Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

VI] The Moon and the Olive 191
All-dewy- One, we have no direct evidence of a moon-cult 1 in the
Erechtheion, no Athenian gem with a crescent moon, shining in
a sanctuary. This is true, but the coinage of Athens reminds us
that the olive is clearly associated with the moon. On the reverse
of an Athenian tetradrachm in Fig. 46 is the owl of Athena, the
owl she once was, and in the field is not only an olive spray, but a
crescent moon. Athena and the moon shared a name in common
Glaukopis*. The ancient statues of Athena's 'maidens' carry
moon-haloes (/jLrjviatcoi) 3 . She
blazon the full moon 4 .
—
herself on her shield carries for
Fig. 46.
Yet another shrine not far from Crete, of early sanctity, with
holy olive tree and moon-goddess, cannot in this connection be
forgotten.
Give me the little hill above the sea,
The palm of Delos fringed delicately,
The young sweet laurel and the olive tree,
Grey-leaved and glimmering 5 .
Here we have a succession of holy trees brought one by one
by successive advances in civilization, but over them watched
always one goddess, though she had many names, Artemis, Oupis,
Hekaerge, Loxo. Behind her humanized figure shines the old
moon-goddess,
Oupis the Queen, fair-faced, the Light-Bearer .
1 In the Clouds of Aristophanes (610) the Moon complains bitterly of the
neglect into which she has fallen, deiva yap wewovdivai.
2 Eui. frg. (Nauck997)
7Aai//etD7r/s re