![]() Here too the oak and a stream were sacred to him, though they did not as in Dodona take the first place in the cult. Closely akin to the worship of Zeus at Dodona was that upon the Lykaion (‘Wolf-hill’) in the south-west of Arkadia. The reason for his being worshipped particularly in an oak is manifestly that, before the cultivation of corn was introduced, acorns and flesh formed men’s chief food and moreover the thunderbolt, in which Zeus κεραύνιος himself descends as καταιβάτης to earth, more often strikes the towering stem of the oak than other trees. The tree-dwelling of the god Ζ εὺς ἔνδενδρος points to the great antiquity of his worship in this region. Elsewhere lightning and thunder, as well as ominous birds, - chiefly the eagle, which dashes like a lightning-flash upon its prey from the clouds, - were looked upon as representatives of his will. Thus it was that Dodona stood highest in repute of the oracle-homes of Zeus. By the rustling of the twigs he manifested his will to mortals and above all to his priests the Selloi, who after the manner of primitive ages slept upon the earth with no cover except the shelter of the trees. In this unusually stormy and hence well-wateredĪnd fruitful region he dwelt under the name of Ζ εὺς νᾴιος (‘Zeus of the waters’), as he was elsewhere as rain-giver styled ὑέτιος and ὄμβριος his abode was in a primeval oak-grove, or rather in a single tree thereof, at the foot of which gushed forth a holy well. Thessaly and a part of Epeiros once tenanted by Thessalians seem to have been the native home of Zeus Dodona, at the foot of the ridge of Tmaros or Tomaros, specially claimed regard as the primitive seat of his worship. The origin of the name Ζ εύς, which appears in the genitive as ΔιϜος, certainly goes back - like the Sanskrit Dyaus, German Ziu, and Latin Iuppiter, which last is compounded of Diovis (or Iovis) and pater - to the root div (‘cast,’ ‘shoot,’ ‘shine’), and thus may equally well designate lightning or a light-god 1 among the Greeks and Romans however this deity certainly developed into a storm-god. Greek Religion from the Beginning of the Homeric Age Greek and Roman Mythology & Heroic Legend Steuding, Translated from the German and Edited by Lionel D. From Greek and Roman Mythology & Heroic Legend, by Professor H.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |