DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0351
n86
Appendix N
breast, wheat-ears on her head, and a cornic copiae on her arm. Both join hands
to support a nude, youthful Zeus with the features of Geta, who holds a sceptre
in his left hand and brandishes a thunderbolt in his right. Below him is his eagle
with spread wings, grasping a wreath in his talons. Further variations are found
on another unique copper, struck by Caracalla at Laodikeia in Phrygia and now
in our national collection (fig. 989)1. Gaia and Thalassa have changed places:
behind the one corn-ears spring from the ground ; behind the other a dolphin
plunges into the sea. On their joined hands, instead of Zeus, stands Caracalla
with a radiate crown on his head holding fthi&le and sceptre, while beneath him
hovers his eagle bearing a wreath.
(5) Zeus Philios at Antiocheia.
Lastly, we turn to Antiocheia on the Orontes, where the worship of Zeus
Philios was established by Theoteknos, governor of the city under Maximinus ii
and an apostate from the Christian faith2. Eusebios in his Ecclesiastical History*
pens an ugly portrait of this persecutor4 :
'The root of all the mischief grew in Antiocheia itself5—Theoteknos, a horror,
a humbug, and a villain, whose character belied his name ; he was supposed to
keep the town in order. He set all his forces against us. He threw himself with
zest into the task of hunting our people out of their holes and corners in every
possible way, as though they had been a gang of thieves and malefactors. He
went all lengths in slandering and accusing us. And, after causing tens of thou-
sands to be put to death, he finally set up an idol of Zeus Philios with a deal of
quackery and imposture. He invented foul rites for it, initiations of an irreligious
sort, and abominable modes of purification. He even exhibited before the
emperor the portentous signs by means of which it was supposed to produce
oracles0.'
Theoteknos may well have augured a great success for his new cult, partly
on general and partly on special grounds.
On the one hand, the Antiochenes had always been devoted to the worship
of Zeus. Long before their city was built, Triptolemos—so they said—had
founded lone on the slope of Mount Silpion and had constructed there a sanc-
tuary of Zeus Nemeios, later renamed Zeus Epikdrpios1. Subsequently Perseus
1 Brit. Mas. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 316 pi. 37, 12 (=my fig. 989), H. von Fritze loc. cit.
P.57:i-ev. -eni-n-AiA rrirPH toc aciapt aaoai kghn n enKOPnisi •
[ = iwl II. Alhiov ULyprjTos 'Aaidpxov y, AaoSiKiwv veioKopcov).
2 G. T. Stokes in Smith—Wace Diet. Chf. Biogr. iv. 1011.
3 Euseb. hist. eccl. 9. 2 f.
4 In 304 a.d. he did to death S. Theodotos and the Seven Virgins of Ankyra (Acta
Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Maii iv. 147—165, T. Ruinart Actaprimorutn martyrtim sincera
selecta2 Amstelaedami 1713 pp. 336—352, A. Gallandius Bibliolheca veterum patrum
antiquorumque scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Venetiis 1768 iv. 114—130).
5 We have here a buried hexameter : up irdvruv apxyybs iir' aurijs' Avrioxe'ias.
6 Euseb. hist. eccl. 9. 3 reXevr&v ei8u\6v ri Aids QiXiov p,ayyaveiais ricri Kal yoyjreiais
iSpverai, re\erds re dvdyvovs avrip Kal p.vrjcreis dKaWLepr/rovs e^aylarovs re Ka6app.ovs
iirivorjaas, /.lex/31 Kal j3acn\ecas tt)v repareiav 81 <hv eSo/cet %p??(r/xa;^ (leg. xp^CyUoiys) iKreXetv
eiredeiKvvTo. Cp. the loose translation of Rufin. hist. eccl. 9. 3 apud Antiochiam simula-
crum quoddam Iovis Amicalis nuper consecratum artibus quibusdam magicis et impuris
consecrationibus ita compositum erat, ut falleret oculos intuentium et portenta quaedam
ostentare videretur ac responsa proferre. C. F. Cruse renders reXerds re avayvovs k.t.\.
'after reciting forms of initiation' etc., clearly taking avayvovs to be avayvovs—an in-
genious error.
7 Liban. or. 11. 51 (i. 2. 453, 1 ff. Foerster), supra i. 2361a. 10. Cp. Chron. Paschale
Appendix N
breast, wheat-ears on her head, and a cornic copiae on her arm. Both join hands
to support a nude, youthful Zeus with the features of Geta, who holds a sceptre
in his left hand and brandishes a thunderbolt in his right. Below him is his eagle
with spread wings, grasping a wreath in his talons. Further variations are found
on another unique copper, struck by Caracalla at Laodikeia in Phrygia and now
in our national collection (fig. 989)1. Gaia and Thalassa have changed places:
behind the one corn-ears spring from the ground ; behind the other a dolphin
plunges into the sea. On their joined hands, instead of Zeus, stands Caracalla
with a radiate crown on his head holding fthi&le and sceptre, while beneath him
hovers his eagle bearing a wreath.
(5) Zeus Philios at Antiocheia.
Lastly, we turn to Antiocheia on the Orontes, where the worship of Zeus
Philios was established by Theoteknos, governor of the city under Maximinus ii
and an apostate from the Christian faith2. Eusebios in his Ecclesiastical History*
pens an ugly portrait of this persecutor4 :
'The root of all the mischief grew in Antiocheia itself5—Theoteknos, a horror,
a humbug, and a villain, whose character belied his name ; he was supposed to
keep the town in order. He set all his forces against us. He threw himself with
zest into the task of hunting our people out of their holes and corners in every
possible way, as though they had been a gang of thieves and malefactors. He
went all lengths in slandering and accusing us. And, after causing tens of thou-
sands to be put to death, he finally set up an idol of Zeus Philios with a deal of
quackery and imposture. He invented foul rites for it, initiations of an irreligious
sort, and abominable modes of purification. He even exhibited before the
emperor the portentous signs by means of which it was supposed to produce
oracles0.'
Theoteknos may well have augured a great success for his new cult, partly
on general and partly on special grounds.
On the one hand, the Antiochenes had always been devoted to the worship
of Zeus. Long before their city was built, Triptolemos—so they said—had
founded lone on the slope of Mount Silpion and had constructed there a sanc-
tuary of Zeus Nemeios, later renamed Zeus Epikdrpios1. Subsequently Perseus
1 Brit. Mas. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 316 pi. 37, 12 (=my fig. 989), H. von Fritze loc. cit.
P.57:i-ev. -eni-n-AiA rrirPH toc aciapt aaoai kghn n enKOPnisi •
[ = iwl II. Alhiov ULyprjTos 'Aaidpxov y, AaoSiKiwv veioKopcov).
2 G. T. Stokes in Smith—Wace Diet. Chf. Biogr. iv. 1011.
3 Euseb. hist. eccl. 9. 2 f.
4 In 304 a.d. he did to death S. Theodotos and the Seven Virgins of Ankyra (Acta
Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Maii iv. 147—165, T. Ruinart Actaprimorutn martyrtim sincera
selecta2 Amstelaedami 1713 pp. 336—352, A. Gallandius Bibliolheca veterum patrum
antiquorumque scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Venetiis 1768 iv. 114—130).
5 We have here a buried hexameter : up irdvruv apxyybs iir' aurijs' Avrioxe'ias.
6 Euseb. hist. eccl. 9. 3 reXevr&v ei8u\6v ri Aids QiXiov p,ayyaveiais ricri Kal yoyjreiais
iSpverai, re\erds re dvdyvovs avrip Kal p.vrjcreis dKaWLepr/rovs e^aylarovs re Ka6app.ovs
iirivorjaas, /.lex/31 Kal j3acn\ecas tt)v repareiav 81 <hv eSo/cet %p??(r/xa;^ (leg. xp^CyUoiys) iKreXetv
eiredeiKvvTo. Cp. the loose translation of Rufin. hist. eccl. 9. 3 apud Antiochiam simula-
crum quoddam Iovis Amicalis nuper consecratum artibus quibusdam magicis et impuris
consecrationibus ita compositum erat, ut falleret oculos intuentium et portenta quaedam
ostentare videretur ac responsa proferre. C. F. Cruse renders reXerds re avayvovs k.t.\.
'after reciting forms of initiation' etc., clearly taking avayvovs to be avayvovs—an in-
genious error.
7 Liban. or. 11. 51 (i. 2. 453, 1 ff. Foerster), supra i. 2361a. 10. Cp. Chron. Paschale