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 Phtlios

1171

object known as struppus was placed on the couch of Castor1. We gather, then,
that at the lectisternia Iupiter and the gods in general were originally repre-
sented by twisted bundles of herbs. These bundles seem to have been padded
and clothed as puppets ; for in 179 B.C., shaken by an earthquake, the wool and
wrappings attached to Iupiter slipped off revealing his true inwards to the con-
fusion of all present2. Later, if we may trust the evidence of a Roman lamp
(fig. 972)3 and certain Roman coins (figs. 973, 974, 975)*, the puppets of the

Fig- 973- Fig. 974.

Fig. 972. Fig. 975.

1 Fest. p. 313 a 12 ff. Miiller, p. 410, 6 ff. Lindsay stroppus est, ut Ateius Philologus
(L. Ateius Praetextatus frag. 7 Funaioli) existimat, quod Graece arpbfpiov vocatur, et quod
sacerdotes pro insigni habent in capite. quidam coronam esse dicunt, aut quod pro corona
insigne in caput inponatur, quale sit strophium. itaque apud Faliscos diem (so Antonius
Augustinus for idem codd.) festum esse, qui vocetur Struppearia, quia coronati ambulent;
et a Tusculanis, quod in pulvinari inponatur Castoris, struppum vocari = Paul. ex Fest.
p. 312, 1 Miiller, p. 411, 1 ff. Lindsay stroppus, quod Graece arpofyiov dicitur, pro insigni
habebatur in capitibus sacerdotum ; alii id coronam esse dixerunt. Cp. Plin. nat. hist. 21. 3.

2 Liv. 40. 59 and Iul. Obseq. 61 'cited supra p. 1170 n. 6.

Cp. the woollen effigies of the Lares hung up at the cross-roads during the Compitalia
(Paul, ex Fest. p. 121, 17 f. Miiller, p. 108, 27 ff. Lindsay; Fest. p. 237^ 34 ff. Miiller,
p. 272, 15 ff. Lindsay = Paul, ex Fest. p. 239, iff. Miiller, p. 273, 7 ff. Lindsay. See
further Frazer Golden Bough"6: Spirits of Corn and Wild ii. 94 ff-, 107 f.), if not also the
saying that the gods had woollen feet (Apollod. frag. 41 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 435 Miiller)
ap. Macrob. Sat. 1. 8. 5, Petron. sat. 44. 18, Porph. in Hor. od. 3. 2. 31 f.).

3 Fig. 972 shows the relief on the handle of a terra-cotta lamp first published by
P. S. Bartoli—G. P. Bellori Le antiche lucerne sepolcrali Roma 169/ ii pi. 34 (A. Bouche-
Leclercq in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. ron fig. 4381, H. B. Walters History of
Ancient Pottery London 1905 ii. 412). Sarapis and Isis, Selene and Plelios, are here
represented by half-length busts set on the couch. A similar bust of white marble,
obtained in the Levant by Mr W. Simpson and now in my possession (height 3! inches :
kdlathos broken off: traces of paint (?) on face, chest, etc.: eye-holes and breast-jewel once
filled in with glass or other glittering substance), was very possibly used at some lectisterniiun
of Sarapis (cp. e.g. Brit. Mas. Cat. Coins Pontus, etc. p. 101 no. 57 a copper of Sinope
struck by Caracalla : rev. Zeus Sarapis on couch to left, with eagle on right hand, sceptre
in left, Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom. Coins p. 507).

Another lamp-handle with a similar design, found at Pesaro, is suspect as being
derived from the Lucernae fictiles Musei Passerii Pisauri 1739—1751 iii pi. 51 (A. Bouche-
Leclercq loc. cit. iii. ion fig. 4382): see the exposure byH.Dressel in the Rom. Mitth. 1892
vii. i44ff. (150'una solenne impostura'), H. B. W'alters History of Ancient Pottery ii. 408.

4 Denarii of the gens Coelia, struck c. 61 B.C., have for reverse type a lectisternium

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