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Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

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Gradual elim<strong>in</strong>ation of the thunderbolt 725<br />

{urfeta = orhita) <strong>in</strong> his hand {Tabulae Iguv<strong>in</strong>ae \\b, 22 ff. pune seste, | urfeta<br />

habetu. estu iuku habetu : |<br />

manuve<br />

' lupater Sase, tefe estu vitlu vufru sestu,' which C. D. Buck<br />

op. cit. p. 297 translates 'Cum sistis, orbitam <strong>in</strong> nianu habeto. Istas preces habeto :<br />

" luppiter Sanci, tibi istum vitulum votivum sisto"'). Cakes called summanalia, and<br />

presumably sacred to \xi^\\.ex Sutiii/tautis, god of the nocturnal sky and sender of lightn<strong>in</strong>g<br />

by night (R. Peter <strong>in</strong> Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 1600), were made <strong>in</strong> the shape of a wheel<br />

(Fest. p. 348 b f,L Miiller, p. 474, 17 f. L<strong>in</strong>dsay, Paul, ex Fest. p. 349, 9 Miiller, p. 475,<br />

7 L<strong>in</strong>dsay). Lyd. de mens. 4. 90 p. 138, i f. Wi<strong>in</strong>sch Th 'L6.yKo% ovojxa ovpavbv (TTifiaivei rrj<br />

'Za^ivwv y\wa-(rri is not conclusive (R. S. Conway o/i. cit. i. 357). But, on the whole, it<br />

seems clear that Dius Fidius was a specialised form of lupiter, the sky-god by whom men<br />

swore. Now lupiter was believed to sanction treaties with his thunderbolt (Verg. Aen. 12.<br />

200 audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulm<strong>in</strong>e sancit with Serv. ad loc). And Dius Fidius<br />

appears to have stood <strong>in</strong> very special relations to the lightn<strong>in</strong>g- flash. G. Wissowa <strong>in</strong><br />

ft<br />

|.:*>i,<br />

i<br />

Fig. 660. Fig. 661.<br />

Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 318 po<strong>in</strong>ts out that of the <strong>in</strong>scriptions mention<strong>in</strong>g him the three<br />

most important are all dedications by the decuria sacerdotn/n bidentalium (Dessau op. at.<br />

nos. 3472, 3473) or decuria bidentalis [ib. no. 3474), on which see E. de Ruggiero<br />

Dizionario epigi-afico di antichila roniane Roma 1894<br />

(Dessau^/, cit. no. 3472Semoni |<br />

Sanco<br />

|<br />

Sancto<br />

Deo Fidio |<br />

i. 1005 f. One of these <strong>in</strong>scriptions<br />

sacrum<br />

|<br />

decuria<br />

sacerdot. |<br />

bidentalium) occurs on the ba.se of a marble statue, found at Rome <strong>in</strong> 1879 and represent<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Dius Fidius himself <strong>in</strong> the guise of an archaic Apollon (H. Jordan 'Statua Vaticana di<br />

Semone Sanco ' <strong>in</strong> the Ann. d. Lnst. 1885 Ivii. 105— 126 pi. A. =:my fig. 660 f., W. Helbig<br />

Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Satnnilungen klassischer Altertihner <strong>in</strong> RotJi^ Leipzig 19 12<br />

i. 226 f. no. 351, G. Wissowa <strong>in</strong> Roscher Lex. Myth. iv. 318 fig. ). C. O. Thul<strong>in</strong> Die ettus-<br />

kische Discipl<strong>in</strong> i Die Blitzlehre [Goteborgs Hogskolas Arsskrift 1905 v) Goteborg 1906<br />

p. 42 f. th<strong>in</strong>ks that the statue once held a thunderbolt <strong>in</strong> its left hand, an orbis aeneus <strong>in</strong>

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