Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

572 The double axe and Zeus Lahrdyndos
on the Lykos guasi-diVi\.onon\ous coppers issued by Pythes in the
time of Augustus exhibit a panther (?) shouldering a filleted double
axe, the whole encircled by a bay-wreath (fig. 470) ^ The device is
Dionysiac rather than Apolline^
On the whole, I conclude that in Phrygia, as in Lydia, the
ancestor or local hero inherited the double axe of the younger
Hittite sky-god, and in Graeco-Roman times commonly acquired
the traits of ApoUon and Helios. The evidence from these adjacent
countries prepares me, then, to accept as true Plutarch's assertion
that a particular Amazonian (Hittite) axe was a sacred heirloom of
the Lydian kings. Nothing more probable.
But what of his further statement that Arselis transferred
the Lydian Idbrys to the Carian Zeus Labradeus^} In Karia
the simple Idbrys occurs first on small gold pieces of the satrap
Pixodaros (340—334 B.C.)^ then as a symbol on bronze coins
issued at Mylasa(.'') by Eupolemos, the general of Kassandros, in
314—313 B.C.^ and subsequently as an obverse or reverse type
on coppers of Alinda^ Euromos'', Mylasa (fig. 471)*, Orthosia^
Plarasa and Aphrodisias'", Sillyon (?)", as a symbol on coins of
^ Brit. Mils. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 287 f. pi. 34, 14, Imhoof-Blumer Gr. Miinzen
p. 218 nos. 712 pi. 12, 25 ( = my fig. 470) and 712 a.
* Imhoof-Blumer loc. cit. says 'Wolf oder Hund,' but thinks that the die-sinker was
trying to represent a wolf as emblem of the river Lykos. Rasche Lex. Num. Suppl. i.
1379 f., after D. Sestini Descriptio numoruni veterwn ex w?««w...Lipsiae 1796 p. 467,
had long since said 'lupus.' But B. V. Head in the Brit. Mtis. Cat. Coins Phrygia p. 287
describes the creature as 'Lynx or Panther (?)' and in Hist, num."^ p. 679 as 'Panther.'
Cp. the pantheress with thyrsos on coins of Orthosia (Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Caria, etc.
p. 143 f. pi. 23, 5f.).
^ Stipra p. 559 f.
* Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Caria, etc. p. 184 pi. 28, 12, Babelon Mon7i. gr. rom. ii. 2.
155 f. pi. 90, 14 on gold twenty-fourths with obv. head of Apollon, laureate.
^ Brit. AIus. Cat. Coins Caria, etc. p. 128 pi. 21, 11, W. M. Leake Niimismata
Hellenica London 1856 Kings and Dynasts p. 20, Head Hist, mon.^ p. 62i. See further
W. Wroth ' Eupolemus' in the Nutn. Chron. Third Series 1891 xi. 135— 139, F. Imhoof-
Blumer ' Zur griechischen und romischen Miinzkunde ' in the Revue Suisse de Numis-
7natique 1908 p. 260 n.
'^ Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Caria, etc. p. 11 no. 10 early in s. ii B.C., with obv. young
male head (Herakles?), laureate, Plead Hist, num.''- p. 607.
'' Imhoof-Blumer Monn.gr. p. 310 no. 54 with obv. head of Zeus, laureate.
* Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Caria, etc. p. 129 pi. 21, 16 of s. ii B.C. and later, with rev.
MYAA ZEflN ornamented trident, Imhoof-Blumer Monn. gr. p. 312 no. 70*, Head
Hist, num.- p. 622. I figure a specimen from my collection.
^ Head Hist, num.^ p. 624 autonomous bronze oi s. ii— i B.C.
1" Brit. Mus Cat. Coins Caria, etc. p. 25 pi. 5,
i f. after 166 B.C., with rev. cuirass on
trophy-stand; Imhoof-Blumer Kleinas. Miinzen i. 112 no. i pi. 4, 11 with obv. bust
of Eros:
^' Imhoof-Blumer Kleinas. Miinzen ii. 351 no. 8 pi. 12, 9 with obv. bust of Zeus,
remarking that the rev. legend CIA AV6 may be a variant spelling of the ethnic form