Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

62 o The axe carried by priests and priestesses
at Mogontiacum {Mayence) Sucaelus the mallet-god^ was apparently
equated with lupiter Optiimis Maximus'^. Finally, Saxo Gramma-
ticus^ in his History of the Danes, writing c. 1200 A.D., states that
in 1 130 A.D. Magnus, son of Nicolaus (the Danish king Niels), after
demolishing an ancient heathen temple on an island in or near
Gothia (Gotland in Sweden), brought back in triumph certain enormously
heavy bronze hammers known as ' lupiter-mallets' and be-
lieved to be the means by which lupiter (Thor) made his thunder.
It will be seen that in western and northern Europe the double
axe as a divine weapon gave place, from the Bronze Age onwards,
to the single axe and the hammer.
(yti) The axe carried by priests and priestesses.
Among the sculptures decorating the gateway of the Hittite
palace at Eyuk^ is a relief (fig. 518)', which represents two pairs of
male figures engaged in some ritual or ceremonial action hard to
interpret. On the left a couple of men clad in short tunics confront
each other. The taller man wears a conspicuous earring and grasps
a long staff, which is grasped also by his shorter companion. On
the right is a second couple again consisting of a taller and a shorter
man. The one wears a close-fitting cap, an earring, a trailing robe
with a surplice over it, and tip-tilted shoes : he holds with both
hands an axe of unique design"—the blade being crescent-shaped
' S. Reinach ' Sucellus et Nantosvelta ' in the Revue celtiqne 1896 xvii. 45—59 { = id.
Cultes, Mytkes et Religions Paris 1905 i. 217— 232), R. Peter in Roscher Lex. Alyth. iv.
1579 f-
- Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6730 = Dessau Insc7\ Lat. sel. no. 4615 (on an altar found
voto.
at Mogontiacum in 1882) I. o. m. | Sucaelo et | Gen. loci pro | salute C. |
Seppiani p. p. | leg. xxii Pr. p., | Trophimus | actor [et?] can|abari ex |
agree with R. Peter loc. cit., who comments :
Calpurni
|
I do not
' doch wohl luppiter O. M. und Sucaelus.'
^ Sax. Gram. hist. Dan. 13 p. 421, 29 ff. Holder cuius operam valenter editam
consimili probitatis genere emulatus Magnus, inter cetera tropheorum suorum insignia
inusitati ponderis malleos, quos loviales vocabant, apud insularum quandam prisca
virorum religione cultos, in patriam deportandos curavit. cupiens enim antiquitas toni-
truorum causas usitata rerum similitudine comprehendere, malleos, quibus celi fragores
cieri credebat, ingenti ere complexa fuerat, aptissime tante sonoritatis vim fabrilium specie imitandam existimans. Magnus vero, Christiane
discipline studio paganam perosus, et phanum cultu et lovem insignibus spoliare sanctitatis
loco habuit. et adhuc quidem eum Sueones, perinde ac celestium spoliorum raptorem,
sacrilegum autumant.
* Supra i. 636.
* G. Perrot— E. Guillaunie— J. Delbet Exploration archMogique de la Galatie et de la
Bithynie etc. Paris 1872 i. 360, ii pi. 56, 2, Perrot— Chipiez Hist, de PArt iv. 672 f.
fig- 335 ( — niy fig. 518), J. Garstang The Land of the Hittites London 1910 p. 266 f.,
E. M.^ytx Reich und Knltur der Chetiter'&txXya. Kji^'^.^A^Vi. i. Length r66'": minimum
height I •22'".
^ Its character as an axe is recognised by A. J. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet.
Ant. iv. 1 167 n. 9 and by E. Meyer loc. cit. G. Perrot's original comparison with the