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)

724 The birth of Athena in art

Eileithyia too had a sanctuary at Agra1 and a couple of Hersephoroi
for whom seats were reserved in the theatre2. These Agraean god-
desses are admirably placed between Dionysos on the left and
Herakles on the right. For on the one hand the Lesser Mysteries
are described as ' a representation of Dionysos' story3,' and on the
other hand their first initiate is said to have been Herakles*
However, a more famous centre of Herakles-worship was that at
Kynosarges in the north-easterly suburb Diomeia, where he had a
temple and an altar5. His consort there was Hebe, daughter of

whom three and four figures respectively are advancing. Presumably the two seats
goddesses are Demeter above, Persephone below, since Demeter is larger and colours
red, Persephone smaller and coloured white. If so, there is [pace M. P. Nilsson 111
Archiv f. liel. 1935 xxxii. 93 S.) something to be said for Miss Harrison's sugge5^0'1
that the upper register shows the mysteries of Eleusis, the lower those of Agra, whlC
were a preliminary purification (irpoKaOapais) for the greater rites to follow. This ag'eeS
with the indications of landscape. Above we see the groundlines of a rocky floor and *
pillar standing at the foot of a hill, suggestive of the TelesUrion at Eleusis (cp- sltt\
i. 218 pi. xviii, 221 fig. 164). Below we have again a hilly surface. The omphalos &
the crossed bdkchoi perhaps imply that at Agra the omphaUs was deemed to be the grave
of Dionysos {supra ii. 219 n. 4).

Demeter is approached by a female daidouchos, who bears a couple of blazing 'orc^j
and a girl who carries the K^pxvos or Kipvos, a vessel containing lamps, fitted with a ^
having apertures in it, decked with myrtle-twigs, and attached to the bearer's head
means of white ribbons (see the literature cited supra p. 248 n. 1, especially O. Ivtl
sohn in the Ath. Mitth. 1898 xxiii. 295 f. with fig.). The kemophoros is followed by
men, big and little. The big man has a staff in his right hand, the little man has a J
I take the scene to be the initiation of Herakles: the staff is his club, the jug hint5 at
banquet of the blest. . g

Persephone in like manner is approached by a male daidouchos with two ^
torches, another kernophdros, and a bearded man with a staff over his shou
Herakles again. t],e

Finally, in the pediment we see the same personnel in a scene of final felicltyr;,l2
kernophdros in the centre, a flute-girl making music on the left, Herakles draining
on the right, with a couple of other feasters in the angles. ff,

1 Kleidemos frag. 1 [Frag. hist. Gr. i. 359 Miiller) ap. Bekker anecd. i- 32^' ^gll
Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 3 no. ic,go = Inscr. Gr. ed. min. ii—iii. 3 no. 4682 (on j,0e
column of Hymettian marble, found on the bank of the Ilissos to the east of ^etl in
and assigned to s. iii E.c.) EiVoAIpt) (perhaps an appellative of Eileithyia (O- /^^cti i
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 1055), cp. supra ii. 118 n. 3 and 1114 n. o (4)) II 1M
^CKovixivrj I 'Afupi/x&xov \ yvvT) avidyjKe | eir"Apxifilas | iepeias.

2 Supra p. 168 fig. 73.

3 Steph. Byz. s.vv.'Aypa. Kal"Aypai (quoted supra i. 692 n. 5). rj-j)6bes:

4 Diod. 4. 14 (probably following the iyKiiipuov "B.pa.k\tovs by Matris of sc)i°''
E. Schwartz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 676, Hobein ib. xiv. 2296 p''^ 8+5
Aristoph. Ploui. 845, 1013, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 1328. Note especially schol. I l)7J^i'£"'
p.T) ovtwv 5£ irpdrepov p.iKpS>v (sc. ixv<tt-qplsjjv), 4\d6vTos 'Hpa/cX^ous koX 8{Kovtos^ ^ ^ f
iiretdi] v6/xos T)v ' AO-qvaXoLi fx-qSiva %ivov p.veiv, alSeaBivres rty airov ap^rty K<u ^ $ r*
■tjv rijs 7r6Xt£JS koX vios rod Aids, (Trolrjaav fiiKpa p-var-qpia, ev ots avrbv ip.i'n^aV-
p£v p.€yd\a rijs AT]/j.7jrpos, to. d£ ixiKpa Hepcretpdvijs ttjs avrijs dvyarpbs.

5 O. Gruppe in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. Suppl. iii. 926 ff.