Once fairly married, Zeus and Hera became Sharers of one Altar (ὁμοβώμιοι), and against the conjunction the older women divinities are but too often powerless. In the designs[820] in figs. 90 and 91 we have a curious instance of the ruthless fashion in which the Olympian pair extrude the objects of an ancient local cult. In fig. 90 we have a votive relief to the Nymphs of the familiar type: three maiden figures linked together. That the figures are Nymphs is certain, for above is the inscription, ‘To the Mistress Nymphs (Κυρίαις Νύμφαις).’ The relief, one of a large series found together at Orochák and now in the local Museum at Sofia, is of late Roman style. The design in fig. 91 shows a theological shift. The two dominant Olympians, of large stature to mark their supremacy, occupy the forefront; they hold each an expectant _phiale_ for libations; to them only is sacrifice to be made. It is they who hold the sceptres. Humbly in the background, minished and all but effaced, are the three ancient Maidens. The local peasant is conservative[821], and we may hope they too had their meed of offering. [Illustration: FIG. 92.] The intrusion of Zeus[822] and Hera on the local cultus of the Nymphs brings to mind a story preserved by Diogenes Laertius[823] in his Life of Epimenides. Theopompus in his ‘Wonderful Things’ told how when Epimenides was preparing the sanctuary of the Nymphs a voice was heard from heaven saying, ‘Epimenides, not of the Nymphs, but of Zeus.’ Perhaps Epimenides went further than the orthodox Olympian religion could tolerate in the matter of the revival of ancient cults. To him, as has been already seen (p. 241), was credited the founding of the sanctuary of the Semnae; he introduced ceremonies of purification brought from Crete, and wholly alien to Olympian ritual. It was time for Zeus to reassert himself. The conflict of theological conceptions is very clearly seen in the design in fig. 92, from a votive relief[824] found at Eleusis and now in the National Museum at Athens. The general type of the design, which belongs to the class known in English as ‘Funeral Banquets,’ will be discussed more in detail later, when we come to hero-worship. For the present it is enough to note that on the left side of the relief we have the two Goddesses of Eleusis, the old matriarchal couple, seated side by side as equals, on the right a patriarchal couple, man and wife, the man reclining at the banquet and holding a great _rhyton_, the wife submissively seated by his side. In naming them it is safest at present not to go beyond what is written. The artist has inscribed over their heads the non-committal words, ‘To the God,’ and ‘To the Goddess.’ [Illustration: FIG. 93.]