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Search results for zeta,39 in Adler number:
Headword:
Ζεύς
Adler number: zeta,39
Translated headword: Zeus
Vetting Status: low
Translation: They describe the statue of him as seated, being naked above, but clothed below; wielding in his left hand a scepter, in his right an eagle [sc. with wings] spread out. And it is hinted that being seated [represents] the seat of power, and the upper nakedness [shows] that [he is] manifest in the spiritual and heavenly parts of the cosmos. But the rest is covered because the god is unknown in the lowly [parts]. Having the scepter in his left hand signifies power; the extended eagle in the other [hand] shows that he controls the airborne breezes, just as the eagle does the high[-flying] birds.[1]
And [there is] a proverb: "
Zeus looked long into the parchments"; in reference to those who are being repaid for what they do, good or bad. [It arose] because they say nothing is coincidental, but
Zeus records everything on certain parchments and, at some time, follows it up.[2]
Greek Original:Ζεύς: τούτου τὸ ἄγαλμα ἱστοροῦσι καθήμενον, γυμνὰ ἔχον τὰ ἄνω, τὰ δὲ κάτω ἐσκεπασμένα, κρατοῦν τῇ μὲν εὐωνύμῳ σκῆπτρον, τῇ δεξιᾷ δὲ ἀετὸν προτεῖνον. καὶ τὸ μὲν καθῆσθαι τὸ ἑδραῖον τῆς δυνάμεως αἰνίττεται, τὸ δὲ τὰ ἄνω γυμνὰ ἔχειν, ὅτι φανερὸς τοῖς νοεροῖς καὶ τοῖς οὐρανίοις τοῦ κόσμου μέρεσιν. τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ σκέπεται, διότι τοῖς χαμαιζήλοις ὁ θεὸς ἄγνωστος. τὸ δὲ τῇ λαιᾷ σκῆπτρον κατέχειν, σημαίνει τὸ ἐξουσιαστικόν: τὸ δὲ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ προτείνειν ἀετὸν δηλοῖ, ὡς τῶν ἀεροφόρων πνευμάτων κρατεῖ, ὡς ὁ ἀετὸς τῶν μεταρσίων ὀρνέων. καὶ παροιμία: ὁ Ζεὺς κατεῖδε χρόνιος εἰς τὰς διφθέρας: ἐπὶ τῶν ποτὲ ἀμειβομένων ὑπὲρ ὧν πράττουσι καλῶν ἢ κακῶν. ὅτι οὐκ ἀπρονόητά φασι τὰ πάντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν Δία εἰς διφθέρας τινὰς ἀπογράφεσθαι καί ποτε ἐπεξιέναι.
Notes:
[1] cf. the
scholia to
Homer,
Iliad 1.175 (where Zeis is mentioned). The description is evidently that of "the most highly venerated statue in the ancient world" (Pollitt [below] 58): the chryselephantine
Zeus of Pheidias, made for
Olympia in the 430s BCE, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. See generally Pollitt (below) 58-62.
[2]
Zenobius 4.11 and other paroemiographers; and cf.
alpha 4076.
Reference:
J.J. Pollitt, The Art of Ancient Greece: sources and documents (Cambridge 1990)
Keywords: art history; daily life; epic; imagery; mythology; proverbs; religion; zoology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 19 November 2000@15:51:09.
Vetted by:David Whitehead (modified translation, note, keywords; added bibliography) on 20 November 2000@06:28:49.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 21 March 2011@03:42:48.
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