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)

33°

The relation of rain to Zeus

simultaneously struck by lightning was prompted by another incident, recorded by Iul.
Capit. v. M. Ant. philos. 24. 4 and portrayed on the column, the destruction of a wooden
tower by a thunderbolt. Euseb. hist. eccl. 5.5-2 spoke of a single flash (crK-qirrbs) before
the rain, as does Xiphilinos ap. Dion Cass. 71.9 (/tepowAs). But Dion Cass. 71. 10 already
turns this into numerous flashes (/cepawot 01k 6X4701) with the downpour. And Greg. Nyss.
or. in xl mart. 2 (xlvi. 760 A—B Migne) has both fipovrds {^aiatovs.. ./cai darpairds ipXoytbSeis
and also t&v aK-qwrwv TT)v.<Tvv{xei-av amid a deluge of rain. Tertullian, the Sibylline oracle,
and Themistios mention the rain only, thereby preserving the true tradition. Themistios
Ypa0?7 may have been the extant column, but was probably some more accessible
representation now lost.

Next appeared the great official publication E. Petersen—A. von Domaszewski-—
G. Calderini Die Marcus-Saule auf Piazza Colo?ma in Rom Mtinchen 1896 with text and
two vols, of 128 photographic pis. {supra ii. 106 n. 1). In the text Petersen sketches the
history of the column (pp. 1—20), Mommsen traces the course of the war against the
Marcomanni (pp. 21—28), Calderini deals with the architecture of the column
(pp. 29—38), Petersen describes its sculpture (pp. 39—104), and von Domaszewski—
still differing from Mommsen in regard to chronology—discusses the historical and
geographical aspects of the relief (pp. 105—125). On pis. 17, B + 18, A the enemy s
siege-tower, struck by a thunderbolt, collapses, while the emperor looks on at the
fallen foe. On pis. 22, A, B + 23, A ( = my pi. xxxii) the Romans, advancing in the forma-
tion known as agmen quadratum, are overtaken by the rain-storm. The cattle in then
midst are thrown into confusion: one ox has fallen, another springs over it. A soldiei
in the uppermost row raises hand and eyes to heaven; and next moment down comes the
rain. Another soldier, behind the artillery-wagon (carroballista), is giving his horse a drink-
We gather that here it is a case of heat and thirst rather than of hostile attack, and tha
the rain is helping the Romans. It does not, for artistic reasons, reach those in the fwe
ground; and most of those in the top tier are raising their shields to serve as umbrella
(nos. 22, 23), not buckets. But one man at least (no. 20) is drinking the rain. Then
comes the personification of the storm, a bearded pathetic face recalling that of Neilos *"
the Vatican. From his hair and beard, from his outstretched wings and arms, as in Ovi^ ^
conception of Notus {met. 1. 264 ff.), the rain is streaming, to the detriment not of
Romans but of the enemy. In the mountain-gorges we see horses struggling with
flood—a flood not actually shown—or collapsing in it, while barbarians great (no. 4°) a"e
small (nos. 38, 41) lie dead and weapons are swept into a heap. On pis. 20, B + 21' A .j
of the soldiers (no. 6) has his helmet decorated with a griffin in relief, from which ^eta
von Domaszewski (p. 112 f. with fig.) infers the presence of the legio XV ApoM'ia"*'^£
Cappadocian legion. The inference is brave. However that may be, the treatment 0
whole episode is realistic. We must certainly conclude that the Roman army was parc
with thirst and relieved by a sudden downpour, which proved too much for the foe- ^

J. Geffcken ' Das Regenwunder irh Quadenlande' in the Neue Jahrb. f. klass. 'AM*
1899 iii. 253—269 begins by passing in review the previous disputants in this ^
moderne Streitfrage' (pp. 253—258) and ends by reconstructing the probable COM ^
events (pp. 258—269). M. Aurelius himself witnessed the 'Blitzwunder,' his genel^tter,
' Regenwunder.' The emperor wrote to the Senate a straightforward unrhetorical e
in which he made no mention of Christians. Apollinaris was the source of Euse '• ,.
eccl. 5. 5. 1—4 (apart from one Eusebian gloss 5ia vIutcuk t% eKelvov Kal e^nt 0f
aweaTibo-qs). He gave a wrong explanation of the legiofiilminata, but a right acc
the single lightning-flash followed by the rain. An antichristian ripost attribute
flash and rainfall to the prayers of the emperor (Iul. Capit. v. M. Ant. philos- 24- 4 ^ ^
de caelo precibus suis contra hostium machinamentum extorsit suis pluvia impetia ' j
siti laborarent, oracl. Sib. 12. 196 ff. Geffcken b-jrbTav p.iya (xrj/xa Seoio \ ovpavbSeP P
Kai r dvSpas xa^K0K0Pva"r"-s I TpQXfipt*Wt vilxreie SY tiaepl-qv ftaaikfios' \ avTiP J' y fj.)
ovpdvios fia\a irdvO' inraKotcei- \ ev^afiivip (so C. Alexandre for eiitjdfievos codd- V y fj.)
/Spetei (Wilamowitz cj. /Spiral) wapaKaipiov (so C. Alexandre for irapa. Kaipb" cod • jrellrns
bfiflpiov iiSuip). Dion, a superstitious narrator and himself the author of a book on