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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#0386

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320 The relation of rain to Zeus

'the shower of Zeus1,' 'water from Zeus2,' etc. there is good evidence
to prove that the Greeks of the historical period regarded rain as
essentially connected with this god. Philosophers and grammarians
even made a misguided attempt to derive his name in its dialect
form Deusz from the verb deilein, 'to moisten,' because he moistened
the ground with his rain or gave living creatures the dampness

1 Atos 6pj3pos: II. 5. 91, 11. 493, 12. 286 (of snow), Od. 9. 111, 358, Hes. o.d. 616,
676, Pind. Isthm. 5. 49 (of hail), Aristoph. ran. 246, Theokr. 17. 78, Nonn. Dion. 3- 3l5'
42. 292, 47. 591. Cp. Liban. monod. de tempi. Apoll. Daphn. 9 (iv. 318, 2 ff. Foerstei)
dX\' obbk 6 Zeus opfipwv ijvlas e'xwf vSup acpijKev eVi tt\v <p\bya Kal ravra Ai/owe VOTe
fiaffiXei SvGTvxtltto-vTt afHaas irvpdv; copied by his pupil Io. Chrys. in S. Babylaw, c\
lulianum, et c. gentiles 20 (xlix. 564 f. Migne).

2 licit. 2. 13 et pr\ edeXrjaeL acpi vtw 6 0ebs dXX' abxp-& diaxpdo'dat, \ip.<p oi"H'KhVpes
aipe97}o^ol'Tal• ob yap 077 o~<pl earl vSaros obdepia aWy &7rocrTpo(pr] on pyq etc roD Atds povvov^
Plat. legg. 761 a twv e/c Aios uddrav, 844 a rd iic Aids ibvTa.. .vdpaTa, Critias 111 C rb KaT
evmvTbv iidap eKapinivTo (k At6s, Theophr. hist. pi. 2. 6. 5 ewifyTel 8e paKXov rb vapan-"-10''
VSap 7) rb in tou Albs, 7. 5. 2 dyadd 5k rd in Atis (sc. lidara), 8. 7. 3 rd vap.aTLaia o~vp<p£?aV
pdWov abrois tCiv 4k Atos, cans. pi. i. 19. 5 ywopivuiv vbdrwv e'/c Aids, 2. 6. i eirl T0"' ^
Atos vddrwv, 3. 8. 3 5td ttjv airdvQV tCjv e/c At6s (sc. bbaTiov), 3. 9. 5 pij £iriyLVop&uv roiV
e/c Aids (sc. bSdrup), Ap. Rhod. 2. i;2of. to 6e pvplov e'/c Atos vbwp \ \rj^et> dpi richly, Pl°ut'
quaestt. nat. 2 dpa obv Kov(pbv eVrt to e/c Atos vbwp /cat depQdes, Kal irvebpaTi pepiy^0
bdrjyeiraL re /cat dvairipireraL raxews els to tpvrbv virb XeTrror^ros ;

3 Supra ii. 344 n. o. Cp. F. H. M. Blaydes on Aristoph. Ach. 911 Ittu Aebs.

4 Cornut. theol. 2 p. 3, 10 f. Lang irapd 84 rtcrt Kal Aebs \4yerat, rdxa dird rod devef
TTjv yijv 7) ^teTaStSAfat rots fw<ri f«Tt/c7;s (aup.aTLKr\s codd. X. L.) UpdSos, el. mag. P'

2 f. rj irapa to bebia to /3p^xa>, Sei/cra), Aeus /cat Zei5s• ^eVtos 7a/> 6 c?e6s (al'rtos yaP
cod. V.), Eustath. in II. p. 153, 34!. Sebw to §pexw Aeus Ka'L Zeus 6 'dTjp. On the su ^
of Mt Tmolos was a place called IVat Atos 'TeWou and later Aebawv, whence K- TiiWP^
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 281 inferred the existence of an appellative Aevt10
'Te'Tios; but see supra ii. 957 n. 2. 'nies.

The notion that the name of Zeus implies moisture has been revived in modern
I possess the abstract of a paper written by Prof. T. G. Tucker of Melbourne and * ^
June 3, 1912, but not—so far as I know—published, in which the following P^ff^g js
were advanced. Religion begins with the obtaining of food and drink. Where ^
insufficient moisture, there is not enough to eat. Hence the earliest religious e ^
Mediterranean man aimed at rain-making, or rather water-getting. His nUtM*1
practically all concerned with human maintenance—the Earth-mother and her c -
with the food-supply, the rest with the water-supply. *Dieus in particular w*^-^s
'Moistener,' the 'Wetter,' not the 'Shiner' [supra i. iff., 14 ff., 7761> cp'feS|;vals
'wet,' bifalvoi 'I moisten.' Thus Uav-dluv is the equivalent of ITdc-Spoc/os; ^^^tct,
Ata, IldfSta, Atdcrta, Attx6\ta all involved rain-making ceremonies (as did .^^IrV

vs dberai paprvpel KaWlpaxos (frag. iooh no. 1 Schneider) ?) Z-rpibboTOS iv l<rJ'°l"'K0LTjl if
ptv-qpao-i (frag. 2 (Frag. gr. Hist. i. 183 Jacoby)) ypd(pois> woe- "'Apyetoi the
dbovci, Kal rj eopTT] KaXetrat 'To-T-fipta"); and Iii(p)piter (Diespiter) stands £ p]).

fountain-goddess luturna (Diuturna [Latte in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc xJ0^I(is,
Various cult-epithets of Zeus are cited in support of this interpretation, not on y ^ ^
'Tertos, 'Upatos, but also Ndtos (cp. vS.p.a [supra i. 369 n. 2, ii. 351 m °'Ra^.' The
Ilavo/xcpaios ('of the Voice' [supra ii. 1097 n. 2, rsi'l], but originally 'of the ^ ^is,
composite root *enebh- has for Ablaut-grades *nebh-, *ombh-, *mbh- in ^°5'iroS nieant
d<ppos. The op.<pa\6s was a 'rain-gathering' stone, cp. Spifipos), '0\iV«rl0S ' "
 
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