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Question 45. What is the reason that the statue of
Labradean Jupiter in Caria is made so as to hold an axe
lifted up, and not a sceptre or thunderbolt.
Solution. Because Hercules slaying Hippolyta, and
taking away from her amongst other weapons her pole-axe, presented it to Omphale. After Omphale the kings
of the Lydians carried it, as part of the sacred regalities
which they took by succession, until Candaules, disdaining
it, gave it to one of his favorites to carry. But afterwards
Gyges revolting waged war against him; Arselis also
came to the aid of Gyges from the Mylassians with a great
[p. 287]
strength, slew Candaules with his favorite, and carried
away the pole-axe into Caria with other spoils; where
furbishing up the statue of Jupiter, he put the axe into
his hand and called it the Labradean God,—for the Lydians call an axe labra.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 2.
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