Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt 727

Such was the ancient custom. At the feet of the God of Oaths is a bronze
tablet, with elegiac verses inscribed on it, the intention of which is to strike
terror into perjurers1.'

In view of the epic parallel adduced by Pausanias and of the con-
nexion between Zeus and the boar in Crete2 it may be inferred
that the cult of Zeus Horkios at Olympia goes back to ' Minoan'
or sub-' Minoan' times, that the duplication of his thunderbolt was
due to primitive insistence on his power as a storm-god, and that
any deeper ethical meaning must be attributed to moralists of a
later age3.

1 Paus. 5. 24. 9—11 trans. Sir J. G. Frazer,

2 Supra i. 157, 645, 651, 652 fig. 505, 663 n. 2, 664 n. 1.

3 On Zeus in relation to oaths see further E. von Lasaulx Der Eid bei den Griechcn
Wiirzburg 1844 PP- 5 n- x3> 8fiF., id. Der Eid bei den R'dmem Wtirzburg 1844 p. 8ff.,
E. Ziebarth De iureiurando in hire Graeco quaesliones Gottingae 1892 pp. 7, 17 ff., id. in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 2076ff., L. Ott Beitriige zur Kenntnis desgriechischen Eides
Leipzig 1896 p. 39 ff-, G. Glotz in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 748 ff., R. Hirzel
Der Eid Leipzig 1902 pp. 121 ff., 145 n. 7, 147 n. 1, 155 n. 1 and Index p. 225 s.v. 'Zeus,'
Schracler Pea/lex.'2 p. 228 f.

The formulae used by the Greeks in the affirmations of everyday life are collected and
exemplified by P. Meinhardt De forma et usu juramentorum, quae inveniuntur in conii-
corum Graecorum et Platonis, Xenophontis, Luciani sermone Jenae 1892 pp. 17—23:

(1) The simple apostrophe iZ Zed may be emphasised by duplication (Aristoph. Lys.
972 u> Zed Zed (so R. F. P. Brurick for cS Zed u> Zed codd.), cp. Eur. Hipp. 1363 ZeO Zed,
rad' opas;), or by the addition of an epithet hieratic {e.g. cj 'Zev BaatXeu in Aristoph. nub.
153, vesp. 625, av. 223, ran. 1278, Plout. 1095, cp. Loukian. Tim. I lo Zev <pi\ie Kai ^evie
Kal eraipeie Kal etpeane Kal daTepoirrjTa Kal opKie /cat ve(pe\r/yep^Ta /cat epiyoovwe Kai etrl o~e
aXXo 01 epj3pbvTrjT0L Trotijrat /caXoOtrt) or otherwise {e.g. Loukian. asin. 38 c3 ZeD crxerXte),
or by both devices simultaneously (Aristoph. vesp. 323 cl Zed Tied peyajjpbvra (so J. J.
Reiske for peya f3povra codd.)), or by an appeal to other gods {e.g. Xen. Cyr. 2. 2. 10 w
Zed /cat irdvTes 0eoi).

(2) In the locution 7rpos {rod) Alos the article was commonly dropped. Thus Meinhardt
records four examples of 7rpos rod Alos (Aristoph. nub. 314, Loukian. Tim. 16, Menipp. 2,
vit. auct. 22), one of w wpos rod Alos (Plout. symp. 5. 7. 4), and one of irpos rod Aids tov-
XvfMTriov (Aristoph. av. 130) as against forty-five of irpbs Alos, eight of u> irpos Aids, and two
of irpos Alos <PlKlov (Plat. Aim. 321 C, Phaidr. 234 e).

(3) Very common are the phrases vrj {rbv) Ala, vai p,a {tov) Ala, and p.a {rbv) Ata, of
which the first two are positive, the third negative. They may be strengthened either by an
added epithet {e.g. the obvious vt) rbv Ata rbv awrrjpa in Aristoph. ran. 738, 1433, eccl. 79,
761, 1045, 1103, Plout. 877 or the more recondite vr\ tov Ata rbv aidepLov in Loukian.
philopatr. 4) or by a further sanction {e.g. Aristoph. nub. 1239 ov tol p.a rbv Ata rbv p.eyav
Kal rovs deovs). The full phrase vi) tov Ata readily passed into vr) Ata (Aristoph. ran. 305
AI. /car bpLoaov. HA. vt\tov Ata. | AI. KavdLS KaTOfioaov. 2A. vrj At'. AI.op.oaov. HA. ^17 Ata),
which became a commonplace of Attic oratorical style {Anth. Pal. II. 142. 4 (Lucilius)
/cat tol iivrj Ata" /cat "fia Ata") and was even, accoixling to some grammarians, colloqui-
ally clipped into vr\ At or v-qbi (Herodian. irepl wadQv 12611 (ii. 217, 16 ff. Lentz) 7ra<ra atTtart/cT;
evLKixiv pLovoavWafios apireviKrj rj drfkvKT) avrrj Kad' eavrrjv odcra eis v XrjyeL' to 5e vrj At ovk
dvTLKeLTai ijpiv, eVet5?; ovx ei/ptcr/cerat avTTj Kad' eavr-qv dXX' ev avvTa^eL, id. wepl povoavWd-
/3uv 1 (ii. 903, 22 ff. Lentz) irav 6vop.a pLovoavWajlov p.aKpoKaTa\rjKTelv 6e\ei etre (pvaeL etre
diaei.. .Kal XWPL* T°v At, orrep dwb tov Ata ytyove /car' diroKoirf)v, birep Kal perd rod vrj eVtp-
pf)p.aTos yiveTaLvrj At, Choirobosk. schol. in Theodos. AI. can. isag. Kavwv dpaev. f (i. 192,