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)

6o6

Zeus as an ox; Zeus Olbios

utter guilt that drove the actual Bouphonos into immediate exile,
and for the solemn communion of those who together devoured the
sacred flesh and so—at Athens as in Crete1—absorbed into then'
own bodies the very substance and virtues of the divine beast.
When we remember that in Mesopotamia, in Asia Minor, and all
round the shores of the Levant the sky-god with his bellowing
thunder and his fertilising rain has been from time immemorial
conceived as a bull2, we cannot but conclude that the ox of the
Dipolieia was one more example of this universal concept3, in a
word was the embodiment of Zeus Polieiis himself—slain that he
might live again in younger and more vigorous form, stuffed with
hay and yoked to a plough that he might work as of yore for the
benefit of his pdlis.

A plough on the Akropolis-rock seems deplacee. Yet Plutarch
in his Advice to Bride and Groom goes some way towards explai11"
ing it:

'The Athenians,' he says, 'observe three sacred ploughings : the first a'
Skiron, in memory of the most ancient of sowings ; the second in Raria; aI1
the third near the base of the Akropolis, the so-called Bouzygios.'

Bouzyges,' Yoker of Oxen,' was an old-time Athenian, the first who
ever ploughed with such a pair5. In token of his achievement the
plough that he used was dedicated on the Akropolis6. And he
himself may be seen using it on a red-figured h&W-kratdr, said t°

1 Supra i. 650, 662 ff., ii. 345, 354, 539. 2 Supra i. 633 ff.

s Thus far I find myself in agreement with B. Schweitzer Herakles Tubingen r9^
p. 45 ('Der Stier war das geweihte Tier sowohl des vorderasiatischen Himmelsgotte
des kretischen Zeus gewesen, sie selbst waren sicherlich einst in der Gestalt des Hiroin
stieres gedacht worden, wie der Europamythos zeigt. Es ist vol" allem das Stier°l ,^
das durch die Doppelaxt dargebracht wird. In dieser besonderen Bedeutung kann
„ w-VT • .. • ..... - ~ ~. ..1 „„<-h nicIK

povwX-q!; heissen... Der W\e/a/s...spielt eine merkwiirdige, auch von P. Stengel noch Wc

But tno

ikrale"

befriedigend erklarte Rolle in den diisteren 8pw/j.eva...der attischen Buphonien '). .

it

further contentions of B. Laum Heiliges Geld Tubingen 1924 p. 123 ('Aus der saK
Funktion erklart sich also die Verehrung des Doppelbeiles. Zunachst ist es das ¥>e ■ ^
dem der Priester das Opfertier niederschlagt; dann wird es Symbol der Stiergotthej
ist als solches Kultgegenstand und Weihegabe.' Etc.) seem to me to outrun ^sctetvKlpif,

4 Plout. coniug. praecept. 42 ' kd-qvaioi rpets apdrovs lepovs iyovai, trpdrov — .^en
tov wa\aiOT&TOV t&v airbpuv vir6/j.vqfj.a, Sevrepov Iv Tjj 'Papla, rptrov birb irbXf (so r^s
in the ed. Basel 1542 for vt'hiv) top KaXobjievov Hovfyyiov. tovtwv Se vavrav if?w
(Madvig cj. lepdirepbs) iaTiv 6 ya/ir/Xios <nrbpos nal dporos cttI ttclISwu reKUiliffet. k-t'

5 H. W. Stoll in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 839, J. Toepffer in Pauly—Wissowa R<® '

iii. 1095 ff. Supra i. 469 n. 3. ^ j^yfiw

6 Schol. Aischin. de fals. leg. 78 tov Bovfvyov tov 6vtos £k tov ytvovs twv ^"° ^fo.
In yap -qv Kai tovto yivos Tiixtlinevov irapa rots' AByvalois, e£ ov tytviTO i] Upeia rqs
TSovfvy-qs Si eKK-qd-q \veip.a"qt^ (H. Sauppe cj. 'EirifievtSris, cp. infra p. 610) rj
tCiv 7rdXai, Saris vpdiTos £evyos §owv gfevl-ei'. oBev Kai t6 aporpov avrov aviKCi^0
&Kpcnro\ei wpbs fj.vqjj.-qv.