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)

368 Water-carrying and the Dana'ides

may have penetrated yet farther south1 and as Danauna have
occupied, at least for a time, some portion of the Egyptian coast.

Returning now to the myth of Danaos and the Dana'ides, we
are in a position to understand better the early Hesiodic line—

Waterless Argos Danaos made well-watered2.
A tribe that bore an Illyrian name3 and at one time dwelt as
'River-folk' or 'Water-folk' along the banks of the Danube4 would
be just the right tribe to cure a 'very thirsty5' land of its drought-
The Danube itself was at a later date believed to gather clouds and
cause incessant rain6. The fact that the Dana'ides bulk bigger in the
myth than the Danaoi is, however, suggestive of magic rather than
scientific irrigation; and here there were various possibilities. To
begin with, Danaos son of Belos was a twin7; and twins a'e
notorious as rain-makers8, especially if their father is, like Belos ,

1 Ib. ib. p. 24 'The only certain result that has emerged as yet is that there wa
a centum element somewhere within the Hittite realm just after 1500 li.c. About -
date the Taurus ranges seem to have represented in a sense a frontier between sateffl
centum Indo-European speech.'

2 Supra p. 361 f.

3 Supra p. 364.

4 Supra p. 366.

■ Supra p. 361. _
6 Lyd. de magistr. 3. 32 p. 121, 1 ff. WUnsch irepl Se ttjv Qpadav ei\obp.evos dirop ^
juep (sc. d''I<TTpos) irapa to?s eirixupiois rb 'e'^irpoaQtv oVo^a, Aavouficos pi.eTaKKi)dels• °^7't^}^s
avrbv ol Qpt}fces eKa\eaai>t Slotl eirl <ra> irpbs apKTOV 8pi) Kal 6pa<TKiav avejxov &v
6 a/qp £k tt}s viroKetp.£v7]s twj> vypG>v d^erpias ffxebbv bid iravrbs diroTeXoviievos alTios ^0^l
avvexovs eirofiftplas diroreXeiffdai vomeral, Aavobftiov 8e rbv ve<pe\o(pbpov iKetvoc K
ira-rpius. Kal Tavra p.ev irepl tS>v iroTap.Civ ihs ev irapeKfidcrei Kara Sa/tw-o""^* , ap
'VupLaToj* iaropLKbv, 6s irpbs AiokX^tigciw Kal YdKeptov rbv ytpovra irepl ttolkIXuv i7? ,rote
SieXe'xQv- The reference is presumably .to Serenus Sammonicus, an antiquary who ^^
rerum reconditarum libri (Macrob. Sat. 3. 9. 6) under Septimius Severus (193 na£oli
see M. Schanz Geschichte der romischen Litteratur'1 Mtinchen 1905 iii. 190 f.> B- jjjjrrt
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i A. 2129 ff. Ioannes Laurentius the Lydian has pla
a century too late.

1 Supra p. 355. f/ie

8 Frazer Golden Bough* i. 91 f., ib? The Magic Art i. 262 ff., J. Rendel W< ingS
Cult of the Heavenly Twins Cambridge 1906 p. 26 ff., E. S. Hartland in ]■ ^yin
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1921 xii. 498a. Especially notew ^,east
its bearings on the myth of the Danaldes is the practice of the Baronga in s° ^ggses
Africa. When a drought threatens, the women strip and put on girdles and heat go
of grass, or short petticoats made of the leaves of a certain creeper. Thus attire ^ j
from well to well, cleansing the well-holes of mud. They must also repair to the^ ^
a woman who has given birth to twins (such a woman is called Tilo, 'Sky > ^Jch
are Bana ba Tilo, 'Children of the Sky' [supra ii. 434]) and drench her with wa^ '^^ng
they carry in little pitchers. Then they go on their way shrieking loose songs an ^ of
immodest dances, which men may not witness. They also pour water on puri^
their ancestors in a sacred grove, and on the graves of twins who are reg

near a lake (Frazer and Rendel Harris locc. citt.).

9 On Belos see K. Tiimpel in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 259 ff