DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0107
The Mountain-cults of Zeus 94 5
Mount Alysis (?)*.
Mount Arbios2.
or rather of Zan the older form of Zeus [supra p. 340 ff.), and that after his death he con-
tinued to be venerated as Zan or Zeus incarnate. Hence the persistent tradition that the
tomb was inscribed ZAN KPONOY (Enn. loc. cit.), TAN KPONOY (schol. Bern.
Lucan. loc. cit.), or c35e pieyas nelrou ZAN bv AIA klk\tj(tkov&l [supra p. 345). Hence
too the ingenious guess of a late grammarian that the inscription originally ran Mivuos rod
Aids Td0os (schol. Kallim. loc. cit.).
Paganism in due course was superseded by, or at least overlaid with, Christianity.
The southern and higher summit of Mt Juktas is topped by a church of AvdevT-rjs Xptaros,
'Christ the Lord,' to which there is an annual pilgrimage on August 6, the feast of the
Mera/xoprpwais or 1 Transfiguration.' The church contains a chapel of the Panagia (Sir A. J.
Evans op. cit. i. 154 with n. 7, supra i. 162 n. 1).
1 Schol. Arat. phaen. 33 Aiktu)- ALktov [ALktov om. cod. M.) aKpwTijpiov rrjs Kprirr/s
irXijaiov tt]s"\Sris tov KprjriKov opovs, ivda iariv 'AXvffiov Atos Tep,evos irapa to irapa.KeLp.evov
(KeT 6pos"AXvcris (so ed. Aid. 7repi to irepiKeip,evov aXcros, with rj aXvaos above aXaos cod. A.
irepiTo irepiKeip.evov aXcros cod. M.). E. Maass cj. evda earlv 'AXcrelov Aws Tip.evos.<eKXrjdi]
de ovtos> irapa to irepiKeip-evov (LXcros. 'AXvcios as a hyperdorism for 'HXwtjos is improbable.
2 Zeus "Apftios (Steph. Byz. s.v. "Apfiis ■...etm /cat iv KprjT-rj "Apfiios opos, evda rt^arat
"ApfBios Zievs). C. Muller in his commentary on Ptol. 3. 15. 3'La.Toj ir6Xis...'Iepbv 8pos...
'lepdirvTva and on Anon, stadiasm. Mar. Magn. 320 [Geogr. Gr. min. i. 506 Midler)
identifies 'lepbv opos with the mountain of Zeus "Ap/3ios—a view accepted by L. Biirchner
in Pauly—Wissowa Real.-Enc. viii. 1530 ('Zeus Orbios' !), ib. xi. 1814.
R. Pashley Travels in Crete Cambridge—London 1837 i. 285 and T. A. B. Spratt
Travels and Researches in Crete London 1865 i. 295 give illustrations of the cleft at Arvi.
Pashley op. cit. p. 275 f. would locate the cult of Zeus "Apfiios at a point near the shore,
where—as he was assured by the villagers of Haghio Vasili—ancient walls, since chiefly
used in building the church, were formerly to be seen. Spratt op. cit. i. 294 concurred in
this opinion. A. Trevor-Battye Camping in Crete London 1913 p. [47 f. was even more
successful ; for he found the memory of Zeus yet living in the locality. He spent an
uncomfortable night in a general store at the village of Kalami, where he wanted to skin
birds, press plants, and write. The natives, however, dropped in to talk. ' And I am not
likely'—he says—'to forget the story of the Hammer of Zeus, for a hammer used to
illustrate the story frequently fell very near my head as I skinned a bird on an inverted
packing-case. They said that between us and the sea was a gorge in which, in its ultimate
and very narrow ravine, one heard the hammer of Zeus. They told me that when the
mountain wind was well astir, blow after blow fell upon this chasm with the sound and
shock of a titanic hammer. The noise of these repeated blows they said was awe-inspiring.
Now the only gorge of this character near there appears to be that which lies below Peuko
and runs thence to the sea.... Spratt says of this ravine, that the rock is " singularly rent
from summit to base by a yawning fissure, nearly 1000 feet high*." [* Travels and Re-
searches, 1 293.] He connects this rent with volcanic action evidenced in the rocks of the
neighbouring valley (Myrtos), and proceeds : " In this remarkable feature, we probably
see the reason for the erection of a temple to the God of Thunder at this locality, under
the name of Jupiter Arbius. To whom but the God of Thunder could a temple be so
appropriately dedicated when associated with such an apparent fracture from some great
volcanic movement," etc. I venture to believe that could this distinguished seaman and
geologist have listened to the men in the store that night, he would have accepted their
story as a much more promising explanation of the temple of Zeus the Thunderer.'
Sir A. J. Evans The Palace of Minos at Knossos London 1921 i. 630 f., a propos of
' Minoan' libation-tables, says: ' a good specimen of a mottled steatite table of similar
shape, though apparently uninscribed, was obtained by me in 1894 from the Knoll of
Tartari in the striking cleft of Arvi on the South Coast2 [2Near Viano. The libation table
is now in the Ashmolean Museum.], where in later times was a sanctuary of the indigenous
C. II. 60
Mount Alysis (?)*.
Mount Arbios2.
or rather of Zan the older form of Zeus [supra p. 340 ff.), and that after his death he con-
tinued to be venerated as Zan or Zeus incarnate. Hence the persistent tradition that the
tomb was inscribed ZAN KPONOY (Enn. loc. cit.), TAN KPONOY (schol. Bern.
Lucan. loc. cit.), or c35e pieyas nelrou ZAN bv AIA klk\tj(tkov&l [supra p. 345). Hence
too the ingenious guess of a late grammarian that the inscription originally ran Mivuos rod
Aids Td0os (schol. Kallim. loc. cit.).
Paganism in due course was superseded by, or at least overlaid with, Christianity.
The southern and higher summit of Mt Juktas is topped by a church of AvdevT-rjs Xptaros,
'Christ the Lord,' to which there is an annual pilgrimage on August 6, the feast of the
Mera/xoprpwais or 1 Transfiguration.' The church contains a chapel of the Panagia (Sir A. J.
Evans op. cit. i. 154 with n. 7, supra i. 162 n. 1).
1 Schol. Arat. phaen. 33 Aiktu)- ALktov [ALktov om. cod. M.) aKpwTijpiov rrjs Kprirr/s
irXijaiov tt]s"\Sris tov KprjriKov opovs, ivda iariv 'AXvffiov Atos Tep,evos irapa to irapa.KeLp.evov
(KeT 6pos"AXvcris (so ed. Aid. 7repi to irepiKeip,evov aXcros, with rj aXvaos above aXaos cod. A.
irepiTo irepiKeip.evov aXcros cod. M.). E. Maass cj. evda earlv 'AXcrelov Aws Tip.evos.<eKXrjdi]
de ovtos> irapa to irepiKeip-evov (LXcros. 'AXvcios as a hyperdorism for 'HXwtjos is improbable.
2 Zeus "Apftios (Steph. Byz. s.v. "Apfiis ■...etm /cat iv KprjT-rj "Apfiios opos, evda rt^arat
"ApfBios Zievs). C. Muller in his commentary on Ptol. 3. 15. 3'La.Toj ir6Xis...'Iepbv 8pos...
'lepdirvTva and on Anon, stadiasm. Mar. Magn. 320 [Geogr. Gr. min. i. 506 Midler)
identifies 'lepbv opos with the mountain of Zeus "Ap/3ios—a view accepted by L. Biirchner
in Pauly—Wissowa Real.-Enc. viii. 1530 ('Zeus Orbios' !), ib. xi. 1814.
R. Pashley Travels in Crete Cambridge—London 1837 i. 285 and T. A. B. Spratt
Travels and Researches in Crete London 1865 i. 295 give illustrations of the cleft at Arvi.
Pashley op. cit. p. 275 f. would locate the cult of Zeus "Apfiios at a point near the shore,
where—as he was assured by the villagers of Haghio Vasili—ancient walls, since chiefly
used in building the church, were formerly to be seen. Spratt op. cit. i. 294 concurred in
this opinion. A. Trevor-Battye Camping in Crete London 1913 p. [47 f. was even more
successful ; for he found the memory of Zeus yet living in the locality. He spent an
uncomfortable night in a general store at the village of Kalami, where he wanted to skin
birds, press plants, and write. The natives, however, dropped in to talk. ' And I am not
likely'—he says—'to forget the story of the Hammer of Zeus, for a hammer used to
illustrate the story frequently fell very near my head as I skinned a bird on an inverted
packing-case. They said that between us and the sea was a gorge in which, in its ultimate
and very narrow ravine, one heard the hammer of Zeus. They told me that when the
mountain wind was well astir, blow after blow fell upon this chasm with the sound and
shock of a titanic hammer. The noise of these repeated blows they said was awe-inspiring.
Now the only gorge of this character near there appears to be that which lies below Peuko
and runs thence to the sea.... Spratt says of this ravine, that the rock is " singularly rent
from summit to base by a yawning fissure, nearly 1000 feet high*." [* Travels and Re-
searches, 1 293.] He connects this rent with volcanic action evidenced in the rocks of the
neighbouring valley (Myrtos), and proceeds : " In this remarkable feature, we probably
see the reason for the erection of a temple to the God of Thunder at this locality, under
the name of Jupiter Arbius. To whom but the God of Thunder could a temple be so
appropriately dedicated when associated with such an apparent fracture from some great
volcanic movement," etc. I venture to believe that could this distinguished seaman and
geologist have listened to the men in the store that night, he would have accepted their
story as a much more promising explanation of the temple of Zeus the Thunderer.'
Sir A. J. Evans The Palace of Minos at Knossos London 1921 i. 630 f., a propos of
' Minoan' libation-tables, says: ' a good specimen of a mottled steatite table of similar
shape, though apparently uninscribed, was obtained by me in 1894 from the Knoll of
Tartari in the striking cleft of Arvi on the South Coast2 [2Near Viano. The libation table
is now in the Ashmolean Museum.], where in later times was a sanctuary of the indigenous
C. II. 60