because the vine flourishes there, and Eckhel explains the Dionysiak cult of Thasos on this principle, just as he says that bos on a coin ‘laeta pascua indicat.' Unfortunately for this simple explanation of an obscure matter, the ox appears on the coins of places not remarkable for richness of pasturage; Dionysos is found where the vine is absent; and conversely, pastures and vine-districts exist without numismatic oxen or Dionysoi. I, of course, admit that when Dionysos is firmly established as the Winegod, he is especially reverenced by vine-growers, as at Maroneia; but this circumstance, whilst illustrating his phase as Theoinos, does not interfere with his other manifestations, and but brief consideration will serve to satisfy us that his cult was introduced at Thasos not by vines, but by Phoenicians. On the Rhodian coins, as on the Thasian, there is but one god figured, Helios-DionysosMelikertes. The myth of Herakles strangling the snakes sent to destroy him does not belong to the earlier story of the son of Alkmene, and the snakes which encircle the Sun-god of Rhodos may be the serpents that crown Dionysos. These, according to the Natural Phenomena Theory, are the horrid snakes of darkness which seek to destroy their enemy,' the Sun; but this explanation must be looked upon with great suspicion, for (1) the sun comes to the darkness to destroy it, not the darkness to the sun; but the snakes come to the infant Herakles: and (2) serpents, we find, are the creeping light of morning, not the darkness of night. But if a serpent be a symbol of anything which creeps, darkness does not creep but falls. (I do not think the Vedic Vritra the Cloud-concealer, who is also Ahi the strangling snake who binds up the waters which the thirsty earth requires, is a snake of darkness principally, for the Cloud-concealer is not a snake, and the binding snake acts by day.) The coins 1 Mythol. of the Aryan Nations, ii. 2 Ibid. i. 419, ii. 90. 44. of Rhodos and Thasos thus prove on examination to belong to the Dionysiak cycle; in the former island the strong Semitic element in its mythic history prevents the intrusion of the Aryan Apollon, although it is pre-eminently a solar locality. In Thasos we find Dionysos, as in the Comedy of Aristophanes, concealed beneath the lion-skin of Herakles; but as the garment does not make the man, he is Dionysos still. But the natural question here arises, May not the coins of other localities which bear Herakles and Apollon or their attributes represent in reality the Tyrian Herakles and Helios, or in other words Dionysos-Melikertes? Far be it from me, however, to attempt to overstrain the point. I have too much respect for Apollon and his Aryan kindred to wittingly infringe upon their rightful dominions. There is one very conspicuous coin-type, the bull, ox, or cow, which demands special notice on account of the numerous points of connection between Dionysos and this animal. Of course, the type might in the abstract appear on coins for reasons unconnected with Dionysos, and each particular instance must therefore be decided on its own merits. The following is a list of some bovine cointypes: It Al anthos. Lion tearing a bull. The solar heat drying up humidity; or, more broadly, the apparent contest in the material world between the destructive and renewing principles. This is a widely spread type, a circumstance which indicates its highly symbolical nature. appears, for instance, on ancient Phoeniko-Kilikian coins inscribed with Phoenician characters. The lion is also said to be a symbol of the diurnal, the bull of the nocturnal sun. Akarnania. Beardless head, with bull's horns and 1 Vide inf. VIII. ii. Bull; IX. iii. 3 Vide sec. iv.; Gem, No. XX. 2 Inf. VIII. ii. Lion. neck.-Rev. Apollon, naked, with the cornucopiae. Akarnania is the land of Karneios, the Horned Sun,1 but Eckhel truly observes that the monstrum biforme in his numis est Achelous,' the largest river in Hellas, and consequently the type of water and humidity in general.2 And he adds, somewhat too generally, ‘Fluvia taurina forma passim fueri efficti.' As to Acheloös, born of Okeanos and Tethys, he fought in bovine form with Herakles for Deianira, but was conquered and had one of his horns broken off, which he recovered by giving up the horn of the Kretan goat Amaltheia, the cornucopia which was ever full. Says Deianira : A river was my suitor-Acheloös. In triple form he sought me of my sire: Now would he come a bull in all his limbs ;' From his shaggy beard The springs of liquid fountains ever flowed. Sophokles, Trach. 9-14. The myth forms an appropriate commentary on the coin of Akanthos just noticed. The Sun-god Herakles withers up the humidity of earth and takes away the horn of plenty which belongs to moisture, but the humid principle is only despoiled for a time; he can again receive from and give to the sun fresh treasures, and so the eternal apparent contest, but real harmony, ever con1 Sup. sec. ii. Cf. Paus. iii. 13. 2Cf. Aristoph. Lysist. 382. Chor. of Women; Thy task, O Acheloös.' (The women empty their buckets on the men's heads.) 3 Some said he was their eldest son, but Hesiodos very properly puts Neilos at the head of the river family (Hes. Theog. 340). 4 Cf. The late imitation of Horatius, Car. iv. 14. Tauriformis Aufidus.' The sapient Scholiast in Eur Orest. 1372 attributes the myth to the roaring of the river waters, as a similar wise man has said that the Humber was 80 named from its humming sound. As to the supposed bull-roaring of Lake Onchestos, vide Poseidon, iv. The passage in Il. xxi., where the enraged river Xanthos, to whom many bulls had been offered in accordance with the principle above referred to, rushes at Achilleus, roaring like a bull, is not to the point, for a supernatural and not a natural action of the water is spoken of. tinues. The son of Semele is lord of the whole humid nature,'1 but at the same time, Sun and Bull, Herakles and Acheloös, are in truth two parts of the 'one stupendous whole,' the kosmic Dionysos. Amphipolis. The Bull.-Rev. Head of Europe. Also Europe carried off on the bull: over her head she holds the mystic girdle of love and darkness.2 6 Aspendos. In Pamphilia. Bull, in contorted position. In exactly the same attitude and gesture as when fighting with the lion.'3 Athenai. Theseus seizing the Minotauros, a bullheaded man, by one horn. The same subject. Theseus forces the monster to the ground and is about to kill him with a club.4 Chalkedon. A Bull.-Rev. Four triangular incuses. Chersonesos Taurika. Head of the Taurik Artemis. -Rev. Bull. This so-called Artemis is the female reflection' of the Horned-god.5 Dyrrhachion. Cow, suckling calf.-Rev. Gardens of Alkinoös. Euboia. Head of ox. Ox standing. • Qui typi ad nomen insulae adludunt,' says Eckhel, apparently forgetting his theory about the pastures. Strabo tells us that there was a cave in the island called Boös Aule, or the Cow's Stall, where Io is said to have brought forth Epaphos, and that the island may have had its name of Abounding-in-oxen on that account. The ancients held that it had been originally joined to Boiotia, but separated by an earthquake; the derivation of this latter name may be uncertain, but it probably signifies Ox-land. If an ox be a symbol of rich pastures, it might well be 4 Vide inf. Knosos, IX. iii. The Minotauros. 1 Sup. III. i. 1. 2 Vide inf. X. ii. 3 Knight, Worship of Priapus, 71. Vide sup. Akanthos. Vide sup. VI. i. 1. • Strabo, x. 1. applied to a region of extraordinary fertility. But, besides, the name is in exact harmony with the cult of the locality, and has reference to the wondrous ox or cow of Kadmos marked with the full moon,' and whose very lowing gave a name to cities.2 This ox led Kadmos through Phokis,3 the coins of which bear the head of an ox and also the heads of three oxen placed triangularly, and lay down on the site of Thebai; and we learn that the Ox is called Theba among the Syrians,' a statement found elsewhere.5 Epaphos, thus connected with Euboia, is the Hellenik idea of the Kamic Hapi, or Aigyptian Apis, and Io, herself, possibly, Aryan in origin, becomes identified with Uasi or Isis, with whom she so strikingly corresponds. In a word, the cult of the Ox-god as much or more than that of the Vine-god fills Boioto-Euboia from end to end. Eretia. In Euboia, Ox lying down.-Rev. Two pendent grape-clusters. The type probably refers to the recumbent ox of Kadmos, and the coin presents an admirable illustration of the unity of the Ox-god and the Vinegod, the two being phases of the 'one Dionysos.' Gela. A Sikelian colony of Rhodians and Kretans. The bearded, human-headed, demi-bull. The demi-ox also occurs on the coins of Korkyra, Syros, and Samos. -The reverse of the coin of Korkyra shows two square altars, a star between them, and on one side the field a grape-cluster, on the other a kanthar. The reverse of the Samian coin bears a lion's head. Two very curious coins, attributed to the Mardians, a Persian tribe, represent a four-winged Janiform personage, one face apparently asleep and the other awake, who holds a globe, disk, or egg, which, in one instance has a bull's head in it. This figure is supported on a kneeling, human-headed demi-bull. The human head denotes man's intelligence 1 Paus. ix. 12. 'It had on each side a mark like the moon' (Schol. in Aristoph. Bat. 1256), 2 Paus. ix. 19. 3 Ibid. 12. 4 Etymol. Magnum, In voc. Theba. |