Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/303

 The European Sky -god. 279

Coronea, — which Pausanias and Strabo both mention, the one naming the god Zeus, the other Hades." ^^° And E- Rohde ^^^ collected the evidence for the cult of a chthonian Zeus BofXeu? or Etr/Sou\eu9- Further, if Poseidon and Hades were but variant forms of Zeus, fresh light is thrown on several ancient myths, such as that ^^" which made Heracles single-handed vanquish the trio Phoebus,^^^ Poseidon, and Hades at Olympia ; or that ^^^ which made Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo simultaneous suitors for the hand of Thetis ; or that^^^ which made Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes (or Apollo) co-parents of Orion. Again, the art- types of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are extraordinarily similar. The substantial points of resemblance and the slight points of difference between Zeus and Poseidon have been minutely studied by Overbeck.^^^ But in the end we have to admit Zeus-like Poseidons and Poseidon- like Zeuses, or figures which might appropriately bear the name of either god. So with Hades : Dr. Farnell ^^"^ notes "the close resembance which the type of Zeus bears to that of Hades through all the periods of Greek art." As Scherer^^^ puts it, "His whole appearance is that of a

"" Paus., 9. 34. I, Strab., 411.

"• Rohde, Psych.^ i., 207, n. 2, 210, n. i. Cp. the inscription AI02 ITAOYTHOS on a base from Halicarnassus (Roscher Lex., i., 1812).

"2 Find. 01., 9. 31 ff. with schol.

"* Probably a pious substitution for Zeus ; for another myth made Heracles wrestle successfully against Zeus himself at Olympia (Lye. Alex., 40 fif. with Tzetz. ad loc.').

"* Tzetz. in Lye. Alex., 178.

"* Class. Rev., xviii., 81 f.

"^ OvexhQcV, Kunstmyihologie,^!., 2^^ ii. " Poseidon ist als grosser Kronide und Bruder des Zeus in der ganzen bildenden Kunst der Alten eine der Hauptsache nach ganz zeusartige Erscheinung ; das springt bei oberflach- licher Betrachtung sofort in die Augen, wahrend die Verschiedenheiten in der Darstellung beider Gotter gesucht und studirt werden sollen." Cp. Preller-Robert, p. 594 f.

"■^ Farnell, i., 105.

"' In Roscher, Lex., i., 1794.