Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/328

 304 The European Sky-god,

instance, after telling us that Minos was the son of Zeus 'Ao-repio?, he adds: " In by-gone days it was customary to call all kings Zeuses." This statement, which is repeated several times by him in different connections,-'* was clearly one of his regular canons of interpretation. Nor does Tzetzes stand alone in the matter. The famous grave of Zeus on Mt. Jukta in Crete, which according to one account -~^ bore the inscription —

u)0€ 6avwv Kelrai Zav, ov Aia KiK\i](rKov(Tiv " Ifere lies dead Za7t, whom men call Zeus" —

according to others -^^ was the tomb of King Minos. On this and other grounds it is difficult to resist the conclusion that Minos was held to be a human embodiment of Zeus.-'*^ He was in fact one of those " consecrated men whom the Greeks call Zaties^' — to quote a much misunderstood phrase from Macrobius.-"^ Further, if I\Iinos was a man-god of this sort, we can understand the contention of Euhemerus ~''^ — which took such a hold upon the imagination of the Romans ~^° — that Zeus had been a former king of Crete.

It appears, then, that mythology, history, and literature alike bear witness to the early Greek belie! that the king was a human Zeus. Now we have seen that Zeus, primarily the god of the bright sky, became both a water-god and an

•"■' Tzetz. anteho?n., 102. ot Trpiv yap re A'lac Trdvrag KoXtov iSaciKfiag, chil., I. 474 TOVQ (3a(jiKtig S" uvEKaGe Aiag iKoKovv Trdvrac, 2. 160 to OTTwg TTcivrag f3ai7tXitc Aiag eKokovv, elirov, cp. 164 Tug fiaaiXiSuQ Si 9tdg^ 174 o ZevQ tKelvoc fSaaiXevc, 197 Zfi'p rig inrapx^ov paaiXtvc, 5-454 ^««S yap irpiv 01 "EKKrjvig rovg (SaaiXslg tKaXovr, 9.454 rovg Trpiv yap iravrac (iacriXelg Aiag 01 TTplv tKuXovi', in Lye. Alex., 88 A'lag oi TraXaioi Tzavrag ikoXovv tovq l3a(TiXe7g.

'^' Porph. vit Pyth., 17; cp. Yxm., frag. 526 Bahrens.

=■* Schol. Call, hyvin. lov., 8.

-" Class. Rev., xvii., 406 ff.

^® Macrob. Sat., 3. 7. 6, animas vero sacratonim hominum,quosZanasGra:ci vocant, dis debitas sestimabant. See further Class. J\ez'., xvii., 412.

^^ Hock, Kreta, iii., 331 fif.

-^ E.g. Lactam., div. insL, i. 11, Firm. Mat., 6. I, 16. I.