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)

The relation of rain to Zeus 335

among the modern Greeks in particular, at least in out-of-the-way
Places1.

The mention of the sieve also points to a popular conception2,
vvhich appears to have left its traces on more than one language of
the Indo-Europaean family3. It can indeed be exactly paralleled
from modern phraseology. The Greeks still say ' It's drenching with
the sieve'4 or 'God is drenching with the sieve,'5 and use the proverb
God's sieve has big holes.'6 In the district of Parnassos it is believed
that Borras, the north wind, possesses a sieve with which he prepares
and sifts the hail. Notos, the south wind, has skin bottles, which he

V* SPrichwort Leipzig 1864 p. 141). At Cologne, if it rains on July 13, 'Margriht hat en

osz gepess.' Elsewhere on the Rhine, if it rains on June 10, ' Margarete pisst in die
wjjfSe' *n tne former case the rain will last four weeks; in the latter, a fortnight, and

spoil the nuts (Id. id. pp. 146, 154). So in the Mark district, if it rains on June 11,
nte Magdelena pisset in de Nuete' (J. F. L. Woeste Volksiiberlieferungen in der
r«-fahaft Mark Iserlohn 1848 p. 61).
n. Schmidt Das Volksleben der Neugriechen Leipzig 1871 i. 31 illustrates Aristoph.
t, " 373 by certain locutions heard at Arachova near Delphoi. When it rains, people
T(r 6 KaTovp&a. 6 dibs. When it rains hard or continuously, they say rcoOp, Taotp,
(j ^ (ono>"a(ofl.), KcLTovpuvras 6 8ibs pas oaivai ( = f<ra7r[<re, 'er hat uns faulen gemacht,'

'ganZ euiSeweicht)- Even more remarkable is the parallel adduced by N. G. Polites
Kaj ,s e's 'teT«<>poXo7ifcoi ixvdoi (extract from Wapvaaabs) Athens 1880 p. 10: ''E7ri crvyexovs
Ud\ia e''rTOU @P°Xn$ ol xvSaidrepoL \iyovaiv iurre'i£6fievoi " Karovpaei 6 Qebs" ■ iv 'Apax&py
Ka^ „ '"'PovriOeaai. "/j.e rb kovkivov"1 (!N. 'EXX. dp. 35). 'Ey Meaaiji'ia 6 toiovtos Kaipbs

JTcu "KaroupXias" Kai dXXaxoD " Karovp\ijs." '
an» .' Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mytholopie Berlin i860 p. 7 first drew

attention to this.

ii, Schrader in J. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1909
to an ', Greece the phrase Zeis Set is used for "it rains," which, when traced back
(Skr" ° f'age of tlle language, can only mean "The father (heaven) presses grapes"
to cha""""" Press'" sd/na, "the pressed," "the soma drink"). It is also customary
tranche"1 • • ra'n ^ aU onrermS °^ nonev> where the rain which drops on the trees and
belief tj^ 'S ''kened to honey. Exactly corresponding to these ideas we find in India the
thr0,. 1 by letting

the soma, which itself is called a son of the rain-god Parjanya, drip
the ju;c strainer, rain is enticed to fall. Thus the very fact that the man "presses"
Cause t] °n "le eartn> incites or rather compels the god in heaven to "press," i.e. to

-uss an Rudolf von Roth zum Doktor-
^aris [ AuS*'si '893 Stuttgart 1893 p. i4of., H. Oldenberg La religion du Ve'da

'Eine £,°3,P" 3?2> Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 819]).' Id. in Schrader Reallex.2 ii. 227:
'°char A ^ °6>sche Vorstellung liegt vielleicht dem griech. Cci, verbs zugrunde (vgl.

gehore Zstt''sw"s "regnen,".ra>aj*'" Regen,' B. suwam "es regnet", swese "Kegen.''
s°u> lit ' ZU SCrl;' SU~' sun^m' "keltere," spez. den Soma (scrt. sii/ia-, vgl. auch ahd.
UrsPtun!rrT''" "Saft", scrt. savd- "Kelterung"). Das homerische Zeis Dei kann daher
Regens auV bedeutet haben: "der Himmel keltert", indem die Erzeugung des
*Urde. eine v he Stufe wie die Auskelterung des idg. Rauschtranks (Mets,...) gestellt
^'tei'turn 6 orstel,ung> die in dem Verhaltnis zwischen Soma und Regen dem vedischen

4 N. Gp durchaus lebendig ist.' Etc.
P' »8 Tb n ' °llteS f""45™ METtwpoXovi/toi p.v6oi (extract from Wapvaaabs) Athens 1880

, ^ PVXvu /ie to Kbatav
Qeoj to prixvt

1 PfM/ion toC 6eo0 e^ti ncyaXus rpvTrais.

id ih 1 , T° PWet T° pcp-P-bpL (a large-sized sieve).

• to. To 1---