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)

Pyre-extinguishing rain 509

This tale was perhaps that dramatised by Sophokles in his
Amphitryon^, and it reappears with some variation in the works of
later mythographers2.

h-uripides, the great innovator, substituted a more romantic
Version. Of his play, the Alkmene, we have little direct knowledge.

few tantalising fragments, like stray bits of a jig-saw puzzle, show
Us a dense growth of ivy with nightingales singing in it3—a pine-
torch fetched by somebody from somewhere4—rescue from a
desperate plight by the help of heaven5—day and dark night
ringing many things to birth6—again a reference to the gloom of

cubit'' La^'' Plac- "* Stat' Theb' I2' ?°[ 'cp' MJ?*U Vat- ■■ 14§' ne adventu diei con"

Luna"8 mmueretur voluptas, iussit Iuppiter illam noctem triplicem fieri, qua triplices cursus
tllrn^Peregit- The Christian Fathers, bent on aggravating the enormities of Zeus, even
^e\eC ,'^ree 'nto nine: Clem. Al. protr. 2. 33. 3 p. 24, 14 ft". Slahlin eis ocrov 8' i\-ri\aKev
b>i>4 /eia.S 0 ^£"s "'""os 6 fxcr ' AAkju.ijj>?js Toffavras ijovirad-qffas vvKTai- ovSi yap ai vOktcs al
4W, T<i) "-"oXa.dT^ fiaKpai {anas be IfnraXiv 6 fiios anpaala fipaxvs rjv), iVa S-q r\pXv tov

noctiba/CO" <77reip5 &e6"> Amob- nat- 4- 26 quis illum (sc- lovem) in Alcmena novem
pro]et^s 'e°it pervigilasse continuis? non vos?...ille noctibus vix novem unam potuit
8o0 A^extundere, concinnare, compingere, etc., Kyrill. c. Mian. 6 p. 196 (lxxvi.
ToJs Hy B ^'2ne) yeypatpffw de Kal 'AXiefifyri, fied' rjs ras ivvta StarertXeKe vvuras 6 Kal iv
Th acaXPoh Kopov iretpav ovk ^xwv-

successive steps in this mythical extension appear to have been as follows:
1 g h t= 1 night, longer than usual.
^ht+Night=2 nights.
^Jt+(Day) + Night=3 nights.
N>" + Day) + Night + (Day) + Night = 5 nights.
V NjV + (Day) + Night + (Day) + Night + (Day) + Night = 7 nights.
The te + ^Day)+ NiSht + (Day) + Night + (Day) + Night + (Day) + Night = 9 nights.
to shine fcJp"?<r7rePos> rpio-eX-qvot would be justified by the third step, when the sun ceased
4l!i"iene °ne ^ay and so Profiuced three continuous nights. See further A. Winter
^6al-En • ^'"Phitryon Breslau 1876 p. 34 ff. and K. Wernicke in Pauly—Wissowa

MCWern57,^.

2 !n H ke ln Pauly—Wissowa Real-Em. i. 1573.
t'le Teleboan' ' ^ a"d interP- Serv. in Verg. Aeu. 8. 103 Oichalia appears in place of

P- 29j> "prn^ to ^- B. Lewis Classical Mythology and Arthurian Romance Oxford 1932
• Penetrated rnay' we canno': av°id tne conclusion that stories of classical mythology
"I'0 'he Hi. 6 eveiywhere in the early Middle Ages... and the transformation of Uther
(■ e story 0f 7 "^orlois in order that he might consort with Igerna...is a reminiscence
a* **. p. 2. eus> who assumed the likeness of Amphitruo in order to deceive Alcmena'
egi"nings n- 1 after J. D. Bruce The Evolution of Arthurian Romance from the
3ted Vfith a""" 'he Year '3°° Giittingen—Baltimore 1923 i. 135, 145)—a passage
9, Eur- 'A\PProVal by H- J- Rose in Folk-Lore 1933 xliv. 24.

S°uid. s frag. 88 (Trag. Gr. frag. p. 386 Nauck2) ap. schol. Aristoph. ran.

5 eur- 'A\liX^St""a' ^ova^-
GailfEur- 'AxTJ,?^ 90 {TraZ- Gr-f«*g- P- 3»6 Nauck2) ap. Poll. 10. 117.

IT0rd iii. y100 (Trag. Gr. frag. p. 388 Nauck2) ap. Stob. /lor- 7 (ed.
Gai Eur- 'AX*5'- Hense v. 1005).

1Sford iii. ^y^/raS- !°i {Tra?. Gr. frag. p. 388 Nauck2) ap. Stob.yfc>n 98. 21 (ed.
249, ed. Hense v. 833)!