Footnotes
As in the present volume I am concerned with the beliefs and practices of Orientals I may quote the following passage from one who has lived long in the East and knows it well: “The Oriental mind is free from the trammels of logic. It is a literal fact that the Oriental mind can accept and believe two opposite things at the same time. We find fully qualified and even learned Indian doctors practising Greek medicine, as well as English medicine, and enforcing sanitary restrictions to which their own houses and families are entirely strangers. We find astronomers who can predict eclipses, and yet who believe that eclipses are caused by a dragon swallowing the sun. We find holy men who are credited with miraculous powers and with close communion with the Deity, who live in drunkenness and immorality, and who are capable of elaborate frauds on others. To the Oriental mind, a thing must be incredible to command a ready belief” (“Riots and Unrest in the Punjab, from a correspondent,” The Times Weekly Edition, May 24, 1907, p. 326). Again, speaking of the people of the Lower Congo, an experienced missionary describes their religious ideas as “chaotic in the extreme and impossible to reduce to any systematic order. The same person will tell you at different times that the departed spirit goes to the nether regions, or to a dark forest, or to the moon, or to the sun. There is no coherence in their beliefs, and their ideas about cosmogony and the future are very nebulous. Although they believe in punishment after death their faith is so hazy that it has lost all its deterrent force. If in the following pages a lack of logical unity is observed, it must be put to the debit of the native mind, as that lack of logical unity really represents the mistiness of their views.” See Rev. John H. Weeks, “Notes on some Customs of the Lower Congo People,” Folk-lore, xx. (1909) pp. 54 sq. Unless we allow for this innate capacity of the human mind to entertain contradictory beliefs at the same time, we shall in vain attempt to understand the history of thought in general and of religion in particular.
The equivalence of Tammuz and Adonis has been doubted or denied by some scholars, as by Renan (Mission de Phénicie, Paris, 1864, pp. 216, 235) and by Chwolsohn (Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, St. Petersburg, 1856, ii. 510). But the two gods are identified by Origen (Selecta in Ezechielem, Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xiii. 797), Jerome (Epist. lviii. 3 and Commentar. in Ezechielem, viii. 13, 14, Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxii. 581, xxv. 82), Cyril of Alexandria (In Isaiam, lib. ii. tomus. iii., and Comment. on Hosea, iv. 15, Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxx. 441, lxxi. 136), Theodoretus (In Ezechielis cap. viii., Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxxxi. 885), the author of the Paschal Chronicle (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xcii. 329) and Melito (in W. Cureton's Spicilegium Syriacum, London, 1855, p. 44); and accordingly we may fairly conclude that, whatever their remote origin may have been, Tammuz and Adonis were in the later period of antiquity practically equivalent to each other. Compare W. W. Graf Baudissin, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Leipsic, 1876-1878), i. 299; id., in Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirchengeschichte,3 s.v. “Tammuz”; id., Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), pp. 94 sqq.; W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte (Berlin, 1877), pp. 273 sqq.; Ch. Vellay, “Le dieu Thammuz,” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, xlix. (1904) pp. 154-162. Baudissin holds that Tammuz and Adonis were two different gods sprung from a common root (Adonis und Esmun, p. 368). An Assyrian origin of the cult of Adonis was long ago affirmed by Macrobius (Sat. i. 21. 1). On Adonis and his worship in general see also F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. (Bonn, 1841) pp. 191 sqq.; W. H. Engel, Kypros (Berlin, 1841), ii. 536 sqq.; Ch. Vellay, Le culte et les fêtes d' Adonis-Thammouz dans l'Orient antique (Paris, 1904).
The mourning for Adonis is mentioned by Sappho, who flourished about 600 b.c. See Th. Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci,3 iii. (Leipsic, 1867) p. 897; Pausanias, ix. 29. 8.
Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 394 sq.; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, pp. 65 sqq.
Encyclopaedia Biblica, ed. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, iii. 3327. In the Old Testament the title Adoni, “my lord,” is frequently given to men. See, for example, Genesis xxxiii. 8, 13, 14, 15, xlii. 10, xliii. 20, xliv. 5, 7, 9, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24.
C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum (Gotha, 1896-1903), i. 134 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, les Origines (Paris, 1895), pp. 550 sq.; L. W. King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology (London, 1899), pp. 1 sqq.; id., A History of Sumer and Akkad (London, 1910), pp. 1 sqq., 40 sqq.; H. Winckler, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 10 sq., 349; Fr. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients (Munich, 1904), pp. 18 sqq.; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 401 sqq. As to the hypothesis that the Sumerians were immigrants from Central Asia, see L. W. King, History of Sumer and Akkad, pp. 351 sqq. The gradual desiccation of Central Asia, which is conjectured to have caused the Sumerian migration, has been similarly invoked to explain the downfall of the Roman empire; for by rendering great regions uninhabitable it is supposed to have driven hordes of fierce barbarians to find new homes in Europe. See Professor J. W. Gregory's lecture “Is the earth drying up?” delivered before the Royal Geographical Society and reported in The Times, December 9th, 1913. It is held by Prof. Hommel (op. cit. pp. 19 sqq.) that the Sumerian language belongs to the Ural-altaic family, but the better opinion seems to be that its linguistic affinities are unknown. The view, once ardently advocated, that Sumerian was not a language but merely a cabalistic mode of writing Semitic, is now generally exploded.
H. Zimmern, “Der babylonische Gott Tamüz,” Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xxvii. No. xx. (Leipsic, 1909) pp. 701, 722.
Dumu-zi, or in fuller form Dumuzi-abzu. See P. Jensen, Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen (Berlin, 1900), p. 560; H. Zimmern, op. cit. pp. 703 sqq.; id., in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 397; P. Dhorme, La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne (Paris, 1910), p. 105; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), p. 104.
H. Zimmern, “Der babylonische Gott Tamüz,” Abhandl. d. Kön. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xxvii. No. xx. (Leipsic, 1909) p, 723. For the text and translation of the hymns, see H. Zimmern, “Sumerisch-babylonische Tamüzlieder,” Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse, lix. (1907) pp. 201-252. Compare H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilder (Tübingen, 1909), i. 93 sqq.; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), pp. 99 sq.; R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (Oxford, n.d.), pp. 179-185.
A. Jeremias, Die babylonisch-assyrischen Vorstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode (Leipsic, 1887), pp. 4 sqq.; id., in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 808, iii. 258 sqq.; M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898), pp. 565-576, 584, 682 sq.; W. L. King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology, pp. 178-183; P. Jensen, Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen, pp. 81 sqq., 95 sqq., 169; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (New York, 1901), pp. 316 sq., 338, 408 sqq.; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 pp. 397 sqq., 561 sqq.; id., “Sumerisch-babylonische Tamūzlieder,” Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse, lix. (1907) pp. 220, 232, 236 sq.; id., “Der babylonische Gott Tamūz,” Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xxvii. No. xx. (Leipsic, 1909) pp. 725 sq., 729-735; H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum Alten Testamente (Tübingen, 1909), i. 65-69; R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (Oxford, n.d.), pp. 121-131; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), pp. 99 sqq., 353 sqq. According to Jerome (on Ezekiel viii. 14) the month of Tammuz was June; but according to modern scholars it corresponded rather to July, or to part of June and part of July. See F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 210; F. Lenormant, “Il mito di Adone-Tammuz nei documenti cuneiformi,” Atti del IV. Congresso Internazionale degli Orientalisti (Florence, 1880), i. 144 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 275; Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Months,” iii. 3194. My friend W. Robertson Smith informed me that owing to the variations of the local Syrian calendars the month of Tammuz fell in different places at different times, from midsummer to autumn, or from June to September. According to Prof. M. Jastrow, the festival of Tammuz was celebrated just before the summer solstice (The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 547, 682). He observes that “the calendar of the Jewish Church still marks the 17th day of Tammuz as a fast, and Houtsma has shown that the association of the day with the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans represents merely the attempt to give an ancient festival a worthier interpretation.”
Ezekiel viii. 14.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 4; Bion, Idyl, i., J. Tzetzes. Schol. on Lycophron, 831; Ovid, Metam. x. 503 sqq.; Aristides, Apology, edited by J. Rendel Harris (Cambridge, 1891), pp. 44, 106 sq. In Babylonian texts relating to Tammuz no reference has yet been found to death by a boar. See H. Zimmern, “Sumerisch-babylonische Tamūzlieder,” p. 451; id., “Der babylonische Gott Tamūz,” p. 731. Baudissin inclines to think that the incident of the boar is a late importation into the myth of Adonis. See his Adonis und Esmun, pp. 142 sqq. As to the relation of the boar to the kindred gods Adonis, Attis, and Osiris see Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 22 sqq., where I have suggested that the idea of the boar as the foe of the god may be based on the terrible ravages which wild pigs notoriously commit in fields of corn.
W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), pp. 152 sq., with plate iv. As to the representation of the myth of Adonis on Etruscan mirrors and late works of Roman art, especially sarcophaguses and wall-paintings, see Otto Jahn, Archäologische Beiträge (Berlin, 1847), pp. 45-51.
The ancients were aware that the Syrian and Cyprian Aphrodite, the mistress of Adonis, was no other than Astarte. See Cicero, De natura deorum, iii. 23. 59; Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, iv. 44. On Adonis in Phoenicia see W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun (Leipsic, 1911), pp. 71 sqq.
As to Cinyras, see F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 238 sqq., ii. 2. 226-231; W. H. Engel, Kypros (Berlin, 1841), i. 168-173, ii. 94-136; Stoll, s.v. “Kinyras,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1189 sqq. Melito calls the father of Adonis by the name of Cuthar, and represents him as king of the Phoenicians with his capital at Gebal (Byblus). See Melito, “Oration to Antoninus Caesar,” in W. Cureton's Spicilegium Syriacum (London, 1855), p. 44.
Philo of Byblus, quoted by Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii, i. 10; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. 568; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Βύβλος. Byblus is a Greek corruption of the Semitic Gebal (גבל), the name which the place still retains. See E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie (Paris, 1864), p. 155.
R. Pietschmann, Geschichte der Phoenizier (Berlin, 1889), p. 139. On the coins it is designated “Holy Byblus.”
Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 6.
The sanctuary and image are figured on coins of Byblus. See T. L. Donaldson, Architectura Numismatica (London, 1859), pp. 105 sq.; E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie, p. 177; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. (Paris, 1885) p. 60; R. Pietschmann, Geschichte der Phoenizier, p. 202; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. (Paris, 1897) p. 173. Renan excavated a massive square pedestal built of colossal stones, which he thought may have supported the sacred obelisk (op. cit. pp. 174-178).
Lucian, De dea Syria, 6.
Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 8; Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 78; E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie, pp. 282 sqq.
Eustathius, Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes, 912 (Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, ii. 376); Melito, in W. Cureton's Spicilegium Syriacum, p. 44.
Ezekiel xxvii. 9. As to the name Gebal see above, p. 13, note 1.
L. B. Paton, The Early History of Syria and Palestine (London, 1902), pp. 169-171. See below, pp. 75sq.
L. B. Paton, op. cit. p. 235; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, p. 57 (the Nimrud inscription of Tiglath-pileser III.).
The inscription was discovered by Renan. See Ch. Vellay, Le culte et les fêtes d'Adonis-Thammouz dans l'Orient antique (Paris, 1904), pp. 38 sq.; G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford 1903), No. 3, pp. 18 sq. In the time of Alexander the Great the king of Byblus was a certain Enylus (Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 20), whose name appears on a coin of the city (F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, ii. 1, p. 103, note 81).
On the divinity of Semitic kings and the kingship of Semitic gods see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites2 (London, 1894), pp. 44 sq., 66 sqq.
H. Radau, Early Babylonian History (New York and London, 1900), pp. 307-317; P. Dhorme, La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne (Paris, 1910), pp. 168 sqq.
The evidence for this is the Moabite stone, but the reading of the inscription is doubtful. See S. R. Driver, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Mesha,” vol. iii. 3041 sqq.; id., Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, Second Edition (Oxford, 1913), pp. lxxxv., lxxxvi., lxxxviii. sq.; G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 1, pp. 1 sq., 6.
2 Kings viii. 7, 9, xiii. 24 sq.; Jeremiah xlix. 27. As to the god Hadad see Macrobius, Saturn, i. 23. 17-19 (where, as so often in late writers, the Syrians are called Assyrians); Philo of Byblus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. 569; F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin, 1888), pp. 66-68; G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, Nos. 61, 62, pp. 161 sq., 164, 173, 175; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 93, 493, 496 sq. The prophet Zechariah speaks (xii. 11) of a great mourning of or for Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddon. This has been taken to refer to a lament for Hadad-Rimmon, the Syrian god of rain, storm, and thunder, like the lament for Adonis. See S. R. Driver's note on the passage (The Minor Prophets, pp. 266 sq., Century Bible); W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, p. 92.
Josephus, Antiquit. Jud. ix. 4. 6.
Genesis xxxvi. 35 sq.; 1 Kings xi. 14-22; 1 Chronicles i. 50 sq. Of the eight kings of Edom mentioned in Genesis (xxxvi. 31-39) and in 1 Chronicles (i. 43-50) not one was the son of his predecessor. This seems to indicate that in Edom, as elsewhere, the blood royal was traced in the female line, and that the kings were men of other families, or even foreigners, who succeeded to the throne by marrying the hereditary princesses. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 268 sqq. The Israelites were forbidden to have a foreigner for a king (Deuteronomy xvii. 15 with S. R. Driver's note), which seems to imply that the custom was known among their neighbours. It is significant that some of the names of the kings of Edom seem to be those of divinities, as Prof. A. H. Sayce observed long ago (Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, London and Edinburgh, 1887, p. 54).
G. A. Cooke, op. cit. Nos. 62, 63, pp. 163, 165, 173 sqq., 181 sqq.; M. J. Lagrange, op. cit. pp. 496 sqq. The god Rekub-el is mentioned along with the gods Hadad, El, Reshef, and Shamash in an inscription of King Bar-rekub's mortal father, King Panammu (G. A. Cooke, op. cit. No. 61, p. 161).
Virgil, Aen. i. 729 sq., with Servius's note; Silius Italicus, Punica, i. 86 sqq.
Ezekiel xxviii. 2, 9.
Menander of Ephesus, quoted by Josephus, Contra Apionem, i. 18 and 21; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iv. 446 sq. According to the text of Josephus, as edited by B. Niese, the names of the kings in question were Abibal, Balbazer, Abdastart, Methusastart, son of Leastart, Ithobal, Balezor, Baal, Balator, Merbal. The passage of Menander is quoted also by Eusebius, Chronic. i. pp. 118, 120, ed. A. Schoene.
G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 36, p. 102. As to Melcarth, the Tyrian Hercules, see Ed. Meyer, s.v. “Melqart,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon d. griech. u. röm. Mythologie, ii. 2650 sqq. One of the Tyrian kings seems to have been called Abi-milk (Abi-melech), that is, “father of a king” or “father of Moloch,” that is, of Melcarth. A letter of his to the king of Egypt is preserved in the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence. See R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, p. 237. As to a title which implies that the bearer of it was the father of a god, see below, pp. 51 sq.
E. Renan, quoted by Ch. Vellay, Le culte et les fêtes d'Adonis-Thammouz, p. 39. Mr. Cooke reads ארםלך (Uri-milk) instead of אדםלך (Adon-milk) (G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 3, p. 18).
Judges i. 4-7; Joshua x. 1 sqq.
Genesis xiv. 18-20, with Prof. S. R. Driver's commentary; Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.vv. “Adoni-bezek,” “Adoni-zedek,” “Melchizedek.” It is to be observed that names compounded with Adoni- were occasionally borne by private persons. Such names are Adoni-kam (Ezra ii. 13) and Adoni-ram (1 Kings iv. 6), not to mention Adoni-jah (1 Kings i. 5 sqq.), who was a prince and aspired to the throne of his father David. These names are commonly interpreted as sentences expressive of the nature of the god whom the bearer of the name worshipped. See Prof. Th. Nöldeke, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Names,” iii. 3286. It is quite possible that names which once implied divinity were afterwards degraded by application to common men.
Ezekiel viii. 14.
They were banished from the temple by King Josiah, who came to the throne in 637 b.c. Jerusalem fell just fifty-one years later. See 2 Kings xxiii. 7. As to these “sacred men” (ḳedēshīm), see below, pp. 72sqq.
2 Kings xxiii. 7, where, following the Septuagint, we must apparently read כתנים for the בתים of the Massoretic Text. So R. Kittel and J. Skinner.
The ashērah (singular of ashērīm) was certainly of wood (Judges vi. 26): it seems to have been a tree stripped of its branches and planted in the ground beside an altar, whether of Jehovah or of other gods (Deuteronomy xvi. 21; Jeremiah xvii. 2). That the asherah was regarded as a goddess, the female partner of Baal, appears from 1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxi. 3, xxiii. 4; and that this goddess was identified with Ashtoreth (Astarte) may be inferred from a comparison of Judges ii. 13 with Judges iii. 7. Yet on the other hand the pole or tree seems by others to have been viewed as a male power (Jeremiah ii. 27; see below, pp. 107sqq.), and the identification of the asherah with Astarte has been doubted or disputed by some eminent modern scholars. See on this subject W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 187 sqq.; S. R. Driver, on Deuteronomy xvi. 21; J. Skinner, on 1 Kings xiv. 23; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les religions Sémitiques,2 pp. 173 sqq.; G. F. Moore, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. i. 330 sqq., s.v. “Asherah.”
Deuteronomy xxiii. 17 sq. (in Hebrew 18 sq.). The code of Deuteronomy was published in 621 b.c. in the reign of King Josiah, whose reforms, including the ejection of the ḳedeshim from the temple, were based upon it. See W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church2 (London and Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 256 sqq., 353 sqq.; S. R. Driver, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy3 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. xliv. sqq.; K. Budde, Geschichte der althebräischen Litteratur (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 105 sqq.
He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem (2 Samuel v. 5; 1 Kings ii. 11; 1 Chronicles xxix. 27).
Professor A. H. Sayce has argued that David's original name was Elhanan (2 Samuel xxi. 19 compared with xxiii. 24), and that the name David, which he took at a later time, should be written Dod or Dodo, “the Beloved One,” which according to Prof. Sayce was a name for Tammuz (Adonis) in Southern Canaan, and was in particular bestowed by the Jebusites of Jerusalem on their supreme deity. See A. H. Sayce, Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians (London and Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 52-57. If he is right, his conclusions would accord perfectly with those which I had reached independently, and it would become probable that David only assumed the name of David (Dod, Dodo) after the conquest of Jerusalem, and for the purpose of identifying himself with the god of the city, who had borne the same title from time immemorial. But on the whole it seems more likely, as Professor Kennett points out to me, that in the original story Elhanah, a totally different person from David, was the slayer of Goliath, and that the part of the giant-killer was thrust on David at a later time when the brightness of his fame had eclipsed that of many lesser heroes.
2 Samuel xii. 26-31; 1 Chronicles xx. 1-3. Critics seem generally to agree that in these passages the word מלכם must be pointed Milcom, not malcham “their king,” as the Massoretic text, followed by the English version, has it. The reading Milcom, which involves no change of the original Hebrew text, is supported by the reading of the Septuagint Μολχὸμ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν, where the three last words are probably a gloss on Μολχὸμ. See S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, Second Edition (Oxford, 1913), p. 294; Dean Kirkpatrick, in his note on 2 Samuel xii. 30 (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges); Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. 3085; R. Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, i. 433; Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1906), pp. 575 sq. David's son and successor adopted the worship of Milcom and made a high place for him outside Jerusalem. See 1 Kings xi. 5; 2 Kings xxiii. 13.
2 Samuel v. 6-10; 1 Chronicles xi. 4-9.
See for example 1 Samuel xxiv. 8; 2 Samuel xiv. 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, xv. 15, 21, xvi. 4, 9, xviii. 28, 31, 32; 1 Kings i. 2, 13, 18, 20, 21, 24, 27; 1 Chronicles xxi. 3, 23.
Jeremiah xxii. 18, xxxiv. 5. In the former passage, according to the Massoretic text, the full formula of mourning was, “Alas my brother! alas sister! alas lord! alas his glory!” Who was the lamented sister? Professor T. K. Cheyne supposes that she was Astarte, and by a very slight change (דדה for הדה) he would read “Dodah” for “his glory,” thus restoring the balance between the clauses; for “Dodah” would then answer to “Adon” (lord) as “sister” answers to “brother.” I have to thank Professor Cheyne for kindly communicating this conjecture to me by letter. He writes that Dodah “is a title of Ishtar, just as Dôd is a title of Tamûz,” and for evidence he refers me to the Dodah of the Moabite Stone, where, however, the reading Dodah is not free from doubt. See G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 1, pp. 1, 3, 11; Encyclopaedia Biblica, ii. 3045; S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, Second Edition (Oxford, 1913), pp. lxxxv., lxxxvi., xc.; F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin, 1888), p. 234; H. Winckler, Geschichte Israels (Leipsic, 1895-1900), ii. 258. As to Hebrew names formed from the root dôd in the sense of “beloved,” see Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, pp. 187 sq.; G. B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Proper Names (London, 1896), pp. 60 sqq.
This was perceived by Renan (Histoire du peuple d'Israel, iii. 273), and Prof. T. K. Cheyne writes to me: “The formulae of public mourning were derived from the ceremonies of the Adonia; this Lenormant saw long ago.”
1 Chronicles xxix. 23; 2 Chronicles ix. 8.
1 Samuel xvi. 13, 14, compare id., x. 1 and 20. The oil was poured on the king's head (1 Samuel x. 1; 2 Kings ix. 3, 6). For the conveyance of the divine spirit by means of oil, see also Isaiah lx. 1. The kings of Egypt appear to have consecrated their vassal Syrian kings by pouring oil on their heads. See the Tell-el-Amarna letters, No. 37 (H. Winckler, Die Thontafeln von Tell-el-Amarna, p. 99). Some West African priests are consecrated by a similar ceremony. See below, p. 68. The natives of Buru, an East Indian island, imagine that they can keep off demons by smearing their bodies with coco-nut oil, but the oil must be prepared by young unmarried girls. See G. A. Wilken, “Bijdrage tot de kennis der Alfoeren van het eiland Boeroe,” Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, xxxviii. (Batavia, 1875) p. 30; id., Verspreide Geschriften (The Hague, 1912), i. 61. In some tribes of North-West America hunters habitually anointed their hair with decoctions of certain plants and deer's brains before they set out to hunt. The practice was probably a charm to secure success in the hunt. See C. Hill-Tout, The Home of the Salish and Déné (London, 1907), p. 72.
1 Samuel xxiv. 6. Messiah in Hebrew is Mashiah (משיה). The English form Messiah is derived from the Aramaic through the Greek. See T. K. Cheyne, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Messiah,” vol. iii. 3057 sqq. Why hair oil should be considered a vehicle of inspiration is by no means clear. It would have been intelligible if the olive had been with the Hebrews, as it was with the Athenians, a sacred tree under the immediate protection of a deity; for then a portion of the divine essence might be thought to reside in the oil. W. Robertson Smith supposed that the unction was originally performed with the fat of a sacrificial victim, for which vegetable oil was a later substitute (Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 383 sq.). On the whole subject see J. Wellhausen, “Zwei Rechtsriten bei den Hebräern,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, vii. (1904) pp. 33-39; H. Weinel, “משה und seine Derivate,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, xviii. (1898) pp. 1-82.
2 Samuel xxi. 1-14, with Dean Kirkpatrick's notes on 1 and 10.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 284 sq.
1 Samuel xii. 17 sq. Similarly, Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and rain (Exodus ix. 23). The word for thunder in both these passages is “voices” (קלות). The Hebrews heard in the clap of thunder the voice of Jehovah, just as the Greeks heard in it the voice of Zeus and the Romans the voice of Jupiter.
Ezekiel xiii. 11, 13, xxxviii. 22; Jeremiah iii. 2 sq. The Hebrews looked to Jehovah for rain (Leviticus xxvi. 3-5; Jeremiah v. 24) just as the Greeks looked to Zeus and the Romans to Jupiter.
Ezra x. 9-14. The special sin which they laid to heart on this occasion was their marriage with Gentile women. It is implied, though not expressly said, that they traced the inclemency of the weather to these unfortunate alliances. Similarly, “during the rainy season, when the sun is hidden behind great masses of dark clouds, the Indians set up a wailing for their sins, believing that the sun is angry and may never shine on them again.” See Francis C. Nicholas, “The Aborigines of Santa Maria, Colombia,” American Anthropologist, N.S., iii. (New York, 1901) p. 641. The Indians in question are the Aurohuacas of Colombia, in South America.
Psalm cxxxvii. The willows beside the rivers of Babylon are mentioned in the laments for Tammuz. See above, pp. 9, 10.
The line of the Dead Sea, lying in its deep trough, is visible from the Mount of Olives; indeed, so clear is the atmosphere that the blue water seems quite near the eye, though in fact it is more than fifteen miles off and nearly four thousand feet below the spectator. See K. Baedeker, Palestine and Syria4 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 77. When the sun shines on it, the lake is of a brilliant blue (G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, London, 1894, pp. 501 sq.); but its brilliancy is naturally dimmed under clouded skies.
2 Kings v. 5-7.
2 Samuel xxiv.; 1 Chronicles xxi. In this passage, contrary to his usual practice, the Chronicler has enlivened the dull tenor of his history with some picturesque touches which we miss in the corresponding passage of Kings. It is to him that we owe the vision of the Angel of the Plague first stretching out his sword over Jerusalem and then returning it to the scabbard. From him Defoe seems to have taken a hint in his account of the prodigies, real or imaginary, which heralded the outbreak of the Great Plague in London. “One time before the plague was begun, otherwise than as I have said in St. Giles's, I think it was in March, seeing a crowd of people in the street, I joined with them to satisfy my curiosity, and found them all staring up into the air to see what a woman told them appeared plain to her, which was an angel clothed in white with a fiery sword in his hand, waving it or brandishing it over his head.... One saw one thing and one another. I looked as earnestly as the rest, but, perhaps, not with so much willingness to be imposed upon; and I said, indeed, that I could see nothing but a white cloud, bright on one side, by the shining of the sun upon the other part.” See Daniel Defoe, History of the Plague in London (Edinburgh, 1810, pp. 33 sq.). It is the more likely that Defoe had here the Chronicler in mind, because a few pages earlier he introduces the prophet Jonah and a man out of Josephus with very good effect.
2 Kings xvii. 5 sq., xviii. 9 sq.
2 Kings xix. 32-36.
We owe to Ezekiel (xxiii. 5 sq., 12) the picture of the handsome Assyrian cavalrymen in their blue uniforms and gorgeous trappings. The prophet writes as if in his exile by the waters of Babylon he had seen the blue regiments filing past, in all the pomp of war, on their way to the front.
Samaria fell in 722 b.c., during or just before the reign of Hezekiah: the Book of Deuteronomy, the cornerstone of king Josiah's reformation, was produced in 621 b.c.; and Jerusalem fell in 586 b.c. The date of Hezekiah's accession is a much-disputed point in the chronology of Judah. See the Introduction to Kings and Isaiah i.-xxxix. by J. Skinner and O. C. Whitehouse respectively, in The Century Bible.
Or the Deuteronomic redactor, as the critics call him. See W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church2 (London and Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 395 sq., 425; Encyclopaedia Biblica, ii. 2078 sqq., 2633 sqq., iv. 4273 sqq.; K. Budde, Geschichte der althebräischen Litteratur (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 99, 121 sqq., 127 sqq., 132; Principal J. Skinner, in his introduction to Kings (in The Century Bible), pp. 10 sqq.
Menander of Ephesus, quoted by Josephus, Contra Apionem, i. 18 (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iv. 446); G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 4, p. 26. According to Justin, however, the priest of Hercules, that is, of Melcarth, at Tyre, was distinct from the king and second to him in dignity. See Justin, xviii. 4, 5.
Hosea ii. 5 sqq.; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites2 (London, 1894), pp. 95-107.
W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 107 sq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 120 sqq., 376 sqq.
Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 9.
Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iii. 55; Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, ii. 5; Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 18; Zosimus, i. 58.
On the valley of the Nahr Ibrahim, its scenery and monuments, see Edward Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine3 (London, 1867), iii. 603-609; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, Lebanon, Damascus, and beyond Jordan (London, 1886), pp. 239-246; E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie, pp. 282 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. (Paris, 1897) pp. 175-179; Sir Charles Wilson, Picturesque Palestine (London, n.d.), iii. 16, 17, 27. Among the trees which line the valley are oak, sycamore, bay, plane, orange, and mulberry (W. M. Thomson, op. cit. p. 245). Travellers are unanimous in testifying to the extraordinary beauty of the vale of the Adonis. Thus Robinson writes: “There is no spot in all my wanderings on which memory lingers with greater delight than on the sequestered retreat and exceeding loveliness of Afka.” Renan says that the landscape is one of the most beautiful in the world. My friend the late Sir Francis Galton wrote to me (20th September 1906): “I have no good map of Palestine, but strongly suspect that my wanderings there, quite sixty years ago, took me to the place you mention, above the gorge of the river Adonis. Be that as it may, I have constantly asserted that the view I then had of a deep ravine and blue sea seen through the cliffs that bounded it, was the most beautiful I had ever set eyes on.”
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. Ἄφακα, p. 175.
Melito, “Oration to Antoninus Caesar,” in W. Cureton's Spicilegium Syriacum (London, 1855), p. 44.
E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie, pp. 292-294. The writer seems to have no doubt that the beast attacking Adonis is a bear, not a boar. Views of the monument are given by A. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte des Alten Orients2 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 90, and by Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, plates i. and ii., with his discussion, pp. 78 sqq.
Macrobius, Saturn, i. 21. 5.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 8.
F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, ii. 2, p. 224; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. 199; G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (London, 1894), p. 135.
On the natural wealth of Cyprus see Strabo, xiv. 6. 5; W. H. Engel, Kypros, i. 40-71; F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, ii. 2, pp. 224 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. 200 sq.; E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cypern, i. (Munich, 1903) pp. 175 sqq., 243 sqq. As to the firs and cedars of Cyprus see Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum, v. 7. 1, v. 9. 1. The Cyprians boasted that they could build and rig a ship complete, from her keel to her topsails, with the native products of their island (Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv. 8. 14).
G. A. Cooke, Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, Nos. 12-25, pp. 55-76, 347-349; P. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History (London, 1892), pp. 179, 185. It has been held that the name of Citium is etymologically identical with Hittite. If that was so, it would seem that the town was built and inhabited by a non-Semitic people before the arrival of the Phoenicians. See Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Kittim.” Other traces of this older race, akin to the primitive stock of Asia Minor, have been detected in Cyprus; amongst them the most obvious is the Cyprian syllabary, the characters of which are neither Phoenician nor Greek in origin. See P. Gardner, op. cit. pp. 154, 173-175, 178 sq.
G. A. Cooke, Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 11, p. 52.
Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἀμαθοῦς; Pausanias, ix. 41. 2 sq. According to Pausanias, there was a remarkable necklace of green stones and gold in the sanctuary of Adonis and Aphrodite at Amathus. The Greeks commonly identified it with the necklace of Harmonia or Eriphyle. A terra-cotta statuette of Astarte, found at Amathus (?), represents her wearing a necklace which she touches with one hand. See L. P. di Cesnola, Cyprus (London, 1877), p. 275. The scanty ruins of Amathus occupy an isolated hill beside the sea. Among them is an enormous stone jar, half buried in the earth, of which the four handles are adorned with figures of bulls. It is probably of Phoenician manufacture. See L. Ross, Reisen nach Kos, Halikarnassos, Rhodes und der Insel Cypern (Halle, 1852), pp. 168 sqq.
Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἀμαθοῦς. For the relation of Adonis to Osiris at Byblus see below, vol. ii. pp. 9 sq., 22 sq., 127.
Hesychius, s.v. Μάλικα.
L. P. di Cesnola, Cyprus, pp. 254-283; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. (Paris, 1885) pp. 216-222.
D. G. Hogarth, Devia Cypria (London, 1889), pp. 1-3; Encyclopaedia Britannica,9 vi. 747; Élisée Reclus, Nouvelle Géographie Universelle (Paris, 1879-1894), ix. 668.
T. L. Donaldson, Architectura Numismatica (London, 1859), pp. 107-109, with fig. 31; Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 210-213; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Cyprus (London, 1904), pp. cxxvii-cxxxiv, with plates xiv. 2, 3, 6-8, xv. 1-4, 7, xvi. 2, 4, 6-9, xvii. 4-6, 8, 9, xxvi. 3, 6-16; George Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection (Glasgow, 1899-1905), ii. 566, with pl. lxi. 19. As to the existing remains of the temple, which were excavated by an English expedition in 1887-1888, see “Excavations in Cyprus, 1887-1888,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 193 sqq. Previous accounts of the temple are inaccurate and untrustworthy.
C. Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Ausgrabungen2 (Leipsic, 1891), pp. 231-233; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, vi. (Paris, 1894) pp. 336 sq., 652-654; Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 213 sq.; P. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, p. 181.
J. Selden, De dis Syris (Leipsic, 1668), pp. 274 sqq.; S. Bochart, Hierozoicon, Editio Tertia (Leyden, 1692), ii. 4 sqq. Compare the statue of a priest with a dove in his hand, which was found in Cyprus (Perrot et Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. Paris, 1885, p. 510), with fig. 349.
A. J. Evans, “Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxi. (1901) pp. 99 sqq.
Tacitus, Annals, iii. 62.
Herodotus, i. 105; compare Pausanias, i. 14. 7. Herodotus only speaks of the sanctuary of Aphrodite in Cyprus, but he must refer to the great one at Paphos. At Ascalon a goddess was worshipped in mermaid-shape under the name of Derceto, and fish and doves were sacred to her (Diodorus Siculus, ii. 4; compare Lucian, De dea Syria, 14). The name Derceto, like the much more correct Atargatis, is a Greek corruption of 'Attâr, the Aramaic form of Astarte, but the two goddesses Atargatis and Astarte, in spite of the affinity of their names, appear to have been historically distinct. See Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2 (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1909), pp. 605, 650 sq.; F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur Semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin, 1888), pp. 68 sqq.; F. Cumont, s.vv. “Atargatis” and “Dea Syria,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft; René Dussaud, Notes de Mythologie Syrienne (Paris, 1903), pp. 82 sqq.; R. A. Stewart Macalister, The Philistines, their History and Civilization (London, 1913), pp. 94 sqq.
It is described by ancient writers and figured on coins. See Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3; Maximus Tyrius, Dissert. viii. 8; Servius on Virgil, Aen. i. 720; T. L. Donaldson, Architectura Numismatica, p. 107, with fig. 31; Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 210-212. According to Maximus Tyrius, the material of the pyramid was unknown. Probably it was a stone. The English archaeologists found several fragments of white cones on the site of the temple at Paphos: one which still remains in its original position in the central chamber was of limestone and of somewhat larger size (Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) p. 180).
See above, p. 14.
On coins of Perga the sacred cone is represented as richly decorated and standing in a temple between sphinxes. See B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 585; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins (Cambridge, 1883), pl. xv. No. 3; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia (London, 1897), pl. xxiv. 12, 15, 16. However, Mr. G. F. Hill writes to me: “Is the stone at Perga really a cone? I have always thought it was a cube or something of that kind. On the coins the upper, sloping portion is apparently an elaborate veil or head-dress. The head attached to the stone is seen in the middle of this, surmounted by a tall kalathos.” The sanctuary stood on a height, and a festival was held there annually (Strabo, xiv. 4. 2, p. 667). The native title of the goddess was Anassa, that is, “Queen.” See B. V. Head, l.c.; Wernicke, s.v. “Artemis,” in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ii. 1, col. 1397. Aphrodite at Paphos bore the same title. See below, p. 42, note 6. The worship of Pergaean Artemis at Halicarnassus was cared for by a priestess, who held office for life and had to make intercession for the city at every new moon. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum2 (Leipsic, 1898-1901), vol. ii. p. 373, No. 601.
Herodian, v. 3. 5. This cone was of black stone, with some small knobs on it, like the stone of Cybele at Pessinus. It is figured on coins of Emesa. See B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 659; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins, pl. xv. No. 1. The sacred stone of Cybele, which the Romans brought from Pessinus to Rome during the Second Punic War, was small, black, and rugged, but we are not told that it was of conical shape. See Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vii. 49; Livy, xxix. 11. 7. According to one reading, Servius (on Virgil, Aen. vii. 188) speaks of the stone of Cybele as a needle (acus), which would point to a conical shape. But the reading appears to be without manuscript authority, and other emendations have been suggested.
G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. 273, 298 sq., 304 sq. The sanctuary of Aphrodite, or rather Astarte, at Golgi is said to have been even more ancient than her sanctuary at Paphos (Pausanias, viii. 5. 2).
W. M. Flinders Petrie, Researches in Sinai (London, 1906), pp. 135 sq., 189. Votive cones made of clay have been found in large numbers in Babylonia, particularly at Lagash and Nippur. See M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, U.S.A., 1898), pp. 672-674.
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3.
We learn this from an inscription found at Paphos. See Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 188, 231.
Pausanias, x. 24. 6, with my note.
D. G. Hogarth, A Wandering Scholar in the Levant (London, 1896), pp. 179 sq. Women used to creep through a holed stone to obtain children at a place on the Dee in Aberdeenshire. See Balder the Beautiful, ii. 187.
G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. 628.
Herodotus, i. 199; Athenaeus, xii. 11, p. 516 a; Justin, xviii. 5. 4; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i. 17; W. H. Engel, Kypros, ii. 142 sqq. Asiatic customs of this sort have been rightly explained by W. Mannhardt (Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, pp. 283 sqq.).
Herodotus, i. 199; Strabo, xvi. 1. 20, p. 745. As to the identity of Mylitta with Astarte see H. Zimmern in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das alte Testament,3 pp. 423, note 7, 428, note 4. According to him, the name Mylitta comes from Mu'allidtu, “she who helps women in travail.” In this character Ishtar would answer to the Greek Artemis and the Latin Diana. As to sacred prostitution in the worship of Ishtar see M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 475 sq., 484 sq.; P. Dhorme, La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne (Paris, 1910), pp. 86, 300 sq.
Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iii. 58; Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 18. 7-9; Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, v. 10. 7. Socrates says that at Heliopolis local custom obliged the women to be held in common, so that paternity was unknown, “for there was no distinction of parents and children, and the people prostituted their daughters to the strangers who visited them” (τοῖς παριοῦσι ξένοις). The prostitution of matrons as well as of maids is mentioned by Eusebius. As he was born and spent his life in Syria, and was a contemporary of the practices he describes, the bishop of Caesarea had the best opportunity of informing himself as to them, and we ought not, as Prof. M. P. Nilsson does (Griechische Feste, Leipsic, 1906, p. 366 n.2), to allow his positive testimony on this point to be outweighed by the silence of the later historian Sozomenus, who wrote long after the custom had been abolished. Eusebius had good reason to know the heathenish customs which were kept up in his diocese; for he was sharply taken to task by Constantine for allowing sacrifices to be offered on altars under the sacred oak or terebinth at Mamre; and in obedience to the imperial commands he caused the altars to be destroyed and an oratory to be built instead under the tree. So in Ireland the ancient heathen sanctuaries under the sacred oaks were converted by Christian missionaries into churches and monasteries. See Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 18; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 242 sq.
Athanasius, Oratio contra Gentes, 26 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xxv. 52), γυναῖκες γοῦν ἐν εἰδωλείοις τῆς Φοινικῆς πάλαι προεκαθέζοντο, ἀπαρχόμεναι τοῖς ἐκεῖ θέοις ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν μισθαρνίαν, νομίζουσαι τῇ πορνειᾳ τὴν θέον ἑαυτῶν ἰλάσκεσθαι καὶ εἰς εὐμενείαν ἄγειν αὐτὴν διὰ τούτων. The account of the Phoenician custom which is given by H. Ploss (Das Weib,2 i. 302) and repeated after him by Fr. Schwally (Semitische Kriegsaltertümer, Leipsic, 1901, pp. 76 sq.) may rest only on a misapprehension of this passage of Athanasius. But if it is correct, we may conjecture that the slaves who deflowered the virgins were the sacred slaves of the temples, the ḳedeshim, and that they discharged this office as the living representatives of the god. As to these ḳedeshim, or “sacred men,” see above, pp. 17sq., and below, pp. 72sqq.
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, translated and edited by R. H. Charles (London, 1908), chapter xii. p. 81.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 6. The writer is careful to indicate that none but strangers were allowed to enjoy the women (ἡ δὲ ἀγορὴ μούνοισι ξείνοισι παρακέεται).
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 30 sq.
Herodotus, i. 93 sq.; Athenaeus, xii. 11, pp. 515 sq.
W. M. Ramsay, “Unedited Inscriptions of Asia Minor,” Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vii. (1883) p. 276; id., Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. (Oxford, 1895) pp. 94 sq., 115.
Strabo, xi. 14. 16, p. 532.
Strabo, xii. 3. 32, 34 and 36, pp. 557-559; compare xii. 2. 3, p. 535. Other sanctuaries in Pontus, Cappadocia, and Phrygia swarmed with sacred slaves, and we may conjecture, though we are not told, that many of these slaves were prostitutes. See Strabo, xi. 8. 4, xii. 2. 3 and 6, xii. 3. 31 and 37, xii. 8. 14.
On this great Asiatic goddess and her lovers see especially Sir W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 87 sqq.
Compare W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, pp. 284 sq.; W. Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel, New Edition (London, 1902), pp. 171-174. Similarly in Camul, formerly a province of the Chinese Empire, the men used to place their wives at the disposal of any foreigners who came to lodge with them, and deemed it an honour if the guests made use of their opportunities. The emperor, hearing of the custom, forbade the people to observe it. For three years they obeyed, then, finding that their lands were no longer fruitful and that many mishaps befell them, they prayed the emperor to allow them to retain the custom, “for it was by reason of this usage that their gods bestowed upon them all the good things that they possessed, and without it they saw not how they could continue to exist.” See The Book of Ser Marco Polo, translated and edited by Colonel Henry Yule, Second Edition (London, 1875), i. 212 sq. Here apparently the fertility of the soil was deemed to depend on the intercourse of the women with strangers, not with their husbands. Similarly, among the Oulad Abdi, an Arab tribe of Morocco, “the women often seek a divorce and engage in prostitution in the intervals between their marriages; during that time they continue to dwell in their families, and their relations regard their conduct as very natural. The administrative authority having bestirred itself and attempted to regulate this prostitution, the whole population opposed the attempt, alleging that such a measure would impair the abundance of the crops.” See Edmond Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 560 sq.
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 14, p. 13, ed. Potter; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 19; compare Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 10.
In Hebrew a temple harlot was regularly called “a sacred woman” (kĕdēsha). See Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Harlot”; S. R. Driver, on Genesis xxxviii. 21. As to such “sacred women” see below, pp. 70sqq.
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 13, p. 12, ed. Potter; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 19; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 10.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 3.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 3. I follow the text of R. Wagner's edition in reading Μεγασσάρου τοῦ Ὑριέων βασιλέως. As to Hyria in Isauria see Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ὑρία. The city of Celenderis, on the south coast of Cilicia, possessed a small harbour protected by a fortified peninsula. Many ancient tombs survived till recent times, but have now mostly disappeared. It was the port from which the Turkish couriers from Constantinople used to embark for Cyprus. As to the situation and remains see F. Beaufort, Karmania (London, 1817), p. 201; W. M. Leake, Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor (London, 1824), pp. 114-118; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-historische Classe, xliv. (1896) No. vi. p. 94. The statement that the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos was founded by the Arcadian Agapenor, who planted a colony in Cyprus after the Trojan war (Pausanias, viii. 5. 2), may safely be disregarded.
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3; Annals, iii. 62.
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3; Hesychius, s.v. Ταμιράδαι.
Pindar, Pyth. ii. 13-17.
Tyrtaeus, xii. 6 (Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ed. Th. Bergk,3 Leipsic, 1866-1867, ii. 404); Pindar, Pyth. viii. 18; Plato, Laws, ii. 6, p. 660 e; Clement of Alexandria, Paedag. iii. 6, p. 274, ed. Potter; Dio Chrysostom, Orat. viii. (vol. i. p. 149, ed. L. Dindorf); Julian, Epist. lix. p. 574, ed. F. C. Hertlein; Diogenianus, viii. 53; Suidas, s.v. Καταγηράσαις.
Schol. on Pindar, Pyth. ii. 15 (27); Hesychius, s.v. Κινυράδαι; Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iii. 45, p. 40, ed. Potter; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vi. 6. That the kings of Paphos were also priests of the goddess is proved, apart from the testimony of ancient writers, by inscriptions found on the spot. See H. Collitz, Sammlung der griechischen Dialektinschriften, i. (Göttingen, 1884) p. 22, Nos. 38, 39, 40. The title of the goddess in these inscriptions is Queen or Mistress (Ϝανασ(σ)ἀς). It is perhaps a translation of the Semitic Baalath.
Plutarch, De Alexandri Magni fortuna aut virtute, ii. 8. The name of the gardener-king was Alynomus. That the Cinyrads existed as a family down to Macedonian times is further proved by a Greek inscription found at Old Paphos, which records that a certain Democrates, son of Ptolemy, head of the Cinyrads, and his wife Eunice, dedicated a statue of their daughter to the Paphian Aphrodite. See L. Ross, “Inschriften von Cypern,” Rheinisches Museum, N.F. vii. (1850) pp. 520 sq. It seems to have been a common practice of parents to dedicate statues of their sons or daughters to the goddess at Paphos. The inscribed pedestals of many such statues were found by the English archaeologists. See Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 228, 235, 236, 237, 241, 244, 246, 255.
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 4; Pausanias, viii. 24. 6.
Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 35.
Ovid, Metam. x. 298 sqq.; Hyginus, Fab. 58, 64; Fulgentius, Mytholog. iii. 8; Lactantius Placidius, Narrat. Fabul. x. 9; Servius on Virgil, Ecl. x. 18, and Aen. v. 72; Plutarch, Parallela, 22; Schol. on Theocritus, i. 107. It is Ovid who describes (Metam. x. 431 sqq.) the festival of Ceres, at which the incest was committed. His source was probably the Metamorphoses of the Greek writer Theodorus, which Plutarch (l.c.) refers to as his authority for the story. The festival in question was perhaps the Thesmophoria, at which women were bound to remain chaste (Schol. on Theocritus, iv. 25; Schol. on Nicander, Ther. 70 sq.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxiv. 59; Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, i. 134 (135); compare Aelian, De natura animalium, ix. 26). Compare E. Fehrle, Die kultische Keuschheit im Altertum (Giessen, 1910), pp. 103 sqq., 121 sq., 151 sqq. The corn and bread of Cyprus were famous in antiquity. See Aeschylus, Suppliants, 549 (555); Hipponax, cited by Strabo, viii. 3. 8, p. 340; Eubulus, cited by Athenaeus, iii. 78, p. 112 f; E. Oberhummer, Die Insel. Cypern, i. (Munich, 1903) pp. 274 sqq. According to another account, Adonis was the fruit of the incestuous intercourse of Theias, a Syrian king, with his daughter Myrrha. See Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 4 (who cites Panyasis as his authority); J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 829; Antoninus Liberalis, Transform. 34 (who lays the scene of the story on Mount Lebanon). With the corn-wreaths mentioned in the text we may compare the wreaths which the Roman Arval Brethren wore at their sacred functions, and with which they seem to have crowned the images of the goddesses. See G. Henzen, Acta Fratrum Arvalium (Berlin, 1874), pp. 24-27, 33 sq. Compare Pausanias, vii. 20. 1. sq.
A list of these cases is given by Hyginus, Fab. 253. It includes the incest of Clymenus, king of Arcadia, with his daughter Harpalyce (compare Hyginus, Fab. 206); that of Oenomaus, king of Pisa, with his daughter Hippodamia (compare J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 156; Lucian, Charidemus, 19); that of Erechtheus, king of Athens, with his daughter Procris; and that of Epopeus, king of Lesbos, with his daughter Nyctimene (compare Hyginus, Fab. 204).
The custom of brother and sister marriage seems to have been especially common in royal families. See my note on Pausanias, i. 7. 1 (vol. ii. pp. 84 sq.); as to the case of Egypt see below, vol. ii. pp. 213 sqq. The true explanation of the custom was first, so far as I know, indicated by J. F. McLennan (The Patriarchal Theory, London, 1885, p. 95).
Aulus Gellius, x. 15. 22; J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.2 (Leipsic, 1885) p. 328.
Priestesses are said to have preceded priests in some Egyptian cities. See W. M. Flinders Petrie, The Religion of Ancient Egypt (London, 1906), p. 74.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 179, 190 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 268 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 12 note 1.
Major P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis (London, 1907), pp. 109-112, 120 sq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 191 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 148.
The late Rev. P. Dehon, S.J., “Religion and Customs of the Uraons,” Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. i. No. 9 (Calcutta, 1906), pp. 144-146.
For more evidence see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 97 sqq.
Lucian, Rhetorum praeceptor, 11; Hyginus, Fab. 270.
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 33, p. 29, ed. Potter.
W. H. Engel, Kypros, ii. 585, 612; A. Maury, Histoire des Religions de la Grèce Antique (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 197, note 3.
Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vi. 22; Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iv. 57, p. 51, ed. Potter; Ovid, Metam. x. 243-297. The authority for the story is the Greek history of Cyprus by Philostephanus, cited both by Arnobius and Clement. In Ovid's poetical version of the legend Pygmalion is a sculptor, and the image with which he falls in love is that of a lovely woman, which at his prayer Venus endows with life. That King Pygmalion was a Phoenician is mentioned by Porphyry (De abstinentia, iv. 15) on the authority of Asclepiades, a Cyprian.
See above, p. 42.
Probus, on Virgil, Ecl. x. 18. I owe this reference to my friend Mr. A. B. Cook.
In his treatise on the political institutions of Cyprus, Aristotle reported that the sons and brothers of the kings were called “lords” (ἄνακτες), and their sisters and wives “ladies” (ἄνασσαι). See Harpocration and Suidas, s.v. Ἄνακτες. Compare Isocrates, ix. 72; Clearchus of Soli, quoted by Athenaeus, vi. 68, p. 256 A. Now in the bilingual inscription of Idalium, which furnished the clue to the Cypriote syllabary, the Greek version gives the title Ϝάναξ as the equivalent of the Phoenician Adon (אדן). See Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, i. No. 89; G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 74, note 1.
Josephus, Contra Apionem, i. 18, ed. B. Niese; Appian, Punica, i; Virgil, Aen. i. 346 sq.; Ovid, Fasti, iii. 574; Justin, xviii. 4; Eustathius on Dionysius Periegetes, 195 (Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller Paris, 1882, ii. 250 sq.).
Pumi-yathon, son of Milk-yathon, is known from Phoenician inscriptions found at Idalium. See G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, Nos. 12 and 13, pp. 55 sq., 57 sq. Coins inscribed with the name of King Pumi-yathon are also in existence. See G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Cyprus (London, 1904), pp. xl. sq., 21 sq., pl. iv. 20-24. He was deposed by Ptolemy (Diodorus Siculus, xix. 79. 4). Most probably he is the Pymaton of Citium who purchased the kingdom from a dissolute monarch named Pasicyprus some time before the conquests of Alexander (Athenaeus, iv. 63, p. 167). In this passage of Athenaeus the name Pymaton, which is found in the MSS. and agrees closely with the Phoenician Pumi-yathon, ought not to be changed into Pygmalion, as the latest editor (G. Kaibel) has done.
G. A. Cooke, op. cit. p. 55, note 1. Mr. Cooke remarks that the form of the name (פגמלין instead of פמייתן) must be due to Greek influence.
See above, p. 41.
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 13, p. 12; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 9; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 10.
That the king was not necessarily succeeded by his eldest son is proved by the case of Solomon, who on his accession executed his elder brother Adoni-jah (1 Kings ii. 22-24). Similarly, when Abimelech became king of Shechem, he put his seventy brothers in ruthless oriental fashion to death. See Judges viii. 29-31, ix. 5 sq., 18. So on his accession Jehoram, King of Judah, put all his brothers to the sword (2 Chronicles xxi. 4). King Rehoboam had eighty-eight children (2 Chronicles xi. 21) and King Abi-jah had thirty-eight (2 Chronicles xiii. 21). These examples illustrate the possible size of the family of a polygamous king.
The Dying God, pp. 160 sqq.
The names which imply that a man was the father of a god have proved particularly puzzling to some eminent Semitic scholars. See W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 p. 45, note 2; Th. Nöldeke, s.v. “Names,” Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. 3287 sqq.; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, pp. 39 sq., 43 sqq. Such names are Abi-baal (“father of Baal”), Abi-el (“father of El”), Abi-jah (“father of Jehovah”), and Abi-melech (“father of a king” or “father of Moloch”). On the hypothesis put forward in the text the father of a god and the son of a god stood precisely on the same footing, and the same person would often be both one and the other. Where the common practice prevailed of naming a father after his son (Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 331 sqq.), a divine king in later life might often be called “father of such-and-such a god.”
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 418 sq.
A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum (Tübingen, n.d.), p. 113.
L. Borchardt, “Der ägyptische Titel ‘Vater des Gottes’ als Bezeichnung für ‘Vater oder Schwiegervater des Königs,’ ” Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philolog.-histor. Klasse, lvii. (1905) pp. 254-270.
F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 243; Stoll, s.v. “Kinyras,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1191; 1 Samuel xvi. 23.
1 Chronicles xxv. 1-3; compare 2 Samuel vi. 5.
W. Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel2 (London, 1902), pp. 391 sq.; E. Renan, Histoire du peuple d'Israel (Paris, 1893), ii. 280.
1 Samuel x. 5.
2 Kings iii. 4-24. And for the explanation of the supposed miracle, see W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church2 (London and Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 146 sq. I have to thank Professor Kennett for the suggestion that the Moabites took the ruddy light on the water for an omen of blood rather than for actual gore.
1 Samuel xvi. 14-23.
J. H. Newman, Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, No. xv. pp. 346 sq. (third edition).
It would be interesting to pursue a similar line of inquiry in regard to the other arts. What was the influence of Phidias on Greek religion? How much does Catholicism owe to Fra Angelico?
Pindar, Pyth. ii. 15 sq.
On the lyre and the flute in Greek religion and Greek thought, see L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford, 1896-1909), iv. 243 sqq.
Pindar, Pyth. i. 13 sqq.
This seems to be the view also of Dr. Farnell, who rightly connects the musical with the prophetic side of Apollo's character (op. cit. iv. 245).
Hyginus, Fab. 242. So in the version of the story which made Adonis the son of Theias, the father is said to have killed himself when he learned what he had done (Antoninus Liberalis, Transform. 34).
Scholiast and Eustathius on Homer, Iliad, xi. 20. Compare F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 243 sq.; W. H. Engel, Kypros, ii. 109-116; Stoll, s.v. “Kinyras,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1191.
Anacreon, cited by Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 154. Nonnus also refers to the long life of Cinyras (Dionys. xxxii. 212 sq.).
Encyclopaedia Britannica,9 xiv. 858.
L. R. Farnell, “Sociological hypotheses concerning the position of women in ancient religion,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, vii. (1904) p. 88; M. P. Nilsson, Griechische Feste (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 366 sq.; Fr. Cumont, Les religions orientales dans le paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 361 sq. A different and, in my judgment, a truer view of these customs was formerly taken by Prof. Nilsson. See his Studia de Dionysiis Atticis (Lund, 1900), pp. 119-121. For a large collection of facts bearing on this subject and a judicious discussion of them, see W. Hertz, “Die Sage vom Giftmädchen,” Gesammelte Abhandlungen (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1905), pp. 195-219. My attention was drawn to this last work by Prof. G. L. Hamilton of the University of Michigan after my manuscript had been sent to the printer. With Hertz's treatment of the subject I am in general agreement, and I have derived from his learned treatise several references to authorities which I had overlooked.
Above, p. 37.
Above, p. 38. Prof. Nilsson is mistaken in affirming (op. cit. p. 367) that the Lydian practice was purely secular: the inscription which I have cited proves the contrary. Both he and Dr. Farnell fully recognize the religious aspect of most of these customs in antiquity, and Prof. Nilsson attempts, as it seems to me, unsuccessfully, to indicate how a practice supposed to be purely secular in origin should have come to contract a religious character.
Above, p. 37.
Hosea iv. 13 sq.
Above, pp. 37sqq.
See above, pp. 17sq.
L. di Varthema, Travels (Hakluyt Society, 1863), pp. 141, 202-204 (Malabar); J. A. de Mandlesloe, in J. Harris's Voyages and Travels, i. (London, 1744), p. 767 (Malabar); Richard, “History of Tonquin,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, ix. 760 sq. (Aracan); A. de Morga, The Philippine Islands, Moluccas, Siam, Cambodia, Japan, and China (Hakluyt Society, 1868), pp. 304 sq. (the Philippines); J. Mallat, Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), i. 61 (the Philippines); L. Moncelon, in Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, 3me Série, ix. (1886) p. 368 (New Caledonia); H. Crawford Angas, in Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 1898, p. 481 (Azimba, Central Africa); Sir H. H. Johnston, British Central Africa (London, 1897), p. 410 (the Wa-Yao of Central Africa). See further, W. Hertz, “Die Sage vom Giftmädchen,” Gesammelte Abhandlungen, pp. 198-204.
Herodotus, i. 93; Justin, xviii. 5. 4. Part of the wages thus earned was probably paid into the local temple. See above, pp. 37, 38. However, according to Strabo (xi. 14. 16, p. 532) the Armenian girls of rich families often gave their lovers more than they received from them.
This fatal objection to the theory under discussion has been clearly stated by W. Hertz, op. cit. p. 217. I am glad to find myself in agreement with so judicious and learned an inquirer.
L. di Varthema, Travels (Hakluyt Society, 1863), p. 141; J. A. de Mandlesloe, in J. Harris's Voyages and Travels, i. (London, 1744) p. 767; A. Hamilton, “New Account of the East Indies,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, viii. 374; Ch. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, iv. (Leipsic, 1861), p. 408; A. de Herrera, The General History of the Vast Continent and Islands of America, translated by Captain J. Stevens (London, 1725-1726), iii. 310, 340; Fr. Coreal, Voyages aux Indes Occidentales (Amsterdam, 1722), i. 10 sq., 139 sq.; C. F. Ph. v. Martius, Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's, i. (Leipsic, 1867) pp. 113 sq. The first three of these authorities refer to Malabar; the fourth refers to Cambodia; the last three refer to the Indians of Central and South America. See further W. Hertz, “Die Sage vom Giftmädchen,” Gesammelte Abhandlungen, pp. 204-207. For a criticism of the Malabar evidence see K. Schmidt, Jus primae noctis (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1881), pp. 312-320.
Lactantius, Divin. Institut. i. 20; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, iv. 7; Augustine, De civitate Dei, vi. 9, vii. 24; D. Barbosa, Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Society, 1866), p. 96; Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes Orientales et à la Chine (Paris, 1782), i. 68; F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde (Heilbronn, 1879), pp. 396 sq., 511; W. Hertz, “Die Sage vom Giftmädchen,” Gesammelte Abhandlungen, pp. 270-272. According to Arnobius, it was matrons, not maidens, who resorted to the image. This suggests that the custom was a charm to procure offspring.
R. Schomburgk, in Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 1879, pp. 235 sq.; Miklucho-Maclay, ibid. 1880, p. 89; W. E. Roth, Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines (Brisbane and London, 1897), pp. 174 sq., 180; B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1899), pp. 92-95; id., Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1904), pp. 133-136. In Australia the observance of the custom is regularly followed by the exercise of what seem to be old communal rights of the men over the women.
J. A. Dubois, Mœurs, Institutions et Cérémonies des Peuples de l'Inde (Paris, 1825), ii. 353 sqq.; J. Shortt, “The Bayadère or dancing-girls of Southern India,” Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, iii. (1867-69) pp. 182-194; Edward Balfour, Cyclopaedia of India3 (London, 1885), i. 922 sqq.; W. Francis, in Census of India, 1901, vol. xv., Madras, Part I. (Madras, 1902) pp. 151 sq.; E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India (Madras, 1906), pp. 36 sq., 40 sq. The office of these sacred women has in recent years been abolished, on the ground of immorality, by the native Government of Mysore. See Homeward Mail, 6th June 1909 (extract kindly sent me by General Begbie).
Edgar Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India (Madras, 1909), iii. 37-39. Compare id., Ethnographic Notes in Southern India (Madras, 1906), pp. 29 sq. In Southern India the maternal uncle often takes a prominent part in the marriage ceremony to the exclusion of the girl's father. See, for example, E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, ii. 497, iv. 147. The custom is derived from the old system of mother-kin, under which a man's heirs are not his own children but his sister's children. As to this system see below, Chapter XII., “Mother-kin and Mother Goddesses.”
E. Balfour, op. cit. ii. 1012.
Francis Buchanan, “A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, viii. (London, 1811), p. 749.
N. Subramhanya Aiyar, in Census of India, 1901, vol. xxvi., Travancore, Part i. (Trivandrum, 1903), pp. 276 sq. I have to thank my friend Mr. W. Crooke for referring me to this and other passages on the sacred dancing-girls of India.
A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (London, 1890), pp. 140 sq.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. 142.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. pp. 148 sq. Compare Des Marchais, Voyage en Guinée et à Cayenne (Amsterdam, 1731), ii. 144-151; P. Bouche, La Côte des Esclaves (Paris, 1885), p. 128. The Abbé Bouche calls these women danwés.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. 60; Des Marchais, op. cit. ii. 149 sq.
Des Marchais, Voyage en Guinée et à Cayenne (Amsterdam, 1731), ii. 146 sq.
W. Bosman, “Description of the Coast of Guinea,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, xvi. (London, 1814), p. 494.
W. Bosman, l.c. The name of Whydah is spelt by Bosman as Fida, and by Des Marchais as Juda.
MS. notes, kindly sent to me by the author, Mr. A. C. Hollis, 21st May, 1908.
A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, pp. 142-144; Le R. P. Baudin, “Féticheurs ou ministres religieux des Nègres de la Guinée,” Les Missions Catholiques, No. 787 (4 juillet 1884), p. 322.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. pp. 150 sq.
La Côte des Esclaves, pp. 127 sq.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. 147.
A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa (London, 1887), pp. 120-138.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. 121.
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. pp. 120 sq., 129-138. The slaves, male and female, dedicated to a god from childhood are often mentioned by the German missionary Mr. J. Spieth in his elaborate work on the Ewe people (Die Eẇe-Stämme: Material zur Kunde des Eẇe-Volkes in Deutsch-Togo, Berlin, 1906, pp. 228, 229, 309, 450, 474, 792, 797, etc.). But his information does not illustrate the principal points to which I have called attention in the text.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 129-135.
Herodotus, i. 181 sq. It is not clear whether the same or a different woman slept every night in the temple.
H. Winckler, Die Gesetze Hammurabi2 (Leipsic, 1903), p. 31, § 182; C. H. W. Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters (Edinburgh, 1904), pp. 54, 55, 59, 60, 61 (§§ 137, 144, 145, 146, 178, 182, 187, 192, 193, of the Code of Hammurabi). As to these female votaries see especially C. H. W. Johns, “Notes on the Code of Hammurabi,” American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, xix. (January 1903) pp. 98-107. Compare S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses and the Code of Hammurabi (London, 1903), pp. 147-150.
C. H. W. Johns, “Notes on the Code of Hammurabi,” l.c., where we read (p. 104) of a female votary of Shamash who had a daughter.
Code of Hammurabi, § 181; C. H. W. Johns, “Notes on the Code of Hammurabi,” op. cit. pp. 100 sq.; S. A. Cook, op. cit. p. 148. Dr. Johns translates the name by “temple maid” (Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters, p. 61). He is scrupulously polite to these ladies, but I gather from him that a far less charitable view of their religious vocation is taken by Father Scheil, the first editor and translator of the code.
Any man proved to have pointed the finger of scorn at a votary was liable to be branded on the forehead (Code of Hammurabi, § 127).
Herodotus, i. 182.
A. Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buch (Leipsic, 1890), pp. 268 sq. See further The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 130 sqq.
Strabo, xvii. 1. 46, p. 816. The title “concubines of Zeus (Ammon)” is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (i. 47).
Diodorus Siculus, i. 47.
The ἱερόδουλοι, as the Greeks called them.
I have to thank the Rev. Professor R. H. Kennett for this important suggestion as to the true nature of the ḳedeshim. The passages of the Bible in which mention is made of these men are Deuteronomy xxiii. 17 (in Hebrew 18); 1 Kings xiv. 24, xv. 12, xxii. 46 (in Hebrew 47); 2 Kings xxiii. 7; Job xxxvi. 14 (where ḳedeshim is translated “the unclean” in the English version). The usual rendering of ḳedeshim in the English Bible is not justified by any of these passages; but it may perhaps derive support from a reference which Eusebius makes to the profligate rites observed at Aphaca (Vita Constantini, iii. 55; Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xx. 1120); Γύνιδες γοῦν τινες ἄνδρες οὐκ ἄνδρες, τὸ σέμνον τῆς φύσεως ἀπαρνησάμενοι, θηλείᾳ νόσῳ τὴν δαίμονα ἱλεοῦντο. But probably Eusebius is here speaking of the men who castrated themselves in honour of the goddess, and thereafter wore female attire. See Lucian, De dea Syria, 51; and below, pp. 269sq.
Strabo, xi. 4. 7, p. 503.
Drexler, in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, s.v. “Men,” ii. 2687 sqq.
It is true that Strabo (l.c.) speaks of the Albanian deity as a goddess, but this may be only an accommodation to the usage of the Greek language, in which the moon is feminine.
Florus, Epitoma, ii. 7; Diodorus Siculus, Frag. xxxiv. 2 (vol. v. pp. 87 sq., ed. L. Dindorf, in the Teubner series).
Above, pp. 52sq.
1 Kings xix. 16; Isaiah lx. 1.
1 Kings xx. 41. So in Africa “priests and priestesses are readily distinguishable from the rest of the community. They wear their hair long and unkempt, while other people, except the women in the towns on the seaboard, have it cut close to the head.... Frequently both appear with white circles painted round their eyes, or with various white devices, marks, or lines painted on the face, neck, shoulders, or arms” (A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, p. 123). “Besides the ordinary tribal tattoo-marks borne by all natives, the priesthood in Dahomi bear a variety of such marks, some very elaborate, and an expert can tell by the marks on a priest to what god he is vowed, and what rank he holds in the order. These hierarchical marks consist of lines, scrolls, diamonds, and other patterns, with sometimes a figure, such as that of the crocodile or chameleon. The shoulders are frequently seen covered with an infinite number of small marks like dots, set close together. All these marks are considered sacred, and the laity are forbidden to touch them” (A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, p. 146). The reason why the prophet's shoulders are especially marked is perhaps given by the statement of a Zulu that “the sensitive part with a doctor [medicine-man] is his shoulders. Everything he feels is in the situation of his shoulders. That is the place where black men feel the Amatongo” (ancestral spirits). See H. Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu, part ii. p. 159. These African analogies suggest that the “wounds between the arms” (literally, “between the hands”) which the prophet Zechariah mentions (xiii. 6) as the badge of a Hebrew prophet were marks tattooed on his shoulders in token of his holy office. The suggestion is confirmed by the prophet's own statement (l.c.) that he had received the wounds in the house of his lovers (בית מאהבי); for the same word lovers is repeatedly applied by the prophet Hosea to the Baalim (Hosea, ii. 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, verses 7, 9, 12, 14, 15 in Hebrew).
1 Samuel ix. 1-20.
H. Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu, part iii. pp. 300 sqq.
See above, pp. 52sq.
1 Samuel ix. 9. In the Wiimbaio tribe of South-Eastern Australia a medicine-man used to be called “mekigar, from meki, ‘eye’ or ‘to see,’ otherwise ‘one who sees,’ that is, sees the causes of maladies in people, and who could extract them from the sufferer, usually in the form of quartz crystals” (A. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, London, 1904, p. 380).
That the prophet's office in Canaan was developed out of the widespread respect for insanity is duly recognized by Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. p. 383.
W. Max Müller, in Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 1900, No. 1, p. 17; A. Erman, “Eine Reise nach Phönizien im 11 Jahrhundert v. Chr.” Zeitschrift für Āgyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, xxxviii. (1900) pp. 6 sq.; G. Maspero, Les contes populaires de l'Égypte Ancienne,3 p. 192; A. Wiedemann, Altägyptische Sagen und Märchen (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 99 sq.; H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum Alten Testamente (Tübingen, 1909), p. 226. Scholars differ as to whether Wen-Ammon's narrative is to be regarded as history or romance; but even if it were proved to be a fiction, we might safely assume that the incident of the prophetic frenzy at Byblus was based upon familiar facts. Prof. Wiedemann thinks that the god who inspired the page was the Egyptian Ammon, not the Phoenician Adonis, but this view seems to me less probable.
1 Samuel ix. 6-8, 10; 1 Kings xiii. 1, 4-8, 11, etc.
1 Samuel ii. 22. Totally different from their Asiatic namesakes were the “sacred men” and “sacred women” who were charged with the superintendence of the mysteries at Andania in Messenia. They were chosen by lot and held office for a year. The sacred women might be either married or single; the married women had to swear that they had been true to their husbands. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum2 (Leipsic, 1898-1901), vol. ii. pp. 461 sqq., No. 653; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques (Brussels, 1900), pp. 596 sqq., No. 694; Leges Graecorum Sacrae, ed. J. de Prott, L. Ziehen, Pars Altera, Fasciculus i. (Leipsic, 1906), No. 58, pp. 166 sqq.
Hosea ix. 7.
Jeremiah xxix. 26.
S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day (Chicago, New York, Toronto, 1902), pp. 150 sq.
S. I. Curtiss, op. cit. p. 152. As to these “holy men,” see further C. R. Conder, Tent-work in Palestine (London, 1878), ii. 231 sq.: “The most peculiar class of men in the country is that of the Derwîshes, or sacred personages, who wander from village to village, performing tricks, living on alms, and enjoying certain social and domestic privileges, which very often lead to scandalous scenes. Some of these men are mad, some are fanatics, but the majority are, I imagine, rogues. They are reverenced not only by the peasantry, but also sometimes by the governing class. I have seen the Kady of Nazareth ostentatiously preparing food for a miserable and filthy beggar, who sat in the justice-hall, and was consulted as if he had been inspired. A Derwîsh of peculiar eminence is often dressed in good clothes, with a spotless turban, and is preceded by a banner-bearer, and followed by a band, with drum, cymbal, and tambourine.... It is natural to reflect whether the social position of the Prophets among the Jews may not have resembled that of the Derwîshes.”
S. I. Curtiss, op. cit. pp. 116 sq.
S. I. Curtiss, op. cit. pp. 118, 119. In India also some Mohammedan saints are noted as givers of children. Thus at Fatepur-Sikri, near Agra, is the grave of Salim Chishti, and childless women tie rags to the delicate tracery of the tomb, “thus bringing them into direct communion with the spirit of the holy man” (W. Crooke, Natives of Northern India, London, 1907, p. 203).
1 Samuel i.
Genesis vi. 1-3. In this passage “the sons of God (or rather of the gods)” probably means, in accordance with a common Hebrew idiom, no more than “the gods,” just as the phrase “sons of the prophets” means the prophets themselves. For more examples of this idiom, see Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, p. 121.
For example, all Hebrew names ending in -el or -iah are compounds of El or Yahwe, two names of the divinity. See G. B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Proper Names (London, 1896), pp. 149 sqq.
Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, p. 1028. But compare Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. 3285, iv. 4452.
A trace of a similar belief perhaps survives in the narratives of Genesis xxxi. and Judges xiii., where barren women are represented as conceiving children after the visit of God, or of an angel of God, in the likeness of a man.
J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), pp. 446, 448-450.
For more instances see H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest2 (Bonn, 1911), i. 71 sqq.
G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. ii. pp. 662, 663, No. 803, lines 117 sqq., 129 sqq.
Pausanias, ii. 10. 3 (with my note), iii. 23. 7; Livy, xi. Epitome; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxix. 72; Valerius Maximus, i. 8. 2; Ovid, Metam. xv. 626-744; Aurelius Victor, De viris illustr. 22; Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 94.
Aristophanes, Plutus, 733; Pausanias, ii. 11. 8; Herodas, Mimiambi, iv. 90 sq.; G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. ii. p. 655, No. 802, lines 116 sqq.; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 826, No. 1069.
Pausanias, ii. 10. 3, iv. 14. 7 sq.
Pausanias, ii. 10. 4.
Pausanias, ii. 11. 5-8.
Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 94; Dio Cassius, xlv. 1. 2. Tame serpents were kept in a sacred grove of Apollo in Epirus. A virgin priestess fed them, and omens of plenty and health or the opposites were drawn from the way in which the reptiles took their food from her. See Aelian, Nat. Hist. xi. 2.
Pausanias, iv. 14. 7; Livy, xxvi. 19; Aulus Gellius, vi. 1; Plutarch, Alexander, 2. All these cases have been already cited in this connexion by L. Deubner, De incubatione (Leipsic, 1900), p. 33 note.
Aelian, De natura animalium, vi. 17.
H. V. Nanjundayya, The Ethnographical Survey of Mysore, vi. Komati Caste (Bangalore, 1906), p. 29.
T. Arbousset et F. Daumas, Voyage d'Exploration au Nord-Est de la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Espérance (Paris, 1842), p. 277; H. Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, part ii. pp. 140-144, 196-200, 208-212; J. Shooter, The Kafirs of Natal (London, 1857), p. 162; E. Casalis, The Basutos (London, 1861), p. 246; “Words about Spirits,” (South African) Folk-lore Journal, ii. (1880) pp. 101-103; A. Kranz, Natur- und Kulturleben der Zulus (Wiesbaden, 1880), p. 112; F. Speckmann, Die Hermannsburger Mission in Afrika (Hermannsburg, 1876), pp. 165-167; Dudley Kidd, The Essential Kafir (London, 1904), pp. 85-87; Henri A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe (Neuchatel, 1912-1913), ii. 358 sq.
W. A. Elmslie, Among the Wild Ngoni (London, 1899), pp. 71 sq.
O. Baumann, Usambara und seine Nachbargebiete (Berlin, 1891), pp. 141 sq.
S. L. Hinde and H. Hinde, The Last of the Masai (London, 1901), pp. 101 sq.; A. C. Hollis, The Masai (Oxford, 1905), pp. 307 sq.; Sir H. Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate (London, 1904), ii. 832.
M. W. H. Beech, The Suk (Oxford, 1911), p. 20.
A. C. Hollis, The Nandi (Oxford, 1909), p. 90.
H. R. Tate, “The Native Law of the Southern Gikuyu of British East Africa,” Journal of the African Society, No. xxxv. April 1910, p. 243.
E. de Pruyssenaere, Reisen und Forschungen im Gebiete des Weissen und Blauen Nil (Gotha, 1877), p. 27 (Petermann's Mittheilungen, Ergänzungsheft, No. 50). Compare G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa3 (London, 1878), i. 55. Among the Bahima of Ankole dead chiefs turn into serpents, but dead kings into lions. See J. Roscoe, “The Bahima, a Cow Tribe of Enkole in the Uganda Protectorate,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. (1907), pp. 101 sq.; Major J. A. Meldon, “Notes on the Bahima of Ankole,” Journal of the African Society, No. xxii. (January 1907), p. 151. Major Leonard holds that the pythons worshipped in Southern Nigeria are regarded as reincarnations of the dead; but this seems very doubtful. See A. G. Leonard, The Lower Niger and its Tribes (London, 1906), pp. 327 sqq. Pythons are worshipped by the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast, but apparently not from a belief that the souls of the dead are lodged in them. See A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, pp. 54 sqq.
G. A. Shaw, “The Betsileo,” The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, Reprint of the First Four Numbers (Antananarivo, 1885), p. 411; H. W. Little, Madagascar, its History and People (London, 1884), pp. 86 sq.; A. van Gennep, Tabou et Totémisme à Madagascar (Paris, 1904), pp. 272 sqq.
“Religious Rites and Customs of the Iban or Dyaks of Sarawak,” by Leo Nyuak, translated from the Dyak by the Very Rev. Edm. Dunn, Anthropos, i. (1906) p. 182. As to the Sea Dyak reverence for snakes and their belief that spirits (antus) are incarnate in the reptiles, see further J. Perham, “Sea Dyak Religion,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 10 (December, 1882), pp. 222-224; H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (London, 1896), i. 187 sq. But from this latter account it does not appear that the spirits (antus) which possess the snakes are supposed to be those of human ancestors.
George Brown, D.D., Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 238 sq.
Rev. E. Casalis, The Basutos (London, 1861), p. 246. Compare A. Kranz, Natur- und Kulturleben der Zulus (Wiesbaden, 1880), p. 112.
A. C. Hollis, The Masai (Oxford, 1905), p. 307.
A. C. Hollis, The Nandi (Oxford, 1909), p. 90.
Mervyn W. H. Beech, The Suk, their Language and Folklore (Oxford, 1911), p. 20.
H. R. Tate (District Commissioner, East Africa Protectorate), “The Native Law of the Southern Gikuyu of British East Africa,” Journal of the African Society, No. xxxv., April 1910, p. 243. See further C. W. Hobley, “Further Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Religious Beliefs and Customs,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xli. (1911) p. 408. According to Mr. Hobley it is only one particular sort of snake, called nyamuyathi, which is thought to be the abode of a spirit and is treated with ceremonious respect by the Akikuyu. Compare P. Cayzac, “La Religion des Kikuyu,” Anthropos, v. (1910) p. 312; and for more evidence of milk offered to serpents as embodiments of the dead see E. de Pruyssenaere and H. W. Little, cited above, p. 83, notes 1 and 2.
Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 320 sq. My friend Mr. Roscoe tells me that serpents are revered and fed with milk by the Banyoro to the north of Uganda; but he cannot say whether the creatures are supposed to be incarnations of the dead. Some of the Gallas also regard serpents as sacred and offer milk to them, but it is not said that they believe the reptiles to embody the souls of the departed. See Rev. J. L. Krapf, Travels, Researches and Missionary Labours in Eastern Africa (London, 1860), pp. 77 sq. The negroes of Whydah in Guinea likewise feed with milk the serpents which they worship. See Thomas Astley's New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, iii. (London, 1746) p. 29.
L. Preller, Römische Mythologie3 (Berlin, 1881-1883), ii. 196 sq.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer2 (Munich, 1912), pp. 176 sq. The worship of the genius was very popular in the Roman Empire. See J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, Première Partie, i. (Paris, 1907) pp. 439 sqq.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxix. 72. Compare Seneca, De Ira, iv. 31. 6.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 5. 4; Hyginus, Fab. 6; Ovid, Metam. iv. 563-603.
Plutarch, Cleomenes, 39.
Porphyry, De vita Plotini, p. 103, Didot edition (appended to the lives of Diogenes Laertius).
Plutarch, Cleomenes, 39; Scholiast on Aristophanes, Plutus, 733.
Herodotus, viii. 41; Plutarch, Themistocles, 10; Aristophanes, Lysistra, 758 sq., with the Scholium; Philostratus, Imag. ii. 17. 6. See further my note on Pausanias, i, 18, 2 (vol. ii. pp. 168 sqq.).
Sophocles, Electra, 893 sqq.; Euripides, Orestes, 112 sqq.
Mittheilungen des Deutsch. Archäo log. Institutes in Athen, iv. (1879) pl. viii. Compare ib. pp. 135 sq., 162 sq.
Above, pp. 84sq.
E. de Pruyssenaere, l.c. (above, p. 83, note 1).
See C. O. Müller, Denkmäler der alten Kunst2 (Göttingen, 1854), pl. lxi. with the corresponding text in vol. i. (where the eccentric system of paging adopted renders references to it practically useless). In these groups the female figure is commonly, and perhaps correctly, interpreted as the Goddess of Health (Hygieia). It is to be remembered that Hygieia was deemed a daughter of the serpent-god Aesculapius (Pausanias i. 23. 4), and was constantly associated with him in ritual and art. See, for example, Pausanias, i. 40. 6, ii. 4. 5, ii. 11. 6, ii. 23. 4, ii. 27. 6, iii. 22. 13, v. 20. 3, v. 26. 2, vii. 23. 7, viii. 28. 1, viii. 31. 1, viii. 32. 4, viii. 47. 1. The snake-entwined goddess whose image was found in a prehistoric shrine at Gournia in Crete may have been a predecessor of the serpent-feeding Hygieia. See R. M. Burrows, The Discoveries in Crete (London, 1907), pp. 137 sq. The snakes, which were the regular symbol of the Furies, may have been originally nothing but the emblems or rather embodiments of the dead; and the Furies themselves may, like Aesculapius, have been developed out of the reptiles, sloughing off their serpent skins through the anthropomorphic tendency of Greek thought.
Scholia on Lucian, Dial. Meretr. ii. (Scholia in Lucianum, ed. H. Rabe, Leipsic, 1906, pp. 275 sq.). As to the Thesmophoria, see my article, “Thesmophoria,” Encyclopaedia Britannica,9 xxiii. 295 sqq.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 17 sqq.
A. S. Gatschet, The Klamath Indians of South-Western Oregon (Washington, 1890), p. xcii.
Washington Matthews, “Myths of Gestation and Parturition,” American Anthropologist, New Series, iv. (New York, 1902) p. 738.
Central Provinces, Ethnographic Survey, iii. Draft Articles on Forest Tribes (Allahabad, 1907), p. 23.
J. J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, v. (Leyden, 1907) pp. 536 sq.
W. Crooke, Natives of Northern India (London, 1907), p. 232.
J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), p. 796.
J. E. Erskine, Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific (London, 1853), pp. 245 sq.
Persons initiated into the mysteries of Sabazius had a serpent drawn through the bosom of their robes, and the reptile was identified with the god (ὁ διὰ κόλπου θέος, Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 16, p. 14, ed. Potter). This may be a trace of the belief that women can be impregnated by serpents, though it does not appear that the ceremony was performed only on women.
See above, p. 78. Among the South Slavs women go to graves to get children. See below, p. 96.
S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, pp. 115 sqq.
A. C. Kruijt, Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel (The Hague, 1906), P. 398.
Relations des Jésuites, 1636, p. 130 (Canadian reprint, Quebec, 1858). A similar custom was practised for a similar reason by the Musquakie Indians. See Miss Mary Alicia Owen, Folk-lore of the Musquakie Indians of North America (London, 1904), pp. 22 sq., 86. Some of the instances here given have been already cited by Mr. J. E. King, who suggests, with much probability, that the special modes of burial adopted for infants in various parts of the world may often have been intended to ensure their rebirth. See J. E. King, “Infant Burial,” Classical Review, xvii. (1903) pp. 83 sq. For a large collection of evidence as to the belief in the reincarnation of the dead, see E. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity (London, 1909-1910), i. 156 sqq.
Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (London, 1897), p. 478.
Rev. John H. Weeks, “Notes on some Customs of the Lower Congo People,” Folk-lore, xix. (1908) p. 422.
Th. Masui, Guide de la Section de l'État Indépendant du Congo à l'Exposition de Bruxelles-Tervueren en 1897 (Brussels, 1897), pp. 113 sq.
J. B. Purvis, Through Uganda to Mount Elgon (London, 1909), pp. 302 sq. As to the Bagishu or Bageshu and their practice of throwing out the dead, see Rev. J. Roscoe, “Notes on the Bageshu,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. (1909) pp. 181 sqq.
Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 46 sq. Women adopted a like precaution at the grave of twins to prevent the ghosts of the twins from entering into them and being born again (id., pp. 124 sq.). The Baganda always strangled children that were born feet first and buried their bodies at cross-roads. The heaps of sticks or grass thrown on these graves by passing women and girls rose in time into mounds large enough to deflect the path and to attract the notice of travellers. See J. Roscoe, op. cit. pp. 126 sq., 289.
Rev. J. Roscoe, op. cit. pp. 126 sq. In the Senegal and Niger region of Western Africa it is said to be commonly believed by women that they can conceive without any carnal knowledge of a man. See Maurice Delafosse, Haut-Sénégal-Niger, Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues, l'Histoire, les Civilisations (Paris, 1912), iii. 171.
Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda, pp. 47 sq.; Totemism and Exogamy, ii. 506 sq. As to the custom of depositing the afterbirths of children at the foot of banana (plantain) trees, see J. Roscoe, op. cit. pp. 52, 54 sq.
W. Crooke, Natives of Northern India (London, 1907), p. 202. As to the Hindoo custom of burying infants but burning older persons, see The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, i. 162 sq.
Census of India, 1911, vol. xiv. Punjab, Part i., Report, by Pandit Harikishan Kaul (Lahore, 1912), p. 299.
E. M. Gordon, Indian Folk Tales (London, 1908), p. 49. Other explanations of the custom are reported by the writer, but the original motive was probably a desire to secure the reincarnation of the dead child in the mother.
E. M. Gordon, op. cit. pp. 50 sq.
E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India (Madras, 1906), p. 155; id., Castes and Tribes of Southern India (Madras, 1909), iv. 52.
W. Crooke, Natives of Northern India, p. 202; Census of India, 1901, vol. xvii. Punjab, Part i., Report, by H. A. Rose (Simla, 1902), pp. 213 sq.
Census of India, 1901, vol. xiii. Central Provinces, Part i., Report, by R. V. Russell (Nagpur, 1902), p. 93.
For stories of such virgin births see Comte H. de Charency, Le folklore dans les deux Mondes (Paris, 1894), pp. 121-256; E. S. Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, vol. i. (London, 1894) pp. 71 sqq.; and my note on Pausanias vii. 17. 11 (vol. iv. pp. 138-140). To the instances there cited by me add: A. Thevet, Cosmographie Universelle (Paris, 1575), ii. 918 [wrongly numbered 952]; K. von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Berlin, 1884), pp. 370, 373; H. A. Coudreau, La France Equinoxiale, ii. (Paris, 1887) pp. 184 sq.; Relations des Jésuites, 1637, pp. 123 sq. (Canadian reprint, Quebec, 1858); Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas (Berlin, 1895), pp. 311 sq.; A. G. Morice, Au pays de l'Ours Noir (Paris and Lyons, 1897), p. 153; A. Raffray, “Voyage à la côte nord de la Nouvelle Guinée,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), VIe Série, xv. (1878) pp. 392 sq.; J. L. van der Toorn, “Het animisme bij den Minangkabauer der Padangsche Bovenlanden,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xxxix. (1890) p. 78; E. Aymonier, “Les Tchames et leurs religions,” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, xxiv. (1901) pp. 215 sq.; Major P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis (London, 1907), p. 195. In some stories the conception is brought about not by eating food but by drinking water. But the principle is the same.
F. S. Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Süd-Slaven (Vienna, 1885), p. 531.
Ch. Keysser, “Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss's Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 26.
W. H. R. Rivers, “Totemism in Polynesia and Melanesia,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. (1909) pp. 173-175. Compare Totemism and Exogamy, ii. 89 sqq. As to this Melanesian belief that animals can enter into women and be born from them as human children with animal characteristics, Dr. Rivers observes (p. 174): “It was clear that this belief was not accompanied by any ignorance of the physical rôle of the human father, and that the father played the same part in conception as in cases of birth unaccompanied by an animal appearance. We found it impossible to get definitely the belief as to the nature of the influence exerted by the animal on the woman, but it must be remembered that any belief of this kind can hardly have escaped the many years of European influence and Christian teaching which the people of this group have received. It is doubtful whether even a prolonged investigation of this point could now elicit the original belief of the people about the nature of the influence.” To me it seems that the belief described by Dr. Rivers in the text is incompatible with the recognition of human fatherhood as a necessary condition for the birth of children, and that though the people may now recognize that necessity, perhaps as a result of intercourse with Europeans, they certainly cannot have recognized it at the time when the belief in question originated.
Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1904), p. 330, compare id. ibid. pp. xi, 145, 147-151, 155 sq., 161 sq., 169 sq., 173 sq., 174-176, 606; id., Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1899), pp. 52, 123-125, 126, 132 sq., 265, 335-338.
B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 162, 330 sq.
B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 337 sq.
W. Baldwin Spencer, An Introduction to the Study of Certain Native Tribes of the Northern Territory (Melbourne, 1912), p. 6: “The two fundamental beliefs of reincarnation and of children not being of necessity the result of sexual intercourse, are firmly held by the tribes in their normal wild state. There is no doubt whatever of this, and we now know that these two beliefs extend through all the tribes northwards to Katherine Creek and eastwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria.” In a letter (dated Melbourne, July 27th, 1913) Professor Baldwin Spencer writes to me that the natives on the Alligator River in the Northern Territory “have detailed traditions—as also have all the tribes—of how great ancestors wandered over the country leaving numbers of spirit children behind them who have been reincarnated time after time. They know who everyone is a reincarnation of, as the names are perpetuated.”
W. Baldwin Spencer, An Introduction to the Study of Certain Native Tribes of the Northern Territory (Melbourne, 1912), pp. 41-45.
Walter E. Roth, North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5, Superstition, Magic, and Medicine (Brisbane, 1903), pp. 22, § 81.
Walter E. Roth, op. cit. p. 23, § 82.
Walter E. Roth, op. cit. p. 23, § 83. Mr. Roth adds, very justly: “When it is remembered that as a rule in all these Northern tribes, a little girl may be given to and will live with her spouse as wife long before she reaches the stage of puberty—the relationship of which to fecundity is not recognised—the idea of conception not being necessarily due to sexual connection becomes partly intelligible.”
The Bishop of North Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) in a letter to me, dated Bishop's Lodge, Townsville, Queensland, July 9th, 1909. The Bishop's authority for the statement is the Rev. C. W. Morrison, M.A., acting head of the Yarrubah Mission. In the same letter Dr. Frodsham, speaking from personal observation, refers to “the belief, practically universal among the northern tribes, that copulation is not the cause of conception.” See J. G. Frazer, “Beliefs and Customs of the Australian Aborigines,” Folk-lore, xx. (1909) pp. 350-352; Man, ix. (1909) pp. 145-147; Totemism and Exogamy, i. 577 sq.
Herbert Basedow, Anthropological Notes on the Western Coastal Tribes of the Northern Territory of South Australia, pp. 4 sq. (separate reprint from the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. xxxi. 1907).
A. R. Brown, “Beliefs concerning Childbirth in some Australian Tribes,” Man, xii. (1912) pp. 180 sq. Compare id., “Three Tribes of Western Australia,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xliii. (1913) p. 168.
Those who desire to pursue this subject further may consult with advantage Mr. E. S. Hartland's learned treatise Primitive Paternity (London, 1909-1910), which contains an ample collection of facts and a careful discussion of them. Elsewhere I have argued that the primitive ignorance of paternity furnishes the key to the origin of totemism. See Totemism and Exogamy, i. 155 sqq., iv. 40 sqq.
Jeremiah ii. 27. The ancient Greeks seem also to have had a notion that men were sprung from trees or rocks. See Homer, Od. xix. 163; F. G. Welcker, Griechische Götterlehre (Göttingen, 1857-1862), i. 777 sqq.; A. B. Cook, “Oak and Rock,” Classical Review, xv. (1901) pp. 322 sqq.
The ashera and the masseba. See 1 Kings xiv. 23; 2 Kings xviii. 4, xxiii. 14; Micah v. 13 sq. (in Hebrew, 12 sq.); Deuteronomy xvi. 21 sq.; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 187 sqq., 203 sqq.; G. F. Moore, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, svv., “Asherah” and “Massebah.” In the early religion of Crete also the two principal objects of worship seem to have been a sacred tree and a sacred pillar. See A. J. Evans, “Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxi. (1901) pp. 99 sqq.
As to conical images of Semitic goddesses, see above, pp. 34sqq. The sacred pole (asherah) appears also to have been by some people regarded as the embodiment of a goddess (Astarte), not of a god. See above, p. 18, note 2. Among the Khasis of Assam the sacred upright stones, which resemble the Semitic masseboth, are regarded as males, and the flat table-stones as female. See P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis (London, 1907), pp. 112 sq., 150 sqq. So in Nikunau, one of the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific, the natives had sandstone slabs or pillars which represented gods and goddesses. “If the stone slab represented a goddess it was not placed erect, but laid down on the ground. Being a lady they thought it would be cruel to make her stand so long.” See G. Turner, LL.D., Samoa (London, 1884), p. 296.
See above, pp. 91sqq.
As to the excavations at Gezer, see R. A. Stewart Macalister, Reports on the Excavation of Gezer (London, n.d.), pp. 76-89 (reprinted from the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund); id., Bible Side-lights from the Mound of Gezer (London, 1906), pp. 57-67, 73-75. Professor Macalister now inclines to regard the socketed stone as a laver rather than as the base of the sacred pole. He supposes that the buried infants were first-born children sacrificed in accordance with the ancient law of the dedication of the first-born. The explanation which I have adopted in the text agrees better with the uninjured state of the bodies, and it is further confirmed by the result of the Austrian excavations at Tell Ta'annek (Taanach) in Palestine, which seem to prove that there children up to the age of two years were not buried in the family graves but interred separately in jars. Some of these sepulchral jars were deposited under or beside the houses, but many were grouped round a rock-hewn altar in a different part of the hill. There is nothing to indicate that any of the children were sacrificed: the size of some of the skeletons precludes the idea that they were slain at birth. Probably they all died natural deaths, and the custom of burying them in or near the house or beside an altar was intended to ensure their rebirth in the family. See Dr. E. Sellin, “Tell Ta'annek,” Denkschriften der Kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, l. (Vienna, 1904), No. iv. pp. 32-37, 96 sq. Compare W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, p. 59 n.3. I have to thank Professor R. A. Stewart Macalister for kindly directing my attention to the excavations at Tell Ta'annek (Taanach). It deserves to be mentioned that in an enclosure close to the standing stones at Gezer, there was found a bronze model of a cobra (R. A. Stewart Macalister, Bible Side-lights, p. 76). Perhaps the reptile was the deity of the shrine, or an embodiment of an ancestral spirit.
The Dying God, pp. 166 sqq. See Note I., “Moloch the King,” at the end of this volume.
Philo of Byblus, quoted by Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. i. 10. 29 sq.; 2 Kings iii. 27.
See above, p. 15.
Philo of Byblus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. pp. 569, 570, 571. See above, p. 13.
See above, p. 16.
Sophocles, Trachiniae, 1191 sqq.; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, ii. 7. 7; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 38; Hyginus, Fab. 36.
[S. Clementis Romani,] Recognitiones, x. 24, p. 233, ed. E. G. Gersdorf (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, i. 1434).
Josephus, Antiquit. Jud. viii. 5. 3, Contra Apionem, i. 18. Whether the quadriennial festival of Hercules at Tyre (2 Maccabees iv. 18-20) was a different celebration, or only “the awakening of Melcarth,” celebrated with unusual pomp once in four years, we do not know.
Eudoxus of Cnidus, quoted by Athenaeus, ix. 47, p. 392 d, e. That the death and resurrection of Melcarth were celebrated in an annual festival at Tyre has been recognised by scholars. See Raoul-Rochette, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 25 sqq.; H. Hubert et M. Mauss, “Essai sur le sacrifice,” L'Année Sociologique, ii. (1899) pp. 122, 124; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques,2 pp. 308-311. Iolaus is identified by some modern scholars with Eshmun, a Phoenician and Carthaginian deity about whom little is known. See F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. (Bonn, 1841) pp. 536 sqq.; F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin, 1888), pp. 44 sqq.; C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum (Gotha, 1896-1903), i. 268; W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, pp. 282 sqq.
Zenobius, Centur. v. 56 (Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. E. L. Leutsch et F. G. Schneidewin, Göttingen, 1839-1851, vol. i. p. 143).
Quails were perhaps burnt in honour of the Cilician Hercules or Sandan at Tarsus. See below, p. 126, note 2.
Alfred Newton, Dictionary of Birds (London, 1893-96), p. 755.
H. B. Tristram, The Fauna and Flora of Palestine (London, 1884), p. 124. For more evidence as to the migration of quails see Aug. Dillmann's commentary on Exodus xvi. 13, pp. 169 sqq. (Leipsic, 1880).
The Tyrian Hercules was said to be a son of Zeus and Asteria (Eudoxus of Cnidus, quoted by Athenaeus, ix. 47, p. 392 d; Cicero, De natura deorum, iii. 16. 42). As to the transformation of Asteria into a quail see Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 4. 1; J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 401; Hyginus, Fab. 53; Servius on Virgil, Aen. iii. 73. The name Asteria may be a Greek form of Astarte. See W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, p. 307.
Quintus Curtius, iv. 2. 10; Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 24. 5.
Strabo, iii. 5. 5, pp. 169 sq.; Mela, iii. 46; Scymnus Chius, Orbis Descriptio, 159-161 (Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, i. 200 sq.).
Silius Italicus, iii. 14-32; Mela, iii. 46; Strabo, iii. 5. 3, 5, 7, pp. 169, 170, 172; Diodorus Siculus, v. 20. 2; Philostratus, Vita Apollonii, v. 4 sq.; Appian, Hispanica, 65. Compare Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 16. 4. That the bones of Hercules were buried at Gades is mentioned by Mela (l.c.). Compare Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, i. 36. In Italy women were not allowed to participate in sacrifices offered to Hercules (Aulus Gellius, xi. 6. 2; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 12. 28; Sextus Aurelius Victor, De origine gentis Romanae, vi. 6; Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 60). Whether the priests of Melcarth at Gades were celibate, or had only to observe continence at certain seasons, does not appear. At Tyre the priest of Melcarth might be married (Justin, xviii. 4. 5). The worship of Melcarth under the name of Hercules continued to flourish in the south of Spain down to the time of the Roman Empire. See J. Toutain, Les Cultes païens dans l'Empire Romain, Première Partie, i. (Paris, 1907) pp. 400 sqq.
Livy, xxi. 21. 9, 22. 5-9; Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 24. 49; Silius Italicus, iii. 1 sqq., 158 sqq.
Pausanias, x. 4. 5.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 674; G. A. Cooke, Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 351.
F. Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner, Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias, pp. 10-12, with pl. A; Stoll, s.v. “Melikertes,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2634.
Justin, xviii. 6. 1-7; Virgil, Aen. iv. 473 sqq., v. i. sqq.; Ovid, Fasti, iii. 545 sqq.; Timaeus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, i. 197. Compare W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 373 sqq. The name of Dido has been plausibly derived by Gesenius, Movers, E. Meyer, and A. H. Sayce from the Semitic dôd, “beloved.” See F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 616; Meltzer, s.v. “Dido,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 1017 sq.; A. H. Sayce, Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians (London and Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 56 sqq. If they are right, the divine character of Dido becomes more probable than ever, since “the Beloved” (Dodah) seems to have been a title of a Semitic goddess, perhaps Astarte. See above, p. 20, note 2. According to Varro it was not Dido but her sister Anna who slew herself on a pyre for love of Aeneas (Servius on Virgil, Aen. iv. 682).
Justin, xviii. 6. 8.
Silius Italicus, i. 81 sqq.
Ezekiel xxviii. 14, compare 16.
Balder the Beautiful, ii. 1 sqq. But, as I have there pointed out, there are grounds for thinking that the custom of walking over fire is not a substitute for human sacrifice, but merely a stringent form of purification. On fire as a purificatory agent see below, pp. 179sqq., 188sq.
Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 537. In Greece itself accused persons used to prove their innocence by walking through fire (Sophocles, Antigone, 264 sq., with Jebb's note). Possibly the fire-walk of the priestesses at Castabala was designed to test their chastity. For this purpose the priests and priestesses of the Tshi-speaking people of the Gold Coast submit to an ordeal, standing one by one in a narrow circle of fire. This “is supposed to show whether they have remained pure, and refrained from sexual intercourse, during the period of retirement, and so are worthy of inspiration by the gods. If they are pure they will receive no injury and suffer no pain from the fire” (A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, London, 1887, p. 138). These cases favour the purificatory explanation of the fire-walk.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, 621-626. Compare Diodorus Siculus, xx. 14. 6.
Herodotus, vii. 167. This was the Carthaginian version of the story. According to another account, Hamilcar was killed by the Greek cavalry (Diodorus Siculus, xi. 22. 1). His worship at Carthage is mentioned by Athenagoras (Supplicatio pro Christianis, p. 64, ed. J. C. T. Otto, Jena, 1857.) I have called Hamilcar a king in accordance with the usage of Greek writers (Herodotus, vii. 165 sq.; Aristotle, Politics, ii. 11; Polybius, vi. 51; Diodorus Siculus, xiv. 54. 5). But the suffetes, or supreme magistrates, of Carthage were two in number; whether they were elected for a year or for life seems to be doubtful. Cornelius Nepos, who calls them kings, says that they were elected annually (Hannibal, vii. 4), and Livy (xxx. 7. 5) compares them to the consuls; but Cicero (De re publica, ii. 23. 42 sq.) seems to imply that they held office for life. See G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, pp. 115 sq.
Lucian, Amores, 1 and 54.
See above, p. 32.
G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, Nos. 23 and 29, PP. 73, 83 sq., with the notes on pp. 81, 84.
G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iii. 566-578. The colossal statue found at Amathus may be related, directly or indirectly, to the Egyptian god Bes, who is represented as a sturdy misshapen dwarf, wearing round his body the skin of a beast of the panther tribe, with its tail hanging down. See E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (London, 1904), ii. 284 sqq.; A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1897), pp. 159 sqq.; A. Furtwängler, s.v. “Herakles,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 2143 sq.
However, human victims were burned at Salamis in Cyprus. See below, p. 145.
See above, p. 41.
For traces of Phoenician influence in Cilicia see F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, ii. 2, pp. 167-174, 207 sqq. Herodotus says (vii. 91) that the Cilicians were named after Cilix, a son of the Phoenician Agenor.
As to the fertility and the climate of the plain of Tarsus, which is now very malarious, see E. J. Davis, Life in Asiatic Turkey (London, 1879), chaps. i.-vii. The gardens for miles round the city are very lovely, but wild and neglected, full of magnificent trees, especially fine oak, ash, orange, and lemon-trees. The vines run to the top of the highest branches, and almost every garden resounds with the song of the nightingale (E. J. Davis, op. cit. p. 35).
Strabo, xiv. 5. 13, pp. 673 sq.
Dio Chrysostom, Or. xxxiii. vol. ii. pp. 14 sq., 17, ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1857).
F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, ii. 2, pp. 171 sq.; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins (Cambridge, 1883), pl. x. Nos. 29, 30; B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 614; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia (London, 1900), pp. 167-176, pl. xxix.-xxxii.; G. Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection (Glasgow, 1899-1905), ii. 547; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 727. In later times, from about 175 b.c. onward, the Baal of Tarsus was completely assimilated to Zeus on the coins. See B. V. Head, op. cit. p. 617; G. F. Hill, op. cit. pp. 177, 181.
Sir W. M. Ramsay, Luke the Physician, and other Studies in the History of Religion (London, 1908), pp. 112 sqq.
E. J. Davis, “On a New Hamathite Inscription at Ibreez,” Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, iv. (1876) pp. 336-346; id., Life in Asiatic Turkey (London, 1879), pp. 245-260; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 723-729; Ramsay and Hogarth, “Prehellenic Monuments of Cappadocia,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xiv. (1903) pp. 77-81, 85 sq., with plates iii. and iv.; L. Messerschmidt, Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum (Berlin, 1900), Tafel xxxiv.; Sir W. M. Ramsay, Luke the Physician (London, 1908), pp. 171 sqq.; John Garstang, The Land of the Hittites (London, 1910), pp. 191-195, 378 sq. Of this sculptured group Messrs. W. M. Ramsay and D. G. Hogarth say that “it yields to no rock-relief in the world in impressive character” (American Journal of Archaeology, vi. (1890) p. 347). Professor Garstang would date the sculptures in the tenth or ninth century b.c. Another inscribed Hittite monument found at Bor, near the site of the ancient Tyana, exhibits a very similar figure of a priest or king in an attitude of adoration. The resemblance extends even to the patterns embroidered on the robe and shawl, which include the well-known swastika carved on the lower border of the long robe. The figure is sculptured in high relief on a slab of stone and would seem to have been surrounded by inscriptions, though a portion of them has perished. See J. Garstang, op. cit. pp. 185-188, with plate lvi. For the route from Tarsus to Ibreez (Ivriz) see E. J. Davis, Life in Asiatic Turkey, pp. 198-244; J. Garstang, op. cit. pp. 44 sqq.
See above, pp. 28sq.
Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 537. When Cicero was proconsul of Cilicia (51-50 b.c.) he encamped with his army for some days at Cybistra, from which two of his letters to Atticus are dated. But hearing that the Parthians, who had invaded Syria, were threatening Cilicia, he hurried by forced marches through the pass of the Cilician Gates to Tarsus. See Cicero, Ad Atticum, v. 18, 19, 20; Ad Familiares, xv. 2, 4.
E. J. Davis, in Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, iv. (1876) pp. 336 sq., 346; id., Life in Asiatic Turkey, pp. 232 sq., 236 sq., 264 sq., 270-272. Compare W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia (London, 1842), ii. 304-307.
L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites (London, 1903), pp. 49 sq. On an Assyrian cylinder, now in the British Museum, we see a warlike deity with bow and arrows standing on a lion, and wearing a similar bonnet decorated with horns and surmounted by a star or sun. See De Vogüé, Mélanges d'Archéologie Orientale (Paris, 1868), p. 46, who interprets the deity as the great Asiatic goddess. As to the horned god of Ibreez “it is a plausible theory that the horns may, in this case, be analogous to the Assyrian emblem of divinity. The sculpture is late and its style rather suggests Semitic influence” (Professor J. Garstang, in some MS. notes with which he has kindly furnished me).
See below, p. 132.
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 16 sq., ii. 3 sqq.
The identification is accepted by E. Meyer (Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. p. 641), G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez (Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 727), and P. Jensen (Hittiter und Armenier, Strasburg, 1898, p. 145).
Ramsay and Hogarth, “Pre-Hellenic Monuments of Cappadocia,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xiv. (1893) p. 79.
G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. 360-362; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 572 sqq., 586 sq.
That the cradle of the Hittites was in the interior of Asia Minor, particularly in Cappadocia, and that they spread from there south, east, and west, is the view of A. H. Sayce, W. M. Ramsay, D. G. Hogarth, W. Max Müller, F. Hommel, L. B. Paton, and L. Messerschmidt. See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement for 1884, p. 49; A. H. Sayce, The Hittites3 (London, 1903), pp. 80 sqq.; W. Max Müller, Asien und Europa (Leipsic, 1893), pp. 319 sqq.; Ramsay and Hogarth, “Pre-Hellenic Monuments of Cappadocia,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xv. (1893) p. 94; F. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients (Munich, 1904), pp. 42, 48, 54; L. B. Paton, The Early History of Syria and Palestine (London, 1902), pp. 105 sqq.; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites (London, 1903), pp. 12, 13, 19, 20; D. G. Hogarth, “Recent Hittite Research,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. (1909) pp. 408 sqq. Compare Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1909) pp. 617 sqq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 315 sqq. The native Hittite writing is a system of hieroglyphics which has not yet been read, but in their intercourse with foreign nations the Hittites used the Babylonian cuneiform script. Clay tablets bearing inscriptions both in the Babylonian and in the Hittite language have been found by Dr. H. Winckler at Boghaz-Keui, the great Hittite capital in Cappadocia; so that the sounds of the Hittite words, though not their meanings, are now known. According to Professor Ed. Meyer, it seems certain that the Hittite language was neither Semitic nor Indo-European. As to the inscribed tablets of Boghaz-Keui, see H. Winckler, “Vorläufige Nachrichten über die Ausgrabungen in Boghaz-köi im Sommer 1907, 1. Die Tontafelfunde,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, No. 35, December 1907, pp. 1-59; “Hittite Archives from Boghaz-Keui,” translated from the German transcripts of Dr. Winckler by Meta E. Williams, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, iv. (Liverpool, 1912), pp. 90-98.
G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. 351, note 3, with his references; L. B. Paton, op. cit. p. 109; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, p. 10; F. Hommel, op. cit. p. 42; W. Max Müller, Asien und Europa, p. 332. See the preceding note.
A. H. Sayce, “The Hittite Inscriptions,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xiv. (1893) pp. 48 sq.; P. Jensen, Hittiter und Armenier (Strasburg, 1898), pp. 42 sq.
Georgius Syncellus, Chronographia, vol. i. p. 290, ed. G. Dindorf (Bonn, 1829): Ἡρακλέα τινές φασιν ἐν Φοινίκῃ γνωρίζεσθαι Σάνδαν ἐπιλεγόμενον, ὡς καὶ μεχρὶ νῦν ὑπὸ Καππαδόκων καὶ Κιλίκων. In this passage Σάνδαν is a correction of F. C. Movers's (Die Phoenizier, i. 460) for the MS. reading Δισανδάν, the ΔΙ having apparently arisen by dittography from the preceding ΑΙ; and Κιλίκων is a correction of E. Meyer's (“Über einige semitische Götter,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, xxxi. 737) for the MS. reading Ἱλίων. Compare Jerome (quoted by Movers and Meyer, ll.cc.): “Hercules cognomento Desanaus in Syria Phoenice clarus habetur. Inde ad nostram usque memoriam a Cappadocibus et Eliensibus (al. Deliis) Desanaus adhuc dicitur.” If the text of Jerome is here sound, he would seem to have had before him a Greek original which was corrupt like the text of Syncellus or of Syncellus's authority. The Cilician Hercules is called Sandes by Nonnus (Dionys., xxxiv. 183 sq.). Compare Raoul-Rochette in Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 159 sqq.
Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv. 8. 3; Dio Chrysostom, Or. xxxiii. vol. ii. p. 16, ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1857). The pyre is mentioned only by Dio Chrysostom, whose words clearly imply that its erection was a custom observed periodically. On Sandan or Sandon see K. O. Müller, “Sandon und Sardanapal,” Kunstarchaeologische Werke, iii. 6 sqq.; F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 458 sqq.; Raoul-Rochette, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 178 sqq.; E. Meyer, “Über einige Semitische Götter,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, xxxi. (1877) pp. 736-740: id., Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 641 sqq. § 484.
P. Gardner, Catalogue of Greek Coins, the Seleucid Kings of Syria (London, 1878), pp. 72, 78, 89, 112, pl. xxi. 6, xxiv. 3, xxviii. 8; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia (London, 1900), pp. 180, 181, 183, 190, 221, 224, 225, pl. xxxiii. 2, 3, xxxiv. 10, xxxvii. 9; F. Imhoof-Blumer, “Coin-types of some Kilikian Cities,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xviii. (1898) p. 169, pl. xiii. 1, 2. The structure represented on the coins is sometimes called not the pyre but the monument of Sandan or Sardanapalus. Certainly the cone resting on the square base reminds us of the similar structure on the coins of Byblus as well as of the conical image of Aphrodite at Paphos (see above, pp. 14, 34); but the words of Dio Chrysostom make it probable that the design on the coins of Tarsus represents the pyre. At the same time, the burning of the god may well have been sculptured on a permanent monument of stone. The legend ΟΡΤΥΓΟΘΗΡΑ, literally “quail-hunt,” which appears on some coins of Tarsus (G. F. Hill, op. cit. pp. lxxxvi. sq.), may refer to a custom of catching quails and burning them on the pyre. We have seen (above, pp. 111sq.) that quails were apparently burnt in sacrifice at Byblus. This explanation of the legend on the coins of Tarsus was suggested by Raoul-Rochette (op. cit. pp. 201-205). However, Mr. G. F. Hill writes to me that “the interpretation of Ὀρτυγοθήρα as anything but a personal name is rendered very unlikely by the analogy of all the other inscriptions on coins of the same class.” Doves were burnt on a pyre in honour of Adonis (below, p. 147). Similarly birds were burnt on a pyre in honour of Laphrian Artemis at Patrae (Pausanias, vii. 18. 12).
Herodian, iv. 2.
See Franz Cumont, “L'Aigle funéraire des Syriens et l'Apothéose des Empereurs,” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, lxii, (1910) pp. 119-163.
F. Imhoof-Blumer, Monnaies Grecques (Amsterdam, 1883), pp. 366 sq., 433, 435, with plates F. 24, 25, H. 14 (Verhandelingen der Konink. Akademie von Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, xiv.); F. Imhoof-Blumer und O. Keller, Tier- und Pflanzenbilder auf Münzen und Gemmen des klassischen Altertums (Leipsic, 1889), pp. 70 sq., with pl. xii. 7, 8, 9; F. Imhoof-Blumer, “Coin-types of some Kilikian Cities,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xviii. (1898) pp. 169-171; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins, pl. xiii. 20; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. 178, 179, 184, 186, 206, 213, with plates xxxii. 13, 14, 15, 16, xxxiv. 2, xxxvi. 9; G. Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, ii. 548, with pl. lx. 11. The booted Sandan is figured by G. F. Hill, op. cit. pl. xxxvi. 9.
Herodotus, i. 76; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Πτέριον. As to the situation of Boghaz-Keui and the ruins of Pteria see W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia (London, 1842), i. 391 sqq.; H. Barth, “Reise von Trapezunt durch die nördliche Hälfte Klein-Asiens,” Ergänzungsheft zu Petermann's Geographischen Mittheilungen, No. 2 (1860), pp. 44-52; H. F. Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor (London, 1881), pp. 64, 71 sqq.; W. M. Ramsay, “Historical Relations of Phrygia and Cappadocia,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S., xv. (1883) p. 103; id., Historical Geography of Asia Minor (London, 1890), pp. 28 sq., 33 sq.; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 596 sqq.; K. Humann und O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien (Berlin, 1890), pp. 71-80, with Atlas, plates xi.-xiv.; E. Chantre, Mission en Cappadoce (Paris, 1898), pp. 13 sqq.; O. Puchstein, “Die Bauten von Boghaz-Köi,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, No. 35, December 1907, pp. 62 sqq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites (London, 1910), pp. 196 sqq.
This procession of men is broken (a) by two women clad in long plaited robes like the women on the opposite wall; (b) by two winged monsters; and (c) by the figure of a priest or king as to which see below, pp. 131sq.
W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia (London, 1842), i. 393-395; H. F. Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor, pp. 59 sq., 66-78; W. M. Ramsay, “Historical Relations of Phrygia and Asia Minor,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. xv. (1883) pp. 113-120; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 623-656, 666-672; K. Humann und O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien, pp. 55-70, with Atlas, plates vii.-x.; E. Chantre, Mission en Cappadoce, pp. 3-5, 16-26; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, pp. 42-50; Th. Macridy-Bey, La Porte des Sphinx à Eyuk, pp. 13 sq. (Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 1908, No. 3, Berlin); Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 631 sq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites (London, 1910), pp. 196 sqq. (Boghaz-Keui) 256 sqq. (Eyuk). Compare P. Jensen, Hittiter und Armenier, pp. 165 sqq. In some notes with which my colleague Professor J. Garstang has kindly furnished me he tells me that the two animals wearing Hittite hats, which appear between the great god and goddess in the outer sanctuary, are not bulls but certainly goats; and he inclines to think that the two heaps on which the priest stands in the outer sanctuary are fir-cones. Professor Ed. Meyer holds that the costume which the priestly king wears is that of the Sun-goddess, and that the corresponding figure in the procession of males on the left-hand side of the outer sanctuary does not represent the priestly king but the Sun-goddess in person. “The attributes of the King,” he says (op. cit. p. 632), “are to be explained by the circumstance that he, as the Hittite inscriptions prove, passed for an incarnation of the Sun, who with the Hittites was a female divinity; the temple of the Sun is therefore his emblem.” As to the title of “the Sun” bestowed on Hittite kings in inscriptions, see H. Winckler, “Vorläufige Nachrichten über die Ausgrabungen in Boghaz-köi im Sommer 1907,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, No. 35, December 1907, pp. 32, 33, 36, 44, 45, 53. The correct form of the national name appears to be Chatti or Hatti rather than Hittites, which is the Hebrew form (חתי) of the name. Compare M. Jastrow, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, ii. coll. 2094 sqq., s.v. “Hittites.”
An interesting Hittite symbol which occurs both in the sanctuary at Boghaz-Keui and at the palace of Euyuk is the double-headed eagle. In both places it serves as the support of divine or priestly personages. After being adopted as a badge by the Seljuk Sultans in the Middle Ages, it passed into Europe with the Crusaders and became in time the escutcheon of the Austrian and Russian empires. See W. J. Hamilton, op. cit. i. 383; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, op. cit. iv. 681-683, pl. viii. E; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, p. 50.
W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, i. 394 sq.; H. Barth, in Monatsberichte der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1859, pp. 128 sqq.; id., “Reise von Trapezunt,” Ergänzungsheft zu Petermann's Geograph. Mittheilungen, No. 2 (Gotha, 1860), pp. 45 sq.; H. F. Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor, p. 69; E. Chantre, Mission en Cappadoce, pp. 20 sqq. According to Barth, the scene represented is the marriage of Aryenis, daughter of Alyattes, king of Lydia, to Astyages, son of Cyaxares, king of the Medes (Herodotus, i. 74). For a discussion of various interpretations which have been proposed see G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 630 sqq.
This is in substance the view of Raoul-Rochette, Lajard, W. M. Ramsay, G. Perrot, C. P. Tiele, Ed. Meyer, and J. Garstang. See Raoul-Rochette, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), p. 180 note 1; W. M. Ramsay, “On the Early Historical Relations between Phrygia and Cappadocia,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. xv. (1883) pp. 113-120; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 630 sqq.; C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 255-257; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 633 sq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 235-237; id., The Syrian Goddess (London, 1913), pp. 5 sqq.
K. Humann und O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien (Berlin, 1902), Atlas, pl. xlv. 3; Ausgrabungen zu Sendschirli, iii. (Berlin, 1902) pl. xli.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, p. 291, with plate lxxvii.; R. Koldewey, Die Hettitische Inschrift gefunden in der Königsburg von Babylon (Leipsic, 1900), plates 1 and 2 (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, Heft 1); L. Messerschmidt, Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum, pl. i. 5 and 6; id., The Hittites (London, 1903), pp. 40-42, with fig. 6 on p. 41; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques2 (Paris, 1905), p. 93. The name of the god is thought to have been Teshub or Teshup; for a god of that name is known from the Tel-el-Amarna letters to have been the chief deity of the Mitani, a people of Northern Mesopotamia akin in speech and religion to the Hittites, but ruled by an Aryan dynasty. See Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 578, 591 sq., 636 sq.; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, pp. 222, 223 (where the god's name is spelt Tishub). The god is also mentioned repeatedly in the Hittite archives which Dr. H. Winckler found inscribed on clay tablets at Boghaz-Keui. See H. Winckler, “Vorläufige Nachrichten über die Ausgrabungen in Boghaz-köi im Sommer 1907,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, No. 35, December 1907, pp. 13 sq., 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 43, 44, 51 sq., 53; “Hittite Archives from Boghaz-Keui,” translated from the German transcripts of Dr. Winckler, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, iv. (Liverpool and London, 1912) pp. 90 sqq. As to the Mitani, their language and their gods, see H. Winckler, op. cit. pp. 30 sqq., 46 sqq. In thus interpreting the Hittite god who heads the procession at Boghaz-Keui I follow my colleague Prof. J. Garstang (The Land of the Hittites, p. 237; The Syrian Goddess, pp. 5 sqq.), who has kindly furnished me with some notes on the subject. I formerly interpreted the deity as the Hittite equivalent of Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis. But against that view it may be urged that (1) the god is bearded and therefore of mature age, whereas Tammuz and his fellows were regularly conceived as youthful; (2) the thunderbolt which he seems to carry would be quite inappropriate to Tammuz, who was not a god of thunder but of vegetation; and (3) the Hittite Tammuz is appropriately represented in the procession of women immediately behind the Mother Goddess (see below, pp. 137sq.), and it is extremely improbable that he should be represented twice over with different attributes in the same scene. These considerations seem to me conclusive against the interpretation of the bearded god as a Tammuz and decisive in favour of Professor Garstang's view of him.
J. Garstang, “Notes of a Journey through Asia Minor,” Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, i. (Liverpool and London, 1908) pp. 3 sq., with plate iv.; id., The Land of the Hittites, pp. 138, 359, with plate xliv. In this sculpture the god on the bull holds in his right hand what is described as a triangular bow instead of a mace, an axe, or a hammer.
A. Wiedemann, Ägyptische Geschichte (Gotha, 1884), ii. 438-440; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. (Paris, 1897) pp. 401 sq.; W. Max Müller, Der Bündnisvortrag Ramses' II. und des Chetitirkönigs, pp. 17-19, 21 sq., 38-44 (Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 1902, No. 5, Berlin); L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, pp. 14-19; J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt (Chicago, 1906-1907), iii. 163-174; id., A History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), p. 311; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 631, 635 sqq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 347-349. The Hittite copy of the treaty was discovered by Dr. H. Winckler at Boghaz-Keui in 1906. The identification of Arenna or Arinna is uncertain. In a forthcoming article, “The Sun God[dess] of Arenna,” to be published in the Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, Professor J. Garstang argues that Arenna is to be identified with the Cappadocian Comana.
Ed. Meyer, “Dolichenus,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 1191-1194; A. von Domaszewski, Die Religion des römischen Heeres (Treves, 1895), pp. 59 sq., with plate iiii. fig. 1 and 2; Franz Cumont, s.v. “Dolichenus,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, v. i. coll. 1276 sqq.; J. Toutain, Les Cultes païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. (Paris, 1911) pp. 35-43. For examples of the inscriptions which relate to his worship see H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. (Berlin, 1902) pp. 167-172, Nos. 4296-4324.
As to the lions and mural crown of Cybele see Lucretius, ii. 600 sqq.; Catullus, lxiii. 76 sqq.; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 23. 20; Rapp, s.v. “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1644 sqq.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 31; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 23. 19. Lucian's description of her image is confirmed by coins of Hierapolis, on which the goddess is represented wearing a high head-dress and seated on a lion. See B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 654; G. Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection (Glasgow, 1899-1905), iii. 139 sq.; J. Garstang, The Syrian Goddess, pp. 21 sqq., 70, with fig. 7. That the name of the Syrian goddess of Hierapolis-Bambyce was Atargatis is mentioned by Strabo (xvi. 1. 27, p. 748). On Egyptian monuments the Semitic goddess Kadesh is represented standing on a lion. See W. Max Müller, Asien und Europa, pp. 314 sq. It is to be remembered that Hierapolis-Bambyce was the direct successor of Carchemish, the great Hittite capital on the Euphrates, and may have inherited many features of Hittite religion. See A. H. Sayce, The Hittites,3 pp. 94 sqq., 105 sqq.; and as to the Hittite monuments at Carchemish, see J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 122 sqq.
Diodorus Siculus, ii. 9. 5.
In thus interpreting the youth with the double axe I agree with Sir W. M. Ramsay (“On the Early Historical Relations between Phrygia and Cappadocia,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. xv. (1883) pp. 118, 120), C. P. Tiele (Geschichte der Religion im Alterturm, i. 246, 255), and Prof. J. Garstang (The Land of the Hittites, p. 235; The Syrian Goddess, p. 8). That the youthful figure on the lioness or panther represents the lover of the great goddess is the view also of Professors Jensen and Hommel. See P. Jensen, Hittiter und Armenier, pp. 173-175, 180; F. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients, p. 51. Prof. Perrot holds that the youth in question is a double of the bearded god who stands at the head of the male procession, their costume being the same, though their attributes differ (G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 651). But, as I have already remarked, it is unlikely that the same god should be represented twice over with different attributes in the same scene. The resemblance between the two figures is better explained on the supposition that they are Father and Son. The same two deities, Father and Son, appear to be carved on a rock at Giaour-Kalesi, a place on the road which in antiquity may have led from Ancyra by Gordium to Pessinus. Here on the face of the rock are cut in relief two gigantic figures in the usual Hittite costume of pointed cap, short tunic, and shoes turned up at the toes. Each wears a crescent-hilted sword at his side, each is marching to the spectator's left with raised right hand; and the resemblance between them is nearly complete except that the figure in front is beardless and the figure behind is bearded. See G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 714 sqq., with fig. 352; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 162-164. A similar, but solitary, figure is carved in a niche of the rock at Kara-Bel, but there the deity, or the man, carries a triangular bow over his right shoulder. See below, p. 185.
With regard to the lionesses or panthers, a bas-relief found at Carchemish, the capital of a Hittite kingdom on the Euphrates, shows two male figures in Hittite costume, with pointed caps and turned-up shoes, standing on a crouching lion. The foremost of the two figures is winged and carries a short curved truncheon in his right hand. According to Prof. Perrot, the two figures represent a god followed by a priest or a king. See G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 549 sq.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 123 sqq. Again, on a sculptured slab found at Amrit in Phoenicia we see a god standing on a lion and holding a lion's whelp in his left hand, while in his right hand he brandishes a club or sword. See Perrot et Chipiez, op. cit. iii. 412-414. The type of a god or goddess standing or sitting on a lion occurs also in Assyrian art, from which the Phoenicians and Hittites may have borrowed it. See Perrot et Chipiez, op. cit. ii. 642-644. Much evidence as to the representation of Asiatic deities with lions has been collected by Raoul-Rochette, in his learned dissertation “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 106 sqq. Compare De Vogüé, Mélanges d'Archéologie Orientale, pp. 44 sqq.
Similarly in Yam, one of the Torres Straits Islands, two brothers named Sigai and Maiau were worshipped in a shrine under the form of a hammer-headed shark and a crocodile respectively, and were represented by effigies made of turtle-shell in the likeness of these animals. But “the shrines were so sacred that no uninitiated persons might visit them, nor did they know what they contained; they were aware of Sigai and Maiau, but they did not know that the former was a hammer-headed shark and the latter a crocodile; this mystery was too sacred to be imparted to uninitiates. When the heroes were addressed it was always by their human names, and not by their animal or totem names.” See A. C. Haddon, “The Religion of the Torres Straits Islanders,” Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor (Oxford, 1907), p. 185.
“There can be no doubt that there is here represented a Sacred Marriage, the meeting of two deities worshipped in different places, like the Horus of Edfu and the Hathor of Denderah” (C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 255). This view seems to differ from, though it approaches, the one suggested in the text. That the scene represents a Sacred Marriage between a great god and goddess is the opinion also of Prof. Ed. Meyer (Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 633 sq.), and Prof. J. Garstang (The Land of the Hittites, pp. 238 sq.; The Syrian Goddess, p. 7).
See above, p. 133.
See below, p. 285. Compare the remarks of Sir W. M. Ramsay (“Pre-Hellenic Monuments of Cappadocia,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xiii. (1890) p. 78): “Similar priest-dynasts are a widespread feature of the primitive social system of Asia Minor; their existence is known with certainty or inferred with probability at the two towns Komana; at Venasa not far north of Tyana, at Olba, at Pessinous, at Aizanoi, and many other places. Now there are two characteristics which can be regarded as probable in regard to most of these priests, and as proved in regard to some of them: (1) they wore the dress and represented the person of the god, whose priests they were; (2) they were ἱερώνυμοι, losing their individual name at their succession to the office, and assuming a sacred name, often that of the god himself or some figure connected with the cultus of the god. The priest of Cybele at Pessinous was called Attis, the priests of Sabazios were Saboi, the worshippers of Bacchos Bacchoi.” As to the priestly rulers of Olba, see below, pp. 144sqq.
See above, p. 132. However, Prof. Ed. Meyer may be right in thinking that the priest-like figure in the procession is not really that of the priest but that of the god or goddess whom he personated. See above, p. 133note.
See above, pp. 36sqq.
H. Winckler, “Vorläufige Nachrichten über die Ausgrabungen in Boghaz-köi im Sommer 1907,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, No. 35, December, 1907, pp. 27 sq., 29; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 352 sq.; “Hittite Archives from Boghaz-Keui,” translated from the German transcripts of Dr. Winckler by Meta E. Williams, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, iv. (Liverpool and London, 1912) p. 98. We have seen (above, p. 136) that in the seals of the Hittite treaty with Egypt the Queen appears along with the King. If Dr. H. Winckler is right in thinking (op. cit. p. 29) that one of the Hittite queens was at the same time sister to her husband the King, we should have in this relationship a further proof that mother-kin regulated the descent of the kingship among the Hittites as well as among the ancient Egyptians. See above, p. 44, and below, vol. ii. pp. 213 sqq.
Compare Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 629-633.
The figure exhibits a few minor variations on the coins of Tarsus. See the works cited above, p. 127.
Above, p. 119.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 358 sqq.
The Dying God, pp. 166 sqq.
Athenaeus, v. 54, p. 215 b, c. The high-priest of the Syrian goddess at Hierapolis held office for a year, and wore a purple robe and a golden tiara (Lucian, De dea Syria, 42). We may conjecture that the priesthood of Hercules at Tarsus was in later times at least an annual office.
E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884) § 389, p. 475; H. Winckler, in E. Schrader's Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 p. 88. Kuinda was the name of a Cilician fortress a little way inland from Anchiale (Strabo, xiv. 5. 10, p. 672).
E. Meyer, op. cit. i. § 393, p. 480; C. P. Tiele, Babylonisch-assyrische Geschichte, p. 360. Sandon and Sandas occur repeatedly as names of Cilician men. They are probably identical with, or modified forms of, the divine name. See Strabo, xiv. 5. 14, p. 674; Plutarch, Poplicola, 17; Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, ed. August Boeckh, etc. (Berlin, 1828-1877) vol. iii. p. 200, No. 4401; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques (Brussels, 1900), p. 718, No. 878; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der Kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-histor. Classe, xliv. (Vienna, 1896) No. vi. pp. 46, 131 sq., 140 (Inscriptions 115, 218, 232).
Strabo, xiv. 5. 10, p. 672. The name of the high-priest Ajax, son of Teucer, occurs on coins of Olba, dating from about the beginning of our era (B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, Oxford, 1887, p. 609); and the name of Teucer is also known from inscriptions. See below, pp. 145, 151, 159.
E. L. Hicks, “Inscriptions from Western Cilicia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) pp. 226, 263; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der Kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, xliv. (1896) No. vi. pp. 53, 88.
Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, pp. 718 sqq., No. 878. Tarkondimotos was the name of two kings of Eastern Cilicia in the first century b.c. One of them corresponded with Cicero and fell at the battle of Actium. See Cicero, Epist. ad Familiares, xv. 1. 2; Strabo, xiv. 5. 18, p. 676; Dio Cassius, xli. 63. 1, xlvii. 26. 2, l. 14. 2, li. 2. 2, li. 7. 4, liv. 9. 2; Plutarch, Antoninus, 61; B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 618; W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipsic, 1903-1905), ii. pp. 494 sq., Nos. 752, 753. Moreover, Tarkudimme or Tarkuwassimi occurs as the name of a king of Erme (?) or Urmi (?) in a bilingual Hittite and cuneiform inscription engraved on a silver seal. See W. Wright, The Empire of the Hittites2 (London, 1886), pp. 163 sqq.; L. Messerschmidt, Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum, pp. 42 sq., pl. xlii. 9; id., The Hittites, pp. 29 sq.; P. Jensen, Hittiter und Armenier (Strasburg, 1898), pp. 22, 50 sq. In this inscription Prof. Jensen suggests Tarbibi- as an alternative reading for Tarku-. Compare P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache (Göttingen, 1896), pp. 362-364.
Isocrates, Or. ix. 14 and 18 sq.; Pausanias, ii. 29. 2 and 4; W. E. Engel, Kypros, i. 212 sqq. As to the names Teucer and Teucrian see P. Kretschmer, op. cit. pp. 189-191. Prof. Kretschmer believes that the native population of Cyprus belonged to the non-Aryan stock of Asia Minor.
W. E. Engel, Kypros, i. 216.
Porphyry, De abstinentia, ii. 54 sq.; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i. 21. As to the date when the custom was abolished, Lactantius says that it was done “recently in the reign of Hadrian.” Porphyry says that the practice was put down by Diphilus, king of Cyprus, “in the time of Seleucus the Theologian.” As nothing seems to be known as to the date of King Diphilus and Seleucus the Theologian, I have ventured to assume, on the strength of Lactantius's statement, that they were contemporaries of Hadrian. But it is curious to find kings of Cyprus reigning so late. Beside the power of the Roman governors, their authority can have been little more than nominal, like that of native rajahs in British India. Seleucus the Theologian may be, as J. A. Fabricius supposed (Bibliotheca Graeca,4 Hamburg, 1780-1809, vol. i. p. 86, compare p. 522), the Alexandrian grammarian who composed a voluminous work on the gods (Suidas, s.v. Σέλευκος). Suetonius tells an anecdote (Tiberius, 56) about a grammarian named Seleucus who flourished, and faded prematurely, at the court of Tiberius.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 49.
Diogenianus, Praefatio, in Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. E. L. Leutsch et F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1839-1851), i. 180. Raoul-Rochette regarded the custom as part of the ritual of the divine death and resurrection. He compared it with the burning of Melcarth at Tyre. See his memoir, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (1848), p. 32.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 54.
A. H. Sayce, in W. Wright's Empire of the Hittites,2 p. 186; W. M. Ramsay, “Pre-Hellenic Monuments of Cappadocia,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xiv. (1903) pp. 81 sq.; C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 251; W. Max Müller, Asien und Europa, p. 333; P. Jensen, Hittiter und Armenier, pp. 70, 150 sqq., 155 sqq.; F. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients, pp. 44, 51 sq.; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, p. 40. Sir W. M. Ramsay thinks (l.c.) that Tark was the native name of the god who had his sanctuary at Dastarkon in Cappadocia and who was called by the Greeks the Cataonian Apollo: his sanctuary was revered all over Cappadocia (Strabo, xiv. 2. 5, p. 537). Prof. Hommel holds that Tarku or Tarchu was the chief Hittite deity, worshipped all over the south of Asia Minor. Prof. W. Max Müller is of opinion that Targh or Tarkh did not designate any particular deity, but was the general Hittite name for “god.” There are grounds for holding that the proper name of the Hittite thunder-god was Teshub or Teshup. See above, p. 135note.
J. T. Bent, “Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) p. 458; id., “A Journey in Cilicia Tracheia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) p. 222; W. M. Ramsay, Historical Geography of Asia Minor (London, 1890), pp. 22, 364. Sir W. M. Ramsay had shown grounds for thinking that Olba was a Grecized form of a native name Ourba (pronounced Ourwa) before Mr. J. T. Bent discovered the site and the name.
J. Theodore Bent, “Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) pp. 445, 450-453; id., “A Journal in Cilicia Tracheia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) pp. 208, 210-212, 217-219; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-historische Classe, xliv. (Vienna, 1896) No. vi. pp. 49, 70; D. G. Hogarth and J. A. R. Munro, “Modern and Ancient Roads in Eastern Asia Minor,” Royal Geographical Society, Supplementary Papers, vol. iii. part 5 (London, 1893), pp. 653 sq. As to the Cilician pirates see Strabo, xiv. 5. 2, pp. 668 sq.; Plutarch, Pompeius, 24; Appian, Bellum Mithridat. 92 sq.; Dio Cassius, xxxvi. 20-24 [3-6], ed. L. Dindorf; Cicero, De imperio Cn. Pompeii, 11 sq.; Th. Mommsen, Roman History (London, 1868), iii. 68-70, iv. 40-45, 118-120. As to the crests carved on their towns see J. T. Bent, “Cilician Symbols,” Classical Review, iv. (1890) pp. 321 sq. Among these crests are a club (the badge of Olba), a bunch of grapes, the caps of the Dioscuri, the three-legged symbol, and so on. As to the cedars and ship-building timber of Cilicia in antiquity see Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum, iii. 2. 6, iv. 5. 5. The cedars and firs have now retreated to the higher slopes of the Taurus. Great destruction is wrought in the forests by the roving Yuruks with their flocks; for they light their fires under the trees, tap the firs for turpentine, bark the cedars for their huts and bee-hives, and lay bare whole tracts of country that the grass may grow for their sheep and goats. See J. T. Bent, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) pp. 453-458.
D. G. Hogarth, A Wandering Scholar in the Levant (London, 1896), pp. 57 sq.
J. Theodore Bent, “Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) pp. 445 sq., 458-460; id., “A Journey in Cilicia Tracheia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1890) pp. 220-222; E. L. Hicks, “Inscriptions from Western Cilicia,” ib. pp. 262-270; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philos.-histor. Classe, xliv. (Vienna, 1896) No. vi. pp. 83-91; W. M. Ramsay and D. G. Hogarth, in American Journal of Archaeology, vi. (1890) p. 345; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 858, No. 1231. In one place (Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. 222) Bent gives the height of Olba as 3800 feet; but this is a misprint, for elsewhere (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. 446, 458) he gives the height as exactly 5850 or roughly 6000 feet. The misprint has unfortunately been repeated by Messrs. Heberdey and Wilhelm (op. cit. p. 84 note 1). The tall tower of Olba is figured on the coins of the city. See G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia (London, 1900), pl. xxii. 8.
Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology12 (London, 1875), ii. 518 sqq.; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition, s.v. “Caves,” v. 265 sqq. Compare my notes on Pausanias, i. 35. 7, viii. 29. 1.
J. T. Bent, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) p. 447.
Fr. Beaufort, Karmania (London, 1817), pp. 240 sq.
Strabo, xiv. 5. 5, pp. 670 sq.; Mela, i. 72-75, ed. G. Parthey; J. T. Bent, “Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) pp. 446-448; id., “A Journey in Cilicia Tracheia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) pp. 212-214; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philos.-histor. Classe, xliv. (1896) No. vi. pp. 70-79. Mr. D. G. Hogarth was so good as to furnish me with some notes embodying his recollections of the Corycian cave. All these modern writers confirm the general accuracy of the descriptions of the cave given by Strabo and Mela. Mr. Hogarth indeed speaks of exaggeration in Mela's account, but this is not admitted by Mr. A. Wilhelm. As to the ruins of the city of Corycus on the coast, distant about three miles from the cave, see Fr. Beaufort, Karmania (London, 1817), pp. 232-238; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. pp. 67-70.
The suggestion is Mr. A. B. Cook's. See his article, “The European Sky-god,” Classical Review, xvii. (1903) p. 418, note 2.
J. T. Bent, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) p. 448; id., in Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) pp. 214-216. For the inscription containing the names of the priests see R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. pp. 71-79; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, pp. 718 sqq., No. 878; above, p. 145.
Mela, i. 76, ed. G. Parthey (Berlin, 1867). The cave of Typhon is described by J. T. Bent, ll.cc.
Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 351-372.
Pindar, Pyth. i. 30 sqq., who speaks of the giant as “bred in the many-named Cilician cave.”
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 6. 3.
Pausanias, viii. 29. 1, with my notes. Pausanias mentions (viii. 32. 5) bones of superhuman size which were preserved at Megalopolis, and which popular superstition identified as the bones of the giant Hopladamus.
Pausanias, viii. 29. 1.
A. Holm, Geschichte Siciliens im Alterthum (Leipsic, 1870-1874), i. 57, 356.
(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind3 (London, 1878), p. 322, who adduces much more evidence of the same sort.
J. T. Bent, “Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S. xii. (1890) pp. 448 sq.; id., “A Journey in Cilicia Tracheia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xii. (1891) pp. 208-210; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Classe, xliv. (Vienna, 1896) No. vi. pp. 51-61.
See above, pp. 26sq.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 616. [However, Mr. G. F. Hill writes to me: “The attribution to Tarsus of the 'Atheh coins is unfounded. Head himself only gives it as doubtful. I should think they belong further East.” In the uncertainty which prevails on this point I have left the text unchanged. Note to Second Edition.]
The name 'Athar-'atheh occurs in a Palmyrene inscription. See G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, No. 112, pp. 267-270. In analysing Atargatis into 'Athar-'atheh ('Atar-'ata) I follow E. Meyer (Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 605, 650 sq.), F. Baethgen (Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 68-75), Fr. Cumont (s.v. “Atargatis,” Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ii. 1896), G. A. Cooke (l.c.), C. P. Tiele (Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 245), F. Hommel (Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients, pp. 43 sq.), Father Lagrange (Études sur les Religions Sémitiques,2 p. 130), and L. B. Paton (s.v. “Atargatis,” J. Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ii. 164 sq.). In the great temple at Hierapolis-Bambyce a mysterious golden image stood between the images of Atargatis and her male partner. It resembled neither of them, yet combined the attributes of other gods. Some interpreted it as Dionysus, others as Deucalion, and others as Semiramis; for a golden dove, traditionally associated with Semiramis, was perched on the head of the figure. The Syrians called the image by a name which Lucian translates “sign” (σημήιον). See Lucian, De dea Syria, 33. It has been plausibly conjectured by F. Baethgen that the name which Lucian translates “sign” was really 'Atheh (עתה), which could easily be confused with the Syriac word for “sign” (אהא). See F. Baethgen, op. cit. p. 73. A coin of Hierapolis, dating from the third century a.d., exhibits the images of the god and goddess seated on bulls and lions respectively, with the mysterious object between them enclosed in a shrine, which is surmounted by a bird, probably a dove. See J. Garstang, The Syrian Goddess (London, 1913), pp. 22 sqq., 70 sq., with fig. 7.
The modern writers cited at the beginning of this note have interpreted the Syrian 'Atheh as a male god, the lover of Atargatis, and identical in name and character with the Phrygian Attis. They may be right; but none of them seems to have noticed that the same name 'Atheh (עתה) is applied to a goddess at Tarsus.
As to the image, see above, p. 137.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 31.
Macrobius, Saturn, i. 23. 12 and 17-19. The Greek name of Baalbec was Heliopolis, “the City of the Sun.”
G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, pp. 163, 164. The statue bears a long inscription, which in the style of its writing belongs to the archaic type represented by the Moabite Stone. The contents of the inscription show that it is earlier than the time of Tiglath-Pileser III. (745-727 b.c.). On Hadad, the Syrian thunder-god, see F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 66-68; C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 248 sq.; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques,2 pp. 92 sq. That Hadad was the consort of Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce is the opinion of P. Jensen (Hittiter und Armenier, p. 171), who also indicates his character as a god both of thunder and of fertility (ib., p. 167). The view of Prof. J. Garstang is similar (The Syrian Goddess, pp. 25 sqq.). That the name of the chief male god of Hierapolis-Bambyce was Hadad is rendered almost certain by coins of the city which were struck in the time of Alexander the Great by a priestly king Abd-Hadad, whose name means “Servant of Hadad.” See B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 654; J. Garstang, The Syrian Goddess, p. 27, with fig. 5.
H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 pp. 442-449; M. Jastrow, Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens (Giessen, 1905-1912), i. 146-150, with Bildermappe, plate 32, fig. 97. The Assyrian relief is also figured in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, s.v. “Marduk,” ii. 2350. The Babylonian ramâmu “to scream, roar” has its equivalent in the Hebrew ra'am (רעם) “to thunder.” The two names Adad (Hadad) and Ramman occur together in the form Hadadrimmon in Zechariah, xii. 11 (with S. R. Driver's note, Century Bible).
See above, p. 130. However, the animal seems to be rather a goat. See above, p. 133note.
See above, p. 132.
G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. 181, 182, 185, 188, 190, 228.
E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884) pp. 246 sq.; F. Baethgen, Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 76 sqq. The idolatrous Hebrews spread tables for Gad, that is, for Fortune (Isaiah lxv. 11, Revised Version).
Macrobius, Saturn. iii. 8. 2; Servius on Virgil, Aen. ii. 632.
Ephippus, cited by Athenaeus, xii. 53, p. 537.
F. Baethgen, op. cit. p. 77; G. A. Cooke, Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 269.
See above, p. 151.
Strabo, xiv. 5. 16, p. 675.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), pp. 605 sq.; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. cxvii. sqq., 95-98, plates xv. xvi. xl. 9; G. Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, ii. 536 sq., pl. lix. 11-14. The male and female figures appear on separate coins. The attribution to Mallus of the coins with the female figure and conical stone has been questioned by Messrs. J. P. Six and G. F. Hill. I follow the view of Messrs. F. Imhoof-Blumer and B. V. Head. [However, Mr. G. F. Hill writes to me that the attribution of these coins to Mallus is no longer maintained by any one. Imhoof-Blumer himself now conjecturally assigns them to Aphrodisias in Cilicia, and Mr. Hill regards this conjecture as very plausible. See F. Imhoof-Blumer, Kleinasiatische Münzen (Vienna, 1901-1902), ii. 435 sq. In the uncertainty which still prevails on the subject I have left the text unchanged. For my purpose it matters little whether this Cilician goddess was worshipped at Mallus or at Aphrodisias. Note to Second Edition.]
See above, pp. 34sq.
Philo of Byblus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. 569. El is figured with three pairs of wings on coins of Byblus. See G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, ii. 174; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques,2 p. 72.
Imhoof-Blumer, s.v. “Kronos,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1572; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. cxxii. 99, pl. xvii. 2.
G. F. Hill, op. cit. pp. cxxi. sq., 98, pl. xvii. 1.
Another native Cilician deity who masqueraded in Greek dress was probably the Olybrian Zeus of Anazarba or Anazarbus, but of his true nature and worship we know nothing. See W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipsic, 1903-1905), ii. p. 267, No. 577; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἄδανα (where the MS. reading Ολυμβρος was wrongly changed by Salmasius into Ὄλυμπος).
Strabo, xiv. 5. 19, p. 676. The expression of Strabo leaves it doubtful whether the ministers of the goddess were men or women. There was a headland called Sarpedon near the mouth of the Calycadnus River in Western Cilicia (Strabo, xiii. 4. 6, p. 627, xiv. 5. 4, p. 670), where Sarpedon or Sarpedonian Apollo had a temple and an oracle. The temple was hewn in the rock, and contained an image of the god. See R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-histor. Classe, xliv. (Vienna, 1896) No. vi. pp. 100, 107. Probably this Sarpedonian Apollo was a native deity akin to Sarpedonian Artemis.
E. J. Davis, Life in Asiatic Turkey, pp. 128-134; J. T. Bent, “Recent Discoveries in Eastern Cilicia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xi. (1890) pp. 234 sq.; E. L. Hicks, “Inscriptions from Eastern Cilicia,” ibid. pp. 243 sqq.; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. pp. 25 sqq. The site of Hieropolis-Castabala was first identified by J. T. Bent by means of inscriptions. As to the coins of the city, see Fr. Imhoof-Blumer, “Zur Münzkunde Kilikiens,” Zeitschrift für Numismatik, x. (1883) pp. 267-290; G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. c.-cii. 82-84, pl. xiv. 1-6; G. Macdonald, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, ii. 534 sq.
On the difference between Hieropolis and Hierapolis see (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, Historical Geography of Asia Minor, pp. 84 sq. According to him, the cities designated by such names grew up gradually round a sanctuary; where Greek influence prevailed the city in time eclipsed the sanctuary and became known as Hierapolis, or the Sacred City, but where the native element retained its predominance the city continued to be known as Hieropolis, or the City of the Sanctuary.
E. L. Hicks, “Inscriptions from Eastern Cilicia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xi. (1890) pp. 251-253; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. p. 26. These writers differ somewhat in their reading and restoration of the verses, which are engraved on a limestone basis among the ruins. I follow the version of Messrs. Heberdey and Wilhelm.
J. T. Bent and E. L. Hicks, op. cit. pp. 235, 246 sq.; R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, op. cit. p. 27.
Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 537. See above, p. 115. The Cilician Castabala, the situation of which is identified by inscriptions, is not mentioned by Strabo. It is very unlikely that, with his intimate knowledge of Asia Minor, he should have erred so far as to place the city in Cappadocia, to the north of the Taurus mountains, instead of in Cilicia, to the south of them. It is more probable that there were two cities of the same name, and that Strabo has omitted to mention one of them. Similarly, there were two cities called Comana, one in Cappadocia and one in Pontus; at both places the same goddess was worshipped with similar rites. See Strabo, xii. 2. 3, p. 535, xii. 3. 32, p. 557. The situation of the various Castabalas mentioned by ancient writers is discussed by F. Imhoof-Blumer, “Zur Münzkunde Kilikiens,” Zeitschrift für Numismatik, x. (1883) pp. 285-288.
See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 37 sq.
Jamblichus, De mysteriis, iii. 4.
Another Cilician goddess was Athena of Magarsus, to whom Alexander the Great sacrificed before the battle of Issus. See Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 5. 9; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Μάγαρσος; J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 444. The name of the city seems to be Oriental, perhaps derived from the Semitic word for “cave” (מגרה). As to the importance of caves in Semitic religion, see W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 197 sqq. The site of Magarsus appears to be at Karatash, a hill rising from the sea at the southern extremity of the Cilician plain, about forty-five miles due south of Adana. The walls of the city, built of great limestone blocks, are standing to a height of several courses, and an inscription which mentions the priests of Magarsian Athena has been found on the spot. See R. Heberdey und A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,” Denkschriften der kaiser. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-histor. Classe, xliv. (1896) No. vi. pp. 6-10.
E. T. Atkinson, The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) pp. 826 sq.
The Rev. G. E. White (Missionary at Marsovan, in the ancient Pontus), in a letter to me dated 19 Southmoor Road, Oxford, February 11, 1907.
Strabo, xiv. 5. 9, pp. 671 sq.; Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 5; Athenaeus, xii. 39, p. 530 a, b. Compare Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἀγχιάλη; Georgius Syncellus, Chronographia, vol. i. p. 312, ed. G. Dindorf (Bonn, 1829). The site of Anchiale has not yet been discovered. At Tarsus itself the ruins of a vast quadrangular structure have sometimes been identified with the monument of Sardanapalus. See E. J. Davis, Life in Asiatic Turkey, pp. 37-39; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 536 sqq. But Mr. D. G. Hogarth tells me that the ruins in question seem to be the concrete foundations of a Roman temple. The mistake had already been pointed out by Mr. R. Koldewey. See his article, “Das sogenannte Grab des Sardanapal zu Tarsus,” Aus der Anomia (Berlin, 1890), pp. 178-185.
See G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 542 sq. They think that the figure probably represented the king in a common attitude of adoration, his right arm raised and his thumb resting on his forefinger.
L. Messerschmidt, Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum, pp. 17-19, plates xxi.-xxv.; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 492, 494 sq., 528-530, 547; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 107-122.
Prof. W. Max Müller is of opinion that the Hittite civilization and the Hittite system of writing were developed in Cilicia rather than in Cappadocia (Asien und Europa, p. 350).
According to Berosus and Abydenus it was not Sardanapalus (Ashurbanipal) but Sennacherib who built or rebuilt Tarsus after the fashion of Babylon, causing the river Cydnus to flow through the midst of the city. See Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, ii. 504, iv. 282; C. P. Tiele, Babylonisch-assyrische Geschichte, pp. 297 sq.
Diodorus Siculus, ii. 27; Athenaeus, xii. 38, p. 529; Justin, i. 3.
G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, iii. 422 sq. For the inscriptions referring to him and a full discussion of them, see C. F. Lehmann (-Haupt), Šamaš-šumukîn, König von Babylonien, 668-648 v. Chr. (Leipsic, 1892).
Abydenus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iv. 282; Georgius Syncellus, Chronographia, i. p. 396, ed. G. Dindorf; E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884) pp. 576 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, iii. 482-485. C. P. Tiele thought that the story of the death of Saracus might be a popular but mistaken duplicate of the death of Shamash-shumukin (Babylonisch-assyrische Geschichte, pp. 410 sq.). Zimri, king of Israel, also burned himself in his palace to escape falling into the hands of his enemies (1 Kings xvi. 18).
Herodotus, i. 86 sq.
Raoul-Rochette, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), p. 274.
J. Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta, vol. i. (Oxford, 1880) pp. lxxxvi., lxxxviii-xc. (Sacred Books of the East, vol. iv.).
Zend-Avesta, Vendîdâd, Fargard, v. 7. 39-44 (Sacred Books of the East, iv. 60 sq.).
Zend-Avesta, translated by J. Darmesteter, i. pp. xc. 9, 110 sq. (Sacred Books of the East, iv.).
Strabo, xv. 3. 14, p. 732. Even gold, on account of its resemblance to fire, might not be brought near a corpse (id. xv. 3. 18, p. 734).
Sardes fell in the autumn of 546 b.c. (E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884), p. 604). Bacchylides was probably born between 512 and 505 b.c. See R. C. Jebb, Bacchylides, the Poems and Fragments (Cambridge, 1905), pp. 1 sq.
Bacchylides, iii. 24-62.
F. G. Welcker, Alte Denkmäler (Göttingen, 1849-1864), iii. pl. xxxiii.; A. Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums (Munich and Leipsic, 1885-1888), ii. 796, fig. 860; A. H. Smith, “Illustrations to Bacchylides,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xviii. (1898) pp. 267-269; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, iii. 618 sq. It is true that Cambyses caused the dead body of the Egyptian king Amasis to be dragged from the tomb, mangled, and burned; but the deed is expressly branded by the ancient historian as an outrage on Persian religion (Herodotus, iii. 16).
Raoul-Rochette, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 277 sq.; M. Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums, iv.5 330-332; E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884) p. 604; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, iii. 618.
Herodotus, i. 7.
Hyginus, Fab. 243; Pliny, viii. 155.
See W. Robertson Smith, “Ctesias and the Semiramis Legend,” English Historical Review, ii. (1887) pp. 303-317. But the legend of Semiramis appears to have gathered round the person of a real Assyrian queen, by name Shammuramat, who lived towards the end of the ninth century b.c. and is known to us from historical inscriptions. See C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Die historische Semiramis und ihre Zeit (Tübingen, 1910), pp. 1 sqq.; id., s.v. “Semiramis,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, iv. 678 sqq.; The Scapegoat, pp. 369 sqq.
See above, p. 114.
In ancient Greece we seem to have a reminiscence of widow-burning in the legend that when the corpse of Capaneus was being consumed on the pyre, his wife Evadne threw herself into the flames and perished. See Euripides, Supplices, 980 sqq.; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 7. 1; Zenobius, Cent. i. 30; Ovid, Tristia, v. 14. 38.
Isaiah xxx. 33. The Revised Version has “a Topheth” instead of “Tophet.” But Hebrew does not possess an indefinite article (the few passages of the Bible in which the Aramaic חת is so used are no exception to the rule), and there is no evidence that Tophet (Topheth) was ever employed in a general sense. The passage of Isaiah has been rightly interpreted by W. Robertson Smith in the sense indicated in the text, though he denies that it contains any reference to the sacrifice of the children. See his Lectures on the Religion of the Semites,2 pp. 372 sq. He observes (p. 372, note 3): “Saul's body was burned (1 Sam. xxxi. 12), possibly to save it from the risk of exhumation by the Philistines, but perhaps rather with a religious intention, and almost as an act of worship, since his bones were buried under the sacred tamarisk at Jabesh.” In 1 Chronicles x. 12 the tree under which the bones of Saul were buried is not a tamarisk but a terebinth or an oak.
2 Chronicles xvi. 14, xxi. 19; Jeremiah xxxiv. 5. There is no ground for assuming, as the Authorized version does in Jeremiah xxxiv. 5, that only spices were burned on these occasions; indeed the burning of spices is not mentioned at all in any of the three passages. The “sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art,” which were laid in the dead king's bed (2 Chronicles xvi. 14), were probably used to embalm him, not to be burned at his funeral. For though “great burnings” were regularly made for the dead kings of Judah, there is no evidence (apart from the doubtful case of Saul) that their bodies were cremated. They are regularly said to have been buried, not burnt. The passage of Isaiah seems to show that what was burned at a royal funeral was a great, but empty, pyre. That the burnings for the kings formed part of a heathen custom was rightly perceived by Renan (Histoire du peuple d'Israel, iii. 121, note).
Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 4. 1. See Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. “Jerusalem,” vol. ii. 2423 sq.
As to the Moloch worship, see Note I. at the end of the volume. I have to thank the Rev. Professor R. H. Kennett for indicating to me the inference which may be drawn from the identification of the Valley of Hinnom with the Tyropoeon.
W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, Central Palestine and Phoenicia (London, 1883), pp. 575-579; Ed. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine3 (London, 1867), ii. 430. sq.; K. Baedeker, Palestine and Syria4 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 255.
Herodotus, v. 92. 7.
C. Bock, Temples and Elephants (London, 1884), pp. 73-76.
This view was maintained long ago by Raoul-Rochette in regard to the deaths both of Sardanapalus and of Croesus. He supposed that “the Assyrian monarch, reduced to the last extremity, wished, by the mode of death which he chose, to give to his sacrifice the form of an apotheosis and to identify himself with the national god of his country by allowing himself to be consumed, like him, on a pyre.... Thus mythology and history would be combined in a legend in which the god and the monarch would finally be confused. There is nothing in this which is not conformable to the ideas and habits of Asiatic civilization.” See his memoir, “Sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phénicien,” Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, xvii. Deuxième Partie (Paris, 1848), pp. 247 sq., 271 sqq. The notion of regeneration by fire was fully recognized by Raoul-Rochette (op. cit. pp. 30 sq.). It deserves to be noted that Croesus burned on a huge pyre the great and costly offerings which he dedicated to Apollo at Delphi. He thought, says Herodotus (i. 50), that in this way the god would get possession of the offerings.
As to Isis see Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 16. As to Demeter see Homer, Hymn to Demeter, 231-262; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 5. 1; Ovid, Fasti, iv. 547-560. As to Thetis see Apollonius Rhodius, Argon, iv. 865-879; Apollodorus, Bibl. iii. 13. 6. Most of these writers express clearly the thought that the fire consumed the mortal element, leaving the immortal. Thus Plutarch says, περικαίειν τὰ θνητὰ τοῦ σώματος. Apollodorus says (i. 5. 1), εἰς πῦρ κατετίθει τὸ βρέφος καὶ περιῄρει τὰς θνητὰς σάρκας αὐτοῦ, and again (iii. 13. 6), εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἐγκρυβοῦσα τῆς νυκτὸς ἔφθειρεν ὂ ἦν αὐτῷ θνητὸν πατρῷον. Apollonius Rhodius says,
ἡ μὲν γὰρ βροτέας αἰεὶ περὶ σάρκας ἔδαιεν νύκτα διὰ μέσσην φλογμῷ πυρός.
And Ovid has,
“Inque foco pueri corpus vivente favilla Obruit, humanum purget ut ignis onus.”
On the custom of passing children over a fire as a purification, see my note, “The Youth of Achilles,” Classical Review, vii. (1893) pp. 293 sq. On the purificatory virtue which the Greeks ascribed to fire see also Erwin Rohde, Psyche3 (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), ii. 101, note 2. The Warramunga of Central Australia have a tradition of a great man who “used to burn children in the fire so as to make them grow strong” (B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, London, 1904, p. 429).
She is said to have thus restored the youth of her husband Jason, her father-in-law Aeson, the nurses of Dionysus, and all their husbands (Euripides, Medea, Argum.; Scholiast on Aristophanes, Knights, 1321; compare Plautus, Pseudolus, 879 sqq.); and she applied the same process with success to an old ram (Apollodorus, Bibl. i. 9. 27; Pausanias, viii. 11. 2; Hyginus, Fab. 24).
Pindar, Olymp. i. 40 sqq., with the Scholiast; J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 152.
Jamblichus, De mysteriis, v. 12.
Lucian, De morte Peregrini, 27 sq.
Diogenes Laertius, viii. 2. 69 sq.
Lucian, De morte Peregrini, 25; Strabo, xv. 1. 64 and 68, pp. 715, 717; Arrian, Anabasis, vii. 3.
The Dying God, pp. 42 sqq.
Herodotus, i. 7.
Joannes Lydus, De magistratibus, iii. 64.
See above, p. 144, note 2.
Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, 45. Zeus Labrandeus was worshipped at the village of Labraunda, situated in a pass over the mountains, near Mylasa in Caria. The temple was ancient. A road called the Sacred Way led downhill for ten miles to Mylasa, a city of white marble temples and colonnades which stood in a fertile plain at the foot of a precipitous mountain, where the marble was quarried. Processions bearing the holy emblems went to and fro along the Sacred Way from Mylasa to Labraunda. See Strabo, xiv. 2. 23, pp. 658 sq. The double-headed axe figures on the ruins and coins of Mylasa (Ch. Fellows, An Account of Discoveries in Lycia, London, 1841, p. 75; B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, Oxford, 1887, pp. 528 sq.). A horseman carrying a double-headed axe is a type which occurs on the coins of many towns in Lydia and Phrygia. At Thyatira this axe-bearing hero was called Tyrimnus, and games were held in his honour. He was identified with Apollo and the sun. See B. V. Head, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia (London, 1901), p. cxxviii. On a coin of Mostene in Lydia the double-headed axe is represented between a bunch of grapes and ears of corn, as if it were an emblem of fertility (B. V. Head, op. cit. p. 162, pl. xvii. 11).
L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i.4 (Berlin, 1894) pp. 141 sq. As to the Hittite thunder-god and his axe see above, pp. 134sqq.
Nicolaus Damascenus, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. 382 sq.
Ibid. iii. 381.
Herodotus, i. 84.
Eusebius, Chronic. i. 69, ed. A. Schoene (Berlin, 1866-1875).
Herodotus, i. 50. At Thebes there was a stone lion which was said to have been dedicated by Hercules (Pausanias, ix. 17. 2).
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), p. 553; id., Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia (London, 1901), pp. xcviii, 239, 240, 241, 244, 247, 253, 254, 264, with plates xxiv. 9-11, 13, XXV. 2, 12, xxvii. 8.
See above, p. 143.
Herodotus, ii. 106; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. 742-752; L. Messerschmidt, Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum, pp. 33-37, with plates xxxvii., xxxviii.; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 170-173, with plate liv.
Pausanias, iii. 24. 2, v. 13. 7 with my note; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, op. cit. iv. 752-759; L. Messerschmidt, op. cit. pp. 37 sq., pl. xxxix. 1; J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 167-170, with plate liii. Unlike most Hittite sculptures the figure of Mother Plastene is carved almost in the round. The inscriptions which accompany both these Lydian monuments are much defaced.
The suggestion that the Heraclid kings of Lydia were Hittites, or under Hittite influence, is not novel. See W. Wright, Empire of the Hittites, p. 59; E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. (Stuttgart, 1884) p. 307, § 257; Fr. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients, p. 54, note 2; L. Messerschmidt, The Hittites, p. 22.
See above, pp. 110sqq.
Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman. i. 27. 1.
Nonnus, Dionys. xxv. 451-551; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxv. 14. The story, as we learn from Pliny, was told by Xanthus, an early historian of Lydia.
Thus Glaucus, son of Minos, was restored to life by the seer Polyidus, who learned the trick from a serpent. See Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 3. 1. For references to other tales of the same sort see my note on Pausanias, ii. 10. 3 (vol. iii. pp. 65 sq.). The serpent's acquaintance with the tree of life in the garden of Eden perhaps belongs to the same cycle of stories.
B. V. Head, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia, pp. cxi-cxiii, with pl. xxvii. 12. On the coins the champion's name appears as Masnes or Masanes, but the reading is doubtful. The name Masnes occurred in Xanthus's history of Lydia (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iv. 629). It is probably the same with Manes, the name of a son of Zeus and Earth, who is said to have been the first king of Lydia (Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Ant. Rom. i. 27. 1). Manes was the father of King Atys (Herodotus, i. 94). Thus Tylon was connected with the royal family of Lydia through his champion as well as in the ways mentioned in the text.
Dionysius Halicarnasensis, l.c.
See above, p. 183.
B. V. Head, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia, p. cxiii.
B. V. Head, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia, pp. cx, cxiii. The festival seems to be mentioned only on coins.
See above, p. 154.
V. Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere7 (Berlin, 1902), p. 261. He would derive the name from the Semitic, or at all events the Cilician language. The Hebrew word for saffron is karkôm. As to the spring flowers of North-Western Asia Minor, W. M. Leake remarks (April 1, 1800) that “primroses, violets, and crocuses, are the only flowers to be seen” (Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, London, 1824, p. 143). Near Mylasa in Caria, Fellows saw (March 20, 1840) the broom covered with yellow blossoms and a great variety of anemones, like “a rich Turkey carpet, in which the green grass did not form a prominent colour amidst the crimson, lilac, blue, scarlet, white, and yellow flowers” (Ch. Fellows, An Account of Discoveries in Lycia, London, 1841, pp. 65, 66). In February the yellow stars of Gagea arvensis cover the rocky and grassy grounds of Lycia, and the field-marigold often meets the eye. At the same season in Lycia the shrub Colutea arborescens opens its yellow flowers. See T. A. B. Spratt and E. Forbes, Travels in Lycia (London, 1847), ii. 133. I must leave it to others to identify the Golden Flower of Sardes.
Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 538. Mount Argaeus still retains its ancient name in slightly altered forms (Ardjeh, Erdjich, Erjäus). Its height is about 13,000 feet. In the nineteenth century it was ascended by at least two English travellers, W. J. Hamilton and H. F. Tozer. See W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, ii. 269-281; H. F. Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor, pp. 94, 113-131; Élisée Reclus, Nouvelle Géographie Universelle (Paris, 1879-1894), ix. 476-478. A Hittite inscription is carved at a place called Tope Nefezi, near Asarjik, on the slope of Mount Argaeus. See J. Garstang, The Land of the Hittites, pp. 152 sq.
H. F. Tozer, op. cit. pp. 125-127.
Strabo, xv. 3. 14 sq., pp. 732 sq. A bundle of twigs, called the Barsom (Beresma in the Avesta), is still used by the Parsee priests in chanting their liturgy. See M. Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings and Religion of the Parsis3 (London, 1884), pp. 4, note 1, 283. When a potter in Southern India is making a pot which is to be worshipped as a household deity, he “should close his mouth with a bandage, so that his breath may not defile the pot.” See E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India (Madras, 1909), iv. 151.
Baron Charles Hügel, Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab (London, 1845), pp. 42-46; W. Crooke, Things Indian (London, 1906), p. 219.
Jonas Hanway, An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea: with the Author's Journal of Travels, Second Edition (London, 1754), i. 263. For later descriptions of the fires and fire-worshippers of Baku, see J. Reinegg, Beschreibung des Kaukasus (Gotha, Hildesheim, and St. Petersburg, 1796-1797), i. 151-159; A. von Haxthausen, Transkaukasia (Leipsic, 1856), ii. 80-85. Compare W. Crooke, Things Indian, p. 219.
Strabo, xii. 8. 18 sq., p. 579; xiii. 4. 11, p. 628. The wine of the district is mentioned by Vitruvius (viii. 3. 12) and Pliny (Nat. Hist. xiv. 75).
W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, i. 136-140, ii. 131-138. One of the three recent cones described by Strabo is now called the Kara Devlit, or Black Inkstand. Its top is about 2500 feet above the sea, but only 500 feet above the surrounding plain. The adjoining town of Koula, built of the black lava on which it stands, has a sombre and dismal look. Another of the cones, almost equally high, has a crater of about half a mile in circumference and three or four hundred feet deep.
Strabo, xiii. 4. 11, p. 628. Compare his account of the Catanian vineyards (vi. 2. 3, p. 269).
Strabo, xii. 8. 16-18, pp. 578 sq.; xiii. 4. 10 sq., p. 628.
Strabo, xii. 8. 18, p. 579. Compare Tacitus, Annals, xii. 58.
Strabo, i. 3. 16, p. 57. Compare Plutarch, De Pythiae oraculis, 11; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 202; Justin, xxx. 4. The event seems to have happened in 197 b.c. Several other islands are known to have appeared in the same bay both in ancient and modern times. So far as antiquity is concerned, the dates of their appearance are given by Pliny, but some confusion on the subject has crept into his mind, or rather, perhaps, into his text. See the discussion of the subject in W. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (London, 1873), ii. 1158-1160. As to the eruptions in the bay of Santorin, the last of which occurred in 1866 and produced a new island, see Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology12 (London, 1875), i. 51, ii. 65 sqq.; C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland (Breslau, 1885), pp. 272 sqq. There is a monograph on Santorin and its eruptions (F. Fouqué, Santorin et ses éruptions, Paris, 1879). Strabo has given a brief but striking account of Rhodes, its architecture, its art-treasures, and its constitution (xiv. 2. 5, pp. 652 sq.). As to the Rhodian schools of art see H. Brunn, Geschichte der griechischen Künstler (Stuttgart, 1857-1859), i. 459 sqq., ii. 233 sqq., 286 sq.
Aristophanes, Acharn. 682; Pausanias, iii. 11. 9, vii. 21. 7; Plutarch, Theseus, 36; Aristides, Isthmic. vol. i. p. 29, ed. G. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1829); Appian, Bell. Civ. v. 98; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 17. 22; G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum2 (Leipsic, 1898-1901), ii. p. 230, No. 543.
Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 22.
Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 7. 4. As to the Spartan headquarters staff (οἱ περὶ δαμοσίαν), see id. iv. 5. 8, vi. 4. 14; Xenophon, Respublica Lacedaem. xiii. 1, xv. 4. Usually the Spartans desisted from any enterprise they had in hand when an earthquake happened (Thucydides, iii. 59. 1, v. 50. 5, vi. 95. 1).
Thucydides, v. 70. 1. The use of the music, Thucydides tells us, was not to inspire the men, but to enable them to keep step, and so to march in close order. Without music a long line of battle was apt to straggle in advancing to the charge. As missiles were little used in Greek warfare, there was no need to hurry the advance over the intervening ground; so it was made deliberately and with the bands playing. The air to which the Spartans charged was called Castor's tune. It was the king in person who gave the word for the flutes to strike up. See Plutarch, Lycurgus, 22.
Xenophon, Respublica Lacedaem. xi. 3; Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 1140; Aristotle, cited by a scholiast on Aristophanes, Acharn. 320; Plutarch, Instituta Laconica, 24. When a great earthquake had destroyed the city of Sparta and the Messenians were in revolt, the Spartans sent a messenger to Athens asking for help. Aristophanes (Lysistrata, 1138 sqq.) describes the man as if he had seen him, sitting as a suppliant on the altar with his pale face and his red coat.
I have assumed that the sun shone on the Spartans at Thermopylae. For the battle was fought in the height of summer, when the Greek sky is generally cloudless, and on that particular morning the weather was very still. The evening before, the Persians had sent round a body of troops by a difficult pass to take the Spartans in the rear; day was breaking when they neared the summit, and the first intimation of their approach which reached the ears of the Phocian guards posted on the mountain was the loud crackling of leaves under their feet in the oak forest. Moreover, the famous Spartan saying about fighting in the shade of the Persian arrows, which obscured the sun, points to bright, hot weather. It was at high noon, and therefore probably in the full blaze of the mid-day sun, that the last march-out took place. See Herodotus, vii. 215-226; and as to the date of the battle (about the time of the Olympic games) see Herodotus, vii. 206, viii. 12 and 26; G. Busolt, Griechische Geschichte, ii.2 (Gotha, 1895) p. 673, note 9.
S. Müller, Reizen en Onderzoekingen in den Indischen Archipel (Amsterdam, 1857), ii. 264 sq. Compare A. Bastian, Indonesien (Berlin, 1884-1889), ii. 3. The beliefs and customs of the East Indian peoples in regard to earthquakes have been described by G. A. Wilken, Het animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel, Tweede Stuk (Leyden, 1885), pp. 247-254; id., Verspreide Geschriften (The Hague, 1912), iii. 274-281. Compare id., Handleiding voor de vergelijkende Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië (Leyden, 1893), pp. 604 sq.; and on primitive conceptions of earthquakes in general, E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture2 (London, 1873), i. 364-366; R. Lasch, “Die Ursache und Bedeutung der Erdbeben im Volksglauben und Volksbrauch,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, v. (1902) pp. 236-257, 369-383.
Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses, ii. 2. 23 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xlii. 68).
H. N. van der Tuuk, “Notes on the Kawi Language and Literature,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. xiii. (1881) p. 50.
J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua (The Hague, 1886), p. 398; compare id. pp. 330, 428.
G. Bamler, “Tami,” in R. Neuhauss's Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 492.
Mrs. Leslie Milne, Shans at Home (London, 1910), p. 54.
De St. Cricq, “Voyage du Pérou au Brésil par les fleuves Ucayali et Amazone, Indiens Conibos,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), ive Série, vi. (1853) p. 292.
Miss Alice Werner, The Natives of British Central Africa (London, 1906), p. 56.
Mgr. Lechaptois, Aux Rives du Tanganika (Algiers, 1913), p. 217.
Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 313 sq.
W. Ködding, “Die batakschen Götter und ihr Verhältniss zum Brahmanismus,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, xii. (1885) p. 405.
G. A. Wilken, “Het Animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel,” Verspreide Geschriften, ii. 279; H. N. van der Tuuk, op. cit. pp. 49 sq.
J. G. F. Riedel, “De Topantunuasu of oorspronkelijke Volkstammen van Central Selebes,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xxxv. (1886) p. 95.
John Williams, Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands (London, 1838), p. 379.
G. Turner, Samoa (London, 1884), p. 211; Ch. Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, New Edition (New York, 1851), ii. 131.
A. Schadenburg, “Die Bewohner von Süd-Mindanao und der Insel Samal,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xvii. (1885) p. 32.
W. Mariner, Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, Second Edition (London, 1818), ii. 112 sq.
Sangermano, Description of the Burmese Empire (Rangoon, 1885), p. 130.
P. A. Kleintitschen, Die Küstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel (Hiltrup bei Münster, n.d.), p. 336.
A. Pinart, “Les Indiens de l'État de Panama,” Revue d'Ethnographie, vi. (1887) p. 119.
E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. (Oxford, 1892) p. 469.
A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast (London, 1887), pp. 35 sq.
J. Jackson, in J. E. Erskine's Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific (London, 1853), p. 473. My friend, the late Mr. Lorimer Fison, wrote to me (December 15, 1906) that the name of the Fijian earthquake god is Maui, not A Dage, as Jackson says. Mr. Fison adds, “I have seen Fijians stamping and smiting the ground and yelling at the top of their voices in order to rouse him.”
J. T. Nieuwenhuisen en H. C. B. von Rosenberg, “Verslag omtrent het eiland Nias,” Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, xxx. (Batavia, 1863) p. 118; Th. C. Rappard, “Het eiland Nias en zijne bewoners,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, lxii. (1909) p. 582. In Soerakarta, a district of Java, when an earthquake takes place the people lie flat on their stomachs on the ground, and lick it with their tongues so long as the earthquake lasts. This they do in order that they may not lose their teeth prematurely. See J. W. Winter, “Beknopte Beschrijving van het hof Soerokarta in 1824,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, liv. (1902) p. 85. The connexion of ideas in this custom is not clear.
On this question see C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland (Breslau, 1885), pp. 332-336. As to the frequency of earthquakes in Achaia and Asia Minor see Seneca, Epist. xiv. 3. 9; and as to Achaia in particular see C. Neumann und J. Partsch, op. cit. pp. 324-326. On the coast of Achaia there was a chain of sanctuaries of Poseidon (L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i.4 575).
See Sir Ch. Lyell, Principles of Geology,12 ii. 147 sqq.; J. Milne, Earthquakes (London, 1886), pp. 165 sqq.
See, for example, Thucydides, iii. 89.
Strabo, viii. 7. 1 sq., pp. 384 sq.; Diodorus Siculus, xv. 49; Aelian, Nat. Anim. xi. 19; Pausanias, vii. 24. 5 sq. and 12, vii. 25. 1 and 4.
Diodorus Siculus, xv. 49. 4 sq. Among the most famous seats of the worship of Poseidon in Peloponnese were Taenarum in Laconia, Helice in Achaia, Mantinea in Arcadia, and the island of Calauria, off the coast of Troezen. See Pausanias, ii. 33. 2, iii. 25. 4-8, vii. 24. 5 sq., viii. 10. 2-4. Laconia as well as Achaia has suffered much from earthquakes, and it contained many sanctuaries of Poseidon. We may suppose that the deity was worshipped here chiefly as the earthquake god, since the rugged coasts of Laconia are ill adapted to maritime enterprise, and the Lacedaemonians were never a seafaring folk. See C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland, pp. 330 sq., 335 sq. For Laconian sanctuaries of Poseidon see Pausanias, iii. 11. 9, iii. 12. 5, iii. 14. 2 and 7, iii. 15. 10, iii. 20. 2, iii. 21. 5, iii. 25. 4.
Sir Ch. Lyell, Principles of Geology,12 i. 391 sqq., 590.
“Extract from a Letter of Mr. Alexander Loudon,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, ii. (1832) pp. 60-62; Sir Ch. Lyell, Principles of Geology,12 i. 590.
Sir Ch. Lyell, l.c.
Lucretius, vi. 738 sqq.
Strabo, v. 4. 5, p. 244, xii. 8. 17, p. 579, xiii. 4. 14, p. 629, xiv. 1. 11 and 44, pp. 636, 649; Cicero, De divinatione, i. 36. 79; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 208. Compare [Aristotle,] De mundo, 4, p. 395 B, ed. Bekker.
Servius on Virgil, Aen. vii. 84, who says that some people looked on Mefitis as a god, the male partner of Leucothoë, to whom he stood as Adonis to Venus or as Virbius to Diana. As to Mefitis see L. Preller, Römische Mythologie3 (Berlin, 1881-1883), ii. 144 sq.; R. Peter, s.v. “Mefitis” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2519 sqq.
Virgil, Aen. vii. 563-571, with the commentary of Servius; Cicero, De divinatione, i. 36. 79; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 208.
Letter of Mr. Hamilton (British Envoy at the Court of Naples), in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, ii. (1832) pp. 62-65; W. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, i. 127; H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde (Berlin, 1883-1902), i. 242, 271, ii. 819 sq. Another place in Italy infested by poisonous exhalations is the grotto called dei cani at Naples. It is described by Addison in his “Remarks on Several Parts of Italy” (Works, London, 1811, vol. ii. pp. 89-91).
Strabo, xiv. 1. 11, p. 636.
Strabo, xiv. 1. 44, pp. 649 sq. A coin of Nysa shows the bull carried to the sacrifice by six naked youths and preceded by a naked flute-player. See B. V. Head, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia, pp. lxxxiii. 181, pl. xx. 10. Strabo was familiar with this neighbourhood, for he tells us (xiv. 1. 48, p. 650) that in his youth he studied at Nysa under the philosopher Aristodemus.
Some of the ancients assigned Hierapolis to Lydia, and others to Phrygia (W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. (Oxford, 1895) pp. 84 sq.
Strabo, xiii. 4. 14, pp. 629 sq.; Dio Cassius, lxviii. 27. 3; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 208; Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 6. 18.
Ammianus Marcellinus (l.c.) speaks as if the cave no longer existed in his time.
Strabo, xiii. 4. 14, pp. 629, 630; Vitruvius, viii. 3. 10. For modern descriptions of Hierapolis see R. Chandler, Travels in Asia Minor2 (London, 1776), pp. 228-235; Ch. Fellows, Journal written during an Excursion in Asia Minor (London, 1839), pp. 283-285; W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, i. 517-521; E. Renan, Saint Paul, pp. 357 sq.; E. J. Davis, Anatolica (London, 1874), pp. 97-112; É. Reclus, Nouvelle Géographie Universelle, ix. 510-512; W. Cochran, Pen and Pencil Sketches in Asia Minor (London, 1887), pp. 387-390; W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 84 sqq. The temperature of the hot pool varies from 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The volcanic district of Tuscany which skirts the Apennines abounds in hot calcareous springs which have produced phenomena like those of Hierapolis. Indeed the whole ground is in some places coated over with tufa and travertine, which have been deposited by the water, and, like the ground at Hierapolis, it sounds hollow under the foot. See Sir Ch. Lyell, Principles of Geology,12 i. 397 sqq. As to the terraces of Rotomahana in New Zealand, which were destroyed by an eruption of Mount Taravera in 1886, see R. Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants2 (London, 1870), pp. 464-469.
Athenaeus, xii. 6. p. 512.
Aristophanes, Clouds, 1044-1054.
Scholiast on Aristophanes, Clouds, 1050; Scholiast on Pindar, Olymp. xii. 25; Suidas and Hesychius, s.v. Ἡράκλεια λουτρά; Apostolius, viii. 66; Zenobius, vi. 49; Diogenianus, v. 7; Plutarch, Proverbia Alexandrinorum, 21; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 23. 1, v. 3. 4. Another story was that Hercules, like Moses, produced the water by smiting the rock with his club (Antoninus Liberalis, Transform. 4).
Apostolius, viii. 68; Zenobius, vi. 49; Diogenianus, v. 7; Plutarch, Proverbia Alexandrinorum, 21.
Lucian, Dialogi Deorum, 13.
Strabo, ix. 4. 13, p. 428.
Herodotus, vii. 176; Pausanias, iv. 35. 9; Philostratus, Vit. Sophist. ii. 1. 9.
Scholiast on Aristophanes, Clouds, 1050.
I have described Thermopylae as I saw it in November 1895. Compare W. M. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece (London, 1835), ii. 33 sqq.; E. Dodwell, Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece (London, 1819), ii. 66 sqq.; K. G. Fiedler, Reise durch alle Theile des Königreichs Griechenland (Leipsic, 1840-1841), i. 207 sqq.; L. Ross, Wanderungen in Griechenland (Halle, 1851), i. 90 sqq.; C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland (Leipsic, 1862-1872), i. 92 sqq.
Thucydides, iii. 87 and 89; Strabo, i. 3. 20, pp. 60 sq.; C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland, pp. 321-323.
Aristotle, Meteora, ii. 8, p. 366 a, ed. Bekker; Strabo, ix. 4. 2, p. 425. Aristotle expressly recognized the connexion of the springs with earthquakes, which he tells us were very common in this district. As to the earthquakes of Euboea see also Thucydides, iii. 87, 89; Strabo, i. 3. 16 and 20, pp. 58, 60 sq.
Plutarch, Sulla, 26.
Plutarch, Quaest. Conviviales, iv. 4. 1; id., De fraterno Amore, 17.
As to the hot springs of Aedepsus (the modern Lipso) see K. G. Fiedler, Reise durch alle Theile des Königreichs Griechenland, i. 487-492; H. N. Ulrichs, Reisen und Forschungen in Griechenland (Bremen, 1840—Berlin, 1863), ii. 233-235; C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, ii. 409; C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland, pp. 342-344.
Strabo, i. 3. 20, p. 60.
Athenaeus, iii. 4, p. 73 e, d.
The hot springs of Himera (the modern Termini) were said to have been produced for the refreshment of the weary Hercules. See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 23. 1, v. 3. 4; Scholiast on Pindar, Olymp. xii. 25. The hero is said to have taught the Syracusans to sacrifice a bull annually to Persephone at the Blue Spring (Cyane) near Syracuse; the beasts were drowned in the water of the pool. See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 23. 4, v. 4. 1 sq. As to the spring, which is now thickly surrounded by tall papyrus-plants introduced by the Arabs, see K. Baedeker, Southern Italy7 (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 356, 357.
The splendid baths of Allifae in Samnium, of which there are considerable remains, were sacred to Hercules. See G. Wilmanns, Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1873), vol. i. p. 227, No. 735 c; H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, ii. 798. It is characteristic of the volcanic nature of the springs that the same inscription which mentions these baths of Hercules records their destruction by an earthquake.
H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. (Berlin, 1902) p. 113, No. 3891.
Speaking of thermal springs Lyell observes that the description of them “might almost with equal propriety have been given under the head of ‘igneous causes,’ as they are agents of a mixed nature, being at once igneous and aqueous” (Principles of Geology,12 i. 392).
See above, p. 194.
S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day (Chicago, New York, and Toronto, 1902), pp. 116 sq.; Mrs. H. H. Spoer, “The Powers of Evil in Jerusalem,” Folk-lore, xviii. (1907) p. 55. See above, p. 78.
Josephus, Antiquit. Jud. xvii. 6. 5. The medical properties of the spring are mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. v. 72).
C. L. Irby and J. Mangles, Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria and the Holy Land (London, 1844), pp. 144 sq.; W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (London, 1873), i. 482, s.v. “Callirrhoë”; K. Baedeker, Syria and Palestine4 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 148; H. B. Tristram, The Land of Moab (London, 1873), pp. 233-250, 285 sqq.; Jacob E. Spafford, “Around the Dead Sea by Motor Boat,” The Geographical Journal, xxxix. (1912) pp. 39 sq. The river formed by the springs is now called the Zerka.
Antonin Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab (Paris, 1908), pp. 359 sq. The Arabs think that the evil spirits let the hot water out of hell, lest its healing properties should assuage the pains of the damned. See H. B. Tristram, The Land of Moab (London, 1873), p. 247.
W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), iv. 235 sqq. Mr. Ellis was the first European to visit and describe the tremendous volcano. His visit was paid in the year 1823. Compare The Encyclopaedia Britannica,9 xi. 531.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 246 sq.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 248-250.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 207, 234-236. The berries resemble currants in shape and size and grow on low bushes. “The branches small and clear, leaves alternate, obtuse with a point, and serrated; the flower was monopetalous, and, on being examined, determined the plant to belong to the class decandria and order monogynia. The native name of the plant is ohelo” (W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 234).
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 263.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 350.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 309-311.
W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 361.
Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, Historia General y Natural de las Indias (Madrid, 1851-1855), iv. 74.
A. C. Kruijt, Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel (The Hague, 1906), pp. 497 sq.
W. B. d'Almeida, Life in Java (London, 1864), i. 166-173.
J. H. F. Kohlbrugge, “Die Tĕnggĕresen, ein alter Javanischer Volksstamm,” Bijdragentot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, liii. (1901) pp. 84, 144-147.
J. H. F. Kohlbrugge, op. cit. pp. 100 sq.
I. A. Stigand, “The Volcano of Smeroe, Java,” The Geographical Journal, xxviii. (1906) pp. 621, 624.
Pausanias, iii. 23. 9. Some have thought that Pausanias confused the crater of Etna with the Lago di Naftia, a pool near Palagonia in the interior of Sicily, of which the water, impregnated with naphtha and sulphur, is thrown into violent ebullition by jets of volcanic gas. See [Aristotle,] Mirab. Auscult. 57; Macrobius, Saturn. v. 19. 26 sqq.; Diodorus Siculus, xi. 89; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Παλική; E. H. Bunbury, s.v. “Palicorum Iacus,” in W. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, ii. 533 sq. The author of the ancient Latin poem Aetna says (vv. 340 sq.) that people offered incense to the celestial deities on the top of Etna.
See above, pp. 190sq.
On Mount Chimaera in Lycia a flame burned perpetually which neither earth nor water could extinguish. See Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 236, v. 100; Servius on Virgil, Aen. vi. 288; Seneca, Epist. x. 3. 3; Diodorus, quoted by Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 212 b, 10 sqq., ed. Im. Bekker (Berlin, 1824). This perpetual flame was rediscovered by Captain Beaufort near Porto Genovese on the coast of Lycia. It issues from the side of a hill of crumbly serpentine rock, giving out an intense heat, but no smoke. “Trees, brushwood, and weeds grow close round this little crater, a small stream trickles down the hill hard bye, and the ground does not appear to feel the effect of its heat at more than a few feet distance.” The fire is not accompanied by earthquakes or noises; it ejects no stones and emits no noxious vapours. There is nothing but a brilliant and perpetual flame, at which the shepherds often cook their food. See Fr. Beaufort, Karmania (London, 1817), p. 46; compare T. A. B. Spratt and E. Forbes, Travels in Lycia (London, 1847), ii. 181 sq.
In the foregoing discussion I have confined myself, so far as concerns Asia, to the volcanic regions of Cappadocia, Lydia, and Caria. But Syria and Palestine, the home of Adonis and Melcarth, “abound in volcanic appearances, and very extensive areas have been shaken, at different periods, with great destruction of cities and loss of lives. Continual mention is made in history of the ravages committed by earthquakes in Sidon, Tyre, Berytus, Laodicea, and Antioch, and in the island of Cyprus. The country around the Dead Sea exhibits in some spots layers of sulphur and bitumen, forming a superficial deposit, supposed by Mr. Tristram to be of volcanic origin” (Sir Ch. Lyell, Principles of Geology,12 i. 592 sq.). As to the earthquakes of Syria and Phoenicia see Strabo, i. 3. 16, p. 58; Lucretius, vi. 585; Josephus, Antiquit. Jud. xv. 5. 2; id., Bell. Jud. i. 19. 3; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, Central Palestine and Phoenicia, pp. 568-574; Ed. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine,3 ii. 422-424; S. R. Driver, on Amos iv. 11 (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges). It is said that in the reign of the Emperor Justin the city of Antioch was totally destroyed by a dreadful earthquake, in which three hundred thousand people perished (Procopius, De Bello Persico, ii. 14). The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis xix. 24-28) has been plausibly explained as the effect of an earthquake liberating large quantities of petroleum and inflammable gases. See H. B. Tristram, The Land of Israel, Fourth Edition (London, 1882), pp. 350-354; S. R. Driver, The Book of Genesis4 (London, 1905), pp. 202 sq.
Plutarch, Alcibiades, 18; id., Nicias, 13; Zenobius, Centur. i. 49; Theocritus, xv. 132 sqq.; Eustathius on Homer, Od. xi. 590.
Besides Lucian (cited below) see Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xiii. 800), δοκοῦσι γὰρ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν τελετάς τινας ποιεῖν πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι θρηνοῦσιν αὐτὸν [scil. Ἄδωνιν] ὡς τεθνηκότα, δεύτερον δὲ ὅτι χαίρουσιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ὡς ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντι. Jerome, Commentar. in Ezechielem, viii. 13, 14 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxv. 82, 83): “Quem nos Adonidem interpretati sumus, et Hebraeus et Syrus sermo Thamuz (תמוז) vocat: unde quia juxta gentilem fabulam, in mense Junis amasius Veneris et pulcherrimus juvenis occisus, et deinceps revixisse narratur, eundem Junium mensem eodem appellant nomine, et anniversariam ei celebrant solemnitatem, in qua plangitur a mulieribus quasi mortuus, et postea reviviscens canitur atque laudatur ... interfectionem et resurrectionem Adonidis planctu et gaudio prosequens.” Cyril of Alexandria, In Isaiam, lib. ii. tomus iii. (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxx. 441), ἐπλάττοντο τοίνυν Ἔλληνες ἑορτὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ τοιαύτην. Προσεποιοῦντο μὲν γὰρ λυπουμένῃ τῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ, διὰ τὸ τεθνάναι τὸν Ἄδωνιν, συνολοφύρεσθαι καὶ θρηνεῖν; ἀνελθούσης δὲ ἐξ ᾅδου, καὶ μὴν καὶ ηὐρῆσθαι λεγούσης τὸν ζητούμενον, συνήδεσθαι καὶ ἀνασκιρτᾶν; καὶ μεχρὶ τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν ἐν τοῖς κατ᾽ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἱεροῖς ἐτελεῖτο τὸ παίγνιον τοῦτο. From this testimony of Cyril we learn that the festival of the death and resurrection of Adonis was celebrated at Alexandria down to his time, that is, down to the fourth or even the fifth century, long after the official establishment of Christianity.
Theocritus, xv.
W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte (Berlin, 1877), p. 277.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 6. See above, p. 38. The flutes used by the Phoenicians in the lament for Adonis are mentioned by Athenaeus (iv. 76, p. 174 f), and by Pollux (iv. 76), who say that the same name gingras was applied by the Phoenicians both to the flute and to Adonis himself. Compare F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. 243 sq. We have seen that flutes were also played in the Babylonian rites of Tammuz (above, p. 9). Lucian's words, ἐς τὸν ἠέρα πέμπουσι, imply that the ascension of the god was supposed to take place in the presence, if not before the eyes, of the worshipping crowds. The devotion of Byblus to Adonis is noticed also by Strabo (xvi. 2. 18, p. 755).
Lucian, De dea Syria, 8. The discoloration of the river and the sea was observed by H. Maundrell on 17/27 March 1696/1697. See his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, at Easter, a.d. 1697, Fourth Edition (Perth, 1800), pp. 59 sq.; id., in Bohn's Early Travels in Palestine, edited by Thomas Wright (London, 1848), pp. 411 sq. Renan remarked the discoloration at the beginning of February (Mission de Phénicie, p. 283). In his well-known lines on the subject Milton has laid the mourning in summer:—
“Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day.”
Ovid, Metam. x. 735; Servius on Virgil, Aen. v. 72; J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 831. Bion, on the other hand, represents the anemone as sprung from the tears of Aphrodite (Idyl. i. 66).
W. Robertson Smith, “Ctesias and the Semiramis Legend,” English Historical Review, ii. (1887) p. 307, following Lagarde. Compare W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, pp. 88 sq.
J. Tzetzes, Schol. on Lycophron, 831; Geoponica, xi. 17; Mythographi Graeci, ed. A. Westermann, p. 359. Compare Bion, Idyl. i. 66; Pausanias, vi. 24. 7; Philostratus, Epist. i. and iii.
Plutarch, Alcibiades, 18; id., Nicias, 13. The date of the sailing of the fleet is given by Thucydides (vi. 30, θέρους μεσοῦντος ἤδη), who, with his habitual contempt for the superstition of his countrymen, disdains to notice the coincidence. Adonis was also bewailed by the Argive women (Pausanias, ii. 20. 6), but we do not know at what season of the year the lamentation took place. Inscriptions prove that processions in honour of Adonis were held in the Piraeus, and that a society of his worshippers existed at Loryma in Caria. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 Nos. 726, 741 (vol. ii. pp. 564, 604).
Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii. 9. 15.
The Dying God, pp. 261-266.
In the Alexandrian ceremony, however, it appears to have been the image of Adonis only which was thrown into the sea.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 4; Scholiast on Theocritus, i. 109; Antoninus Liberalis, Transform. 34; J. Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 829; Ovid, Metamorph. x. 489 sqq.; Servius on Virgil, Aen. v. 72, and on Bucol. x. 18; Hyginus, Fab. 58, 164; Fulgentius, iii. 8. The word Myrrha or Smyrna is borrowed from the Phoenician (Liddell and Scott, Greek Lexicon, s.v. σμύρνα). Hence the mother's name, as well as the son's, was taken directly from the Semites.
W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 383, note 2.
Above, p. 9.
Jeremiah xliv. 17-19.
Scholiast on Theocritus, iii. 48; Hyginus, Astronom. ii. 7; Lucian, Dialog. deor. xi. 1; Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 28, p. 54, ed. C. Lang (Leipsic, 1881); Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 14. 4.
The arguments which tell against the solar interpretation of Adonis are stated more fully by the learned and candid scholar Graf Baudissin (Adonis und Esmun, pp. 169 sqq.), who himself formerly accepted the solar theory but afterwards rightly rejected it in favour of the view “dass Adonis die Frühlingsvegetation darstellt, die im Sommer abstirbt” (op. cit. p. 169).
Bailly, Lettres sur l'Origine des Sciences (London and Paris, 1777), pp. 255 sq.; id., Lettres sur l'Atlantide de Platon (London and Paris, 1779), pp. 114-125. Carlyle has described how through the sleety drizzle of a dreary November day poor innocent Bailly was dragged to the scaffold amid the howls and curses of the Parisian mob (French Revolution, bk. v. ch. 2). My friend the late Professor C. Bendall showed me a book by a Hindoo gentleman in which it is seriously maintained that the primitive home of the Aryans was within the Arctic regions. See Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak, The Arctic Home in the Vedas (Poona and Bombay, 1903).
Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 28, pp. 54 sq., ed. C. Lang (Leipsic, 1881), τοιοῦτον γάρ τι καὶ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις ὁ ζητούμενος καὶ ἀνευρισκόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς Ἴσιδος Ὄσιρις ἐμφαίνει καὶ παρὰ Φοίνιξιν ὁ ἀνὰ μέρος παρ᾽ ἔξ μῆνας ὑπὲρ γῆν τε καὶ ὑπὸ γῆν γινόμενος Ἄδωνις, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀδεῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὔτως ὠνομασμένου τοῦ Δημητριακοῦ καρποῦ. τοῦτον δὲ πλήξας κάπρος ἀνελεῖν λέγεται διὰ τὸ τὰς ὗς δοκεῖν ληιβότειρας εἶναι ἢ τὸν τῆς ὕνεως ὀδόντα αἰνιττομένων αὐτῶν, ὑφ᾽ οὖ κατὰ γῆς κρύπτεται τὸ σπέρμα. Scholiast on Theocritus, iii. 48, ὁ Ἄδωνις, ἤγουν ὁ σῖτος ὁ σπειρόμενος, ἔξ μῆνας ἐν τῇ γῇ ποιεῖ ἀπο τῆς σπορᾶς καὶ ἔξ μῆνας ἔχει αὐτὸν ἡ Ἀφροδίτη, τουτέστιν ἡ εὐκρασία τοῦ ἀέρος. καὶ ἐκτότε λαμβάνουσιν αὐτὸν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xiii. 800), οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀναγωγὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν μύθων δεινοὶ καὶ μυθικῆς νομιζομένης θεολογίας, φασί τὸν Ἄδωνιν σύμβολον εἶναι τῶν τῆς γῆς καρπῶν, θρηνουμένων μὲν ὅτε σπείρονται, ἀνισταμένων δέ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χαίρειν ποιούντων τοὺς γεωργοὺς ὅτε φύονται. Jerome, Commentar. in Ezechielem, viii. 13, 14 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxv. 83), “Eadem gentilitas hujuscemodi fabulas poetarum, quae habent turpitudinem, interpretatur subtiliter, interfectionem et resurrectionem Adonidis planctu et gaudio prosequens: quorum alterum in seminibus, quae moriuntur in terra, alterum in segetibus, quibus mortua semina renascuntur, ostendi putat.” Ammianus Marcellinus, xix. 1. 11, “in sollemnibus Adonidis sacris, quod simulacrum aliquod esse frugum adultarum religiones mysticae docent.” Id. xxii. 9. 15, “amato Veneris, ut fabulae fingunt, apri dente ferali deleto, quod in adulto flore sectarum est indicium frugum.” Clement of Alexandria, Hom. 6. 11 (quoted by W. Mannhardt, Antique Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 281), λαμβάνουσι δὲ καὶ Ἄδωνιν εἰς ὡραίους καρπούς. Etymologieum Magnum s.v. Ἄδωνις κύριον; δύναται καὶ ὁ καρπὸς εἶναι ἄδωνις; οἶον ἀδώνειος καρπός, ἀρέσκων. Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. iii. II. 9, Ἄδωνις τῆς τῶν τελείων καρπῶν ἐκτομῆς σύμβολον. Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv. Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 32, οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ... αὐτὰ τὰ σώματα θεοὺς νομίσαντες ... Ἴσιν μὲν τὴν γῆν ... Ἄδωνιν δὲ καρπούς. Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, iv. 4, τῷ Ἀδώνιδι, τουτέστι τῷ Μαΐῳ ... ἢ ὡς ἄλλοις, δοκεῖ, Ἄδωνις μέν ἐστιν ὁ καρπός, κτλ. The view that Tammuz or Adonis is a personification of the dying and reviving vegetation is now accepted by many scholars. See P. Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier (Strasburg, 1890), p. 480; id., Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen, pp. 411, 560; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 p. 397; A. Jeremias, s.v. “Nergal,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, iii. 265; R. Wünsch, Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta (Leipsic, 1902), p. 21; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques,2 pp. 306 sqq.; W. W. Graf Baudissin, “Tammuz,” Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirchengeschichte; id., Esmun und Adonis, pp. 81, 141, 169, etc.; and Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 394, 427. Prof. Jastrow regards Tammuz as a god both of the sun and of vegetation (Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 547, 564, 574, 588). But such a combination of disparate qualities seems artificial and unlikely.
D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 27; id., Ueber Tammûz und die Menschenverehrung bei den alten Babylioniern (St. Petersburg, 1860), p. 38. Compare W. W. Graf Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, pp. 111 sqq.
M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 307 sq.
Hence Philo of Alexandria dates the corn-reaping in the middle of spring (Μεσοῦντος δὲ ἔαρος ἄμητος ἐνίσταται, De special. legibus, i. 183, vol. v. p. 44, ed. L. Cohn). On this subject Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie writes to me: “The Coptic calendar puts on April 2 beginning of wheat harvest in Upper Egypt, May 2 wheat harvest, Lower Egypt. Barley is two or three weeks earlier than wheat in Palestine, but probably less in Egypt. The Palestine harvest is about the time of that in North Egypt.” With regard to Palestine we are told that “the harvest begins with the barley in April; in the valley of the Jordan it begins at the end of March. Between the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest an interval of two or three weeks elapses. Thus as a rule the business of harvest lasts about seven weeks” (J. Benzinger, Hebräische Archäologie, Freiburg i. B. and Leipsic, 1894, p. 209). “The principal grain crops of Palestine are barley, wheat, lentils, maize, and millet. Of the latter there is very little, and it is all gathered in by the end of May. The maize is then only just beginning to shoot. In the hotter parts of the Jordan valley the barley harvest is over by the end of March, and throughout the country the wheat harvest is at its height at the end of May, excepting in the highlands of Galilee, where it is about a fortnight later” (H. B. Tristram, The Land of Israel, Fourth Edition, London, 1882, pp. 583 sq.). As to Greece, Professor E. A. Gardner tells me that harvest is from April to May in the plains and about a month later in the mountains. He adds that “barley may, then, be assigned to the latter part of April, wheat to May in the lower ground, but you know the great difference of climate between different parts; there is the same difference of a month in the vintage.” Mrs. Hawes (Miss Boyd), who excavated at Gournia, tells me that in Crete the barley is cut in April and the beginning of May, and that the wheat is cut and threshed from about the twentieth of June, though the dates naturally vary somewhat with the height of the place above the sea. June is also the season when the wheat is threshed in Euboea (R. A. Arnold, From the Levant, London, 1868, i. 250). Thus it seems possible that the spring festival of Adonis coincided with the cutting of the first barley in March, and his summer festival with the threshing of the last wheat in June. Father Lagrange (op. cit. pp. 305 sq.) argues that the rites of Adonis were always celebrated in summer at the solstice of June or soon afterwards. Baudissin also holds that the summer celebration is the only one which is clearly attested, and that if there was a celebration in spring it must have had a different signification than the death of the god. See his Adonis und Esmun, pp. 132 sq.
Diodorus Siculus, i. 14. 2. See below, vol. ii. pp. 45 sq.
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 180 sqq., 204 sqq.
W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen (Strasburg, 1884), pp. 1 sqq.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 216 sqq.
T. B. Macaulay, History of England, chapter xx. vol. iv. (London, 1855) p. 410.
This explanation of the name Anthesteria, as applied to a festival of the dead, is due to Mr. R. Wünsch (Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta, Leipsic, 1902, pp. 43 sqq.). I cannot accept the late Dr. A. W. Verrall's ingenious derivation of the word from a verb ἀναθέσσασθαι in the sense of “to conjure up” (“The Name Anthesteria,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xx. (1900) pp. 115-117). As to the festival see E. Rohde, Psyche3 (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), i. 236 sqq.; Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion2 (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 32 sqq. In Annam people offer food to their dead on the graves when the earth begins to grow green in spring. The ceremony takes place on the third day of the third month, the sun then entering the sign of Taurus. See Paul Giran, Magie et Religion Annamites (Paris, 1912), pp. 423 sq.
E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie (Paris, 1864), p. 216.
For the authorities see Raoul Rochette, “Mémoire sur les jardins d'Adonis,” Revue Archéologique, viii. (1851) pp. 97-123; W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 279, note 2, and p. 280, note 2. To the authorities cited by Mannhardt add Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. vi. 7. 3; id., De Causis Plant. i. 12. 2; Gregorius Cyprius, i. 7; Macarius, i. 63; Apostolius, i. 34; Diogenianus, i. 14; Plutarch, De sera num. vind. 17. Women only are mentioned as planting the gardens of Adonis by Plutarch, l.c.; Julian, Convivium, p. 329 ed. Spanheim (p. 423 ed. Hertlein); Eustathius on Homer, Od. xi. 590. On the other hand, Apostolius and Diogenianus (ll.cc.) say φυτεύοντες ἢ φυτεύουσαι. The earliest extant Greek writer who mentions the gardens of Adonis is Plato (Phaedrus, p. 276 b). The procession at the festival of Adonis is mentioned in an Attic inscription of 302 or 301 b.c. (G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. ii. p. 564, No. 726). Gardens of Adonis are perhaps alluded to by Isaiah (xvii. 10, with the commentators).
In hot southern countries like Egypt and the Semitic regions of Western Asia, where vegetation depends chiefly or entirely upon irrigation, the purpose of the charm is doubtless to secure a plentiful flow of water in the streams. But as the ultimate object and the charms for securing it are the same in both cases, I have not thought it necessary always to point out the distinction.
The Dying God, pp. 232, 233 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 272 sqq.
W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme (Berlin, 1875), p. 214; W. Schmidt, Das Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und Branch der Romänen Siebenbürgens (Hermannstadt, 1866), pp. 18 sq. The custom of throwing water on the last wagon-load of corn returning from the harvest-field has been practised within living memory in Wigtownshire, and at Orwell in Cambridgeshire. See J. G. Frazer, “Notes on Harvest Customs,” Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 50, 51. (In the first of these passages the Orwell at which the custom used to be observed is said to be in Kent; this was a mistake of mine, which my informant, the Rev. E. B. Birks, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, afterwards corrected.) Mr. R. F. Davis writes to me (March 4, 1906) from Campbell College, Belfast: “Between 30 and 40 years ago I was staying, as a very small boy, at a Nottinghamshire farmhouse at harvest-time, and was allowed—as a great privilege—to ride home on the top of the last load. All the harvesters followed the waggon, and on reaching the farmyard we found the maids of the farm gathered near the gate, with bowls and buckets of water, which they proceeded to throw on the men, who got thoroughly drenched.”
G. A. Heinrich, Agrarische Sitten und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens (Hermanstadt, 1880), p. 24; H. von Wlislocki, Sitten und Brauch der Siebenbürger Sachsen (Hamburg, 1888), p. 32.
G. Drosinis, Land und Leute in Nord-Euböa (Leipsic, 1884), p. 53.
Matthäus Prätorius, Deliciae Prussicae (Berlin, 1871), p. 55; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, pp. 214 sq., note.
M. Prätorius, op. cit. p. 60; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 215, note.
H. Prahn, “Glaube und Brauch in der Mark Brandenburg,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, i. (1891) p. 186.
O. Hartung, “Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 150.
W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche (Marburg, 1888), p. 51.
Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, ii. (Munich, 1863) p. 297.
E. H. Meyer, Badisches Volksleben (Strasburg, 1900), p. 420.
J. Walter Fewkes, “The Tusayan New Fire Ceremony,” Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, xxvi. (1895) p. 446.
“Lettre du curé de Santiago Tepehuacan à son évêque,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), Deuxième Série, ii. (1834) pp. 181 sq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 59 sqq.
E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872), p. 259.
E. T. Dalton, op. cit. p. 188. As to the influence which trees are supposed to exercise on the crops, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 47 sqq.
Lieut.-Col. James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, i. (London, 1829) pp. 570-572.
G. F. D'Penha, “A Collection of Notes on Marriage Customs in the Madras Presidency,” Indian Antiquary, xxv. (1896) p. 144; E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India (Madras, 1906), p. 2.
E. T. Atkinson, The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) p. 870.
W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India (Westminster, 1896), ii. 293 sq. Compare Baboo Ishuree Dass, Domestic Manners and Customs of the Hindoos of Northern India (Benares, 1860), pp. 111 sq. According to the latter writer, the festival of Salono [not Salonan] takes place in August, and the barley is planted by women and girls in baskets a few days before the festival, to be thrown by them into a river or tank when the grain has sprouted to the height of a few inches.
Mrs. J. C. Murray-Aynsley, “Secular and Religious Dances,” Folk-lore Journal, v. (1887) pp. 253 sq. The writer thinks that the ceremony “probably fixes the season for sowing some particular crop.”
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, xx. (Bombay, 1884) p. 454. This passage was pointed out to me by my friend Mr. W. Crooke.
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, xx. 443, 460.
Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 298.
Antonio Bresciani, Dei costumi dell' isola di Sardegna comparati cogli antichissimi popoli orientali (Rome and Turin, 1866), pp. 427 sq.; R. Tennant, Sardinia and its Resources (Rome and London, 1885), p. 187; S. Gabriele, “Usi dei contadini della Sardegna,” Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari, vii. (1888) pp. 469 sq. Tennant says that the pots are kept in a dark warm place, and that the children leap across the fire.
G. Pitrè, Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano (Palermo, 1889), ii. 271-278. Compare id., Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane (Palermo, 1881), pp. 297 sq. In the Abruzzi also young men and young women become gossips by exchanging nosegays on St. John's Day, and the tie thus formed is regarded as sacred. See G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), pp. 165 sq.
R. Wünsch, Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta, pp. 47-57.
See above, pp. 10, note 1, 224sq., 226.
J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 490.
G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi, pp. 156-160. A passage in Isaiah (xxvi. 19) seems to imply that dew possessed the magical virtue of restoring the dead to life. In this passage of Isaiah the customs which I have cited in the text perhaps favour the ordinary interpretation of טל אורת as “dew of herbs” (compare 2 Kings iv. 39) against the interpretation “dew of lights,” which some modern commentators (Dillmann, Skinner, Whitehouse), following Jerome, have adopted.
G. Pitrè, Feste patronali in Sicilia (Turin and Palermo, 1900), pp. 488, 491-493.
G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane, p. 307.
Petrarch, Epistolae de rebus familiaribus, i. 4 (vol. i. pp. 44-46 ed. J. Fracassetti, Florence, 1859-1862). The passage is quoted by J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 489 sq.
J. Grimm, op. cit. i. 489.
Letter of Dr. Otero Acevado, of Madrid, Le Temps, September 1898.
J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 8; A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 150.
A. de Nore, op. cit. p. 20; Bérenger-Féraud, Réminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), pp. 135-141.
A. Breuil, “Du Culte de St. Jean Baptiste,” Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) pp. 237 sq. Compare Balder the Beautiful, i. 193 sq.
Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España, edited by J. F. Ramirez (Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 293.
Augustine, Opera, v. (Paris, 1683) col. 903; id., Pars Secunda, coll. 461 sq. The second of these passages occurs in a sermon of doubtful authenticity. Both have been quoted by J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 490.
E. Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 567 sq.; E. Westermarck, “Midsummer Customs in Morocco,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 31 sq.; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 84-86. See Balder the Beautiful, i. 216.
Balder the Beautiful, i. 160 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 65 sq.
The Dying God, p. 262.
L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), p. 257.
Balder the Beautiful, i. 328 sqq., ii. 21 sqq.
W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 464; K. von Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain (Munich, 1855), p. 183. For more evidence see Balder the Beautiful, i. 165, 166, 166 sq., 168, 173, 174.
The use of gardens of Adonis to fertilize the human sexes appears plainly in the corresponding Indian practices. See above, pp. 241, 242, 243.
G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane, pp. 296 sq.
G. Pitrè, op. cit. pp. 302 sq.; Antonio de Nino, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Florence, 1879-1883), i. 55 sq.; A. de Gubernatis, Usi Nuziali in Italia e presso gli altri Popoli Indo-Europei (Milan, 1878), pp. 39 sq. Compare L. Passarini, “Il Comparatico e la Festa di S. Giovanni nelle Marche e in Roma,” Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari, i. (1882) p. 135. At Smyrna a blossom of the Agnus castus is used on St. John's Day for a similar purpose, but the mode in which the omens are drawn is somewhat different. See Teofilo, “La notte di San Giovanni in Oriente,” Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari, vii. (1888) pp. 128-130.
Matthäus Prätorius, Deliciae Prussicae (Berlin, 1871), p. 56.
The Dying God, pp. 261 sq.
The Dying God, pp. 233 sqq., 261 sqq.
G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane, p. 211.
Κήπους ὡσίουν ἐπιταφίους Ἀδώνιδι, Eustathius on Homer, Od. xi. 590.
Vincenzo Dorsa, La tradizione Greco-Latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore (Cosenza, 1884), p. 50.
C. Wachsmuth, Das alte Griechenland im neuen (Bonn, 1864), pp. 26. sq. The writer compares these ceremonies with the Eleusinian rites. But I agree with Mr. R. Wünsch (Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta, pp. 49 sq.) that the resemblance to the Adonis festival is still closer. Compare V. Dorsa, La tradizione Greco-Latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore, pp. 49 sq. Prof. Wachsmuth's description seems to apply to Athens. In the country districts the ritual is apparently similar. See R. A. Arnold, From the Levant (London, 1868), pp. 251 sq., 259 sq. So in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem the death and burial of Christ are acted over a life-like effigy. See Henry Maundrell, Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, a.d.1697, Fourth Edition (Perth, 1800), pp. 110 sqq.; id., in Th. Wright's Early Travels in Palestine (London, 1848), pp. 443-445.
G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane, pp. 217 sq.
G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi, pp. 118-120; A. de Nino, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi, i. 64 sq., ii. 210-212. At Roccacaramanico part of the Easter spectacle is the death of Judas, who, personated by a living man, pretends to hang himself upon a tree or a great branch, which has been brought into the church and planted near the high altar for the purpose (A. de Nino, op. cit. ii. 211).
The drama of the death and resurrection of Christ was formerly celebrated at Easter in England. See Abbot Gasquet, Parish Life in Mediaeval England, pp. 177 sqq., 182 sq.
The comparison has already been made by A. Maury, who also compares the Easter ceremonies of the Catholic Church with the rites of Adonis (Histoire des Religions de la Grèce Antique, Paris, 1857-1859, vol. iii. p. 221).
Jerome, Epist. lviii. 3 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxii. 581).
Bethlehem is בית-לחם, literally “House of Bread.” The name is appropriate, for “the immediate neighbourhood is very fertile, bearing, besides wheat and barley, groves of olive and almond, and vineyards. The wine of Bethlehem (‘Talhamī’) is among the best of Palestine. So great fertility must mean that the site was occupied, in spite of the want of springs, from the earliest times” (George Adam Smith, s.v. “Bethlehem,” Encyclopaedia Biblica, i. 560). It was in the harvest-fields of Bethlehem that Ruth, at least in the poet's fancy, listened to the nightingale “amid the alien corn.”
John vi. 35.
Above, p. 227.
Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii. 9. 14, “Urbique propinquans in speciem alicujus numinis votis excipitur publicis, miratus voces multitudinis magnae, salutare sidus inluxisse eois partibus adclamantis.” We may compare the greeting which a tribe of South American Indians used to give to a worshipful star after its temporary disappearance. “The Abipones think that the Pleiades, composed of seven stars, is an image of their ancestor. As the constellation is invisible for some months in the sky of South America, they believe that their ancestor is ill, and every year they are mortally afraid that he will die. But when the said stars reappear in the month of May, they imagine that their ancestor is recovered from his sickness and has returned; so they hail him with joyous shouts and the glad music of pipes and war-horns. They congratulate him on his recovery. ‘How we thank you! At last you have come back? Oh, have you happily recovered?’ With such cries they fill the air, attesting at once their gladness and their folly.” See M. Dobrizhoffer, Historia de Abiponibus (Vienna, 1784), ii. 77.
M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 370 sqq.; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 p. 424.
Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, ii. 5 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxvii. 948). The connexion of the meteor with the festival of Adonis is not mentioned by Sozomenus, but is confirmed by Zosimus, who says (Hist. i. 58) that a light like a torch or a globe of fire was seen on the sanctuary at the seasons when the people assembled to worship the goddess and to cast their offerings of gold, silver, and fine raiment into a lake beside the temple. As to Aphaca and the grave of Adonis see above, pp. 28sq.
Matthew ii. 1-12.
Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59. 7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33; Scholiast on Nicander, Alexipharmaca, 8; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 3 and 22. The ancient evidence, literary and inscriptional, as to the myth and ritual of Attis has been collected and discussed by Mr. H. Hepding in his monograph, Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult (Giessen, 1903).
Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 9, p. 168 ed. L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859); Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. 23. 51 sqq.
Ovid, Fasti, iv. 223 sqq.; Tertullian, Apologeticus, 15; id., Ad Nationes, i. 10; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, iv. 35. As to Cybele, the Great Mother, the Mother of the Gods, conceived as the source of all life, both animal and vegetable, see Rapp, in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, s.v. “Kybele,” ii. 1638 sqq.
Scholiast on Lucian, Jupiter Tragoedus, 8, p. 60 ed. H. Rabe (Leipsic, 1906), (vol. iv. p. 173 ed. C. Jacobitz); Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 9, pp. 168, 170 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin.
Pausanias, vii. 17. 11; Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 9, pp. 166, 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 6.
See above, pp. 99sqq.
S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, pp. 115 sq. See above, pp. 78, 213 sqq.
That Attis was killed by a boar was stated by Hermesianax, an elegiac poet of the fourth century b.c. (Pausanias, vii. 17); compare Scholiast on Nicander, Alexipharmaca, 8. The other story is told by Arnobius (Adversus Nationes, v. 5 sqq.) on the authority of Timotheus, who professed to derive it from recondite antiquarian works and from the very heart of the mysteries. It is obviously identical with the account which Pausanias (l.c.) mentions as the story current in Pessinus. According to Servius (on Virgil, Aen. ix. 115), Attis was found bleeding to death under a pine-tree, but the wound which robbed him of his virility and his life was not inflicted by himself. The Timotheus cited by Pausanias may be the Timotheus who was consulted by Ptolemy Soter on religious matters and helped to establish the worship of Serapis. See Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 28; Franz Cumont, Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 77, 113, 335.
Pausanias, vii. 17. 10; Julian, Orat. v. 177 b, p. 229, ed. F. C. Hertlein (Leipsic, 1875-1876). Similarly at Comana in Pontus, the seat of the worship of the goddess Ma, pork was not eaten, and swine might not even be brought into the city (Strabo, xii. 8. 9, p. 575). As to Comana see above, p. 39.
S. Sophronius, “SS. Cyri et Joannis Miracula,” Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxxxvii. Pars Tertia, col. 3624, πρὸς πλάνην Ἑλληνικὴν ἀποκλίνουσαν [scil. τὴν Ἰουλίαν] καὶ ταύτῃ διὰ τὸν Ἀδώνιδος Θάνατον τὰ κρέα παραιτεῖσθαι τὰ ὕεια.
Ovid, Metam. x. 103 sqq.
Livy, xxix. chs. 10, 11, and 14; Ovid, Fasti, iv. 259 sqq.; Herodian, ii. 11. As to the stone which represented the goddess see Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vii. 49.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 16.
Lucretius, ii. 598 sqq.; Catullus, lxiii.; Varro, Satir. Menipp., ed. F. Bücheler (Berlin, 1882), pp. 176, 178; Ovid, Fasti, iv. 181 sqq., 223 sqq., 361 sqq.; Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Rom. ii. 19, compare Polybius, xxii. 18 ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1866-1868).
Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, iv. 41. See Robinson Ellis, Commentary on Catullus (Oxford, 1876), pp. 206 sq.; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 142 sqq.; Fr. Cumont, Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 83 sq.
It is held by Prof. A. von Domaszewski that the Claudius who incorporated the Phrygian worship of the sacred tree in the Roman ritual was not the emperor of the first century but the emperor of the third century, Claudius Gothicus, who came to the throne in 268 a.d. See A. von Domaszewski, “Magna Mater in Latin Inscriptions,” The Journal of Roman Studies, i. (1911) p. 56. The later date, it is said, fits better with the slow development of the worship. But on the other hand this view is open to certain objections. (1) Joannes Lydus, our only authority on the point, appears to identify the Claudius in question with the emperor of the first century. (2) The great and widespread popularity of the Phrygian worship in the Roman empire long before 268 a.d. is amply attested by an array of ancient writers and inscriptions, especially by a great series of inscriptions referring to the colleges of Tree-bearers (Dendrophori), from which we learn that one of these colleges, devoted to the worship of Cybele and Attis, existed at Rome in the age of the Antonines, about a century before the accession of Claudius Gothicus. (3) Passages of the Augustan historians (Aelius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, 37; Trebellius Pollio, Claudius, iv. 2) refer to the great spring festival of Cybele and Attis in a way which seems to imply that the festival was officially recognized by the Roman government before Claudius Gothicus succeeded to the purple; and we may hesitate to follow Prof. von Domaszewski in simply excising these passages as the work of an “impudent forger.” (4) The official establishment of the bloody Phrygian superstition suits better the life and character of the superstitious, timid, cruel, pedantic Claudius of the first century than the gallant soldier his namesake in the third century. The one lounged away his contemptible days in the safety of the palace, surrounded by a hedge of lifeguards. The other spent the two years of his brief but glorious reign in camps and battlefields on the frontier, combating the barbarian enemies of the empire; and it is probable that he had as little leisure as inclination to pander to the superstitions of the Roman populace. For these reasons it seems better with Mr. Hepding and Prof. Cumont to acquiesce in the traditional view that the rites of Attis were officially celebrated at Rome from the first century onward.
An intermediate view is adopted by Prof. G. Wissowa, who, brushing aside the statement of Joannes Lydus altogether, would seemingly assign the public institution of the rites to the middle of the second century a.d. on the ground that the earliest extant evidence of their public celebration refers to that period (Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 Munich, 1912, p. 322). But, considering the extremely imperfect evidence at our disposal for the history of these centuries, it seems rash to infer that an official cult cannot have been older than the earliest notice of it which has chanced to come down to us.
Arrian, Tactica, 33; Servius on Virgil, Aen. xii. 836.
On the festival see J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.2 (Leipsic, 1885) pp. 370 sqq.; the calendar of Philocalus, in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), p. 260, with Th. Mommsen's commentary (pp. 313 sq.); W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, pp. 291 sqq.; id., Baumkultus, pp. 572 sqq.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 pp. 318 sqq.; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 147 sqq.; J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. (Paris, 1911) pp. 82 sqq.
Julian, Orat. v. 168 c, p. 218 ed. F. C. Hertlein (Leipsic, 1875-1876); Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, iv. 41; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. chs. 7, 16, 39; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 27; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. As to the guild of Tree-bearers (Dendrophori) see Joannes Lydus, l.c.; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4116 sq., 4171-4174, 4176; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 86, 92, 93, 96, 152 sqq.; F. Cumont, s.v. “Dendrophori,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, v. 1. coll. 216-219; J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. 82 sq., 92 sq.
Julian, l.c. and 169 c, p. 219 ed. F. C. Hertlein. The ceremony may have been combined with the old tubilustrium or purification of trumpets, which fell on this day. See Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, iv. 42; Varro, De lingua Latina, vi. 14; Festus, pp. 352, 353 ed. C. O. Müller; W. Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1899), p. 62.
Trebellius Pollio, Claudius, 4; Tertullian, Apologeticus, 25.
Lucian, Deorum dialogi, xii. 1; Seneca, Agamemnon, 686 sqq.; Martial, xi. 84. 3 sq.; Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. viii. 239 sqq.; Statius, Theb. x. 170 sqq.; Apuleius, Metam. viii. 27; Lactantius, Divinarum Institutionum Epitome, 23 (18, vol. i. p. 689 ed. Brandt and Laubmann); H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 158 sqq. As to the music of these dancing dervishes see also Lucretius, ii. 618 sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 90 sq., 101 sq.
Minucius Felix, Octavius, 22 and 24; Lactantius, Divin. Instit. i. 21. 16; id., Epitoma, 8; Schol. on Lucian, Jupiter Tragoedus, 8 (p. 60 ed. H. Rabe); Servius on Virgil, Aen. ix. 115; Prudentius, Peristephan. x. 1066 sqq.; “Passio Sancti Symphoriani,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, v. 1463, 1466); Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 14; Scholiast on Nicander, Alexipharmaca, 8; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 163 sq. A story told by Clement of Alexandria (Protrept. ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter) suggests that weaker brethren may have been allowed to sacrifice the virility of a ram instead of their own. We know from inscriptions that rams and bulls were regularly sacrificed at the mysteries of Attis and the Great Mother, and that the testicles of the bulls were used for a special purpose, probably as a fertility charm. May not the testicles of the rams have been employed for the same purpose? and may not those of both animals have been substitutes for the corresponding organs in men? As to the sacrifices of rams and bulls see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,” Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498 sqq.; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4118 sqq.; J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. 84 sqq.
Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 5 sq.
Strabo, xiv. 1. 23, p. 641.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 15, 27, 50-53.
Lucian, op. cit. 10.
Lucian, op. cit. 15.
Lucian, De dea Syria, 49-51.
Catullus, Carm. lxiii. I agree with Mr. H. Hepding (Attis, p. 140) in thinking that the subject of the poem is not the mythical Attis, but one of his ordinary priests, who bore the name and imitated the sufferings of his god. Thus interpreted the poem gains greatly in force and pathos. The real sorrows of our fellow-men touch us more nearly than the imaginary pangs of the gods.
As the sacrifice of virility and the institution of eunuch priests appear to be rare, I will add a few examples. At Stratonicea in Caria a eunuch held a sacred office in connexion with the worship of Zeus and Hecate (Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, No. 2715). According to Eustathius (on Homer, Iliad, xix. 254, p. 1183) the Egyptian priests were eunuchs who had sacrificed their virility as a first-fruit to the gods. In Corea “during a certain night, known as Chu-il, in the twelfth moon, the palace eunuchs, of whom there are some three hundred, perform a ceremony supposed to ensure a bountiful crop in the ensuing year. They chant in chorus prayers, swinging burning torches around them the while. This is said to be symbolical of burning the dead grass, so as to destroy the field mice and other vermin.” See W. Woodville Rockhill, “Notes on some of the Laws, Customs, and Superstitions of Korea,” The American Anthropologist, iv. (Washington, 1891) p. 185. Compare Mrs. Bishop, Korea and her Neighbours (London, 1898), ii. 56 sq. It appears that among the Ekoi of Southern Nigeria both men and women are, or used to be, mutilated by the excision of their genital organs at an annual festival, which is celebrated in order to produce plentiful harvests and immunity from thunderbolts. The victims apparently die from loss of blood. See P. Amaury Talbot, In the Shadow of the Bush (London, 1912), pp. 74 sqq. Mr. Talbot writes to me: “A horrible case has just happened at Idua, where, at the new yam planting, a man cut off his own membrum virile” (letter dated Eket, Nr Calabar, Southern Nigeria, Feb. 7th, 1913). Amongst the Ba-sundi and Ba-bwende of the Congo many youths are castrated “in order to more fittingly offer themselves to the phallic worship, which increasingly prevails as we advance from the coast to the interior. At certain villages between Manyanga and Isangila there are curious eunuch dances to celebrate the new moon, in which a white cock is thrown up into the air alive, with clipped wings, and as it falls towards the ground it is caught and plucked by the eunuchs. I was told that originally this used to be a human sacrifice, and that a young boy or girl was thrown up into the air and torn to pieces by the eunuchs as he or she fell, but that of late years slaves had got scarce or manners milder, and a white cock was now substituted” (H. H. Johnston, “On the Races of the Congo,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 473; compare id., The River Congo, London, 1884, p. 409). In India, men who are born eunuchs or in some way deformed are sometimes dedicated to a goddess named Huligamma. They wear female attire and might be mistaken for women. Also men who are or believe themselves impotent will vow to dress as women and serve the goddess in the hope of recovering their virility. See F. Fawcett, “On Basivis,” Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, ii. 343 sq. In Pegu the English traveller, Alexander Hamilton, witnessed a dance in honour of the gods of the earth. “Hermaphrodites, who are numerous in this country, are generally chosen, if there are enough present to make a set for the dance. I saw nine dance like mad folks for above half-an-hour; and then some of them fell in fits, foaming at the mouth for the space of half-an-hour; and, when their senses are restored, they pretend to foretell plenty or scarcity of corn for that year, if the year will prove sickly or salutary to the people, and several other things of moment, and all by that half hour's conversation that the furious dancer had with the gods while she was in a trance” (A. Hamilton, “A New Account of the East Indies,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, viii. 427). So in the worship of Attis the Archigallus or head of the eunuch priests prophesied; perhaps he in like manner worked himself up to the pitch of inspiration by a frenzied dance. See H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 142, 143, Nos. 4130, 4136; G. Wilmanns, Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1873), vol. i. p. 36, Nos. 119a, 120; J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. 93 sq. As to the sacrifice of virility in the Syrian religion compare Th. Nöldeke, “Die Selbstentmannung bei den Syrern,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, x. (1907) pp. 150-152.
Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 7 and 16; Servius on Virgil, Aen. ix. 115.
Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59; Arrian, Tactica, 33; Scholiast on Nicander, Alexipharmaca, 8; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 3 and 22; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 16; Servius on Virgil, Aen. ix. 115.
See above, p. 267.
Arnobius, l.c.; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.
Above, p. 230.
See below, p. 274.
Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 22, “Nocte quadam simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur et per numeros digestis fletibus plangitur: deinde cum se ficta lamentatione satiaverint, lumen infertur: tunc a sacerdote omnium qui flebant fauces unguentur, quibus perunctis hoc lento murmure susurrat:
θαρρεῖτε μύσται τοῦ θέου σεσωσμένου; ἔσται γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐκ πόνων σωτήρια.
Quid miseros hortaris gaudeant? quid deceptos homines laetari compellis? quam illis spem, quam salutem funesta persuasione promittis? Dei tui mors nota est, vita non paret.... Idolum sepelis, idolum plangis, idolum de sepultura proferis, et miser cum haec feceris, gaudes. Tu deum tuum liberas, tu jacentia lapidis membra componis, tu insensibile corrigis saxum.” In this passage Firmicus does not expressly mention Attis, but that the reference is to his rites is made probable by a comparison with chapter 3 of the same writer's work. Compare also Damascius, in Photius's Bibliotheca, p. 345 a, 5 sqq., ed. I. Bekker (Berlin, 1824), τότε τῇ Ἱεραπόλει ἐγκαθευδήσας ἐδόκουν ὄναρ ὁ Ἄττης γένεσθαι, καί μοι ἐπιτελεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν τὴν τῶν ἱλαρίων καλουμένων ἑορτήν; ὅπερ ἐδήλου τὴν ἐξ ᾅδου γεγονυῖαν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν. See further Fr. Cumont, Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 89 sq.
Macrobius, Saturn. i. 21. 10; Flavius Vopiscus, Aurelianus, i. 1; Julian, Or. v. pp. 168 d, 169 d; Damascius, l.c.; Herodian, i. 10. 5-7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. In like manner Easter Sunday, the Resurrection-day of Christ, was called by some ancient writers the Sunday of Joy (Dominica Gaudii). The emperors used to celebrate the happy day by releasing from prison all but the worst offenders. See J. Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, bk. xx. ch. vi. §§ 5 sq. (Bingham's Works (Oxford, 1855), vii. 317 sqq.).
Aelius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, 37.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), pp. 260, 313 sq.; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 51, 172.
Ovid, Fasti, iv. 337-346; Silius Italicus, Punic. viii. 365; Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. viii. 239 sqq.; Martial, iii. 47. 1 sq.; Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 3. 7; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vii. 32; Prudentius, Peristephon. x. 154 sqq. For the description of the image of the goddess see Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, vii. 49. At Carthage the goddess was carried to her bath in a litter, not in a wagon (Augustine, De civitate Dei, ii. 4). The bath formed part of the festival in Phrygia, whence the custom was borrowed by the Romans (Arrian, Tactica, 33). At Cyzicus the Placianian Mother, a form of Cybele, was served by women called “marine” (Θαλάσσιαι), whose duty it probably was to wash her image in the sea (Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, Brussels, 1900, pp. 403 sq., No. 537). See further J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.2 373; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 133 sq.
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 18.
Above, p. 272.
H. Hepding, Attis, p. 185.
Prudentius, Peristephan. x. 1006-1050; compare Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 28. 8. That the bath of bull's blood (taurobolium) was believed to regenerate the devotee for eternity is proved by an inscription found at Rome, which records that a certain Sextilius Agesilaus Aedesius, who dedicated an altar to Attis and the Mother of the Gods, was taurobolio criobolioque in aeternum renatus (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vi. No. 510; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, No. 4152). The phrase arcanis perfusionibus in aeternum renatus occurs in a dedication to Mithra (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vi. No. 736), which, however, is suspected of being spurious. As to the inscriptions which refer to the taurobolium see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,” in Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender dargebracht von seinen Schülern (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498-520; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 140-147, Nos. 4118-4159. As to the origin of the taurobolium and the meaning of the word, see Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments Figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra (Brussels, 1896-1899), i. 334 sq.; id., Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain,2 pp. 100 sqq.; J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain, ii. 84 sqq.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 pp. 322 sqq. The taurobolium seems to have formed no part of the original worship of Cybele and to have been imported into it at a comparatively late date, perhaps in the second century of our era. Its origin is obscure. In the majority of the older inscriptions the name of the rite appears as tauropolium, and it has been held that this is the true form, being derived from the worship of the Asiatic goddess Artemis Tauropolis (Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 537). This was formerly the view of Prof. F. Cumont (s.v. “Anaitis,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, i. 2. col. 2031); but he now prefers the form taurobolium, and would deduce both the name and the rite from an ancient Anatolian hunting custom of lassoing wild bulls.
Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.
Sallustius philosophus, l.c.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vi. Nos. 497-504; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4145, 4147-4151, 4153; Inscriptiones Graecae Siciliae et Italiae, ed. G. Kaibel (Berlin, 1890), p. 270, No. 1020; G. Zippel, op. cit. pp. 509 sq., 519; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 83, 86-88, 176; Ch. Huelsen, Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum, von H. Jordan, i. 3 (Berlin, 1907), pp. 658 sq.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, xiii. No. 1751; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, No. 4131; G. Wilmanns, Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1873), vol. ii. p. 125, No. 2278; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 p. 267; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 169-171, 176.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, xiii. No. 1751; G. Wilmanns, Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. i. pp. 35-37, Nos. 119, 123, 124; H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4127, 4129, 4131, 4140; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 pp. 322 sqq.; H. Hepding, Attis, p. 191.
As to the monuments see H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4143, 4152, 4153; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 82, 83, 88, 89.
Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 27.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 47 sq., 71; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 138, 143, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158.
Etymologicum Magnum, p. 220, line 20, Γάλλος, ὁ φιλοπάτωρ Πτολεμαῖος; διὰ τὸ φύλλα κισσοῦ κατέστιχθαι, ὡς οἱ γάλλοι. ᾽Αεὶ γὰρ ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς τελεταῖς κισσῷ ἐστεφανοῦντο. But there seems to be some confusion here between the rites of Dionysus and those of Attis; ivy was certainly sacred to Dionysus (Pausanias, i. 31. 6 with my note). Compare C. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus (Königsberg, 1829), i. 657, who, in the passage quoted, rightly defends the readings κατέστιχθαι and ἐστεφανοῦντο.
Encyclopaedia Britannica,9 xix. 105. Compare Athenaeus, ii. 49, p. 57. The nuts of the silver-pine (Pinus edulis) are a favourite food of the Californian Indians (S. Powers, Tribes of California (Washington, 1877), p. 421); the Wintun Indians hold a pine-nut dance when the nuts are fit to be gathered (ib. p. 237). The Shuswap Indians of British Columbia collect the cones of various sorts of pines and eat the nutlets which they extract from them. See G. M. Dawson, “Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia,” Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, ix. (Montreal, 1892) Transactions, section ii. p. 22. With regard to the Araucanian Indians of South America we read that “the great staple food, the base of all their subsistence, save among the coast tribes, was the piñon, the fruit of the Araucanian pine (Araucaria imbricata). Every year during the autumn months excursions are made by the whole tribe to the pine forests, where they remain until they have collected sufficient for the following year. Each tribe has its own district, inherited by custom from generation to generation and inviolate, by unwritten law, from other tribes, even in time of warfare. This harvest was formerly of such supreme importance, that all inter-tribal quarrels and warfares were suspended by mutual accord during this period.” See R. E. Latcham, “Ethnology of the Araucanos,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. (1909) p. 341. The Gilyaks of the Amoor valley in like manner eat the nutlets of the Siberian stone-pine (L. von Schrenk, Die Völker des Amur-Landes, iii. 440). See also the commentators on Herodotus, iv. 109 φθειροτραγέουσι.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiv. 103.
Strabo, x. 3. 12 sqq., pp. 469 sqq. However, tipsy people were excluded from the sanctuary of Attis (Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 6).
Scholiast on Lucian, Dial. Meretr. ii. 1, p. 276 ed. H. Rabe (Leipsic, 1906).
Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 8 and 9, pp. 162, 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 3; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. Others identified him with the spring flowers. See Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii, iii. 11. 8 and 12, iii. 13. 10 ed. F. A. Heinichen (Leipsic, 1842-1843); Augustine, De civitate Dei, vii. 25.
W. Helbig, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom2 (Leipsic, 1899), i. 481, No. 721.
The urn is in the Lateran Museum at Rome (No. 1046). It is not described by W. Helbig in his Führer.2 The inscription on the urn (M. Modius Maxximus archigallus coloniae Ostiens) is published by H. Dessau (Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, No. 4162), who does not notice the curious and interesting composition of the cock's tail. The bird is chosen as an emblem of the priest with a punning reference to the word gallus, which in Latin means a cock as well as a priest of Attis.
Gregory of Tours, De gloria confessorum, 77 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, lxxi. 884). That the goddess here referred to was Cybele and not a native Gallic deity, as I formerly thought (Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, p. 178), seems proved by the “Passion of St. Symphorian,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, v. 1463, 1466). Gregory and the author of the “Passion of St. Symphorian” call the goddess simply Berecynthia, the latter writer adding “the Mother of the Demons,” which is plainly a Christian version of the title “Mother of the Gods.”
Above, p. 265. In the island of Thera an ox, wheat, barley, wine, and “other first-fruits of all that the seasons produce” were offered to the Mother of the Gods, plainly because she was deemed the source of fertility. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. ii. p. 426, No. 630.
H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 215-217; compare id. p. 175 note 7.
Ptolemaeus, Nov. Hist. i. p. 183 of A. Westermann's Mythographi Graeci (Brunswick, 1843).
Pausanias, viii. 25. 5 sq.
Aelian, Nat. Anim. xii. 30. The place was in Mesopotamia, and the goddess was probably Astarte. So Lucian (De dea Syria) calls the Astarte of Hierapolis “the Assyrian Hera.”
Pausanias, ii. 38. 2.
Julian, Orat. v. 173 sqq. (pp. 225 sqq. ed. F. C. Hertlein); H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 155-157. However, apples, pomegranates, and dates were also forbidden. The story that the mother of Attis conceived him through contact with a pomegranate (above, pp. 263, 269) might explain the prohibition of that fruit. But the reasons for tabooing apples and dates are not apparent, though Julian tried to discover them. He suggested that dates may have been forbidden because the date-palm does not grow in Phrygia, the native land of Cybele and Attis.
P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache (Göttingen, 1896), p. 355.
Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58. 4; Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, i. 9, p. 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin. A Latin dedication to Atte Papa has been found at Aquileia (F. Cumont, in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ii. 2180, s.v. “Attepata” H. Hepding, Attis, p. 86). Greek dedications to Papas or to Zeus Papas occur in Phrygia (H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 78 sq.). Compare A. B. Cook, “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” Classical Review, xviii. (1904) p. 79.
Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, v. 6 and 13.
(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture2 (London, 1873), i. 223.
Rapp, s.v. “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1648.
She is called a “motherless virgin” by Julian (Or. v. 166 b, p. 215 ed. F. C. Hertlein), and there was a Parthenon or virgin's chamber in her sanctuary at Cyzicus (Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 404, No. 538). Compare Rapp, in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1648; Wagner, s.v. “Nana,” ibid. iii. 4 sq. Another great goddess of fertility who was conceived as a Virgin Mother was the Egyptian Neith or Net. She is called “the Great Goddess, the Mother of All the Gods,” and was believed to have brought forth Ra, the Sun, without the help of a male partner. See C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 111; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (London, 1904), i. 457-462. The latter writer says (p. 462): “In very early times Net was the personification of the eternal female principle of life which was self-sustaining and self-existent, and was secret and unknown, and all-pervading; the more material thinkers, whilst admitting that she brought forth her son Rā without the aid of a husband, were unable to divorce from their minds the idea that a male germ was necessary for its production, and finding it impossible to derive it from a being external to the goddess, assumed that she herself provided not only the substance which was to form the body of Rā but also the male germ which fecundated it. Thus Net was the type of partheno-genesis.”
Quoted by Eustathius on Homer, Il. v. 408; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii. 592, Frag. 30.
(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,2 i. 321 sqq., ii. 270 sqq. For example, the Ewe people of Togo-land, in West Africa, think that the Earth is the wife of the Sky, and that their marriage takes place in the rainy season, when the rain causes the seeds to sprout and bear fruit. These fruits they regard as the children of Mother Earth, who in their opinion is the mother also of men and of gods. See J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), pp. 464, 548. In the regions of the Senegal and the Niger it is believed that the Sky-god and the Earth-goddess are the parents of the principal spirits who dispense life and death, weal and woe, among mankind. The eldest son of Sky and Earth is represented in very various forms, sometimes as a hermaphrodite, sometimes in semi-animal shape, with the head of a bull, a crocodile, a fish, or a serpent. His name varies in the different tribes, but the outward form of his ceremonies is everywhere similar. His rites, which are to some extent veiled in mystery, are forbidden to women. See Maurice Delafosse, Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Paris, 1912), iii. 173-175.
Hesiod, Theogony, 159 sqq.
Porphyry, De antro nympharum, 16; Aristides, Or. iii. (vol. i. p. 35 ed. G. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1829); Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. iv. 983.
A. Lang, Custom and Myth (London, 1884), pp. 45 sqq.; id., Myth, Ritual, and Religion (London, 1887), i. 299 sqq. In Egyptian mythology the separation of heaven and earth was ascribed to Shu, the god of light, who insinuated himself between the bodies of Seb (Keb) the earth-god and of Nut the sky-goddess. On the monuments Shu is represented holding up the star-spangled body of Nut on his hands, while Seb reclines on the ground. See A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1897), pp. 230 sq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 90, 97 sq., 100, 105; A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 35 sq.; C. P. Tiele, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum, i. 33 sq. Thus contrary to the usual mythical conception the Egyptians regarded the earth as male and the sky as female. An allusion in the Book of the Dead (ch. 69, vol. ii. p. 235, E. A. Wallis Budge's translation, London, 1901) has been interpreted as a hint that Osiris mutilated his father Seb at the separation of earth and heaven, just as Cronus mutilated his father Uranus. See H. Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter (Leipsic, 1885-1888), p. 581; E. A. Wallis Budge, op. cit. ii. 99 sq. Sometimes the Egyptians conceived the sky as a great cow standing with its legs on the earth. See A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 7, 8.
Compare The Dying God, pp. 105 sqq.
Julian, Or. v. pp. 165 b, 170 d (pp. 214, 221, ed. F. C. Hertlein); Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv. Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.
Drexler, s.v. “Men,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2745; H. Hepding, Attis, p. 120, note 8.
H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 145 sq., Nos. 4146-4149; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 82, 86 sq., 89 sq. As to Men Tyrannus, see Drexler, s.v. “Men,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Myth. ii. 2687 sqq.
On the other hand Sir W. M. Ramsay holds that Attis and Men are deities of similar character and origin, but differentiated from each other by development in different surroundings (Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 169); but he denies that Men was a moon-god (op. cit. i. 104, note 4).
In letters of Eumenes and Attalus, preserved in inscriptions at Sivrihissar, the priest at Pessinus is addressed as Attis. See A. von Domaszewski, “Briefe der Attaliden an den Priester von Pessinus,” Archaeologische-epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich-Ungarn, viii. (1884) pp. 96, 98; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, pp. 57 sq. No. 45; W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipsic, 1903-1905), vol. i. pp. 482 sqq. No. 315. For more evidence of inscriptions see H. Hepding, Attis, p. 79; Rapp, s.v. “Attis,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 724. See also Polybius, xxii. 18 (20), (ed. L. Dindorf), who mentions a priest of the Mother of the Gods named Attis at Pessinus.
The conjecture is that of Henzen, in Annal. d. Inst. 1856, p. 110, referred to by Rapp, l.c.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 75 sq.; The Dying God, pp. 151 sq., 209.
Article “Phrygia,” in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed. xviii. (1885) p. 853. Elsewhere, speaking of the religions of Asia Minor in general, the same writer says: “The highest priests and priestesses played the parts of the great gods in the mystic ritual, wore their dress, and bore their names” (Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 101).
Strabo, xii. 5. 3, p. 567.
(Sir) W. M. Ramsay, “A Study of Phrygian Art,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 379 sqq.; id., “A Study of Phrygian Art,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, x. (1889) pp. 156 sqq.; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, v. 82 sqq.
Herodotus, i. 94. According to Sir W. M. Ramsay, the conquering and ruling caste in Lydia belonged to the Phrygian stock (Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) p. 351).
Herodotus, i. 34-45. The tradition that Croesus would allow no iron weapon to come near Atys suggests that a similar taboo may have been imposed on the Phrygian priests named Attis. For taboos of this sort see Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 225 sqq.
H. Stein on Herodotus, i. 43; Ed. Meyer, s.v. “Atys,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ii. 2 col. 2262.
See above, pp. 13, 16sq., 48sqq.
The Dying God, pp. 161 sqq.
See (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, s.v. “Phrygia,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed. xviii. 849 sq.; id., “A Study of Phrygian Art,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. (1888) pp. 350 sq. Prof. P. Kretschmer holds that both Cybele and Attis were gods of the indigenous Asiatic population, not of the Phrygian invaders (Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, Göttingen, 1896, pp. 194 sq.).
Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58 sq. As to Marsyas in the character of a shepherd or herdsman see Hyginus, Fab. 165; Nonnus, Dionys. i. 41 sqq. He is called a Silenus by Pausanias (i. 24. 1).
Pausanias, x. 30. 9.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 4. 2; Hyginus, Fab. 165. Many ancient writers mention that the tree on which Marsyas suffered death was a pine. See Apollodorus, l.c.; Nicander, Alexipharmaca, 301 sq., with the Scholiast's note; Lucian, Tragodopodagra, 314 sq.; Archias Mitylenaeus, in Anthologia Palatina, vii. 696; Philostratus, Junior, Imagines, i. 3; Longus, Pastor. iv. 8; Zenobius, Cent. iv. 81; J. Tzetzes, Chiliades, i. 353 sqq. Pliny alone declares the tree to have been a plane, which according to him was still shown at Aulocrene on the way from Apamea to Phrygia (Nat. Hist. xvi. 240). On a candelabra in the Vatican the defeated Marsyas is represented hanging on a pine-tree (W. Helbig, Führer,2 i. 225 sq.); but the monumental evidence is not consistent on this point (Jessen, s.v. “Marsyas,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2442). The position which the pine held in the myth and ritual of Cybele supports the preponderance of ancient testimony in favour of that tree.
Herodotus, vii. 26; Xenophon, Anabasis, i. 2. 8; Livy, xxxviii. 13. 6; Quintus Curtius, iii. 1. 1-5; Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 106. Herodotus calls the river the Catarrhactes.
Aelian, Var. Hist. xiii. 21.
Catullus, lxiii. 22; Lucretius, ii. 620; Ovid, Fasti, iv. 181 sq., 341; Polyaenus, Stratagem. viii. 53. 4. Flutes or pipes often appear on her monuments. See H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4100, 4143, 4145, 4152, 4153.
Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 9, p. 168, ed. Duncker and Schneidewin.
Adam of Bremen, Descriptio insularum Aquilonis, 27 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, cxlvi. 643).
S. Bugge, Studien über die Entstehung der nördischen Götter- und Heldensagen (Munich, 1889), pp. 339 sqq.; K. Simrock, Die Edda8 (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 382; K. Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskunde (Berlin, 1870-1900), iv. 244 sq.; H. M. Chadwick, The Cult of Othin (London, 1899), pp. 3-20. The old English custom of hanging and disembowelling traitors was probably derived from a practice of thus sacrificing them to Odin; for among many races, including the Teutonic and Latin peoples, capital punishment appears to have been originally a religious rite, a sacrifice or consecration of the criminal to the god whom he had offended. See F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde (Heilbronn, 1879), pp. 8 sq.; K. von Amira, in H. Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie,2 iii. (Strasburg, 1900) pp. 197 sq.; G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, Corpus Poeticum Boreale (Oxford, 1883), i. 410; W. Golther, Handbuch der germanischen Mythologie (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 548 sq.; Th. Mommsen, Roman History, bk. i. ch. 12 (vol. i. p. 192, ed. 1868); id., Römisches Strafrecht (Leipsic, 1899), pp. 900 sqq.; F. Granger, The Worship of the Romans (London, 1895), pp. 259 sqq.; E. Westermarck, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, i. (London, 1906) pp. 439 sq. So, too, among barbarous peoples the slaughter of prisoners in war is often a sacrifice offered by the victors to the gods to whose aid they ascribe the victory. See A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast (London, 1887), pp. 169 sq.; W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches2 (London, 1832-1836), i. 289; Diodorus Siculus, xx. 65; Strabo, vii. 2. 3, p. 294; Caesar, De bello Gallico, vi. 17; Tacitus, Annals, i. 61, xiii. 57; Procopius, De bello Gothico, ii. 15. 24, ii. 25. 9; Jornandes, Getica, vi. 41; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie4 (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 36 sq.; Fr. Schwally, Semitische Kriegsaltertümer (Leipsic, 1901), pp. 29 sqq.
Havamal, 139 sqq. (K. Simrock, Die Edda,8 p. 55; K. Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskunde, v. 270 sq.).
Fay-Cooper Cole, The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao (Chicago, 1913), pp. 114 sqq. (Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 170).
Pausanias, viii. 23. 6 sq. The story, mentioned by Pausanias, that some children tied a rope round the neck of the image of Artemis was probably invented to explain a ritual practice of the same sort, as scholars have rightly perceived. See L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i.4 305, note 2; L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford, 1896-1909), ii. 428 sq.; M. P. Nilsson, Griechische Feste (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 232 sqq. The Arcadian worship of the Hanged Artemis was noticed by Callimachus. See Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii. 38, p. 32, ed. Potter.
Eustathius on Homer, Od. xii. 85, p. 1714; I. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca (Berlin, 1814-1821), i. 336 sq., s.v. Ἄγαλμα Ἑκάτης. The goddess Hecate was sometimes identified with Artemis, though in origin probably she was quite distinct. See L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, ii. 499 sqq.
Antoninus Liberalis, Transform. xiii.
Pausanias, iii. 19. 9 sq.
H. von Fritze, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,” Jahrbuch des kaiser. deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts, xviii. (1903) pp. 58-67. In the ritual of Eleusis the sacrificial oxen were sometimes lifted up by young men from the ground. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. ii. pp. 166 sq. No. 521 (ἤραντο δὲ καὶ τοῖς μυστηρίοις τοὺς βοῦς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τῇ θυσίαι, κτλ.); E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy, ii. (Cambridge, 1905) pp. 176 sq., No. 65. In this inscription the word ἤραντο is differently interpreted by P. Stengel, who supposes that it refers merely to turning backwards and upwards the head of the victim. See P. Stengel, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,” Jahrbuch des kaiser. deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts, xviii. (1903) pp. 113-123. But it seems highly improbable that so trivial an act should be solemnly commemorated in an inscription among the exploits of the young men (epheboi) who performed it. On the other hand, we know that at Nysa the young men did lift and carry the sacrificial bull, and that the act was deemed worthy of commemoration on the coins. See above, p. 206. The Wajagga of East Africa dread the ghosts of suicides; so when a man has hanged himself they take the rope from his neck and hang a goat in the fatal noose, after which they slay the animal. This is supposed to appease the ghost and prevent him from tempting human beings to follow his bad example. See B. Gutmann, “Trauer und Begrabnissitten der Wadschagga,” Globus, lxxxix. (1906) p. 200.
See above, p. 146.
The Scapegoat, pp. 294 sqq.
Herodotus, iv. 71 sq.
Jean du Plan de Carpin, Historia Mongalorum, ed. D'Avezac (Paris, 1838), cap. iii. § iii.
Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah, texte Arabe accompagné d'une traduction, par C. Défrémery et B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1853-1858), iv. 300 sq. For more evidence of similar customs, observed by Turanian peoples, see K. Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande (Berlin, 1855), pp. 237-239.
Captain R. Fitz-roy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships “Adventure” and “Beagle” (London, 1839), ii. 155 sq.
Herodotus, iv. 103. Many Scythians flayed their dead enemies, and, stretching the skin on a wooden framework, carried it about with them on horseback (Herodotus, iv. 64). The souls of the dead may have been thought to attend on and serve the man who thus bore their remains about with him. It is also possible that the custom was nothing more than a barbarous mode of wreaking vengeance on the dead. Thus a Persian king has been known to flay an enemy, stuff the skin with chaff, and hang it on a high tree (Procopius, De bello Persico, i. 5. 28). This was the treatment which the arch-heretic Manichaeus is said to have received at the hands of the Persian king whose son he failed to cure (Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 22; Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxvii. 137, 139). Still such a punishment may have been suggested by a religious rite. The idea of crucifying their human victims appears to have been suggested to the negroes of Benin by the crucifixes of the early Portuguese missionaries. See H. Ling Roth, Great Benin (Halifax, 1903), pp. 14 sq.
W. H. Furness, Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters (Philadelphia, 1902), p. 59. According to Messrs. Hose and McDougall, the spirits which animate the skulls appear not to be those of the persons from whose shoulders the heads were taken. However, the spirits (called Toh) reside in or about the heads, and “it is held that in some way their presence in the house brings prosperity to it, especially in the form of good crops; and so essential to the welfare of the house are the heads held to be that, if through fire a house has lost its heads and has no occasion for war, the people will beg a head, or even a fragment of one, from some friendly house, and will instal it in their own with the usual ceremonies.” See Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (London, 1912), ii. 20, 23.
Spenser St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East2 (London, 1863), i. 197.
Hugh Low, Sarawak (London, 1848), pp. 206 sq. In quoting this passage I have taken the liberty to correct a grammatical slip.
Spenser St. John, op. cit. i. 204. See further G. A. Wilken, “Iets over de schedelvereering,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xxxviii. (1889) pp. 89-129; id., Verspreide Geschriften (The Hague, 1912), iv. 37-81. A different view of the purpose of head-hunting is maintained by Mr. A. C. Kruyt, in his essay, “Het koppensnellen der Toradja's van Midden-Celebes, en zijne Beteekenis,” Verslagen en Mededeelingen der koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Vierde Reeks, iii. 2 (Amsterdam, 1899), pp. 147 sqq.
The natives of Nias, an island to the west of Sumatra, think it necessary to obtain the heads of their enemies for the purpose of celebrating the final obsequies of a dead chief. Their notion seems to be that the ghost of the deceased ruler demands this sacrifice in his honour, and will punish the omission of it by sending sickness or other misfortunes on the survivors. Thus among these people the custom of head-hunting is based on their belief in human immortality and on their conception of the exacting demands which the dead make upon the living. When the skulls have been presented to a dead chief, the priest prays to him for his blessing on the sowing and harvesting of the rice, on the fruitfulness of women, and so forth. See C. Fries, “Das ‘Koppensnellen’ auf Nias,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, February, 1908, pp. 73-88. From this account it would seem that it is not the spirits of the slain men, but the ghost of the dead chief from whom the blessings of fertility and so forth are supposed to emanate. Compare Th. C. Rappard, “Het eiland Nias en zijne bewoners,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, lxii. (1909) pp. 609-611.
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 4-7.
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 169 sqq.
H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 4099, 4100, 4103, 4105, 4106, 4116, 4117, 4119, 4120, 4121, 4123, 4124, 4127, 4128, 4131, 4136, 4139, 4140, 4142, 4156, 4163, 4167; H. Hepding, Attis, pp. 85, 86, 93, 94, 95, Inscr. Nos. 21-24, 26, 50, 51, 52, 61, 62, 63. See further, J. Toutain, Les Cultes Païens dans l'Empire Romain (Paris, 1911), pp. 73 sqq., 103 sqq.
S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire2 (London, 1899), p. 16.
Augustine, De civitate Dei, vii. 26.
But the two were publicly worshipped at Dyme and Patrae in Achaia (Pausanias, vii. 17. 9, vii. 20. 3), and there was an association for their worship at Piraeus. See P. Foucart, Des Associations Religieuses chez les Grecs (Paris, 1873), pp. 85 sqq., 196; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 772, No. 982.
Rapp, s.v. “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 1656.
As to the savage theory of inspiration or possession by a deity see (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,2 ii. 131 sqq. As to the savage theory of a new birth see Balder the Beautiful, ii. 251 sqq. As to the use of blood to wash away sins see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 107 sqq.; Psyche's Task, Second Edition, pp. 44 sq., 47 sqq., 116 sq. Among the Cameroon negroes accidental homicide can be expiated by the blood of an animal. The relations of the slayer and of the slain assemble. An animal is killed and every person present is smeared with its blood on his face and breast. They think that the guilt of manslaughter is thus atoned for, and that no punishment will overtake the homicide. See Missionary Autenrieth, “Zur Religion der Kamerun-Neger,” in Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena, xii. (1893) pp. 93 sq. In Car Nicobar a man possessed by devils is cleansed of them by being rubbed all over with pig's blood and beaten with leaves. The devils are thus transferred to the leaves, which are thrown into the sea before daybreak. See V. Solomon, “Extracts from diaries kept in Car Nicobar,” in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxii. (1902) p. 227. Similarly the ancient Greeks purified a homicide by means of pig's blood and laurel leaves. See my note on Pausanias, ii. 31. 8 (vol. iii. pp. 276-279). The original idea of thus purging a manslayer was probably to rid him of the angry ghost of his victim, just as in Car Nicobar a man is rid of devils in the same manner. The purgative virtue ascribed to the blood in these ceremonies may be based on the notion that the offended spirit accepts it as a substitute for the blood of the guilty person. This was the view of C. Meiners (Geschichte der Religionen, Hanover, 1806-1807, ii. 137 sq.) and of E. Rohde (Psyche,3 Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903, ii. 77 sq.).
A good instance of such an attempt to dress up savagery in the garb of philosophy is the fifth speech of the emperor Julian, “On the Mother of the Gods” (pp. 206 sqq. ed. F. C. Hertlein, Leipsic, 1875-1876).
As to the diffusion of Oriental religions in the Roman Empire see G. Boissier, La Religion Romaine d'Auguste aux Antonins5 (Paris, 1900), i. 349 sqq.; J. Reville, La Religion à Rome sous les Sévères (Paris, 1886), pp. 47 sqq.; S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire2 (London, 1899), pp. 76 sqq.
Compare Servius on Virgil, Aen. ii. 604, vi. 661; Origen, Contra Celsum, viii. 73 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xi. 1628); G. Boissier, La Religion Romaine d'Auguste aux Antonins5 (Paris, 1900), i. 357 sq.; E. Westermarck, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (London, 1906-1908), i. 345 sq.; H. H. Milman, History of Latin Christianity,4 i. 150-153, ii. 90. In the passage just cited Origen tells us that the Christians refused to follow the Emperor to the field of battle even when he ordered them to do so; but he adds that they gave the emperor the benefit of their prayers and thus did him more real service than if they had fought for him with the sword. On the decline of the civic virtues under the influence of Christian asceticism see W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne3 (London, 1877), ii. 139 sqq.
To prevent misapprehension I will add that the spread of Oriental religions was only one of many causes which contributed to the downfall of ancient civilization. Among these contributory causes a friend, for whose judgment and learning I entertain the highest respect, counts bad government and a ruinous fiscal system, two of the most powerful agents to blast the prosperity of nations, as may be seen in our own day by the blight which has struck the Turkish empire. It is probable, too, as my friend thinks, that the rapid diffusion of alien faiths was as much an effect as a cause of widespread intellectual decay. Such unwholesome growths could hardly have fastened upon the Graeco-Roman mind in the days of its full vigour. We may remember the energy with which the Roman Government combated the first outbreak of the Bacchic plague (Th. Mommsen, Roman History, iii. 115 sq., ed. 1894). The disastrous effects of Roman financial oppression on the industries and population of the empire, particularly of Greece, are described by George Finlay (Greece under the Romans,2 Edinburgh and London, 1857, pp. 47 sqq.).
See Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra (Brussels, 1896-1899); id., s.v. “Mithras,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 3028 sqq. Compare id., Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 207 sqq.
Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, i. 333 sqq.
E. Renan, Marc-Aurèle et la Fin du Monde Antique (Paris, 1882), pp. 576 sqq.; Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, i. 339 sqq.
Tertullian, De corona, 15; id., De praescriptione haereticorum, 40; Justin Martyr, Apologia, i. 66; id., Dialogus cum Tryphone, 78 (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, vi. 429, 660). Tertullian explained in like manner the resemblance of the fasts of Isis and Cybele to the fasts of Christianity (De jejunio, 16). Justin Martyr thought that by listening to the words of the inspired prophets the devils discovered the divine intentions and anticipated them by a series of profane and blasphemous imitations. Among these travesties of Christian truth he enumerates the death, resurrection, and ascension of Dionysus, the virgin birth of Perseus, and Bellerophon mounted on Pegasus, whom he regards as a parody of Christ riding on an ass. See Justin Martyr, Apology, i. 54.
J. de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies, translated by E. Grimston (London, 1880), bk. v. chs. 11, 16, 17, 18, 24-28, vol. ii. pp. 324 sq., 334 sqq., 356 sqq.
Compare S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire2 (London, 1899), pp. 80 sqq.; id., Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (London, 1904), pp. 619 sqq.
E. Renan, Marc-Aurèle et la Fin du Monde Antique (Paris, 1882), pp. 579 sq.; Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, i. 338.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 221; Columella, De re rustica, ix. 14. 12; L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie (Berlin, 1825-1826), ii. 124; G. F. Unger, in Iwan Müller's Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, i.1 (Nördlingen, 1886) p. 649.
In the calendar of Philocalus the twenty-fifth of December is marked N. Invicti, that is, Natalis Solis Invicti. See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), p. 278, with Th. Mommsen's commentary, pp. 338 sq.
Cosmas Hierosolymitanus, Commentarii in Sancti Gregorii Nazianzeni Carmina (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xxxviii. 464): ταύτην [Christmas] ἧγον ἔκπαλαι δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν ἑορτὴν Ἔλληνες, καθ᾽ ἤν ἐτελοῦντο κατὰ τὸ μεσονύκτιον, ἐν ἀδύτοις τισὶν ὑπεισερχόμενοι, ὄθεν ἐξιόντες ἔκραζον: “Ἡ παρθένος ἕτεκεν, αὔξει φῶς.” ταύτην Ἐπιφάνιος ὁ μέγας τῆς Κυπρίων ἱερεύς φησι τὴν ἑορτὴν καὶ Σαῤῥακηνούς ἄγειν τῇπαρ᾽ αὐτῶν σεβομένῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ, ἤν δὴ Χαμαρᾶ τῇ αὐτῶν προσαγορεύουσι γλώττῃ. The passage is quoted, with some verbal variations, by Ch. Aug. Lobeck, Aglaophamus (Königsberg, 1829), ii. 1227 note 2. See Franz Cumont, “Le Natalis Invicti,” Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1911 (Paris, 1911), pp. 292-298, whose learned elucidations I follow in the text. That the festival of the Nativity of the Sun was similarly celebrated in Egypt may be inferred from a Greek calendar drawn up by the astrologer Antiochus in Lower Egypt at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century a.d.; for under the 25th December the calendar has the entry, “Birthday of the Sun, the light waxes” (Ἡλίου γενέθλιον; αὔξει φῶς). See F. Cumont, op. cit. p. 294.
Macrobius, Saturnalia, i. 18. 10.
F. Cumont, s.v. “Caelestis,” in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, v. i. 1247 sqq. She was called the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah vii. 18, xliv. 18), the Heavenly Goddess (Herodotus, iii. 8; Pausanias, i. 14. 7), or the Heavenly Virgin (Tertullian, Apologeticus, 23; Augustine, De civitate Dei, ii. 4). The Greeks spoke of her as the Heavenly Aphrodite (Herodotus, i. 105; Pausanias, i. 14. 7). A Greek inscription found in Delos contains a dedication to Astarte Aphrodite; and another found in the same island couples Palestinian Astarte and Heavenly Aphrodite. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecorum,2 vol. ii. pp. 619 sq., No. 764; R. A. Stewart Macalister, The Philistines, their History and Civilization (London, 1913), p. 94.
Dedications to Mithra the Unconquered Sun (Soli invicto Mithrae) have been found in abundance. See Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, ii. 99 sqq. As to the worship of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) see H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 348 sqq.
Fr. Cumont, op. cit. i. 325 sq., 339.
J. Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, bk. xx. ch. iv. (Bingham's Works, vol. vii. pp. 279 sqq., Oxford, 1855); C. A. Credner, “De natalitiorum Christi origine,” Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie, iii. 2 (1833), pp. 236 sqq.; Mgr. L. Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chrétien3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 257 sqq.; Th. Mommsen, in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i.2 Pars prior, p. 338. The earliest mention of the festival of Christmas is in the calendar of Philocalus, which was drawn up at Rome in 336 a.d. The words are VIII. kal. jan., natus Christus in Betleem Judee (L. Duchesne, op. cit. p. 258).
Quoted by C. A. Credner, op. cit. p. 239, note 46; by Th. Mommsen, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i.2 Pars prior, pp. 338 sq.; and by H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 349 sq.
Augustine, Serm. cxc. 1 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxxviii. 1007).
Leo the Great, Serm. xxii. (al. xxi.) 6 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, liv. 198). Compare St. Ambrose, Serm. vi. 1 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xvii. 614).
A. Credner, op. cit. pp. 236 sqq.; E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,2 ii. 297 sq.; Fr. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, i. 342, 355 sq.; Th. Mommsen, in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i.2 Pars prior, pp. 338 sq.; H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 348 sqq. A different explanation of Christmas has been put forward by Mgr. Duchesne. He shows that among the early Christians the death of Christ was commonly supposed to have fallen on the twenty-fifth of March, that day having been “chosen arbitrarily, or rather suggested by its coincidence with the official equinox of spring.” It would be natural to assume that Christ had lived an exact number of years on earth, and therefore that his incarnation as well as his death took place on the twenty-fifth of March. In point of fact the Church has placed the Annunciation and with it the beginning of his mother's pregnancy on that very day. If that were so, his birth would in the course of nature have occurred nine months later, that is, on the twenty-fifth of December. Thus on Mgr. Duchesne's theory the date of the Nativity was obtained by inference from the date of the Crucifixion, which in its turn was chosen because it coincided with the official equinox of spring. Mgr. Duchesne does not notice the coincidence of the vernal equinox with the festival of Attis. See his work, Origines du Culte Chrétien3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 261-265, 272. The tradition that both the conception and the death of Christ fell on the twenty-fifth of March is mentioned and apparently accepted by Augustine (De Trinitate, iv. 9, Migne's Patrologia Latina, xlii. 894).
See above, pp. 253sqq.
However, the lament for Adonis is mentioned by Ovid (Ars Amat. i. 75 sq.) along with the Jewish observance of the Sabbath.
See above, pp. 268sqq.
Columella, De re rustica, ix. 14. 1; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 246; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 21. 10; L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, ii. 124.
Mgr. L. Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chrétien,3 pp. 262 sq. That Christ was crucified on the twenty-fifth of March in the year 29 is expressly affirmed by Tertullian (Adversus Judaeos, 8, vol. ii. p. 719, ed. F. Oehler), Hippolytus (Commentary on Daniel, iv. 23, vol. i. p. 242, ed. Bonwetsch and Achelis), and Augustine (De civitate Dei, xviii. 54; id., De Trinitate, iv. 9). See also Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, iv. (Leipsic, 1906- 1909) col. 1222, s.v. “Crucimissio”: “pol. silv. fast. Mart 25 aequinoctium. principium veris. crucimissio gentilium. Christus passus hoc die.” From this last testimony we learn that there was a gentile as well as a Christian crucifixion at the spring equinox. The gentile crucifixion was probably the affixing of the effigy of Attis to the tree, though at Rome that ceremony appears to have taken place on the twenty-second rather than on the twenty-fifth of March. See above, p. 267. The Quartodecimans of Phrygia celebrated the twenty-fifth of March as the day of Christ's death, quoting as their authority certain acts of Pilate; in Cappadocia the adherents of this sect were divided between the twenty-fifth of March and the fourteenth of the moon. See Epiphanius, Adversus Haeres. l. 1 (vol. ii. p. 447, ed. G. Dindorf; Migne's Patrologia Graeca, xli. 884 sq.). In Gaul the death and resurrection of Christ were regularly celebrated on the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh of March as late as the sixth century. See Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, viii. 31. 6 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, lxxi. 566); S. Martinus Dumiensis (bishop of Braga), De Pascha, 1 (Migne's Patrologia Latina, lxxii. 50), who says: “A plerisque Gallicanis episcopis usque ante non multum tempus custoditum est, ut semper VIII. Kal. April. diem Paschae celebrent, in quo facta Christi resurrectio traditur.” According to this last testimony, it was the resurrection, not the crucifixion, of Christ that was celebrated on the twenty-fifth of March; but Mgr. Duchesne attributes the statement to a mistake of the writer. With regard to the Roman practice the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh of March are marked in ancient Martyrologies as the dates of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. See Vetustius Occidentalis Ecclesiae Martyrologium, ed. Franciscus Maria Florentinus (Lucca, 1667), pp. 396 sq., 405 sq. On this subject Mgr. Duchesne observes: “Hippolytus, in his Paschal Table, marks the Passion of Christ in a year in which the fourteenth of Nisan falls on Friday twenty-fifth March. In his commentary on Daniel he expressly indicates Friday the twenty-fifth of March and the consulship of the two Gemini. The Philocalien Catalogue of the Popes gives the same date as to day and year. It is to be noted that the cycle of Hippolytus and the Philocalien Catalogue are derived from official documents, and may be cited as evidence of the Roman ecclesiastical usage” (Origines du Culte Chrétien,3 p. 262).
Mgr. L. Duchesne, op. cit. p. 263.
Mgr. L. Duchesne, l.c. A sect of the Montanists held that the world began and that the sun and moon were created at the spring equinox, which, however, they dated on the twenty-fourth of March (Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, vii. 18). At Henen-Su in Egypt there was celebrated a festival of the “hanging out of the heavens,” that is, the supposed reconstituting of the heavens each year in the spring (E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 63). But the Egyptians thought that the creation of the world took place at the rising of Sirius (Porphyry, De antro nympharum, 24; Solinus, xxxii. 13), which in antiquity fell on the twentieth of July (L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 127 sqq.).
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 324 sqq.
Above, pp. 246sqq.
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 14 sqq.
See below, vol. ii. pp. 81 sqq.
Above, pp. 302sqq.
Another instance of the substitution of a Christian for a pagan festival may be mentioned. On the first of August the people of Alexandria used to commemorate the defeat of Mark Antony by Augustus and the entrance of the victor into their city. The heathen pomp of the festival offended Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the Younger, and she decreed that on that day the Alexandrians should thenceforth celebrate the deliverance of St. Peter from prison instead of the deliverance of their city from the yoke of Antony and Cleopatra. See L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 154.
Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum, 2; id., Divin. Institut. iv. 10. 18. As to the evidence of the Gallic usage see S. Martinus Dumiensis, quoted above, p. 307note.
The passage occurs in the 84th of the Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Migne's Patrologia Latina, xxxv. 2279), which are printed in the works of Augustine, though internal evidence is said to shew that they cannot be by that Father, and that they were written three hundred years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The writer's words are as follows: “Diabolus autem, qui est satanas, ut fallaciae suae auctoritatem aliquam possit adhibere, et mendacia sua commentitia veritate colorare, primo mense quo sacramenta dominica scit celebranda, quia non mediocris potentiae est, Paganis quae observarent instituit mysteria, ut animas eorum duabus ex causis in errore detineret: ut quia praevenit veritatem fallacia, melius quiddam fallacia videretur, quasi antiquitate praejudicans veritati. Et quia in primo mense, in quo aequinoctium habent Romani, sicut et nos, ea ipsa observatio ab his custoditur; ita etiam per sanguinem dicant expiationem fieri, sicut et nos per crucem: hac versutia Paganos detinet in errore, ut putent veritatem nostram imitationem potius videri quam veritatem, quasi per aemulationem superstitione quadam inventam. Nec enim verum potest, inquiunt, aestimari quod postea est inventum. Sed quia apud nos pro certo veritas est, et ab initio haec est, virtutum atque prodigiorum signa perhibent testimonium, ut, teste virtute, diaboli improbitas innotescat.” I have to thank my learned friend Professor Franz Cumont for pointing out this passage to me. He had previously indicated and discussed it (“La Polémique de l'Ambrosiaster contre les Païens,” Revue d'Histoire et de Littérature religieuses, viii. (1903) pp. 419 sqq.). Though the name of Attis is not mentioned in the passage, I agree with Prof. Cumont in holding that the bloody expiatory rites at the spring equinox, to which the writer refers, can only be those of the Day of Blood which formed part of the great aequinoctial festival of Attis. Compare F. Cumont, Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 106 sq., 333 sq.
On the decadence of Buddhism and its gradual assimilation to those popular Oriental superstitions against which it was at first directed, see Monier Williams, Buddhism2 (London, 1890), pp. 147 sqq.
The historical reality both of Buddha and of Christ has sometimes been doubted or denied. It would be just as reasonable to question the historical existence of Alexander the Great and Charlemagne on account of the legends which have gathered round them. The great religious movements which have stirred humanity to its depths and altered the beliefs of nations spring ultimately from the conscious and deliberate efforts of extraordinary minds, not from the blind unconscious co-operation of the multitude. The attempt to explain history without the influence of great men may flatter the vanity of the vulgar, but it will find no favour with the philosophic historian.
G. F. Schömann, Griechische Alterthümer4 (Berlin, 1897-1902), ii. 473; L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i.4 (Berlin, 1894) pp. 248 sq.; Greve, s.v. “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 2763 sq. Other views of Hyacinth have been expressed by G. F. Welcker (Griechische Götterlehre, Göttingen, 1857-1862, i. 472), G. F. Unger (“Der Isthmientag und die Hyakinthien,” Philologus, xxxvii. (1877) pp. 20 sqq.), E. Rohde (Psyche,3 i. 137 sqq.) and S. Wide (Lakonische Kulte, Leipsic, 1893, p. 290).
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 3. 3, iii. 10. 3; Nicander, Ther. 901 sqq., with the Scholiast's note; Lucian, De saltatione, 45; Pausanias, iii. 1. 3, iii. 19. 5; J. Tzetzes, Chiliades, i. 241 sqq.; Ovid, Metam. x. 161-219; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxi. 66.
Theophrastus, Histor. Plant. vi. 8. 1 sq. That the hyacinth was a spring flower is plainly indicated also by Philostratus (Imag. i. 23. 1) and Ovid (Metam. x. 162-166). See further Greve, s.v. “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 2764; J. Murr, Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie (Innsbruck, 1890), pp. 257 sqq.; O. Schrader, Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 383 sq. Miss J. E. Harrison was so kind as to present me with two specimens of the flower (Delphinium Ajacis) on which the woful letters were plainly visible. A flower similarly marked, of a colour between white and red, was associated with the death of Ajax (Pausanias, i. 35. 4). But usually the two flowers were thought to be the same (Ovid, Metam. xiii. 394 sqq.; Scholiast on Theocritus, x. 28; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxi. 66; Eustathius on Homer, Iliad, ii. 557, p. 285).
Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 5. 7-17; Pausanias, iii. 10. 1.
Pausanias, iii. 1. 3, iii. 19. 1-5.
Hesychius, s.v. Ἑκατομβεύς; G. F. Unger in Philologus, xxxvii. (1877) pp. 13-33; Greve, s.v. “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. 2762; W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,3 i. 339. From Xenophon (Hellenica, iv. 5) we learn that in 390 b.c. the Hyacinthian followed soon after the Isthmian festival, which that year fell in spring. Others, however, identifying Hecatombeus with the Attic month Hecatombaeon, would place the Hyacinthia in July (K. O. Müller, Dorier,2 Breslau, 1844, i. 358). In Rhodes, Cos, and other Greek states there was a month called Hyacinthius, which probably took its name from the Hyacinthian festival. The month is thought to correspond to the Athenian Scirophorion and therefore to June. See E. Bischof, “De fastis Graecorum antiquioribus,” Leipziger Studien für classische Philologie, vii. (1884) pp. 369 sq., 381, 384, 410, 414 sq.; G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 vol. i. pp. 396, 607, Nos. 614, note 3, 744, note 1. If this latter identification of the month is correct, it would furnish an argument for dating the Spartan festival of Hyacinth in June also. The question is too intricate to be discussed here.
Athenaeus, iv. 17, pp. 139 sq. Strabo speaks (vi. 3. 2, p. 278) of a contest at the Hyacinthian festival. It may have been the chariot races mentioned by Athenaeus.
Hesychius, s.v. Πολύβοια.
E. Rohde, Psyche,3 i. 137 sqq.
Pausanias, iii. 19. 3. The Greek word here used for sacrifice (ἐναγίζειν) properly denotes sacrifices offered to the heroic or worshipful dead; another word (θύειν) was employed for sacrifices offered to gods. The two terms are distinguished by Pausanias here and elsewhere (ii. 10. 1, ii. 11. 7). Compare Herodotus, ii. 44. Sacrifices to the worshipful dead were often annual. See Pausanias, iii. 1. 8, vii. 19. 10, vii. 20. 9, viii. 14. 11, viii. 41. 1, ix. 38. 5, x. 24. 6. It has been observed by E. Rehde (Psyche,3 i. 139, note 2) that sacrifices were frequently offered to a hero before a god, and he suggests with much probability that in these cases the worship of the hero was older than that of the deity.
Pausanias, iii. 19. 14.
See above, p. 44; and below, vol. ii. pp. 213 sqq.
