Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Hinweis: Ihre bisherige Sitzung ist abgelaufen. Sie arbeiten in einer neuen Sitzung weiter.
Metadaten

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

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0250

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
Hephaistos and Athena 189

The Athenian Akropolis had from time immemorial been the
home of Athena, a goddess comparable with, if not actually
descended from, the snake-goddess of the early Cretans1. Her

1 This important fact was first firmly grasped and clearly enunciated by M. P. Nilsson
■Die Anfdnge der GSttin Athene (Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-
filologiske Meddelelser iv. 7) Kyibenhavn 1921 pp. 1—20, id. A History of Greek Religion
trans. F. J. Fielden Oxford 1925 pp. 26—28, id. Min.-Myc. Kel. pp. 417—431. I had
already hinted at it in the Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 410 n. 2. See also O. Weinreich in the
Archiv f. Reh 1925 xxiii. 61 f., C. Clemen Religionsgeschichte Europas Heidelberg
!9-6 i. 76 n. 2, 103, 231, H. J. Rose A Handbook of Greek Mythology London 1928
Pp. 107, 128.

Others have stressed the connexion between Athena and the 'Minoan' or Mycenaean
shield-goddess. So C. Blinkenberg 'Kretisk Seglring fra addre mykenisk Tid' in the
Aarbfyger for nordisk Oldkyndighcd og Historic 1920 pp. 308—322 fig. 1 f. and U. von
Wilamowitz-MoellendorfT 'Athena' in the Sitzungsber. d. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin 1921
pp. 950—965. See too O. Kern Die Religion der Griechen Berlin 1926 i. 24.

E. Kalinka in the Archiv f. Rel. 1922 xxi. 31 f. regards Athena as ' eine jener vor-
Sriechischen Muttergottheiten, die sowohl in Kleinasien wie in vielen Landschaften
Griechenlands verehrt wurden.'

In this context we cannot ignore the goddess twice figured on a stdmnos from Knossos
found by H. G. G. Payne and published by S. Marinatos in the Jahrb. d. Deutsch. Arch.
Inst. xlviii Arch. Anz. p. 310 fig. 19. My pi. xxv is from fresh photographs of the
Jar kindly taken for me by J. D. S. Pendlebury. This personage has spirals like snakes
starting from her hips, uplifted hands, and a polos on her head—' offenbar eine Gottin,
Und zwar eine missverstandene Weiterbildung der spat- und submykenischen Schlangen-
§°ttinnen von Gurnia und Prima.' She may be dated c. 700 B.C.

A kindred, but further developed, figure occurs on the remarkable terra-cotta plaque
found by the American excavators of the Agora at Athens and published by Dr T. L. Shear
5n The Illustrated London News for Sept. 3, 1932 p. 345 with a col. pi., Y. Bequignon
ltl the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1933 lvii. 243 f. fig. 7. My pi. xxvi is from a photograph obtained
f°r me from Dr Shear by E. J. P. Raven, who tells me (Jan. 30, 1934) that a full
Publication with a col. pi. is shortly to appear in Hesperia. The plaque (9^x5 ins.,
Wth two holes above for suspension) formed part of a dump near the base of the
N- slope of the A reios Pdgos, and was associated with other objects in terra-cotta—
Pr'rnitive figurines, gaily coloured horses with their riders, votive shields, etc.—also with
late Geometric' vases and a 'Proto-Corinthian' Ukythos. It has therefore been referred
? the latter part of viii B.C. and regarded as a votive offering brought from the adjacent
nne of the Eumenides. It shows a goddess facing the spectator, with raised arms and
Pread hands (cp. supra ii. 536 fig. 406, c). Her head and neck are in relief; the rest of
. 1 [s on the flat, painted in dull red and blue. She stands between two snakes, rendered
n the same colours amid a vertical framework of lotos-flowers and rosettes. Dr Shear
Qs it hard to say whether this unique figure should be interpreted as a snake-goddess
Possibly a survival of the Minoan tradition into later times in Athens') or more definitely
one of the Furies.' Perhaps the spotted transverse garment worn across her chest is
eant for an aigis. If so, she is a primitive pre-warlike Athena. After all, Athena
*°P7<Sirit (Zwicker in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 1658) or Popyii (K. Zeigler ib.

41 f.) is near akin to the original Topyw or Vopywv. Cp. Palaiph. 31 (32) KaXoOui Si
(S^"*'0' '^W^" r°P7u>j wenrep tt)v "Aprefuv ixiv B4v8iv, Kprjres 5t kUrvvav

KTuvvav cod. xjt AaKtSaiyadvioi Se Oi-mv. Athena in due course was Christianised and
^PPears on medieval leaden seals as MP 0Y fa M^rw eeoD) H AOHNAIA
^OPrOETTH KOOC (infra § 9 (h) ii (a.) sub fin.). The Panagia Gorgoeptkoos of modern
ens has a long and interesting pedigree.
 
Annotationen