DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0285
Zeus Meilichios
1123
daughter of Hypseus and became by her the father of Antion and the grand-
father of Ixion1. J. Topffer in an important article2 insisted on the point that
Periphas was at once an Attic autochthon and a Thessalian king : he compared
other cases of the same bilocation3 and, following up the clue thus afforded,
reached the conclusion that in prehistoric times some Thessalian tribe (Lapithai?
Dryopes ?) migrated southwards through Euboia to north-eastern Attike, and so
on by sea to the southern parts of the Argolid. Topffer's hypothesis has been
accepted by P. Weizsacker4 and is, I think, helpful in any attempt to unravel
the tangled skein of Attic religion. For, in view of their traditional descent
from Aiolos, we shall probably be right in supposing that these immigrants were
Aeolians (not Achaeans5), who, swarming off from Thessaly in days before the
great Athenian synoikismds, settled in Attike and planted the worship of their0
Zeus Olympios on the northern bank of the Ilissos. The leader of the settlement,
regarded by his subjects as the human representative of the sky-god, would
later on be reverenced in the same neighbourhood as Zeus Sote'r and Epopsios
and Meilichios. All these titles, whose connotation was subsequently enlarged
in a variety of directions, were from the first applicable to the buried king. To
begin with, he was Soter, because on him depended the preservation and
perpetuation of the family line. Custom prescribed that at a banquet libation
should be made from the first mixing-bowl to Zeus Olympios and the Olympians,
from the second to the Heroes, from the third to Zeus Sote'r, otherwise styled
Teleios1. The sequence suggests that this final offering was in its essence simply
1 Diod. 4. 69, who—according to E. Schwartz (Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 674)—
.is here excerpting from an earlier mythographical handbook.
2 J. Topffer ' Theseus und Peirithoos' in Aus der Anomia Berlin 1890 pp. 30—46.
3 Theseus, Peirithoos, Boutes, Ixion, Phorbas, Phaleros, Mopsos, etc. Topffer remarks
inter alia that Perithoidai, a deme of the tribe Oineis (A. Milchhofer in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. ii. 2195, with map to face p. 2204, places it to the N.W. of Athens on the
near side of Mt Aigaleos), was said to have been founded by Peirithoos son of Ixion, and
that the Athenian custom of extending a special welcome to Thessalians was motived by
the friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos (Ephoros frag. 37 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 243 Miiller)
ap. Phot. lex. s.v. IlepidoiSai, Souid. s.v. HepidotSai, Apostol. 14. 19).
4 P. Weizsacker in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1762.
5 The commonly received opinion that the Achaeans were an Aeolian people is
subjected to shrewd criticism by J. A. K. Thomson Studies in the Odyssey Oxford 1914
p. 117 ff. See further A. Fick ' Aoler und Achaer' in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende
Sprachforschung auf de7n Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen 1911 xliv. iff., eund.
' Alteste griechische Stammverbande' id. 1914 xlvi. 67 ff., G. Dottin Les anciens peuples
de P Europe Paris 1916 p. 143 ff.
6 A. Fick loc. cit. 1914 xlvi. 97.
7 Poll. 6. 15 Kparrjpes Se 6 p.ev Trp&ros Atos OXv/xtt'lov Kal 'OXvfnriwv deQv, 6 Se Sevrepos
rjpwbiv, 6 Se rpLTOS Atos Swr^pos TeXeiov, on /cat rd rpia irp&Tos riXeios dpidp^bs, 6. 100 uxrwep
Kal Atos ~2ibJT?ipoi 6 rpiros Kparrjp iepbs -qv, Schol. Pind. 1st km. 6 (5). 10 rbv Se Tpirov
Kparrjpa Atos 2wt%>os iXeyov, Kada Kal 2o0o/cX??s ev IsavTrXlu) (frag. 392 Nauck2, 425 Jebb) ■
' ZeO iravaiXvire Kal Atos acoTTjpiov \ cnrovSri Tpirov Kparrjpos.' rbv p.ev yap irpQirov Atos
'OXvp-iriov eKipvaaav, rbv 5e Bevrepov rjpuuv, rbv 5e Tpirov Atos 'S.iorr/pos, Kada Kal Aiax^Xos
iv 'E7rt7o^ots (frag. 55 Nauck2)' ' Xot/3as Atos ixev irpOnov wpaiov ydp.ov j "Hpas re.' etra'
' rrjv Bevrepav ye (C. G. Schiitz cj. Se) Kpaaiv "Hpucriv ve/^co.' elra • ' rpirov (A. Nauck cj.
rpirriv) Atos ~Zurr)pos evKraiav Xt/3a.' Atos Se 1.WTrjpos eXeyov rbv rpirov Sia to rovs rovrov
rrivovras aradepovs yiveaBai, robs Se fiera rovrov et's arrjv Kal avopxav Kal aveXyeiav rpeneffOai.
eXeyov Se avrbv Kal TtXeiov Sia to reXeiov elvai rbv rpirov dpi6p.bv dpxvv ^X0VTCL KaL ^ffov
Kal reXos, schol. Plat. Phileb. 66 d to rpirov t<£ SwT?}pt : e/c /j,era<popas etprp-cu rov ev rah
1123
daughter of Hypseus and became by her the father of Antion and the grand-
father of Ixion1. J. Topffer in an important article2 insisted on the point that
Periphas was at once an Attic autochthon and a Thessalian king : he compared
other cases of the same bilocation3 and, following up the clue thus afforded,
reached the conclusion that in prehistoric times some Thessalian tribe (Lapithai?
Dryopes ?) migrated southwards through Euboia to north-eastern Attike, and so
on by sea to the southern parts of the Argolid. Topffer's hypothesis has been
accepted by P. Weizsacker4 and is, I think, helpful in any attempt to unravel
the tangled skein of Attic religion. For, in view of their traditional descent
from Aiolos, we shall probably be right in supposing that these immigrants were
Aeolians (not Achaeans5), who, swarming off from Thessaly in days before the
great Athenian synoikismds, settled in Attike and planted the worship of their0
Zeus Olympios on the northern bank of the Ilissos. The leader of the settlement,
regarded by his subjects as the human representative of the sky-god, would
later on be reverenced in the same neighbourhood as Zeus Sote'r and Epopsios
and Meilichios. All these titles, whose connotation was subsequently enlarged
in a variety of directions, were from the first applicable to the buried king. To
begin with, he was Soter, because on him depended the preservation and
perpetuation of the family line. Custom prescribed that at a banquet libation
should be made from the first mixing-bowl to Zeus Olympios and the Olympians,
from the second to the Heroes, from the third to Zeus Sote'r, otherwise styled
Teleios1. The sequence suggests that this final offering was in its essence simply
1 Diod. 4. 69, who—according to E. Schwartz (Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 674)—
.is here excerpting from an earlier mythographical handbook.
2 J. Topffer ' Theseus und Peirithoos' in Aus der Anomia Berlin 1890 pp. 30—46.
3 Theseus, Peirithoos, Boutes, Ixion, Phorbas, Phaleros, Mopsos, etc. Topffer remarks
inter alia that Perithoidai, a deme of the tribe Oineis (A. Milchhofer in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. ii. 2195, with map to face p. 2204, places it to the N.W. of Athens on the
near side of Mt Aigaleos), was said to have been founded by Peirithoos son of Ixion, and
that the Athenian custom of extending a special welcome to Thessalians was motived by
the friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos (Ephoros frag. 37 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 243 Miiller)
ap. Phot. lex. s.v. IlepidoiSai, Souid. s.v. HepidotSai, Apostol. 14. 19).
4 P. Weizsacker in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1762.
5 The commonly received opinion that the Achaeans were an Aeolian people is
subjected to shrewd criticism by J. A. K. Thomson Studies in the Odyssey Oxford 1914
p. 117 ff. See further A. Fick ' Aoler und Achaer' in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende
Sprachforschung auf de7n Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen 1911 xliv. iff., eund.
' Alteste griechische Stammverbande' id. 1914 xlvi. 67 ff., G. Dottin Les anciens peuples
de P Europe Paris 1916 p. 143 ff.
6 A. Fick loc. cit. 1914 xlvi. 97.
7 Poll. 6. 15 Kparrjpes Se 6 p.ev Trp&ros Atos OXv/xtt'lov Kal 'OXvfnriwv deQv, 6 Se Sevrepos
rjpwbiv, 6 Se rpLTOS Atos Swr^pos TeXeiov, on /cat rd rpia irp&Tos riXeios dpidp^bs, 6. 100 uxrwep
Kal Atos ~2ibJT?ipoi 6 rpiros Kparrjp iepbs -qv, Schol. Pind. 1st km. 6 (5). 10 rbv Se Tpirov
Kparrjpa Atos 2wt%>os iXeyov, Kada Kal 2o0o/cX??s ev IsavTrXlu) (frag. 392 Nauck2, 425 Jebb) ■
' ZeO iravaiXvire Kal Atos acoTTjpiov \ cnrovSri Tpirov Kparrjpos.' rbv p.ev yap irpQirov Atos
'OXvp-iriov eKipvaaav, rbv 5e Bevrepov rjpuuv, rbv 5e Tpirov Atos 'S.iorr/pos, Kada Kal Aiax^Xos
iv 'E7rt7o^ots (frag. 55 Nauck2)' ' Xot/3as Atos ixev irpOnov wpaiov ydp.ov j "Hpas re.' etra'
' rrjv Bevrepav ye (C. G. Schiitz cj. Se) Kpaaiv "Hpucriv ve/^co.' elra • ' rpirov (A. Nauck cj.
rpirriv) Atos ~Zurr)pos evKraiav Xt/3a.' Atos Se 1.WTrjpos eXeyov rbv rpirov Sia to rovs rovrov
rrivovras aradepovs yiveaBai, robs Se fiera rovrov et's arrjv Kal avopxav Kal aveXyeiav rpeneffOai.
eXeyov Se avrbv Kal TtXeiov Sia to reXeiov elvai rbv rpirov dpi6p.bv dpxvv ^X0VTCL KaL ^ffov
Kal reXos, schol. Plat. Phileb. 66 d to rpirov t<£ SwT?}pt : e/c /j,era<popas etprp-cu rov ev rah