Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Retrospect 845
was seen falling from heaven to earth, as on a gold ring from
Mykenai^, incorporated with tree- or plant-forms, as on the sarcophagus
from Hagia Triada (here interpreted afresh)- and on that
from Palaikastro^, stuck into the pillars of a sacred building, as at
Knossos"*, or into the stalactite columns of a cave, as on Mount
Dikte^ set up between a pair of bovine horns, as in Cretan art
passim^,— motifs appropriate each and all to the weapon of a skygod.
A lenticular gem, hitherto unpublished, showed this god
posting along through the air with wings on shoulders and heels
and a double axe in his hand". We identified him with Kronos,
the husband of Rhea, and conjectured that the Greeks took his
name to mean 'Chopper*^.' The Homeric Kronos ankylometes, 'of
the crooked blade' (for so it should be rendered), passed on his
hdrpe to the Italian Saturn ^ An analogous figure, part deity, part
dirk, was recognised among the Hittite carvings at Boghaz-Keui^°.
The multiple u'ings could be paralleled from the coins of Mallos
and Byblos ; the double axe and hdrpe, from the coins of Ake or
Ptolemais".
When the Bronze Age succumbed to the Iron Age, the 'Minoan'
Kronos was succeeded by the Hellenic Zeus, another storm-god of
like proclivities^^, who became the inheritor of the double axe over
a wide area of the ancient world.
At Tarentum 'bolts from heaven forged of bronze,' traditionally
connected with early settlers from Crete, were taken over by Zeus
Katazbdtes^^.
In Asia Minor, if we may trust Plutarch, the double axe (Idbrys)
belonged in turn to the Amazons, the Lydians, and the Carians,
being eventually placed by Arselis of Mylasa in the hand of Zeus
Labradetis^*. The statement is broadly correct. The Amazonian
axe was in fact of Hittite origin : it is borne by the youthful god at
Boghaz-Keui and by his successor Herakles (Sandas) at Tarsos^^
On coins of Thyateira and other Lydian towns it is carried by the
local hero (Tyrimnos or the like), who in Graeco-Roman times tends
to be identified with Apollon and Helios^l Similar coin-types pre-
vail in Phrygia, where again the axe-bearing hero (Lairbenos,
Lairmenos, etc.) is equated with the same divinities. Not improb-
ably these are all Hellenised forms of the younger Hittite sky-god i^.
As to the Carians, Hekatomnos early in s. iv B.C. struck coins with
1 Supra p. 514 ff.
•* Supra p. 528 f.
2 Supra p. 516 ff. ^ Supra p. 524 f.
5 Supra p. 530 ff. * Stipra p. 535 ff.
7 Supra p. 543 f. « Supra p. 548 f. « Sztpra p. 549 f.
10 Supra p. 550 ff. " Siipra p. 552 ff.
13 Supra pp. 29 ff., 559. " Supra p. 559 f.
I'' Stcpra p. 561 ff. 1^ Supra p. 565 ff.
^^ Supra p. 554 ff.
^' Supra p. 560.