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

DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0053

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The Mountain-cults of Zeus

899

Mount Laphystion1.
A mountain near Lebadeia2.

the battle of Plataiai (479 B.C.) was bidden by the Delphic oracle to pray to Zeus, Hera
Kidaipuvia, Pan, and the Sphragitid nymphs (Plout. v. Aristid. 11): Pausanias, turning
towards the Heraion outside Plataiai, prayed to Hera KLdaipuvia and the other deities of
the Plataean land (id. ib. 18). The image of Hera Kidaipuvia at Thespiai was a lopped
tree-trunk (Clem. Al. protr. 3. 46. 3 /cat rrjs Kt#atpaw'as"Hpas ev Qeo-ireiq. irpep:vov iKKeico/j.-
p.evov, cp. Arnob. adv. fiat. 6. 11 ramum pro Cinxia Thespios). She had a sanctuary also
at Thebes (schol. Eur. Phoen. 24 rj otl Kidaipwvias "Hpas earlv iv 0??/3cus iepov). Scholl—
Studemund anecd. i. 269 'iiiridera "Hpas (ro) KLdaipwv'ias.

In the traditional singing-match between Kithairon and Helikon (for which see
Demetriosof Phalerona/. schol. Od. 3. 267 and Eustath. in Od. p. 1466, 56 ff., Lysimachos
(? Lysanias) of Kyrene frag. 26 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 342 Mtiller) ap. schol. Hes. o.d. p. 33,
4 ff. Gaisford, cp. Tzetz. chil. 6. 917 ff., Hermesianax of K-ypros frag. 2 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv.
428 Mtiller) ap. Plout. de fluv. 2. 3) the former sang of the childhood of Zeus (Korinnain
the Berliner Klassikertexte Berlin 1907 v. 2. 19 ff. no. 284, cp. ib. p. 47, =/rag. 1 Diehl3).

1 On Mt Laphystion near Orchomenos was a precinct and stone statue of Zeus
A.atpvffTios. It was here that Athamas was about to sacrifice Phrixos and Helle, when Zeus
sent the ram with the golden fleece to aid their escape (Paus. 9. 34. 5, cp. i. 24. 2).
Higher up on the mountain-side was a Herakles Xdpoi/'; for here, according to the
Boeotians, Herakles had brought up the hound of Hades (Paus. 9. 34. 5). Dionysos too
was worshipped on the mountain as Aa^iVrtos (et. mag. p. 557, 51 f. Aa</w<rrtos- 6 Aidvvaos,
aird tov iv BoLwria AacpvaTiov opovs = Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 1237), and his Maenads were
AcupvffTicu (Lyk. Al. 1237 with Tzetz. ad loc).

Laphystion has been identified with Granitsa, a steep mountain (896111) of reddish stone
with a summit like a crater and warm springs at its north-eastern foot (C. Bursian Geo-
graphie von Griechenland Leipzig 1862 i. 235 f., Frazer Pausanias v. 172, H. Hitzig—
H. Bltimner on Paus. 9. 34. 5).

That AcMpvarios must be connected with XcHpvacreiv, ' to devour,' is commonly admitted.
But beyond this point agreement ceases. Was the god named after the mountain, or the
mountain after the god? (1) U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff in his ed. 2 of Eur. H.f.
Berlin 1895 i. 34 n. 67 holds that Mt Laphystion got its name from the crater that engulfed
the unwary. And doubtless Zeus Acupvo-rios could have derived his appellation from Mt
Laphystion. But we have already (supra i. 416 f., 428) seen reason to think that Zeus
Aa<pv<TTLos was originally a Thessalian god, and we hear of no Mt Laphystion in Thessaly.
(2) Maybaum Der Zeuskult in Boeotien Doberan 1901 p. 8 conversely assumes that Mt
Laphystion derived its name from Zeus Aacpvonos. It is then open to us to interpret
Aa<pv<TTLos as 'Devouring' with allusion to human sacrifice. For that grim tradition
attached to the cult of Zeus Aacpvarios, not only in Boiotia, but also in Thessaly (infra
Append. B Thessalia); and the Dionysos of Orchomenos had an equally sinister reputa-
tion (Plout. quaesit. Gr. 38, Ant. Lib. 10, Ov. met. 4. 1 ff. Frazer Golde7i Bough3 : The
Dying God p. 163 f.). See further P. Buttmann Mythologus Berlin 1829 ii. 230, W.
Drexler in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1850 f., J. W. Hewitt in Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology 1908 xix. 102 f.

- Paus. 9. 39. 4 dvaj33.o'i he eirl to fxavTeiov (sc. tov 'Ipocpuviov) /cat avrodev iovatv is to
TrpoacoTov opovs, Koprjs eoTt KaXovpLevrj drjpa (Ka.\ovp.iv7)S drjpas codd. fam. L1. K. Goldhagen
cj. Ka\ovp.eurjs ZojTeipas. H. N. Ulrichs cj. /caAou,u,ei'7?s"Hpas. F. Spiro : 'an dvpa?r) kcli
Atos BatrtXews vabs. tovtov p,ev Si] 5ta to piiyedos rj /cat tQiv iro\ep.o)v to aWeira.W7)\ov
acpe'iKaaiv rj/xiepyov • iv 8e iripcp vaq; Kpovov /cat "Hpas /cat Atos iffTiv dydXpiaTa. iffTi de Kal
'AwoWwvos iepov. The unfinished temple of Zeus BacrtXeus is believed to have stood on Mt
St Elias, a height which rises west of the castle-hill of Livadia at a distance of half an hour
from the town. Here the ground is still strewn with big building-blocks, though most of
the material was carried off in Turkish times (Sir J. G. Frazer and H. Hitzig—H. Bliimner
ad loc). The temple seems to have been 46'02m in length (E. Fabricius ap. H. Nissen

57—2
 
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