Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Superstitious practices with axes 703
writers of the sixteenth century and later, have doubtless a long
history behind them ; and it is possible that Philon was thinking of
the first when, instead of the sword of Damokles, he described 'a
whetted axe hung by a slender cord'.'
Axe-superstitions are with us still l P. Sebillot in his Folk-Lore
de France remarks that prehistoric stone implements are commonly
supposed to act as a safeguard against a thunderstorm. Their efficacy
' Philon a/. Euseb. /ra^/. ev. 8. 14. 29.
^ My friend and colleague Prof. R. H. Kennett draws attention to one curious case
' It was formerly the custom, if an offence were committed in the neighbourhood of
Fordwich near Canterbury, to decide where the offender should be tried as follows. If a
man from a boat in the middle of the river Stour could throw an axe weighing seven
pounds beyond the place where the offence was committed, the offender was tried, and,
if found guilty, punished at Fordwich' (R. H. Kennett—Mrs Adam—H. M. Gwatkin
Early Ideals of jRigkteoicsness Edinburgh 1910 p. 11 f.). Prof. Kennett adds that he
remembers to have heard his father mention the custom, which is duly noted both in
king Cnut's grant of the Port of Sandwich to Christ Church Canterbury in 1023 A. D.
(W. A. Scott Robertson ' Archceological Notes on Thanet ' in Archaologia Cantiana
1878 xii. 339) and in a description of the Boundaries of the Liberty of Fordwich in
1272 A. D. (C. Eveleigh Woodruff ' Fordwich Municipal Records' ib. 1889 xviii. 92 n. f
' as far as a man being in a boat at high water can throw an axe of seven pounds weight,
called a taper-axe, on to the land'). Cp. the throwing of a hammer, which in old German
law ratified the acquisition of property (J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stally-
brass London 1882 i. 180 n. 3).
I append an even more suggestive usage from A Guide to Criccieth ?s' Pwllheli
published by Messrs Abel Hey wood & Son of Manchester: p. 6 'After the subjugation
of Wales, the constable appointed for Criccieth Castle was William de Leybourne, . .
This charge was afterwards given to Sir Hywel-y-Vwyall (Sir Howell of the Axe) by
Edward the Black Prince, for his valour at Poictiers. According to the Welsh bards this
redoubtable knight was the person who took the French King John prisoner at Poictiers, . .
A pole-axe formed part of the escutcheon of Sir Hywel in commemoration of his doughty
deeds in that battle, which he had performed entirely with that weapon, and in perpetual
memory of his services it was ordained that a mess of meat should be laid before the pole-
axe every day, guarded by eight yeomen, and afterwards given to the poor. This cere-
monial lasted till the time of Queen Elizabeth, when it became obsolete.'
Finally, Sir G. L. Gomme Folklore as an historical science London 1908 pp. 66— 78
collects from the Germanic area much evidence tending to prove that it was formerly
(in pre-Celtic times?) the custom to kill off the aged and infirm by means of a club or
mallet {e.g. J. Aubrey Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisvie 1686— 87 (London 1881)
p. 19: 'An old Countrie Story '...' The Holy-mawle, w