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)

52 Nephelokokkygia

and to demand the submission of Zeus. If he refuses, they will
proclaim a holy war against him and forbid the gods to traverse their
realm in search of fresh amours. A herald will be sent to inform
men that in future all must worship birds before gods—the coot1
before Aphrodite, the duck2 before Poseidon, the sea-gull3 before
Herakles, the wren4 before Zeus. Birds have wings, good evidence

'walls' (id. ib. ii. 64). P. Sebillot Le Folk-lore de France Paris 1904 i. 128 f. adduces
French examples. Sailors in the Channel regard certain big black clouds as dangerous and
speak of them as les Chateaux (id. in the Archivio per lo studio delle tradizionipopolari
v. 521). In Provence black clouds brushing past the horizon are called an emparo or
'wall.' A long stretch of emparo is termed berri, 'ramparts.' A small coloured cloud
rising above these 'ramparts' is dubbed tourello, a 'turret.' A big cloud may tower up
charged with thunder and hail; it is then called tourrougat a 'keep.' Finally, when black
threatening clouds begin to break up, with their towers and ramparts, they are known as
casteu, 'castles' (G. de Montpavon 'Mistral' in Armana Prouvencau 1877 p. 45).

This was at least one reason for the first element in Aristophanes' Nephelo-kokkygla—
a typical ' castle-in-the-air.'

1 <pa\ripk, though a derivative of 0aX6s, 'white' (Prellwitz Etym. Worterb. d. Gr.
Spr.2 p. 481, Boisacq Diet. ttym. de la Langue Gr. p. 1013 f.), hints at <pa\\6s (Athen.
325 B Kal 'A<ppo5iT7} <pa\api8a, lis'ApujTOipdvqs iv "Opvtat (av. 565), Kara avvtix<j>ao-iv rod
<pa\Xov, schol. Aristoph. av. 565 ^ij/«in« Se vapa tov <pa\\bv) or $0X975 (J. van Leeuwen
ad loc. cp. Aristoph. Ach. 263): D'Arcy W. Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds
Oxford 1895 p. 176 is unusually obtuse.

2 This is not religion, but common sense. Athen. 325 B Kal ttjv vf/rrav de KaXov^h-qv
Ho<xeiSS>vl rives okewvo-i, as is clear from the previous clause (cited supra n. 1), depends on
Aristoph. av. 566.

3 The Xdpos is assigned to Herakles merely because of its notorious greed (schol.
Aristoph. av. 557 tov \dpov 5ta tt)v dSijipayiav 'HpcticXei vpoo-avdwrei, cp. Aristoph. eq.
956, nub. 591).

4 Aristoph. av. 567 ff. id)i> Ad 66y Ba<«Xei Kpibv, pacn\evs 'iar 6pxl\os bpvis, | <p irportpq
Set tov Atos avTov o-{p<pov ivbpxv o-<payid£eiv. | ETEAII. ijo-0Vv o-iptj>v <r0a-y!afoM<?Mf>•
" fipovraTW vvv 6 fiiyas Zap" with schol. ad loc. opxlXos opfis' Sid ras pioixeias rod Aios
tov Upviv wapeXaplev (the clause Std—TrapiXaPev is absent from codd. R.V.). en-XdcraTo to
ovo/xa tov opvidos. itrel KaTuxpeprjs 6 Zeis Kal fioLxbs, did tovto opxlXov vapeiKrixev 5ia tovs
opxeis- to de aipepov ivopxw, Kpibv Hvopxiv. This again is not a case of ritual usage, but
of comic invention. There is no special link between Zeus and the wren beyond the fact
that, as Zeus was BaaiKebs, so the wren was ^ocriXeiis or paaMo-Kos (supra p. 45 n. 1). On
the wren as king of birds see further C. Swainson The Folk Lore and Provincial Names
of British Birds London 1886 p. 36: 'The tradition of the sovereignty of the wren over
the feathered race is widely spread. Hence we find the Latin name for the bird to be
Pegulus, the Greek f3a<ri\io-Kos, the French Roitelet, Roi des oiseaux, Roi de froidure, Rot
de guille, Roi Bertaud, the Spanish Reyezuelo, the Italian Reatino or Re di siepe (king of
the hedge), the Swedish Knngs fogel, the Danish Fugle Rouge or File Konge (alder king),
the German Zaunkdnig (hedge king), Schneekbnig (snow king).' E. Rolland Famie
populaire de la France Paris 1879 ii. (Les oiseaux sauvages) 288 ff., 301 f. collects a vast
number of such names applied to the wren (both the Troglodytes Europaeus and the
Regulus cristatus) in the various districts of France. It would seem reasonable to suppose
that the kingship in question properly belonged to the fire-crest (Regulus ignicapillus) or
gold-crest (Regulus cristatus). Both species occur in Greece (D'Arcy W. Thompson
A Glossary of Greek Birds Oxford 1895 p. 174) and both on the crown of the head have
a conspicuous streak of reddish orange bordered by bright lemon yellow (good illustrations
in J. L. Bonhote Birds of Britain London 1907 p. 50 f. col. pi. 15). The fiame-coloured