Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Dioskouroi as the halves of the Sky 433
' They bisected the sky theoretically into hemispheres, one above, the other
below, the earth, and called them Dioskoroi, adding a marvellous tale about
their life on alternate days'.'
Again, that acute doubter Sextus Empiricus (c. i8o A.D.), a propos
of men raised to the rank of gods, writes as follows
' Moreover, they say that the Tyndaridai usurped the reputation of the
Dioskouroi, who were thought to be gods. For in those days wise folk spoke of
the two hemispheres, the one above the earth and the other below it, as Dios-
kouroi. Wherefore also the poet, hinting at this, says of them :
One day they are alive, the next day dead
In alternation, honoured like to gods.
And men put piloi on their heads with stars atop, hinting at the arrangement of
the hemispheres"^.'
An anonymous Introduction to the PJiaenomena of Aratos (later
' than s. i A.D.) alludes briefly to the same Homeric allegory^' And
Julian attacks it in his oration on The Sovereign Sun (361 A.D.) :
'Who, think you, are the Dioskouroi, my wise friends, you that accept
tradition without criticism ?... Some have supposed that the theogonists meant
the two hemispheres of the universe. But this is absurd. For how each of the
hemispheres is " alternate of days " it is not easy to imagine, since the increase
of their light each day is imperceptible*.'
loannes the Lydian {c. 490 c. 570 A.D.) repeats the theory
'The philosophers declare that the Dioskoroi are the hemisphere below,
and the hemisphere above, the earth ; they take it in turns to die, according to
the myth, because turn and turn about they pass beneath our feet^'
' Philon de decalogo \i (iv. 258 Richter) rbv re ovpavov eis 7)fxi(T(palpiov ry Xoyiii hixfj
dMvdfJiavTes, t6 fxev virkp 7^5, to 5e inro 7^?, AioaKopovs eKoKiaavTO, nepi ttjs erepTjfi^pov
^wrjs avTwv TrpocTepaTevaa.fj.ivoL 5cr]yri/j.a.
^ Sext. adv. math. 9. 37
/cai tolis Tuz'SaptSas 5^ i^afft ry]v tQ)v AiocrKovpwv 56^av vireXdeiy
irakiv (an leg. waXai. ?) uo/mi^ofx^uuv eluai dewv ' to. yap 5vo rj/XLcrcpaipca, to t€ inrep yrjv /cat
TO iiwo yf)v, Ato(7KOvpovi oi (XO(f)oi tC}v TOTe a.vdpiJnrij}v iXeyov. 5i6 Kai 6 TrotT/r'^s tovto uIvltt-
6/xev6s iir' avTuiv '^dWoTe fiev fuioDa' eTepri/xepoi, &WoTe S' avTe \
Tedvaaiv
• Tifiijv
5^ \e\6yxacni> Icra Oeolcn" [Od. 11. 303 f.). iriXoDS r' iwLTidiacnv avTols Kai iirl tovtois
aoTipa^ aivLtTabfj-ivoL (aiviTTO/xevoi ?) ttjv tuiv i]ixL(T(pai.pl(i}v KaTaaKevrjv.
^ Anon, i tsag: in Arati phaen. praef. p. 89, 24 ff. Maass et 5^ ry ^i\ov koX Ta% wap'
'O/xripui dWriyopias ^feratrai, paSibv eaTLV Idelv Kai toO Tr6\ov Kai Trjv a'cSiov Kivrjaiv Kai to.
r)p.i.a(palpi.a Kai T-qv eis