Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The double axe and the labarum 613
utterable wilt reveal all that is wrought by writings utiique or sovereign remedies,
yea all the Jddden meaning oj knife or double axe. Let these words be said as the
mysteries of the Vine." It has also other orderly virtues, so that among mortals
its name must not be taken in vain. Next, the sacred account, as given in the
Kyranis, saith as follows: ^'Blessed God-sent queen, God-sent cluster-bearing
mother of every divine nature—EUA — thoti that artforemost among plants of
earth—EAOE lEO EUEIE—being a denizen of Olympos." Ha\'ing said this
into a cup, empty it into a jar, whence all drink and depart with good cheer, no
man having come to words.'
Harpokration's allusion to 'the hidden meaning of knife or double
axe' as 'the mysteries of the Vine' certainly seems to imply some
quasi-Xy'\ox\ys\2iC survival of the Idbrys. It is unfortunate that further
details are wanting.
One other fact in connexion with the double axe should here be
noted. Its pictograph passed readily into linear forms, and thence
into syllabic and alphabetic characters. Sir Arthur Evans' has
pointed out that the Aegean -^ or X 's comparable with X the
Sabaean form of the Semitic letter zain, whose name is held to
denote 'a twofold weapon.' It follows that the double axe was the
original source, from which was derived, not only the Phoenician 7,
but also the shape (though not the name) of the Greek I or Z, the
Latin Z, and the English Zl Again, the monograms above cited
from the Graeco-Scythian coinage of Bactria and India {s. iii—i B.C.)
were clearly suggested in the first instance by the outline of a double
axe*. Simias of Rhodes {c. 295 B.C.) even arranged a whole poem
on the axe of Epeios in such a way as to resemble its two-bladed
.subject"*.
Suppose, then, that Constantine during his stay in the east had
observed the double axe, a symbol of ancient and mysterious
sanctity with a marked tendency to take on the shape of definite
letters, he might well enough think of adopting it as a sign that
would appeal at once to pagans and to Christians. For, just as the
trophy-cross, symbol of lupiter Feretrms, was modified into the
1909
' Sir A. J. Evans in ihefourn. Hell. Stud. 1894 .\iv. 365 f., id. Serifta Minoa Oxford
i. 81, 86 f. fig. 41.
- Other forms that fall to be considered are the Iberian C+a >*< X M mem on coins
of the Turdetani (P. Berger Histoire dc It'critiire dans Fantiqmti Paris 1891 p. 336,
Sir A. J. Evans Scripta Minoa i. 99 fig. 44*), the Cypriote X ^^ C^'^-
i^- '• 7' ^g- 39)' ^^^
Sicyonian \ epsilon (Roberts Gk. Epigr. i. 136), the Venetic, Sabellian, Etruscan, and
Faliscan sibilant X (J. Schmidt in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i. 161 7 ff.), and the
Latin numeral X mille (J. C. Egbert Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions
London—-Bombay 1896 p. 75). Of course, it must not be hastily assumed that similar
characters are of similar origin.
•' Supra p. 608.
^ C. Haeberlin Carinina Figurata Graeca Hannoverae 1887 p. 70.