Ἀρχή and δῖνος: Vortices as Cosmogonic Powers and Cosmic Regulators. Study Case: The Whirling Lightning Bolt of Zeus

Abstract

In the cosmogonic and eschatological narratives of the origin and end of the world, both in some early myths and in the Presocratics’ systems, the vortex and other spinning motifs act as necessary agents of both order and disorder. Their rapidity induces a separation of opposites, and they jointly cause the resulting masses to move towards their “appropriate” place in the universe and thus produce a constant pendulum between multiplicity and unity. Furthermore, vortices appear to be the cosmic agents of the divine will, and they constantly regulate divine law and justice. Every time the cosmic order they have established is threatened, the Olympians punish the hubristic wrongdoers and protect the equilibrium of the world, using their attributes – e. g., the trident, the kerykeion, or the thyrsus – which often feature whirling shapes, movements, and patterns. The best example is Zeus’ thunderbolt, which is described as a whirling weapon from Hesiod to Nonnos, evoking the tempestuous force and cosmic energy of its origins. Far from being incidental, the vortex was clearly at the centre of the Greek conception of the entire cosmos, from the rotation of the planets to the whirling winds and the tumultuous or serpentine rivers, to the symposium and everyday life, even to turmoil and other spinning inner emotional states.