Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Zeus Bro7itatoSy Brontbn^ Brontesios 833
rain charm ^ Sir J. G. Frazer added that the rattHng of the car was
probably meant to imitate thunder-. We are not indeed told that
this was the car of Zeus: but, since Zeus was the Greek rain-god^,
that is a legitimate assumption ; he appears, moreover, on later
coins of Krannon*.
A similar imitation of the thunders of Zeus by means of a
rattling chariot is found in the myth of Salmoneus, who likewise
hailed from Thessaly*.
Lastly, it will be remembered that the Thracian Zeus Zbelsourdos
was at once a thunder-god and a charioteer (fig. 785)^.
{cl) Zeus Brontaios, Bronton, Brontesios.
Zeus Brontaios, the god 'of Thunder,' figures in late literature'
and twice at least on monuments of the Kyzikos district. A marble
stele from Mihallitch, preserved at Constantinople*, is decorated with
a relief of s. ii or iii A.D. (fig. /QS)**. It shows Zeus standing on a
broad pedestal, with a thunderbolt in his raised right hand, a sceptre
in his lowered left, and an eagle at his feet. Near him, on a smaller
the figs to ripen. Then, realising his fault, he caught the water-snake of the fountain,
brought it along with the bowl, and explained that the snake daily drank the water of the
fountain. Apollon punished him with thirst, as is stated by Aristotle {frag. 329 Rose] and
Archelaos in his ''l5Lo. 202, poet. astr. 2. 40, Myth. Vat. i.
115, 2. 22, 2. 128].
On the raven as a weather-prophet in antiquity see supra p. 518 n. 4.
1 Furtwangler Masterpieces of Gk. Sculpt, p. 471 suggests the same use for the problematic
Kessehvagen or ' caldron-chariots ' of the late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.
These are bowls mounted on carriages of four wheels apiece and frequently decorated with
birds or birds' heads. For examples and bibliography see J. Schlemm Worterbuch zur
Vorgeschichte Berlin 1908 pp. 282— 286. Cp. also R. Kittel Sludien zur hebrdischen
Archdologie und Religionsgeschichte Leipzig 1908 pp. 189—242 ('Die Kesselwagen des
salomonischen Tempels '—an interesting discussion leading up to the conclusion :
sind die Symbole der regenspendenden Gottheit'), J. Dechelette Manuel darcheologie
pr^historique Paris 1910 ii. i. 284 ff. fig. 107, 442
2 Frazer Golden Bough^ : The Magic Art i. 309.
ff. fig. 183.
^ Infra § 9.
* Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Thessaly etc. p. [7 pi. 2, 14, Head Hist, num."^ p. 294.
5 Infra Append. L sub fin.
"^ Supra p. 820.
7 Aristot. de mundo 7. 401 a 17, Orph. h. Zeus 15. 9. Cp. Athena ^^\oviKi\ daughter
of Bpocraros (Eudok. viol. 355), Athena BeXectKT/ daughter of ^povra.to% (Favorin. lex.
p. 750, 19 f.), Athena BaXefwij daughter of Bpoj/r^as (Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. iii).
8 A. Joubin Musie i^nphial ottoman: Catalogue des sculptures grecques, romaines,
byzantines et franques Constantinople 1893 no. 126, G. MenAel Musdes Iinp^riaux Ottomans
: Catalogue des sculptures grecques, romaines et byzantines Constantinople iii (' sous
presse').
« Lebas—Reinach Voyage Arch. p. 115 pi. 133, 2 ( = my fig. 793).
c. II. 53
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