Adonis, Attis, Osiris : studies in the history of oriental religion / by J.G. Frazer.
- James George Frazer
- Date:
- 1906
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Adonis, Attis, Osiris : studies in the history of oriental religion / by J.G. Frazer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
93/368 page 73
![H owever, 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.1 But Zeus, or whatever native deity masqueraded under The cave his name, did not reign alone in the deep dell. A more °[a*e dreadful being haunted a still more awful abyss which opens Typhon. in the ground only a hundred yards to the east of the great Corycian chasm. It is a circular cauldron, about a quarter of a mile in circumference, resembling the Corycian chasm in its general character, but smaller, deeper, and far more terrific in appearance. Its sides overhang and stalactites droop from them. There is no way down into it. The only mode of reaching the bottom, which is covered with vegetation, would be to be lowered at the end of a long rope. I he nomads cal] this chasm Purgatory, to distinguish it from the other which they name Paradise. They say that there is a subterranean passage between the two, and that the smoke of a fire kindled in the Corycian cave may be seen curling out of the other. The one ancient writer who expressly mentions this second and more grisly cavern is Mela, who says that it was the lair of the giant Typhon, and that no animal let down into it could live.2 Aeschylus puts into the mouth of Prometheus an account of “ the earth-born Typhon, dweller in Cicilian caves, dread monster, hundred-headed,” who in his pride rose up against the gods, hissing destruction from his dreadful jaws, while from his Gorgon eyes the lightning flashed. But him a flaming levin bolt, crashing from heaven, smote to the very heart, and now he lies, shrivelled and scorched, under the weight of Etna by the narrow sea. Yet one day he will belch a fiery hail, a boiling angry flood, rivers of flame, to devastate the fat Sicilian fields.3 This poetical description of the monster, 1 J. T. Bent, in Proceedings of the 71-79; Ch. Michel, Recueil d*Inscrip- Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. tions Grecques, No. 878; above, p. 62. (1890). p. 448; id., in Journal of 2 Mela, i. 76, ed. G. Parthey. The Hellenic Studies, xii. (1890) pp. 214- cave of Typhon is described by J. T. 216. For the inscription containing Bent, ll.cc. the names of the priests see R. 3 Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. pp. 351-372.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31346510_0093.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
