Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/403

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The European Sky -god. 373

"the Leader" ; and perpetual fire from his altar was carried along with them by an official called the fire-bearer.^^ On reaching the frontier they sacrificed again to Zeus and Athena ; and from this sacrifice, too, perpetual fire was borne before them, while victims of all sorts followed after.^' Similarly the kings of Epirus used to sacrifice to Zeus "Apeto?, Zeus "the Warlike," at Passaron in the territory of Molottis,^^ as Oenomaus king of Pisa had done in mythical times.^® During the fight the king might be armed with the spear that symbolised his god : - at least, Par- thenopaeus of Arcadia, who seems to have boasted that he was the son of Zeus, " swears by the spear that he holds, trusting it more than a god for sacredness and better than sight."""^ If Zeus "the dispenser of war"^^ favoured him and he proved successful against the foe, he"^ would erect a trophy, i.e., an oak-tree'"^ lopped of its branches and covered with votive armour. This oaken trunk was regarded as a rough statue of Zeus TpoTrato?, Zeus " the god of Rout."-^ It appears, then, that various duties towards

'° Xen. de rep. Lac, 13. 2; Nicol. Dam., Trept e^wv ap. Stob. serm. 44, p. 294 (p. 156 Orell., 278 Cor.) cited by Steph. Thesaurus s. v. ayijrup: orav Ss OTpaTiiKjovrai t^w ^U)pag, Trvp cnro rov ^iofiov rov 'AyijTopog AioQ kvavadnevog [6] ■!rvp<p6pOQ Xtyufiivoq (jvvtaTi rtp (5aaiKel dujitarov avrb rripSjv.

" Xen. de rep. Lac, 13. 3, cp. Hdt., 6. 56.

»* Plut. vit. Pyrrh., 5.

  • ^ Paus., 5. 14. 6.

"^ Supra, p. 371.

^' Aesch., sept. c. Theb., 529 f., with Verrall's n.

^ //., 19. 224.

'^ So Eur. Phcen., 571 ff., 1250 f., of Polynices ; Pans., 9. 40. 8 of Caranus ; &c.

" Cp. Verg. Aen., 11. 5. ff., ingentem quercum, decisis undique ramis, | constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma, | Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropsum, | Bellipotens, and Class. Rev., xviii. 364 f.

" Eur. Heracl., 936 f. "TAAof \iiv ovv o t effOXbg 'iSXeojQ fSpiTOQ | Aiog TpoTraiov KaWii'iKov 'Iffrauav, Phccn. 1 250 f. WoKvvuk^c., cV rsoi 7jt]v6g opQCJaai (Sperag \ rpoTralov, 1472 f. o)g d' eVt/coi/xEv fidxy- \ 01 fiev Aibg rpOTraiov