Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

178
The Delphic Omphalos
who are known to have been deeply interested in Delphoi\
the ' axle,' the ' tower of Zan,' and ' Apollon ' were all synonymous
descriptions of the nionad^; and an Orphic fragment uses 'Agyieus'
with the same signification^ Further, Apollon's 'lofty pillar' was
flanked by his ' pure
doorposts*.' That is to say, we have once
more*^ the association of the sacred tree or pillar with a doorway,
which we have already taken to denote the sky resting on its side-
supports^. If this be so, we are at last in a position to solve the old
problem of the Delphic m. It was simply a graphic expression for
the sky upborne by its central and lateral pillars'.
The likeness of the Delphic Agyieus, thus reconstituted, to the
Germanic Iruiinsul is sufficiently striking. It becomes even more
so, when we note that the Irminsicl described by Widukind* was
erected at the gateway of the town with a pillar on either side of it
^ Iambi. V. Pyth. 82 rl iffri to iv Ae'Kipots fxavrelov ; TerpaKTijs ' birep iffriv 7) apfxovia,
ev 7) ai HeipTJiifs (H. Diels Die Fragniente der Vorsokratiker'^ Berlin 1912 i. 358 n.
explains that the Sirens produced the music of the spheres, and A. Delatte op. cit.
p. 259
ff. adds that this harmony was the supreme revelation vouchsafed to men by Pytha-
goras as Apollon incarnate : see, however, supra i. 258 ff.), cp. Nikomachos of Gerasa
(? = Iambi, avvaywyr) twv Tivdayopeicov Soyfidruv 7: G. Mau in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. ix. 647, W. Kroll //;. ix. 650) ap. Phot. bibl. p. 144 a 16 Bekker who speaks of the
TeTpds as apfiovlra {sir) rj app-ovia. Again, the Pythagoreans had their own name for the
tripod (Hesych. rploxj/' 6 virb twv TlvdayopiKutv ev A€\