Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The decoration of the double axe 641
chevrons that appear on Charon's hammer in a tomb-painting at
q /^U'
Vulci (fig. 557)^; for, if we may assume
that he was originally a god of the
Underworld^, his hammer could be-
token chthonian thunders, and the
zigzags upon it chthonian lightnings.
It was perhaps these 'nether thunder-
bolts'*' that earried for him the very
' sobriquet of Charon, He of the Flash-
ing Eyes'*.' Further reflexion has,
1 H. Brunn ' Pitture etrusche' in the Ann. d.
Insi. 1859 xxxi. 356 f., Mon. d. Inst, vi— vii pi. 31,
I (of which my fig. 557
is an excerpt), E. Saglio
in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. i. iioo fig. 1359.
Further bibliography in W. Helbig Fiihrer durcli
die bffentlichen Sanimlungen klassischer Altertiimer
in Roni'^ Leipzig 1912 i. 323, who notes that the
paintings are not earlier than 300 B.C.
'^ Monographs etc. : J. A. Ambrosch De
Charonte Etrusco Vratislaviae 1837 (reviewed by
Fig. 557-
E. Braun in the An)i. d. Inst. 1837 ix. 253— 274), G. Krueger Charon und Thanatos
Berlin 1866, N. G. Polites MeXh-ri iwi rod piov tCiv 'Seuripuiv "EXXijcoji' Athens 1874 ii. 237
301
(' Xdpos'), D. C. Hesseling Charos. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss
des nengriechischcn Volksglanbens Leiden—Leipzig 1897, S. Rocco
// mito di Caronte nel! arte e nella letteratura Torino 1897,
O. Waser 'Charon' in the Archiv f. Rel. 1898 i. 152— 182, id.
Charon, Chariin, Charos Berlin 1898 (with important reviews by
i). Bassi in the Rivista difilologia e d'istrnzione classica 1899 xxvii.
473—475 and by U. v. Wilamowitz-Mollendorflf in Hermes 1899
' xxxiv. 227— 230), A. Furtwangler 'Charon in the Archiv f. Rel.
1905 viii. 191— 202 with two figs., J. C. 'L,2.vi%Qxs. Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek
Religion Cambridge 1910 pp. 98— 117
(' Charon'). A fresh treatment of the theme is in
preparation by my friend and former pupil Miss M. E. H. Lloyd. A survey of recent
hypotheses is given by Gruppe Myth. Lit. 1908 pp. 438—441, who concludes: 'Man
wird sich beim Lesen dieser Materialsammlung der...Konsequenz schwerlich entziehen
konnen, die v. Wilamowitz-Mollendorff, Herm. 1898, 227 fif. ausspricht, dass Ch.
urspriinglich wie der neugriechische Charos und der etruskische Charun nicht der Toten-
fahrmann, sondern der Totengott selbst war,' etc.
Personally I incline to think that Charon was, to begin with, an Anatolian god of the
Underworld (J. C. Lawson op. cit. p. n6 makes him a Pelasgian god of death) much like
Hephaistos, that he has left traces of his early cult in the various Xapwfeta or Xapaicia of
the Maiandros-valley (O. Waser Charon, Charun, Charos p. 61 ff., id. in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. iii. 2183, L. Biirchner and W. Ruge ih. iii. 2183 f.), and that he was brought
by the Etruscans from Lydia to Italy. When and where he acquired the traits of the
grim ferryman is a problem as yet unsolved. Li any case he stands for the lower, as
Zeus for the upper, world : cp. Aisop. prov. 5 (E. L. von Leutsch—F. W. Schneidewin
Paroemiographi Graeci Gottingae 1851 ii. 228) 17 Zeus •^ Xdpuv -rj evdai/j.ovos ^los 17 riXos.
^ A. Caecina «/. Sen. nat. tjuaestt. 2. 49. 3 and Plin. nat. hist. 2. 138 (., cp. Manil.
2. 892 {/ulmina codd. R. Bentley cj. cttlmind). See further T. H. Martin La foiidre
Vilectricite et le viagnetisvie chez les anciens Paris 1866 p. 178 and C. O. Thulin Die
etruskische Disciplin i. Die Blitzlchre Goteborg 1906 pp. 34, 49.
Fig. 558.
'' U. von Wilamowitz-Mollendorff Homerische Untersuchungen Berlin 1884 p. 225
C. II. 41