Zis
Zis is the principal god of the Messapii of ancient Apulia (Salento), a sky and lightning deity whose name continues the Proto-Indo-European sky-father *Di̯ḗu̯s and is cognate with Greek Zeús and Albanian Zojz. He is attested from the early sixth century BCE in votive inscriptions written in the Messapic alphabet, most famously through the formula 'klaohi zis' ('hear, Zis'), an idiom closely paralleling the Latin 'audi Iuppiter'. He was venerated under several cult-titles, including Menzanas ('lord of horses') and Batas ('the Thunderer'), and his worship at coastal sanctuaries such as the Grotta Porcinara at Leuca connected him with control of storms and the protection of navigation; his cult was later assimilated to Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter and continued into Imperial times.
Domains
- sky and daylight
- lightning and storm
Powers
- to hurl the lightning and rule the daylight sky
- to hear and answer the petitioner who calls upon him
Epithets
- MenzanasWilkes, John. The Illyrians. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992, pp. 244-245. (secondary)
- Batasde Simone, Carlo, and Simona Marchesini. Monumenta Linguae Messapicae. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2002, vol. 2, s.v. 'batas'. (secondary)
Relations
- manifested as: Zis Menzanas (Lord of Horses)Zis is worshipped under the cult-title Menzanas, 'lord of horses', the form latinised as Iuppiter Menzanas to whom the Sallentini sacrificed horses by fire.Wilkes, John. The Illyrians. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992, pp. 244-245. (secondary)
- manifested as: Zis Batas (the Thunderer)At the Grotta Porcinara cave-sanctuary of Leuca, Zis is venerated as Batas, 'the Thunderer', a weather-god and protector of seafarers later continued as Zeus Batios and Iupiter Batius.de Simone, Carlo, and Simona Marchesini. Monumenta Linguae Messapicae. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2002, vol. 2, s.v. 'batas'. (secondary)
Sources
- Zis is the Messapic sky and lightning god, the most prominent deity of the Iapygian-Messapian pantheon and the inherited reflex of the Proto-Indo-European sky-father *Dyeus.: Krahe, Hans. Die Sprache der Illyrier I: Die Quellen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1955, pp. 27-30. (secondary); West, M. L. Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 166-171, 176. (secondary)