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)

Appendix B

Akragas1.

tradition or conjecture speaks of Hephaistos, not Zeus, as father of the Palikoi (Silenos
frag. 7 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 101 Muller) ap. Steph. Byz. s.v. HoXikti). Yet another prefers
Adranos (Hesych. s.v. HaXiKoi, cp. Plout. v. Timol. 12), the Syrian Hadran [supra i. 232
n. 1, ii. 630). It may be surmised that their original connexion was with the Earth
rather than with the Sky.

Be that as it may, the cult of Zeus as a mountain-god in the region of Aitne is hardly
of great antiquity. The ancient god of the district was the 'Minoan5 Kronos (Lyd. de
mens. 4. 154 p. 170, 6 ff. Wiinsch cited supra p. 554 n. 3).

1 Akragas, a joint colony from Rhodes and Gela (C. HfUsen in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. i. 1188), had an ahropolis named Mt Atabyrion (J. Schubring Historische
Topographie von Akragas in Sicilien wahrend der klassische?i Zeit Leipzig 1870 pp. 21—28
' Die Akropolis'). On the top of it was a sanctuary of Zeus 'Araj3vpLos resembling that
at Rhodes (Polyb. 9. 27. 7 f. eirl 5e rrjs Kopvcprjs ' Ad-qvds iepbv ^KTiarai Kai Atos ' Ara^vpiov,
Kaddwep Kai irapa 'Poo'lols' rov yap 'Afcpayavros vtto 'Yodiwv dTripKicrpLevou, et'/coTCos 6 8e6s
ovtos ttjv avrrjv £%et Trpoar/yopiav ijv Kai wapa tois Podiois). With Zeus 'Araj3vpLos must be
identified Zeus IloXievs (J. Schubring op. cit. p. 24), whose temple on the highest point
of the rocky site was built by Phalaris (Polyain. 5. r. 1 cited supra i. 122) in the first half
of s. vi B.C. Phalaris' famous bull of bronze (Pind. Pyth. 1. 95 f., alii.) seems to have
been the sacred beast of Zeus 'Arapvpios, the Hellenic successor of a Hittite bull-god
(supra i. 643 f., cp. 784 f. figs. 567—569. F. Hrozny Hethitische Keilschrifttexte aus
Boghazkbi Leipzig 1919 i. 1 ff. no. 1 a list of Tesub-cults recording a great bull of silver
(i, 34 f.) and several great bulls of iron (ii, 12, 24, 34, 41, iii, 2, 8), one of them with
gilded eyes (iv, 3)). The Carthaginians, on capturing Akragas (405 B.C.), carried off the
bull, which had a trap-door between its shoulders and pipes in its nostrils (Polyb. 12. 25. 3,
Diod. 9. 19 ap. Tzetz. chil. 1. 646ff), to Carthage (Polyb. 12. 25. 3, Diod. 13. 90).
Timaios, according to one account, denied that the bull at Carthage had come from
Akragas, declaring that the Agrigentines had never possessed the like (Tim. frags. 116,

117 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 221 f., 222 Midler) ap. Polyb. 12. 25. 1 ff, Diod. 13. 90). But,
according to another account, he stated that they had flung the original bull into the sea,
and that the bull exhibited at Akragas was only an effigy of the river Gelas (Tim. frag.

118 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 222 Midler) ap. schol. Pind. Pyth. 1. 185). Scipio brought the bull
back from Carthage to Akragas (Cic. Verr. 4. 73, Diod. 13. 90), where it was still to be
seen c. 60 B.C. (Diod. 13. 90). See further J. Schubring op. cit. p. 24 ff., G. Busolt
Griechische Geschichte Gotha 1893 i'2. 422 n. 4.

The temple of Zeus 'ATa(3vpios or HoXietJS is in all probability to be sought beneath
the Cathedral of S. Gerlando (bishop of Agrigentum; died Feb. 25, 1101 a.D. Cp. Acta
Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Februarius iii. 592 c (Pirrus e gestis S. Gerlandi) Cathedrale
templum quadrato lapide ac nobili structura a fundamentis excitavit, illudque D. Marias
(uti a D. Petro fuerat olim dicatum) & D. Iacobo Apostolo consecravit iv die Aprilis) on
the highest part of modern Girgenti (C. Hiilsen loc. cit.). J. Schubring op. cit. p. 24 says
' dass S. Gerlando auf den Substruktionen eines alten Tempels erbaut ist und unbedenklich
erklare ich die grossen Stufen und Quaderbauten, die aus dem Boden hervorragen, fur
antike Reste.' But R. Roldewey—O. Puchstein Die griechischen Tevipel in Unieritalien
und Sicilien Berlin 1899 i. 139, while agreeing that S. Gerlando marks the site of the
temple, add : ' Leicler ist von diesem Bau des Phalaris, dem einzigen sicilischen Tempel
des 6. Jahrhunderts v. dir., fiber den wir eine historische Nachricht haben, nichts er-
halten.' Excavation may yet find traces of it. The substantial remains of a Doric hexastyle
peripteral temple of .r. v B.C. beneath the neighbouring church of S. Maria de' Greci were
published by Domenico lo Faso Pietrasanta Duca di Serradifalco Le Antichitci delta
Sicilia Palermo 1836 iii. 86 f. pis. 43, 44 as belonging to the temple of Zeus TLoXievs, but
should rather be identified with flie temple of Athena (R Schubring op. cit. p. 26,
R. Koldewey—O. Puchstein op. cit. i. 140 ff., ii pi. 20).

On a hill (75™ high) to the west of the so-called Porta Aurea, which led through the