Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Death by lightning as euthanasia 23
incorruption... I imagine too that the divine substance [sulphur] gets its name
from the Hkeness of its smell to the fiery and pungent smell rubbed out of things
hit by lightning ; and it seems to me that this is why even dogs and birds
abstain from the bodies of those who have been struck by Zeus^.
Others inform us that victims of Hghtning were buried on the spot
where they felll Artemidoros says that a man so struck down, even
if poor, became suddenly famous. If a slave, he had fine clothing
put upon him, as though he were freed, and men approached him as
one honoured by Zeus. Nay more, every man struck by lightning
was treated as a god^.
(8) Death by lightning as euthanasia.
In this connexion it should be observed that various myths
represent death by lightning as a kind of euthanasia"*. Kapaneus,
when struck, becomes '
a sacred corpse^ ' and
receives ' a
sacred
tomb".' His pyre is described as 'Zeus' treasury'''—a remarkable
phrase, to which H. Usener has justly drawn attention®. When
Herakles' pyre had been kindled, thunderbolts fell from the sky and
consumed it : his friends, finding no bones, concluded that he had
gone from men to join the gods, and thereupon worshipped him as
a hero". Asklepios was struck by a thunderbolt from Zeus, and
' Plout. symp. 4. 2. 3.
^ Artemid. oneirocr. 2. 9
01^ yap ol Kepavvwdivns fieTaTldevrai, dXX' ottov dc virb toO
TTvpbs KaTaKy)(p6u3(jiv evrauda ddirTovTai. A law of Numa Pompilius enjoined that a man
killed by lightning should not be lifted higher than the knees, and should not have funeral
rites (Fest. p. I'ji b 20 ff. MuUer, p. 190, 7 fif. Lindsay itaque in Numae Pompili regis
legibus scriptum esse: 'si hominem fulminibus (Scaliger cj. fulmen lovis) occisit, ne
supra genua tollito (C. O. Miiller cj. tollitor).' et alibi: 'homo si fulmine occisus est, ei
iusta nulla fieri oportet.' Cp. Plin. nat. hist. 2. 145 hominem ita exanimatum cremari
(so codd. E.''' p. : cremare codd. F. R.d.T.) fas non est, condi terra religio tradidit).
* Artemid. oneirocr. 2. 9
eTreJ koX 6 Kepavvudels aicpvidiov irapacrifibrepos yLyv€Tai...Kal
^(paaKov etvai dyadbv dov\oi9 to Kepavvovadai, ore ovre beairbras in oi Kepavvoodevres ^x'"'"'"'
oUre Ka/JiPOvaL, \afj.wpd 5i Ifj-dTia avroli TrepirideraL ws Kai rots iXevdepuiOeicri, Kai Trpoaiaffiv
auToh lis virb Aibs Terifj.Tjfj.^i'ois oi avOpuiroi u)S Kai toZs eXevt^epwOuav virb beaTrorOiv T€Tipi,r]-
H^voLS (J- G. Reiff ad loc. : 'Ita cum Cod. B scripsi, qui tamen pro wepiTlderai habet
eiTLTldeTai. Libri hunc locum ita habebant : \afXTrpd 5i IfiaTia avroU TrepiTiderat. ws virb
Sibs TtTifj.ripi.ii'oi.i.') ...ovdeis yap K€pavv(a9eU drifibs iariv. Sdev {birov cod. B.) 7e Kai ws
debs TLpLdrai. Cp. Kyrillos katech. 13. 37 Ko\\ni.aQy\% y€vbfxevos...iinaT6/JH^€.."E\\i]vas eK
Twv Trap' aiiTo7s /j.vdo\oyov/j.^vcji>. aiiTol KeKepavvufx^vovs wpoaKwovaiv. Kcpavvbi 5e ef
ovpavCiv ipxbpLevos ovk aKpiruts ipx^Tai. el iK(ivoL tous KepavvwdevTa'i deo/xicrecs TrpodKVvovvTes
ovK alaxvvovTai, crv rbv deo