Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

Zeus and the Earthquakes 3

in classical tradition (M. Mayer Die Giganten und Titanen Berlin 1887 pp. 195 f- *°8ff-
2i4f., Gruppe Gr. Myth. Pel. p. 434 n- 2). bones—Samb-

In the upper-pliocene beds of Samos are extensive deposits of fossil bones
therium, Hipparion mediterranmm, Mastodon longirostris, etc. }^\a~".J t0
Wissowa jZEb*. i A. „«, .i7d- These bones were

primeval monsters called N„d.«, who broke the very g»™J»*1 ™» ^
occasioned the Samian proverb • He bawls louder than theAW" (J^/T^J
Meineke «A Ail. & J «. «?• * and Apostol. 9. b0- The ^^.gf'J^
the early local historian Euagon of Samos JW- . (A* «?, <>• »• *
tec. x.». ,9« andHerakl. Pont./ny. - l»«P Gr' U" *'5 "2? £Sh ££,
far. 30 Rose=, who however used the form W&t, not H*to. H**
'Witless Ones' (cp. h. Don. ,56), must of course be distinguished from N,i5«jr
N,«48«, the Naiad nymphs, and maybe an attempt to make sense of "J
name. W. R. Halliday m the Cto. A*. i9*7 xli. 59 acute y restores
«r- 56 (Panaima in Samos was so named after a bloody battle between Dionysos and
the Amazons) r&v 5' e<Xe>0d,™» drofl«e& ™*s W70.ro. ^pl to *Xo<o, mI raiara
Jefc,™ air&v. wis Si Kal to *\oU* be' i^v frayijvai, ^eyyo^ ^ya t.

Ml Stdropo, (see further Halliday ad loc. p. ao7ff.). S. Reinach in the Rev. Arcli. 19W
ii. i6t quotes with approval Sir A. Evans 7^ A*p London i9«8 U. 1. S«4-

'The delight of the Earth-Shaker in bulls, referred to in the Homeric Passaf J"; £
403 ff.], may itself find a reasonable explanation in the widespread idea...that eart -
quakes are produced by some huge beast beneath the Earth. Sometimes, as in Japan
it is a monstrous fish, sometimes an elephant or other animal of prodigious
amongst all of these, the bull is the most natural agent. According to the Moslems
of Tashkend rj. Troll in the Ztitschrift fur Ethnologie 1892 xx.v. 537/-J. A'™S'; y *
set to support the Earth a bull of such monstrous size that from his head to the e
°f his tail was five hundred years' journey, and the space between his two horns anotne
two hundred [and fifty]. The bull, thus heavily laden, prompted by the Devil, snook ms
head and tried to throw the Earth off him with his horns. Thereat, a midge was sent 1
sting him in the nostril, and he set up a mighty bellowing, so that he is known unt
this day as "the bellower".' . .n his

Again, there is an earthquake when the giant Briareus under Mt Aitne shl,ts 0 ,
other shoulder (Kallim. h. Del. 14. ff.), or when Enkelados beneath the same burden
changes his weary side (Verg. Aen. 3. a»tL). AH Sicily trembles when Typh« us,
crushed by its weight, struggles to thrust it from him (Ov. met. 5. 346 ff.. V al. r mcc. •
«8ft). A like commotion was caused when Kaineus, buried beneath a huge mound ot
stocks and stones, tried in vain to lift his head (Ov. met. H. 614 «■)• Gla"ts lalf low ,y
Herakles-Mimas beneath Prochyte, Iapetos beneath Inarime-made the earth snake
above them and blasted the soil of Campania (SO. It. 12. 143 ff-. CP- »■ in Pa"

cular, Alkyoneus (Claud, de rapt. Pros. 3. 184 f.) and other giants with him were thought
to lie beneath Mt Vesuvius (Philostr. her. 2. 7). and during the eruption of 79 A-»- m!U \
gigantic phantoms appeared by day and night on the mountain, in the neignbou.mg
towns, and in the sky-a prelude to periods of severe drought and appalling earthquakes
(Dion Cass. 66. 22). We may venture to compare the happenings described in Mattnew
27- 51-53. Analogous beliefs still linger in Greek lands: a short, sharp*
accompanied by a peculiar crash occurred in Zakynthos on Aug. 4/to, '86*, ana
n«t day a peasant employed over the currant-crop in the village of Hagios Kyr.ko
observed with regard to it 'Some building of the giants must have collapsed (B. Schmi
f« Volksleben der Neugriechm Leipzig 1871 i. 33. *■ *"« ^ T°" W^™''™
Cp. supra ii. 505 f.). It should, however, be recognised that the: express con-
nexion of earthquakes with buried giants or the like is Hellenistic, not HeUemc. I-iBB
Purees {e.g. Hes. tlieog. 859 ff., Pind. Pyth. ,. ,9ff., Pherekyd. frag. ^(Frag. hst. G,
7* Muller)=/n,^. J ^ gg. i. 76 Jacoby) ap. schol. Ap. Rhod. HMO*]

emphasise volcanic rather than seismic effects. . ,

Other gods could on occasion produce a quake. Athena did so at iroy

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