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)

The Daughters of Kekrops 257

a

was ab origine a personification of the cicala1, and that he bore
a name which was primarily onomatopoeic2. In any case Tithonos

1 The personification of the cicala is by no means an unexampled effort of the imagina-
tion. The Laconian town Tainaros was called 'the seat of Tettix' because it had been
founded by Tettix the Cretan (Hesych. s.v. Thriyos edpavov). When the Naxian Kalondas,
surnamed Korax, had killed Archilochos in battle, he was bidden by the Pythian priestess
to go to 'the dwelling of Tettix' and appease the soul of Archilochos. 'The dwelling of
Tettix' meant Tainaros because Tettix the Cretan had come thither with his ships, founded
a town, and dwelt beside the psychopompeion (Plout. de ser. num. vind. 17, cp. Ail. frag.
80 Hercher ap. Souid. s.v. 'Apx'^°X0S)- O. Hofer in Roscher Lex. Myth. v. 402 rightly
infers from Archil, frag. 143 Bergk4 ap. Loukian. pseudolog. 1 rimya too irTepov
"■""eiXi^as that the poet had spoken of himself as a tittix, and this lends the needed point
to the anecdote. ■ y.

A folk-tale from Naxos says that the cicala (6 t'cir'^Kat), the ant, the bee, and the
Spider were brothers and sisters. Their mother lay dying and bade them all come to receive
n« blessing. The bee alone came. So her mother wished that she might make wax for
the saints and honey for men. The rest were cursed. The spider should spin all night and
unravel her web by day. The ant should drudge the year through and eat but a single
grain. The cicala should chirp, chirp till he burst (N. G. Polites UapaSocreis Athens 1904
b '94 no. 352, ii. 943, O. Dahnhardt Natursagen Leipzig and Berlin 1910 iii. 468). In
northern Greece the cicala is held in greater honour—witness G. F. Abbott Macedonian
Folklore Cambridge 1903 p. 60: ' The farmers of Macedonia out of the newly ground corn
make a large thin cake, which they take to the village fountain or well. They sprinkle it
with water and then distribute it among the bystanders, who in return wish them " a happy
.ear." This cake is called "Grasshopper-Cake" (rfn-ftjoo'kXiko), and is supposed to be
kind of offering to their favourite insect. The following rhymes express the insect's
satisfaction at the sacrifice: 'Awlfere, Sepifere kt/ 'niva. k\Iki navere, | Kai p/fre to 's tt;
Ep" "a Taw "a to irapu, j Xd Karaui va. to <paa po.{u Ta- TaiSia fiov, j Na vrcaoi va irtSava".
L A. A. Tovaiov, "'H Kara to 110770101' Xiioa," p. 47] " Thresh and mow and make a cake
°r me. I Throw it into the fount that I may go and fetch it, | And sit and eat it with my
children, | And then lay me down and die." '

A. popular Tuscan song tells how the grasshopper (grillo) married the ant. After the
edding he became first a greengrocer and then an innkeeper, but finally went bankrupt,

•.eat his wife, and died in misery (A. de Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872
n- 48 f.). ' v

See further B. Laufer Insect Musicians and Cricket Champions of China (Anthropology
is] Chicago 1927 (reviewed in Folk-Lore 1928 xxxix. 112 : 'A champion cricket

^ oked on as the incarnation of a great warrior or hero of the past, and fetches the price
for ^° horse. If he has won many victories, his burial will be in a small silver coffin,
to ^°0<^ luclc> and in the neighbourhood of his grave excellent fighting crickets are expected

De found in the following year').
the .le niain objection to my view is that the evidence directly connecting Tithonos with

2 's not older than s. v B.c. See, however, h. Aphr. 236 ff. and infra n. 2.
(q ^ ames for the cicala regularly involve a reduplicated / or k together with an »-sound
tet , antikc Tiermelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 406). So with the ancient Greek Wtti£,

(He't'"'' Tin7°"10'' (L- Dindorf in Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. vii. 2091 a—d), Wfiot
h. t{tti$), KiKovt (Hesych. kUovs- ovtos rifrnf. It is just possible that in

^"ttMJT " 2^ ^ t°" " ' ^>U"''' °^rrft<", T< kikvs \ to6', oit) TapOS IttKCV M

HlHo T°'17' fAww the choice of the word kikvs was determined by a reminiscence of
J. ScS," Ne'ther Welcker Gr. Gbtterl. i. 686 (A. Rapp in Roscher Ltx. Myth. i. 1263) nor
T£i)Tf m'dtRoscher Lex. Myth. v. 1025 is convincing), the modern Greek rJMipoi or
r°»tanPa*' T^T^Kas> and the Latin cicada with its derivatives (G. Korting Lateinisch-
SigadTvl" W°rterb"ch '5aderborn 1901 p. 238 notes Italian cicdla, cigala, Lombard
a< Provencal cigala, French cigale, Spanish cigarra, chicharra, Portuguese cigarra, etc.
c- HI. 17