Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
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#0388

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
322 The relation of rain to Zeus

Matron, a parodist of Homer in the days of Alexander the
Great1, dubbed it 'the child of Zeus2.'

Orphic writers spoke of it as 'the tears of Zeus3.' Ovid's story

ou yap brj (X(pi ecn vbaros ovbepda dXXt] diroarpoipT] otl jut] eK rou Albs [xovvov, Isokr. Bits. 13
tuip yap bp.fipiop Kal tQ>p abxp-uiP r0^ dXXois 6 Zet>s raffias ecrrip, eKelpeov b' e^aaros
(sc. t&v AlyvirrLup) dpffiorepup robrcop avTos abrip Kvpios Kade'o'TijKep, Theophr. char. 1°
Jebb Kal el iroirjfjeiep b Zeus vdojp rd ev rrj yrj fieXrlco £<re<7(?cu, 22 Jebb Kai t(p Att ayavaKreiv,
ov Siotl oi>x vcl> dXXa bibrt uarepop. See further M. H. Morgan 'Greek and Roman Rain-
Gods and Rain-Charms' in the Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philologtca^
Association 1901 xxxii. 83 ff.

In the Class. Rev. 1903 xvii. 175 and in Folk-Lore 1904 xv. 267 I drew attention to
the remarkable term ffiviov b'Sap used for 'rain-water' in the magical papyri (C. Wessely
Griechische Zauberpapyrus von Paris und London Wien 1888 p. 26 pap. Par. 222 ff. —
K. Preisendanz Papyri Graecae magicae Leipzig—Berlin 1928 i. 78 no. 4, 222 ff. a Iecano-
mantic prescription axe'ipts' eireiSdp irore flobXei | aKi\jjaa8ai wepl irpayp-drtop, XajBbiP dyyos
XaXKoOv, I fj XeKaprjp 7) iptdXrjp, o'iav eav plobXy, fildXe ildwp \ —eav p.ev robs eirovpavlovs deovs
(cX^fiJj {-qvLov, [ eav 5e robs eTnyeiovs, 6aXd<rinov, iav de "Ompiv 7) rbv \ 'Zdpairiv, 7roraMlt"'|
eav de vitcvas, irtjyaiov—Kar4\xoJV iirl rols ybvaat (TKevos, eiripaXwv tXaiov bp.<j>d\Kivov koX
abrbs e'TriKu'-KTWv eV rip aKebet Xeye top J Xbyov rbv biroKelp.evov Kal irpoo-KaXod, bp (3ouXe<-
&ebv, \ Kal eVe/Joira, irepl ob diXeis, Kal a7roKpL6r}<reTal o~oi | Kal ipel o~ol irepl iravrcov. K.riX^
C. Wessely Netie griechische Zauberpapyri Wien 1893 p. 41 pap. Lond. 629 f- (F* ^'
Kenyon Greek Papyri in the British Museum London 1893 i. 83 ff. no. 121 omits the
fragment) GKeXX i[a]xada y (poiviKos oara y viKoXaov \ Kai apr ayp.[ar]a y Kai fyviov vbaros
Kai k... in a list of magical ingredients). H. van Herwerden Lexicon Graecum supplet°nU'"
et dialecticuvi1 Lugduni Batavorum 1910 p. 628 says rightly '£tjviov (= Siov, i.e. ofJ-^P10^
vbap,' but would have done better to print 'Zfjviov vbap' with a capital letter as Dr
Stuart Jones prints it in the latest edition of Liddell and Scott. The choice of the ne_
form Zrivwv in preference to the older and better-established isXov [supra i. 3 f.] prob£l £
implies the usual attempt to connect Zeus, 7ufjva, etc. with j^jv [suprd i. 11 n. 5, 2^ n'.^
ii. 259 n. o, 855 n. 2]. Rain as the seminal fluid of the sky-god was indeed aqua
(M. Ninck Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult undLeben der Altai Leipzig 1921 P- 3
See also S. Eitrem Opferritus und Voropfer der Griechen und Rbmer (Videnskapss
kapets Skrifler. II. Hist.-Filos. Klasse 1914 No. i) Kristiania 1915 p. 115)- rl>r\viov "
would have the further merit of rounding off fitly a hexameter verse. ^ pjehl

1 W. Christ Geschichte der griechischen Litterattir6 Miinchen 1920 ii. I. 204, E.
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. xiv. 2298 ff.

2 Matron frag. 2. 3 f. (Corpusc. poes. ep. Gr. ludib. i. 91 Brandt) ap. Athen-
/3oX/3was 0', at 7>-qvbs 'OXvp^wlov elalv dotbol (G. Kaibel cj. yeveOXi) or veotrtrol, • .
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff cj. ediodri. But A. Ludwich with more probability reads a0^s
which C. B. Gulick renders 'theme of Olympian Zeus's song'), | &s iv x<?/>c" Op*fe be
Trais acrireTos bpippos, \ k.t.X. Cp. Eustath. in II. p. 1053, 10 ff-> who after qu°U"gr( is
same passage from Matron continues iv to6tols yap Ai6s vibv rbv berbv eiVwc avvreKa ^
to voeti* irorap-bv AuireT7j rbv e£ verov, bp Zebs di)p SoKet yeppdp.

Eustathios appears

hinting at an etymological connexion between verbs and vlbs. . Qf the

» Clem. Al. strom. 5. 8 p. 360, 10 ff. Stahlin oi^i Kal 'Eirtyhris (a grammarian ^ ^
Alexandrine age, on whom see L. Cohn in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. "4

irepl ttjs 'Op<pias ttol-qaews to Ibid^opra Trap' 'Opipel iKTi6ip.evbs </>ri<ri..." bdKpva 1 5 ,je,J
bfifipop b-qXovp, k.t.X.; =Orph. frag. 253 Abel, 33 Kern. Similarly the pythaSore^lS^_ 4i,
the sea Kpbvov daKpvop (Aristot. frag. 191 Rose (196 Rose2) ap. Porph. v. ^ 9 ^
Plout. de Is. et Os. 32, Clem. Al. strom. 5. 8 p. 360, 20 f. Stahlin) : supra «• 557

The Esthonians speak of a ' "Wind mother," who "weeps" when the rain a ^ ^oston
a storm, and "dances" in whirlwinds'(U. Holmberg Finno-Ugric Mythology
1927 p. 232).
 
Annotationen