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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

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0363

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Rain-magic in ancient Greece 299

But there is more definite evidence than this of a rain-ritual at
Eleusis. Hippolytos1 (c. 235 A.D.) mentions 'the great unspeakable
Mystery of the Eleusinians kye kye', that is "rain—conceive." And
Proklos2 (438s A.D.) states that 'at the Eleusinian rites they looked
UP to the Sky and shouted kye, "rain," then down to the Earth and
added kye, "conceive."' The words have at once the directness of
Primitive thought and the jingle of primitive magic4. Dr L. R.
Farnell5 is right when he comments:

inis genuine ore of an old religious stratum sparkles all the more for being
lnQ in a waste deposit of neo-Platonic metaphysic. The formula savours of
Very primitive liturgy that closely resembled the famous Dodonaean invoca-
11 to Zeus the sky-god and mother-earth ; and it belongs to that part of the
eusmian ritual "quod ad frumentum attinet0."'

£j°r\ tne culminating act of the mysteries was the exhibition to
e initiates of a corn-ear reaped in silence7, we can well believe
ram-magic was essential to the performance.

■ Spl^jJ^esJ'c'1ios' gloss that Koy%, o/xira^ or the like was a purely onomatopoeic phrase—
termin ' S^>'as'1''—meant t° imitate the sound of falling rain-drops. This might fitly

P 'm t'1C naiVe ra'n-mag'c °ftne 'flood-pourers.'
fie/i' 1 ' Romford's 7rd{, "Sound the conch—enough'" (Harrison Proleg. Gk.

alie'n,^' n' 2^ 's °Pen to Lobeck's objection: 'quid ab Hierophantae persona magis
rjsu sse potest, quam hoc ludicrum vocabulum Pax? quod non minore audientium
conc^"0,6^"11111 ^u'sset> quam si hodie aliquis sacrae cathedrae orator pro eo quod in fine

i p"ls Pr°nunciari solet Amen, diceret Basta!'
(cai £ 'PP°1. ref. haeres. 5. 7 p. 146 Duncker—Schneidewin touto, <f>t]<jlv, earl ri ixiya

" Prok" EXel"r"''&"' /*wti}/k<b> i!e nie.

Trp0a-{Ta ' %n P'at. Tim. iii. 176, 26 fT. Diehl 5 5ij Kal oi deafiol tCiv 'Xdrjva'uav ei'56res

'E\euo-ii/;TO" °Vf"1'"^ Kai "yV TrpoTcXeiv robs ydfiont, eh 8i tovtovs (SX^iroires Kal rots

c°dd I °'S ^P°lS eis ^" Ti,v ofy"1"'1" toafSkbtorra ifiowv lve' (so C. A. Lobeck for v!e
Tofirul '!aTa^'"'res Si «t rfc. yijp to ' Mfc' (so C. A. Lobeck for k6u codd. Q.D.), Sit,

3 W o\aT-^°S Kat ^^P0* TVV ytvtaiv ehai iravrwv yiviiaKovres. Infra § 9 (e) ii.

4 See K "St Gesc,lichte der' griechischcn Litteratur* ii. 2. 1059.

Suppi. ,g ?eim ' Incantamenta magica graeca latina' in the fahrb. f. class. Philol.
^farcell de 544 'c'tm£ Varr. rer. rust. 1. 2.27, Verg. eel. 8. 80 f., Pelagon. 19,

The r ] m. 1') anc^' f°r a modern parallel, supra i. 413 n. o.

^' Schwe ° SUC'1 an <ura'te Wunschausdruck' to actual prayer is considered by

Elensis') GebCt "Ud °rfer Heidelberg 1927 pp. 1—8 ('Ein Stttck der Liturgie von

Atheniens ' .. '' 20 ln Cereris autem sacris praedicantur ilia Eleusinia, quae apud
interPretatuS I.llsslma foerunt. de quibus iste (sc. Varro, cp. frag. 140 Funaioli) nihil
quam rapient o adtlnet at* hrumentum, quod Ceres invenit, et ad Proserpinam,

^'cit deinde 1 C° Per<*'dit! e' banc ipsam dicit significare fecunditatem seminum...
^arnell op tft mysterns eius tradi.quae nisi ad frugum inventionem non pertineant.

7 HiPP- 'ref^)^8 S'VeS a mislea<iing refer ence and an erroneous text.
Darnell op. 'if5' 8 P" 162 Duncker—Schneidewin (cited supra ii. 29J n. 2).
*itn those aft '8S lakes the Pnrase o-twwrj to go with the words before it, not
plead that ' admits that its position in the sentence is against him and can only

PPOlytus is not careful of the order of his words.' The same view had long
 
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