Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

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

DOI Seite / Zitierlink: 
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0959

DWork-Logo
Überblick
loading ...
Faksimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Vollansicht
OCR-Volltext
The aigts and Gorgoneion of Athena 859

then lead to the equation of Sulis the sun-goddess with Minerva,
who at Rome and elsewhere bore the title Medico1. The equation
is attested not only by three2 out of the ten inscriptions so far
discovered at Bath3, but also by an interesting passage in Solinus4
who says:

'The circumference of Britain is 4875 miles. Within this space are many
great rivers, hot springs too equipped with luxurious arrangements for the

1 G. Wissowa in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 2989, id. Rel. Knit. Rom.2 p. 254 f.,
F. Altheim in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. xv. 1778. Athena, too, bore the title 'Tjieta
on the Akropolis at Athens (supra i. 231 n. 8, 727).

2 (1) Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 43 = Dessau Lnscr. Lat. sel. no. 4660 (on a small altar
figured by H. M. Scarth Aquce So/is London 1864 p. 47 pi. 13) deae | Suli Mi|nervae |
Sulinus I Matulri • fil | v-s-l-m. The name Su/inus, which recurs in Corp. inscr. Lat.
vii no. 37, is no doubt theophoric. Cp. the Welsh saints Sul (Tyssul), Suliau (Tyssilio),
Sulien (F. G. Holweck A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints St Louis, Mo. 1924
PP- 939. 994)-

(2) Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 39 (deeply incised on fragments of an architrave in
lettering of s. ii a.d.) C. Protaciufs Libo Ti. CJlaudius Ligur [sacer(dotes) restituto
cjolegio longa seria [annorum abolito aedem] | deae Sulis M[inerv]ae nimia vetustfate
conlapsam sua pec]unia refici et repingi cur[arunt idemque probarunt].

(3) Corp. inscr. Lat. vii no. 42 (on an altar figured by H. M. Scarth op. cit. p. 48
Pi- 14) deae Su|li Min(ervae) et nu|min(ibus) Aug(ustorum) C. | Curiatius | Saturninus I
7 (centurio) leg(ionis) II Aug(ustae) | pro se su]isque | v • s • 1 • m.

3 The fullest collection, though marred by a few misprints, is that of F. Heichelheim
'n Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iv a. 723 f.

4 Solin. 22. 10 circuitus Brittaniae quadragies octies septuaginta quinque milia sunt
(cp. Plin. nat. hist. 4. 102). in quo spatio magna et multa fiumina, fontes calidi opiparo
exculti apparatu ad usus mortalium: quibus fontibus praesul est Minervae numen
(E. Hiibner in Corp. inscr. Lat. vii. 24 notes that cod. Sangallensis reads praesule est
ar>d proposes to restore quibus fontibus praeest Sul(is) Minervae numen. Ingenious and
Possibly right), in cuius aede perpetui ignes numquam canescunt in favillas, sed, ubi
'gnis tabuit, vertit (vertitur codd. G. B. P2., Westerm., anon. Leid. Voss.) in globos
saxeos.

Galfridus Monmutensis (Geoffrey of Monmouth), writing between 1136 and 1139 a.d.,
works this passage of Solinus into his fabulous Historia regum Britanniae 2. 10 successit
deinde Bladud filius, tractavitque regnum viginti annis : hie aedificavit urbem Kaerbadum
quae nunc Badus nuncupatur, fecitque in ilia calida balnea ad usus mortalium apta.
quibus praefecit numen Minervae: in cujus aede inextinguibiles posuit ignes, qui
nunquam deficiebant in favillas, sed ex quo tabescere incipiebant, in saxeos globos
vertebantur.

H. M. Scarth op. cit. p. 3 (after T. D. Whitaker(?) in The Anti-Jacobin Review and
Magazine 1801 x. 232 f. 'loose coals fused into nodules') offers a simple explanation of
the concluding sentence in Solinus and Galfridus. The fire was not built of wood, which
turned to white ashes, but of coal, which burnt into cinders. He adds that coal ' is to the
Present day dug up at Newton St. Loe, three miles from Bath : a point which is the
■flore noteworthy, since if the interpretation be correct, it is the first mention of the use
°f coal in Britain.' To the same effect San-Marte (A. Schulz) in his edition of Geoffrey
(Halle 1854) P- 220 and R. G. Collingwood—J. N. L. Myres Roman Britain and
the English Settlements Oxford 1936 p. 232.

On the Celtic Minerva see also E. Windisch Das keltische Brittannien bis zu Kaiser
Arthur (Abh.d. siichs. Gesellsch. d. IViss. Phil.-hist. Classe 1912 xix. 6) Leipzig 1912
P- 9<5 f.
 
Annotationen