Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

488 Apollon and Artemis
Pelop. i no. 950 C, 2"] fif.) derives it from an eponymous hero MaXos, of whom he {ib.
no. 950 E, 40 ff.) gives the following siemma :
Zeus
I
Malos = Erato
I
Kleophema = Phlegyas
1
Aigla (Koronis) = Apollon
I
Asklapios
Isyllos twice {ib. no. 950 C, 27 and 31) ends a hexameter with the appellative MaXeara.
It is natural to suppose that he scanned it M-oXedra. But, in view of his derivation from
MaXoj, it is at least possible that he scanned by synizesis MdXeara. Accordingly Rendel
Harris, like H. Usener Gotternamen Bonn 1896 p. 146 f. and S. Eitrem Die gottlichen
Zwillinge bei den Griechen {Videnskabssclskabets Skrifter. II. Historisk-filos. Klasse 1902
No. 3) Christiania 1902 pp. icon. 3, 116, would derive MaXedroj from yuaXe'a, 'apple-tree,'
cp. Dionysos Si/Kfdrijs (Hesych. s.v.) from avK^a. To me it seems more probable that
MdXedTijj is the ethnic from MaX^a or MaX^ai (cp. Inscr. Gr. Arc. Lac. Mess, i no. 929
(Prasiai) M.aX(LdTa. \ MaX^ais and no. 15 19 (Tyros) 'A7r6Xovos ip. [MaX^ats] on a small
bronze lion), the well-known promontory of S.E. Lakonike, whence also Zeus MaXeiaios
(Steph. Byz. s.v. MaX^a).
(2) The cult of Apollon MaXoeij in Lesbos (Thouk. 3. 3 a festival of Apollon MaXofts
outside Mytilene, Inscr. Gr. ins. ii no. 484, 18 ff. (Hiera) ra.% \
\uvos I
re
'Apr^^tSos Kal 'Air6X-
M.a\(6e)i>Tos apx^xop^^ '^"^ U\poKdpvKa twv ytpiujv f[a][/f6/3u)i' ZacixT/pos 'Ao-k-XijttiIw
= 0. Hoffmann Die Grieckiscken Dialekte Gottingen 1893 ii. ii9f. no. 168, 18 ff., who
reads ii\poKd.p\iKa. rOiv (i)ep^uiv after F. Bechtel in Collitz— Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. i. 98
no. 255, 18 ff., cp. A. Conze Reise auf der Insel Lesbos Hannover 1865 p. 53 f. pi. 17, i,
Kallim. frag. 543 Schneider ap. Choirobosk. in Theodos. can. masc. 3 (i. 152, 13 ff.
Hilgard) roiovrov yap iari /cat TrUpd KaWi/xaxv " 5e iiidwv MaXoes ^X^e xo/)6j," aurl rod
MaX6eis" MaX6ets 5^ fcrriv 6 A^cr/3ios= Bekker anecd. iii. 1187 fin., Herodian. Trepi iraOwv
frag. 326 (ii. 278, 4 f. Lentz) and Trepi dvotidruv, irepi tQv et's els (ii. 619, 6 ff. Lentz)).
The divine title (Hesych. s.v. MaX[X]6eis " 'AttoXXwi/os iirLOerov, ^ iirwvvtJ.ov) was identical
with a Lesbian place-name (Steph. Byz. s.v. Ma\[\]6eis " 'A.7r6XXa)f ev A^cr/Sy. Kal 6 rbvoi
Tou lepou MaX[X]6ets, d7r6 tov MtjXou (leg. fMr}\ov) ttjs Mavrods, ujs 'EWdviKos ev Aecr^iKuiv
wpwTijj {frag. 117 {Frag. hisi. Gr. i. 60)), Inscr. Gr. ins. ii no. 74, 5 iv MaX6e»'rt fxopov
= 0. Hoffmann op. cit. ii. 66 f. no. 90, 5, Aristot. vent. sit. et appell. 973 a 10 f. hoyXfl
Si (sc. KaiKias) tov MirvXTjvaiwv \L/j.iva, /idXurra 5^ rdv MaXoecra with A. Conze op. cit.
p. 7). The aetiological myth, briefly alluded to by Steph. Byz. loc. cit., is given more
fully in the Patmian scholia on Thouk. 3. 3 published by L Sakkelion in the Rev. Philol.
N.S. 1877 i. 185: MaX6€ts 'Air6XXwj' oCtos Trapd MiTuX?;vatois iri/j-dTO, dTro roiai/r^js 5^
Tivoi alrlas. MavTui r] Tetpeaiov dvydrrjp wepl Toiis tSttovs xopevovaa tovtovs, fiijXov xpv(TOuv
dirb TOV irepiSepalov diruXeirev ' eii^aTO ovv, el eiipoi, lepov i5pv(7eiv T(j5 de(^. evpovcra 5i t6
ju^Xoi', t6 lepbv IdpvcaTO, Kal MaX6ets 'AirdWwv evTevdev Trap' aurots eTi/xdro. The myth
makes it clear that ApoUon's epithet MaX6ets was connected, not with MaX^a the S.E.
headland of Lesbos, but with fjLijXov, an 'apple.' Presumably, then, it was a local title
derived from MaXoets, the 'Apple '-district N. of Mytilene. If so, it may or may not give
us some hint as to the character of the god himself.
At Nisaia, the port of Megara, was an old sanctuary of Demeter MaXo06pos with
(3)
a ruined roof: among the explanations offered of the cult-epithet was that it had been
given to the goddess by the first men who reared sheep {/J-v^a) in the country (Paus. i.
44. 3). Rasche Lex. Num. vi. 406 and Welcker Gr. Gotterl. ii. 474 cite a copper of
Pagai, the other port of Megara, struck by Septimius Severus, on which appears Demeter
(? Artemis Stiretpo, cp. Paus. 1. 40. 2 f. with i. 44. 4. A. B.C.) with a torch in either
hand treading on rocky ground and preceded by a ram. But, since /xdXa, 'sheep,' is only