Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

34^
Zan an older Zeus
But why must he drink from a cymbal? Nonnos states that Mystis, the Sidonian
Bacchant, who instructed Dionysos and devised the Dionysiac equipment, fastened bronze
bowls to her naked breasts (Nonn. Dion. 9. 125 f. koI (pidXas (Count de Marcellus cj.
(/mWovs sic) yv/nvo'icriv iirl (H. Koechly cj. yvfivoiaL irepl) crripvoKn KaOa^aL |
xaX/cetas
(Count de Marcellus cj. xaX/ce^ovs) ivdr/cre), and that, when the god first came to Athens,
the women there put bowls over their mailed breasts (Nonn. Dion. 47. gf. (pidXas (Count
de Marcellus cj. (pdWovs sic) 8i (nS-qpocftbpuv dia fia^Qv |
CTrjOecn fjLvv
{/rag. 189 {Frag. hisl. Gr. i. 463 Miiller)) Ila^/oiis to iroT-qpiov KoKelv KVfi§a {Kvfx^av
cod. C.)). Its usage spread from the Levant to Greece, for a cup called /xa(rT6s is, not
only mentioned by grammarians (Poll. 6. 95 /xacrTovs, Hesych. s.v. /xaaTds' iroTrjpiov), but
also recorded among articles of silver in the temple-inventories of Delos (T. HomoUe in
the Bui/. Corr. Hell. 1882 vi. i ff. no. 15 C 44 f. = Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr? no. 588,
44 f. fxacTTbi iir^ a.p\xovTo^ HXTjcrifi^vov ( = 216 B.C.), Upd^ovTos tov 'A-UkXtittiov HioTeXov,
93
fxacTol Al) and Oropos (B. I. Leonardos in the 'E(^. 'Apx- 1889 ?• 2 ff. no. 26, 11
Maoris Upbs HE ciXXos iepos oBS SXXos iepbs oA, and in lines 13, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29,
30 bis, 31, 32, 33, 45, 52, 56, 57, 62, 65, 66, 68 bis, 70, 72, cp. 14 p.aaaaTiov {sic)
iepov \^\~ dXXo iepbv ALS aXXo lepov \\S, 15
p-aaTiov 'ApurT0KpiT7]s KHS, 21 /xacTTiov
diro Twv irepLfffx-qixdTwv AH, ^6 /nacTTla B dno tGiv i{w)avdiTuv dyovTa dvd I
B. Keil ' Ein Silberinventar des Amphiaraos von Oropos '
•
I See
further
in Hermes 1890 xxv. 598—623).
Sundry specimens in lerra colla have come down to us {e.g. {a) A. P. di Cesnola Salarninia
London 1882 p. 251 f. pi. 19, 11, Ohnefalsch-Richter Kypros p. 455
pi. 150, 20, Brit.
Mtis. Cat. Vases i. 2. 155 no. C 801 pi. 4: {b) Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases ii. 209 f. nos.
B 375—B 377, E. Pettier in Daremberg— Saglio Did. Ant. iii. 1625 fig. 4856 a black-
figured tnaslos in room E of the Louvre : {c) Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases iii. 392 f. nos. D 9
and D 10 a pair of mastoi by Sotades(?)), which appear to have been evolved from
a feeding-bottle in the shape of the mother's breast. No doubt the Greeks, like other
peoples (H. Ploss—M. Bartels Das IVeib'-'' Leipzig 1913 i. 376 fig. 252), struck by the
similarity of breast and bowl, made such vases for purely secular purposes. But religious
significance is sometimes probable (Plin. ttat. hist. 33. 81 Minervae templum habet Lindos
insulae Rhodiorum, in quo Helena sacravit calicem ex electro ; adicit historia, mammae
suae mensura. C. Blinkenberg Die lindische Tempelchronik Bonn 1915 p. 15 comments :
' Die art dieses geschenkes ist durch die auf die kleine Ilias (Schol. Aristoph. Lysistr. 155,
vgl. Ed. PR. [ = C. Blinkenberg 'La chronique du temple lindien ' in the Bulletin de
Pacadc'inie royale des sciences el des lettres de Danemark 1912 n°^ 5—6] S. 119) zuriick-
gehende erzahlung von der rettung Helenas bestimmt. Die notiz des Plinius stammt aus
der reisebeschreibung des C. Licinius Mucianus, der um 60 n. Chr. den Orient bereist
und auch Lindos besucht hatte (s. Ed. pr. s. 118 und 124 ff.) und von den besuchten
ortlichkeiten allerlei kuriositiiten berichtete. Wolters meint (Siiddeutsche Monatshefte
1913), die stiftung des bechers sei erst nach der zeit unserer chronik erfunden ; da aber
Mucianus sich ausdriicklich auf eine literarische quelle beruft (" adicit historia"), war die