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 Ersaios

265

title of kindred origin preserved by Hesychios1 is perhaps Ersaios,
Zeus ' of the Dew.'

Keos was once so well watered that, like certain others of the
Kyklades2, it was known as Hydroi\ssaz. Hither came Aristaios, one

:

(=my fig. 178), C. H. Weller in the Am. Journ. Arch. 1903 vii. 267 ff. fig. 4 photo) and
ts variously interpreted as Isis (R. Chandler Travels in Greece Oxford 1776 p. 150 ' Isis,
the Egyptian Ceres,'J. C. Hobhouse (Lord Broughton)^ Journey tlirough Albania1 London
r3 i- 403 'supposed to represent Isis, the Egyptian Ceres,' E. Dodwell A Classical and
Topographical Tour through Greece London 1819 i. 553 'probably a statue of Isis') or
Derneter (L. Ross Reisen des Konigs Otto und der Kbniginn Amalia in Griechenland
Halle 1848 ii. 76 'vielleicht einer Demeter') or Kybele (A. Milchhofer in the Ath. Mitth.
1880 v. 217 ' offenbar... Kybele,' L. Bloch in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 531. This would
agree with the lion's head carved in the rock at £ on the plan (fig. 174). See also A. Rapp
ln Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1642, 1644) or Rhea (A. Milchhofer in E. Curtius and
J" A. Kaupert Karten von Attika Berlin 1889 Text iii. 16 ' Rhea?').

On the whole I conclude that the seated divinity is an earth-goddess, very possibly Ge
herself, who here as at Delphoi (supra ii. 169 ff., 231, 239, 1216, cp. ii. 258 pi. xvi) had
ner omphalos. Further it would appear that deeper in the cavern, just where there was a
Perpetual drip of water, the Greeks established the cult of Apollon £rsos or He'rsos, the
Dew'-god,—Apollon, rather than Zeus, in deference to the otnphalds. C. Wordsworth
Athens and Attica London 1836 p. 198, ib.3 London 1855 p. 170, was not very wide of
e mark when he wrote: 'Ersus...appears to have been venerated here, as the beneficent
Power to whose influence—shed like dew (Zptrrj) upon the earth,—all rural produce in its
'fife-nt state, the tender blade, the opening blossom, and the young firstling, were alike in-
th ^ tneu preservation and increase.' More succinctly let us say that down here, in
^ e dark womb of mother earth, Apollon Rrsos with his gentle moisture impregnates Ge
lo benefit of mankind. And, if so, then the cave at Vari furnishes a noteworthy parallel
0 the Ersephoria (supra p. 165 ff.) at the underground descent (of Ge Olympiad supra
P- 188) beside the Ilissos.

t Anally, if—as seems probable—the cave at Vari was the actual spot on Mt Hymettos
(An "1-0'1 thC infanl Plat°n

was taken by his parents for a sacrifice to the rustic powers
To" VC"'' ^l*s*' 10' 21 °T1 T^v Il^oracci i] TltpiKTibvt) £<pepev (v rah ayKakais' BCovros Se
j " ^P'otgjkos ev 'tfi-qrriZ mis MoiVais 77 TC"S Ni//i0ots, ol ixev 7rp6s tt)v lepovpylav 9jaav, y\
?0.Jj'T^'C^"'6 nXctruca iv rah irXijcrtoii fivpplvais Sacrdaii otiaais teal tvvkvcus. KadebSovrt b*e
s MeXiTTcSp iv x0Js -^eiXeaii/ avrov Ka9laa<rai virrjbov, rr,v rod IIXdTMj'os evyKoirrlav
ivTtvdev, Olympiod. v. Plat. p. 1, 14 ff. Westermann koX yevvriBivra rbv
Tots'7^3Pa ^aP°VTes 01 yoveis /3pe<pos bvra reOe'tKaffiv €v rip Y/j.7]tt$, ftovXSfievoi virep avrov
'"Pov ^eo's nacl Kal isifiipais Kal 'AirbXXojvi No/iio; dvcrai, Kal neifiivov avrov p.t\irrai
< Top e^^°^o"at tt£ir\ripwKaa-iv avrov rb arbp.a Kf}piwv /x^Xtros, Xva dXrjdes irepl avrov yivijrai rb
0tl ^ a""^ yXibao-ris /xiXiros yXvdwv piev avbri' (11. 1. 249)), it may be that the honey found

i1e babe's lips was accepted as the divine dew vouchsafed by the deities of the cavern.
cj_ >g e^ych- '~Epyahs ■ atpios Zeiys (cp. supra i. 30, ii. 351 n. o, 808 n. o (o)). A. Meineke's
^Po<rJl$aWS 'S common'>' approved and squares with Hesych. ip<raia-...Spoo-diS-q and ipaahf
drearn',s" W this is right, Nonnos had the sanction of cult-usage, when he made Semele
Son' (py nerse'f as a fruit-tree in a garden ' Drenched by the nurturing dews of Kronos'

2 , ■ 1' H6 viabbjievov Kpoviwvos aeiupuroanv ee/Jffcus).
RoSe2 ndros (p]in- ""l- hist. 4. 65 Hydrusam). Tenos (Aristot. frag. 553 Rose, 595
in \yx PIln- "at. hist. 4. 65 Hydrusam, Steph. Byz. s.v. Trji>os-...'TSpovo-o-a, Eustath.
see fu<r?i5'S' ^er' 525 "TSpoixra). Cp. an island off the deme Aixone (Strab. 398 'Topovaaa :
tlel n Er L" Eurcnner in I'auly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ix. 79), etc. (Gruppe Gr. Myth.

;PH'49).

Gj Hvierak1' Font-fr"g- 9- 1 {Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 214 Miiller) 'TSpovaa, Plin. nat. hist. 4.
Wusam, Hesych. s.v. "Ibpovca.