erin, and a marvellous sword known as the Glaive of Light.
In no. 46, ' Mac Iain Direach,' the hero obtains the yellow (bay) filly of the king of Erin
and the white Glaive of Light kept by the seven Big Women of Dhiurradh.
2 But cp. Nonn. Dion. 2. 480 f. (of Zeus v. Typhon) Ainreries d£ Kepavvol \ rjepddev
iriixirovTO TrvpiyXLbxfes olutoL.
3 For the various explanations and classifications of thunderstorm phenomena put
forward by philosophers see T. H. Martin La foudre Pe'lecti'icite' et le magnetisme chez les
anciens Paris 1866 pp. 1—418 passim and O. Gilbert Die meteorologischen Theorien des
griechischen Altertums Leipzig 1907 pp. 620—637.
4 Gruppe Gr. Myth, die I. p. 119 f.
5 Zeus is not known to have borne the cult-title "Op/ctos elsewhere, except perhaps at
authority and falls into line with the folk-concepts of various
peoples1. If valid, it leads us to conclude that Zeus Chrysaoretis
of Stratonikeia was viewed by the Greeks as a lightning-god,
' He of the Golden Sword,'—a deity essentially akin to Zeus
Strdtios the sword-bearer of Labranda.
iv. The thunderbolt of Zeus.
Zeus regarded as a lightning-god was, we have seen, sometimes
armed with an axe, occasionally with a spear, very seldom with a
sword or dagger, never—be it observed—with bow and arrows2 (like
Apollon) or with club (like Herakles). But far more frequent than
any or all of these is another weapon. Innumerable passages of
Greek literature and innumerable monuments of Greek art repre-
sent Zeus equipped with a thunderbolt. Of the literary allusions
I have already said something and shall have to say more. We are
here concerned only with the artistic representations, and with the
light that they throw upon the development of popular belief3.
(a) Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt.
O. Gruppe4 has remarked that the thunderbolt, which from the
sixth century B.C. onwards characterises the figure of Zeus, falls
gradually into the background. ' Men seem to have realised,' he
says, ' that a sense of majesty is produced not so much by the
exercise of power as by the power to exercise it.'
To this progressive elimination of the thunderbolt there was one
significant exception. In the Council Hall at Olympia even as late
as the second century A.D. stood the formidable figure of Zeus
Horkios5, ' God of Oaths,' still grasping a thunderbolt in either hand
1 See F. L. W. Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mythologie Berlin i860 pp. 103, 231, 235,
282 f., id. Indogermanischer Volksglaube Berlin 1885 pp. 26 n. r, 104, 141, 143, 225,
E. H. Meyer Germanische Mythologie Berlin 1891 p. 92.
J. F. Campbell Popular Tales of the West Highlands Edinburgh i860 i pp. lxxiv, 1 ff.,
ii. 238 ff. gives two tales, which have points in common with the myth of Perseus,
Chrysaor, and Pegasos. In no. 1, 'The young king of Easaidh Ruadh,' the hero beheads
the king of the oak windows and obtains two treasures belonging to him, viz. a white-
faced black horse, the best in Erin, and a marvellous sword known as the Glaive of Light.
In no. 46, ' Mac Iain Direach,' the hero obtains the yellow (bay) filly of the king of Erin
and the white Glaive of Light kept by the seven Big Women of Dhiurradh.
2 But cp. Nonn. Dion. 2. 480 f. (of Zeus v. Typhon) Ainreries d£ Kepavvol \ rjepddev
iriixirovTO TrvpiyXLbxfes olutoL.
3 For the various explanations and classifications of thunderstorm phenomena put
forward by philosophers see T. H. Martin La foudre Pe'lecti'icite' et le magnetisme chez les
anciens Paris 1866 pp. 1—418 passim and O. Gilbert Die meteorologischen Theorien des
griechischen Altertums Leipzig 1907 pp. 620—637.
4 Gruppe Gr. Myth, die I. p. 119 f.
5 Zeus is not known to have borne the cult-title "Op/ctos elsewhere, except perhaps at