Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

844
Retrospect
Ultimately the following conclusions were reached: (i) that ApoUon
came to Greece from the land of the Hyperboreoi, dwellers ' Beyond
the Mountains,' about the source of the Danube'; (2) that the road
to their northern home was described sometimes as an earthly,
sometimes as a heavenly track, the former being the old trade-route
for amber along the eastern shore of the Adriatic, the latter its
aerial counterpart the Milky Way'-; (3) that the Agyieiis-piWairs of
Illyria and Epeiros marked out the 'Way' by which the god
travelled, and pointed onwards to Delphoi, where his oracle was
established by the Hyperboreans Pagasos and Agyieus*; (4) that
on his journey southward he was associated with different trees in
different regions— possibly, as Dr Rendel Harris urges, with the
apple-tree* in north Europe (Balder?^, Phol??^), probably with the
black-poplar {dpelloii) in the Balkans', certainly with the bay in
Thessaly*; (5) that Phoibos Apdlloii—for such was his full name
may have been originally a sky-god, who was affiliated to Zeus at
Delphoi and specialised by the Greeks into a sun-god^; (6) that he
met Artemis first in Asia Minor or the Archipelago, where she
originated as the younger form of the Anatolian mother-goddess".
Thus at the close of a somewhat lengthy excursion we were brought
back—like Apollon himself—by the Elysian route to Delphoi.
Resuming the main thread of our argument, we next dealt with
lightning as a flash from an eye, the evil eye, of Zeus". The subject
afforded an opportunit)' of explaining the superstition, not only of
the evil eye, but of the good eye also'l
Then followed a study of lightning as the weapon of Zeus
axe, spear, sword, or what not ? A notice of neolithic celts, which
the Greeks still term 'lightning-axes' {astrapopelekia, astropelekiay^i
prefaced a collection and discussion of the data with regard to the
double axe in 'Minoan' and post-'Minoan' times '^ This implement
' Supra p. 494 ff. ^ Supra p. 496 ff. " Supra p. 499.
* Supra p. 487 ff., cp. Addenda ad loc.
^ J. Rendel Harris The Ascent of Olympus Manchester IQ17 p. 64^, id. Origin and
Meaning of Apple Cults (extr. from the Bulletin of the yohn Rylands Library Manchester
August 191810 March 1919) Manchester 1919 p. 43 ff-
^ For Phol (PSI cod.) in the Second Merseburg Charm see K. Mlillenhoff—W. Scherer
Denkiudler deutscher Poesie tind Prosa aus dem viii—xii Jahrhundei't^ Berlin 1892 p. 16
(Text), J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882 i. 224 ff., 1883
ii. 614, iii. 1231 f. (Text), 1268 Index, 1888 iv. 1358, 1882 Index, E. H. Meyer
Germanische Mythologie'^&x\\'Ci 1891 p. 262, E. Mogk in the Grundriss der germanischen
Philologie"^ Herausgegeben von H. Paul Strassburg 1900 iii. 324, P. D. Chantepie de
la Saussaye The Religion of the Teutons Boston and London 1902 p. 127 f., R. M. Meyer
Altgeriiianische Religionsgeschichte Leipzig 1910 p. 311 f. , R. A. S. Macalister in the
Proceedings of the Royal Irish AcaAemy 1919 xxxiv. 374
ff. (Text).
'* Supra p. 484 ff. 8 Supra p. 486. ^ Supra p. 500. '" Supra p. 501.
^' Supra p. 501 ff. ^^ Supra p. 504 f. '^ Supra p. 505 ff.
^^ Supra p. 513 ff.