Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Delphic Omphalos 177
Thus far Monsieur Courby, whose modest but convincing announcement
will rank among the most brilliant archaeological dis-
coveries of our time. For the speculations that follow he is not
responsible. But it seems to me that his momentous find goes a
long way towards establishing my hypothesis of a Delphic omphalos-
and-pillar. The slender wooden post implied by the square hole
in the ouiphalos was— if I am right—none other than the '
lofty
pillar' of Apollon, to which ' ' tithe and trophy were attached in his
earliest cult, the cult established by the Hyperboreans Pagasos and
Agyieus^ As the veritable earth-centre it furnished the starting-point
of later arithmology. In the mystic language of the Pythagoreans^,
the second vowel E with the second planetary body, the sun ; id. id. 5 writes E as et,
'if,' 'if only,' a word that might introduce a question or a prayer addressed to the god;
id. ib. 6 treats E or et as a symbol of dialectic
id. ib. 7— 16 gives a Pythagorean disquisition
on E, that is Trecre, as the numerical base result-
ing from the union of the first even bdo with the
first odd Tpla ; id. ib. 17—21 concludes that E is
for el, ' thou art,' as a metaphysical invocation of
the deity. Years ago I ventured the suggestion
(W. H. D. Rouse Gmk Motive Offerings Cam-
bridge 1902 p. 354 n. II, Folk-Love 1903 xiv.
287 f.) that the E was a sacred relic, in fact the head of Poseidon's trident kept in the
sanctuary, where he had an altar (Paus. 10. 24. 4) and probably a chapel (see H. Pomtow
in Philoiogus 1912 Ixxi. 45 ff. ), much as the trident of Neptune is kept affixed to the wall of
the ancient church of S. Vigil in Tridentum, the modern Trento, Trent (L. Schmitz in
Smith Diet. Geogr. ii. 1230) ; and it will be admitted that the trident-head, which symbolises
Poseidon on coins of Corinth, Leukas, Mantineia, Troizen, etc., is of the requisite shape
indeed Agathon Telephos frag. 4 Nauck'^ ap. Athen. 454 d describes the letter E as rpib^ovs
irXdyios, 'a trident laid crosswise.' My friend Mr A. H. Smith once told me that in his
opinion the mystic E might possibly be explained by the resemblance that it bears to
the m-shaped window or smoke-hole over the door of hut-urns from Etraria etc. {Fot/i-
Lore 1903 xiv. 288). Miss J. E. Harrison {ib. 1904 xv. 416 n. 271) has acutely compared
the Delphic E with the trinity of pillars represented e.g. on Phoenician reliefs from
Sardinia (G. Patroni in the Mon. d. Line. 1904 xiv. 230 f. pi. 21, 2a and pi. 25, 2) and
suggested 'that the E was originally three betyl stones or pillars placed on a basis and
representing the three Charites' (J. E. Harrison in the Comptes rendus du Congres Inter-
national d" Are/u'ologie lere Session, Athenes 1905 pp. 194—196, citing Paus. 9. 38. i,
Plout. de mils. 14 (quoted infra %i (a) iii (x)), schol. Pind. 01. 14. 16 Trapi ry 'A7r6X-
Xojft 07/(7-£ Kadi'^icdat ras Xd/Jiras Sio. Ty]v irpos avTov OLKeiSTTjra. ev yovv AeX^oFs inl rrji
Sepias €iaiv iSpv/u-evai rod 'AirdWwvos). R. Eisler Welteninantel tmd Himmelszcll MUnchen
1910 ii. 489 n. 4 draws attention to a passage in the de6\oyo6ixiva ttjs apL6f/.r)TLK7Js {t/ieotog.
aritJun. 32 p. 30 f. Ast roi/ry Stj t!^ rpoirq} r^s 8LKai.0(Tvvi]s t