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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#0556

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482

Rain of stones

ii. Rain of stones.

Equally portentous was the rain of stones, which in early times
men attributed to the direct intervention of the sky-god1.

A good example is furnished by La Crau, a large plain in the
south of France, occupying the western portion of the department
Bouches-du-Rhone2. The name Crau is said to have come from a
Celtic stem meaning 'cairn' or 'heap of stones3,'being akin to oui
own word 'crag4.' The arid surface of this plain is in fact coveie
with boulders and has been described by a French authority aS a
'veritable mer de cailloux5.' Strabon6 calls it the 'Stony Plain '
Pomponius Mela7, Pliny8, Solinus9, and Martianus Capella10—noi °
mention later writers11—the 'Stone Fields.' Attempts to eXP^
along scientific lines such an enormous outcrop of stones were ma
by Aristotle and by Poseidonios. The former12 thought them thi'0%vl1

1 J. F. Cerquand Taranis lithobole (Mtmoires de V Acadtmie de Vancluse 1^ ^
Avignon 1881 argued for the recognition of an Indo-Europaean god,-who was at
hurler of stones and wielder of a hammer, the hammer being a later substitute ^
stone. As evidence of such a lithobolic deity in Gaul Cerquand quoted Aisch-.A2^^],
Nauck2 (infra p. 483 n. 3) and, more doubtfully, Pans. 10. 23. 1 ff. But see ^^ly
Bronzes Figuris p. 159 ff. Other stone-throwers (Talos, Minotaur, Kyklops) are p
solar or stellar (supra i. 720 f., ii. 491 n. o (6)).

2 P. Joanne Dictionnaire giographique et administratif de la France et de ses «^ ^
Paris 1890 i. 1147 ff. with view and map, Lippincotfs Gazetteer of the WorldVo^

1893 p. IS85- ... no.

3 G. Korting Latetnisch-romanisches W'orterbuch Paderborn 1901 p. 27/ gelie»
('kelt. Stamm [crauc-], cr5c-, kegelformiger Haufe...; auf diesen Stam111 jn;g,
vielleicht zuriick prov. Crau, Name eines Kieselfeldes bei Aries, crau ■>

un

fruchtbar'). See, however, Walde—Pokorny Vergl. WSrterb. d. indogerin. Spf

"• =73- p. 556.

4 F. Diez Etynwlogisches Worterbuch der romanischen Sprachen5 Bonn . ,l0Iine leS

5 P. Joanne op. cit. i. 1147, cp. ib. 1148 'Ce plan raboteux de galets ava!t^jarseiHe''
anciens, comme il surprend auj. les voyageurs que le ch. de fer mene d'Arles a ^

6 Strab. 181 f. p.era^u yap tt}S Matra'aA/as teal tuiv tKpokQv rod

8a\a.TTtis Hiixov e£s iKarbv araSiovs, toitovtov Se Kal tt]v dtd/j-erpov, /fuA.'A°re/^! ^
KaXetrat de At0£5es airb tov <rvp.{Be3riK6Tos. p.earbii yap ecm \l6wv ■xeipov'MlSoiP, 'g-ellne i11

7 Mela 2.78 alioqui litus ignobile est, Lapideum (lapidcus cod. A, wIien^nt) in 1U°
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. xii. 777 'vielleicht ist campus ausgefallen') ut voc^ >^ jjut
Herculem contra Alebiona et Dercynon (so C. Bursian for albiona etbergyon c0^-c^
see O. Gruppe in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. Suppl. iii. 997) Neptuni liberos ^e0
cum tela defecissent ab invocato love adiutum imbre lapidum ferunt. credas p

multi passim et late iacent. LaP'^e°S

8 Plin. nat. hist. 3. 34 Campi Lapidei, Herculis proeliorum merhoria, «!• a
Campos in provincia Narbonensi. . j-Jetcl1

Solin. 2.

- MH.U1I _ ,

6 in Liguria quoque Lapidarios Campos, quod Iovi eo

dimicante creduntur pluvisse saxa. Dellat'' ^

10 Mart. Cap. 642 ex cuius laboribus in Liguria Campi Lapidarii sunt app
eodem dimicante saxis ferunt pluisse caelum.

11 Cited by Keune in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. xii. 777-

12 Aristot. ap. Strab. 182.

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