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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,2): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits) — Cambridge, 1940

DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14699#0219

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Il59

Palmyrene god was properly called Bol, not Bel, the latter spelling being due to Baby-
lonian influence. The southern ddyton, with simple geometric and plant designs, was
possibly used for the lectislernium of the god. The roof of the northern ddyton is a square
monolith hollowed out to form a dome, which is decorated with hexagonal compartments
containing busts of the seven gods of the week—in the middle lupiter, round him Sol,
Mars, Luna, Venus, Saturnus, Mercurius—and ringed by the signs of the zodiac with
four eagles in the spandrels. Bel was clearly conceived as a cosmic power. The lintel
of the ddyton-Aoox (cp. supra ii. 431) showed a great eagle with spread wings seen against
a background of stars and flanked by laribol on the right and probably Aglibol on the
left. On a level with the eagle's claws is a long snake, symbol of the sun's course,
between six balls representing the other planets. Lastly, the space between the column^
and the naos-waXi was spanned by a series of vertical slabs supporting the roof of the
pttron and carved with reliefs illustrative of the cult. The reliefs have been studied by
H. A. Seyrig 'Bas-reliefs de la cella du temple de Bel' in Syria 1933 xiv. 253—260
fig. 2 lintel, fig. 5 dome, id. ' Bas-reliefs monumentaux du temple de Bel a Palmyre 7

a be
Fig. 906.

ii. 1934 xv. 155—186. One of them (ii. 1934 xv. 17S—181 fig. 2) renders laribol in
military dress, with rayed nimitis and sceptre, standing between Aglibol, likewise
in military dress but with crescent horns and spear, and a fully draped goddess with
sceptre (Beltis?)—a fairly close parallel to the relief from Emesa. Another (ii. 1934
xv- '73—I7& pi- 22) shows Aglibol joining hands with a second and ill-preserved god
over an altar set out with pine-cones, a pomegranate, and an apple, above which hovers
an eagle bearing a snake (?) in its beak and a palm-branch in its talons. The scene takes
place in a sanctuary marked by a cypress-tree etc. Fortunately a Palmyrene relief at Rome
with a bilingual inscription enables us to name the second god Malachbelos (W. Helbig
Fiihrer durch die dffcntlichcn Sa/nmlungen klassischer Altertiimer in Rom:t Leipzig 1912
i. 566 f. no. 988, Reinach Rip. Reliefs iii. 177 no. 5, Stuart Jones Cat. Sculpt. Pal. d.
Conserv. Rome p. 257 f. Scala v no. 3 pi. 100. Inscr. Gr. Sic. It. no. 971 Ay\tfiu\u
Kal MaXax/37?\w Trarpuois deoh j Kal rb alyvov dpyvpouv gov iravrl Kdf/xio ai>46T}K(e) | T.
Aup(ri\ias) 'H\i65wpos 'Avndxov 'ASpiavbs Xlakp.vp-qi>b5 4k tQi> ibiu>v virhp \ awrT]p'ias avrov
Kal r(iji) avp.{ilov Kal t(£j>) t(ww, Crows tfJAp' (547 Seleucid era = 235 A.D.) /n^os lleptriov)
—another solar power (W. Drexler in RoscherZ^. Myth. ii. 2293—2301, K. Preisendanz
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. xiv. 824—828).

ii. 818 f. Zeus Zielsotlrdos with snake. C. Picard in the Revue de I'histoire des
religions 1926 xciii. 77 n. 3 cp. a small unpublished bronze in the Musee Saint-Pierre
at Lyons, which portrays the god with a snake rolled round the arm that holds the
thunderbolt. But does this betoken his aigtsi

G. I. Katsarov in the Bulletin de Vlnstitut arche'ologiqtie iulgare 1934 viii. 44—68
lists new dedications to deities, e.g. 'rough statues of...Zeus Zbelthiurdos, Kybele,
Mithras, Dionysus, etc' (D. M. Robinson in the Am.Journ. Arch. 1936 xl. 140).
 
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