DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0276
1114
Appendix M
pretations. Some, narrowing its range overmuch, would see in it the description
of a god specially gracious to the repentant man-slayer. Others, wrongly associat-
ing it with meilicha, 'figs,' would point in triumph to the Sacred Fig-tree of
the Phytalidai.
(4) Zeus Meilichios on the Hills near Athens.
There must have been another sanctuary of Zeus Meilichios on the northern
slope of the Nymphs' Hill, now crowned by the Observatory. For here two
dedications to the god have come to light, one inscribed on a round pillar1, the
other on a quadrangular base2. The latter associates him with Helios, possibly
as being a god of fertility3.
The eastward prolongation of the Nymphs' Hill, on which stands the church
of Saint Marina, had-in antiquity its own cult of Zeus : a couple of rock-cut
inscriptions on the southern slope mark the limits of his precinct4. Whether the
god here also had fertilising powers, we cannot tell; but at the present day
women who come to supplicate Saint Marina for children 'go through the per-
formance of sliding down the great sloping rock in front of the church5.'
(4) Hekate was 'Apiarr) (C- Wessely Griechische Zauberpapyrus voii Paris undLondon
Wien 1888 p. 57 pap. Par. 1450 /cat'Xpiffr-q Xdovia), EvkoXivt) (Kallim. frag. 83d Schneider
Xatp', YivKoh'ivT), ap. et. Sorbon. (cited by T. Gaisford in his note on et. mag. p. 392, 27), et.
Ultraiect. (cited by D. Ruhnken epist. crit. ii. 181), et. Flor. p. 133, cp. et. mag. p. 392,
27 f., Cramer anecd. Paris, iv. 182, 23 ff., Souid. s.v. EikoX^), KaXXi<rr?7 (Hesych. s.v.),
Kparaus (Ap. Rhod. 4. 829 with schol. ad loc. : see further H. W. Stoll and O. Hofer in
Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1408 f.).
(5) A daughter of Zeus by Persephone was MelXlvSt] ? (so C. A. Lobeck for MrfKivor) in
Orph. h. Melin. 71. 1).
(6) An Arcadian bear-goddess (?) was KctXXicrru; (Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath.
p. 402 ff. fig. 26, R. Franz ' De Callistus fabula' in the Leipziger Studien ziir classischen
Philologie 1890 xii. 233—365, id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 931—935, Farnell Cults of
Gk. States ii. 438, Frazer Pausanias'w. 191, Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. pp. 194 f., 942 n. 8,
alib., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1909 i. 176 f.).
(7) The bogus snake-god of Abonou Teichos was Y\1>kwv (supra Append. L p. 1083 ff.).
Such titles have a twofold aspect. Their value is at once negative and positive. On the
one hand, they are substitutes for names that were taboo. ' It is especially,' says Dr Farnell
(Cults of Gk. States iii. 137), 'in the cults of the powers of the lower world, in the worship
of Hades and Persephone, and more especially still in the mysteries, that we discern in
many Greek communities a religious dislike to pronounce the proper personal name, either
because of its extreme holiness or because of its ominous associations, and to conceal it
under allusive, euphemistic, or complimentary titles.' On the other hand, these titles often
aim at securing by magical means the blessing that they describe: you call your god what
you wish him to be, in order to make him so. See some shrewd remarks by W. R. Halli-
day Greek Divination London 1913 p. 33 f. : ' Here, in part (there are other elements also)
lies the efficacy of Euphemism. You call the Fairies " Kindly Ones " ; behind the conscious
motive of putting them into a good temper, and the fear of effecting a connection with them
by uttering their name, is further the comfort that you derive by persuading yourself to
believe that they are kindly : the fact that you call them kindly makes them kindly.'
MeiXtx'os is a case in point.
1 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. 1584 Att MetXtxtwt j %wwvpiwv.
2 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. 1585 'HXtwt Kdl Ad MetX[tx'wt] j Ma/xfxla.
3 Mommsen Feste d. Stadt Athen pp. 421 n. 4, 424.
4 Corp. inscr. Att. i no. 504 SO I AISO'SIOH and a little lower down no. 505 HOP05-
5 Miss M. Hamilton Greek Saints and their Festivals Edinburgh and London 1910
p. 58 f. Cp. supra i. 563 n. 4.
Appendix M
pretations. Some, narrowing its range overmuch, would see in it the description
of a god specially gracious to the repentant man-slayer. Others, wrongly associat-
ing it with meilicha, 'figs,' would point in triumph to the Sacred Fig-tree of
the Phytalidai.
(4) Zeus Meilichios on the Hills near Athens.
There must have been another sanctuary of Zeus Meilichios on the northern
slope of the Nymphs' Hill, now crowned by the Observatory. For here two
dedications to the god have come to light, one inscribed on a round pillar1, the
other on a quadrangular base2. The latter associates him with Helios, possibly
as being a god of fertility3.
The eastward prolongation of the Nymphs' Hill, on which stands the church
of Saint Marina, had-in antiquity its own cult of Zeus : a couple of rock-cut
inscriptions on the southern slope mark the limits of his precinct4. Whether the
god here also had fertilising powers, we cannot tell; but at the present day
women who come to supplicate Saint Marina for children 'go through the per-
formance of sliding down the great sloping rock in front of the church5.'
(4) Hekate was 'Apiarr) (C- Wessely Griechische Zauberpapyrus voii Paris undLondon
Wien 1888 p. 57 pap. Par. 1450 /cat'Xpiffr-q Xdovia), EvkoXivt) (Kallim. frag. 83d Schneider
Xatp', YivKoh'ivT), ap. et. Sorbon. (cited by T. Gaisford in his note on et. mag. p. 392, 27), et.
Ultraiect. (cited by D. Ruhnken epist. crit. ii. 181), et. Flor. p. 133, cp. et. mag. p. 392,
27 f., Cramer anecd. Paris, iv. 182, 23 ff., Souid. s.v. EikoX^), KaXXi<rr?7 (Hesych. s.v.),
Kparaus (Ap. Rhod. 4. 829 with schol. ad loc. : see further H. W. Stoll and O. Hofer in
Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1408 f.).
(5) A daughter of Zeus by Persephone was MelXlvSt] ? (so C. A. Lobeck for MrfKivor) in
Orph. h. Melin. 71. 1).
(6) An Arcadian bear-goddess (?) was KctXXicrru; (Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath.
p. 402 ff. fig. 26, R. Franz ' De Callistus fabula' in the Leipziger Studien ziir classischen
Philologie 1890 xii. 233—365, id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 931—935, Farnell Cults of
Gk. States ii. 438, Frazer Pausanias'w. 191, Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. pp. 194 f., 942 n. 8,
alib., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1909 i. 176 f.).
(7) The bogus snake-god of Abonou Teichos was Y\1>kwv (supra Append. L p. 1083 ff.).
Such titles have a twofold aspect. Their value is at once negative and positive. On the
one hand, they are substitutes for names that were taboo. ' It is especially,' says Dr Farnell
(Cults of Gk. States iii. 137), 'in the cults of the powers of the lower world, in the worship
of Hades and Persephone, and more especially still in the mysteries, that we discern in
many Greek communities a religious dislike to pronounce the proper personal name, either
because of its extreme holiness or because of its ominous associations, and to conceal it
under allusive, euphemistic, or complimentary titles.' On the other hand, these titles often
aim at securing by magical means the blessing that they describe: you call your god what
you wish him to be, in order to make him so. See some shrewd remarks by W. R. Halli-
day Greek Divination London 1913 p. 33 f. : ' Here, in part (there are other elements also)
lies the efficacy of Euphemism. You call the Fairies " Kindly Ones " ; behind the conscious
motive of putting them into a good temper, and the fear of effecting a connection with them
by uttering their name, is further the comfort that you derive by persuading yourself to
believe that they are kindly : the fact that you call them kindly makes them kindly.'
MeiXtx'os is a case in point.
1 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. 1584 Att MetXtxtwt j %wwvpiwv.
2 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. 1585 'HXtwt Kdl Ad MetX[tx'wt] j Ma/xfxla.
3 Mommsen Feste d. Stadt Athen pp. 421 n. 4, 424.
4 Corp. inscr. Att. i no. 504 SO I AISO'SIOH and a little lower down no. 505 HOP05-
5 Miss M. Hamilton Greek Saints and their Festivals Edinburgh and London 1910
p. 58 f. Cp. supra i. 563 n. 4.