Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

and the trident of Poseidon 795
manner of Poseidon and striding forward to a decorated altar with
uplifted thunderbolt in the attitude of Zeus. Since the great god of
Messana was Poseidon, not Zeus, we should interpret this unique
type as Poseidon fulminant—an interpretation confirmed by the
dolphin and scallop-shell of the reverse side. On grounds of style
and motif the coin has been assigned to the middle of the fifth
century B.C. Sir A. J. Evans^ justly inferred from its legend Dank-
laion that, about the year 450, the old Zanclaean elements in the
Fig. 758. Fig. 759. Fig. 760. Fig. 761.
population of Messana must have succeeded in regaining for a while
their predominance : naturally they restored the earliest name of
the town and, along with it, their former coin-types of the dolphin
and the scallop. Now Zankle was an ancient foundation of the
Sikels^. Here then, if anywhere, we should look to find Poseidon in
his earliest form. And here we do find him with a thunderbolt, not
a trident, in his hand—a god who bears a significant resemblance
to Zeus*.
1 Sir A. J. Evans loc. cit.
2 Thouk. 6. 4, Steph. Byz. s, v. Zd^/cX?;.
•' Coins of Poseidonia [e.g. Garrucci Mon. It. ant. p. 178 pi. 121, 29, 30, 3i = niy figs.
762—764) show Poseidon brandishing his trident and Zeus brandishing his thunderbolt in
precisely the same attitude. The resemblance is suggestive, though not of course conclusive.
Garrucci says of the last piece :
Fig. 762. Fig- 763-
' Nettuno
Fig. 764.
qual Giove fulminante a d. dinanzi un delfino,
a sin. POSIEIAA.' Id. ib. p. 176 f. pi. 120, 8 wrongly infers from an early drachm