Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The double axe and the labarum 60
for Ariadne ^ The mediaeval maze with its ciel"^ still retains a vestige
of the original significance.
Again, the whole history of the Idbrys in Asia Minor shows that
it was essentially the weapon of a god, not a goddess. And this
holds good for Crete as well as for Karia^ The Cretan double axe
was, in my opinion, primarily the attribute of Kronos* and only
secondarily, if at all, the attribute of Rhea. With the fall of the
'Minoan' civilization the axe passed from the old sky-god Kronos
to the new sky-god Zeus', throughout preserving its character as
the tangible token of the lightning-flash.
(t) The double axe and the labarum.
In 312 A.D. Constantine the Great crossed the Alps to attack
Maxentius and pitched his camp over against the Mulvian Bridge
near Rome. Lactantius^, a contemporary authority {c. 314 A.D.), is
careful to add that October 27, the anniversary of the day on which
Maxentius had been proclaimed emperor, was approaching and that
the Quinquennalia, four-yearly contests in honour of lupiter Capitolimis',
were drawing to a close. These contests began on October
15 and were originally connected with the temple of lupiter Fere-
trius^, whose special attribute was the feretruin or cross-shaped
trophy-stand^ suggestive of the spolia opima. Such were the circum-
1 Supra '\. 481. 2 Sttpra i. 486.
* I agree with H. R. Hall ALgean Archeology London 19 15
Axe, the Xd^pvi, was the special emblem of the Carian Zeus at Labraunda, it would
p. 152 : 'Since the Double
appear that this national weapon was (as would naturally be expected) the emblem of the
god rathet than of the goddess. The Knossian Palace was probably one of the chief seats
of the worship of the god, and as such obtained its traditional name of Xa^vpivdos, the
Labyrinth, " the Place of the Double Axe." ' Also with D. Mackenzie in the Ann. Brit.
Sch. Ath. 1905— 1906 xii. 219 :
' the cult of the God of the Labiys or Double Axe, which
was common to Caria with Crete, does not necessarily lead us to the assumption of
derivation either way. On the hypothesis of racial affinity between the people of Caria
and the prehistoric inhabitants of Crete, the cult of the divinity in question may be native
to south-west Anatolia, equally with Crete, without any need for the perilous assumption
that it was from Caria the divinity passed to Crete. If the assumption of derivation one
way or the other were to be at all admitted, the probability in the circumstances would
appear more feasible were the derivation regarded as having been the other way about.'
'' Supra p. 543 ff. * Supra p. 554 ff.
® Lact. de mortibus persecutorum 44 imminebat dies quo Maxentius imperium ceperat,
qui est a. d. sextum Kalendas Novembres, et quinquennalia terminabantur. commonitus
est in quiete Constantinus, ut caeleste signum dei notaret in scutis atque ita proelium
committeret. facit ut iussus est et transversa X littera, summo capite circumflexo, "xl pOi (so
I would restore the manuscript's xpo. S. Baluzius defended circumflexo Christo. S. Brandt
and G. Laubmann, after Cuperus and others, read Christum) in scutis notat. quo signo
armatus exercitus capit ferrum.
" Cp. Suet. Don. 4 instituit et quinquennale certamen Capitolino lovi etc.
" Wissowa Ret. Kult. Rdm.^ p. 117.
" Supra p. 109.