DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0245
Zeus Asklepios
1083
p. 1448 n. 7). Whether the snake followed by Antinoe, daughter of Kepheus and
granddaughter of Aleos, when she refounded Mantineia on its historical site
(Paus. 8. 8. 4 f), was Asklepios (as Miss Harrison apparently assumes in Themis
p. 381 n. 5) is very doubtful. In 293—291 B.C. Asklepios was fetched from
Epidauros to Rome and duly domiciled on the island in the Tiber; he arrived
in the guise of a golden snake (Liv. 10. 47. 7, per. 11 Aesculapi signum...
anguem...in quo ipsum numen esse constabat, Ov. met. 15. 622 ff. especially
669 f. cristis aureus altis | in serpente deus etc., 737 erigitur serpens, etc., cp.
fast. I. 291 f., Val. Max. 1. 8. 2 anguis, Plout. quaestt. Rom. 94 rov dpdnovros,
Plin. nat. hist. 29. 72 anguis, Aur. Vict, de vir. ill. 22. 1—3 anguis, Sidon.
epist. 1. 7. 12 serpentis Epidaurii: see further O. Richter Topographie der Stadt
Rom2 Miinchen 1901 p. 282 f., H. Jordan—C. Hulsen Topographie der Stadt
Rom im Alterthum Berlin 1907 i. 3. 633—635)—a belief commemorated on
coppers of the gens Rubria (Babelon Monn. rep. rom. ii. 406 ff. nos. 5 f. and
9 figs., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Corns Rep. i. 312 pi. 38, 5, i. 313 n. 1 fig.
under date c. 86 B.C.) and on bronze medallions of Antoninus Pius (Gnecchi
Medagl. Rom. ii. 9 pi. 43, i=my fig. 927 and
ii. 9 pi. 43, 2, Brit. Mus. Cat. Medallions p. 7
no. 4 pi. 8, 3, cp. p. 7 no. 5, Frohner Med. emp.
rom. p. 51 ff. figs., Baumeister Denkm. i. 140
fig. 150, Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom.
Coins p. 20 fig. Father Tiber, reclining amid his
waters, rests his left elbow on an urn, holds a
reed in his left hand, and extends his right to
greet the snake on its arrival. The galley, whose
steersman and rowers (?) are visible, passes under
the Pons Fabricius towards the island, where
buildings and a tree mark the new home of the
god). Lastly, Lucian in his Alexandros or the
Sham Seer tells how an impostor from Abonou Teichos, a coast-town in Paphla-
gonia, purchased a large tame snake at Pella in Makedonia (Loukian. Alex. 7),
and with the aid of a confederate spread the news that Asklepios and his father
Apollon were about to visit the Abonotichians (ib. 10). The rascals had made
a snake's head of linen, painted it with a human expression, given it a mouth
that could open and shut by means of horse-hairs, and added a black forked
tongue that worked in the same way {ib. 12). Thus equipped Alexandros went
to Abonou Teichos, where the worthy inhabitants were already digging the
foundations of a new temple to greet the advent of the gods, buried a goose's
egg containing a young reptile in the mud after dark {ib. 13) and duly dis-
covered 'the new-born Asklepios' next morning to the astonishment of the
bystanders {ib. 14). Alexandros now became the exhibitor of the god. He took
into his bosom 'the Asklepios from Pella,' twined its body round his neck and
let its tail hang down, but kept its head hidden under his armpit and showed the
linen mask instead {ib. 15). The people were astounded at the miraculously
rapid growth of the snake {ib. 16). Bithynians, Galatians, Thracians came
flocking in ; pictures, portraits, and images, some of bronze, some of silver, were
made ; and the god was named Glykon in obedience to an oracle of his own
(ib. 18 elfj.1 rXvKav, rpirov aifxa Aioy, (pdos dvd/janroMri). From this time onwards
Alexandros drove a roaring trade in oracles (ib. 19 ff.). A tube consisting of the
windpipes of cranes introduced into the artificial head enabled an assistant
outside to make 'the linen Asklepios' answer questions and deliver 'autophone
1083
p. 1448 n. 7). Whether the snake followed by Antinoe, daughter of Kepheus and
granddaughter of Aleos, when she refounded Mantineia on its historical site
(Paus. 8. 8. 4 f), was Asklepios (as Miss Harrison apparently assumes in Themis
p. 381 n. 5) is very doubtful. In 293—291 B.C. Asklepios was fetched from
Epidauros to Rome and duly domiciled on the island in the Tiber; he arrived
in the guise of a golden snake (Liv. 10. 47. 7, per. 11 Aesculapi signum...
anguem...in quo ipsum numen esse constabat, Ov. met. 15. 622 ff. especially
669 f. cristis aureus altis | in serpente deus etc., 737 erigitur serpens, etc., cp.
fast. I. 291 f., Val. Max. 1. 8. 2 anguis, Plout. quaestt. Rom. 94 rov dpdnovros,
Plin. nat. hist. 29. 72 anguis, Aur. Vict, de vir. ill. 22. 1—3 anguis, Sidon.
epist. 1. 7. 12 serpentis Epidaurii: see further O. Richter Topographie der Stadt
Rom2 Miinchen 1901 p. 282 f., H. Jordan—C. Hulsen Topographie der Stadt
Rom im Alterthum Berlin 1907 i. 3. 633—635)—a belief commemorated on
coppers of the gens Rubria (Babelon Monn. rep. rom. ii. 406 ff. nos. 5 f. and
9 figs., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Corns Rep. i. 312 pi. 38, 5, i. 313 n. 1 fig.
under date c. 86 B.C.) and on bronze medallions of Antoninus Pius (Gnecchi
Medagl. Rom. ii. 9 pi. 43, i=my fig. 927 and
ii. 9 pi. 43, 2, Brit. Mus. Cat. Medallions p. 7
no. 4 pi. 8, 3, cp. p. 7 no. 5, Frohner Med. emp.
rom. p. 51 ff. figs., Baumeister Denkm. i. 140
fig. 150, Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom.
Coins p. 20 fig. Father Tiber, reclining amid his
waters, rests his left elbow on an urn, holds a
reed in his left hand, and extends his right to
greet the snake on its arrival. The galley, whose
steersman and rowers (?) are visible, passes under
the Pons Fabricius towards the island, where
buildings and a tree mark the new home of the
god). Lastly, Lucian in his Alexandros or the
Sham Seer tells how an impostor from Abonou Teichos, a coast-town in Paphla-
gonia, purchased a large tame snake at Pella in Makedonia (Loukian. Alex. 7),
and with the aid of a confederate spread the news that Asklepios and his father
Apollon were about to visit the Abonotichians (ib. 10). The rascals had made
a snake's head of linen, painted it with a human expression, given it a mouth
that could open and shut by means of horse-hairs, and added a black forked
tongue that worked in the same way {ib. 12). Thus equipped Alexandros went
to Abonou Teichos, where the worthy inhabitants were already digging the
foundations of a new temple to greet the advent of the gods, buried a goose's
egg containing a young reptile in the mud after dark {ib. 13) and duly dis-
covered 'the new-born Asklepios' next morning to the astonishment of the
bystanders {ib. 14). Alexandros now became the exhibitor of the god. He took
into his bosom 'the Asklepios from Pella,' twined its body round his neck and
let its tail hang down, but kept its head hidden under his armpit and showed the
linen mask instead {ib. 15). The people were astounded at the miraculously
rapid growth of the snake {ib. 16). Bithynians, Galatians, Thracians came
flocking in ; pictures, portraits, and images, some of bronze, some of silver, were
made ; and the god was named Glykon in obedience to an oracle of his own
(ib. 18 elfj.1 rXvKav, rpirov aifxa Aioy, (pdos dvd/janroMri). From this time onwards
Alexandros drove a roaring trade in oracles (ib. 19 ff.). A tube consisting of the
windpipes of cranes introduced into the artificial head enabled an assistant
outside to make 'the linen Asklepios' answer questions and deliver 'autophone