412 The European Sky-god.
depicts Cadmus slaying the bearded snake beneath the porch of a palace, which recalls the "kingly dwelling" of the Delphic Serpent.
I would end by anticipating an objection, or rather two objections. If the victors of Delphi and Thebes were really regarded as temporary representatives of the sky-god, why do we hear of Apollo, not Zeus ? And why were they crowned with laurel, not oak ?
Apollo, it may be surmised, was but the solar form of the sky-god Zeus, a mere differentiation of that deity.--® As such he would dwell below the earth and thence send up his oracles to men.~-^ In short, Apollo was near akin to Hades, the earth-Zeus ; and the fact that cults of Hades were so rare in Greece finds its explanation in the popu- larity of Apollo-worship. At Delphi, if Apollo occupies the foreground, Zeus can at least be recognised in the background. Within the great temple, side by side with the statue of Apollo Motpa7eT7??, stood the statue of Zeus Mot/3rt7eT77?.-^° And the most cherished relics of the sacred precinct were connected with Zeus. Zeus had here erected the stone that Cronus had vomited forth : --^^ it was oiled daily and dressed in wool at every festival,-^^ being a veritable baetyl {^aiTvXo<i) of Zeus.-^-^ The eagles on the far-famed omphalos were those of Zeus.-^* A vase at Vienna"^^ shows the omphalos flanked by Zeus and Apollo; while another at St. Petersburg-^** represents Themis (?)
228 Cp. Folk- Lore, xv., 274.
•^ lb., XV., 275.
230 Paus., 10. 24. 4.
23' Hes. theog., 498 f-
2*2 Paus., 10. 24. 6.
2^ Etym. mag., 192, 6, Hesych. s. v. (iaiTvXoc, Bekker anecd., 22^, 10, Prise. i)isi., 7- 32.
-^ Pind. Pyth., 4. 4, and schol. ad loc.
2*^ Benndorf Griech. tind sicil. Vasenbild., p. 78 = Reinach Rep. des vases pehits, ii., 183, I.
2"^ Compte rendit de la covnuission iiiiperiale archeol. de Saiut-Pdfershourg, Atlas, 1S60, pL 2 = Reinach op. cit., i., 3.
