Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Axe-blades and axe-hafts in megalithic art 685
had run away. Phylakos had then thrust the knife back into the
sacred oak-tree, the bark of which had compassed it about and
concealed it from view. If Melampous could now find the knife,
scrape the rust off it, and give it to Iphiklos to drink for ten days
in succession, Iphiklos would beget a child. Thus instructed by the
vulture, Melampous found the knife, scraped the rust off it, and for
ten days in succession gave it to Iphiklos to drink, the result being
that a son Podarkes was born to him. In this story we may presume
that the generative power of the rams^ passed from them to
the knife and so to the rust that was put in Iphiklos' drinks But
why was the knife thrust into the sacred oak ? Or rather, why was
it ' ' thrust back
was kept in the tree. It was—we remember— '
into the oak ? This implies that the gelding knife
beneath the tall
oaks' that Zeus himself gelded Kronos^ Perhaps the idea was that
a blade so highly charged with procreative force would permanently
fertilise the sacred oak. If so, we have here another instance of the
weapon regarded as qiiasi-'ca'aXt^ the tree as ^/^«j^z'-female.
(^) Axe-blades and axe-hafts in the megalithic art
of western Europe.
The connexion here svjggested between v;eapon and tree, blade
and haft, is to some extent confirmed by evidence from western
Europe. As far back as 1867 A. de Longperier put forward the idea
that in Gaul there may have been a cult of the axe comparable with
that of Assyria, Egypt, Karia, Tenedos, and Pagasai^. S. Reinach
in 1894 grouped together the sacred axes of all ages from the
quaternary era downwards and regarded them as symbols of the
lightning-flash'. Lastly, J. Dechelette in his admirable Manuel
d'archeologie^ , after a more detailed study of the subject, arrives at
the following conclusion :
' Thus the representations of the axe symbol in prehistoric art offer three
variants—the hatchet complete, that is to say the blade furnished with its
handle, the blade alone, and the handle alone. It is impossible for us to deter-
Theokr. 3. 43—45 c p. 129, 24 ff. Wendel $i;Xd/c(f) ry Trarpi, d0' ov Kal i) X'^P"- ^vKclkt)
iKoKeiro, {kt^/jlvoptl (C. F. W.Jacobs adds ^a) 6"l(p(.KXos irais coj' trapiaTaTO- bv eKTrXyj^ai
6 irarrip O^Xcjv tJv elxe fxaxaipav els to irXrjffiov SivSpov ifnrTJ^at. uipfirjcre, Kal avvi^f) eirevey-
Keiv aurrjv rots fiopiois rod 7ra:56s. k.t.X. (quoted by Eustath. in Od. p. 1685, 38 ff.).
* Supra i. 429 f., 717, 779.
- Frazer Golden Bough^: The Magic Art i. isSf.
^ Supra p. 448 n. i, infra Append. G med.
^ A. de Longperier in the Cotiiptes rendus de la seconde session du Congris International
d^ Anthropologie et d^Archiologie PrMstoriques Paris 1867 pp. 37—40= G. Schlumberger
(Euvres de A. de Longperier Paris 1883 i. 218 221.
^ S. Reinach Bronzes Figurt^s de la Gaule Romaine Paris 1894 p. 167.
* J. Dechelette Manuel d''archiologie prihistorique Paris 1908 i. 610.