Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Zeus Amdrios i 5
But, confining our attention to the Greek area, we may further
illustrate the same change.
Macrobius states that 'the Cretans call the day Zeus v—a
startling, but by no means incredible, assertion. Unfortunately
he does not go on to tell us whether this usage was restricted to
any particular tribe or town in Crete. That island was a meeting-
place of the nations. Already in Homeric times its population in-
8
cluded Achaeans,Eteo-Cretans,Cydonians, Dorians and Pelasgians ;
and to choose between these, and perhaps others, is a precarious
undertaking. Nevertheless the dialect of Crete as a whole throughout
the classical period was undoubtedly Doric, and we are therefore
free to contend that in some variety of Cretan Doric the word Zeus
had retained its primitive meaning.
This contention gains in probability from Prof. R. C. Bosanquet's
discovery at Palaikastro in eastern Crete of a late Doric hymn to
Zeus Diktaios*. The hymn appears to have been written down
about the year 200 A.D. ; but its wording is perhaps five centuries
older 4 and its refrain , preserves what I venture to regard as a
survival of the original conception of Zeus:—
Hail, greatest Lad of Kronos' line 5 ,
Almighty Brilliance, who art here
Leading thy followers divine :
To Dikte come for the new year
And dance with joy this dance of mine 6 .
W. M. Lindsay The Latin Language Oxford 1894 p. 389, Walde Lot. etym. Wbrterb.
P- if 3*
1 Macrob. Sat. 1. 15. 14 Cretenses Ala tt)v rnxtpav vocant.
2 Od. 19. 175 ff.
3 Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1908 — 1909 xv. 339 ff.
4 G. Murray, ib. xv. 364 f.
5 With Kovpe...Kp6vie cp. Aisch. P. v. 577 f. w Kpbvie \
wal'Pias. For Kovpos = irais see Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. iv. 1895 A.
6 lw, I pAyiare
Kovpe, x a