Chapter II: Part 2

Can we assume that the provincial population of a small island could have produced the greatest piece of art of antiquity? Could a few farmers have engaged a sculptor who must have been the equal of Phidias and Scopas? If the statue had represented the tutelary goddess of the island, would not some Greek author have alluded to its existence; would not Pausanias have mentioned the fact? The idea that the statue was of indigenous workmanship is a mere assumption and by no means probable. But whence can the statue have come, and how did it find its way to this little island in the Ægean Sea?

This question is not unanswerable; we need only consider the history of the island and its political connections.

The island of Milo was too small a place to have a temple that could afford a statue of such extraordinary value, and we must assume that it was carried thither on a ship. Athens is the only place that we can think of which might have been its original home.

The early centuries of the Christian era were troublesome times. Lawlessness prevailed and a general decadence had set in, which was due to the many civil wars in both Greece and Italy. The establishment of the Roman empire checked the progress of degeneration but only in external appearance. In reality a moral and social deterioration continued to take an ever stronger hold upon the people. The old religion broke down and the new faith was by no means so ideal in the beginning as it is frequently represented by writers of ecclesiastical history.

Our notions concerning the vicious character of

A kylix from Capua.]

ancient paganism are entirely wrong. Even the worship of Aphrodite and of the Phenician Astarte was by no means degraded by that gross sensualism of which the fathers of the church frequently accuse it. Wherever we meet with original expressions of the pagan faith we find deep reverence and childlike piety. In many respects the worship of Istar in Babylonia and Astarte in Phenicia, of Isis in Egypt, of Athene, Aphrodite and Hera in Greece, of the Roman Juno, and Venus, the special protectress of the imperial family, was noble in all main features, and did not differ greatly from the cult of the Virgin Mary during the Middle Ages. We shall discuss this phase in a subsequent chapter and here reproduce an ancient platter which is ascribed by archeologists to the fourth century B. C., and shows a noble and serene Venus who is fully draped and flying on a swan.

When Christianity spread over the Roman empire, the city of Athens was the last stronghold of paganism, but even there the mass of the population had become Christian. There was a time in the development of Christianity when it was hostile not only to ancient pagan mythology but also to pagan science and to pagan art. This was the age in which almost all the statues of the Greek gods were either destroyed, or maltreated and shattered so that not one has come down to us unmutilated.

Prof. F. C. Conybeare of University College, Oxford, describes conditions of that age in his translation of the _Apology and Acts of Apollonius and Other Monuments of Christianity_, as follows:

“The obvious way of scotching a foul demon was to smash his idols; and we find that an enormous number of martyrs earned their crown in this manner, especially in the third century, when their rapidly increasing numbers rendered them bolder and more ready to make a display of their intolerance.

Profile view.]

Sometimes the good sense or the worldly prudence of the Church intervened to set limits to so favorite a way of courting martyrdom; and at the Synod of Elvira, c. A. D. 305, a canon was passed, declaring the practice to be one not met with in the Gospel nor recorded of any of the Apostles, and denying to those who in future resorted to it the honors of martyrdom. But in spite of this, the most popular of the saints were those who had resorted to such violence and earned their death by it; and as soon as Christianity fairly got the upper hand in the fourth century, the wrecking of temples and the smashing of the idols of the demons became a most popular amusement with which to grace a Christian festival. As we turn over the pages of the martyrologies, we wonder that any ancient statues at all escaped those senseless outbursts of zealotry.”

It must have been in one of these “outbursts of zealotry” that one of the temples of Aphrodite was attacked and the statue of the goddess brutally assaulted. The mutilated statue presumably lay prone upon the ground at the foot of its pedestal at the overturned altar, and had to suffer under the clubs of fanatical zealots. When night broke in and the rioters sought their homes, the few friends of paganism, perhaps the priests, perhaps some well-to-do philosophers and admirers of the ancient Greek civilization, came to the rescue. They met stealthily at the place of the tumult and with the assistance of

Front view.]

their servants had the statue carried away down to a ship at anchor in the harbor. Before the riot could be renewed on the next morning the ship set sail for the island of Milo where the devotees of the goddess may have had friends, or where possibly one of their own number possessed a farm. There they hid the statue, and it is certain that the act of concealment was done in the greatest haste, for it was only lightly covered over, and a mark, discovered later on by careful investigation of the place of hiding, was scratched into the curbstone on the wayside to indicate the spot.

This explanation seems to me simple enough to be acceptable. The facts seem to tell it. Consider the age when paganism broke down; consider the fanaticism of the early Christians, the uncultured mobs led by fanatical monks, mobs capable of tearing to pieces a noble woman--I refer to Hypatia--in the conviction that they were doing a good deed pleasing in God’s sight. Other statues of pagan gods have received exactly this treatment. Is it possible to explain the cudgel marks on the statue of the Venus of Milo differently?

It seems strange that this explanation has not been offered before. The data of the conditions in which the statue was found, the place of hiding, the political relation of Melos to Athens, and the character both of the few pagans and of the multitudes of Christians who lived in the beginning of the Christian era, tell us the story of the statue, its sad fate and why it found here a safe place of concealment.

The pagan remnant was small and kept quiet for fear of persecution, but we may very well imagine how they lived in the hope that paganism would celebrate a revival, that the storms of these barbarous outbursts would pass by and the temples of the gods would be restored in all their ancient glory. Then would come the time to bring the goddess back to her ancient dwelling place, to raise her altar again and light the sacrifice anew. But though the riots ceased and the authorities restored order, though for a short time a pagan emperor sat again on the throne of Cæsar, the ancient gods never returned and Christianity permanently replaced paganism. The devotees of the lost cause died without seeing their hope fulfilled. The desecrated statue remained hidden and their secret was buried with them in the grave.

THE MEANING OF “APHRODITE.”

The etymology of the name Aphrodite is doubtful. The Greeks derived it from the word ἀφρός = foam, because the goddess was said to have risen from the foam of the sea. This wild guess of ancient Greek philology may have been responsible for the fable that Uranus (Heaven) nightly embraced Gaia (Earth) until he was attacked and mutilated by his rebellious son Kronos. Uranus, deprived of his creative ability, retired to the outskirts of the world. Mythologists assume that herewith the creation of the raw material of the universe ceased, but that the generative principle being now mingled with the sea changed into foam, whence rose the goddess that represents all fertility and creativeness in both vegetable and animal domains.

If this legend of the origin of Aphrodite is not simply the product of the wrong etymology of her name[7] it is assumed to have been imported from Phenicia. The only other similar myth known is found among the South Sea islanders where Rangi (Heaven) and Papa (Earth) embraced one another so closely that no life could originate, Rangi being regarded as a great blue canopy of stone. Then Tane Mahuta, their youngest son, corresponding to Kronos, the youngest child of Uranus and Gaia, cruelly separated the couple and forced his father upward and pressed his mother down, thus becoming the creator of life on earth.[8]

The ancient Greeks were poor philologists and similar failures of etymological speculation are quite common among them. Thus they explained the origin of names like Heracles as “the fame of Hera,” or Amazon as “the woman without breasts,” or Prometheus as “the forethinker,” etc. All these derivations are wild and obviously wrong guesses, nor may our modern philologists, though more scientific, be always exactly correct. We are taught now by comparative philology that Prometheus, the firebringer, is the Sanskrit word _pramathyus_, “the driller,” denoting the hard stick[9] which by a swift rotation in a soft piece of wood produces the spark that calls forth the beneficent flame.

This explanation seems probable but we cannot say that our etymologies of other names have been equally successful.

One recent interpretation of “Aphrodite” would make us regard the name as an Egyptian importation, explaining the word to mean _Apharadat_, “the gift of Ra,” the sun-god, derived from _Pha Raa Da-t_ with the prosthetic A; but this, like the suggested derivation of Psyche from _Pha Sakhu_, “the mummy,” seems to be a mere accident of homophony. Other Greek names such as Elysion from _Aalu_, the Elysian Fields of the Egyptians, Charon from _Kere_, driver or skipper (ferryman), are better attested, but if the name Aphrodite came from Egypt the cult of a goddess by that name and character has been lost or obliterated.

* * * * *

Originally Aphrodite was the same figure as Hera or Juno, Artemis or Diana and Pallas Athene or Minerva. These female deities are differentiations of the idealized and personified activities of womanhood: Hera as the queen of heaven, the protectress of wifehood; Diana of girlhood and virginity; Athene as the goddess of battles, as protectress of arts and sciences, as wisdom personified; Aphrodite, the personification of beauty and love.

The ancient pagans were not so very unlike the Christians; e. g., Istar, like the Virgin Mary, represented at the same time eternal virginity and motherhood, and the name of the temple on the Acropolis might truly be translated “Church of the Holy Virgin,” for Parthenon is derived from παρθένος, “virgin.”

In prehistoric times there was more reverence for the female deity than for the male god. So Ares (or Mars) is the god of fight, of combativeness, while Athene is the teacher of the art of warfare, of generalship, of strategy in battle.

The character of Aphrodite as a universal principle was never lost sight of. She was and remained the giver of life, joy, love, loveliness, grace, fertility, increase, exuberance, rejuvenescence, springtime, restoration of life, immortality, prosperity and the charm of existence,--and all this she was in one, all as a universal principle and in its cosmic significance.

The same idea is also expressed in Eros, called in Latin Amor or Cupido, who is regarded as the oldest and at the same time the youngest of the gods, represented as a beautiful youth. This same Eros is said to have existed prior to Aphrodite, for when she rose out of the sea, Eros met her at the shore, while according to another version he was regarded as her son.

The notion that Aphrodite is the cosmic principle of love has found expression in poetry and philosophy, but her mythical nature has never been definitely settled. Homer, who calls Aphrodite Cypris (Κύπις) speaks of her in the Iliad (V, 312) as the daughter of Zeus[10] and Dione, the goddess

By Titian.]

who in olden times was worshiped on the Acropolis in Athens, in Dodona, and in other localities, as the wife of the Olympian ruler and as his female counterpart. Dione is probably the same word as Hera’s Latin name Juno. As her daughter, Aphrodite is called Dionæa (Διωναία) and also by her mother’s name Dionē.

Being the goddess of sexual love, Aphrodite was also held responsible for all relations between men and women, and philosophers felt the need of distinguishing between heavenly love and vulgar passion, calling the former “Aphrodite Urania,” the latter “Aphrodite Pandemos.” In Plato’s Symposium (180 D) the heavenly love is described as “the older one, born without mother, the daughter of heaven,” while the younger and less divine Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. The same contrast is brought out in the age of the Renaissance by Titian in his famous picture of heavenly and worldly love.

The distinction between celestial and earthly love however is artificial and has certainly not influenced the cult of the goddess. It is a later thought, invented by philosophers for the purpose of teaching a lesson.

THE CULT OF APHRODITE.

Polytheism is not a stable religion. It changes with the growth of civilization, and we do not know a time in which it was not constantly in a state of transition.

The myths which connect Aphrodite in one place with Adonis, in others with Mars, Hephæstos, Anchises and other gods or mortals, were originally several different developments of the same fundamental idea, the love story of the goddess of love. This is quite natural and ought to be expected, but when in the days of a more international communication these myths were told in different shapes in all localities, they in their combination served greatly to undermine the respect for the goddess and to degrade the conception of her even as early as in the time when the Homeric epics were composed. Nevertheless, since the sarcasm remained limited for a long time to the circle of heretics and scoffers, the noble conception of Aphrodite was preserved down to the latest days of paganism.

In other words Venus was originally the mother of mankind. She was at once the Queen of Heaven or Juno, the Magna Mater or Venus Genetrix, the educator and teacher or Pallas Athene, the eternal virgin or Diana, and the all-nourishing earth-goddess, Demeter or Ceres; and this view had better be stated inversely, that the original mother of mankind became differentiated in the course of history into these several activities of womanhood, as Juno, Venus, Diana, Ceres and Athene, which divinities were again reunited in Christianity in the form of Mary, the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, the Lady as an authority and guide in life, and the Eternal Virgin.

Aphrodite was worshiped in a prehistoric age, and the origin of her cult is plainly traceable to the Orient, especially to Phenicia and further back to Pamphylia, Syria, Canaan and Babylon. The Phenician Astarte was imported to the islands of the Ægean Sea, to Cythera, Paphos and Amathus. Hence even in the Hellenistic age she was still honored with the names Cytherea, Paphia and Amathusia.

From the Ægean islands the cult of Aphrodite spread rapidly to Sparta, Athens and other Greek centers. The barbaric origin of the Aphrodite cult is in evidence in the myth of Aphrodite’s birth as the foam-born, but it is difficult to say whom we shall deem responsible for the legend--perhaps the inhabitants of the islands. Certainly we cannot lay the burden of the invention of the story upon

Relief found in the Villa Ludovisi.]

the Asiatics, at least not on the Syrians, for according to an account of Nigidius Figulus,[11] the fish of the Euphrates found a large egg in the floods and pushed it ashore, where it was brooded upon by a dove until the Syrian goddess came forth from it.

An exquisitely graceful relief pictures the birth of Venus from the foam of the ocean. She appears as a young maiden covered with a diaphanous garment, and is being lifted out of the water by the Graces. The marble is preserved in the National Museum at Rome and was discovered by excavations in the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi in 1887.

The Oriental goddess was originally the queen of the starry heaven, either the moon or the morning star, and as such she was the same figure which in other places gave rise to the development of Artemis. We may emphasize here that like the Christian Mary the pagan female divinity was at the same time both the eternal virgin and the celestial mother. Mythology cannot stand the application of logical rationalism, and we must not try to make the traditional legends rigidly consistent.

While we recognize a strong Oriental influence in the Greek construction of the Aphrodite cult, we must acknowledge that in Greece we have a new and independent origin of the divine ideal of femininity. In Mesopotamia Istar was a very popular deity, and innumerable idols have been found in the shape of a naked woman, commonly called

“Beltis” or “Lady,” but this conception of the goddess of femininity cannot be regarded as the prototype of the Greek Aphrodite who at an early period assumed a definitely Greek figure and character. Without detracting from her universal significance as the cosmic principle of generation, the artistic conception of the Greek mind at once idealized her as the incarnation of loveliness and grace, and from Phidias down to the end of paganism she has retained this ideal.

WINTER. SUMMER.

End pieces of the Ludovisi relief.]

In Cnidos Aphrodite was worshiped in three forms: as gift-giver (δωρῑτις), as goddess of the high places (ἀκραία) and as the lucky sailor (εὔπλοια), and we learn that bloody sacrifices were not permitted (Tac., _Hist._, II, 3), even on the main altar in Paphos.

Originally, Aphrodite was not only love, grace and beauty, but the mistress, the lady, the queen; and so she is represented in Cythera as fully armed. The same is true in Sparta and in Corinth where her temple was erected on the highest place of the city, called Acrocorinthus.

The sensual features of the Aphrodite cult were certainly not absent in ancient Hellas. We know that in Corinth there were large numbers of hierodules in the temple who helped to make the ceremonies gorgeous and impressive, but judging from the language used by Æschylus and Pindar they were highly respected and received public acknowledgment for their fervent prayers during the Persian wars.

In the early imperial time of Rome, the authority of Venus was promoted by the fact that she was the tutelary deity of Cæsar, who through the similarity of his name “Julius” with “Julus,” the son of Æneas, was encouraged to derive his legendary pedigree from Æneas, the mythical founder of the Latin race, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite.

With the rise of Christianity the worship of Venus naturally deteriorated very rapidly, and the fathers of the church referring to all the different versions of her love affairs maligned her in the eyes of the world by identifying the Venus Urania with the Venus Vulgaris, and their views have contributed a good deal to disfigure her picture in later centuries.

In the times of Cæsar she was still the great goddess whose domain was not limited to beauty and love nor even to the procreation of life, in which capacity she was called Venus Genetrix, but she was also Venus Victrix, or the goddess who in battle assures victory. Yea, more than all this, she was the goddess of life and immortality connected with the chthonian gods--the powers of death in the underworld. Her emblem, the pomegranate, is also found in the hands of Persephone, indicating a kinship between Aphrodite and the daughter of Demeter.

It is not accidental that Aphrodite as the goddess of love and generation is also the queen of the underworld. She begets life, she restores to life; she leads into Hades and back out of Hades into the world of life. It is for this reason that, according to Pausanias (II, 10, 4), her statue in the temple at Sicyon carries the chthonian symbols, the apple and the poppy, in her hands, and there her priestesses were bound by a vow of chastity.

The chthonian aspect of the Aphrodite cult appears in the legend of the death of Adonis with all its details of funeral lamentations and ceremonies and the great hope of his resurrection. Istar herself descends to the underworld, as we shall see further down (see pp. 85-95), and we know at least that in Cyprus a tomb of Aphrodite has been shown.[12]

THE GODDESS OF WAR.

One special function of the mother goddess was leadership in war. It was a custom among the Arabians until recent times that the warriors of a tribe were led in battle by a girl riding at their head with breast exposed, inspiring them in their attack to the display of irresistible courage; and if it was a common practice in prehistoric times, we may assume that this function of womanhood established the character of Istar as the goddess of war, later on differentiated as the Greek Pallas Athene and the Roman Bellona.

After Hirt, _Bilderbuch_, Plate VII, 11.]

[*] Engraving on a gem representing the statue of Venus Erycina on the Capitoline. This interpretation does not exclude other possibilities. Certainly the attitude of little Eros is artistic and pleasing.]

We may be sure that the character of Aphrodite as Venus Victrix is by no means a late Roman invention of the days of Cæsar but dates back to the most ancient days of Babylonian tradition. She was from the start of history the great _Magna Mater_, the All-Mother and Queen to whom the people appealed in all their needs, especially in war. In Greece she is frequently addressed as νικηφόρος, bringer of victory.

A penitential psalm on the destruction of the ancient city of Erech has been preserved in a fragment which in Theodore G. Pinches’s translation reads thus:[13]

“How long, my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary?
There is want in Erech, thy principal city;
Blood is flowing like water in E-ulbar, the house of thine oracle;
He, the enemy, has kindled and poured out fire like
hailstones on all thy lands.
My Lady, sorely am I fettered by misfortune;
My Lady, thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief.
The mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed.
Not wise myself, I cannot take counsel;[14]
I mourn day and night like the fields.
I, thy servant, pray to thee.”

As Venus Victrix, the warlike goddess akin to the Greek Pallas Athene, Istar, appears to Asurbanipal in a vision, recorded in a cuneiform inscription of the annals of this powerful Assyrian king, and refers to the invasion of Tiumman, King of Elam. The passage reads in H. Fox Talbot’s translation thus:[15]

“In the month Ab, the month of the heliacal rising of Sagittarius, in the festival of the great Queen [Istar] daughter of Bel, I [Asurbanipal, King of Assyria,] was staying at Arbela, the city most beloved by her, to be present at her high worship.

“There they brought me news of the invasion of the Elamite, who was coming against the will of the gods. Thus:

“‘Tiumman has said solemnly, and Istar has repeated to us the tenor of his words: thus: “I will not pour out another libation until I have gone and fought with him.”’

“Concerning this threat which Tiumman had spoken, I prayed to the great Istar. I approached to her presence, I bowed down at her feet, I besought her divinity to come and save me. Thus:

“‘O goddess of Arbela, I am Asurbanipal, King of Assyria, the creature of thy hands, [chosen by thee and] thy father [Asur] to restore the temples of Assyria, and to complete the holy cities of Akkad. I have gone to honor thee, and I have gone to worship thee. But he Tiumman, King of Elam, never worships the gods....

[Here some words are lost.]

“‘O thou Queen of queens, Goddess of war, Lady of battles, Queen of the gods, who in the presence of Asur thy father speakest always in my favor, causing the hearts of Asur and Marduk to love me.... Lo! now, Tiumman, King of Elam, who has sinned against Asur thy father, and has scorned the divinity of Marduk thy brother, while I Asurbanipal have been rejoicing their hearts. He has collected his soldiers, amassed his army, and has drawn his sword to invade Assyria. O thou archer of the gods, come like a [thunderstorm] ... in the midst of the battle, destroy him, and crush him with a fiery bolt from heaven!’

“Istar heard my prayer. ‘Fear not!’ she replied, and caused my heart to rejoice. ‘According to thy prayer thine eyes shall see the judgment. For I will have mercy on thee!’

* * * * *

“In the night-time of that night in which I had prayed to her, a certain seer lay down and had a dream. In the midst of the night Istar appeared to him, and he related the vision to me, thus:

“‘Istar who dwells in Arbela, came unto me begirt right and left with flames, holding her bow in her hand, and riding in her open chariot as if going to the battle. And thou didst stand before her. She addressed thee as a mother would her child. She smiled upon thee, she Istar, the highest of the gods, and gave thee a command. Thus: “take [this bow],” she said, “go with it to battle! Wherever thy camp shall stand I will come.”

“‘Then thou didst say to her, thus: “O Queen of the goddesses, wherever thou goest let me go with thee!” Then she made answer to thee, thus: “I will protect thee! and I will march with thee at the time of the feast of Nebo. Meanwhile eat food, drink wine, make music, and glorify my divinity, until I shall come and this vision shall be fulfilled.”

“‘Thy heart’s desire shall be accomplished. Thy face shall not grow pale with fear: thy feet shall not be arrested: thou shalt not even scratch thy skin in the battle. In her benevolence she defends thee, and she is wroth with all thy foes. Before her a fire is blown fiercely, to destroy thy enemies.’”

Mr. Talbot makes the following editorial comment on the historical event connected with Asurbanipal’s narrative:

“The promises which the goddess Istar made to the king in this vision of the month Ab were fulfilled. In the following month (Elul) Asurbanipal took the field against Tiumman, and his army speedily achieved a brilliant victory. Tiumman was slain, and his head was sent to Nineveh. There is a bas-relief in the British Museum representing a man driving a rapid car, and holding in his hand the head of a warrior, with this inscription, _Kakkadu Tiumman_, ‘The head of Tiumman.’”

THE DESCENT INTO HADES.

As the goddess of love Venus is the restorer of life, and as such she descends into the underworld and brings the dead back to life. Lewis Richard Farnell in his _Cults of the Greek States_[16] reproduces a remarkable votive tablet which shows Hermes the soul-dispatcher (_psychopompos_) confronting a woman holding in her outstretched hand a pomegranate blossom (the symbol of both the chthonian Aphrodite and Persephone) and Eros, the god of love, on her arm. The obvious meaning of the tablet indicates that it is love which redeems from death. This conception of the great goddess found a fit expression in the myth of Demeter’s daughter Persephone (called in Latin “Proserpina”) who, after being snatched away by Pluto, the ruler of Hades, is allowed to return to earth. So life on earth with its bloom of vegetation dies off each winter but returns annually in the spring.

This idea became a symbol of human immortality in the Eleusinian mysteries, presumably derived from older sources which go back to religious cults in Babylonia and Asia Minor, and the Christian doctrine is apparently derived from the same tradition. Paul says (1 Cor. xv. 36-38):

Votive terra-cotta tablet.]

“Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.”

Jesus echoes the same argument and uses the same simile of the grain of wheat in John xii. 24:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

The most important document still at our command relating to the chthonian Venus is a fragmentary poem called “Istar’s Descent to Hell.” The main subject is introduced in order to justify the possibility of conjuring the dead from Sheol. Dr. Jeremias[17] explains the situation as follows:

“A man grieves over the death of his sister. He consults a magus as to how to release the spirit of the deceased from the prison of Hades. The priest tells him the story of Istar’s descent to Sheol for the sake of proving that the gates of Sheol are not unconquerable, and advises him to address Istar, the conqueror of Hades, and Tammuz her consort, with prayer and sacrifice, in order to gain their assistance. He is requested to comply with funeral ceremonies at the coffin of the dead and to begin his mourning with the assistance of the Uhats, the companions of Istar. The spirit of the dead, hearing the lamentations of her brother, requests him to rescue her from the horrors of Sheol through mourners’ music and sacrifices in the days of Tammuz, which is the time when the people sing and weep, as told by Ezekiel viii. 14, and mourn for their dead under the shape of Tammuz. The concluding lines of the poem, which are summed up in these words, form the core of the whole, while the legend of Istar’s descent to Sheol is only an introduction to it, and constitutes a part of the conjuration of the dead. From other documents of Babylonian literature we learn that on the names of Istar and Tammuz, the hero and heroine of the legends of the descent to Sheol, depend the hopes of a rescue from Sheol.” (_Loc cit._, pp. 7-8.)

It appears that people celebrated with special preference the days of the god Tammuz, who represented the disappearance of vegetation and its resurrection to life. The legend of Istar’s descent[18] to Sheol reads in the translation based on Dr. Jeremias’s version as follows:

(OBVERSE OF THE TABLET.)

“To the land of no return, to the land [which thou knowest (?)],[19]
Istar, the daughter of the moon-god, meditated [to go].
The daughter of the moon-god meditated to go
To the house of darkness, to the seat of Irkalla,
To the house whose visitor never returns, 5.
On the path the descent of which never leads back,
To the house whose occupants are removed from the light,
To the place where dust is food, and dirt is meat,
Where they (the occupants) see no light, where they dwell in darkness,
Where they are clothed like birds, dressed with wings,[20]. 10.
Where upon gate and bolt dust is spread.

“When Istar had reached the gate of the land of no return,
She spake to the keeper of the gate:
‘Keeper of the waters, open thy gate,
Open thy gate,--I wish to enter! 15.
If thou openest not, if I cannot enter,
I shall demolish the gate, I shall break the bolt,
I shall smash the threshold, I shall break the doors;
I shall lead out the dead, shall make them eat and live,
And unto the crowds of the living the dead shall I join.’ 20.

“The keeper opened his mouth and spake
In reply to the sublime Istar:
‘Stay, my lady, do not upset [the door]!
I will announce thy name to Queen Allatu.’
“The keeper entered and spake to Queen Allatu: 25.
‘The water has been crossed by thy sister Istar....”

[The goddess Allatu is greatly agitated about Istar’s appearance in Sheol. The poem continues:]

“When Goddess Allatu [heard] this....
Like unto a tree cut down....
Like unto reeds mowed down [she drooped and spake]: 30.
‘What has driven her heart, what....
These waters have I [made encompass Sheol] ...
Like the inundation of the deluge, like the swelling (?)
waters of a great flood,
I will weep over the men who left their wives.
I will weep over the wives who were taken from their consorts, 35.
Over the little children I will weep, who prematurely
[were taken away].[21]
Go, keeper, open the gate,
And strip her according to the primordial decree.’
The keeper went, he opened the door to her:
‘Enter, my lady, let the underworld [Kûtu] rejoice; 40.
Let the palace of the land of no return rejoice at thy arrival!’
“Through the first door he bade her enter and, stripping her,
Took off from her head the golden crown.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou from my head the golden crown?’
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’[22]

Through the second door he bade her enter and, stripping her, 45.
Took off the ornaments from her ears.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou the ornaments from my ears?’
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’
Through the third door he bade her enter and, stripping her,
Took off the chains from her neck.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou the chains from my neck?’

‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’ 50.
Through the fourth door he bade her enter and, stripping her,
Took off the ornaments from her breast.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou the ornaments from my breast?’
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’
Through the fifth door he bade her enter and, stripping her,
Took off the gem-covered belt from her hips.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou the gem-covered belt from my hips?’ 55.
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’
Through the sixth door he bade her enter and, stripping her,
Took off the bracelets from her hands and feet.
‘Why, O keeper, takest thou the bracelets from my hands and feet?’
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’
Through the seventh door he bade her enter and, stripping her, 60.
Took off the robe from her body.
“Why, O keeper, takest thou the robe from my body?’
‘Step in, my lady, for such are the commands of the
mistress of the earth.’
Now, when Istar was descended to the land of no return--
Allatu beheld her, and vehemently upbraided her;
Istar, forgetful, assaulted her.... 65.
Then Allatu opened her mouth and spake.
Addressing Namtar, her servant, giving him
this command:
‘Go, Namtar, open (?) my....
Let her out ... the goddess Istar,
With a disease on her eyes [punish her], 70.
With a disease on her hips [punish her],
With a disease on her feet [punish her],
With a disease on her heart [punish her],
With a disease on her head [punish her],
Upon her whole person [inflict diseases].’ 75.
When Istar, the lady, [was thus afflicted],
The bull no longer covered the cow, the he-ass the she-ass,
The lord no longer sought the maiden of the street.
The lord fell asleep in giving command,
The maid-servant fell asleep....” 80.

REVERSE OF THE TABLET.

“Pap-sukal, the servant of the great gods, scratched his
face before Samas,
Clothed in mourning and filled with....
Samas went: he went to Sin, his father [and wept];
Before Ea, the king, he shed tears;
‘Istar has descended into the land and has not returned. 5.
Since Istar descended into the land of no return,
The bull no longer covers the cow,
The jack-ass no longer covers the she-ass,
A man no longer seeks the maiden of the street,
The lord falls asleep in giving command,
The maid-servant falls asleep.... 10.
Then Ea in the wisdom of his heart created a male being,
He created Uddusunâmir,[23] the servant of the gods:
‘Go forth, Uddusunâmir! to the door of the land of no
return turn thy face,
The seven doors of the land of no return shall open before thee,
Let Allatu see thee, let her rejoice at thy arrival. 15.
When her heart has become calm, and her soul is comforted,
Conjure her in the name of the great gods,[24]
Lift up thy head over the source of waters (?), make up
thy mind (and speak):
‘Not, O my lady, shall the spring be debarred from me;
from its waters I will drink.’
When Allatu heard this, 20.
She smote her loins and bit her finger[25] (and spake):
‘Thou hast made a demand which cannot be fulfilled--
Hence, Uddusunâmir, I will confine thee in the great prison,
The slime of the city shall be thy food,
The gutters of the street shall be thy drink, 25.
The shadow of the wall shall be thy habitation.
The thresholds, thy dwelling-place,
Prison and confinement shall break thy strength.

[Allatu curses Uddusunâmir, but the conjuration which he uttered is
too powerful, and she must obey. Thus the power of the realm of
death is broken and Istar is free.]

Allatu opened her mouth and spake,
To give command to Namtar, her servant: 30.
‘Go, Namtar, demolish the eternal palace,
Demolish the pillars, make the thresholds quake;
Lead out the Anunnaki, put them upon the golden throne,[26]
Sprinkle upon Goddess Istar the water of life;
Take her away from me!’ 35.
Namtar went and demolished the eternal palace,
He demolished the pillars and made the thresholds (?) quake,
He led out the Anunnaki and placed them upon the golden throne,

“He sprinkled upon Goddess Istar the waters of life and led her away:
Through the first door he led her and replaced the
robe upon her body; 40.
Through the second door he led her and replaced the
bracelets upon her hands and feet;
Through the third door he led her and replaced the
gem-covered belt upon her hips;
Through the fourth door he led her and replaced the ornament
upon her breast;
Through the fifth door he led her and replaced the chains
upon her neck;
Through the sixth door he led her and replaced the ornaments
in her ears;
Through the seventh door he led her and replaced upon her
head the golden crown.” 45.

[The conjurer here addresses the brother and promises the release of his dead sister from the power of Allatu. The poem continues:]

“‘When she (Allatu) does not afford release, turn to her
(to Istar) [thy face].
To Tammuz, the consort of her youth,
Pour pure water and costly balm ... [invite a priest].
Cover him with the sacrificial robe, a crystal flute may he [blow].
Let the Uhats weep with grievous [lamentations]. 50.
Let the goddess Belili break the precious utensil[27] ...
With diamonds shall be filled thy....”

[Now the spell takes effect. The spirit of the departed sister
rises from Sheol:]

“Thus she heard the lamentations of her brother, the goddess
Belili broke the precious utensil,
With diamonds were filled the ... [and the departed spirit said:]
‘My only brother, let me not perish, 55.
In the days of Tammuz play the crystal flute,
Play the instrument....
In those days play to me, the male mourners and the female mourners
Let them play upon instruments....
Let them breathe incense....” 60.

THE MAGNA DEA OF THE NATIONS.

Though we may fairly well assume that in prehistoric ages all nations revered a _Magna Mater_, historical development points to the Orient as the place whence the cult of Aphrodite was imported into Greece; there it found the soil prepared by the common belief in a mother goddess, a world-creatrix, a lady divine and supreme. The Greek Aphrodite was the same as the Astarte of the Tyrians, the “great goddess” of the Syrians and the Istar of the Babylonians.

It is quite certain that the cult of this goddess-mother played a more important part in the world of primitive mankind than the cult of a God the Father, the male deity of a later age. The goddess of love and life under whatever name she may have been known, as Our Lady, the Queen of Heaven, the Mistress of the World, the holy mother _genetrix_ of all living creatures, the _Dea optima maxima_ or Most High Goddess, was practically the same all over the world. We may not be mistaken if we attribute the height of her worship to the age of matriarchy. In prehistoric times the _Magna Dea_ was looked up to with awe and reverence, possibly even with a devotion more ardent than in a later period. The Ancient of Days or Jupiter, i. e., Diespiter, the father of time and light, was symbolized by the all-embracing sky and also by the sun. The Greeks called him Zeus, a name pronounced _dzeus_, connected with the Latin _deus_ and _dies_, and Sanskrit _deva_, the creator and ruler of the world. The _Magna Dea_ was the all-mother, and it is but to be expected that when the social conditions of matriarchy changed into the age of the patriarchs the reverence for an all-mother was superseded by the worship of an all-father.

The _Magna Dea_ was all in all to mankind. Her emblem as the goddess of vegetation and of the sustenance of life was the apple or pomegranate. As the goddess of the human soul she is represented as a bird like the Egyptian representation of the soul, a human-headed hawk; or as a dove, the symbol which later on represents the gnostic Sophia, the mother of the child-god, and in Christian dogmatology, the Holy Ghost.

Originally the deity was triune in India, in Egypt, and in other countries. In India we become acquainted with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Creator, the Revealer (or Avatar), and the Transformer (i. e., the one who destroys and renews). In Babylon the universe is divided into the three kingdoms of Heaven, Water and Earth under the three rulers, Anu, Ea and Marduk; and in Egypt men worshiped God the father or Osiris, God the mother or Isis, and God the child or Horus. Similar trinities are met with in other religions, and the Christian Trinity, although not taught by Jesus, is one of the oldest doctrines of the Christian church. Here indeed the Egyptian conception of God as father, mother and child makes its first appearance in the apocryphal writings, for there are passages in heretical gospels where Jesus speaks of the Holy Ghost as his mother. This idea might have been accepted as an orthodox thought if the age had not been strongly ascetic and dualistic, but on that account the feminine character of the Holy Ghost became offensive to the fathers of the church. In Hebrew the Holy Ghost as _Ruah_ was still conceived as a brooding pigeon, but among the Gentile Christians the conception of the third person of the Trinity was translated by the neuter noun πνεῡμα and in Latin by the masculine _spiritus_. Nevertheless the old symbol of the brooding pigeon was retained and a feminine designation such as Sophia, the consort of God, was occasionally tolerated in the Greek church and among the Gnostics.

From Lenormant.]

Wings have always been the symbol of thought,

and serve as a simile to represent the soul not only in Egyptian mythology but also in Babylon and on the Greek islands. A human-headed bird attributed to a primitive period of Babylonian civilization has

A figure unearthed among the ruins of Babylon. From Lenormant.]

been interpreted as the soul of Semiramis, and may represent either a dead person or the goddess of the dead, and the same idea is expressed in a little figurine of the Greek islands which shows us a

OF THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD.]

female deity with a dove on her head. We can scarcely be mistaken if we interpret this little figurine as an amulet denoting the goddess whose emblem is the dove. Whether the figure represent the goddess herself with her emblematic bird or whether it be the portrait of a dead person protected by the dove, is of secondary importance. The main truth on which we insist here is that the dove is the emblem of the great goddess to whom people look for salvation in the dark beyond. Thus flocks of pigeons enjoyed great liberties in Hierapolis, the holy city of Syria,--probably in the same way that the pigeons in St. Mark’s place are befriended in Venice both by the inhabitants and by foreign visitors.

Another emblem of the goddess of womanhood is the fish, as is fully described in Lucian’s most interesting treatise “On the Syrian Goddess.” In Egypt Isis has been represented with a fish surmounting her head as an emblematic ornament.

In some parts of Greece the hare or rabbit has also been sacred to Aphrodite, unquestionably on account of the fertility of that animal. Even to-day in Christian times the Easter hare and the egg are the symbols of spring, and the Easter festival cannot be celebrated without them.

A remarkable monument has been discovered in Boghaz-Köi in Cappadocia. It represents a procession of gods standing on their symbolic animals, and what interests us mainly is that it portrays the meeting of a god and a goddess, he standing on human beings, she on an animal which is apparently a lioness. Among her followers is a man on a leopard and two figures standing on a double-headed eagle. The idea of this symbol was carried to Europe by crusaders and became the emblem

of the Holy Roman empire; it is still retained in the imperial arms of Austria and has also been accepted by the Czar of Russia. The subject of this monument in Cappadocia is still considered as under question. There is no explanation and there are no ancient books that can throw light upon it. But the composition speaks for itself. We see here the great goddess meeting the heroic god--whatever names they may have borne.

Marduk (or Melkarth or Bel or Baal) is a deity who rises to sovereignty through his victory over the powers of evil, and the climax of his life consists

From Ohnefalsch-Richter, _Kypros_.]

in his marriage. Can this great sculpture refer to any other topic than the festive occasion of the victorious god’s marriage ceremonial when he meets the great bridal goddess?[29]

The name Istar has been traced also in the Phenician word _Astarte_. The goddess was held in high esteem in Phenicia and was regarded also as the patroness of navigation. Coins represent her standing on the prow of a ship, and, strange to say, very frequently she carries a Latin cross in her arms. Beside the cross her emblems are also the moon and the swastika, and the latter is frequently found on her dress, and in one very archaic leaden figurine discovered by Schliemann in the ruins of Troy, the swastika is placed on her body to indicate the mysterious power of procreation. The idol was apparently intended to be carried in the hand, for its lower part ends in a shapeless stick.

Sidonian coins reproduced from Calmet No. 6.]

From the excavations of Cyprus we reproduce

Reproduction with the permission of Curtis and Cameron. Altered from their copyright photograph.]

By Murillo.]

the picture of a well-preserved statue of Astarte which must have been the recipient of offerings before an altar in some of the ancient temples (p. 106).

A beautiful modern picture of Astarte has been worked out by Sargent in his frescoes on the walls of the Boston Public Library, and we can see on this very picture her similarity to Murillo’s ideal of Mary in his many paintings of the “Immaculate Conception.”

* * * * *

There is a counterpart of the western _Magna Dea_ in eastern Asia, but we no longer know it in its primitive form and have it only as it is represented in art in the shape of a Buddhist deity, a kind of female Buddha, called in China Kwan-Yon and in Japan, Benten. Here again in some cases we find that the fish is her symbol as it is that of the Syrian goddess, and she frequently presents a remarkable similarity to the Christian Virgin Mary. She is never pictured naked like the Greek Aphrodite but is always dressed in the most scrupulously decent fashion.[30]

One picture of Kwan-Yon with the fish bears an inscription which is a poetical expression of wonder at the mystery of incarnation, and following a literal translation we render it into English as follows:

In the Pei-lin at Singan-fu. After a Chinese color-print.]

“Untidy o’er her temples
Falls her disheveled hair.
The maid is easy-going--
In sooth she does not care.
Not decked in precious jewels
Nor dressed in gaudy lace,
She carries in her basket
A fish to the market place.
Who thinks that Buddha were
Made human form in her!”

Paper impression of a carving in stone.]

The Chinese deity Kwan-Yon may, for all we know, be the _Magna Mater_ of most primitive China. At least she was an ancient popular goddess. When Buddhism was introduced into the Middle Kingdom she was too dear to the people to be abandoned or degraded in rank, and so she was interpreted to be a female incarnation of the Buddha himself. Some pictures or statuettes represent her as denoting motherly love by holding a baby in her arms, which

From a relief preserved in the Field Museum Chicago.]

By Li Lung-mien (11th cent.) From the original painting in the collection of Charles L. Freer in Detroit.]

gives her an obvious resemblance to the Christian Mary, the mother of Christ.

In the Musée Guimet.]

The ancient Chinese were rich in divinities of all kinds and among them there is a goddess who

in one way or other might easily have developed into the Buddhist Kwan-Yon. This is the Queen of Heaven or Holy Mother, who is worshiped with great fervor in some localities. Emperor K’ang Hi bestowed upon her the high title of _T’ien Hou_, that is, “Heaven’s Ruler,” but we may very well assume that she did not originate in his days but existed since older times. She, or some figure like her, must have been known before the importation of Buddhism, and Kwan-Yon presupposes the primitive existence of a female deity of love, charity and universal goodwill.

* * * * *

The northern Venus, called Freya, the mother-goddess of the Teutons and in fact of all the Teutonic races, did not share the fate of the Venus of classical antiquity. She never deteriorated into the goddess of sensuality. It is strange that we descendants of the Germanic nations are better posted on the national gods of Greece and Rome than on those of our own ancestors. These are mainly remembered from the names of the week days and even there the god of war, Tiu, has become quite unintelligible in Tuesday. Freya’s day, Friday, is easily recognizable as the Latin _dies Veneris_ or _vendredi_, and it is peculiar that on that very day Christian custom still retains the fish diet of the ancient Astarte. The motive of course is changed, and the fish is no longer thought of as the emblem of Astarte but is eaten in remembrance of the death of Christ on the cross. Fish has become the diet of fasting. Such is the logic of tradition, which persists after the reason for it has gradually been forgotten.

H. A. Guerber in his _Myths of Northern Lands_ describes Freya as follows:

“Although goddess of love, Freya was not soft and pleasure-loving, for the ancient northern races said that she had very martial tastes, and that as Valfreya[31] she often led the Valkyrs down to the battle-fields, choosing and claiming one-half the heroes slain. She was therefore often represented with corselet and helmet, shield and spear, only the lower part of her body being clad in the usual flowing feminine garb.

“Freya transported the chosen slain to Folkvang, where they were duly entertained, and where she also welcomed all pure maidens and faithful wives, that they might enjoy the company of their lovers and husbands even after death. The joys of her abode were so enticing to the heroic northern women that they often rushed into battle when their loved ones were slain, hoping to meet with the same fate; or they fell upon their swords, or were voluntarily burned on the same funeral pyre as the beloved remains.