Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

734 Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt
The scene was drawn from the Aithiopis of Arktinos^, who made
Eos, mother of Memnon, prevail upon Zeus to honour her slain son
with the gift of immortality^ And here she intervenes, imploring
the dread judge' for the mitigation of his sentence. He stands by,
Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. ii43f. fig. 3, J. D. Beazley ' Kleophrades ' in the Jotirn. Hell.
Sttid. 1910 XXX. 42 no. 4, Hoppin Red-Jig. Vases ii. 147 no. 34. De Witte, Reinach, de
Ridder, and Hoppin are wrong in supposing the \f/vxocrTacria to be that of Hektor and
Achilles, for in that case the scales would have been held by Zeus, not Hermes (Gruppe
Or. Myth. Ret. p. 678 n. 6).
^ F. G. Welcker Der epische Cyclus Bonn 1882 ii'^. 175, Gruppe op. cit. p. 681 n. 6.
^ Yxo\^.. chrestom. 2 (G. Kinkel Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta \Jv^^\2.t iS'j'j i 33)
hreira 'Ax'XXfi^s M^fivova KTfivef Kai TovTifi fih 'Hws Trapd Aios alrrjaaijAvy) dOavaalav
dlSuxTi.
^ The belief that the souls of men are weighed in a balance was common to the Greeks,
the Egyptians {supra p. 99 n. 1), and perhaps the Babylonians (A. Jeremias Handbuch
der altorientalischen Geisteskultur Leipzig 1913 p. 113 f.: but see M. Jastrow y4j-/^c/j-
Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria New York and London 191
p. 363 f.). It may be connected ultimately with the custom of divining by weight (W. R.
Halliday Greek Divination London 1913 p. 222 ff.). But the subject is deserving of
separate investigation.
The Iliad makes Zeus himself hold the scales. He uses x/"^cf'