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

vn] The Victor and the Hero 259
worshippers who painted and repainted this altar did not know
whether it belonged to one ' hero ' or to many : they inscribed
it now ' Of the Hero,' now ' Of the Heroes.' Their doubt is
instructive. ' The Hero '
is not a dead man with a known name
and history commemorated by funeral games. His title stands
not for a personality, but for an office, denned by its functions and
capable of being filled by a series of representatives 1
. At one
time Sosipolis might be ' the hero ; at another Pelops, the
'
mythical ancestor of an incoming people ; at another the Idaean
Herakles or his Dorian homonym. Even as late as Macedonian
times, a Philip could build a round shrine—the Philippeum—in
deliberate imitation of the old round chamber with the Hero altar,
and thus pose as ' the Hero ' of Olympia for the time being 2 . In
view of these considerations, the establishment of Games and
' hero-worship ' in honour of historic personages, like Miltiades or
Brasidas, lends no support to the funeral theory of the origin
of the Olympic Games. Before any one of these individuals could
be worshipped as the Hero of a city, the conception of what the
Hero or Saviour of the City is, must first have been clear 1)
defined. The title and functions of a Hero are a blank frame,
which may be filled by a succession of representatives, chosen each
for his ' year,' or by this or that historic personality, as the changes
and chances of time and of politics may determine.
To the analysis of the idea of a Hero the next chapter will be
devoted.
brought from Mount Kronios where a similar soil is found. It has been inferred
that the sanctuary was transferred from the hill, with some of the sacred soil,
to its present site. Dr Frazer regards this inference as uncertain.
1 The same holds of the octennial kingship—the office to which the winner
of the race, according to Dr Frazer's final theory (G. B. 3 , Part m. p. 104), became
entitled. Dr Frazer speaks of combining this view with the funeral theory by
supposing that 'the spirits of these divine kings... were worshipped with sacrifices
at their graves, and were thought to delight in the spectacle of the games which
reminded them of the laurels which they had themselves won long ago....' But it
must be clearly pointed out that this is not the funeral theory as advocated by
Prof. Ridgeway, who will have the whole festival start from the obsequies of one
individual chief— a historic or quasi-historic personality—whereas Dr Frazer's view
(rightly, as we think) makes the office and its functions, not any individual holder
of it and his personal exploits, the central factor. This is an essential point of
difference between the two theories.
2 I owe this to Mr Cook, who points out that the Philippeum is built of stone,
painted to look like brick, because the old chamber in the Gaeum was of brick.
17—2