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)

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Addenda

Agrigento. Topografia ed arte Firenze 1929 pp. 1—238 with 162 figs, (especially pp. 57—
66 figs. 29—36)—an important work, of which T. Ashby in The Times Literary Supple-
ment for May 15, 1930 p. 413 says: 'the excavations conducted some years ago in the
vast temple of the Olympian Zeus..., which proved that the telamones faced outwards
(and not inwards, as Pace and Pierce had believed), are for the first time adequately
described.' P. Marconi 'Novita nell' Olimpieion di Agrigento' in Dedalo 1932 pp. 165—
'73 gives 5 figs, of these telambnes and a reconstruction. Lastly, W. B. Dinsmoor read a
paper, as yet unpublished, on 1 The Giants of Agrigento' at the General Meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of America, New York 1935 (Am. Journ. Arch. 1936 xl. 126).

ii. 918 n. 1 Zeus Mllios. See the succinct article by gr. Kruse in Pauly—Wissowa
Keal-Enc. xv. 524. C. Bosch of Halle a. S. in the Numismatisches Literalur-Blatt 1932
xlix. 2575 f. reviews Kruse's article and tries to discredit this appellative : ' Vaillant und
Piovene sind Mionnets Gewahrsmanner !...Das Zeugnis aber ist ganz wertlos, denn die
Miinzen sind bis heute nicht belegt.' Bosch wants to jettison all the early coin-men,
Cohen included. That strikes me as hypersceptical.

ii. 918 Mount Kynthos. Three years after the publication of my note the final and
authoritative report of A. Plassart Les sanctuaires et les cultes du Mont Cynthe Paris
1928 pp. 1—319 with 260 figs, and 6 pis. was issued in Dtflos xi. The sections that
chiefly concern me are pp. 51—69 ('Sommet du Cynthe. Le culte de Zeus et d'Athena
aux temps archai'ques'), 71—92 ('Sommet du Cynthe. Le sanctuaire de Zeus et d'Athena
au temps de l'independance Delienne (314—166)'), 93—144 ('Sommet du Cynthe. Le
sanctuaire de Zeus et d'Athena sous la seconde domination Athenienne'), 228—255
('Sanctuaire de l'antre'). Plassart has here and there corrected my statements: e.g. on
p. 66 n. 2 he regards as arbitrary my assumption that in 'Minoan' times the top of
Mt Kynthos was tenanted by the earth-mother (Rhea) as well as by the sky-father
(Kronos), and on p. 252 n. 4 he refutes my attempt to find traces in Delos of Rhea's
lions. Again, he has succeeded in proving what—in spite of having visited the spot—
I had never suspected, viz. that the supposed prehistoric cave-temple was in reality only
a pseudo-antiquity, an artificial grotto put together in Ptolemaic times for Herakles as
ancestor of the Ptolemies !

O. Rubensohn in the Jahrb. d. Deutsch. Arch. Inst. 1931 xlvi Arch. Anz. p. 360 ft.
adds some points of interest. In pp. 361—367 ('Zur Vorgeschichte des Delischen Kultes')
he notes the small prehistoric settlement underneath the sanctuary of Zeus and Athena on
the mountain-top as being of early Cycladic date and as probably postulating a cult akin
to that of the Cretan Zeus; he connects with the same settlement two large Cycladic
graves in the temenos of Apollon—the 9r\Kt) of Opis and Arge (De'los v. 63—74 (' Le
"Tombeau mycenien'")) and the arjfia of Hyperoche and Laodike (C. Picard—J. Replat
in the Bull. Corr. Hell. 1924 xlviii. 247 ft.); and he finds a survival of early Helladic
worship in the altar of horns and its archaic ritual (supra i. 482 n. 1, iii. 1087). In
pp. 367—370 ('Zeus Kynthios und Athena Kynthia') he distinguishes an archaic period
when the square precinct had only a rock-cut altar in the midst; a third-century recon-
struction with stairways, propylon, peribolos, and two Ionic oikoi; and a later lay-out
of three small terraces on the east side, of which the most southerly had an oblong
building and a mosaic inscription (supra ii. 919 with fig. 829) of doubtful significance,
possibly the banquet-hall and lustral centre of some mystic society. In pp. 375—379
('Das Ilohlenheiligtum am Kynthos') he accepts Plassart's dating of the bogus cave, but
questions his interpretation of it as a Herakleion. Herakles in Delos was associated with
tlie Kabeiroi (P. Roussel Delos Colonic athenienne Paris 1916 p. 232 f.), who had there
two distinct sanctuaries, one on the left bank of the Inopos, the other described as to
Ka/3eip[e]ioj' rb e[Z]s VLvvBov (Inscr. Gr. Deli ii no. 144, A 90) and probably to be identified
with the famous cave-temple.

Plassart in De'los xi. 265 records two inscriptions to Zeus Migistos [e.g. 'HAioowpos Aii |
yieyio-Ttf) [ Kara irpbaTayixa on a block of white marble found with some Roman lamps in
the south-west portion of sanctuary c on the northern slope of Mt Kynthos) and justly
treats him as a Semitic god.

ii. 922 Mount Atabyrion. R. Herbig in the Jahrb. d. Deutsch. Arch. Inst. 1928 xliii
Arch. Anz. p. 633 f. mentions as a new undertaking the excavation of the sanctuary
of Zeus Atabyrios. No remains of a temple were found, but a massive peribolos-wal\
(fig. 26) and a building of uncertain use ('Halle fiir Votive? Monumentaleingang?').
Many dedications of Graeco-Roman date, all to Zeus Atabyrios, made monotonous
reading. Votive objects included numerous small bulls and zebus in bronze and two
fine fragments of bronze statuettes representing the god (fig. 27).

O. Eissfeldt ' Der Gott des Tabor und seine Verbreitung' in the Archiv f. Rel. 1934
xxxi. 14—41 claims that the name and cult of the Palestinian Tabor spread via Crete to