Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The spear of Zeus 705
Nonnos in the fifth century of our era makes Nike pray to Zeus
as follows:
Do thou in battle lift
Thy lightning-flash, Olympos' luminous spear^.
Accordingly, when Zeus meets Typhon,
in the fray
His shield was thunder and his corselet cloud.
The spear he shook was lightning^.
And elsewhere in the same poem Zeus is termed
The javelin-thrower of the thunderbolt^.
It is probable that the poets were but adopting a popular belief; for
Eustathios in the middle ages explained that 'Zeus has a fiery spear",'
and the modern Greek sailor with his eye on the storm-cloud will say
'God is throwing lightning like spear-strokes ^'
The axe-bearing Zeus of Karia is not unfrequently represented
with a spear". And, since he was worshipped as Strdtios, 'Lord of
HostsV this weapon might no doubt be explained as an indispens-
able part of his panoply. Nevertheless it is probable that the old
storm-god became the new war-god just because his thunderbolt was
conceived as a potent weapon, first a double axe and then a spear
or swords
At Hydisos in Karia Zeus Areios, the 'Warlike,' appears on a
bronze coin struck by Hadrian (fig. 635)'' as a soldier with helmet
and shield, though he still brandishes a thunderbolt in his raised right
hand. Bronze coins of the same town dating from the first century
^ Nonn. Dion. 2. 211 f. /j.apvdfxevos 5e |
dffTepoTrijv
Kov viipos 5^ oi ^TrXero
* Eustath. in 11. p. 1240, 51 f. koI Zei)? hk irvpivov ^xet hbpv, Tovriarm 'iyxp^. e^ ov
Kal eyxet-K^pavvos Trapd HtJ'Sdpy Xiyerai.
^ B. Schmidt Das Volksleben der Neugriechen Leipzig 187 1 i. 32 6 ^eos piwrei (more
often plxvei.) dcTpawaU cdv Kovrapiais.
6 S!t/>ra pp. 574 ff., 593. ^ Sii/ra pp. 576 ff., 590 f.
8 Supra p. 591 n. i, infra p. 712 ff.
'* D. Sestini Lettere e dissertazioni nnmismatiche Firenze 1818 v. 44, 1820 ix pi. 3, 11,
id. Classes generales sen Moneta vetus urbiuni populoriim et regut?i'^ Florentiae 1821 p. 88,
F. Streber in the Abh. d. bayer. Akad. 183^ Philos.-philol. Classe pp. 232— 239 pi. 4, 5,
T. Panofka in the Abh. d. berl. Akad. 18^3 Phil. -hist. Classe pp. 32— 42 ('Zeus Areios')
pi. I— 2, 2, Miiller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Knnst ii. 11 pi. 2, 21, Overbeck Gr. Kunst-
myth. Zeus pp. 208— 210 Miinztaf. 3, 11 ( = niy fig. 635), Head Hist. nu?n.' p. 620.
Sestini Iolx. citt. read lACCGCON, Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 353 no. 291
lACeCON, Streber /^f. cit. lAICeCON, Panofka loc. cit. lACeHN, Wieseler loc. cit.
lAlCeCON (for lACCeCON), Overbeck loc. cit. lAICeHN. B. V. Head was the
first to transfer the coin from lasos to Hydisos.
C. II. 45