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)

Zeus as an ox; Zeus Olbios

6i5

to be certain that we have here the ox of the Bouphonia. What is
certain is that we have a holy ox, holy on his own account with
a sanctuary of his own, and that this holy ox is associated with
n°t Zeus, but Athena. Whatever Olympian was dominant at the
foment would take over the intrinsically holy beast' F. Schwenn,
who held that the Bouphonia was later attached to the cult of Zeus
Pohetis1, likewise regards the bull as the essential centre of the rite
ar>d assumes that a bronze effigy of it was set up to perpetuate the
blessings believed to stream from it2.

Without attempting further to investigate the prehistory of the
Bouphonia—a task for which the evidence available is hardly
sufficient—we may at least admit that Greeks of the classical and
Post-classical periods commonly recognised the bull as an animal
form of Zeus3. They were familiar from their youth up with the
story of him and Europe. The Hellenic age loved to portray the
S°d metamorphosed into a bull and bearing his venturesome rider
across the sea4, in the west from left to right5, in the east from

2 Supra p. 600 n. o (6).

Schwenn Gebet und Opfer Heidelberg 1927 p. tn.
1 "^iteess the myths of Antiope {supra i. 535 n. i, 736, 740), Deo or Demeter
^cgfx 393)> Europe (supra i. 464, 544, ii. 929 n. o, 1131 n. 1), Io (supra i. 438 f.,
4 *'' ^asiphae (supra i. 544, 739 f.), Typhoeus (supra ii. 449 n. o (2)).
, i- 526 n. 1 (bibliography).

0 during s. vi and the early decades of s. v B.C. in the art of Sicily and central
• typical examples are the following:
far ^ archaic metope from temple ' F or S' at Selinous, which was at first dated as
Seli/ -3S "le enc' °^ v" or Ule beginning of s. vi (A. Salinas 'Nuove metope arcaiche
«896Unt.ine' in the -,/""- d- Linc- l889 958 ff- P1- T- Homolle in the Bull. Corr. Hell.
reasQ X*' "7°i J- Escher in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 1296 f.), but is now more

Roberto P'aCed C' 560 <Perrot—ChiPiez Hht- de ?Art viii- 488 ff- fiS- 248' D- S"
c. Ij0n Handbook of Greek & Roman Architecture Cambridge 1929 p. 325) or even
W. £ ^• J- Anderson—R. P. Spiers The Architecture of Ancient Greece rev. by
head, h 'nsmoor London 1927 p. 193). The bull combines profile body with full-face
's l,ndul ni an<' ^nee breaking the framework to convey a sense of motion. His back
'en<3 int^ ^ePressed to secure approximate isocephaly. His tail is too long, but serves to
far hand *** l° ^ "at monotonous flank. The whole effect is awkward, since Europe's
back. -r.erasps tne near horn of her mount: if he turns his head, she will be pulled off his

und W° dolPnins below the group betoken the sea (Brunn—Bruckmann Denhn. der .
Menfii 1°"'; s"<lpt. pi. 288, b=my fig. 415). The metope is carved in 'tufo bianco di ir

(2) nas loc- «*•)• '-""

^"^i'p black-figured lekythos from Kyme in Campania, now at Naples (G. Fiorelli
'n t5le Bun <ii^'"1' rinvenuti a Cuma nel 1836 Napoli 1857 col. pi. 9, 2, G. Minervini
P' 487). QArC/'' Nap'1857 v-140 p1- I0' '3 ( = Reinach Rip- Hues i. 488, 13 with text
P" 878 Ra Verbecli Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 414 (5), Heydemann Vasensamml. Neapel
London is U c»mana no. 218, J. E. Harrison—D. S. MacColl Greek Vase Paintings

StePhani* P '4 pl' 4' " *=m>' fi£' 4l6))> has g'ven rise to several misconceptions.
which sne .W llle Co"ipte-rendu St. Pet. 1863 p. 135, on account of 'die Rebzweige' by
ls surfounded, took the bull-rider to be a Maenad, not Europe at all. But