Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

656
The double axes of Tenedos
F. Imhoof-Blumer. One of these, a didrachmon extant in the col-
lections of Berlin (fig. 589)1 and Glasgow (fig. 590)-, exhibits the
double axe standing on the uppermost of three steps between a
pair of pillars or pillar-like supports. We are reminded at once of
the way in which ' Minoan' art depicted a double axe standing on
Fig. 589. Fig. 590.
a stepped base between two pillars' ; and we may fairly infer that
in Tenedos, as in Crete, the double axe was itself an object of
worship. The other coin, a tetrddrachvion of which specimens exist
at Berlin (fig. 591)* and in the collections formed by Canon W.
no. 60, 15 and 26 = 0. Hoffmann Die griechischen Dialekte Gottingen 1891 i. 68 ff.
no. 135, 15 and 26 = F. Solmsen Inscriptiones Graecae ad inhtstrandas dialectos selectae^
Lipsiae 1905 p. 5 ff. no. 3, 15 and 26) that double axes formed part of the earliest Greek
system of currency, and holds that the TreX^/cetj dedicated at Delphoi by Periklytos the
Tenedian (Paus. 10. 14. i) were probably offered to the god as being the 'especial product
of Tenedos.' In The Early Age of Greece Cambridge 1901 i. 444 Sir W. Ridgeway makes
the further suggestion that the Tenedian axes at Delphoi ' were not real, but only minia-
ture axes like those from the Dictaean cave.'
Sir W. Ridgeway's views on the whole subject have been criticised with admirable
fairness and acumen by G. Macdonald Coin Types Glasgow 1905 p. 23 ff. For my part,
I am quite prepared to believe that double axes were in early times and in some places
{e.g. Kypros) a recognised unit of exchange. But that, as Sir William himself allows
{The Origin of Metallic Curj-ency and Weight Standards p. 319 n. 2), is by no means
inconsistent with the belief that they were sacred objects also. On the one hand, J. N.
Svoronos in Xhejotirn. Intern. d^Arck. N-tim. 1906 ix. 161— 181 pi. 2 ff. has published a
series of bronze castings in the shape of double axes (?) from Salamis in Kypros, Serra
Ilixi in Sardinia, Phaistos in Crete, Mykenai in Argolis, and Kyme in Euboia. These
are marked with various characters (in one case with a double axe), and conform to
definite weight standards. Presumably, therefore, they are a medium of exchange. But it
is far from certain that these castings are double axes : Sir A. J. Evans in Corolla Numis-
viatica Oxford 1906 p. 355
copper double axes found in northern Europe {supra p. 617), if not also some of the
ff. treats them as mere ingots. More to the point are the
bronze axes found in Gaul (J. Dechelette Manuel d'archiologie prihistoriqueVz.x\% 1910
ii. I. 254). On the other hand, the evidence for the cult of the double axe in Crete and
Asia Minor is overwhelming. The implement had at once a commercial and a religious
significance.
1 F. Imhoof-Blumer in the Zeitschr.f. Ntitn. 1897 xx. 2 74f. pi. 10, 9, Babelon Monn.
gr. rom. ii. i. 369 f. pi. 16, 6 ( = my fig. 589), Head Hist, tium.^ p. 550.
2 Hunter Cat. Coins ii. 304 pi. 49, 15 ( = my fig. 590), G. Macdonald Coin Types
Glasgow 1905 p. 25 pi. I, II, Anson Num. Gr. ii. 6 no. 49 pi. i, Head Hist, num."
P- 550-
* Supra p. 524 f.
^ F. Imhoof-Blumer in the Zeitschr. f. Num. 1897 xx. 274 pi. 10, 8 (reverse only),
Babelon Monn. gr. rom. ii. i. 367 f. pi. 16, 4 ( = my fig. 591), Head Hist, num.^ p. 550.