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)

824

The whip of Zeus

This leaves the second half of the compound still to be deter-
mined1. But it may be observed that it strengthens the conjecture
[supra p. 277 ff.j that the Thracian form of the name of Zeus was
*Di{v)-os:

v. The whip of Zeus.

Dr Rendel Harris in a brief but important chapter2 collects
evidence from China, India, and Wallachia of lightning conceived
as a whip. He holds that the same conception has left traces of
itself in Greek mythology, but does not quote some definite state-
ments, which might be adduced from Greek authors.

Kapaneus, when attacking the Electran gate of Thebes, defied
Zeus and compared his lightning to mere midday heat3. Thereupon
Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt. The incident was
notorious; but Lykophron4 the pedant adds interest to it by
describing Kapaneus as lashed with a lightning-whip:

The third5 is son of him who undermined
With his rude mattock the Ectenian6 towers.
The Thunderer", Adviser8, God of Mills9,

1 Mr Atkinson subsequently supplied me with a ' Further Note on ZifieXcrovpSos.
The second part of the compound presents greater difficulty owing to the variant readings.
It is hard to resist the conclusion that the sound represented now by cr, now by 9, is the
unvoiced dental spirant. The 1 which is supposed by some to be present after the 0 is,
I understand, a doubtful factor. Seure {Revue des E-tudes Grecques, 1913 p. 247) rejects it,
and thus simplifies matters, making the form a variant between -uovpbos and -doupdos.
If the initial sound is the unvoiced dental spirant, the form may well be connected with
the root appearing in Sanskrit as sjird, trnatti, which is commonly used of Indra
"splitting" or "cleaving"' with his bolt (e.g. vajrena khany atrnan nadfnam= "with his
bolt he split open the clefts of the waters," RV II. 15). The root trd is commonly sup-
posed to be an extension of the root (r, I-E. *\lier, seen in Greek retpw, trope, Lat. tero,
terebra, etc. The Thracian change of t to b, though not resting upon any established or
tested sound-law, is not inconsistent with other evidence, scanty as it is, and we may
compare the similar change in Avestan especially under the influence of a liquid. If this
etymology is well-founded, we thus have as the meaning of the whole compound "Zeus,"
or "the son of Zeus, the Splitter" (referring of course to the thunderbolt).'

2 J. Rendel Harris Picus who is also Zeus Cambridge 1916 p. 57 ff^cp^ ib. p. 55.

3 Aisch. s. c. Tli. 422 ff.

4 Lyk. Al. 433 ff. TpLTOv 5e, rod p,bo~o~vvas 'EiKrrjVicv irore \ o~Teppa baceXXrj (iovcnaMprj-
aavro's ybvov, | bv T oyyvXaT-qs dXe BouXcuo? MvXevs, \ dy-qXirLp p.daTiyi uvvdpavcras Kcipa, j
■i)p.os ^vvaLp-ovs ■warpb's ai Xi'/cros Kopai | irpbs avTo<pbvTr;v (jrprjvov uTrXiaav /xbpov. The
version printed above is by G. W. Mooney.

5 Sthenelos, son of Kapaneus.

6 The "EKTTjves were the first inhabitants of Thebes, their king Ggygos being auto-
chthonous (Paus. 9. 5. 1).

7 Mooney follows C. von Holzinger, who on the strength of Hesych. 707711X6?^
(C. G. Cobet cj. 70771/XXeti')■ trvo-rpecpeLv (M. Schmidt cj. avvrptyeiv) translates ' Blitze-
schleuderer.' Tzetz. ad loc. says 6 Zei>? 6 Toyyv\&T7]s, 81 ov al yoyyvXai Kai o-weo-<pLyp,evai
%eipes KLuovurai—a desperate guess. In all probability (supra p. 260) ToyyvXaTys was
a local appellative from * YoyyvXrj, the ' Round' Rock or Island (cp. LrpoyyvXr] = Slrombo/i),
a site as yet unidentified. 8 Supra p. 258 n. 3. 9 Supra p. 260 sub fin.