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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#0547

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The myth of Danae and analogous myths 473

All this, however, does not help us to grasp the original signifi-
cance of Danae and her golden shower. Recent investigators have
attempted to expla in the myth in terms of sun or shooting stars.
Thus Sir James Frazer1 writes:

It has its counterpart in the legend which the Kirghiz of Siberia tell of their

icestry. A certain Khan had a fair daughter, whom he kept in a dark iron2

use, that no man might see her. An old woman tended her; and when the

fc'rl was grown to maidenhood she asked the old woman, " Where do you go so

en?" "-\jy child," said the old dame, "there is a bright world. In that bright

vorld your father and mother live, and all sorts of people live there. That is

, ere * go." The maiden said, "Good mother, I will tell nobody, but shew me

,at bright world." So the old woman took the girl out of the iron house. But
when cVi

fell t'16 k^S*11 world, the girl tottered and fainted; and the eye of God

sent"J'30n ^6r' anC* S'16 conce'vet^" Her angry father put her in a golden chest and
•M her floating away (fairy gold can float in fairyland) over the wide sea3. The
°wer of gold in the Greek story, and the eye of God in the Kirghiz legend,
ably stand for sunlight and the sun.'

tio *^arnes Soes 011 to quote other legendary examples of impregna-
°n by the sun4. But he does not meet the obvious objection that

'hek ^t1*"16 e'c'er> one of the wings of the altarpiece of S. Sebastian, now in the Pinako-
anda • ich' N- Nilles op- cit- '• 341- 4°4f-> 486> 606, M. and W. Drake Saints

Bin"' E'"ble"ls London 1916 p. 16.
S, jj k ' s^ou'°- be observed that neither the tower of S. Irene nor the tower of
in eitlle ' WaS an underground structure of bronze or iron, and that the sequel did not
'ngfed' CaSC mvo've the motif of the Floating Coffer. The Danae-niyth was but one

1 pent °f tlle hagiographer's stirabout.

2 [FoZer Golden Bough*: Balder the Beautiful i. 74.

(Talos) °ri'16 same var>ation from bronze to iron see supra i. 632 n. 3 (the sky), 719 a. 2
vita, cate uc'ing to Danae, Prop. 2. 20. 11 f. has 'in te ego et aeratas rumpam, mea
*a^*<j5 ^e'laS' '/erralam Danaes transiliamque domum' and Loukian. Tim. 13 says h
*Vap6(i, <T''^J"f TV 6a\d/i<ji Kaddirep tt\v Aa.vd-r)v TrapdevevetrQai (id. dial, matin, 12. 1
*apiave t6 W *-a^K0"'1 Ta>a OdXafiof ep.f3a\wv). Cp. Nonn. Dion. 8. 136 ff. ov Aavdr)
Wer& <r<h - T(P0>' '/'(vs, I dXXa <7i5-qpo<p6poio (an cri8r]pop6(poio Icgenduml A. B.C.)

'+3 ff. a ^f^"-Opov I ixejxiponivTi xpif^oitri yduois vavrtWero vvp.<pi) (but id. it. 47.

*^»ou I ""^P00^ (C. F. Graefe cj. xa^K°pt"Pov) I I^Cieo TrapOeveuwos, 6V?; Juu'tb/s Sia
■^^PiVios °^P0V *X€vc yanoKMrop v4nos Zevs), Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 838 Aavd-q, tjv

^t. pej , Proben der Volkslitteratur der tiirkischen Stamme Siid-Sibiriens, iii.

l3s>—»4»i ivef '8'°^ PP' 82S</' E' S' Hartland The LeSind of Perseus London 1894 i.
4 ^raze story at greater length, drawing upon the same source.

Classical Bo""h't: Balder the Beautiful i. 74 f.

^'Pzig-^ Parallels are not wholly wanting. E. Norden Vic Geburt des Kindcs
Jfy, q,. ii;erin I024 P- "58 f. draws attention to Asklepiades of Mendes frag. 2 (frag.

• Mtuier r iIuller) ap. Suet. Aug. 94 (cp. Dion Cass. 45. 1) in Asclepiadis Mendetis
f 1>0"iiiis ' a ter Voss- CJ- Menditae) Theologumenon libris lego, Atiam, cum ad sollemne
t^irent obd"11 met'la noc,e venisset, posita in templo lectica, dum ceterae matronae
"^'Sefactam °' m'?e' draconem repente irrepsisse ad earn pauloque post egressum; illam
^aculam vej c'uasi a concubitu mariti purificasse se; et statim in corpore eius extitisse
')erPetuo aiJstj P'C!' draconis, nec potuisse umquam exigi, adeo ut mox publicis balineis
nuent; Augustum natum mense decimo et ob hoc Apollinis filium existi-
 
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