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Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

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lupiter-Coiumns 63<br />

with his club is Donar as the stormy god of autumn'; and that<br />

consequence the Heerstrasse, Helweg, Wageiipat, etc. [id. ib. p. 241, cp. p. 238), it<br />

becomes probable that Platon's myth of the soul-procession follow<strong>in</strong>g the chariot of <strong>Zeus</strong><br />

along the Milky Way [supra p. 43<br />

f.) presupposes a popular belief ak<strong>in</strong> to that of the<br />

Furious Host. If so, the earliest allusion to das zviitende Heer is not after all the feralis<br />

exercitus of Tac. Germ. 43, but the arpaTLa deCcv re Kai SaL/xbvwv of Plat. Phaedr. 246 E.<br />

See further K. Dilthey ' Die Artemis des Apelles unci die wilde Jagd ' <strong>in</strong> the Rhe<strong>in</strong>. Mus.<br />

1870 XXV. 321<br />

fif. , P. Sartori 'Das wilde Heer' <strong>in</strong> the Zeitschrift des Vei'c<strong>in</strong>s fiir Volki-<br />

ki<strong>in</strong>de 1894 iv. 289— 292, L. Weniger 'Feralis exercitus' <strong>in</strong> the Archiv f. Rel. 1906 ix.<br />

201 — 247 ('Das schwarze Heer der Harier'), 1907 x. 61—81 and 229— 256 ('Das weisse<br />

Heer der Phoker ') with L. R. Farnell <strong>in</strong> The Year's Work <strong>in</strong> Class. Stud. 1907 p. 63.<br />

On the common equation of Wodan with Mercurius see J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology<br />

trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882 i. 119 ff., E. H. Meyer Gernianische Mythologic<br />

Berl<strong>in</strong> 1891 p. 229 f., W. Golther Handhuch der germanischen Mythologie Leipzig 1895<br />

p. 295 n. 2, K. ^IvXi^x^o^ Deutsche Altertuiiiskuude Berl<strong>in</strong> 1900 iv. 212 f., P. D. Chantepie<br />

de la Saussaye The Religion of the Teutons Boston and London 1902 pp. 103, 221 f.,<br />

E. Mogk <strong>in</strong> the Grundriss der germanischen Philologie'^ Herausgegeben von H. Paul<br />

Strassburg 1900 iii. 331, R. M. Meyer Altgernianische Religionsgeschichte Leipzig 1910<br />

p. 226, K. Helm Altgcrmanische Religionsgeschichte Heidelberg 19 13 i. 259, 356 ff.<br />

' The Germanic god *pmiaraz bore a name derived from the Indo-Europaean root<br />

*{s)ten-, 'to growl, to roar' (Walde Lat. etym. IVorterb. p. 630 f. s.v. 'tono'), which<br />

occurs <strong>in</strong> Norse as porr (for *ponraz), on the Xzxq^^x fibula from Nordendorf <strong>in</strong> Bavaria<br />

as ponar (R. Henn<strong>in</strong>g Die deutschen Rimendetiktmiler Strassburg 1889 p. 102, G. Stephens<br />

The Old-Norther7i Runic Monuments of Scand<strong>in</strong>avia and England ed. S. O. M. Soderberg<br />

London 1901 iv. 9), <strong>in</strong> a Saxon baptismal vow as Thuner (K. Miillenhoff—W. Scherer<br />

Denkmiiler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem viii— xiiJahrhundert^ Berl<strong>in</strong> 1892 i. 198,<br />

ii. 316 ff. no. Ll), <strong>in</strong> Old English as Thunor (cp.<br />

J. M. Kemble The Saxons <strong>in</strong> England'^<br />

London 1876 i. 346 ff. ), and <strong>in</strong> Germanic designations for the fifth day of the week (Old<br />

High German Donarestac, Old Frisian Thunresdey, Anglo-Saxon Thunresdaeg, Norse<br />

porsdagr). These names, as J. Grimm long ago po<strong>in</strong>ted out (J. Grimm ' Uber die Namen<br />

des Donners' <strong>in</strong> his Kle<strong>in</strong>ere Schriftsn Berl<strong>in</strong> 1865 ii. 410 fif. and <strong>in</strong> his Teutonic<br />

Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882 i. 166), stand <strong>in</strong> obvious relation to the<br />

Germanic words for 'thunder' (Old High German donar. Middle High German doner,<br />

Anglo-.Saxon punor). S<strong>in</strong>ce, however, the name of a natural phenomenon raised to the<br />

rank of a personal deity tends to drop out of common parlance (H. Usener Gotternamen<br />

Bonn 1896 p. 316 f.), it has been conjectured that the liv<strong>in</strong>g words Donner, thunder, etc.<br />

have come from the name of the god, not vice versa (K. Helm Altgermanische Religions-<br />

geschichte Heidelberg 1913 i. 275 n. 86). In any case Donar was essentiallya thunder-god.<br />

Not impossibly he, like Wodan [supra p. 62 n. 1), was a by-form differentiated from<br />

the early Germanic sky-god Ziu (so E. Mogk <strong>in</strong> the Grundriss der germanischen Philologie'^<br />

Herausgegeben von H. Paul Strassburg 1900 iii. 354).<br />

In common with many another storm-god Donar was also a fertilis<strong>in</strong>g power (E. Mogk<br />

<strong>in</strong> Hoops Reallex. i. 481, K. Helm Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte Heidelberg 1913<br />

i. 278 f.): cp. Thor, who fructifies the bride (E. H. Meyer Germanische Mythologie<br />

Berl<strong>in</strong> 1891 p. 212 f., W. Golther Handbuch der germanischen Mythologie Leipzig 1895<br />

p. 251 f.), br<strong>in</strong>gs to life aga<strong>in</strong> his team of goats that have been cooked <strong>in</strong> a cauldron<br />

(W. Golther ib. p. 276), etc. Such a div<strong>in</strong>ity, storm-god and fertility -god <strong>in</strong> one, might<br />

well serve as the Germanic representative of autunui.<br />

As regards the <strong>in</strong>terpretatio Romania, Donar was at first perhaps equated with Volcanus<br />

(Caes. de bell. Gall. 6. 21, cp. H. Rueckert Cullurgeschichte des deutschen Volkes <strong>in</strong> der<br />

Zeit des Uebergatigs aus dem Heidenthum <strong>in</strong> das Christe^ithum Leipzig 1853<br />

with Hercules (Tac. Germ. 3, 9, 34 (?), ann. 2. 12, cp. E. H. Meyer Germanische<br />

i. 126), then<br />

Mythologie Berl<strong>in</strong> 1891 pp. 202, 211, P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye The Religion of the<br />

Teutons Boston and London 1902 ])p. 103 ff., 235, 239 n. 3, E. Mogk <strong>in</strong> the Grundriss

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