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)

The Mountain-cults of Zeus 903

Cape Geraistos (P)1.

Thessalia

Mount Oite2.

a himdtion. Behind him hangs the poisoned robe (?). In front an altar of unworked stones
supports four tiers of blazing logs with the horns of some animal on the top. To left and
right of this altar are two youths, Philoktetes (<t> I AOS K ET) and Lichas (Al...)>
holding meat on spits over the fire. By the altar is an olive-tree, from which hang votive
tablets representing a Satyr, a Maenad, and two horsemen ; also, the image of a goddess
draped and mounted on a Doric column. To the right is a draped female figure, perhaps
Nike, and beyond her Athena (.. . N . ) with aigis, spear, and helmet {Brit. Mus. Cat.
Vases iii. 300 ff. no. E 494 pi. 16). Both vases may depict the sacrifice on Mt Kenaion
(A. H. Smith in the Jonm. Hell. Stnd. 1898 xviii. 274 ff.). An inscription from the
Akropolis at Athens records an Eretrian coin belonging to Zeus Krjvaios (Corp. inscr. Alt. i
no. 208, 8 f. ['Ep'jeTpiKov | [At]os K-quaiov). Lithada, the modern name of Mt Kenaion,
is derived from Aix&Ses, the small islands off the point, and appears in Latin documents
of s. xiii A.D. as Ponta (Punta) Litadi or Litaldi (C. Bursian Geographie von Griechenland
Leipzig 1872 ii. 401 n. 2).

1 Geraistos, the eponym of Cape Geraistos (Kavo Mandilo), was the son of Zeus and
brother of Tainaros (Steph. Byz. s.vv. YepaLcrros, Tabapos).

2 Mt Oite (Katavothra) rises to a height of 2 158™ (Lieut.-Col. Baker in The Journal of
the Royal Geographical Society of London 1837 vii. 94 says 7071 ft). It was sacred to Zeus
(Soph. Track. 1191 rbv Oittjs Ti-qvos iixf/urrov irdyov), whose lightnings played about it
(id. id. 436 f., Phil. 729 Jebb) ; and the meadows high on the mountain, since they be-
longed to him, might not be mown (id. Track. 200 c3 ZeO, tw Oltt]s drofxov 8s Xei/xdif'

The traditional pyre of Herakles, son of Zeus, was on the south-eastern shoulder of
Oite, known to the ancients as Phrygia (Kallim. h. Artem. 159 0 ye Qpvyly trep inrb dpvl
yvia deudeis with schol. ad loc. Qpvyia opos Tpaxwos, ivda. eKarj 6 'Hpa/cX-iys, Steph. Byz.
s.v. Qpvyicf ... 'icrTL Kai Qpvyia tottos tt?s OiTrjs &Trb tov e/cet irerppvxdo.i tov 'Hpa/cXea) or Pyra
(Theophr. hist. pi. 9. 10. 2 white hellebore gathered there for the Amphictionic irvKaia,
Liv. 36. 30 M\ Acilius Glabrio offered sacrifice there to Herakles in 191 B.C.) and to the
moderns as Xerovouni near Pauliane. Here, at a spot called Marmari, N. Pappadakis in
1920—1921 discovered the remains of a great precinct-wall in poros, within which was a
smaller oblong (c. 20111 x 30"1) marking the limits of the pyre. A bed of ashes (o'40m to
o'8om thick) contained bones of animals, bronze weapons, implements, etc., and pottery rang-
ing from archaic Greek to Roman times. Some of the black-figured sherds bore dedications

fjPAKUEJl or [• • •jKUfS-l, and two archaic bronze statuettes (o'og™ and o-iomhigh)
represented the hero, with club and bow(?), in violent action. Miscellaneous finds com-
prised a bronze club, painted architectural tiles, Roman and Thessalian lamps, Megarian
bowls, etc. The principal edifice was of Aetolian date, built with large blocks on an older
structure oipdros: of it there remains the etithynteria, part of the west side, and one step
of the south side, also part of the paving and of the stereobate for the cult-statue, which
seems to have been of the late Roman period. Close by was a Doric templum in antis
(14"1 long) with an altar before it: Pappadakis' suggestion that this building was a treasury
is hardly borne out by the presence of the altar. Coins from the site included six or seven
coppers belonging to the time of the Aetolian League and silver pieces of the Roman
imperial series down to Maximian (286—305 A.D.) [Diocletian, who styled himself lovius
(Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 371, Folk-Lore 1905 xvi. 315), conferred on Maximian the title
Hercidius\ Of two fragmentary inscriptions one mentions the emperor Commodus (?)
[another would-be Herakles (P. v. Rohden in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 2470, 2478 f.
See also J. de Witte ' De quelques empereurs romains qui ont pris les attributs d'PIercule '
in the Rev. Num. 1845 pp. 266—272 pi. 13 f.)]. Lastly, to the north at a higher level was a
slod, reconstructed in Aetolian times on the site of an older building. Seven chambers fot