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)

Zeus and the Hail

881

chitdn and himdtion, standing with a phidle in his right hand, a
long sceptre in his left. Beside him is his eagle. Beyond it, a small
altar decorated with a bull sinking on its knees and held by a
young attendant. A draped worshipper approaches the altar from
the left. The background is occupied by a sacred tree, presumably
an oak. On the architrave above the pilasters is inscribed:

Zeus Chaldzios Sdzon.
In the time of Dionysios—

Then below the relief the inscription runs on :

the Thrakiokometai consecrated this stele to the god
to secure good crops and the safety of their fruits
and the health and preservation of the land-lessees and
those who repair to the god and reside in

Thrakia Kome.
Meidias, son of Straton, as first mayor handed over the stele
to the god and to the villagers at his own charges

as a free-will offering.

It will be noticed that, in the matter of hail, Greek religion like
Greek magic was throughout concerned to avoid damage, not to
cause it1. Things were otherwise with the vindictive witchcraft of
the middle ages (fig. 717)2.

§ 10. Zeus and the Meteorites.

(a) The cult of meteorites.

It remains to mention what is in some respects the most
amazing and terrifying of all celestial phenomena—the fall of
meteorites3. Scientifically speaking, we must of course group these

*e Bull. Corr. Hell. 1908 xxxii. 524, Mendel Cat. Sculpt. Constantinople iii. 41 f. no. 837
%■ ( = my fig. 7 [6): Zei>5 XaXdfios 2cifw[>]- I 'Efl Aiof[v<rl]ov ;| QpaKioKunyrai t$ 0ey
aT-r/KKyv Ka0ij<?pwcra>' {,vkp emapTrtas Kal dpXafiLas tuv KapTrwv | Kal virep iyelas Kal
"^TVpias rS>v yeoKTeiTwv Kal | twv crwepxoM^w ivi to>> debv Kal KaroiKoivruv \ Qpadav
KjfyMji,. J MeiSias Srpctraros t£ 6e<£ Kal rot[s Kajfifrais | SwiK-qaas vpuros tw o-tt^Xtjx <tk
Tuv 'S<ui> tTrav\yet\a/j.epos aTVOKaTlaT-qaev.

1 In this respect the Rhodian Telchines (supra p. 296 n. 6) were exceptional.

2 See V. Stegemann in the Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens Berlin—
^eiP2ig 1930/1931 iii. 1305—1311. My fig. 717 is reduced (f) from Ulricus Molitor
9* laniis et phitonicis mulieribus [Strassburg c. 1488—1493], where it is prefixed to
CaP- 3- Apparently the witch and two of her followers are travelling through the air,
tr;>nsformed into animals and mounted on a forked stick, while a hailstorm breaks from
a dMk cloud to injure the trees.

. 3 The facts with regard to meteorites are well set out and illustrated by O. C. Far-
r"lgton Meteorites Chicago 1915 pp. 1—233 with 65 figs- There is also a series of
'o cards in monochrome (set D 1) issued by the British Museum (Natural History) to
1 ustrate its collection at South Kensington.

The folklore of the subject is touched upon by H. A. Miers 'The Fall of Meteorites
C in. 56