Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

822 Zeus Zbelsourdos
increase our knowledge of the Thracian god. But the inscriptions'
contribute other spellings of his name: Zeus ZbelsoTirdos^, Zeus
Zlet/io/lrdos^, the god Zberturdus*.
The name is presumably a compound. But attempts to fix its
meaning are precarious. Tomaschek' thought that the first element
was akin to the Lithuanian zaibas, 'lightning,' ziburys, 'light, torch,'
etc. and might denote either ' brilliance ' or ' lightning.' For the
second he suggested some connexion, near or remote, with the
Slavonic sver-d-, 'to twist, to bore.' On this showing we should,
I suppose, obtain a Thracian equiv^alent of terpikeraunos^. Baron
Nopcsa believes that Z\hG.\- Thiurdos lives on in Sn Snrdh, 'Saint
Deaf {surdus), whom he describes as the storm-god of the modern
Albanians^ G. Seure*, with far greater circumspection, argues that
the original form of the Thracian name was *Zibelesourdos, which
by a double syncopation became Zbelsourdos. He finds the same
first element in Zibeleizis, a well-attested variant" of the Getic
Gebeleizis'^'^, and urges that *Zibelesourdos, Zibeletzis, and Zalnwxis
were three of the epithets attached to the great national god of
Thrace, a Zeus-like deity whose name is unknown". The second
element Soiirdos he regards as the patronymic of Soiiras {Soiiris,
Sums, Siirio), pointing out that on one of the reliefs already mentioned
(fig. 782) the name Soi'ira may possibly be that of the god'^
and emending a disputed sentence of Cicero's accordingly'^
' G. Seure in the Rev. Et. Gr. 1913 xxvi. 242 f.
^ A statue of Domitian erected by a trierarch of the Perinthian fleet was dedicated Ait
Z^eXcroi/pSoj (A. Dumont—T. Hoinolle Inscriptions et tiioniiments figure's de la Thrace
Paris 1876 p. 381 no. 72 a). But the Ashburnham MS. of Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli (Cyriacus of
Ancona), to whom we owe the preservation of this title, reads All Zl BEACOYPAOOI
(Th. Mommsen in the Ephem. epigr. 1877 iii. 236 no. 8).
* A votive column, found at C/iaprovo near Doiibnitza, is inscribed in coarsely cut
letters Al IZACI OOYPACOj rcS Kiipioj |
the Rev. Et. Gr. 1913 xxvi. 242, 247).
Bo\^appi\i]voi
Kosl/xrjrai a.vidrjKa.v (G. Seure in
* A Latin dedication, found at Ljiibanze near Uskub in Makedonia, reads : [d]eo
Zb![er]turdi[o sacr.]![S]ex. Fl. F[la]|mina[lis]|[v.] 1. [p.] {Corp. inscr. Lat. iii no. 8191
with correction on p. 2250, Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 4077 with correction ib. iii. 2
p. clxxxi).
* W. Tomaschek in the Sitzungsber. d. kais. Akad. d. Wiss. in Wien Phil. -hist.
Classe 1894 cxxx. 11, 60 fit'.
•" Snpra p. 779.
' F. Nopcsa in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie 191 1 xliii. 918: ' Sn Surdh ist der
Gewittergott der heutigen Albaner, Zibel thiurdos ein thrakischer Gott. Die Verehrung
des Sn Surdh zeigt thrakische Ziige.'
** G. Seure in the Rev. Et. Gr. 191 3 xxvi. 247 ff.
9 So codd. A. B. C. (the older, 'Florentine,' family) in Hdt. 4. 94.
'" Snpra p. 227 n. 4.
'i See, however, supra p. 276 f.
1- lioiipa., if nominative, is the dedicator ; if genitive, the dedicator's father ; if dative,
the god to whom the dedication is made.
1^ In Cic. in Pis. 85 a te lovis Velsuri fanum antiquissimum barbarorum Sanctis-