We may also recall the Indian myth about the birth of the As ́vins (end of
Chapter 4).
Before we leave the subject of the inauguration of kings, let us note in
passing a point of Irish custom that may throw light on a Greek myth. Pindar
(Pyth. 4. 72–96) relates that when Jason presented himself at Pelias’ court in
Iolkos, the usurper blenched on observing that the visitor wore only one shoe.
He had been warned by an oracle to beware τ:ν μονοκρ πιδα, the one-shoe
man, who would depose him. Jason was the rightful claimant to the throne.
Now in Irish bardic poetry the phrase ‘the man of the one shoe’ (fear an
énais) or ‘of the one golden shoe’ (fear an énais óir) apparently refers to a
claimant to the chieftaincy or to an inaugurated chief. The explanation lies
in a practice mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters under the years 1488
and 1589, whereby a claimant to the chieftancy of the O’Connors deposited a
shoe as a token and had it replaced on his foot on his inauguration.^30
King and priestThe construct of an Indo-European king from the eastern and western lexical
evidence is given added solidity, in many scholars’ view, by the presence
beside him, in India and at Rome, of high-status priests with what are
possibly cognate titles, Vedic brahmán-,Latin fla ̄men, which might both be
derived from bhlagˆh(s)-men-. The etymological equivalence has long been
debated; it is not unproblematic, and sometimes rejected. Yet it is hard to
dismiss the similarity of the words as fortuitous –– they share the masculine
suffix -men-, which is an archaic rarity –– and the identification continues to
be canvassed, albeit with reservations.^31 The case for it is strengthened by
the fact that the Brahman and the Flamen Dialis were subject to a whole series
of similar taboos.^32
If this is accepted, we obtain a matching structure: ra ̄ ́jan- +brahmán- ~ rex
+flamen. The king, as we have seen, played a central role in some sacred
ceremonies. The Hittite and Indian ritual texts abound with complicated
prescriptions for his religious duties. But it was the chief priest, we may
(^30) M. A. O’Brien, Celtica 2 (1954), 351–3; Watkins (1994), 668 f.; Dooley–Roe (1999), 232.
Wearing one shoe plays a role in many rituals and superstitions, cf. W. Deonna, Revue de
l’histoire des religions 56 (1935), 50–72; but the Irish custom seems the most relevant to Jason.
(^31) Kretschmer (1896), 127–9; Georges Dumézil, Flamen–Brahman (Paris 1935); Benveniste
(1973), 231 (contra); A. L. Sihler, New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin (New York–
Oxford 1995), 198; M. E. Huld in Dexter–Polomé (1997), 179 f.; EIEC 451 f. Messapic(?)
βλαμινι in a Greek inscription from Apulia (a priest, according to Haas (1962), 67) is also to be
mentioned, though its meaning is not at all clear from the context.
(^32) Listed in Puhvel (1987), 156 f.; EIEC 453.
- King and Hero 419