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 olive of Athena

763

olive, while a priestess (?) or worshipper (?) extends an oinochoe
towards her1.

But the exact nature of the relationship between goddess and
tree (figs. 550, 551)2 is nowhere recorded. Jane Harrison3, never
lacking in courage, and impressed by the fact that the olive is called
Atkendis1, the 'Athena-tree,' roundly declared 'that at Athens...
Athene herself at one period of her development was' Atkenats,
the sacred olive tree.' Miss Harrison went on to observe: 'The
image of the goddess was made of her olive-tree.... But this is a second
step on from the time when the goddess was the tree, dwelt in the
tree, her life and that of the people intimately bound up, practically
Jdentical with it.' Those lines were written over forty years ago, and
today they may stand in some need of revision. Personally I would

1 Gerhard loc. cit. notes that the two sides of the vase must be regarded as forming a
Slngle picture, in which Athena and her priestess or worshipper face each other. He cp.
■^hilles and Briseis on the amphora by Oltos figured in his pi. 187 {Brit. Mm. Cat.

ses m. 195 f. no. E 258). In both cases the composition is illogical.
j^j .^or -A-tnena standing beside her olive see e.g.]. n. Svoronos Les monnaies d'Athhies
un,ch 1923—1926 pi. 87, 15—32 (of which is Athens = my fig. 550 and 25 J. Anderson

*"or Athena seated beside her olive see e.g. Svoronos op. cit. pi. 87, 33—37 (of which
34 Athens = my fig. 552). Fig. 553 is from a specimen in my collection (same dies as

oronos pi- 87, 36 J. Anderson).
Ph ^n 3 S"ver stat'!r °f Aphrodisias (?) or Nagidos (?) in Kilikia, struck in the time of
ri j|rna^azos (379—374 B.c.), the local copy of Athena Parthdios appears. She rests her
(sti ' 'la.nc'' bearing Nike, on an olive-tree, which stands in place of the Athenian pillar
Hr!^'a ^ x'v)' and ^er on a sn'e'd> °f which the inside and
sn C-eS ^"n2'n£ tne Gorgdneion on the outside are seen. Three
mens of the coin are known to exist in London (P. Gardner
ypes of Gk. Coins p. i7of. pi. 10, 28, Brit. Mm. Cat. Coins
^aonia, etc. pp. xlii n. 4, 112 pi. 19, 14, K. Regling Die antike
als ICunstwerk Berlin 1924 p. 132 pi. 29, 609, Head Coins
J tie Greeks p. 35 pl. ,<,, 48), Paris (Imhoof-Blumer and
\y Lerdne'' Num- Comm. Pans. iii. 126 pl. Y, 22 ( = my fig. 554),
p g rrnann Athenatypen auf griechischen Miimett Mtinchen 1900 - o »«r

" 78 «• 1 pl. 2, 6), and T urin (Imhoof-Blumer Monn. gr. p. 372 ff. no. 76 pl. G, 15).
4 *' E- Harrison in the Class. Rev. 1895 ix. 89.

e^ych. 'Aeijvats- i) iXala q Kal dari; (so M. Schmidt1 suggests for 'AOijitai—
So-tuT"' a"T" C°d- But M- Schmidt2 is content to print 'AO-qvats- i/ eXai'a. teal 'AOrjvaf
lex " et' "laS- P- 24, 57 'A$t]nais- t) eXcu'a. (cai 'AB-qnata- rj aypte\aia, Favorin.

Sj, 2'A0i)„a (sic), i, eXaia.
narne e 1 S'oss recalls a curious passage of Nonnos, in which apparently Athena's
t6p j£ «US"' aS a simPIe equivalent of e\ala (Nonn. Dion. 15. ill ff. of a sleeping Indian
fcxIituni A ""uacrovra fiadvo-TpdiTav M\iKTpav | &KpaKbp.ov (polviKos fj eiiliSivos 'Ad-qv-qs \
' Eiiiift,,'1''''^?""'' ^ iirevtpurev 6pir-q£). Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 1198 n. o comments :

alter f" ^vri< die Bezeichnung des Oelbaums bei Nonn. D 15 112 ist vielleicht ein
konnte'' ter Ausdruck, der sich ursprtinglich auf solchen Zauber bezogen haben
Coiifirrn ,^Ut' ln P'ace of ad-qv-qs codd., H. Kochly cj. 'Aahjs?'—a reading since
ed by the papyrus (Berolinensis P. 10567), which has eXanj[s].