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)

The birth of Athena

657

life. Can we really suppose that at Athens, the chief centre of
Hellenic civilisation, Zeus Polieils himself was conceived as struck
by a

double axe? Or that the sacrilegious striker, after poleaxing
"is god, was allowed to flee from the spot and escape into safety?

Pausanias emboldens us to answer Yes. For no sooner has he
described the ceremony of the Dipolieia than, in the very next
sentence, he goes on to say : ' All the figures in the gable over the
entrance to the temple called the Parthenon relate to the birth of
hena1.' And it may be shown that the birth of Athena as there
^Presented involved exactly the situation stated above—Zeus
° tens struck with the double axe, the escape of the striker, and
e acquiescence of the bystanders.

ine middle group of the figures in question is lost beyond hope
recover}-. But its main features are in all probability preserved
y the relief-frieze of a marbleputealor 'well-mouth' in the Madrid
of •eCtlon (%■ 47°> 1 and 1 a)> and partly also by a marble replica
and^ Cn<^ ^ormer'y 'n the Palazzo Rondinini (fig. 470, 2 and 2d)
n" ky another of its right end found in the Villa Palombara—both
(fi transferred from Rome to the Schloss Tegel near Berlin
Up0 ?' The puteal as a whole portrays Zeus sitting quietly
°n his throne. He is draped in a himdtion and holds a sceptre in

1 Po

Geburf Jj,Se lellefs were published together and discussed in detail by R. Schneider Die
2"> 3)- F^ A,the"a Wien 1880 PP- 32—45 Pi- 1, 1- i", 2, 2", 4 ( = my fig. 470, t, ia, 2,

The references in Reinach AV/. Reliefs ii. 193 no. 5 and ii. 87 f. nos. 6—8.

11 served W3S *°r 'ong 'n l'le Moncloa near Madrid, where sunk deep in the ground
of Alba flower-P°t for the Royal Gardens. Previously, it had belonged to the Dukes
f°Und in 1(^1 * 'ts history is uncertain: Schneider thinks that it was originally
<"llr'stina r c Probably at Rome, that it formed part of the collection owned by Queen
ad°rn his° eden (1626—1689), and that it was purchased by Philip V of Spain to
P- 14. jn Cast,c ('724)—see E. Hiibner Die antiken Bildwerke in Madrid Berlin 1862
tir>ie-_per^COnsei3uence of these vicissitudes it had received some injuries and had at one
was virt a'?f m t'le seventeenth or eighteenth century—been prepared for restoration.
Atcmeol6rriUa ^discovered by J. de Dios de la Rada y Delgado, director of the Museo
Vastr° ' Put ° nal' and published with good illustrations by J. de Villa Ai.iil y

AIadr!,i .,. al Sr,ego encontrado en la Mnnrl na' in the Museo espanol de antigiiedades

radri<l is*--'11 grie2° encontrado en la Moncloa' in the _

, ambricige'SaV* 235—246 P1" 1 f- There is a cast in the Museum of Classical Archaeology,
eht o-99m an°ther at Berlin (Friederichs—Wolters Gipsabgiisse p. 735 f. no. 1862).

jVere still ^one'111 k fr°m the coIlection of the Marchese Rondinini belong together and
21 5 with F \published by G- Winckelmann Momtmenti antiehi inediii2 Roma
Ig a Pair of m rontispiece. Subsequently they were sawn in two and separately framed
»>M' a'ld are"111 rellefs- They passed into the possession of W. von Humboldt (1767—
S? Sc<>/e fr. "UW in h"s castle at Tegel. See further G. F. Waagen Das Schloss Tegel

lncl«<le 2eus!T,!"."°S" 2988 <Zeus) *989 (Prometheus) with Text x. 90 by W. Amelung,

aSaPair50f?hFr

53=) and a"11^ reliefs- They passed into the possession of W. von Humboldt (1767-
^Se'ne jf* now in his castle at Tegel. See further G. F. Waagen Das Schloss Teg,
^Zelaufna'i"t'i'erke Berlin l859 P- 13- The restorations, which can be well seen in the
" de zeus-lT!r "0S' 2988 (Zeus>and 2u89 (Prometheus) with Text x. 90 by W. Amelung,
C. It ~~ forearm, most of left leg, front part of right foot, most of footstool;

42