Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

to tree- or plant-forms 523
One of the short sides (pi. xxvii, c) represents a pair of horses,
bkie and yellow on a white ground, drawing a two-wheeled chariot, in
which rides a couple of white-skinned women. Their robes are pink
bordered with blue, and blue bordered with yellow and white. The
four red reins are apparently held by the woman nearest the spectator:
she has two in her left hand and two in her right, which
encircles her companion. We have no reason to think that these
are goddesses^ or even priestesses-. More probably they are just
ladies belonging to the princely court—the queen, let us suppose,
and her charioteer.
The other short side (pi. xxvii, ^/) shows a group roughly similar in
appearance but widely different in meaning. A two-wheeled chariot
on a red ground is drawn by a pair of griffins with canine rather
than leonine bodies, variegated wings, and high plumed crests. In it
ride two female figures, of whom the nearer one in a blue robe
bordered with yellow and white holds the reins round her more
gorgeously dressed companion. In the field above the griffins hovers
a bird, which has been compared with a hoopoe^ and even with a
sparrow-hawk ^ But its short beak, yellow-brown, blue, and white
feathers, black marking, and erectile crest proclaim it to be a somewhat
glorified jay^ This bird, the corvus glandarius of Linnaeus, the
garriUits gla7idari2is of later ornithologists, gets its modern scientific
name from the fact that 'the acorn is its favourite food".' But the
ancients were mainly impressed by its bright colouring and its
talkative tongue. The former trait made it comparable with the
woodpecker: the Romans called the ov^q pica, the o\\-\qx picus'^ \ and,
^ Cp. E. Petersen in \.\\& Jahrb. d. kais. deiUsch. arch. Inst. 1909 xxiv. 168 ff.
" A. J. Reinach in the Rev. Arch. 1908 ii. 287.
^ R. Paribeni in the Mon. d. Lined 1908 xix. 61 :
' Non esiste nell' avifauna medi-
terranea un uccello di quelLi forma e di quei colori : 1' upupa, alia quale si potrebbe
pensare, ha il becco lungo, e drizza il suo pennacchio, ma non lo rovescia in avanti, come
fa il nostro uccello, e come avviene nel cacatua e in qualche altro uccello esotico.' But it
must be remembered that the young hoopoe develops its crest before its beak (R. Lydekker
The Royal Natural History London 1895 i'^'- S^)-
•* F. M. J. Lagrange in the Revtie Bihlique Internationale Nouvelle Serie 1907 iv. 339
would recognise ' un epervier '
^ I am indebted for this suggestion to my wife. A good coloured plate of the jay is
given by J. L. Bonhote Birds of Britain London 1907 p. 1 56 ff. pi. 47.
^ R. Lydekker IVild Life of the World London s.a. i. 108 with col. pi., cp. id. The
Royal Natural History London 1894—95 iii. 319 f. with fig., C. Swainson The Folk Lore
and Provincial Names of British Birds London 1886 p. 75. Hence the Italian name
ghiandaia, and the German Eichel-hdher. Aristot. hist. an. 9. 13. 615 b 22 f. '6ra.v 5'
viroKiirwcnv at ^d\ai/oi, a.iroKp'LnrTovaa Ta/xieverai, {sc. 17 kitto).
'' The
relation of both words to pingo, ttoikIXos, etc. is doubtful (Walde Lat. etym.
IVbrterbr p. 580). So is that of owxjay, French geai (in Picardy gai), Spanish gayo, gaya,
Portuguese gaio to the adjective gay (G. Korting Lateinisch-i-07nanisches Wdrterbitch-
Paderborn 1901 p. 187).