Zis Batas (the Thunderer)
Messapian · deity · iron age to roman messapia · Recorded classification
Zis Batas is the thundering aspect of the Messapic sky-god, worshipped at the cave-sanctuary of the Grotta Porcinara on the headland of Leuca, the southernmost point of Apulia. The epithet batas is usually rendered 'the Thunderer' (or 'the speaker'), and the god functioned as a controller of storms and protector of seafarers who passed the dangerous cape. His is among the earliest and most enduring Messapian cults: dedications begin in the archaic period and the cult was taken over by Greek-speakers as Zeus Batios and by Romans as Iupiter Batius (sometimes Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Batius), persisting at the same shrine into the third century AD.
Domains
- thunder and weather
- protection of seafarers
Powers
- to command the thunder and grant safe passage to ships
Epithets
- Batasde Simone, Carlo, and Simona Marchesini. Monumenta Linguae Messapicae. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2002, vol. 2, s.v. 'batas'. (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: ZisBatas is a cult-title of Zis, the thundering weather-aspect under which the sky-god was worshipped at the Grotta Porcinara at Leuca.de Simone, Carlo, and Simona Marchesini. Monumenta Linguae Messapicae. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2002, vol. 2, s.v. 'batas'. (secondary)
Sources
- Zis Batas is the thundering, weather-controlling cult-title of the Messapic sky-god venerated at the Grotta Porcinara sanctuary of Leuca, 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); Krahe, Hans. Die Sprache der Illyrier I: Die Quellen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1955, pp. 27-30. (secondary)