DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0875
794
The thunderbolt of Zeus
versions were current concerning Erechtheus' death. According to
Euripides, he was slain by a blow of Poseidon's trident and hidden
in a chasm of earth1. According to Hyginus, he was slain by a
thunderbolt from Zeus at the request of Poseidon2. Hence Petersen
concludes that Erechtheus was a figure essentially resembling
' Zeus-Amphiaraos, Zeus-Asklepios, Zeus-Trophonios3'; that the
hypaethral opening in the Erechtheion floor was the chasm where
he, the lightning-god, had entered the earth; and that this same
chasm, on the advent of Poseidon, had been re-interpreted as his
trident-mark4. The whole storv thus becomes coherent, and I for
one accept Petersen's reading of it—though I should stipulate that
the epic Erechtheus was not a lightning-god, but a human king
regarded as the lightning-god incarnate.
Now_ the transition from the cult of Erechtheus to that of
Poseidon is much facilitated, if we may suppose that the latter, like
the former, wielded the lightning,—that his trident, in short, was
originally the thunderbolt.
So far, however, we have not met with any direct proof that
Poseidon was a lightning-god. Once, and once only, in the extant
remains of Greek art is he represented brandishing a bolt as though
he were Zeus. A remarkable tetradrachm of Messana, formerly in
the Hirsch collection and now at Brussels (fig. 757)5, has for its
obverse design a god wearing a duamys over his upper arms in the
ITcKraSawos, HaioSos iv Ka.Ta\6yi}> = Favorin. eel. in W. Dindorf Grammatici Gr<zci
Lipsiae 1823 i. 361, 8 f. The oldest monumental evidence is that of a black-figured
amphora by Amasis {c. 550—530 B.C.), now at Paris (De Ridder Cat. J'ases de la Bid/.
Nat. i. 129 ff. no. 222. Lenormant—de Witte El. mon. cer. i. 254 ff. pi. 78), which
shows Athena with her lance and Poseidon with his trident standing opposite to each
other in peaceful attitudes. E. Petersen op. cit. p. 65 observes that the scene presupposes
reconciliation after the contest at the Erechtheion—' also Poseidon statt des Erechtheus.'
1 Eur. Ion 281 f. 2 Hyg./ad. 46. Supra p. 24.
3 E. Petersen op. clt. p. 73 ff. 4 Id. lb. p. 68 ff.
5 Sir A. J. Evans in the Num. Chron. Third Series 1896 xvi. 109 ff. pi. 8, 7 ( = ray
fig. 757), G. F. Hill Coins of Ancient Sicily London 1903 p. 70 pi. 4, 8, id. Historical
Greek Coins London 1906 p. 32 n. 1 ('Poseidon'), G. Macdonald Coin Types Glasgow
1905 p. 143 f. pi. 5, 12 (' Poseidon'), Head Hist, num.2 p. 154 fig. 82 (' Poseidon (?)').
The thunderbolt of Zeus
versions were current concerning Erechtheus' death. According to
Euripides, he was slain by a blow of Poseidon's trident and hidden
in a chasm of earth1. According to Hyginus, he was slain by a
thunderbolt from Zeus at the request of Poseidon2. Hence Petersen
concludes that Erechtheus was a figure essentially resembling
' Zeus-Amphiaraos, Zeus-Asklepios, Zeus-Trophonios3'; that the
hypaethral opening in the Erechtheion floor was the chasm where
he, the lightning-god, had entered the earth; and that this same
chasm, on the advent of Poseidon, had been re-interpreted as his
trident-mark4. The whole storv thus becomes coherent, and I for
one accept Petersen's reading of it—though I should stipulate that
the epic Erechtheus was not a lightning-god, but a human king
regarded as the lightning-god incarnate.
Now_ the transition from the cult of Erechtheus to that of
Poseidon is much facilitated, if we may suppose that the latter, like
the former, wielded the lightning,—that his trident, in short, was
originally the thunderbolt.
So far, however, we have not met with any direct proof that
Poseidon was a lightning-god. Once, and once only, in the extant
remains of Greek art is he represented brandishing a bolt as though
he were Zeus. A remarkable tetradrachm of Messana, formerly in
the Hirsch collection and now at Brussels (fig. 757)5, has for its
obverse design a god wearing a duamys over his upper arms in the
ITcKraSawos, HaioSos iv Ka.Ta\6yi}> = Favorin. eel. in W. Dindorf Grammatici Gr<zci
Lipsiae 1823 i. 361, 8 f. The oldest monumental evidence is that of a black-figured
amphora by Amasis {c. 550—530 B.C.), now at Paris (De Ridder Cat. J'ases de la Bid/.
Nat. i. 129 ff. no. 222. Lenormant—de Witte El. mon. cer. i. 254 ff. pi. 78), which
shows Athena with her lance and Poseidon with his trident standing opposite to each
other in peaceful attitudes. E. Petersen op. cit. p. 65 observes that the scene presupposes
reconciliation after the contest at the Erechtheion—' also Poseidon statt des Erechtheus.'
1 Eur. Ion 281 f. 2 Hyg./ad. 46. Supra p. 24.
3 E. Petersen op. clt. p. 73 ff. 4 Id. lb. p. 68 ff.
5 Sir A. J. Evans in the Num. Chron. Third Series 1896 xvi. 109 ff. pi. 8, 7 ( = ray
fig. 757), G. F. Hill Coins of Ancient Sicily London 1903 p. 70 pi. 4, 8, id. Historical
Greek Coins London 1906 p. 32 n. 1 ('Poseidon'), G. Macdonald Coin Types Glasgow
1905 p. 143 f. pi. 5, 12 (' Poseidon'), Head Hist, num.2 p. 154 fig. 82 (' Poseidon (?)').