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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#0566

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Rain of stones

Having thus seen that certain anonymous Alexandrines used
the Aeschylean myth of Zeus sending a rain of stones to Herakles
as a plausible explanation of Engonasin, we must next enqu»'e
whether the myth itself was a mere figment on the part of aI1
imaginative poet or an episode strictly in accordance with popula'
classical belief. And here I shall at once cite a remarkable parallel
recorded by Livy2 as having taken place in the reign of TulluS
Hostilius (672—640 B.C.):

'After the defeat of the Sabines, when King Tullus and the whole Rornan
state were at a high pitch of glory and prosperity, it was reported to the kiflS
and senators that there had been a rain of stones on the Alban Mount. As th'*
could scarce be credited, envoys were dispatched to examine the prodigy; an ^e
their sight there fell from the sky, like hail that the wind piles in drifts upon ^
ground, a thick shower of stones. They thought too that they heard a great yo>
issuing from the grove on the mountain-top, which bade the Albans offer sacH
after the fashion of their fathers: these they had in fact given over to 0 .^gf
as though they had forsaken their gods along with their country, having e]^eS

adopted Roman rites or in anger at their fortune, such as men

some'1"

feel, abandoned the worship of the gods. The Romans also, in consequen
the same portent, undertook an official nine days' celebration, \vhetbeI ,

so

commanded by the divine voice from the Alban Mount—for this too is 11 fl

custo^

day

down—or on the advice of soothsayers. At all events it remained a regulai CI
that, whenever the same prodigy was reported, there should be a nine
observance.'

• roD *aS

The great voice heard from the grove on the mountain-tui^
that of Iupiter Latiaris, whose temple on the summit 0 g
Alban Mount3 (Monte Cavi1) was the earliest religious centre o

4 Schol. Arat. phaen. 74 oi 5t TeuraXoi'.

5 F. Boll op. cit. p. 278 with n. 2. V3. 'Pie

6 F. Boll op. cit. p. 260 f. in view of SI KinfiaXa Kal drXas (leg. "Arte*) c° j.steilunge11
Schilderung eines Gottes mit ausgebreiteten Armen passt durchaus zu den ^ fMet
des Atlas, wie etwa der Kolner Bronce (abgebildet bei Thiele S. 16) oder

des Globus Farnese.' d 0f N**1.*

1 Supra p. 483. The HerculesLapidarius worshipped in the neighbourhoo ^ ^
(Nizza, Nice) (Orelli Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 2012 = Corp. inscr. Lat. v. 2 no. 7 ^ viney»r
pedestal, found near the monastery of S. Ponzio and thence transferred to ^sBS | f
adjoining the Cappuccini of Nizza, inscribed hercvli | lapidarI | ALMA^jgS Sa^a'"^'e
is hardly to be connected with this myth, but may be a local variety of Here"he e%b^
the god 'of Quarries' (De Vit Onomasticon iii. 354, 355), on whom see no"'
article by Keune in Pauly—Wissowa Keal-Enc. ii a. 266—307. ft
- Liv. 1. 31 trans. B. O. Foster altered. ■ di R°'"a^t W

3 A. Nibby Analisi storico-topograjico-anliqiiaria della carta de'' dintorn etopog(f n
1837 i. 110—119 (' Albanus Mons'), G. B. de Rossi 'Ricerche archeologiche ^
nel monte Albano' etc. in the Ann. d. Inst. 1873 xlv. 163 ff. (' Tempio di d; Gj ^

168 ff. (' Cabum. Cabenses') with pi. RS, M. S. de Rossi' Scavi e studn ne ^ c0i. p •
Laziale sul monte Albano' in the Ann. d. Inst. 1876 xlviii. 314 333
 
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