Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The decoration of the double axe 637
Denmark and southern Sweden^: M. Hoernes'^ and B. Schnittger-^
take them to be symbols of the sky-god or thunder-god ;
membering that jewehy in general often
and, re-
originates in magic^ and
that amber in particular seems to have been associated with the
sun-god', we may readily grant that the beads in question had some
such religious significance.
In the sanctuary at Nirou Khani xx^-ax Knossos S. Xanthoudides
discovered four enormous double axes of bronze, with flat blades
rivetted to their sockets®. These were of course ritual in character.
But miniature axes in gold, electrum, or gilt bronze would likewise
be appropriate to the flashing god of heaven. The yellow double
axes of the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada were supposed by
R. Paribeni to represent originals in gold or gilded metal". Bulls'-
heads with double axes of thin gold were found by the score at
Mykenai*. And small double axes made of bronze plated with gold
came from a treasure-chamber in the palace at Knossos (fig. 551)".
The trinkets recovered by D. G. Hogarth from the statue-base of
the oldest {c. 710 c. 660 B.C.) Artemision at Ephesos include a
* C. Neergaard ' Ravsmykkerne i Stenalderen ' in the Aarb'jiger for nordisk Oldkyn-
dighed og Historic 1888 p. 291 ft", figs. 14 and 15 { = niy figs. 549 and 550: scale |),
O. Montelius The Civilisation of Sweden in heathen times trans. F. H. Woods London
1888 p. 23
Stockholfn :
with fig. 24 (from Vester-Gotland), id. Musie des antiquities ttationaies de
Catalogue soinmaire Stockholm 1899 p. 4' pi. i, 4 (from Inston), P. B. Du
Chaillu The Viking Age London 1889 i. 80 f. fig. 17 (from Stage in the island of Moen),
S. Mtiller Nordische AUertiivisktinde trans. O. L. Jiriczek Strassburg 1897 i. 152 with
figs. 74 and 75 after C. Neergaard loc. cit., J. Dechelette Manicel d^archi^ologie prehistorique
Paris 1908 i. 625, B. Schnittger in Hoops Reallex. p. 260.
^ M. Hoernes Nattir- tend Urgeschichte des RIenschen Wien und Leipzig 1909 ii. 345
{' Sie sind wohl Symbole einer (Himmels-)Gottheit und liefern ausserdem einen Beleg
fur die oft vorkommende Sitte, kleine Abbilder grosser Gebrauchsgegenstande als (talis-
manische?) Schmuckform zu tragen ').
^ B. Schnittger in Hoops Reallex. p. 399 pi. 33,
Perlen als Symbole des Donnergotts ist auffallig').
i f. (' Die religiose Bedeutung dieser
* See e.g. Schrader Reallex. p. 729. Sir W. Ridgeway goes so far as to say ' that
jewellery and every other kind of ornament arose not from aesthetic but from magical
considerations ' (in Man 1919 no. 84 : cp. id. ' The Origin of Jewellery' in the Report of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science igoj [Soiitkport) London 1904
p. 815 f., id. ' The Origin of the Turkish Crescent ' in TheJournal of the Royal Anthropo-
logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 1908 xxxviii. 241 ff. pis. 19—25, id. in Sir
J. E. Sandys A Companion to Latin Studies'^ Cambridge 19 13 p. 581, id. in L. Whibley
A Companion to Greek Studies'^ Cambridge 1916 p. 366).
^ Supra p. 498.
® S. Xanthoudides in the Kptjtiktj 'E