Chapter VII: Hyacinth (1)

(M225) Another mythical being who has been supposed to belong to the class of gods here discussed is Hyacinth. He too has been interpreted as the vegetation which blooms in spring and withers under the scorching heat of the summer sun.(943) Though he belongs to Greek, not to Oriental mythology, some account of him may not be out of place in the present discussion. According to the legend, Hyacinth was the youngest and handsomest son of the ancient king Amyclas, who had his capital at Amyclae in the beautiful vale of Sparta. One day playing at quoits with Apollo, he was accidentally killed by a blow of the god’s quoit. Bitterly the god lamented the death of his friend. The hyacinth—“that sanguine flower inscribed with woe”—sprang from the blood of the hapless youth, as anemones and roses from the blood of Adonis, and violets from the blood of Attis:(944) like these vernal flowers it heralded the advent of another spring and gladdened the hearts of men with the promise of a joyful resurrection. The flower is usually supposed to be not what we call a hyacinth, but a little purple iris with the letters of lamentation (AI, which in Greek means “alas”) clearly inscribed in black on its petals. In Greece it blooms in spring after the early violets but before the roses.(945) One spring, when the hyacinths were in bloom, it happened that the red-coated Spartan regiments lay encamped under the walls of Corinth. Their commander gave the Amyclean battalion leave to go home and celebrate as usual the festival of Hyacinth in their native town. But the sad flower was to be to these men an omen of death; for they had not gone far before they were enveloped by clouds of light-armed foes and cut to pieces.(946)

(M226) The tomb of Hyacinth was at Amyclae under a massive altar-like pedestal, which supported an archaic bronze image of Apollo. In the left side of the pedestal was a bronze door, and through it offerings were passed to Hyacinth, as to a hero or a dead man, not as to a god, before sacrifices were offered to Apollo at the annual Hyacinthian festival. Bas-reliefs carved on the pedestal represented Hyacinth and his maiden sister Polyboea caught up to heaven by a company of goddesses.(947) The annual festival of the Hyacinthia was held in the month of Hecatombeus, which seems to have corresponded to May.(948) The ceremonies occupied three days. On the first the people mourned for Hyacinth, wearing no wreaths, singing no paeans, eating no bread, and behaving with great gravity. It was on this day probably that the offerings were made at Hyacinth’s tomb. Next day the scene was changed. All was joy and bustle. The capital was emptied of its inhabitants, who poured out in their thousands to witness and share the festivities at Amyclae. Boys in high-girt tunics sang hymns in honour of the god to the accompaniment of flutes and lyres. Others, splendidly attired, paraded on horseback in the theatre: choirs of youths chanted their native ditties: dancers danced: maidens rode in wicker carriages or went in procession to witness the chariot races: sacrifices were offered in profusion: the citizens feasted their friends and even their slaves.(949) This outburst of gaiety may be supposed to have celebrated the resurrection of Hyacinth and perhaps also his ascension to heaven, which, as we have seen, was represented on his tomb. However, it may be that the ascension took place on the third day of the festival; but as to that we know nothing. The sister who went to heaven with him was by some identified with Artemis or Persephone.(950)

(M227) It is highly probable, as Erwin Rohde perceived,(951) that Hyacinth was an old aboriginal deity of the underworld who had been worshipped at Amyclae long before the Dorians invaded and conquered the country. If that was so, the story of his relation to Apollo must have been a comparatively late invention, an attempt of the newcomers to fit the ancient god of the land into their own mythical system, in order that he might extend his protection to them. On this theory it may not be without significance that sacrifices at the festival were offered to Hyacinth, as to a hero, before they were offered to Apollo.(952) Further, on the analogy of similar deities elsewhere, we should expect to find Hyacinth coupled, not with a male friend, but with a female consort. That consort may perhaps be detected in his sister Polyboea, who ascended to heaven with him. The new myth, if new it was, of the love of Apollo for Hyacinth would involve a changed conception of the aboriginal god, which in its turn must have affected that of his spouse. For when Hyacinth came to be thought of as young and unmarried there was no longer room in his story for a wife, and she would have to be disposed of in some other way. What was easier for the myth-maker than to turn her into his unmarried sister? However we may explain it, a change seems certainly to have come over the popular idea of Hyacinth; for whereas on his tomb he was portrayed as a bearded man, later art represented him as the pink of youthful beauty.(953) But it is perhaps needless to suppose that the sisterly relation of Polyboea to him was a late modification of the myth. The stories of Cronus and Rhea, of Zeus and Hera, of Osiris and Isis, remind us that in old days gods, like kings, often married their sisters, and probably for the same reason, namely, to ensure their own title to the throne under a rule of female kinship which treated women and not men as the channel in which the blood royal flowed.(954) It is not impossible that Hyacinth may have been a divine king who actually reigned in his lifetime at Amyclae and was afterwards worshipped at his tomb. The representation of his triumphal ascent to heaven in company with his sister suggests that, like Adonis and Persephone, he may have been supposed to spend one part of the year in the under-world of darkness and death, and another part in the upper-world of light and life. And as the anemones and the sprouting corn marked the return of Adonis and Persephone, so the flowers to which he gave his name may have heralded the ascension of Hyacinth.

End Of Vol. 1.

FOOTNOTES

M1 The changes of the seasons explained by the life and death of gods.
M2 Magical ceremonies to revive the failing energies of the gods.

1 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.

M3 The principles of animal and of vegetable life confused in these
ceremonies.
M4 Prevalence of these rites in Western Asia and Egypt.

2 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).

M5 Tammuz or Adonis in Babylonia. His worship seems to have originated
with the Sumerians.

3 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.

4 Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_,2 i. 2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 394
_sq._; W. W. Graf Baudissin, _Adonis und Esmun_, pp. 65 _sqq._

_ 5 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.

6 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 Testament_3 (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.

7 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.

_ 8 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 Testament_3 (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.

9 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.

M6 Tammuz the lover of Ishtar. Descent of Ishtar to the nether world to
recover Tammuz.
M7 Laments for Tammuz.

10 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.”

M8 Adonis in Greek mythology merely a reflection of the Oriental
Tammuz.

11 Ezekiel viii. 14.

12 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.

13 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.

M9 Worship of Adonis and Astarte at Byblus, the kingdom of Cinyras. The
kings of Byblus.

14 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._

15 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.

16 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.

17 R. Pietschmann, _Geschichte der Phoenizier_ (Berlin, 1889), p. 139.
On the coins it is designated “Holy Byblus.”

18 Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.

19 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 6.

20 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).

21 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 6.

22 Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.

23 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 8; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ v. 78; E. Renan,
_Mission de Phénicie_, pp. 282 _sqq._

24 Eustathius, _Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes_, 912 (_Geographi
Graeci Minores_, ed. C. Müller, ii. 376); Melito, in W. Cureton’s
_Spicilegium Syriacum_, p. 44.

25 Ezekiel xxvii. 9. As to the name Gebal see above, p. 13, note 1.

26 L. B. Paton, _The Early History of Syria and Palestine_ (London,
1902), pp. 169-171. See below, pp. 75 _sq._

27 L. B. Paton, _op. cit._ p. 235; R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and
Babylonian Literature_, p. 57 (the Nimrud inscription of
Tiglath-pileser III.).

28 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).

M10 Divinity of Semitic kings.

29 On the divinity of Semitic kings and the kingship of Semitic gods
see W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_2 (London, 1894), pp. 44
_sq._, 66 _sqq._

30 H. Radau, _Early Babylonian History_ (New York and London, 1900),
pp. 307-317; P. Dhorme, _La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne_ (Paris,
1910), pp. 168 _sqq._

31 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.

32 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 Sémitiques_2 (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.

33 Josephus, _Antiquit. Jud._ ix. 4. 6.

34 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).

35 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).

36 Virgil, _Aen._ i. 729 _sq._, with Servius’s note; Silius Italicus,
_Punica_, i. 86 _sqq._

37 Ezekiel xxviii. 2, 9.

38 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.

39 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._

M11 Divinity of the Phoenician kings of Byblus and the Canaanite kings
of Jerusalem. The “sacred men” at Jerusalem.

40 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).

41 Judges i. 4-7; Joshua x. 1 _sqq._

42 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.

43 Ezekiel viii. 14.

44 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. 72 _sqq._

45 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.

46 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. 107 _sqq._), 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.”

47 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 Church_2 (London and Edinburgh, 1892), pp.
256 _sqq._, 353 _sqq._; S. R. Driver, _Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on Deuteronomy_3 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. xliv. _sqq._; K.
Budde, _Geschichte der althebräischen Litteratur_ (Leipsic, 1906),
pp. 105 _sqq._

M12 David as heir of the old sacred kings of Jerusalem.

48 He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem (2
Samuel v. 5; 1 Kings ii. 11; 1 Chronicles xxix. 27).

49 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.

50 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.

51 2 Samuel v. 6-10; 1 Chronicles xi. 4-9.

M13 Traces of the divinity of Hebrew kings.

52 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.

53 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._

54 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.”

55 1 Chronicles xxix. 23; 2 Chronicles ix. 8.

56 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.

57 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.

M14 The Hebrew kings seem to have been held responsible for drought and
famine.

58 2 Samuel xxi. 1-14, with Dean Kirkpatrick’s notes on 1 and 10.

_ 59 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 284 _sq._

60 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.

M15 Excessive rain set down to the wrath of the deity.

61 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.

62 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.

63 Psalm cxxxvii. The willows beside the rivers of Babylon are
mentioned in the laments for Tammuz. See above, pp. 9, 10.

64 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 Syria_4 (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.

M16 Hebrew kings apparently supposed to heal disease and stop epidemics.

65 2 Kings v. 5-7.

66 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.

M17 The rarity of references to the divinity of Hebrew kings in the
historical books may be explained by the circumstances in which
these works were composed or edited.

67 2 Kings xvii. 5 _sq._, xviii. 9 _sq._

68 2 Kings xix. 32-36.

69 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.

M18 The historical books were composed or edited under the influence of
the prophetic reformation.

70 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_.

71 Or the Deuteronomic redactor, as the critics call him. See W.
Robertson Smith, _The Old Testament in the Jewish Church_2 (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._

M19 The Baal and his female Baalath the sources of all fertility.

72 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.

73 Hosea ii. 5 _sqq._; W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_2
(London, 1894), pp. 95-107.

74 W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_,2 pp. 107 _sq._

M20 Personation of the Baal by the king.

_ 75 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 120 _sqq._, 376
_sqq._

M21 Cinyras, king of Byblus. Aphaca and the vale of the Adonis.
Monuments of Adonis.

76 Strabo, xvi. 1. 18, p. 755.

77 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 9.

78 Eusebius, _Vita Constantini_, iii. 55; Sozomenus, _Historia
Ecclesiastica_, ii. 5; Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, i. 18;
Zosimus, i. 58.

79 On the valley of the Nahr Ibrahim, its scenery and monuments, see
Edward Robinson, _Biblical Researches in Palestine_3 (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.”

_ 80 Etymologicum Magnum_, _s.v._ Ἄφακα, p. 175.

81 Melito, “Oration to Antoninus Caesar,” in W. Cureton’s _Spicilegium
Syriacum_ (London, 1855), p. 44.

82 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 Orients_2 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 90, and by
Baudissin, _Adonis und Esmun_, plates i. and ii., with his
discussion, pp. 78 _sqq._

83 Macrobius, _Saturn_, i. 21. 5.

84 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 8.

M22 Phoenician colonies in Cyprus.

85 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.

86 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).

87 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._

88 G. A. Cooke, _Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions_, No. 11, p.
52.

89 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._

90 Stephanus Byzantius, _s.v._ Ἀμαθοῦς. For the relation of Adonis to
Osiris at Byblus see below, vol. ii. pp. 9 _sq._, 22 _sq._, 127.

91 Hesychius, _s.v._ Μάλικα.

92 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.

M23 Kingdom of Paphos. Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos.

93 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.

94 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.

95 C. Schuchhardt, _Schliemann’s Ausgrabungen_2 (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.

96 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.

97 A. J. Evans, “Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult,” _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_, xxi. (1901) pp. 99 _sqq._

M24 The Aphrodite of Paphos a Phoenician or aboriginal deity. Her
conical image.

98 Tacitus, _Annals_, iii. 62.

99 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._

100 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).

101 See above, p. 14.

102 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
Graecarum_2 (Leipsic, 1898-1901), vol. ii. p. 373, No. 601.

103 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.

104 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).

105 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.

106 Tacitus, _Hist._ ii. 3.

107 We learn this from an inscription found at Paphos. See _Journal of
Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) pp. 188, 231.

108 Pausanias, x. 24. 6, with my note.

109 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.

110 G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, _Histoire de l’Art dans l’Antiquité_, iii.
628.

M25 Sacred prostitution in the worship of the Paphian Aphrodite and of
other Asiatic goddesses.

111 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._).

112 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._