DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0176
1014 Appendix F
\0) Stellar names of the children in 'Expulsion' Tales.
Now Zethos and Amphion were the Theban Uioskouroi1. It seems worth
while, therefore, to consider whether the features common to the 'expulsion'
tales can be paralleled from the numerous classical myths with regard to heroic
twins. To begin with, one characteristic of the six 'expulsion' tales cited above
is a certain peculiarity of nomenclature. The king's wife bears him children as
follows :
1. A boy called Sun, a boy called Moon, a girl called Star (successively).
2. A boy called Sun, a girl called Moon, a boy called Morning-star
(simultaneously).
3. A boy with the Morning-star on his face, a girl with the Evening-star
on her face (simultaneously).
4. Three golden children, of whom two at least were boys (successively).
5. Two boys with golden apples in their hands, a girl with a star on her
brow (simultaneously).
6. Two boys with golden stars on their brows, a girl with a silver star on
her brow (successively).
The children, then, are definitely stellar; and a comparison of the last two
tales shows beyond all doubt that the golden apples are tantamount to golden
stars. Further, in four, perhaps five, out of the six tales the children consist of
two boys and a girl. On both grounds we are forced to compare them with
Kastor, Polydeukes, and Helene2. Zethos and Amphion too were, as we have
before seen3, intimately related to sun, moon, and stars. Even Romulus and
Remus on Roman imperial coins are treated as Dioskouroi and surmounted by
a couple of stars4.
(c) Exposure of the children and Punishment of the mother in
'Expulsion' Tales.
J. Rendel Harris in The Cult of the Heavenly Twins argues well in defence
of the thesis ' That, in the earliest stages of human evolution, twins are taboo,
without distinction between them, and that their mother shares the taboo with
them5.' In conformity with this rule the children of the 'expulsion' tales are
regularly exposed as castaways :
1. They are put into boxes and flung into the sea.
2. Orders are given that they should be flung into a river ; but they are
actually left on a bed of rushes.
1 Supra i. 739, ii. 317, 445.
2 If this comparison be well founded, the relation of the children to horses may be
more than fortuitous :
(1) Sun rides a green winged horse, which can thunder and lighten.
(2) Sun and Morning-star spend their time in exercising their horses : Moon also rides
on horseback.
(3) Morning-star and Evening-star are abandoned on a lame horse : Morning-star
secures the winged horse of the plain, which eats men and beasts.
{5) The brothers with golden apples and the sister with a star all ride on horseback.
(6) The brothers with golden stars and the sister with a silver star all ride on horse-
back as cavaliers.
3 Supra i. 739.
4 Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom. Coins pp. 761, 914 b, supra p. 443 b
figs. 349—351.
5 J. Rendel Harris The Cult of the Heavenly Twins Cambridge 1906 p. 10 ff.
\0) Stellar names of the children in 'Expulsion' Tales.
Now Zethos and Amphion were the Theban Uioskouroi1. It seems worth
while, therefore, to consider whether the features common to the 'expulsion'
tales can be paralleled from the numerous classical myths with regard to heroic
twins. To begin with, one characteristic of the six 'expulsion' tales cited above
is a certain peculiarity of nomenclature. The king's wife bears him children as
follows :
1. A boy called Sun, a boy called Moon, a girl called Star (successively).
2. A boy called Sun, a girl called Moon, a boy called Morning-star
(simultaneously).
3. A boy with the Morning-star on his face, a girl with the Evening-star
on her face (simultaneously).
4. Three golden children, of whom two at least were boys (successively).
5. Two boys with golden apples in their hands, a girl with a star on her
brow (simultaneously).
6. Two boys with golden stars on their brows, a girl with a silver star on
her brow (successively).
The children, then, are definitely stellar; and a comparison of the last two
tales shows beyond all doubt that the golden apples are tantamount to golden
stars. Further, in four, perhaps five, out of the six tales the children consist of
two boys and a girl. On both grounds we are forced to compare them with
Kastor, Polydeukes, and Helene2. Zethos and Amphion too were, as we have
before seen3, intimately related to sun, moon, and stars. Even Romulus and
Remus on Roman imperial coins are treated as Dioskouroi and surmounted by
a couple of stars4.
(c) Exposure of the children and Punishment of the mother in
'Expulsion' Tales.
J. Rendel Harris in The Cult of the Heavenly Twins argues well in defence
of the thesis ' That, in the earliest stages of human evolution, twins are taboo,
without distinction between them, and that their mother shares the taboo with
them5.' In conformity with this rule the children of the 'expulsion' tales are
regularly exposed as castaways :
1. They are put into boxes and flung into the sea.
2. Orders are given that they should be flung into a river ; but they are
actually left on a bed of rushes.
1 Supra i. 739, ii. 317, 445.
2 If this comparison be well founded, the relation of the children to horses may be
more than fortuitous :
(1) Sun rides a green winged horse, which can thunder and lighten.
(2) Sun and Morning-star spend their time in exercising their horses : Moon also rides
on horseback.
(3) Morning-star and Evening-star are abandoned on a lame horse : Morning-star
secures the winged horse of the plain, which eats men and beasts.
{5) The brothers with golden apples and the sister with a star all ride on horseback.
(6) The brothers with golden stars and the sister with a silver star all ride on horse-
back as cavaliers.
3 Supra i. 739.
4 Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom. Coins pp. 761, 914 b, supra p. 443 b
figs. 349—351.
5 J. Rendel Harris The Cult of the Heavenly Twins Cambridge 1906 p. 10 ff.