DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0262
I IOO
Appendix M
of Purification1.' The exact relationship of all these appellatives and the growth
of the religious beliefs implied by them are still far from clear. Perhaps we
shall come within measurable distance of the truth by assuming that develop-
ment proceeded on some such lines as follow:
Arg. 107 f. cited supra p. 1097 n.' 2, and for a parody Anth. Pal. 11. 361. 1 ff. (Auto-
medon)). How Zeus could have begotten such creatures, 'halt wrinkled squinting,'
was a puzzle (Bion Borysthenites frag. 44 Mullach ap. Clem. Al. protr. 4. 56. 1 p. 43,
29 ff. Stahlin, Herakleitos quaestt. Horn. 37, Porph. quaest. II. 97, 21, Eustath. in
II. p. 768, 28 ff.). But symbolism proved a ready solvent {vide the comments of
Herakleitos quaestt. Horn. 37, schol. II. 9. 502 f., Porph. quaestt. II. 97, 21, Eustath.
in II. p. 767, 60 ff., Cornut. theol. 12 p. 12, 5 ff. Lang, Eudok. viol. 606, Cramer
anecd. Paris, iii. 239, 32 ff., cp. Hesych. s.v. AZVcu (H. Stephanus restored Amu)).
Dr W. Leaf A Companion to the Iliad London 1892 p. 185 can still write : 'The epithets
applied to them indicate the attitude of the penitent: halting, because he comes
with hesitating steps; wrinkled, because his face betrays the inward struggle; and of
eyes askance, because he dares not look in the face the man he has wronged' (cp.
the same scholar's note on II. 9. 503, repeated in his joint ed. with the Rev. M. A.
Bayfield). I am sorry to dissent from Dr Leaf, to whom all lovers of Homer are so
deeply indebted. But to me it seems far more probable that the Litai were physically
deformed and loathsome like the Erinyes, to whom they were akin. I suppose them to
have been essentially the prayers of the injured man taking shape as vengeful sprites. In
the last analysis they were simply the soul of the victim issuing from his mouth in visible
form, maimed because he was maimed, and clamouring for vengeance. The personifica-
tion is not unlike that implied in Gen. 4. 10 'the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto
me from the ground ' (with Dr J. Skinner's note ad loc.). For the soul as Erinys see
Harrison Proleg. Gk. Pel.2 p. 213 ff. No doubt all this belongs to the dim background of
Greek religion and has already been half-forgotten by the Homeric writer, who conceives
the Litai, not as the wrathful prayers of the injured man, but as the penitential prayers of
his injurer. The apologue thus acquires a new moral value. It is, however, largely
couched in language appropriate to the earlier conception (Ate, swift of foot, drives many
a man to do mad deeds. Then come the Litai and effect the cure. If a man respects
them, they help him and hear his prayer. If a man flouts them, they go and pray to Zeus
that Ate may fall upon such an one, drive him mad, and make him pay the price), and in
particular its description of the Litai as misshapen and hideous is an abiding relic of its
former significance. The passage is, in fact, an alvos (like //. 19. 91 ff. or the oracle in
Hdt. 6. 86) misinterpreted and misapplied by a later moralist. But, however understood,
it contributes little or nothing to an explanation of Zeus Atrcuos. The altar at Nikaia was
surely voted to him as ' Hearer of Prayers ' for the restored health of the emperor or for
some other benefit vouchsafed to a grateful public.
1 Zeus was worshipped as Kaddpatos at Athens (Poll. 8. 142 (cp. 1. 24) cited supra
p. 1093 n. 1) and at Olympia (Paus. 5. 14. 8 7rpds avrw 5£ icrrw 'A7vtharwv OeQv /3w,a6?, Kal
fxerd tovtov YLadapaiov Atos Kal Niktjs, Kal adOis Atos eirwvvpJi.av ~Kdoviov. E. Curtius Die
Altdre von Olympia (Abh. d. berl. Akad. 1881 Phil.-hist. Classe) Berlin 1882 p. 39 no. 21
rightly assumes that Zeus Kaddpaios and Nike had here a common altar. So, with some
hesitation, does W. Dorpfeld in Olympia i. 83 no. 18. C. Maurer De arts Graecorum
pluribus dels in commune positis Darmstadii 1885 p. 17 adopts the same view. But K.
Wernicke ' Olympische Beitrage i' in the Jahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1894 ix. 96
no. 18 f. thinks otherwise). For literary allusions see Aristot. de mundo 7. 401 a 23 (cited
supra p. 1097 n. 2) = Stob. eel. 1. 1. 36 p. 45, 21 Wachsmuth, Ap. Rhod. 4. 708 f. (cited
supra p. 1097 n. 2), Plout. de earn, esu 2. 1 w ZeO KaOdpaie, Orph. h. Zeus 15. 8 f.
aeiaixQuv, av^7]t&, KaOapaie, iravroTiv&KTa, | acrrpdwie (so G. Hermann for dcrrpancue),
(3povraie, Kepavvie, (pvrdXie ZeO.
Appendix M
of Purification1.' The exact relationship of all these appellatives and the growth
of the religious beliefs implied by them are still far from clear. Perhaps we
shall come within measurable distance of the truth by assuming that develop-
ment proceeded on some such lines as follow:
Arg. 107 f. cited supra p. 1097 n.' 2, and for a parody Anth. Pal. 11. 361. 1 ff. (Auto-
medon)). How Zeus could have begotten such creatures, 'halt wrinkled squinting,'
was a puzzle (Bion Borysthenites frag. 44 Mullach ap. Clem. Al. protr. 4. 56. 1 p. 43,
29 ff. Stahlin, Herakleitos quaestt. Horn. 37, Porph. quaest. II. 97, 21, Eustath. in
II. p. 768, 28 ff.). But symbolism proved a ready solvent {vide the comments of
Herakleitos quaestt. Horn. 37, schol. II. 9. 502 f., Porph. quaestt. II. 97, 21, Eustath.
in II. p. 767, 60 ff., Cornut. theol. 12 p. 12, 5 ff. Lang, Eudok. viol. 606, Cramer
anecd. Paris, iii. 239, 32 ff., cp. Hesych. s.v. AZVcu (H. Stephanus restored Amu)).
Dr W. Leaf A Companion to the Iliad London 1892 p. 185 can still write : 'The epithets
applied to them indicate the attitude of the penitent: halting, because he comes
with hesitating steps; wrinkled, because his face betrays the inward struggle; and of
eyes askance, because he dares not look in the face the man he has wronged' (cp.
the same scholar's note on II. 9. 503, repeated in his joint ed. with the Rev. M. A.
Bayfield). I am sorry to dissent from Dr Leaf, to whom all lovers of Homer are so
deeply indebted. But to me it seems far more probable that the Litai were physically
deformed and loathsome like the Erinyes, to whom they were akin. I suppose them to
have been essentially the prayers of the injured man taking shape as vengeful sprites. In
the last analysis they were simply the soul of the victim issuing from his mouth in visible
form, maimed because he was maimed, and clamouring for vengeance. The personifica-
tion is not unlike that implied in Gen. 4. 10 'the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto
me from the ground ' (with Dr J. Skinner's note ad loc.). For the soul as Erinys see
Harrison Proleg. Gk. Pel.2 p. 213 ff. No doubt all this belongs to the dim background of
Greek religion and has already been half-forgotten by the Homeric writer, who conceives
the Litai, not as the wrathful prayers of the injured man, but as the penitential prayers of
his injurer. The apologue thus acquires a new moral value. It is, however, largely
couched in language appropriate to the earlier conception (Ate, swift of foot, drives many
a man to do mad deeds. Then come the Litai and effect the cure. If a man respects
them, they help him and hear his prayer. If a man flouts them, they go and pray to Zeus
that Ate may fall upon such an one, drive him mad, and make him pay the price), and in
particular its description of the Litai as misshapen and hideous is an abiding relic of its
former significance. The passage is, in fact, an alvos (like //. 19. 91 ff. or the oracle in
Hdt. 6. 86) misinterpreted and misapplied by a later moralist. But, however understood,
it contributes little or nothing to an explanation of Zeus Atrcuos. The altar at Nikaia was
surely voted to him as ' Hearer of Prayers ' for the restored health of the emperor or for
some other benefit vouchsafed to a grateful public.
1 Zeus was worshipped as Kaddpatos at Athens (Poll. 8. 142 (cp. 1. 24) cited supra
p. 1093 n. 1) and at Olympia (Paus. 5. 14. 8 7rpds avrw 5£ icrrw 'A7vtharwv OeQv /3w,a6?, Kal
fxerd tovtov YLadapaiov Atos Kal Niktjs, Kal adOis Atos eirwvvpJi.av ~Kdoviov. E. Curtius Die
Altdre von Olympia (Abh. d. berl. Akad. 1881 Phil.-hist. Classe) Berlin 1882 p. 39 no. 21
rightly assumes that Zeus Kaddpaios and Nike had here a common altar. So, with some
hesitation, does W. Dorpfeld in Olympia i. 83 no. 18. C. Maurer De arts Graecorum
pluribus dels in commune positis Darmstadii 1885 p. 17 adopts the same view. But K.
Wernicke ' Olympische Beitrage i' in the Jahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1894 ix. 96
no. 18 f. thinks otherwise). For literary allusions see Aristot. de mundo 7. 401 a 23 (cited
supra p. 1097 n. 2) = Stob. eel. 1. 1. 36 p. 45, 21 Wachsmuth, Ap. Rhod. 4. 708 f. (cited
supra p. 1097 n. 2), Plout. de earn, esu 2. 1 w ZeO KaOdpaie, Orph. h. Zeus 15. 8 f.
aeiaixQuv, av^7]t&, KaOapaie, iravroTiv&KTa, | acrrpdwie (so G. Hermann for dcrrpancue),
(3povraie, Kepavvie, (pvrdXie ZeO.