Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

54^
The deity of the double axe
power that wielded them', so the ' Minoans '
paid divine honours to
the double axe qua sign and symbol of an anthropomorphic sky-god.
But an important question remains to be answered. What was
the name of this dread deity ? He was, we have said, the consort
of the great ' Minoan
'
earth-goddess,
whom the Greeks continued
to reverence at Knossos as Rhea^ Now in Greek myth the husband
of Rhea is invariably called Kronos^ It follows that Kronos was
the name by which the Greeks knew the axe-bearing sky-god of
the ' Minoans.' Tradition declared that Kronos and Rhea had
reigned together in Crete^ And some interesting details of the
local cult are on record. Istros the historian, a learned follower of
Kallimachos, in his Collection of Cretan Sacrifices noted that the
Kouretes had in ancient times sacrificed children to Kronosl Xenion
brushwood were heaped together till they formed a stack three stades long and wide. On
this stack was constructed a level square. Three sides of it were sheer, the fourth sloping.
Every year 150 carts brought brushwood to keep up the stack, w^hich had a tendency to
settle dowil in the winter. An ancient iron scimitar (d/ctvci/oys) set on the stack was viewed
as the image of Ares. To it was brought a yearly sacrifice of sheep and horses. Also one
out of every hundred prisoners taken alive in war was sacrificed. The Scythians poured
wine on the men's heads, slew them over a vessel, and drenched the scimitar with their
blood. Others below cut off the right shoulders and arms of the victims, flung these into
the air, and, leaving them to lie where they fell, offered the rest of their sacrifices and
departed.
The Alani had no temple, but fixed a naked sword (gladius) in the ground with barbaric
rites and worshipped it as Mars, the chief of the steppes through which they roamed
(Amm. Marc. 31.2. 23).
Attila, lord of the Hunni, was emboldened by the discovery of the sword (gladius) of
Mars, which the kings of the Scythians always regarded as sacred. A herdsman noticed
one of his heifers limping, followed the blood-drops, and found the sword, upon which
the heifer while feeding had accidentally trodden. He dug up the sword and brought it to
Attila, who thereupon deemed that he was ruler of the world and that the sword of Mars
made him irresistible in war (Priscus Panites^a^. 8. Bekker—Niebuhr (p. 224 ed. Bonn.)
ap. lordan. de Getarutn sive Gotkorum origine et rebus gestis 35. The original Greek
account by Priscus (p. 201 ed. Bonn.) is somewhat less detailed). Cp. infra § 3
(c) i (tr).
Silver coins of the Bituriges, imitated from the gold statir of Philip ii (359—336 B.C.)
of Makedonia, introduce a short sword of La Tene type over the horse on the reverse
(R. Forrer Keltische Numismatik der Rhein- und Donaulande Strassburg 1908 p. 47
fig- 89). This perhaps implies the cult of the sword (cp. A. de Longperier in the Bulletin
arch^ologiqiie de VAthenaiim francais 1855 i. 102 =G. Schlumberger CEuvres de A. de
Longperier Paris 1883 i. 171).
' See an eminently reasonable article on ' Weapon- worship ' by A. Lang in the Morning
Post for Oct. 14, 1910.
^ Supra i. 649 n. 3.
^ See e.g. A. Rapp in Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 88 ff. (who, however, does not believe
that Rhea was ab origine a Cretan goddess).
3413)
^ Kedren. hist. comp. 29 B (i. 52 Bekker) Kara. to{itov% Si tovs xpi5''0i'S Ut^- anno mundi
iv oh 'I(7aa/c iyevvridy), iv KpTjTri dp^ai Kpdvov Kai Fiav "EWrjves Icropovai..
* ls\.rvs frag. 47 [Frag. hist. Or. i. 424 Mliller) ap. Porph. de abst. 2. 56'I(rrpos 5e iv
T-r^ Siii'07W777 rOiv KpTjTiKuv dvcnwv