Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

684 The knife and the sacred oak at Phylake
but the goddess herself. Thereupon the 'DeoYan' oak^ shivered and
groaned and blanched, and at the first stroke shed blood. One of
those present protested: Erysichthon beheaded him on the spot,
and went on with his impious work. From the stricken trunk was
heard the voice of the tree-nymph, who, ere she died, prophesied
the evil end of the Thessalian. The Dryads implored Ceres to
avenge their sister's fate. She banished Erysichthon to Scythia, the
abode of Hunger^
It would seem that neither Kallimachos nor Ovid has preserved
the primitive form of this myth*. In particular, the axe imbedded
in the sacred tree has been treated as a mere symptom of surprise
on the part of Erysichthon's followers, while the perpetual appetite
of the strong man^ has been misinterpreted as a punishment for his
impious action. Such changes are indicative of a romantic and
moralising age.
(v) The knife and the sacred oak at Phylake.
One other example of a weapon fixed in a sacred tree occurs, in
the myth of Phylakos. It is related as follows by Apollodoros^
Phylakos, the eponym of Phylake in Phthiotis, having learnt that
Melampous was a excellent seer, asked him to cure the childless
condition of his son Iphiklos. Melampous sacrificed two bulls, cut
them limb from limb, and invited the birds to the feast. From a
vulture that came he learnt the facts of the case. Phylakos had
once, when gelding rams, laid down his knife covered with blood
on the severed portions beside Iphiklos". The boy being terrified
^ /d. ib. 8. 758 Deoia quercus.
2 What Kallimachos and Ovid relate of Erysichthon was by others related of Triopas
himself. Diod. 5. 61 says that Triopas, son of Helios and Rhodos, helped the sons of
Deukalion to drive the Pelasgians out of Thessaly. When he came to divide up the land,
he laid waste the precinct of Demeter in the plain of Dotion, and used its timber to make
a palace : hence he was hated by the natives and had to fly the country. He sailed to
Knidos, and there founded the Triopion. Diodoros adds that some authorities made
Triopas the son of Poseidon and Kanake (Kallim. h. Don. g8 f.), others of Lapithes son
of ApoUon and Stilbe .daughter of Peneios.
* On the development of the myth see O. Crusius in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1373
1384 and O. Kern in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 571 — 574.
* Erysichthon occurs as the name of a Giant, probably the adversary of Demeter, on
the frieze of the great altar at Pergamon (H. Winnefeld in Pergamon iii. 1. 154, M. Frankel
ib. viii. I. 65 no. 114 'Epi/o-ix^toc on a fragment found S.E. of the altar).
^ ApoUod. I. 9. 12. Supra p. 452.
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