DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0110
IGO
the lion devouring the horse, and Hercules killing the centaur; that
is, the sun exhaling the waters. When destroying the serpent, he
only signifies a different application of the same power to the extinc-
tion of life ; whence he is called IIT6I0S,1 or the putrefier, from the
verb men. The title SMINOETZ too, supposing it to mean, ac-
cording to the generally received interpretation, mouse-killer, was
expressive of another application of the same attribute : for the
mouse was a priapic animal ;4 and is frequently employed as such in
monuments of ancient art.3 The statue, likewise, which Pausanias
mentions of Apollo with his foot upon the head of a bull, is an
emblem of similar meaning.4
12Q. The offensive weapons of this deity, which are the sym-
bols of the means by which he exerted his characteristic attribute,
are the bow and arrows, signifying the emission of his rays ; of
which the arrow or dart, the /3sAoj or o/3tAoj, was, as before ob-
served, the appropriate emblem. Hence he is called A&HTflP,
'EKATOS and" EKATHB0A02; and also, XPTSAflP and XPT-
2AOPOZ; which have a similar signification ; the first syllable ex-
pressing the golden colour of rays, and the others their erect
position : for «op does not signify merely a sword, as a certain
writer, upon the authority of common Latin versions and school
Lexicons, has supposed; but any thing that is held up; it being
the substantive of the verb a=ipco.
130. Hercules destroying the hydra, signifies exactly the same
as Apollo destroying the serpent and the lizard ;5 the water-snake
1 riu0ios airo toi> irvBeiv, id est a-nirmv. Macrob. Sat. i, c. xvii.
* iElian. Hist. Anim. lib. xii. c. 10.
3 It was the device upon the coins of Argos, (Jul. Poll. onom. ix. vi. 86.)
probably before the adoption of, the wolf, which is on most of those now
extant. A small one, however, in gold, with the mouse, is in the cabinet of
Mr. P. Knight.
4 Kai toroWoiv xa*-xovs yvfxvos ^(XBtjtos' -fcai erepw ttoSi cm Kpapiov /3e£?jKe
jBooj. Pausan. Achaic. c. xx. s. 2.
s Tip fifn 'SKup to" 'Hpct/cAea Juu6oAo7ouirii' tnipvutvov avjj.irepmoMii'. Plutarch, dc
Is. et Osir.
the lion devouring the horse, and Hercules killing the centaur; that
is, the sun exhaling the waters. When destroying the serpent, he
only signifies a different application of the same power to the extinc-
tion of life ; whence he is called IIT6I0S,1 or the putrefier, from the
verb men. The title SMINOETZ too, supposing it to mean, ac-
cording to the generally received interpretation, mouse-killer, was
expressive of another application of the same attribute : for the
mouse was a priapic animal ;4 and is frequently employed as such in
monuments of ancient art.3 The statue, likewise, which Pausanias
mentions of Apollo with his foot upon the head of a bull, is an
emblem of similar meaning.4
12Q. The offensive weapons of this deity, which are the sym-
bols of the means by which he exerted his characteristic attribute,
are the bow and arrows, signifying the emission of his rays ; of
which the arrow or dart, the /3sAoj or o/3tAoj, was, as before ob-
served, the appropriate emblem. Hence he is called A&HTflP,
'EKATOS and" EKATHB0A02; and also, XPTSAflP and XPT-
2AOPOZ; which have a similar signification ; the first syllable ex-
pressing the golden colour of rays, and the others their erect
position : for «op does not signify merely a sword, as a certain
writer, upon the authority of common Latin versions and school
Lexicons, has supposed; but any thing that is held up; it being
the substantive of the verb a=ipco.
130. Hercules destroying the hydra, signifies exactly the same
as Apollo destroying the serpent and the lizard ;5 the water-snake
1 riu0ios airo toi> irvBeiv, id est a-nirmv. Macrob. Sat. i, c. xvii.
* iElian. Hist. Anim. lib. xii. c. 10.
3 It was the device upon the coins of Argos, (Jul. Poll. onom. ix. vi. 86.)
probably before the adoption of, the wolf, which is on most of those now
extant. A small one, however, in gold, with the mouse, is in the cabinet of
Mr. P. Knight.
4 Kai toroWoiv xa*-xovs yvfxvos ^(XBtjtos' -fcai erepw ttoSi cm Kpapiov /3e£?jKe
jBooj. Pausan. Achaic. c. xx. s. 2.
s Tip fifn 'SKup to" 'Hpct/cAea Juu6oAo7ouirii' tnipvutvov avjj.irepmoMii'. Plutarch, dc
Is. et Osir.