DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0324
Zeus Meiltchios
II59
(14) Conclusions with regard to Zeus Meillchios.
It remains to gather up the results of our enquiry. Early Greek kings,
especially such as could claim descent from Aiolos, were held to be embodiments
of the sky-god Zeus, and as weather-makers for the community bore a sceptre
tipped with the lightning-bird. Even when dead and buried the king continued
to help his people. He preserved and perpetuated the tribe (Zeus Soter). He
brought its young folk to his own state of maturity (Zeus Teleios). He watched
over its interests (Zeus Epopsios). Hence, like other chthonian powers, he was
fitly addressed by a coaxing appellation—' the Kindly One' (Zeus Meiltchios).
Regents of this sort, at once human and divine, were, strictly speaking, daimones
rather than ilieoi; and there is much to be said for O. Schrader's brilliant
suggestion that in name, as in nature, they were the equivalent of the Latin
Lares1. They are best described in two passages of poetry which, though
separated by a thousand years, yet derive mutual support and illustration from
each other, and serve to assure us that the belief common to both was latent, if
not patent, throughout the whole course of Greek history. Hesiod, looking
1 Schrader Reallcx. p. 29 : 'Es stent dahernichts im Wege, fur 5a.ifji.ui> ein Grundform
8a.cn-p.wv anzusetzen, und den ersten Bestandteil dieses Wortes * daai- unter Annahme eines
bekannten Lautwandels (B&Kpvfia : lacrima) dem lat. *lasi- (lares, larium) "Geist eines
Verstorbenen" zu vergleichen.' The context rightly maintains that previous derivations
(from da-rj/iwv, 'knowing,' or from da'iojxai, 'I divide,' or from the Sanskrit root div, 'to
shine') are all unsatisfactory. I regret to see that Prellwitz Etym. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr."
p. 103 and Boisacq Diet. ciyvi. de la Langue Gr. p. 162 still cling to daiofiai.
The word *5a<n-p.wv is perhaps related to the name Aacrt^os or Aafrfios. Adcrifios
Uuppov is engraved on a bronze helmet from Anxia (Anzi) now in the British Museum
(Brit. Mus. Cat. Bronzes-p. 48 no. 317, Roehl Inscr, Gr. ant. no. 547, Roberts Gk. Epigr.
i. 272 no. 269, Inscr. Gr. Sic. It. no. 655); and Actios Hijppoj, presumably a descendant
of the same family, is mentioned in the bronze tabulae Heracleenses (Inscr. Gr. Sic. It.
no. 645 i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8, R. Meister in Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 88 no. 4629
i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8, F. Solmsen Inscriptiones Graeeae ad inhistrandas dialectos selectae
Lipsiae 1905 no. 18 i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8). The /-form of this name occurs in AA£IMO£
ETPA^E, an inscription on an Apulian amphora from Canusium (Canosa) now in the
Louvre (Corp. inscr. Gr. iv no. 8486, Wieji. Vorlegebl. 1889 pi. ri, 3, Reinach Vases Ant.
p. 64 ff. Millin ii pi. 37 ff. with bibliography, P. Kretschmer Die Griechischen Vasenin-
schriften Gutersloh 1894 p. 2i7f.). The foregoing can hardly be separated from the definitely
Messapian name AAZTlMAp (J. P. Droop in Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1905—1906 xii.
139 f. fig. 1, 2 Ceglie Messapica) and the Grecised or Latinised Adaios (Appian. Hannib. 31
and 45), Actios (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Thessaly etc. p. 68 no. 52 AAZIOZ on a coin of
Dyrrhachion, cp. Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Italy p. 130 no. 1 f. AAlOY on coins of Arpi,
ib. p. 144 no. 4 A A TEN I and no. 6 AA IY on coins of Salapia, Hunter Cat. Corns i.
53 no. 1 pi. 4, 10 AAxOY on a coin of Arpi), Dasitts, Dasumius, etc. (De Vit
Onomasticon ii. 568 f., R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cambridge 1897 ii. Index iii
p. 566, F. Miinzer, Stein and Groag in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iv. 2218 f., 2222 ff.).
A. Zimmermann in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschung 1915 xlvii. 192
holds that the -da of Larunda is identical with the Aa- of AafxdrTjp and regards Larunda
Saipiovcov fJ.7]T7ip (G. Goetz—G. Gundermann in the Corpus glossariorum Latinorit/n
Lipsiae 1888 ii. 121, 17) as a literal translation (cp. eid. ib. ii. 265, 62 Saip.oves 'qtol deoi
KaToiKiSioi' lares dicitur et lar).
For a useful vindication of the view that the Lares were originally the souls of deified
ancestors see Miss M. C. Waites 'The nature of the Lares and their representation in
Roman art' in the Ant. Jotirn. Arch. 1920 xxiv. 241—261.
II59
(14) Conclusions with regard to Zeus Meillchios.
It remains to gather up the results of our enquiry. Early Greek kings,
especially such as could claim descent from Aiolos, were held to be embodiments
of the sky-god Zeus, and as weather-makers for the community bore a sceptre
tipped with the lightning-bird. Even when dead and buried the king continued
to help his people. He preserved and perpetuated the tribe (Zeus Soter). He
brought its young folk to his own state of maturity (Zeus Teleios). He watched
over its interests (Zeus Epopsios). Hence, like other chthonian powers, he was
fitly addressed by a coaxing appellation—' the Kindly One' (Zeus Meiltchios).
Regents of this sort, at once human and divine, were, strictly speaking, daimones
rather than ilieoi; and there is much to be said for O. Schrader's brilliant
suggestion that in name, as in nature, they were the equivalent of the Latin
Lares1. They are best described in two passages of poetry which, though
separated by a thousand years, yet derive mutual support and illustration from
each other, and serve to assure us that the belief common to both was latent, if
not patent, throughout the whole course of Greek history. Hesiod, looking
1 Schrader Reallcx. p. 29 : 'Es stent dahernichts im Wege, fur 5a.ifji.ui> ein Grundform
8a.cn-p.wv anzusetzen, und den ersten Bestandteil dieses Wortes * daai- unter Annahme eines
bekannten Lautwandels (B&Kpvfia : lacrima) dem lat. *lasi- (lares, larium) "Geist eines
Verstorbenen" zu vergleichen.' The context rightly maintains that previous derivations
(from da-rj/iwv, 'knowing,' or from da'iojxai, 'I divide,' or from the Sanskrit root div, 'to
shine') are all unsatisfactory. I regret to see that Prellwitz Etym. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr."
p. 103 and Boisacq Diet. ciyvi. de la Langue Gr. p. 162 still cling to daiofiai.
The word *5a<n-p.wv is perhaps related to the name Aacrt^os or Aafrfios. Adcrifios
Uuppov is engraved on a bronze helmet from Anxia (Anzi) now in the British Museum
(Brit. Mus. Cat. Bronzes-p. 48 no. 317, Roehl Inscr, Gr. ant. no. 547, Roberts Gk. Epigr.
i. 272 no. 269, Inscr. Gr. Sic. It. no. 655); and Actios Hijppoj, presumably a descendant
of the same family, is mentioned in the bronze tabulae Heracleenses (Inscr. Gr. Sic. It.
no. 645 i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8, R. Meister in Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 88 no. 4629
i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8, F. Solmsen Inscriptiones Graeeae ad inhistrandas dialectos selectae
Lipsiae 1905 no. 18 i, 5, 9, ii, 1, 5, 8). The /-form of this name occurs in AA£IMO£
ETPA^E, an inscription on an Apulian amphora from Canusium (Canosa) now in the
Louvre (Corp. inscr. Gr. iv no. 8486, Wieji. Vorlegebl. 1889 pi. ri, 3, Reinach Vases Ant.
p. 64 ff. Millin ii pi. 37 ff. with bibliography, P. Kretschmer Die Griechischen Vasenin-
schriften Gutersloh 1894 p. 2i7f.). The foregoing can hardly be separated from the definitely
Messapian name AAZTlMAp (J. P. Droop in Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1905—1906 xii.
139 f. fig. 1, 2 Ceglie Messapica) and the Grecised or Latinised Adaios (Appian. Hannib. 31
and 45), Actios (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Thessaly etc. p. 68 no. 52 AAZIOZ on a coin of
Dyrrhachion, cp. Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Italy p. 130 no. 1 f. AAlOY on coins of Arpi,
ib. p. 144 no. 4 A A TEN I and no. 6 AA IY on coins of Salapia, Hunter Cat. Corns i.
53 no. 1 pi. 4, 10 AAxOY on a coin of Arpi), Dasitts, Dasumius, etc. (De Vit
Onomasticon ii. 568 f., R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cambridge 1897 ii. Index iii
p. 566, F. Miinzer, Stein and Groag in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iv. 2218 f., 2222 ff.).
A. Zimmermann in the Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschung 1915 xlvii. 192
holds that the -da of Larunda is identical with the Aa- of AafxdrTjp and regards Larunda
Saipiovcov fJ.7]T7ip (G. Goetz—G. Gundermann in the Corpus glossariorum Latinorit/n
Lipsiae 1888 ii. 121, 17) as a literal translation (cp. eid. ib. ii. 265, 62 Saip.oves 'qtol deoi
KaToiKiSioi' lares dicitur et lar).
For a useful vindication of the view that the Lares were originally the souls of deified
ancestors see Miss M. C. Waites 'The nature of the Lares and their representation in
Roman art' in the Ant. Jotirn. Arch. 1920 xxiv. 241—261.