Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,2): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Appendixes and index (Cambridge, 1925)

Zeus Meiltchios

1119

terranean springs. Pliny, or his authority, was probably1 thinking of the site,
when he remarked : 'At Athens during a rainy summer Enneakrounos is colder
than the well in the garden of Zeus, but in dry seasons the latter is freezing-
cold2.' More than that. Midway between the Kallirrhoe-bar and the Olympieion
are the foundations of a small temple built in Roman times and subsequently
transformed into a Christian church3. This little edifice perhaps marks the very
ground where Zeus Meiltchios was worshipped4.

on the Ilissos (J. Stuart—N. Revett The Antiquities of Athens London 1762 i. 7 ff., ch. 2
pis. 1—8, A. N. Skias loc. cit. p. 73 ff. with pi. A' by A. N. Lykakes, W. Dorpfeld in the
Ath. Mitth. 1897 xxii. 227 f., J. N. Svoronos in the Journ. Intern, d'Arch. Num. 1901 iv.
243 ff., 'C. Wachsmuth in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. Suppl. i. 190 f.), which was standing
as the church of the Yia.va.-yia. eh tt]v Herpav till towards the close of the eighteenth century,
had originally some connexion with Zeus <I>tXtos, a doublet of Zeus Xdbvios. He relies on a
fragmentary votive relief (TipaKT. dpx- st, 1897 p. 83 f. pi. A' fig. A', Svoronos Ath.
Nationalmus. pi. 130, 3 (no. 1781)) of s. iv or iii B.C. found in one of the numerous tombs
adjoining the temple: it represents a sceptred god sitting on a rock with an altar before
him. But W. Judeich Topographie von Athen Miinchen 1905 p. 371 f. makes out a strong
case for regarding the sanctuary as that of the Mrjrrjp iv" Ay pas.

1 But see W. Judeich op. cit. p. 182 n. 6.

2 Plin. nat. hist. 31. 50 Athenis Enneacrunos nimbosa aestate frigidior est quam puteus
in Iovis horto, at ille siccitatibus riget.

3 A. N. Skias in the TLpaKT. dpx- er. 1893 p. 130 ff. pi. A with inset ( = my fig. 950).
The temple was a peripteral building with 6 columns on each short side and 9 on each long
side : the naos was amphiprostyle with 4 columns at either end (Skias loc. cit. p. 131
fig.). The order appears to have been Doric (?)• When the temple became a church, the
pronaos was transformed into a 1x7101' j3rj/j.a. Beneath the sacred table was a pit (r in fig. 950)
for relics, which were bestowed in an old Greek sepulchral urn of black stone with four
handles. Several tombs of Christian date were found on the site.

4 That is my conjecture. A. N. Skias, who has a better right to speak, contends
(TipaKT. dpx- er. 1893 p. 132 f.) that here was the spot known in s. xv A.D. as the 'precinct
of Hera' (Anon. Vindob. 7 in C. Wachsmuth Die Stadt Athen im Alterthuni Leipzig 1874
i- 735 f- Tpos 5e votov toIituv eariv olkos /3ao~tXt/cds ttXtjv ihpalos, eh 'dv Karepxbp.evos 6 Sov^
Kara, Kaipbv eh evuxlav eKiveiTO- e/cet eari /cat r\ 'Tlvvedxpovvos [vedicpovvos cod.) irv\yr\ 17
KaXXtppo??, eh rjv Xovofxevos dvrjpxeTO eh re/xevos to tt)s' Hpas Xeybptevov /cat irpoa-qvxero-
vvv 5e /xeTeiroirjdrj eis vabv ttjs inrepayias QeoroKov vtto tQv evae^dv). But W. Judeich Topo-
graphie von Athen Mtinchen 1905 p. 371 n. 12 decides with greater probability that this
and other early allusions to a ' temple de Junon' (Wachsmuth op. cit. i. 736 n. 1) referred
to the Christian church on the Ilissos-'island' (see R. Rangabe in the Bull. d. Inst. 1850
p. 134 ff.), which had been wrongly identified with Hadrian's temple of Hera and Zeus
HaveWrjvios (Paus. 1. 18. 9 'Adptavbs de KarecrKevdaaTo jxev /cat aXXa 'Adr/vaiois, vabv "Upas
/cat Atos Have\\7;viov k.t.X., Dion Cass. 69. 16 tov re o-rjubv rbv eavrov, to TLaveWrjviov
tbvo/xao~fj.evov, OLKodopLrjo-ao-dai rots "F>\\r)0~iv eneTpeipe, /cat dyuiva eir' a^ra; KaTeffT-qcaTo (sc.
'ASpiavos), Philostr. v. soph. 2. 1. 7 /cat /j.i]v /cat i\eiTovpy-qcrev (sc. 'HpaiS^s) 'Ad-qvaioLs tt]v
t eTriivvfiov /cat tt\v twv HaveWrjvLuv, 2. 17. r. fj.7]5' ei tt\v tQ>v TLaveWrjvLwv 'AOr/vricriv
evKke&s rip^ev (sc. 'Yovcpos, cp. Corp. inscr. Att. iii. 1 no. 17), Hieron. chron. ann. Abr.
2148 (Euseb. chron. ii. 167 Schoene) Hadrianus cum insignes et plurimas aedes Athenis
fecisset agonem edidit bibliothecamque miri operis instruxit). The real site of the temple of
Zeus UaveWrjVLos at Athens is unknown: future excavators will doubtless discover it.

Meantime extant inscriptions confirm the literary sources and add somewhat to our
knowledge of the god and of his festival. The name appears to have had a distinctly political
origin. In late republican or early imperial times the Achaean League was revived as to
tQv 'A%attDi/ /cat Boiwtwv /cat Aoxpwv /cat QwKtwv /cat Ei)/3oewc koivov, or more briefly to koivov
tujv 'Axaiwv, ij crvvoSos tu>v YiaveXK-qvuv : their council met at Argos under the presidency
of a o-Tparqybs tuv 'A%atwj'. But in 131 A.D. Hadrian instituted a new HaveXKrjvLov on