The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 05 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 05 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
A river of clear water burst from the rock, but only to vanish
again into a chasm. Such changes in the course of streams are common in
countries subject to earthquakes and to the disruption caused by volcanic
agency. The ancients believed that this mysterious cavern was haunted
ground. In the rumble and roar of the waters they seemed to hear the clash
of cymbals touched by hands divine.(452)
(M115) If now, quitting the cavern, we return by the same path to the
summit of the cliffs, we shall find on the plateau the ruins of a town and
of a temple at the western edge of the great Corycian chasm. The wall of
the holy precinct was built within a few feet of the precipices, and the
sanctuary must have stood right over the actual cave and its subterranean
waters. In later times the temple was converted into a Christian church.
By pulling down a portion of the sacred edifice Mr. Bent had the good
fortune to discover a Greek inscription containing a long list of names,
probably those of the priests who superintended the worship. One name
which meets us frequently in the list is Zas, and it is tempting to regard
this as merely a dialectical form of Zeus. If that were so, the priests
who bore the name might be supposed to personate the god.(453) But many
strange and barbarous-looking names, evidently foreign, occur in the list,
and Zas may be one of them. However, it is certain that Zeus was
worshipped at the Corycian cave; for about half a mile from it, on the
summit of a hill, are the ruins of a larger temple, which an inscription
proves to have been dedicated to Corycian Zeus.(454)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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