Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Zan an older Zeus 347
Again, if the death of Zan the Great was, like that of Tammuz,
the subject of a yearly lamentation, we cannot but recall Plutarch's
account^ of the voice which bade the pilot Thamous bear the
mysterious tidings
' Pan the Great is dead 2.'
Are we to conclude that this singular tale was ultimately based on
the ritual of Zan ? The locality of the alleged
occurrence is worth considering. The unknown
voice came from the direction of
Paxoi, a couple of small islands, now called
Paxo and Antipaxo, off the mouth of the
Thesprotian river Acheron, which flows
through the Acherusian Lake to the sea.
Thamous was to make his announcement
geschichte vielmehr yon eiiiem anderen, von Timachidas
nicht gekannten oder beiseite gelassenen lokalhistoriker
Oder mythographen erziihlt.' The theme is embroidered
in D. G. Rossetti's Troy Town) and sometimes certain
(Apul. met. II. 10 idem gerebat et aureum vasculum in
modum papillae rutundatum de quo lacte libabat, with
W. Drexler's remarks in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 502 f.
Fig. 240 is a breast-shaped situla of bronze from Egypt,
now in my possession, which may serve to illustrate the
Isiac milk-bowl. On St Agatha of Catania as successor of
the Bona Dea see J. E. Wessely Ikoiographie Gottes iind
der Heiligen Leipzig 1874 p. 54 f, H. Ploss—M. Bartels
op. cit.^'^ i. 37-2 f.). I am therefore disposed to conclude
that drinking from the cymbal was regarded as tantamount
to drinking from the breast of the goddess—a ritual
act which made the mystic her very child (cp. Class. Rev.
1906 XX. 416 f. fig. 4). A gozX-rhytihi {supra i. 108) is substituted for the cymbal on
an engraved cornelian at Florence, which represents a Bacchant milking her own breast
into the vessel (A. F. Gori Museum Florcntintitii Gemmae
antiquae ex thesauro Mediceo et privatorum dactylio-
thecis Florentiae exhibitae tab. CC Florentiae 1731 i. 160
pi. 84 no. io = my fig. 241, Reinach /VVrrt'i' Gravees p. 43,
no. 84, 10 pi. 40, R. E. Raspe Catalogue raisonne dhtite
collection generate de pierrcs gravees antiques et viodernes
niotdees en pdtes de couknrs...par J. Tassie London 1791
no. 4695. The stone measures 16 x 12mm- and is not de-
monstrably postclassical. Gori took the subject to be
'vel Ino, vel Autonoe, vel Agave, vel Hippa' as nurse of
Bakchos [supra i. 395
n. 3 : the name should be Hipta,
according to O. Kern in Hermes 1914 xlix. 480)
identification is quite arbitrary).
; but the
^ Plout. de def. or. 17 cited by Euseb. praep. ev. 5.
17. 4ff-
- Plout. de def. or. 17 Ilai' (6 iro-v cod. Ambr.) 6 txiya.%
Ti6vr]K€ and later 6 ixiyas Yla.v TedvTjKev, Euseb. praep. ev. 5. 17. 6 nkv 6 ixiyas T^GvrjKev,
5. 17. 8 ndi' 6 fifyai r^dvrjKev.
Fig. 24O.
Fig. 241.