Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

628 The axe carried by priests and priestesses
temple of Zeus at Olympia, carved before the middle of the fifth
Fig- 533-
century perhaps by an Elean sculptor, figures
him swinging the same trusty weapon against
a brutal Centaur^ Finally, Theseus was said
to have freed from robbers the old mountain-
road that led from Athens to Delphoi-; and,
whenever the Athenians sent a sacred embassy
along that road^ it was customary for the pro-
cession to be headed by men bearing double
axes as though to clear the way^ In these
peculiar axe-bearers I would venture to detect,
not a meaningless company of pioneers'', but
the performers of an ancient '
Minoan
'
lustra-
tion, the tru6 significance of which had long
been forgotten*. It is noteworthy that a fine
axe of bronze, inscribed with ' ' Minoan
cha-
racters, has come to light at Delphoi (fig. 533)'',
K.r.X.). In the Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 84 I suggested that
this was an ancient ritual costume. But ?
' G. Treu in Olympia iii. 76 f. pi. 18— 21, 2, pis. 26, 27,
if., Overbeck Gr. Plastik^ i. 3170". fig. 77 M and fig. 84,
Collignon Hist, de la Sctdpt. gr. i. 446 fif. fig. 232 A, B. The
restoration of the axe is certain, thanks to Paus. 5. 10. 8 t%
de 07j(rei>s aixvvbixevos veKiKei roiis Kevravpovs. So on a vase-
fragment at Berlin (Furtwangler Vasensamml. Berlin ii. 664 f.
no. 2403, E. Curtius in the Arch. Zeit. 1883 xli. 348 ft", pi. 17,
I f., Reinach Rip. Vases i. 450, 3 f.).
'^
Schol. Aisch. Etim. 13 (cited infra n. 4), schol. Aristeid.
p. 324, 20 ft".
Dindorf.
3 E. Pfuhl De Athcniensium pompis sacris Berolini 1900
p. 104 ff. S
* Schol. Aisch. Ewit. 13 oi 'Adrivatoi. Orjaeiis yap Trjv b5hv
€Ka.dy)pe twv \ricTQiv Kai, drav Tvifiirwcnv d% AeX0oi)s dtwpida,
irpo^pXOVTaL ^x^"'''^^ TreK^Keis tbs BirnxepfOaovTes (F. H. M.
Blaydes cflrr. Birjfj.epuxroi'Tes or e^-qp-epuiffovrfs) t7)v yrjv.
5 E. Curtius ' Zur Geschichte des Wegebaus bei den
Griechen' in his Gesavnnelte Abhandlungen Berlin 1894 i. 33
(cp. p. 69) :
' Erinnerung an die alten W^erkmeister, die einst
zuerst dem Gotte die Stege bereitet hatten.'
6 A. Boethius Die Pytha'is : Stiidien zur Geschichte der
Verbitidtingai zwischen Athen imd Delphi Uppsala 19 18
p. 31 ff. thinks that the axes were originally votive, like the
Tenedian axe {iitfra § 3 (c) i (0)). G. C. Richards in the
Class. Rev. 1919 xxxiv. 113 says :
' Either this was the case,
or they were relics of the ancient ritual, as observed in the
case of the Buphonia ' {ittfra § 9 (h) ii (o)).
' Sir A. J. Evans in Xhe/oiirn. Hell. Stud. 1894 xiv. 280
fig. 7, P. Perdrizet in the Fouilles de Delphes v. i. 5 hg. 14
( = my fig. 533). The axe is now in the Ashmolean Museum
at Oxford.