Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

94
The Column of Mayence
exhibits the seasonal (?) series ^ from right to left with sundry slight
modifications— lupiter replacing luno as patron of the opening
year^, Mercurius being provided with a partner, possibly Maia (?)^,
1 luno ( = Fiija) as goddess of spring, Mercurius ( = Wodan) as god of summer,
Hercules ( = Donar) as god of autumn, Minerva ( = Holda) as goddess of winter. See
supra p. 58 ff.
^ lupiter heads the climatic series because he was ' the Author of Good Weather
[Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6 = 0relli— Henzen Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 56i5 = Dessau Inscr.
\
Val.
Lat. sel. no. 3060 a marble altar from Lescure (Ariege) inscribed /. 0. m.
bonarum \ Teiiipes\tatiui)i, \
audori
\
Justus between a patera carved to the left and a. guttus
to the right, cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. viii no. 26o9 = Orelli hiscr. Lat. sel. no. 1271 = Dessau.
Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 3061 an altar found near Lambaesis lovi 0. m. \
divinarum potenti,
\
\ leg. Ill Aug. \ dedicante \ Q. Fabio Catulliiw \
Tempestatitwi
\
leg. Aug. pr. pr.
together with a twin altar Co7p. inscr. Lat. viii no. 26to = Orelli loc. cit. = Dessau loc. cit.
Veiitis
Catullino \
I bonarum
\
leg.
Tenipes\tatinni
\
pctentibus
\
leg.
Ill Aug. \
dedicante
\
Q.
Fabio
Aug. pr. pr.). Similarly Zeus, the author of days and years {supra i. 16
n. 3, 187 n. 8), is associated with the Horai as powers of the 'year' (L. Meyer Handb.
d. gr. Etym. i. 653 f., Schrader Reallex. p. 395, Prellwitz Etym. Worterb. d. Or. Spr?
p. 523) throughout the whole of their long development (on which see J. H. Krause
Musen Grazien Horen und Nyniphen Halle 1871 pp. 109— 127, P. Herrmann De Horaruvi
apud veteres figuris Berlin 1887, Preller—Robert Gr. Myth. i. 477— 480, A. Rapp
in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 2712— 2741, J.
A. Hild in Daremberg— Saglio Diet. Ant. iii.
249— 256, Gruppe Gr. Myth._ Rel. pp. 382 n. i, 1063 n. 3, Jolles in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. viii. 2300—2313). Thus the Atos wpai of Homer {Od. 24. 344 with Eustath.
in Od. p. 1964, 28, cp. Pind. 01. 4. l ff. e\aTi]p vTripTare ppov\Tds aKafiavTOTrodos \
ZeC*
real yap '^Upai. k.t.X. with scholl. ad loc.) become in Hesiod and later writers the daughters
of Zeus by Themis (Hes. theog. 901 ff., cp. 0. d. 256; YmA. frag. 30 Schroeder = «ir/;-a
p. 37 n. I, cp. 01. 13. 6 ff. ; Orph. h. Hor. 43. iff.; Apollod. i. 3. i ; Hyg. fab. praef.
p. 12, 6 Schmidt s.ndfab. 183 ; Cornut. theol. 29 p. 57, 6 ff. Lang ; Rufin. recog7iit. 10. ai
Eudok. viol. 1019), or at least the daughters (Diod. 5. 72, Paus. 5. 11. 7) or attendants
of Zeus (Nonn. Dion. 8. 5, 8. 33, cp. 7. 106 f. ). Hence they figured as decorative details
on the throne of Zeus at Olympia (Paus. 5. 11. 7) and at Megara (Paus. i. 40. 4).
But, apart from the general connexion of lupiter with the Tempestates or Zeus with
the Horai, there seems to have been a special reason why this deity was chosen as the
representative of spring, viz. a May-festival of lupiter in the Gallo-Germanic area
(E. Maass in \h&Jahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1907 x. 108 fif. cites Eligius, bishop of Noyon
(640—648 A. D.), de rectitudine catholicae convcrsationis (xl. 11 72 Migne) NuUus diem
lovis absque Sanctis festivitatibus nee in Maio nee in ullo tempore in otio observet).
" Mercurius, clad in chlamys, winged petasos and sandals, holds a caduceiis in his left
hand and offers a purse with his right, while a cock—his frequent attribute—hovers above
it. His companion, in chitdn and himdtion, holds out towards him a winged petasos in
her left hand, a caduceus in her right. Beneath the latter is a stepped omphaloid stone,
round which a snake is coiled. K. Korber and A. von Domaszewski suppose that this
goddess is Rosmerta, the Gallic partner of Mercurius (on whom see the excellent article
by M. Ihm in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 209 225). E. Maass in ih.&/ahresh. d. oest. arch.
Inst. 1907 X. 87— 90 wants to call her Emporia as goddess of the local mart : but his
arguments are unconvincing. A. Oxe in the Mainzer Zeitschrift 1912 vii. 28 ff., followed
by E. Strong in the Rev. arch. 1913 ii. 324, makes her out to be Salus, the Romanized
Hygieia, whose presence was required by the pro sahite Neronis of the inscription {supra
p. 93 n. 6). J. Zingerle in t\\e fahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1907 x. 338 n. 29, M. Ihm in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 220 ff., S. Reinach in the Rev. arch. 1913 i. 25 revert to the
name Rosmerta. Reinach ib. 1913 ii. 333 f. further identifies Rosmerta with Maia as the
mother of Mercurius.