DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0323
1158 Appendix M
1 By a stroke of luck,' says Kleitophon1, 'we happed upon a sacred month of
the great god, whom the Greeks call Zeus and the Egyptians Serapis2. The
festivities included a torch-lighting; and I saw that remarkable sight. It was
evening and the sun sank. Yet night was nowhere to be seen. Another sun
made its appearance, or rather the small change of that gold piece. There before
my eyes was the city rivalling the sky in beauty. On the one hand I saw Zeus
MeiUchios, on the other the temple of Zeus Our&nios*. So, after breathing
a prayer to the great god and beseeching him that our troubles might at last
come to a standstill, we reached the lodging hired for us by Menelaos.'
It may be inferred from this passage, not only that the Alexandrines had a
statue of Zeus MeiUchios and a temple of Zeus Ourdniosi, but also that the
former was a god of the underworld, the latter a god of the uppenvorld. Both
are appropriately mentioned at a moment when the twinkling lamps below
seemed to reflect the twinkling stars above. At Alaisa or Halaesa {Castel Tusa),
founded or re-founded in 403 b.c. by the Sikel king Archonides ii5 on the north
coast of Sicily, an inscription records among other topographical features ' the
road past the Meilichieion*'3.'' And, finally, an Oscan road-makers' tablet of
c. 200 b.c. from Pompeii states that the aediles M. Suttius and N. Pontius laid
out the Via Pompeiana, now known as the Strada Stabiana, with a breadth of
three perches as far as the temple or precinct of Iupiter Milichius"''.
Further indications of the cult might be sought in theophoric names8 such as
Meilichios, a magistrate of Hierapolis in Phrygia9, or Meilichion, a woman of
Elateia in Phokis10.
1 Ach. Tat. 5. 2. 2 Supra i. 188 ff.
3 idea<jaiJ.7)v de /ecu tov MetXi%io;' Ata, /ecu tov Aids Ovpaviov (so C. B. Hase, W. A. Hir-
schig, and S. Gaselee for ovpaviov codd.) veuv.
4 Supra i. 8, 565 n. 2, 647 n. 7.
5 B. Niese in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 565.
6 Corp. inscr. Gr. iii no. 5594 col. dextra, 15 f. — Inscr. Gr. Sic. It. no. 352 i, 15 f.
Kara ras 65ov ras wapa to \ MeLKixiewv is tov poLaKov k.t.X.
Coppers of Alaisa, struck during Timoleon's war with the Carthaginians (340 B.C.),
have obv. EAEYOEPIOI head of Zeus; rev. AAAIIINHN IYM-
MAXI KON torch between two ears of corn (G. F. Hill Coins of Ancient Sicily London
1903 p. 175, Head Hist, num.- p. 126). Coppers of the same town, struck after c. 241 B.C.,
have obv. a head of Zeus, usually to left, wearing a bay-wreath; rev. an eagle to
left, standing with open wings (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Sicily p. 27, Hunter Cat. Coins i.
166 pi. 12, 6, Rasche Lex. Num. i. 269 f., Suppl. i. 425, Head Hist, num? p. 126).
7 H. Grassmann in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforsckung 1867 xvi. 103,
J. ZvetaiefF Sylloge inscriptionuin Oscarum Petropoli 1878 i. 41 ff. no. 62, 5 ff., ii pis. 10,
no. 5, and ioa, R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cambridge 1897 i. 58 f. no. 39, 5 ff.,
C. D. Buck A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian Boston 1904 p. 239 f. no. 3, 5 ff. i//ssu
via Pumpaiiana ter|emnattens perek. Ill ant kaijla Iuveis Meeilikiieis ( = iidem viam Pom-
peianam terminaverunt perticis III usque ad aedem (cp. caeli tenipla in De Vit Lat. Lex.
s.v. ' templum ' § 2) Iovis Milichii).
8 E. Sittig De Graecorum no minibus theophoris Halis Saxonum 1911 p. 15.
9 Imhoof-Blumer Kleinas. Miinzen i. 238 f. no. 21, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia
p. lxvii ... IA AO[Z] I M E I AIX105! on the reverse of a copper struck by Augustus.
10 Inscr. Gr. sept. iii. 1 no. 174 a cone of grey limestone found near the E. foundation-
wall of the temple of Athena Kranala at Elateia and now preserved in the local museum
at Drachmani : the cone has a hole in its truncated top and is inscribed on the side
MEIAIXIOK I AAMO£TPATA | MlKA | XOIPINA = m«x/x*oM, | a¥o-
o-Tpdra, I Mi'/ca, | Xoipiva. P. Paris in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1887 xi. 345 f. no. 15 at
first read MetXi'xto[s], but concluded in favour of MeiAix'ojV].
1 By a stroke of luck,' says Kleitophon1, 'we happed upon a sacred month of
the great god, whom the Greeks call Zeus and the Egyptians Serapis2. The
festivities included a torch-lighting; and I saw that remarkable sight. It was
evening and the sun sank. Yet night was nowhere to be seen. Another sun
made its appearance, or rather the small change of that gold piece. There before
my eyes was the city rivalling the sky in beauty. On the one hand I saw Zeus
MeiUchios, on the other the temple of Zeus Our&nios*. So, after breathing
a prayer to the great god and beseeching him that our troubles might at last
come to a standstill, we reached the lodging hired for us by Menelaos.'
It may be inferred from this passage, not only that the Alexandrines had a
statue of Zeus MeiUchios and a temple of Zeus Ourdniosi, but also that the
former was a god of the underworld, the latter a god of the uppenvorld. Both
are appropriately mentioned at a moment when the twinkling lamps below
seemed to reflect the twinkling stars above. At Alaisa or Halaesa {Castel Tusa),
founded or re-founded in 403 b.c. by the Sikel king Archonides ii5 on the north
coast of Sicily, an inscription records among other topographical features ' the
road past the Meilichieion*'3.'' And, finally, an Oscan road-makers' tablet of
c. 200 b.c. from Pompeii states that the aediles M. Suttius and N. Pontius laid
out the Via Pompeiana, now known as the Strada Stabiana, with a breadth of
three perches as far as the temple or precinct of Iupiter Milichius"''.
Further indications of the cult might be sought in theophoric names8 such as
Meilichios, a magistrate of Hierapolis in Phrygia9, or Meilichion, a woman of
Elateia in Phokis10.
1 Ach. Tat. 5. 2. 2 Supra i. 188 ff.
3 idea<jaiJ.7)v de /ecu tov MetXi%io;' Ata, /ecu tov Aids Ovpaviov (so C. B. Hase, W. A. Hir-
schig, and S. Gaselee for ovpaviov codd.) veuv.
4 Supra i. 8, 565 n. 2, 647 n. 7.
5 B. Niese in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ii. 565.
6 Corp. inscr. Gr. iii no. 5594 col. dextra, 15 f. — Inscr. Gr. Sic. It. no. 352 i, 15 f.
Kara ras 65ov ras wapa to \ MeLKixiewv is tov poLaKov k.t.X.
Coppers of Alaisa, struck during Timoleon's war with the Carthaginians (340 B.C.),
have obv. EAEYOEPIOI head of Zeus; rev. AAAIIINHN IYM-
MAXI KON torch between two ears of corn (G. F. Hill Coins of Ancient Sicily London
1903 p. 175, Head Hist, num.- p. 126). Coppers of the same town, struck after c. 241 B.C.,
have obv. a head of Zeus, usually to left, wearing a bay-wreath; rev. an eagle to
left, standing with open wings (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Sicily p. 27, Hunter Cat. Coins i.
166 pi. 12, 6, Rasche Lex. Num. i. 269 f., Suppl. i. 425, Head Hist, num? p. 126).
7 H. Grassmann in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforsckung 1867 xvi. 103,
J. ZvetaiefF Sylloge inscriptionuin Oscarum Petropoli 1878 i. 41 ff. no. 62, 5 ff., ii pis. 10,
no. 5, and ioa, R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cambridge 1897 i. 58 f. no. 39, 5 ff.,
C. D. Buck A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian Boston 1904 p. 239 f. no. 3, 5 ff. i//ssu
via Pumpaiiana ter|emnattens perek. Ill ant kaijla Iuveis Meeilikiieis ( = iidem viam Pom-
peianam terminaverunt perticis III usque ad aedem (cp. caeli tenipla in De Vit Lat. Lex.
s.v. ' templum ' § 2) Iovis Milichii).
8 E. Sittig De Graecorum no minibus theophoris Halis Saxonum 1911 p. 15.
9 Imhoof-Blumer Kleinas. Miinzen i. 238 f. no. 21, Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phrygia
p. lxvii ... IA AO[Z] I M E I AIX105! on the reverse of a copper struck by Augustus.
10 Inscr. Gr. sept. iii. 1 no. 174 a cone of grey limestone found near the E. foundation-
wall of the temple of Athena Kranala at Elateia and now preserved in the local museum
at Drachmani : the cone has a hole in its truncated top and is inscribed on the side
MEIAIXIOK I AAMO£TPATA | MlKA | XOIPINA = m«x/x*oM, | a¥o-
o-Tpdra, I Mi'/ca, | Xoipiva. P. Paris in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1887 xi. 345 f. no. 15 at
first read MetXi'xto[s], but concluded in favour of MeiAix'ojV].