Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

846 Retrospect
the type of Zeus shouldering a double axe. This was an adaptation
from the cult-image of Zeus Strdtios or Labrdyndos {^Labrandeiis,
Labrandejws, etc.), who was worshipped at Labranda near Mylasa^
The Mylasians just outside their city had a second sanctuary, that
of Zeus Osogda, whose attributes the eagle, the trident, and the crab
procured for him the title Zenoposeiddn"^.
And here, by way of parenthesis, we contended that the Hellenic
Poseidon himself was but a specialised form of Zeus, his name
Potei-Ddn, etc., denoting originally 'Lord Zeus,' just diS pdtnia Here
meant 'lady Hera^.'
In Karia the cult of Zeus had probably been superposed on that
of an indigenous earth-mother, whose characteristics he had to some
extent absorbed. Two queer reliefs show the Zeus of Labranda
grasping a double axe but equipped with female breasts*—an
abnormal figure, which recurs at Smvasa in Kappadokia* and is
balanced by a bearded goddess brandishing a thunderbolt at Zogui
in Pontos^
A short section followed in which, accepting M. Mayer's connexion
oi Idbrys and Labyrinthos, we maintained (i) that the Carian
Labrdynda, Ldbranda and the Cretan Labyrintlios both denoted a
place where lightning, the sky-god's Idbrys, had fallen, and (2) that
in Karia and Crete alike the Idbrys was primarily the attribute of a
god and only secondarily, if at alP, the attribute of a goddess**.
More space was devoted to E. Conybeare's suggestion that the
labarunt was derived from the Idbrys, and a fresh attempt was made
to trace the steps by which the pagan symbol developed into the
Christian monogram '•. It was shown (i) that the old Anatolian
double axe was still recognised as a sacred object or sign throughout
the Levant in the opening centuries of our era—witness the coin-
types and reliefs discussed above, the reputed axe of Noah^", the
Ophite diagram'^ the Gnostic mystery of the double axe'^, and
(2) that the pictograph of the Idbiys, having already given rise to
a variety of syllabic and alphabetic characters, might readily be
adapted to other significant uses'l Accordingly it was suggested
that Constantine, who during his stay in the east had observed the
Idbrys and noted its possibilities, later deliberately transformed it
into the labaruni, an emblem at once old and new, pagan and
Christian, in a word thoroughly Constantinian".
1 Stipra pp. 573 ff., 585 ff. ^ Supra p. 576 ff. ' Supra p. 582 ff.
* Supra p. 5Q2 ff. ^ Supra p. 594 f. ^ Supra p. 595 f.
"' Supra p. 622 ff. 8 Supra p. 600 f. ' Supra p. 601 ff.
10 Supra p. 609 f. '1 Stipra p. 6iof. i- Supra p. 61 1 ff.
13 Supra p. 613, cp. p. 607 f. 1* Supra p. 613 f.