Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Hdrkios, ' God
Retrospect 849
of Oaths,' continued to grasp a thunderbolt in either
hand. But that primitive insistence on the storm-god's power was
not after all devoid of ethical significance; it served, says Pausanias,
'to strike terror into perjurers^' In this context we discussed
the part played by Zeus in relation to Greek oaths, private and
public-. We also investigated the disputed personality of Dius
Fidiiis and found him to be an old lightning-god with an appellative
originally denoting ' '
the Cleaver {fiiido) but later misinterpreted as
' Protector of Pledges ' {fides)'^. Our survey of the monuments
enabled us to follow through several centuries the successive art-
types of Zeus—striding, standing, seated—till they culminated in
the masterpiece at Olympia. It was shown that Pheidias in all
probability took a hint for his great statue from the seated Zeus of
the local coinage, replacing the winged thunderbolt by a winged
Victory to emphasise tranquil supremacy rather than stormy
strengths Further, it appeared that Alexander, ignoring this
elevated conception of the godhead, deliberately reverted to an old
pre-Pheidiac type and placed upon his silver money a seated Zeus,
with eagle and sceptre, closely resembling Zeus Lykaios on the
federal coins of Arkadia. His purpose in so doing is problematic :
we noted a possible explanation''. Finally, on Italian soil Greek
art portrayed the sceptred Zeus in a pose suggestive of inward
reflexion. The outward symbols of the storm-god had wholly
disappeared. The worshipper was confronted with Providence
incarnate**.
The thunderbolt was a conventional representation of lightning
and as such underwent modifications of shape from time to time
and from place to place. In Mesopotamian art it was first a bipartite
and then a tripartite fork, composed of zig-zags or curved lines''.
These forks, duplicated in s. ix B.C., were subsequently {c. 700 B.C.)
stylised into the shape of a lotos-flowerl In that form they made
theirway through Asia Minor into Greece (650— 550 B.C.), appearing
there for the first time on vases of Ionian fabric". Among the
Greeks the lotiform bolt ran through three changes. Its petals
became rays or flames^". Its sepals developed into wings—eagle's
wings, for the eagle was the lightning-bearer^'. And its central
spike took on a spiral twist, to suggest the lightning's rotatory
flight'^. These changes can all be exemplified from the coinage
of the temple-mints at Olympia^'. Ultimately, in the east the
^ Supra p. 722 ff. ^ Supra p. 727 n. 3.
' Supra p. 724 ff. n. o.
* Supra p. 757 f. ^ Supra p. 760 ff. ^ Supra p. 762 fif. " Supra p. 764 ff.
® Supra p. 767 ff. " Supra p. 769 ff.
^- Supra p. 779 f.
^^ Supra p. 780 f.
^** Supra p. 776 f.
i' Supra p. TTjff.
c. II. 54