Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt 741
that the statue in question was made before the loss of Aigina's
independence in 458 B.C. And there is much to be said for E.
Babelon's^ conjecture that it furnished the reverse design of certain
rare Olympian statcres (figs. 670—672) referred by C. T. Seltman^
to the periods c. 471 c. 452 and c. 452 c. 432 B.C. respectively'*.
Fig. 670. Fig. 671. Fig. 672.
The statue of Zeus Ithomdtas, which Hageladas made for the
Messenians of Naupaktos^ presumably not before 455 B.C.^ seems
to have perpetuated the type of the striding antagonist. For silver
coins of Messene struck c. 369—330 (fig. 673)*' and c. 330—280 B.C.
1 Babelon Monn. gr. rom. ii. i. 885 ff. no. 1254 pi. 39, i (Berlin) = my fig. 672,
no. 1255 pi. 39, 2 (Paris).
^ C. T. Seltman 'The Temple Coins of Olynipia' in Nomisnia 1913 viii. 24, 35 f.
no. 37 pi. 2, ABat (Paris), 41 ff. no. 72 pi. 3, AP/37 (Weber), no. 73 pi. 3, AQ/37 (Berlin).
Mr Seltman is certainly right in regarding the reverse type of no. 72 f. as a 'restitution' of
no. 37.
I figure the Paris and McClean specimens of the earlier coin and the Berlin specimen
of the later. The legend \AOH| n\/\\/AO
is for 'OXri^TriKaJi' {a.yihviav) or {aSXajv) : see
A. Lambropoulos in the Zeitschr.f. Num. 1895 xix. 210, E. Babelon loc. cit. p. 893, and
C. T. Seltman loc. cit. p. 41.
^ Similar to the work of Aristonous in all probability was the image of Zeus, seven
cubits high, holding an eagle in one hand, a thunderbolt in the other, dedicated at Olympia
by the Leontines Hippagoras, Phrynon, and Ainesidemos (Paus. 5. 22. 7
Frazer ad /oc). If Olympia v. 735 f. no. 838 AIH[ ] is really part
with Sir J. G.
of its base, we
must refer the image to the archaic period.
* Paus. 4. 33. 2 TO hk dyaX/xa tov Aibs 'AyeXdda fxev ecmv ipyov, iwoLrjdr) Se i^ apxv^
Tols oiKrjcracnv iv NaKTrd/cry MecrarjiiUov. lepevs 5^ atperos /card ^ros eKacrrov ^^et t6 dya\/xa
ewi TTJs o'lKiai (Clavier cj. iv rfj oiKlq., cp. Paus. 3. 13. 3). ayovai 5e Kal eoprrjv iirireLov
'I^w/^ata (Nilsson G?-. Feste p. 32)* rh Be dpxouov Kal dyCiva eTldeffav fiovaiKrj's. k.t.X.
Supra i. 121 f., infra Append. B Messene.
^ In 455 B.C. the Messenians besieged by the Lacedaemonians on Mt Ithome quitted
their stronghold and settled at Naupaktos, a town given them by the Athenians, yN\\o had
wrested it from the Ozolian Locrians (Paus. 4. 24. 6f.). These Messenians doubtless
commissioned Hageladas to make a statue of Zeus Ithof/idtas, to whose protection they
were so deeply indebted, and brought it with them on their ultimate return to Messene,
the new city founded by Epameinondas in 369 B.C. (E. Pfuhl in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. vii. 2193).
^ Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Peloponnesus p. 109 pi. 22, i (=myfig. 673), Head Coins of
the Ancients p. 46 pi. 23, 35, id. Hist, num.^ p. 431 fig. 236, P. Gardner Types of Gk.
Coins pp. 156, 159
pi. P, 4-
pi. 8, 25, Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner Ntim. Comm. Pans. ii. 67 f.