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)

734 Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt

The scene was drawn from the Aithiopis of Arktinos1, who made
Eos, mother of Memnon, prevail upon Zeus to honour her slain son
with the gift of immortality2. And here she intervenes, imploring
the dread judge3 for the mitigation of his sentence. He stands by,

Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1143^ fig. 3, J. D. Beazley ' Kleophrades' in the Joiim. Hell.
Stud. 1910 xxx. 42 no. 4, Hoppin Red-fig. Vases ii. 147 no. 34. De Witte, Reinach, de
Ridder, and Hoppin are wrong in supposing the \jjvxoo"raffLa t° be that of Hektor and
Achilles, for in that case the scales would have been held by Zeus, not Hermes (Gruppe
Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 678 n. 6).

1 F. G. Welcker Der epische Cyclns Bonn 1882 ii2. 175, Gruppe op. cit. p. 681 n. 6.

2 Prokl. chrestom. 2 (G. Kinkel Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta Lipsiae 1877 i 33)
kirura 'AxtAAeiys Me/xvova KreLvei' Kal Totirqi fxev 'Hcos wapa Atos airijo-afxevr) ddavaaiav

3 The belief that the souls of men are weighed in a balance was common to the Greeks,
the Egyptians {supra p. 99 n. 1), and perhaps the Babylonians (A. Jeremias Handbuch
der altorientalische7i Geisteskultur Leipzig 1913 p. 113 f.: but see M. Jastrow Aspects oj
Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria New York and London 1911
p. 363 f.). It may be connected ultimately with the custom of divining by weight (W. R.
Halliday Greek Divination London 1913 p. 222 ft".). But the subject is deserving of
separate investigation.

The Iliad makes Zeus himself hold the scales. He uses xp«re«x...Td,Xai'Ta to weigh
the fates of Trojans and Achaeans (II. 7. 68 ft.) and, again, the fates of Achilles and
Hektor (//. 22. 208 ft.). The scales of Zeus were in fact already proverbial (E. Heden
Homerische Golterstudien Uppsala 1912 p. 172 f.): when Sarpedon fell before Troy, even
Hektor fled, yvw yap Atos Ipa rdXavra (II. 16. 658) ; and men weary of the fight, ewijv
kXiv-qo-l rdXavra \ Zeus (II. 19. 223 f.). Later, Zeus weighs out to men wealth or poverty
(Theogn. 157 f. Zei)s yap roi to rdXavrov e-jrippewei aXXore aXXws, | aXXore fxev wXovrclv,
aXXore /xrjSev ^xeu/)- Aeschylus too conceives of Zeus as holding the balance (suppl. 822 f.
gov 5' iiriirav £vybv Ta\dv\rov), and in his tyvxocrTacria showed Zeus aloft on the tkeologeton
(Poll. 4. 130) visibly weighing on his scales the souls of Achilles and Memnon (Plout. de
aud. poet. 2, schol. A. 77. 8. 70, Eustath. in II. pp. 699, 31 ft., 1266, 37 f.: see further
Trag. Gr.frag. p. 88 f. Nauck2). Other allusions to the scales of Zeus (Iupiter) in Anth.
Pal. 6. 267. 3 f. (Diotimos) ov yap d<pavpws | e/c Aids idd-qs olde rdXavra 5iV??s, n. 380. 3 f.
(Makedonios) dXXa Kal aura rdXavra Aids wayxpvaa reXiffdri, \ olcri raXavrevei xarra vbfxov
j3i6rou, Nonn. Dion. 1. 553 iaorijirov 5£ Talhavra /xdxys ZicXive Kpoviuv, Tryphiod. excid.
II. 506 f. rj8r] 5t Ipdoeo-aiv 6\idpiov elXtce rdXavrov | Zei)j rap.ir)s iroXep-oio, Verg. Aen. 12.
725 f. Iupiter ipse duas aequato examine lances [ sustinet, et fata inponit diversa duorum,
with Serv. ad loc. and Macrob. Sat. 5. 13. 39.

For Achilles and Memnon as represented in art it is always Hermes that holds the
scales (e.g. Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1142 f. figs. 1—4). The famous ' Bdston relief' has
Eros weighing two souls of men (best illustration in the Ant. Denkm. iii. 1. 5ft. pi. '7).
Aristophanes in ra?i. 797 f., 1365 ft".,—his parody of the \]/vxo<rrao-La (L. Stephani in the
Compte-rendu St. Pt!t. 1873 P- 81)—makes Plouton superintend the weighing of the rival
tragedians. A Campanian hydrla figures Aphrodite with two Erotes in her scales (Brit.
Mus. Cat. Vases iv. 109 f. no. F 220, F. Studniczka in the Jahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch.
Inst. 1911 xxvi. 139 f. fig. 58 : cp. supra p. 99 n. 1). Eris holds the balance for Achilles
and Memnon in Quint. Smyrn. 2. 540 ff. The syncretistic Virgo weighs life and justice in
Orelli—Henzen Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 5863, 1 ff. = Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 759, iff. =F.
BiAcheler Carmina Latina epigraphica Lipsiae 1895 i. i^f. no. 24, iff. (Caervoran, s.
iii A.D.) imminet Leoni Virgo caelesti situ [ spicifera, iusti inventrix, urbium conditrix, |
ex quis muneribus nosse contigit deos, | ergo eadem mater divum, Pax, Virtus, Ceres, |
dea Syria, lance vitam et iura pensitans. Finally, Roman imperial art even descends to
scenes of ' Phallenwagung' (A. Mau in the Rom. Mitth. 1896 xi. 11 f. no. 5, F. Hettner