Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

832 Thunder caused by the Chariot of Zeus
a bronze car. In time of drought they shook this car and prayed
the god for rain. The par'dseinon or ' badge ' of their city showed
two ravens perched on the car ; and enquirers were told that two
ravens, never more than two, were to be seen at Krannon. Theopompos
stated that these two stayed till they had chicks, and then
left*. Ktesias told a similar tale about Ekbatanal And Myrsilos of
Methymna said that on Lepetymnos, a mountain of Lesbos, there
was a temple of Apollon and a shrine of the eponymous hero
Lepetymnos, on which again two ravens perched and no more^
Fig. 788. Fig. 789. Fig. 790.
Fig. 791. Fig. 792.
All this is duly related by Antigonos of Karystos, a paradoxo-
grapher of s. iii B.C. ; and his account is confirmed by the fourth-
century coinage of Krannon. Bronze coins of that town have for
their reverse type an amphora resting on a car (fig. 788)^ Some
specimens show a raven seated on the right-hand wheel (figs. 789
791)^
; others, a pair of ravens on the two wheels (fig. 792)®. A. Furt-
wangler made it probable that the ravens were believed to bring
rain from the sky% and that water was spilt from the amphora as a
^ Theopomp. y;-a^. 85 [Frag. hist. Gr. i. 292 Muller) a/. Antig. Karyst. hist. mir. 15.
^ Ktes. ap. Antig. Karyst. hist. mir. 15.
^ Myrs. Methymn. frag. 9 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 459
mir. 15.
Miiller) ap. Antig. Karyst. hist,
^ Brit. Mils. Cat. Coins Thessaly etc. p. 16 pi. 2, 13. Fig. 788 is from a specimen in
my collection.
^ Brit. Mils. Cat. Coins Thessaly etc. p. 16 nos. 3 and 4, Furtwangler Masterpieces of
Gk. Sculpt, p. 469 n. 7. Fig. 789 = W. M. Leake Numismata Hellenica London 1856
European Greece p. 43; fig. ;qo = ib. Fig. 791 is from the McClean collection.
^ Furtwangler (?/. cit. p. 469 fig. 186. My fig. 792 = W. M. Leake op. cit. European
Greece p. 43 (wrongly described) KPANNOYNIOYN.
^ He refers to Ail. de nat. an. i. 47 (Apollon sent the raven to get water. He found
a green cornfield and, wishing to eat the grain, waited till it grew dry, thereby forgetting
his errand. Hence he is punished by thirst in the summer, and proclaims his punishment
by croaking), pseudo-Eratosth. ra/aj-/. 41 (When the gods were sacrificing, the raven was
sent to get water for a libation from a fountain. He saw beside it a fig-tree and waited for