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

58 The Kouretes, Thunder- Rites and Mana [ch.
an inscription which reminds us of another divine being whose
tomb Zeus took over :
Here died Pikos and lies buried, who is also Zeus 1 .
After all these solemnities the final apocalypse of an empty
throne falls rather fiat. Why is the throne draped if it is to
remain empty ? Was the throne really empty ? Probably not.
Zeus in human shape was not seated thereon, otherwise we should
have been told, but his throne may on certain occasions have been
tenanted by a symbol as awe-inspiring as, or even more than,
himself,—his thunderbolt.
The two coins in Fig. 7 suggest this 2 . The
Seleukeia Pieria 3 ,
Silver Tetradrachm of Seleukeia
Pieria.
first is from
the date probably early in the first century B.C.
Fig. 7.
Denarius of Antoninus
Pius. Kev.
The reverse shows a large thunderbolt with fillet attached, lying
on a cushion on a throne; the legend is ZEAEVKEQN THZ
IEPAI KAI AVTONOMOV. The turreted head on the obverse is
supposed to be the Tyche of Seleukeia. The second coin figured
is a denarius of Antoninus Pius, and also shows a thunderbolt
resting on a spread throne. Closely analogous in idea, though
re aTopvvfievov avrw tear' Htos dpovov idedaaro, €wLypa/J.p.d r ivexdpa^ev eni tQ rd...TL'iKos 6 Kal Zeiis. See p. 109.
- The coins reproduced are in the possession of Mr A. B. Cook, and will be
discussed in his forthcoming book on Zeus. He very kindly allows me to anticipate
their publication.
3 Cf. Brit. Mus. Cat. Gk. Coins, Syria, pp. 270 f. PI. xxxn. 6 and 8. The
thunder-cult of Seleukeia Pieria is well known. Appian in his History of Syria
(c. 56) says of the inhabitants of Seleukeia dpycrKovci ko.1 v/xvoven /cat vvv Kepavvov.
Keraunos had annually appointed priests, Kfpawocpbpoi, with whom may perhaps be
compared the \i6o(p6pos, who had a seat in the Dionysiac theatre at Athens. See
my Myth, and Mon. Ancient Athens, p. 274.
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