Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The double axes of Tenedos 657
Greenwell (fig. 592)^ and Sir H. Weber (fig. 593)^ portrays an
amphora placed beside the double axe, the left handle of the former
being attached by means of a fillet to the shaft of the latter*. Again,
we are reminded of the way in which on the sarcophagus from Hagia
Triada a large two-handled jar placed between a pair of tree-
axes was being filled with a red liquid by the officiating priestess
Fig. 591- Fig. 592.
Fig- 593- Fig. 594-
(pi. xxvii, by. Perhaps both in Crete and in Tenedos the bisexual
axe, symbolising the union of the god with the goddess, was believed
to bring fertility to field and vineyards
Attention may here be called to a drachme of fine style, re-
presented in the cabinets of London (fig. 594)" and Parish which
gives the goddess of the obverse a necklace and connects the axe
1 W. Greenwell in the Num. Chron. Third Series 1893 xiii. 89 pi. 7, 15 ( = my
fig- 592). Anson Num. Gr. ii. 7 no. 60 pi. i, Babelon Monn. gr. rom. ii. i. 367 f. no. 624.
^ W. Greenwell in the Nwn. Chron. Third Series 189.5 xiii. 89, F. Imhoof-Blumer in
the Zeitschr. f. Num. 1897 xx. 274, Babelon Mmn. gr. rom. ii. i. 367 f. no. 624.
is from a cast of the Weber specimen, for which I am indebted to the kind
F'g- 593
offices of Mr C. T. Seltman.
* Mr G. F. Hill suggested to me that the alleged ' fillet ' might be due to a mere
crack in the die. But Mr C. T. Seltman justly observes that the occurrence of three
specimens all showing a crack in precisely the same condition is most improbable.
* Supra p. 520.
* Cp. the coin of Mostene showing a double axe between a bunch of grapes and two
ears of corn {supra p. 564 n. 8).
" Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Troas, etc. p. 92 pi. 17, 8. I first noticed the details of the
reverse, when examining the original. Fig. 594 is from a cast kindly supplied by
Mr G. F. Hill, who is inclined to regard the ' fillet ' as a line of fortuitous dots.
' Babelon Monn. gr. rom. ii. 2. 1307 f. pi. 166, 23. This coin appears to be from the
same dies as the specimen in the British Museum.
C. II. 42