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 snake of Athena

773

not be unreasonable to regard the single male snake as the soul of
a buried king1. The pair of snakes, male and female, would then
be the souls of the ancestral couple2. In the case of Kekrops3 and,
according to some late authorities, in that of Erichthonios4 the half-
snake would imply the tail-end, so to speak, of the snaky tradition5.
Even so it must be admitted that these Akropolis-snakes are
a terrible tangle, and raise problems to which at present no sure
solution has been found. Who or what, for example, was the
bearded6 snake that Pheidias set beside Athena? Pausanias7 says
'He might be Erichthonios.' But was Pausanias right8? Again,

Jewish notions, "the spinal cord of a man who does not bend his knees at the repetition
of the benediction, which commences with the word 'Modim,' after seven years becomes
a serpent".'

1 Supraii. 1061, 1087, 1111 f., 1148, 1152 ff-, 1174-

An amusing account of Herakleides Pontikos is preserved by Diog. Laert. 5. 89 f.
Si ical tt)v irarplSa rvpavvov^vriv {\ev8epwaat, rbv fibvapxov Krdvas, as <pr/<n Armrjrpios
0 ™-&yvi)s iv 6/iwvvpLois (on this work see W. Christ Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur6
^iinchen 1920 ii. 1. 429). 6s Kal TOibvSe ivropei rrcpl avrov- "Spiral abrbv SpaKovra t'/c
"t°v Kal ab^-qdivra, eneiSri TeKevrav ?p.e\\e, KeXevval rtvi tCiv maroiv avrov to aiip.a
1tLTai<pv'pai., tov Si Sp&kovto. irrl rijs kUvtjs Oetvai, tva Sb^eiev els Beovs iiera^qKivai.
yifCTo Si rvavra. Kal fiera^b Trapaireinrbvruv "UpaaXtibriv rwv toXituv Kal ev<pr\p.ovvrwv, 6
Po-Kuv d/coiVas rfjs iwiporjs i^iSv rSiv l/xariav Kal Sierdpa^e robs w\elo-rovs. iiarepov nivroi
e^Ka.\v<p8r] ivavra Kal wipSr,' UpaKKeiSqs ovx olos eSbaet, dXX' olos n*-" Kai iaTLV 4/*"" els
„ ovtws "HfleXes avdpwiroiai XMreu> fytniv, 'Hpa/cXe/Si), | us pa Bavuv eyevov fwds

<"ra<ri opa/cwc. I dXXd Sie\p(va6-qs, aeaotpLafiive- Sri yap 6 itev Oyp | rje SpaKoiv, uv Si 8r)p, ov
^°06s &v, edXws. ravra (an ravra legendum?) 84 <p-qai Kal 'Imrb^oTos (W. Christ op. cit.°
' '• 85)- Daebritz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 474 asks ' ist das etwa eine boshaft
rundene Parallele zu dem, was H. selbst von Empedokles' Ende vorgetragen hatte?...
e^'er Add. zu Acad. ind. x 10' (W. Christy, cit.6 Miinchen 1912 i. 621).
th Same var'at'on between one snake and two (supra p. 772 n. 4) may be seen in

wall.paintings that decorate the lararia of Pompeii (collected conveniently by Reinach
j Pei>tl. Gr. Rom. pp. 102 no. 6 (one), no. 7 (two), 103 no. 3 (one), nos. 5 and 6 (two),
^ no. 1 (one), no. 1 (two), nos. 3 and 8 (one), cp. J. A. Hild in Daremberg—Saglio
942 fig. 4343).

w. See e.g. O. Immisch in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 1022 ff., L. Biirchner in Pauly—
^'SSowa Real-Enc. xi. ^off.

4 g . ......— —

7 f- West° Plat' T""' 23 D p" 9+8a '7' et' mas- p' 37'* 47' aPPend- narr- 3 (P- 360.
'nferiore ""rmann' ^P^ovrbrrovs. Hyg. poet. aslr. 2. 13 anguina tantum crura, fab. 166
'nteip 5 Partem draconis habuit, Serv. in Verg. georg. 3. 113 draconteis pedibus,

5 p "' ^ er8. georg. 3. 113 anguinis pedibus.
0 T?tter Pausanias ii. 169.

slake (h Varvalce'on and Lenormant statuettes of the Parthenos both show a bearded
the ]ost e"Ce my restoration supra ii col. pi. xlv), as does Sir W. Gell's drawing of

^- Arnel mbel°kipi relief 'P< Wolters in the BulL Co"'- HdL l894 xviii- *88 nS-'
am mis( "ng 111 ^ejahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1908 xi. 187 f. fig. 69), which—unless I
v paa^e"—represents the Athena Arela of Pheidias at Plataiai (Paus. 9. 4. 1).

6 p ' ^' 24* 7 Kal Tr\r}o~lov rod Sbparos SpaKuv io-riv et-q 5* av'^ptx^^s ovros 6 SpaKuv.
^r'chth'Z^ ^ausan,as 'i- 169 'He may well have been right' (on the assumption that
* ShouU °1 ^ ^rec,nheus 'were originally identical.' But see supra p. 181 n. 1).
t>~ot^A v a , suPP"se that the snake beside the goddess was the animal form of her

^ '-rechtheus.