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 929

the nurses of Zeus. Lai'os, Keleos, Kerberos, and Aigolios dared to enter it that they
might draw as much honey as they could. They encased their bodies in bronze, drew the
honey of the bees, and saw the swathing-bands of Zeus. Whereupon their bronze armour
burst asunder. Zeus thundered aloud and raised his bolt. But the Moirai and Themis
intervened; for none might die in that spot. So Zeus made them all into birds, and from
them sprang the tribe of birds—blue thrushes (\dioi), green woodpeckers (/ceAeot), birds
of an unknown species (Kepfiepoi), and owls (aiywXiol). These are good birds to appear
and reliable beyond all other birds, because they saw the blood of Zeus.' See further
Folk-Lore 1904 xv. 388 f. A black-figured amphora in the British Museum {Brit. Mus.
Cat. Vases ii. 122 f. no. B 177 from Vtilci),hitherto unpublished, has (a) the four marauders
stung by the bees in the cave (pi. xlii from a photograph by Mr R. B. Fleming): (b)
dancing Maenads and Satyrs.

Other myths attached to the same sacred cavern. Here Anchiale bore the Idaean
Daktyloi (Ap. Rhod. 1. 1129 ff. AaKTvkoi 'ISaioi Kp^rcuees, ovs ttots vvp,(prj j 'AyxidXrj
Aiktcuov dvd cririos dfupoTipycnv | bpa^afxevr) yairys Oia^idos ij3\d(TT7](rev with schol. ad loc,
translated by Varr. frag. 3 Baehrens ap. Serv. in Verg. eel. 1. 66 quos magno Anchiale
partus adducta dolore | et geminis capiens tellurem Oaxida palmis j edidit in Dicta, cp.
Vib. Seq. p. 15 Oberlin s.v. 'Oaxes'). Here too Zeus, according to one late account, lay
with Europe (Loukian. dial. mar. 15. 4 ravra Ik QoivLktis d%pi tt)s Kprjrrjs eyevero- iirei
5£ iirifiri TTj vrjffii), 6 fiiv ravpos ovk^tl ecpaivero, iirCKa^bfievos 5i ttjs xeLP0S 6 Zei)s dirfiye tt]v
^i\>pujir7]v is to Alktolov iLvrpov ipvdpiuxjav Kal k<xtw bpuitrav ?]irio~TaTo yap rfdrj i<f>' orip
dyoiTo). Minos, their son, used to descend into the Dictaean Cave and thence return with
the laws of Zeus (Dion. Hal. ant. Rom. 2. 61 <2p 6 n&> (sc. Minos) o/xiXtjt-t)? itpij yeveadat.
tov Al6s, kcll (poiruiv eis to Alktolov opos, iv ip Tpacprivai roc Ata fxvdoXoyovatv oi Kprjres vtto
t&v KovprjTiov in veoyvbv opto,, KaTeftaivev eis to iepbv avrpov, /cat tovs vbp,ovs e/cet crwOete
iKOfiifev, oi)s a.ir£(pa,Lve irapa tov Aios \afx[3dveii>). Lastly Epimenides claimed to have slept
for years in the Cave and to have had visions there (Max. Tyr. 16. 1 dcpLKerb ttotc 'Adrjvafe
Kprjs dvr/p, bvofxa '¥,Tnfx.ei>i07]s, Kop-L^wv \byov, ovrual prjOevra, WLaTeveadai xa^€lrbv iv tov
Aios tov AiKTaiov rc3 avTpLp KeL/xevos inrvus fiadei £tt] avxvd, 6vap £<$>r\ evTV%^v uvtos deois Kal
deQiv \byoLS Kal aXrjdeia Kal di/cy. k.t.\.).

Sir A. J. Evans at first identified Mt Dikte with Mt Lasithi, the Dictaean Cave with
the Psychro Cave, and the city built by Zeus (Diod. 5. 70 cited supra) with the ruins at
Goulas on an outlying spur of the Lasitki-massif (Sir A. J. Evans 'Goulas: The City of
Zeus' in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1895—1896 ii. 169 ff.). This made an attractive com-
bination and found many adherents (supra p. 925 n. 1). Unfortunately it ignored two
essential factors in the situation—the definite statements of ancient topographers (in primis
Strab. 478 f., Ptol. 3. 15. 3 and 6, cp. Agathokles frag. 2 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 289 Miiller)
ap. Athen. 375 F, schol. Arat. phaen. 33 f.; in secundis Ap. Rhod. 4. 1635 ff., Loukian.
dial. mar. 15. 4) and the provenance of inscriptions relating to the cult of Zeus Alktolos.
Discussion of the evidence along these lines led K. J. Beloch in Klio 1911 xi. 433 ff. and
J. Toutain in the Revue de Fhistoire des religions 1911 lxiv. 277 ff. to reject the identification
of Dikte with Lasithi and to insist that Dikte must have been a mountain near Praisos at
the eastern end of Crete. Apparently Sir A. J. Evans has himself now given in to this
view, for the map prefixed to vol. i of The Palace of Minos at Knossos adopts the new
equation Aigaion = Z«.«7/2z' and, rightly as I conceive, assigns the name 'Mt Dikta' to the
range situated south-west of Praisos. If so, the true Dictaean Cave is still to seek.

The cult of Zeus Aiktcuos in eastern Crete is attested by (1) the civic oath of Itanos in
s. iii B.C. (Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr.2 no. 462, 2 ff., ib? no. 526, 2 ff. =F. Blass in
Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 324 f. no. 5058, 2 ff. found at Eremopoli [rd5]e
u>p.oaav toI IrdvLOL 7rd[V]j[Tes] Ai'a AiKTaiov Kal 'Upav Kal d\[eo]vs tovs iv At/crat Kal
'A.6av^_a\Lav TJoXtdSa Kal deovs, o<r<ro[i]|[s] iv 'Adavalai OveTai, ir\a\vTas j [/c]at Aia 'Ayopalov
KaVATrbX\w\[v]a HvOiov Kad' iepwv veoKav\[T]ojv k.t.X.): (2) the oath of allegiance taken
by settlers from Hierapytna, sent probably to occupy conquered territory (Praisos?) (Corp.
inscr. Gr. ii no. 2555, 11 ff. = F. Blass in Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 311 f.
no. 5039, 11 ff. cited supra p. 723 n. o): (3) the oath to be taken each year in the month

c. 11. 59