DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0237
Zeus Trephonios or Trophonios 1075
two snakes and appeased them with honey-cakes (schol. Aristoph. nub. 508). It
was even said that the oracle was delivered by a snake (schol. Aristoph. nub.
5o8 = Souid. S.V. Tpo(pa>vlov Kara yrjs Traiyvia) OX snakes (Souid. S.V. peXiTOvrra),
to which the inhabitants threw honey-cakes. Snakes, it would seem, were as
sacred to Trophonios as they were to Asklepios (Paus. 9. 39. 3): indeed, in the
cave from which flowed the stream Herkyna there stood images of Trophonios
and Herkyna with snakes coiled about their staves so that they resembled Ask-
lepios and Hygieia (Paus. ib.). According to the story current in the district,
Herkyna (a sort of Demeter, cp. Lyk. Al. 'Evvala... \ "Ep<wv 'Epivvs k.t.A.
with Tzetz. ad loc. "EpKwv 'Epivvvs errmvvpa Arjprjrpos. k.t.A., Hesych. 'EpKvvia
(so S. Potter for 'EpKrjvia)- eopn) A/^rpo?. Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 353 says : 'wohl
eine Fruchtbarkeit spendende Ouellgottin, der arkadischen Demeter ahnlich'),
playing with Kore, had lost a goose, which flew into a cave and hid beneath a
stone tilPKore came in and found it: the stream springing from the spot, whence
Kore had lifted the stone, was called Herkyna. And in the temple of Herkyna
near the bank of the stream a maiden was still to be seen with a goose in her
hands (Paus. 9. 39. 2f.). The story reminds us that Zeus, to win Nemesis or
Leda, transformed himself into a goose {supra i. 279 n. 4, 760 n. 2). It may,
I think, be divined that the goose in the hands of the maiden was Zeus himself
in animal form. For that Zeus was associated with Herkyna appears from
Paullus' sacrifice ' Iovi Hercynnaeque' {supra p. 1073). L, Stephani in the
Compte-rendu St. Pet. 1863 p. 94 finds an illustration of the Lebadean tale on a
rhyton, shaped like a bull's head, found at Ruvo and now in the Jatta collection,
which shows [a) Zeus seated with thunderbolt and sceptre, and {b) a maiden
pursuing a goose (published by T. Avellino in the Bull. Arch. Nap. 1856
Nuova Serie iv. 114 f. pi. 11, 2, 1, 3 = Reinach Rep. Vases i. 483, 4, 3, 6): but
this is perhaps a mere juxtaposition of the sublime with the ridiculous (Maybaum
Der Zeuskult in Boeotien Doberan 1901 p. 19 detects 'eine Genrescene'). Be
that as it may, Trophonios was not only a dead man, but also a living god
(Loukian. dial. ?nort. 3. 1 f.), and as such received the rites due to a god (Charax
frag. 6 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 637 f. Miiller) ap. schol. Aristoph. nub. 508 nai Qvovmv
avro) cbs being, as we have seen, frequently identified with Zeus (in Cic.
de nat. deor. 3. 55, Arnob. adv. nat. 4. 14, with a chthonian Hermes: cp. Paus.
9. 39. 7). This, however, does not preclude a certain likeness to Amphiaraos;
for Trophonios too was swallowed by the earth at a place in Lebadeia, where
there was a hole {$66pos) of Agamedes and a stele beside it (Paus. 9. 37. 7, cp.
9. 39. 6?). The name Karafidaiov sometimes given to the oracular building
(schol. Aristoph. nub. 508 = Souid. s.v. Tpocpcovlov nard yrjs Traiyvia) bears a super-
ficial resemblance to that of Zeus KaraLfSaTTjs,'but means presumably the sacred
spot 'to which men descend' (cp. Dikaiarchos rrep\ rrjs els Tpotpaivlov KaTaftdo-ews
{Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 266 ff. Miiller), and a work by Plutarch with the same title—
no. 181 in the catalogue of Lamprias (W. Christ Geschichte der griechiscJien
Litteraturh Miinchen 1911 ii. 1. 371 n. 4)). J. Vurtheim ' De Eugammonis
Cyrenaei Telegonia' in Mnemosyne 1901 xxix. 27—30 regards both Agamedes
and Trophonios as hypostases of Zeus: ' Sed indigetando ex uno hoc love
(vel Mercurio) dii tres sunt facti, e quibus unus Clymenus (i.e. Zevs KXvpevos
vel HepiKXvpevos) avum repraesentabat, secundus Trophonius antiquo nomine
servato vates fiebat, tertius Agamedes (i.e. sagacissimus) indolem prudentem
rov xdovlov deoii indicabat; deinde e dis mutati in reges mythicos (ut Amphiaraus
ille)' etc____'Vidimus igitur Iovem rpocpeoviov ^doviov e spelunca sua in lucem
quasi protractum in duos heroas abiisse, quemadmodum Amphiaraus est natus
68—2
two snakes and appeased them with honey-cakes (schol. Aristoph. nub. 508). It
was even said that the oracle was delivered by a snake (schol. Aristoph. nub.
5o8 = Souid. S.V. Tpo(pa>vlov Kara yrjs Traiyvia) OX snakes (Souid. S.V. peXiTOvrra),
to which the inhabitants threw honey-cakes. Snakes, it would seem, were as
sacred to Trophonios as they were to Asklepios (Paus. 9. 39. 3): indeed, in the
cave from which flowed the stream Herkyna there stood images of Trophonios
and Herkyna with snakes coiled about their staves so that they resembled Ask-
lepios and Hygieia (Paus. ib.). According to the story current in the district,
Herkyna (a sort of Demeter, cp. Lyk. Al. 'Evvala... \ "Ep<wv 'Epivvs k.t.A.
with Tzetz. ad loc. "EpKwv 'Epivvvs errmvvpa Arjprjrpos. k.t.A., Hesych. 'EpKvvia
(so S. Potter for 'EpKrjvia)- eopn) A/^rpo?. Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 353 says : 'wohl
eine Fruchtbarkeit spendende Ouellgottin, der arkadischen Demeter ahnlich'),
playing with Kore, had lost a goose, which flew into a cave and hid beneath a
stone tilPKore came in and found it: the stream springing from the spot, whence
Kore had lifted the stone, was called Herkyna. And in the temple of Herkyna
near the bank of the stream a maiden was still to be seen with a goose in her
hands (Paus. 9. 39. 2f.). The story reminds us that Zeus, to win Nemesis or
Leda, transformed himself into a goose {supra i. 279 n. 4, 760 n. 2). It may,
I think, be divined that the goose in the hands of the maiden was Zeus himself
in animal form. For that Zeus was associated with Herkyna appears from
Paullus' sacrifice ' Iovi Hercynnaeque' {supra p. 1073). L, Stephani in the
Compte-rendu St. Pet. 1863 p. 94 finds an illustration of the Lebadean tale on a
rhyton, shaped like a bull's head, found at Ruvo and now in the Jatta collection,
which shows [a) Zeus seated with thunderbolt and sceptre, and {b) a maiden
pursuing a goose (published by T. Avellino in the Bull. Arch. Nap. 1856
Nuova Serie iv. 114 f. pi. 11, 2, 1, 3 = Reinach Rep. Vases i. 483, 4, 3, 6): but
this is perhaps a mere juxtaposition of the sublime with the ridiculous (Maybaum
Der Zeuskult in Boeotien Doberan 1901 p. 19 detects 'eine Genrescene'). Be
that as it may, Trophonios was not only a dead man, but also a living god
(Loukian. dial. ?nort. 3. 1 f.), and as such received the rites due to a god (Charax
frag. 6 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 637 f. Miiller) ap. schol. Aristoph. nub. 508 nai Qvovmv
avro) cbs being, as we have seen, frequently identified with Zeus (in Cic.
de nat. deor. 3. 55, Arnob. adv. nat. 4. 14, with a chthonian Hermes: cp. Paus.
9. 39. 7). This, however, does not preclude a certain likeness to Amphiaraos;
for Trophonios too was swallowed by the earth at a place in Lebadeia, where
there was a hole {$66pos) of Agamedes and a stele beside it (Paus. 9. 37. 7, cp.
9. 39. 6?). The name Karafidaiov sometimes given to the oracular building
(schol. Aristoph. nub. 508 = Souid. s.v. Tpocpcovlov nard yrjs Traiyvia) bears a super-
ficial resemblance to that of Zeus KaraLfSaTTjs,'but means presumably the sacred
spot 'to which men descend' (cp. Dikaiarchos rrep\ rrjs els Tpotpaivlov KaTaftdo-ews
{Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 266 ff. Miiller), and a work by Plutarch with the same title—
no. 181 in the catalogue of Lamprias (W. Christ Geschichte der griechiscJien
Litteraturh Miinchen 1911 ii. 1. 371 n. 4)). J. Vurtheim ' De Eugammonis
Cyrenaei Telegonia' in Mnemosyne 1901 xxix. 27—30 regards both Agamedes
and Trophonios as hypostases of Zeus: ' Sed indigetando ex uno hoc love
(vel Mercurio) dii tres sunt facti, e quibus unus Clymenus (i.e. Zevs KXvpevos
vel HepiKXvpevos) avum repraesentabat, secundus Trophonius antiquo nomine
servato vates fiebat, tertius Agamedes (i.e. sagacissimus) indolem prudentem
rov xdovlov deoii indicabat; deinde e dis mutati in reges mythicos (ut Amphiaraus
ille)' etc____'Vidimus igitur Iovem rpocpeoviov ^doviov e spelunca sua in lucem
quasi protractum in duos heroas abiisse, quemadmodum Amphiaraus est natus
68—2