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The Syrian Goddess, by Lucian, tr. by Herbert A. Strong and John Garstang, [1913], at sacred-texts.com
1. There is in Syria a city not far from the river Euphrates 1: it is called "the Sacred City," and is sacred to the Assyrian Hera. 2 As far as I can judge this name was not conferred upon the city when it was first settled, but originally it bore another name. 3 In course of time
the great sacrifices were held therein, and then this title was bestowed upon it. I will speak of this city, and of what it contains. I will speak also of the laws which govern its holy rites, of its popular assemblies and of the sacrifices offered by its citizens. I will speak also of all the traditions attaching to the founders of this holy place: and of the manner of the founding of its temple. I write as an Assyrian born 4 who have witnessed with mine own eyes some of the facts which I am about to narrate: some, again, I learnt from the priests: they occurred before my time, but I narrate them as they were told to me.
2. The first men on earth to receive knowledge of the gods, and to build temples and shrines and to summon meetings for religious observances are said to have been the Egyptians. 5 They were the first, too, to take cognizance
of holy names, and to repeat sacred traditions. Not long after them the Assyrians heard from the Egyptians their doctrines as to the gods, and they reared temples and shrines: in these they placed statues and images.
3. Originally the temples of the Egyptians possessed no images. And there exist in Syria temples of a date not much later than those of Egypt, many of which I have seen myself, for instance, the temple of Hercules in Tyre. 6 This is not the Hercules of Greek legend; but a Tyrian hero of much greater antiquity than he.
4. There is likewise in Phœnicia a temple of great size owned by the Sidonians. They call it the temple of Astarte. 7 I hold this Astarte to be no other than the
moon-goddess. But according to the story of one of the priests this temple is sacred to Europa, the sister of Cadmus. She was the daughter of Agenor, and on her disappearance from Earth the Phœnicians honoured her with a temple and told a sacred legend about her; how that Zeus was enamoured of her for her beauty, and changing his form into that of a bull carried her off into Crete. 8 This legend I heard from other Phœnicians as well; and the coinage current among the Sidonians bears upon it the effigy of Europa sitting upon a bull, none other than Zeus. 9 Thus they do not agree that the temple in question is sacred to Europa.
5. The Phœnicians have also another sacred custom, derived from Egypt, not from Assyria: it came, they say, from Heliopolis into Phœnicia. I never witnessed this myself, but it is important, and of great antiquity.
Click to enlarge
FIG. 6.—TEMPLE AT BYBLOS.
B. M. Cat. Coins, Phœn. Byb. 32.
Date A.D. 217-8.
6. I saw too at Byblos a large temple, 10 sacred to the Byblian Aphrodite 11: this is the scene of the secret rites of Adonis: I mastered these. They assert that the legend about Adonis and the wild boar is true, 12 and that
the facts occurred in their country, and in memory of this calamity they beat their breasts and wail every year, and perform their secret ritual amid signs of mourning through the whole countryside. When they have finished their mourning and wailing, they sacrifice in the first place to Adonis, as to one who has departed this life: after this they allege that he is alive again, and exhibit his effigy to the sky. They proceed to shave their heads, 13 too, like the Egyptians on the loss of their Apis. The women who refuse to be shaved have to submit to the following penalty, viz., to stand for the space of an entire day in readiness to expose their persons for hire. The place of hire is open to none but foreigners, and out of the proceeds of the traffic of these women a sacrifice to Aphrodite is paid. 14
7. Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis, but of Osiris. 15 I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. A human head comes every year from Egypt to Byblos, 16 floating on its seven days' journey thence: the winds, by some divine instinct, waft it on its way: it never varies from its course but goes straight to Byblos. The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos, and I saw the head in that city.
8. There is, too, another marvellous portent in the region of the Byblians. A river, flowing from Mount Libanus, discharges itself into the sea: this river bears the name of Adonis. 17 Every year regularly it is tinged
with blood, and loses its proper colour before it falls into the sea: it dyes the sea, to a large space, red: 18 and thus announces their time of mourning to the Byblians. Their story is that during these days Adonis is wounded, and that the river's nature is changed by the blood which flows into its waters; and that it takes its name from this blood. Such is the legend vulgarly accepted: but a man of Byblos, who seemed to me to be telling the truth, told me another reason for this marvellous change. He spoke as follows: "This river, my friend and guest, passes through the Libanus: now this Libanus abounds in red earth. The violent winds which blow regularly on those days bring down into the river a quantity of earth resembling vermilion. It is this earth that turns the river to red. And thus the change in the river's colour is due, not to blood as they affirm, but to the nature of the soil." 19 This was the story of the Byblian. But even assuming that he spoke the truth, yet there certainly seems to me something supernatural in the regular coincidence of the wind and the colouring of the river.
9. I went up also from Byblos into the Libanus, a single day's journey, as I had heard that there was an ancient temple of Aphrodite there founded by Cinyras.
[paragraph continues] I saw the temple, 20 and it was indeed old. These then are the ancient great temples of Syria.
10. Of all these temples, and they are numerous indeed, none seems to me greater than those found in the sacred city; no shrine seems to me more holy, no region more hallowed. They possess some splendid masterpieces, some venerable offerings, many rare sights, many striking statues, and the gods make their presence felt in no doubtful way. The statues sweat, and move, and utter oracles, and a shout has often been raised when the temple was closed; it has been heard by many. And more: this temple is the principal source of their wealth, as I can vouch. For much money comes to them from Arabia, and from the Phœnicians and the Babylonians: the Cilicians, too, and the Assyrians bring their tribute. 21 And I saw with my own eyes treasures stored away privately in the temple; many garments, and other valuables, which are exchanged for silver or gold. Nowhere among mankind are so many festivals and sacred assemblies instituted as among them.
11. On enquiring the number of years since the temple was founded, and whom they deemed the goddess to be, many tales were told to me, some of which were sacred, and some public property; some, again, were absolutely fabulous; others were mere barbarians' tales; others again tallied with the Greek accounts. All these I am ready to narrate, though I withhold my acceptance of some.
12. The people, then, allege that it was Deukalion or Sisythus who founded the temple; I mean the Deukalion in whose time the great flood occurred. I have heard the story about Deukalion as the Greeks narrate it from the Greeks themselves. The story runs as follows: The present race of men was not the first to be created. The first generation perished to a man; the present is a second creation. This generation became a vast multitude, owing to Deukalion. Of the men of the original creation they tell this tale: they were rebellious, and wilful, and performed unholy deeds, disregarding the sanctity of oaths and hospitality, and behaving cruelly to suppliants; and it was for these misdeeds that the great destruction fell upon them. Straightway the earth discharged a vast volume of water, and the rivers of heaven came down in streams and the sea mounted high. Thus everything became water, and all men perished; Deukalion alone was saved for another generation, on the score of his wisdom and piety. The manner of his salvation was as follows: He placed his children and his wives in an ark of vast size, and he himself also entered in. Now, when he had embarked, there came to him wild boars and horses, and generations of lions and serpents, and all the other beasts which roam the earth, all in couples. He welcomed them all. Nor did they harm him; and friendship remained amongst them as
[paragraph continues] Zeus himself ordained. These, one and all, floated in this ark as long as the flood remained. This is the legend of Deukalion as told by the Greeks. 22
13. But a further story is told by the men of Hierapolis, and a wonderful one it is; they say that in their country a mighty chasm appeared which received all the water, and that Deukalion on this occurrence reared altars and founded a temple to Juno above this chasm. I have actually seen this chasm, it lies beneath the temple and is of very small dimensions. If it was once of large size, and was afterwards reduced to its present small dimensions, I know not: but the chasm which I saw is certainly very small. They maintain that their tale is proved by the following occurrence; twice in every year the water comes from the sea to the temple. This water is brought by the priests; but besides them, all Syria and Arabia and many from beyond the Euphrates
go down to the sea; one and all bring its water which they first pour out in the temple; 23 then this water passes down into the chasm which, small though it be, holds a vast quantity of water. Thus then they act, and they declare that the following law was passed by Deukalion in that temple, in order that it might be an everlasting remembrance at once of the visitation and of its alleviation.
14. Others again maintain that Semiramis 24 of Babylon, who has left many mighty works in Asia, founded this edifice as well; nor did she dedicate it to Hera, but to her own mother, whose name was Derceto. 25 Now,
[paragraph continues] I have seen the semblance of Derceto in Phœnicia, and a wonderful sight it is; one half is a woman, but
the part which extends from the thighs to the feet ends in a fish's tail. 26 The effigy, however, which is at Hierapolis is a complete woman. 27 The reasons for this story are plain to understand; they deem fishes holy objects, 28 and never touch them, while of birds they use
all but pigeons for food; the pigeon is in their eyes sacred. 29 It appears to them then that what we have described was done in honour of Derceto and Semiramis. The former, because Derceto has the form of a fish; the latter, because the lower half of Semiramis takes the form of a pigeon. I, however, should probably conclude that the temple in question belongs to Semiramis; that the shrine is Derceto's I can in no wise believe, since even amongst the Egyptians there are some who will not touch fish as food, and they certainly do not observe this restriction in favour of Derceto.
15. There is, however, another sacred story which I had from the lips of a wise man—that the goddess was Rhea, and the shrine the work of Attes. Now this Attes was by nation a Lydian, and he first taught the sacred mysteries of Rhea. 30 The ritual of the Phrygians and the Lydians and the Samothracians was entirely learnt from Attes. For when Rhea deprived him of his powers, he put off his manly garb and assumed the
appearance of a woman and her dress, 31 and roaming over the whole earth he performed his mysterious rites, narrating his sufferings and chanting the praises of Rhea. In the course of his wanderings he passed also into Syria. Now, when the men from beyond Euphrates would neither receive him nor his mysteries, 32 he reared a temple to himself on this very spot. The tokens of this fact are as follows: She is drawn by lions, she holds a drum in her hand and carries a tower on her head, just as the Lydians make Rhea to do. 33 He also affirmed that the Galli who are in the temple in no case castrate themselves in honour of Juno, but of Rhea, and this in imitation of Attes. All this seems to me more
specious than true, for I have heard a different and more credible reason given for their castration.
16. I approve of the remarks about the temple made by those who in the main accept the theories of the Greeks: according to these the goddess is Hera, but the work was carried out by Dionysus, 34 the son of Semele: Dionysus visited Syria on his journey to Aethiopia. There are in the temple many tokens that Dionysus was its actual founder: for instance, barbaric raiment, Indian precious stones, and elephants' tusks brought by Dionysus from the Aethiopians. Further, a pair of phalli of great size are seen standing in the vestibule, bearing the inscription, "I, Dionysus, dedicated these phalli to Hera my stepmother." This proof satisfies me. And I will describe another curiosity to be found in this temple, a sacred symbol of Dionysus. The Greeks erect phalli in honour of Dionysus, and on these they carry, singular to say, mannikins made of wood, with enormous pudenda; they call these puppets. There is this further curiosity in the temple: as you enter, on the right hand, a small brazen statue meets your eye of a man in a sitting posture, with parts of monstrous size.
17. These are the legends concerning the founders of the temple. I will proceed to speak of the edifice itself and its position: how it was built and who built it. They affirm that the temple as it exists now is not that which was built originally: the primitive temple fell to pieces in the course of time: the present one they say was the work of Stratonice, the wife of the king of the Assyrians. 35 This I take to be the Stratonice of whom her stepson was enamoured, and the skill of a doctor detected the intrigue: for the lover, overpowered by the malady of his passion, bewildered by the thought of his shameful caprice, lay sick in silence. He lay sick, and though no ache was in any limb, yet his colour was gone, and his frame was growing frailer day by day. The doctor, seeing that he was suffering from no definite disease, perceived that his malady was none other than love. Many are the symptoms of secret love: languor of vision, change in the voice and complexion, and frequent tears.
[paragraph continues] The doctor, aware of this, acted as follows: he laid his hand on the heart of the young man, and summoned all the domestics in the household. The patient remained tranquil and unmoved on the entrance of the rest, but when his stepmother carne in he grew pale and fell to sweating and trembling, and his heart beat violently. These symptoms betrayed his passion to the doctor.
18. The doctor proceeded to adopt the following cure: Summoning the young man's father, who was racked by anxiety, he explained to him that the young man's malady was no normal malady, but a wrongful action: "he has no painful symptoms; he is possessed by love and madness. He longs to possess what he will never obtain; he loves my wife, whom I will never give up." This was the trick of the wise physician. The father straightway begged the doctor by his prudence and professional skill not to let his son perish. "His malady depended not on his will; it was involuntary. Pray then do not you let your jealousy bring grief on the whole realm, and do not, dear doctor, draw unpopularity on your profession." Such was the unwitting father's request. The doctor replied: "Your request is scandalous. You would deprive me of my wife and outrage the honour of a medical man. I put it to you, what would be your conduct, since you are deprecating mine, if your wife were the object of his guilty love?" He replied that he would not spare his own wife nor would he begrudge his son his life, even though that son were enamoured of his own stepmother: losing one's wife was a less misfortune than losing one's son. The doctor on hearing this said: "Why then offer me these entreaties? In good truth, your wife is the object of his love. What I said to you was all a made-up story." The father
followed this advice, and handed over his wife and his kingdom to his son, and he himself departed into the region of Babylonia and founded a city on the Euphrates which bore his name: and there he died. Thus it was that our wise doctor detected and cured the malady.
19. Now this Stratonice, when still married to her former husband, saw in a vision Hera exhorting her to rear a temple to this goddess at Hierapolis. Should she neglect to obey, she was menaced by the goddess with manifold evils. The queen began by disregarding the dream, but later, when seized by a dangerous illness, she told the vision to her husband, and appeased Hera, and undertook to raise the temple. Hardly had she recovered when she was despatched by her husband to Hierapolis, and a large sum of money with her, and a large army too, partly to aid in the building operations and partly to ensure her safety. He summoned one of her friends called Combabus, a young man of handsome presence, and said, "Combabus, I know thee for an honest man, and of all my friends I love thee best, and I commend thee greatly alike for thy wisdom and for thy goodwill which thou hast shown to us. At the present moment I have need of all thy confidence, and thus I wish thee to accompany my wife, and to carry out my work, and to perform the sacrifices due, and to command my army. On my return great honour shall fall to thee. Combabus begged and prayed not to be despatched, and not to be entrusted with matters far above his powers—moneys, the lady, the holy work: not merely so, but he feared lest in the future some jealousy might make itself felt as to his relations with Stratonice, as he was unaccompanied should he consent to escort her.
20. The king, however, refused to be moved; so Combabus prayed as an alternative that a respite of
seven days might be granted him: after that interval he was willing to be despatched after attending to his immediate needs. On obtaining this respite, which was willingly granted, he departed to his house, and throwing himself on the ground, he thus deplored his lot: "Unhappy me! Why this confidence in myself? To what end is this journey, whose results I already see? I am young and the lady whom I escort is fair. This will prove a great and mighty disaster, unless I remove entirely the cause of the evil. Thus I must even perform a mighty deed which will heal all my fears." Saying this he unmanned himself, and he stowed away the mutilated pudenda in a little vessel together with myrrh and honey and spices of various sorts. He sealed this vessel up with a ring which lie wore; and finally he proceeded to dress his wound. As soon as he deemed himself fit to travel he made his way to the king, and before a large company reached the vessel forth and spoke as follows: "Master! This my most precious treasure was stored up in my house, and I loved it well: but now that I am entering on a long journey, I will set it in thy keeping. Do thou keep it well: for it is dearer to me than gold and more precious to me than life. On my return I shall receive it again." The king was pleased to receive the vessel, and after sealing it with another seal he entrusted it to his treasurers to keep.
21. So Combabus from this time forth continued his journey in peace. Arrived at Hierapolis they built the temple with all diligence, and three years passed while they were at their task. Meantime the event came to pass which Combabus had feared. Stratonice began to love him who had been her companion for so long a time: her love passed into an overpowering passion. Those of
[paragraph continues] Hierapolis affirm that Hera was the willing cause of this trouble: she knew full well that Combabus was an upright man, but she wished to wreak her wrath on Stratonice for her unwillingness to undertake the building of the temple.
22. The queen was at first coy and tried to hide her passion, but when her trouble left her no longer any repose, she openly displayed her irritation and wept the whole day long, and called out repeatedly for Combabus: Combabus was everything to her. At last, in despair at her impotency to master her passion, she sought a suitable occasion for supplicating his love. She was too cautious to admit her passion to a stranger, but her modesty prevented her from facing the situation. Finally she hits on this plan; that she should confront him after she should have drunk deeply of wine; for courage rises after drinking and a repulse seems then less degrading, and actions performed under the influence of wine are set down to ignorance. Thus she acted as she thought best. After supper she entered the chamber in which Combabus dwelt, and besought him, embracing his knees, and she avowed her guilty love. He heard her words with disgust and rejected her advances, reproaching her with drunkenness. She, however, threatened that she would bring on him a great calamity; on which he trembled, and he told her all his story and narrated all that he had done and finally disclosed to her the manifest proofs of his statement. When the queen witnessed this unexpected proof her passion indeed was quenched, but she never forgot her love, but in all her intercourse she cherished the solace of her unavailing affection. The memory of this love is still alive at Hierapolis and is maintained in this way; the women still are enamoured of the Galli, and the Galli again love the women with
passion; but there is no jealousy at all, and this love passes among them for a holy passion.
23. The king was well informed by Stratonice as to her doings at Hierapolis, for many who came thence brought the tale of her doings. The monarch was deeply moved by the tidings, and before the work was finished summoned Combabus to his presence. Others narrate with respect to this a circumstance wholly untrue; that Stratonice finding her prayers repulsed wrote with her own hand to her husband and accused Combabus of making an attempt upon her modesty; and what the Greeks allege about their Stheneboea and about Phaedra the Cnosian the Assyrians tell in the same way about Stratonice. For my part I do not believe that either Stheneboea nor Phaedra acted thus if Phaedra really loved Hippolytus. However, let the old version remain for what it is worth.
24. When, however, the news was brought to Hierapolis, Combabus took count of the charge and departed in a spirit of full confidence, conscious that the visible proof necessary for his defence had been left in the city his home. On his arrival the king immediately put him in prison under strict guard. Then in the presence of the friends of the accused who had been present when Combabus was commissioned to depart, the king summoned him into open court and began to accuse him of adultery and evil lust; and deeply moved, recounting the confidence he had reposed in his favourite and his long friendship, he arraigned Combabus on three distinct charges: first, that he was an adulterer, secondly, that he had broken his trust, finally, that he had blasphemed the goddess by acting thus while engaged in her service. Many of the bystanders bore witness against him, saying that they had seen the guilty pair embracing.
[paragraph continues] It was finally agreed that Combabus was worthy of death as his evil deeds had merited.
25. He had stood up to this point in silence, but as he was being led to his fate, he spoke out, and demanded the restoration of his pledge, affirming that he was to be killed not for rebellious conduct against his king, nor for any violation of the king's married life, but solely because of the king's eagerness to possess what he had deposited at the royal court at his departure. The king thereon summoned his treasurer and bade him bring forth what he had committed to his custody. On its production, Combabus removed the seal and displayed the contents of the vessel, and showed how he himself had suffered thereby; adding, "This is just what I feared, O King, when thou didst send me on that errand: I left with a heavy heart, and I did my duty, constrained by sheer necessity. I obeyed my lord and master to mine own undoing. Such as I am, I stand accused of a crime which none but a man in every sense could have committed. The king cried out in amazement at these words, embraced Combabus and said with tears, "What great ruin, Combabus, hast thou wrought upon thyself? What monstrous deed of ill hast thou, alone of men, wrought to thy sorrow? I cannot praise thee, rash spirit, for enduring to suffer this outrage; would that thou hadst never borne it; would that I had never seen its proofs! I needed not this thy defence. But since the deity bath willed it thus, I will grant thee, first and foremost, as thy revenge, the death of the informers: and next there shall follow a mighty gift, a store of silver and countless gold, and raiment of Assyria, and steeds from the royal stud. Thou shalt enter freely to us unannounced and none shall withstand thee: none shall keep thee from my sight, even
were I by my wife's side." Thus he spake, and thus he acted; the informers were led off straightway to their execution; Combabus was laden with gifts, and the king's attachment to him was increased. No one 6f the Assyrians was deemed equal in wisdom and in fortune to Combabus.
26. On his request that he might complete what was unfinished in the construction of the temple—for he had left it unfinished—he was despatched anew; and he completed the temple, and there he abode. To mark his sense of the virtue and good deeds of his architect, the king granted him a brazen statue of himself to stand in the temple of his construction. And even to the present day this brazen statue is seen standing in the temple, the work of Hermocles of Rhodes. Its form is that of a woman, but the garments are those of a man. 36 It is said, too, that his most intimate friends, as a proof of their sympathy, castrated themselves like him, and chose the same manner of life. Others there are who bring gods into the story and affirm that Combabus was beloved by Hera; and that it was she who inspired many with the idea of castrating themselves, so that her lover should not be the only one to lament the loss of his virility.
27. Meantime the custom once adopted remains even to-day, and many persons every year castrate themselves and lose their virile powers: whether it be out of sympathy with Combabus, or to find favour with Hera. They certainly castrate themselves, and then cease to wear man's garb; they don women's raiment and perform
women's tasks. 37 I have heard the origin of this ascribed to Combabus as well, for the following event occurred to him. A certain foreign woman who had joined a sacred assembly, beholding a human form of extreme beauty and dressed in man's attire, became violently enamoured of him: after discovering that he was unsexed, she took away her life. Combabus accordingly in despair at his incapacity for love, donned woman's attire, that no woman in future might be deceived in the same way. This is the reason of the female attire of the Galli. Enough of Combabus and his story: in the course of my story I shall make mention of the Galli, and of their castration, and of the methods employed to effect it, and of the burial rites wherewith they are buried, and the reasons why they have no ingress to the temple; but before this I am inclined to speak of the site of the temple and of its size: and so I will even speak.
28. The place whereon the temple is placed is a hill: 38 it lies nearly in the centre of the city, and is surrounded by a double wall. 39 Of the two walls the one is ancient;
the other is not much older than our own times. The entrance to the temple faces the north; its size is about a hundred fathoms. 40 In this entrance those phalli stand which Dionysus erected: 41 they stand thirty fathoms high.
[paragraph continues] Into one of these a man mounts twice every year, and he abides on the summit of the phallus for the space of seven days. The reason of this ascent is given as follows: The people believe that the man who is aloft holds converse with the gods, and prays for good fortune for the whole of Syria, and that the gods from their neighbourhood hear his prayers. Others allege that this takes place in memory of the great calamity of Deukalion's time, when men climbed up to mountain tops and to the highest trees, in terror of the mass of waters. To me all this seems highly improbable, and I think that they observe this custom in honour of Dionysus, and I conjecture this from the following fact, that all those who rear phalli to Dionysus take care to place mannikins of wood on the phalli; the reason of this I cannot say, but it seems to me that the ascent is made in imitation of the wooden mannikin.
29. To proceed, the ascent is made in this way; the man throws round himself and the phallus a small chain; afterwards he climbs up by means of pieces of wood attached to the phallus large enough to admit the end of his foot. As he mounts he jerks the chain up his own length, as a driver his reins. Those who have not seen this process, but who have seen those who have to climb palm trees in Arabia, or in Egypt, or any other place, will understand what I mean. When he has climbed to the top, he lets down a different chain, a long one, and drags up anything that he wants, such as wood, clothing, and vases; he binds these together and sits upon them, as it were, on a nest, and he remains there for the space of time that I have mentioned. Many
visitors bring him gold and silver, and some bring brass; then those who have brought these offerings leave them and depart, and each visitor gives his name. A bystander shouts the name up; and he on hearing the name utters a prayer for each donor; between the prayers he raises a sound on a brazen instrument which, on being shaken, gives forth a loud and grating noise. He never sleeps; for if at any time sleep surprises him, a scorpion creeps up and wakes him, and stings him severely; this is the penalty for wrongfully sleeping. This story about the scorpion is a sacred one, and one of the mysteries of religion; whether it is true I cannot say, but, as it seems to me, his wakefulness is in no small degree due to his fear of falling. So much then for the climbers of the phalli. As for the temple, it looks to the rising sun. 42
30. In appearance, and in workmanship, it is like the temples which they build in Ionia, the foundation rises from the earth to the space of two fathoms, and on this rests the temple. The ascent to the temple is built of wood and not particularly wide; as you mount, even the great hall exhibits a wonderful spectacle and it is ornamented with golden doors. The temple within is ablaze with gold and the ceiling in its entirety is golden. There falls upon you also a divine fragrance such as is attributed to the region of Arabia, which breathes on you with a refreshing influence as you mount the long steps, and even when you have departed this fragrance clings to you; nay, your very raiment retains long that sweet odour, and it will ever remain in your memory.
31. But the temple within is not uniform. A special
sacred shrine is reared within it; the ascent to this likewise is not steep, nor is it fitted with doors, but is entirely open as you approach it. The great temple is open to all; the sacred shrine to the priests alone and not to all even of these, but only to those who are deemed nearest to the gods and who have the charge of the entire administration of the sacred rites. In this shrine are placed the statues, one of which is Hera, the other Zeus, though they call him by another name. Both of these are golden, both are sitting; Hera is supported by lions, Zeus is sitting on bulls. The effigy of Zeus recalls Zeus in all its details—his head, his robes, his throne; nor even if you wished it could you take him for another deity. 43
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FIG. 7.—THE GOD AND GODDESS OF HIERAPOLIS.
(From a Coin of the 3rd cent. A.D.). Scale 2:1.
32. Hera, however, as you look at her will recall to you a variety of forms. Speaking generally she is undoubtedly Hera, but she has something of the attributes of Athene, and of Aphrodite, and of Selene, and of Rhea, and of Artemis, and of Nemesis, and of The Fates. In one of her hands she holds a sceptre, in the other a distaff; on her head she bears rays and a tower and she has a girdle wherewith they adorn none but Aphrodite of the sky. 44 And without she is gilt with gold, and gems of
great price adorn her, some white, some sea-green, others wine-dark, others flashing like fire. Besides these there are many onyxes from Sardinia and the jacinth and emeralds, the offerings of the Egyptians and of the Indians, Ethiopians, Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians. But the greatest wonder of all I will proceed to tell: she bears a gem on her head called a Lychnis; it takes its name from its attribute. From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of candles, but in the day-time the brightness grows faint; the gem has the likeness of a bright fire. There is also another
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FIG. 8.—THE PHRYGIAN GODDESS (KYBELE) IN THE WEST.
(From a Roman Lamp.)
marvel in this image: if you stand over against it, it looks you in the face, and as you pass it the gaze still follows you, and if another approaching from a different quarter looks at it, he is similarly affected.
33. Between the two there stands another image of gold, no part of it resembling the others. This possesses no special form of its own, but recalls the characteristics of other gods. The Assyrians themselves speak of it as a symbol, but they have assigned to it no definite name. They have nothing to tell us about its origin, nor its form: some refer it to Dionysus; others to Deukalion; others to Semiramis; for its summit is crowned by a golden pigeon, 45 and this is why they allege that it is the effigy of Semiramis. It is taken down to the sea twice in every year to bring up the water of which I have spoken. 46
34. In the body of the temple, as you enter, there stands on the left hand side, a throne for the Sun god; but there is no image upon it, for the effigies of the Sun and Moon are not exhibited. I have learnt, however, the reasons of this practice. They say that religion does not forbid making effigies of the other deities, for the outward form of these deities is known to all; but the Sun and Moon are plain for all to see, and all men behold them. What boots it, therefore, to make effigies of those deities who offer themselves for all to gaze on?
35. Behind this throne stands an effigy of Apollo of an unusual character. All other sculptors think of Apollo as a youth, and represent him in the flower of his age. These artificers alone exhibit the Apollo of their statuary as bearded. They justify their action, and criticise the Greeks and others who set up Apollo as a boy, and appease him in that guise. Their reason is that it is a mark of ignorance to assign imperfect forms to the gods, and they look on youth as imperfection. They have also introduced another strange novelty in sculpture: they, and they alone, represent Apollo as robed. 47
36. I have much to say about his works, and I will tell what is most worthy of admiration. First I will
speak of the oracle. There are many oracles among the Greeks, and many, too, among the Egyptians, and again in Libya and in Asia there are many too. But these speak not, save by the mouth of priests and prophets: this one is moved by its own impulse, and carries out the divining process to the very end. The manner of his divination is the following: When he is desirous of uttering an oracle, he first stirs in his seat, and the priests straightway raise him up. Should they fail to raise him up, he sweats, and moves more violently than ever.
[paragraph continues] When they approach him and bear him up, 48 he drives them round in a circle, and leaps on one after another. At last the high priest confronts him, and questions him on every subject. The god, if he disapproves of any action proposed, retreats into the background; if, however, he happens to approve it, he drives his bearers forward as if they were horses. It is thus that they gather the oracles, and they undertake nothing public or private without this preliminary. This god, too, speaks about the symbol, and points out when it is the due season for the expedition of which I spoke in connexion therewith.
37. I will speak of another wonder, too, which he performed in my presence. The priests were raising him aloft, but he left them on the ground, and was born aloft himself alone.
38. Behind Apollo is the statue of Atlas; 49 behind that, the statue of Hermes and Eilithyia.
39. Such, then, are the interior decorations of the temple; outside of it there stands a great altar of brass.
[paragraph continues] It contains also countless other brazen effigies of kings and priests. I will mention those which seem most worthy of remembrance. To the left of the temple stands the image of Semiramis, pointing with her right hand to the temple. That image was erected to commemorate the following occurrence: The queen had issued a decree that all the Syrians should worship her as a deity, adding that they were to take no count of the others, not excepting even Hera; and they obeyed her decree. Afterwards, however, when disease and misfortune and grief were inflicted on her, she calmed down from her frenzied infatuation, and avowed herself a mere mortal, and ordered her subjects to turn again to Hera. This is why she stands to-day in this posture, pointing out Hera as the goddess whose grace is to be won, and confessing that she is not a goddess, but that Hera is indeed such.
40. I saw also the effigy of Helen, and of Hecuba, and of Andromache, and of Paris, and of Achilles. I saw also the statue of Nireus, the son of Aglaia, and of Philomela and Procne while yet women, and Tereus changed into a bird; and another effigy of Semiramis and one of Combabus and one of Stratonice of special beauty, and one of Alexander like to this. Sardanapalus stands by his side in a different form and in a different garb.
41. In the great court oxen of great size browsed horses, too, are there, and eagles and bears and lions, who never hurt mankind but are all sacred and all tame. 50
42. Many priests also are in attendance, some of whom sacrifice the victims, others bring libations, others are called fire-bearers, and others altar attendants. In my presence more than 300 of these were present at a sacrifice; all had vestments of white and wore caps on their heads. Every year a new high priest is appointed. 51 He, and he alone, is clad in purple and crowned with a golden tiara.
43. Besides this there is another multitude of holy men, pipers, flute players, 52 and Galli; and women frenzied and fanatic. 53
44. A sacrifice is offered up twice every day, and they are all present at this: To Zeus they sacrifice in silence, neither chanting nor playing, but when they sacrifice to Hera they sing, they pipe, and shake rattles. About this ceremony they could tell me nothing certain. 54
45. There is too a lake 55 in the same place, not far
from the temple in which many sacred fishes of different kinds are reared. 56 Some of these grow to a great size; they are called by names, and approach when called. I saw one of these ornamented with gold, and on its back fin a golden design was dedicated to the temple. I have often seen this fish, and he certainly carried this design.
46. The depth of the lake is immense. I never tested it myself, but they say that it is in depth more than 200 fathoms. In the midst of this lake stands an altar of stone. You would think at first sight that it was floating and moving in the water, and many deem that it is so. The truth seems to me that it is supported by a column of great size, based on the bottom of the lake. It is always decked with ribbons, and spices are therein, and many every day swim in the lake with crowns on their heads performing their acts of adoration.
47. At this lake great assemblies meet, and these are called descents into the lake because all their deities go down into this lake, amongst whom Hera 57 first advances
so that Zeus may not see the fish first, for if this were to happen they say that one and all would perish. And Zeus comes indeed intending to see these fish, but she, standing before him, keeps hint at bay, and with many supplications holds him off.
48. But the greatest of these sacred assemblies are those held on the sea coast. 58 About these, however, I have nothing certain to say. I was never present at their celebrations, nor did I undertake the journey thither; but I did see what they do on their return, and I will at once tell you. Each member of the assembly carries a vessel full of water. The vessels are sealed with wax; those who carry the water do not unseal the vessels and then pour out the water; but there is a certain holy cock 59 who dwells hard by the lake. This bird, on
receiving the vessels from the bearers, inspects the seal, and after receiving a reward for this action he breaks the thread and picks away the wax, and many minae are collected by the cock by this operation. After this the bearers carry the water into the temple and pour it forth, and they depart when the sacrifice is finished.
49. The greatest of the festivals that they celebrate is that held in the opening of spring; some call this the Pyre, others the Lamp. On this occasion the sacrifice is performed in this way. They cut down tall trees and set them up in the court; then they bring goats and sheep and cattle and hang them living to the trees; they add to these birds and garments and gold and silver work. After all is finished, they carry the gods around the trees and set fire under; 60 in a moment all is in a blaze. To
this solemn rite a great multitude flocks from Syria and all the regions around. Each brings his own god and the statues which each has of his own gods.
50. On certain days a multitude flocks into the temple, and the Galli in great numbers, sacred as they are, perform the ceremonies of the men and gash their arms and turn their backs to be lashed. 61 Many bystanders play on the pipes the while many beat drums; others sing divine and sacred songs. All this performance takes place outside the temple, and those engaged in the ceremony enter not into the temple.
51. During these days they are made Galli. As the Galli sing and celebrate their orgies, frenzy falls on many of them and many who had come as mere spectators afterwards are found to have committed the great act. I will narrate what they do. Any young man who has resolved on this action, strips off his clothes, and with a loud shout bursts into the midst of the crowd, and picks up a sword from a number of swords which I suppose have been kept ready for many years for this purpose. He takes it and castrates himself 62 and then runs wild through the city, bearing in his hands what he has cut off. He casts it into any house at will, and from
this house he receives women's raiment and ornaments. 63 Thus they act during their ceremonies of castration.
52. The Galli, when dead, are not buried like other men, but when a Gallus dies his companions carry him out into the suburbs, and laying him out on the bier on which they had carried him they cover him with stones, and after this return home. They wait then for seven days, after which they enter the temple. Should they enter before this they would be guilty of blasphemy.
53. The laws which they observe are the following: Anyone who has seen a corpse may not enter the temple the same day; but afterwards, when he has purified himself, he enters. But those who are of the family of the corpse wait for thirty days, and after shaving their heads they enter the temple, but before they have done this it is forbidden.
54. They sacrifice bulls and cows alike and goats and sheep; 64 pigs alone, which they abominate, are neither sacrificed nor eaten. Others look on swine without disgust, but as holy animals. 65 Of birds the dove seems
the most holy to them, 66 nor do they think it right to harm these birds, and if anyone have harmed them
unknowingly they are unholy for that day, and so when the pigeons dwell with the men they enter their rooms and commonly feed on the ground.
55. I will speak, too, about those who come to these sacred meetings and of what they do. As soon as a man comes to Hierapolis he shaves his head and his eyebrows; 67 afterwards he sacrifices a sheep 68 and cuts up its flesh and eats it; he then lays the fleece on the ground, places his knee on it, but puts the feet and head of the animal on his own head and at the same time he prays that the gods may vouchsafe to receive him, and he promises a greater victim hereafter. When this is performed he crowns his head with a garland and the heads of all those engaged in the same procession. Starting from his house he passes into the road, previously bathing himself and drinking cold water. He always sleeps on the ground, for he may not enter his bed till the completion of his journey.
56. In the city of Hierapolis a public host receives him, suspecting nothing, for there are special hosts attached to each city, and these receive each guest according to his country. These are called by the Assyrians teachers, because they teach them all the solemn rites.
57. They sacrifice victims not in the temple itself, but when the sacrificer has placed his victim at the altar and poured a libation 69 he brings the animal home alive, and returning to his own house he slays his victim and utters prayers.
58. There is also another method of sacrifice, as follows: They adorn live victims with ribbons and throw them headlong down from the temple's entrance, and these naturally die after their fall. Some actually throw their own children down, not as they do the cattle, but they sew them into a sack and toss them down, visiting them with curses and declaring that they are not their children, but are cows. 70
59. They all tattoo themselves—some on the hands
and some on the neck—and so it comes that all the Assyrians bear stigmata. 71
60. They have another curious custom, in which they agree with the Trœzenians alone of the Greeks. I will explain this too. The Trœzenians have made a law for their maidens and youths alike never to marry till they have dedicated their locks to Hippolytus; and this they do. It is the same at Hierapolis. The young men dedicate the first growth on their chin, then they let down the locks of the maidens, which have been sacred from their birth; they then cut these off 72 in the temple and place them in vessels, some in silver vessels, some in gold, and after placing these in the temple and inscribing the name on the vessel they depart. I performed this act myself when a youth, and my hair remains still in the temple, with my name on the vessel.
41:1 Identified with the ruins of modern Mumbidj, on a route from Aleppo to the junction of the Sajur River with the Euphrates, from which point it is distant 14½ miles (23 kilometres). Cf. Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog.—HIERAPOLIS. The distance accords with that given by a fifth century pilgrim, ? Etheria [Silvia]; cf. Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat., xxxix. p. 61, cited by Hogarth, Jour. Hell. Stud., xiv. (1907-8), p. 183. Strabo (xvi. i. 28) gives the distance as four schœni from the river. For early explorers' descriptions of the site, see quotations in the Appendix, pp. 92-95. Many of the fine remains of Roman, Saracenic, Seljukian and Moslem times are now in ruins, but the sacred lake and other features are still to be seen (see note 55).
41:2 Cf. § 31. By the words "Assyrian Hera" Lucian tersely identifies the goddess and distinguishes her attributes:—"Hera," because mated (§ 31) to a "Zeus ", "Assyrian," because she is to be distinguished from the classical conception of the deity. For this use of the term Assyrian in the sense of North Syrian (or Aramaean), cf. Rob.-Smith, Eng. Hist. Rev., 1887, pp. 312, 313; and note Lucian's reference to himself below as an "Assyrian born." On the name of the goddess, Atargatis, which appears on local coins and is mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, Macrobius, etc., see Introduction, pp. 1, 21; and note 25 below.
41:3 Its name in Hittite and subsequent Assyrian period has not been recognised. "Bambyce" seems to be the earliest name substantiated, and it came to be called "Hierapolis" ("the sacred city") by the Greeks. Strabo (xvi. i. 28) mentions another name, Edessa, but this is an obvious error. Pliny states that the local Syrian name was Mabog, Nat. Hist. v. 23 (19), § 81 (Ed. Detlefsen).
42:4 "An Assyrian born"—actually born about A.D. 125 at Samsat, on the Euphrates. The place in Hittite times, of which there are traces [cf. Land of the Hittites (hereafter cited L. H.), pp. 130, 131; Corp. Inscr. Hit. (1900), p. 14, pl. xvii.; Humann and Puchstein, Reisen, Atlas, pl. xlix. 1-3], was on the Mitannian and later the Assyrian frontier, and by the Assyrians several times attacked, as in 1120 B.C. and again about 885 B.C. About 750 B.C. it was in possession of the Vannic kings, and it was finally annexed to the Assyrian empire about 743 B.C. Nineveh fell to the Medes in 606. After the period of Persian domination it became first capital of the province of Commagene in the Greek kingdom of Syria. The district was later ruled by independent princes of Seleucid extraction. Subsequently the seat of government was transferred to Hierapolis.
42:5 Archæological research hardly bears out this statement. Cf. inter alia Hilprecht, Exploration in Bible Lands (1903); King and Hall, Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of Recent Discoveries (1907). Cf. Herodotus, ii. 2 et seq.
43:6 Hercules of Tyre. Cf. Herodotus, ii. 44, who records the local tradition that the temple was 2,300 years old, and convinced himself that this Hercules was a god of very great antiquity. Rawlinson (Hist. of Phœnicia, p. 330) points out his identity with Melkarth, who originally represented one aspect of Baal. Similarly the Hittite god represented in the rock sculpture at Ivriz in Asia Minor (L. H., pl. lvii. and pp. 192-195) was identified by the Greeks with Hercules; and is recognised by Frazer (Adonis, Attis and Osiris, p. 97) as identical with the Baal of Tarsus. Cf. also Ramsay, Luke the Physician, pp. 171-179, and a note in his Pauline and other Studies, pp. 172-173, and note 47 below.
43:7 The Phœnician Astarte [‘Astart], the goddess of productivity in Nature, particularly in the animal world, and hence the guardian of births. Like the Dea Syria, she is differentiated only by local custom or tradition from other aspects of the Mother-goddess. As the natural consort and counterpart of Baal, who embodied the generative principle, "bringing all things to life everywhere," and thus regarded as the sun-god, she was queen of heaven, and hence the moon-goddess. Another symbolism connected with the p. 44 legend which follows makes her the Cow-goddess in relation to the Bull-god. Cf. Robertson-Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 477. These purely feminine attributions reflect a patriarchal state of society, with the male god dominant. (Cf. the interesting remarks by Rob. Smith in the Eng. Hist. Rev., 1887, p. 316.) Among the Greeks and Romans, who recognised in Baal their Zeus or Jupiter, the goddess appeared most like to Aphrodite or Venus, whose prototype she was. She is the Ashtoreth for whom Solomon erected a shrine (2 Kings, ii. 5, 33), which was defiled by Josiah (2 Kings, xxiii. 13), who "brake in pieces the images and cut down the groves." In cult and in name she is the local form of the Babylonian Ishtar, see Introduction, pp. 1, 16.
44:8 Cf. Herodotus, i. 4, iv. 45; Pausanias, vii. 4, i.; ix. 19, i., etc.
44:9 Zeus, as a bull-god; see also the allusion in § 31, where the "Zeus" of Hierapolis is represented sitting on bulls, as a counterpart to the goddess who is seated on lions. For the identification of the Hittite "Zeus" with the bull, see Introduction, pp. 5, 10; and Figs. 2, 3; cf. Fig. 7.
45:10 Cf. "The city stood on a height a little distance from the sea" (Strabo, xvi. ii. 18). The temple is figured on coins from the site (see our illustration, Fig. 6; and cf. Hill on "Some Græco-Phœnician Shrines," in Jour. Hell. Stud., xxxi., 1911, pl. iii., No. 16, etc.). The outer court was approached by steps, and its interior was screened to view from without. It had a façade of columns, and was enclosed by a pilastered wall or cloister. It was open to the sky and a conical obelisk rising from the interior symbolised the cult. The sanctuary was raised by a further flight of steps; its approach was ornamented with pilasters, cornice and pediment, and a roof protected the altar and shrine within (cf. Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire, iii. 60, Engl. transl. Phœn., p. 61; Rawlinson, Phœnicia, p. 146; Evans, Mykenæan Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 40; Frazer, Adonis, p. 11, note 1, with bibl.). The temples at Hierapolis and at Carchemish were similarly approached by steps.
45:11 Differing, if at all, only by local attributes from the Sidonian Astarte. Cf. Cicero, De natura deorum, iii. 23, 59; also see, for a useful summary of the argument, Bennett, Relig. Cults associated with the Amazons (New York, 1912), p. 50.
45:12 For the myth of Adonis, with bibl., see Frazer, Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, Ch. i. p. 46 The legend of the wild boar does not survive in the story of Tammuz, but it appears in one version of the death of Attis. It suggests a totemistic origin.
46:13 Cf. §§ 55 and 60 below. On the custom of hair-offering among the Semites, cf. Robertson-Smith, Relig. Semites, p. 325 ff.; also Frazer, Adonis, etc., p. 34.
46:14 A custom of similar character commonly attached itself to the worship of the Great Mother in her various forms (cf. Herod. i. 199; Strabo, xv. i. 20), being regarded as an honourable devotion to her service (Strabo, xi. xiv. 16); it was obligatory in Lydia (Herodotus, i. 93). Cf., inter alia, Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 94, 115; Cumont, in Pauly's Real-Encyclopädie (Wissowa), 1901, iv., DEA SYRIA, col. 2242; Frazer, Fortnightly Review, Dec., 1904, p. 985. For the survival of the custom on old Hittite sites, cf. Strabo, xii. iii. 32, 34, 36; ibid. ii. 3, etc.). Belin de Ballu, Œuvres de Lucien, v. p. 141, n. 1, cites a similar custom obligatory before marriage (Chez les Angiles, peuples d’Afrique, dont parla Pomponius Méla, liv. I, ch. 8). Cf. also p. 46 the comprehensive review of the question by Farnell, Greece and Babylon, p. 269 ff, and the valuable résumé by Cumont in his Religions Orientales, p. 319, n. 41. The significance of the connection with a stranger as a relic of exogamy is discussed by Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de l’Art, Phénicie, pp. 258-261, and developed by S. Reinach, Myth. Cultes, I. (1905), p. 79. But cf. Frazer, Adonis, etc., p. 50 ff.
47:15 The apparent identity is discussed by Frazer, Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, pp. 357, etc. Prof. Newberry tells us that there are instructive points of relationship traceable in the early evidences of the Cult of Osiris in Egypt. The familiar conception of Osiris, however, as King of the Dead, is, in our opinion, traceable to ancestor- and king-worship.
47:16 Cf. Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, pp. 12-20 et seq. The legend is rendered by Frazer, op. cit., pp. 270-273.
47:17 The Adonis, or Nahr Ibrahim, is a short river flowing down from the Lebanon through precipitous gorges rich in foliage, and entering the sea just south of Gebal (Byblos), a p. 48 short distance only northwards from Beyrout. All visitors are impressed by the grandeur and beauty of its valley, particularly in the higher reaches.
48:18 Cf. Maundrell, Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, (1699, 6th edit., p. 35), March 17: "The water was stained to a surprising redness, and as we observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain."
48:19 This is the correct explanation.
49:20 Probably at Aphaca, now Afka, near the source of the Nahr Ibrahim, where the cult was maintained until the time of Constantine, who destroyed the shrine owing to the licentious nature of the orgies in vogue (Eusebius, Vita Constantina, iii. 55). At the present day little survives of the ancient buildings except some Roman ruins.
49:21 This widespread tribute to the shrine of Hierapolis at once reveals the Dea Syria as an aspect of the Great Mother, who under various names was worshipped in the several countries mentioned by Lucian, namely, in Arabia as ‘Athtar [a male equivalent, vide Robertson-Smith, Relig. Semites, p. 58], in Phœnicia as ‘Astart (Ashtoreth), in Babylonia and Assyria (in varying characters) as Ishtar. Hierapolis, with its hordes of pilgrims, its living worship and frenzied ceremonies, must have been like the Mecca of to-day.
51:22 This version of the deluge, though associated by Lucian's Greek informants with Deucalion, is clearly of eastern origin, having little resemblance to the Greek legend, and much in common with the Babylonian versions, viz., the story of Xisuthros, recorded by Berosus, and partly preserved; the legend of Tsīt-napishtim in the epic of Gilgamesh, preserved on seventh century tablets from the library of Assurbanipal (and independently appearing on tablets of a king of the first dynasty of Babylon, dating from about 2I00 B.C.); and lastly with the Biblical story of Noah in Genesis. A fundamental difference is that in the Greek legend only Deucalion and Pyrrha were saved, and mankind was subsequently renewed miraculously in response to the oracle of Themis. Lucian's account of the animals coming in couples has its parallel in the Babylonian text: "With all living seed of every kind I filled it, . . . the cattle of the field, and the beasts of the field, . . . all of them I brought in" (transl. by King, Babylonian Religion, p. 132. q.v.).
52:23 For a further reference to this custom, see § 48. "The Sea" in this regard is to be interpreted as the Euphrates River, as explained by Philostratus, Vita Apol., i. 20; of. Rob. Smith, Engl. Hist. Rev., 1887, p. 312.
52:24 Semiramis, mythical founder with Ninus of Nineveh; daughter of the fish goddess Derceto; confused in myth or identified with Ishtar (Astarte). The legends of Semiramis are given by Diodorus (ap. Ctesias), II. i. The historical character of Semiramis and her identity with Sammuṙamat, wife of Samsi-Adad (c. B.C. 820)—son of the Assyrian king Shalmeneser II.—mother of Adad-nirari III., and the development of the myth from historical origins, have been recently demonstrated by Lehmann-Haupt, "Die Hist. Semiramis and ihre Zeit" (D. O. G., Publ. Tübingen, 1910), on the basis of a new inscription of hers found at Assur, together with that from Nimroud, in which her name appears. The student will find early but instructive contributions on the subject by Rob.-Smith and Sayce in the Engl. Hist. Rev., 1887, p. 303, and 1888, p. 504.
52:25 Derceto, identified with Atargatis by Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 19; indeed, the two names are linguistically similar. That Atargatis was the name of the goddess worshipped at Hierapolis is stated by Strabo (xvi. i. 27), and confirmed by the local coins and other sources (see Introduction, p. 21, and note 57). Atargatis, according to the p. 53 scholiast on Germanicus' "Aratus," was of local origins, being born in the Euphrates, like Aphrodite from the foam of the sea. (Cf. Rob.-Smith, Relig. Semites, p. 175, and notes on § 45 below.) The name Atargatis is a compound of ATHAR (Phœn. ‘Astart, Heb. ‘Ashtoreth) with ‘ATTI or ‘ATTAH (vide Kœnig in Hasting's Abrig. Dict., p. 70 b); or in Aramaic ‘AT̅H̅AR and ‘AT̅H̅E (cf. Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i., 1st ed., p. 246, § 205 ff). Frazer (Adonis, etc., pp. 529, 130) points out that the compound according to this derivation includes the name of the Cilician goddess ‘Atheh, consort of Baal, as well as that of Astarte or Ishtar, amounting thus to Ishtar-Atheh, the latter being presumably a Cilician aspect of the former. Thus far there is no difficulty; but Pliny further describes the goddess as "monstrous" (prodigiosa), and his identification with Derceto suggests the familiar fish goddess of Askalon. Moreover, travellers have seen local representations of the characteristic "mermaid" form (see note 26). Yet in what follows Lucian is careful to distinguish Derceto from the "Hera" of Hierapolis, who is seated on a lion-throne (§ 31), and never assumes any fish-like or other monstrous aspect on the local coins. (Cf. also Dussaud, in Rev. Archéologique, 5904, ii. p. 258.) Assuming the identity of Atargatis with Derceto to be correct, it is more consistent with Lucian's observations (§§ I, 14-16, 31, 32), and with the argument developed in our Introduction, to see embodied in Atargatis that local aspect of the great Nature-goddess that typified the productive powers of waters (in generating fishes, etc.), and that in this capacity she was accorded at Hierapolis a separate shrine and rites, which none the less formed a part of the general worship of the Universal Mother. It is interesting to speculate how all strains of evidence would be reconciled and explained if it could be shown that "Atheh" was really a local fish-goddess. On the whole question, see further Cumont, "Dea Syria," in Pauly's Real-Encyclopädie (Wissowa), 1901, iv., col. 2236, ff.
54:26 Cf. Maundrell, Journey from Aleppo to the Euphrates (1699), relates that he saw "on the side of a large well a stone with three figures carved on it, in Basso Relievo. They were two Syrens, which, twining their fishy tails together, made a seat, on which was placed sitting a naked woman, her arms and the Syrens on each side mutually entwined" (Appendix, p. 91). This sculpture was apparently seen also by Pocock, who describes it as a stone about four feet long and three wide, on which there was a relief of two winged persons holding a sheet behind a woman, a little over her head; they seem to carry her on their fishy tails which join together, and were probably designed to represent the Zephyrs, carrying Venus to the sea (quoted in the Appendix, p. 93).
Other famous Syrian shrines of Derceto were at Carnion and Askelon, and at the latter also her effigy represented a mermaid (Hastings, Abr. Dict., p. 70). On the general subject, see Cumont, in Pauly's Real-Ency., "Dea Syria," iv., col. 2237; Robertson-Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 174-5; also Dussaud, op. cit., p. 243.
54:27 We take this to refer to the effigy of the Dea Syria (vide § 31, etc.). We must not forget, however, the small figure of the naked goddess supported by "mermaids" noticed by Maundrell and Pocock.
54:28 Cf. § 45, and see note 56. The origins of this custom are interestingly discussed by Cumont, Les Religions Orientales, p. 357, note 36, where he quotes Ramsay in support of his contention that the poor quality of the fish was the underlying cause of this apparent "totemic prohibition." But see Dussaud, Rev. Arch., 1904, ii. 247. See also Belin de Ballu, in his Œuvres de Lucien (Paris, 1789), p. 149, note 2. Ancient superstitions and uses are recited by Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxii. 16.
55:30 RHEA.—Not the Cretan goddess (Diod. v. 66), but Kybele, with whom the Greeks settled in Asia Minor identified her (Strabo, x. iii. 15; Farnell, Cults, iii. vi.). For the Minoan goddess, see especially Evans, The Palace of Knossos, Annual British School at Athens (1900-1901), pp. 29, 30; and his Mykenæan Tree and Pillar Cult, § 22. On the cult of the goddess in Asia Minor, see especially Ramsay, in numerous works (Bibl. L. H., pp. 393-4), e.g., Jour. R. Asiatic Soc., 1883, and in Hastings' Dict. Bib., extra vol., p. 122 ff. The points of resemblance to Atargatis, and the relationship of both with the Hittite goddess, are discussed in our Introduction, pp. 20, 26, and note 69. (Cf. also Farnell, Greece and Babylon, pp. 62-63.) On the cult transferred to Italy, see Cumont, Oriental Relig. in Rom. Pag., 1911, p. 46 ff., and our Illustration, Fig. 8, p. 72.
56:31 See also §§ 27, 51. Cf. the legends that Dionysus received woman's clothes from Rhea at Cybela (Apollod. iii. v. 1); and that Hercules, having yielded up his weapons, including his axe, received woman's dress from Omphale (Ovid, Fasti, ii. 305 ff; Diodorus, iv. ii.; etc.).
56:32 It is instructive to note that the Mitannians, who occupied the eastern side of the Euphrates in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C., though in some way related to the Hittites, embraced ethnic elements whose deities were radically different, including the Vedic cycle, Mithras, Varuna, etc. Cf. Winckler, Milted. d. Deut. Orient. Ges., No. 35 (Dec., 1907), p. 51 (transl. Williams, Liv. Ann. Arch., iv. p. 93, Extract xxiv.). In post-Hittite times the increasing tendency to local development must have emphasised the distinction between the Assyrian and the Phrygian conceptions of the goddess.
56:33 Cf. § 32, etc., where Lucian states that she holds a sceptre in one hand and a distaff in the other, and illustration, p. 70. The "tower on her head," i.e., mural crown, emblematic of the goddess as protectress of her cities, is an invariable feature on all but the latest coins, where it sometimes degenerates (see Frontispiece, Nos. r, 8). Compare the chief Hittite goddess (see Fig. 1), and Kybele or Rhea (Fig. 8, p. 72), who is described as turrita by Lucretius.
57:34 Cf. Diod., iv. (i.). On the cult of Dionysus, cf. Farnell, Cults, v. His legends, rites and mysteries largely borrowed from Asia Minor (Furtwängler in Roscher's Lexikon). Identified with Attis and Adonis by Socrates and Plutarch; and with Osiris also by Herodotus (cf. Frazer, op. cit., p. 357). Macrobius recognises all four as sun-gods.
On the further reference to mannikins, see Hartmann, "Ein Phallobates," in Jahrbuch d. K. Deut. Archä. Inst., xxvii., 1912 (i.), p. 54. For this reference we are indebted to Professor Bosanquet. Dragendorff seems to us to rightly doubt this writer's chief inference (loc. cit. in an editorial note at the end).
58:35 The stories of Stratonice and of Combabus which follow, §§ 17-25, are not of special interest. They seem to include garbled local details from the legends of Istar and Tammuz, and to be introduced as the fulfilment of Lucian's wish to explain the origin of emasculation and other customs among the Galli (see end of § 15). None the less, Stratonice is a recognisable historical character, wife of Seleucus Nicator (of Antioch), at the close of the third century B.C., and Movers (i., p. 687) has urged the identity of Combabus with the god of Hierapolis. On the resemblance of the name to the Elamite Khumbaba, cf. Ungnad, D. Gilgamesch-Epos, p. 77, n. For this reference we are indebted to Professor Lehmann-Haupt. Six (Num. Chron., 1878, p. 117) explains the main feature of Lucian's story in these words: ". . . la reine se fit initier aux actes religieux; et prit part aux cérémonies que célébraient les Syriens en l’honneur de leur déesse."
65:36 It would be inconsistent with what Lucian says in § 27 and elsewhere on the dress of the Galli to believe that this brazen statue really represented Combabus. His description suggests rather the figure of an Amazon.
66:37 Cf. § 15 and, especially, § 51 below.
66:38 The exact position is now a matter of doubt (see the extracts in the Appendix (p. 94) and Hogarth in Jour. Hell. Stud., xiv. p. 189). Pocock says: "About two hundred paces within the east gate there is raised ground, on which probably stood a temple of the Syrian goddess Atargatis. . . . I conjectured it to be about 200 feet in front. . . . I observed a low wall running from it to the gate . . . (cf. note 42, § 29). It is probable that all the space north of the temple belonged to it."
66:39 So the wall surrounding the royal Syro-Hittite city of Senjerli was doubled (Von Luschan and others, Ausgr. in Sendschirli, Berlin, 1893, etc.); likewise that of the Hittite township on Songrus Eyuk at Sakje Geuzi (Liv. Annals of Arch. v. 65). No traces of the original walls of Hierapolis p. 67 remain: those described by our earliest travellers seem to be of Byzantine type. [See Appendix, pp. 91, 93, 96.]
67:40 The ὄργυια = 4 πήχεις, i.e., 6 feet 1 inch. There is some general correspondence between the details supplied by Lucian and by Pocock. If the latter rightly judged the position we may infer that the temple was 600 feet in length, with a frontage of about 200 feet.
67:41 Above, § 16. Similarly twin pillars were erected in the temple of Hercules at Tyre (Herodotus, ii. 44), and in the temple of Solomon at Jerusalem (1 Kings, vii. 15, 21), "eighteen cubits high apiece right and left of the porch." At Paphos it would appear from the coins that single pillars stood in the side chapels as well as the twin pillars and cone in the sanctuary. Gold models from Mykenæ show pairs of horns at the base and top of such pillars (Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Excavations, p. 199, fig. 183), suggesting emblems of generative power, and hence in this sense a phallic motive. On top of the horns is the dove, the emblem of the Goddess Mother. The question of original motive, however, is controversial. Cf. Evans, "Mykenæan Tree and Pillar Cult" (Jour. Hell. Stud., 1907, pp. 99-203); Ramsay, "Relig. of Asia Minor," in Hastings' Dict. Bible, extra vol., p. 111; and the phallic character is disputed by Rob.-Smith, Relig. Sem., p. 457. For the pillar cult in Asia Minor, see Ramsay, loc. cit. The pillar does not appear on Hittite mural decoration; but there is a remarkable monument at Fassiler, in Asia Minor, nearly 8 yards high, the width narrowing from 8 yards at the bottom to 1 yard at the top. Upon the base is carved a group showing a great figure upon two lions, with a smaller figure between the latter. The design has obvious Hittite characteristics, but the execution is crude (Ramsay, Cities of St. Paul, p. 134, fig. 7; L. H. pp. 175-176).
This class of emblem is to be distinguished from the sacred p. 68 cones of the goddess in Syria and Asia Minor, such as are found at Mallus, Perga, Byblus, etc., cf. Fig. 6, p. 45.
69:42 cf. § 28, where Lucian says that the entrance faced the north.
70:43 See the design upon the remarkably instructive coin p. 71 now at Vienna, reproduced in Fig. 7. On the identification of "Hera," the lion goddess, and "Zeus," the bull-god, in the Hittite pantheon, see Introduction, pp. 8 ff., and Figs. 2, 3, 4. Macrobius speaks of them as "Hadad" and "Atargatis," names confirmed by inscriptions found at Delos (see p. 25). Lucian's description of the sanctuary, with its common shrine of "Hera" and "Zeus," and the details by which he distinguishes these deities, form the basis of our argument in the Introduction (pp. 11, 23, 27), that this god and goddess are identical with the chief Hittite male and female deities, who are "mated" in the sculptures at Yasily Kaya. The historical inference is that the origins of the temple date from the period of Hittite supremacy; and this conclusion is in seeming agreement with what Lucian says in § 17 of the antiquity of the original temple. Subsequently, as the Hittite power declined, their god lost predominance, and the cult of the Mother Goddess developed its local tendencies. The rites and institutions in the worship at Hierapolis which Lucian now proceeds to describe are naturally those of his own time, but here and there (as in §§ 44, 47) traces of the original dual nature of the cult may be detected.
71:44 This description of the effigy distinguishes the original goddess from the naked or partly clad goddess, with hands to her breasts, with which she is commonly identified in later symbolism and modern interpretation. It accords, moreover, well with the pictures of the goddess upon coins, on which she is always fully clothed and usually girdled. p. 72 (See Introduction, p. 15; also Frontispiece and Figs. 5, 7.) For a familiar aspect of Rhea (Kybele) see our illustration, Fig. 8, taken from a Roman lamp, published in Smith's Small. Class. Dict.—RHEA. A similar design appears on several lamps in the British Museum. For the girdle in Hittite art, see L. H., p. 112 (Marash), p. 527 (Carchemish), etc.
73:45 This object, "with characteristics of the other gods," etc., is hardly explained by the later structure of Roman character which appears upon the coin of the third century A.D. (cf. Fig.7, and p. 23); but in sculptures at Fraktin in Southern Asia Minor (L. H., xlvii.) there are two groups. In the one there is a shrine and image of a god, whom a warrior-priest seems to be worshipping. In the other the Great Mother is enthroned, with a priestess pouring out an oblation before her. In each case between the deity and the worshipper there rises a special form of altar, with pedestal and flat round top (see Fig. 4, p. 24). The pedestal takes the form of a human body, from waist downwards, being swathed by many cross folds of a fringed cloth or garment. Upon the top is perched a dove or pigeon. The bird appears similarly placed on a similar altar at Yarre (Crowfoot, Jour. Hell. Stud. xix., 1899, fig. 4, pp. 40-45). The altar is shown conventionally at Eyuk (see Fig. 3). For the dove in Hittite symbolism, see note 65, and Introduction, pp. 14, 15.
73:46 See above, § 13, and below, § 48.
74:47 It may reasonably be suspected that the empty throne for the sun-god (§ 34) was in reality an altar to this "bearded and robed Apollo." It is also clear that Lucian regards this form of the god as native; and it is of interest to consider what Oriental or Syrian deity is indicated, and for what reasons he became identified in the Greek mind with Apollo.
In the first place it is important to recall a passage from Macrobius, which amplifies Lucian's account and seems to confirm our surmise. In the Saturnalia (I. xvii. §§ 66, 67) he says: "The Hierapolitans, a Syrian people, assign all the powers and attributes of the sun to a bearded image which they call Apollo. His face is represented with a long p. 75 pointed beard, and he wears a calathos on his head. His body is protected with a breastplate. In his right hand he holds upright a spear, on the top of which is a small image of Victory; in his left is something like a flower. From the top of his shoulders there hangs down behind a cloak bordered with serpents. . . . Near him are eagles, represented as in flight: at his feet is the image of a woman, with two other female forms right and left; a dragon enfolds them with his coils." With the last sentence of this extract we are not concerned: it possibly refers to features of the shrine added since Lucian's days. We are left then with the conception of a native solar divinity, bearded and robed, and identified on general grounds with Apollo. Why, then, with Apollo?
The beard presents no difficulty, for in early art the Greek Apollo was frequently represented with this feature (e.g., see Farnell, Cults, figs. xvii. and xxiii. and p. 329). In myth Apollo was twin-brother of Artemis; and in the Iliad he was definitely allied with the Trojans. Further, the attribute λύκιος or λύκειος suggests to some scholars an origin in Lycia; while others derive him from the East or from Egypt. However that may be, most scholars are agreed that some aspects of the god are associated with primitive Nature-worship, and there is a general suspicion of an Oriental or Asiatic element in his cult. (See especially the Oxford lectures of Wilamowitz, 1908, "Apollo," p. 30 ff.) This conclusion seems to be supported by the character and seasons of his festivals in Greece. In particular, the Theophania at Delphi, celebrating the return of the sun at springtime, and the πυανέψια at Athens, the harvest-thanksgiving, while natural to any pastoral country, are particularly apposite to the worship of the Great Mother. (For similar festivals in Hittite rites, cf. L. H., pp. 239, 359) Indeed, in § 49, Lucian describes a great festival of the springtime, at which noticeably goats, sheep and cattle were sacrificed; and horses are included in the list of sacred animals in § 41.
p. 76There are, then, elements in the Cult of Apollo that had long been familiar to the nature-worshippers of Northern Syria and Asia Minor. The object suggesting a flower (floris species) in the hand of this god indicates, as Macrobius says, a god of vegetation; and possibly it replaced something more definitive, like ears of corn. The calathos we have seen already (note 33) to reflect the ancient conical hat of the Hittite age, and the spear is found in the hand of the warrior-god of Karabel, and in other examples of Hittite art (L. H., pl. lxxv.). Now the local deity who most nearly combined these various attributes would be Sandan (or Sandes), who is figured on the Hittite sculpture of Ivriz (L. H., pl. lvii.) as a god of agriculture, with corn and grapes; he is bearded and wears the Hittite dress and hat. There he was identified by the Greeks with Hercules. Professor Frazer has shown (op. cit., pp. 110, 151 ff.) that Sandan bore to Baal much the same relation as the Hittite "Atys" to their "Zeus." But the youthful god, after the fall of the Hatti and their chief god, seems to have filled in the popular mind the place of the father god also, and to have become more and more identified with him (cf. Frazer, op. cit., p. 236; L. H., p. 360), like Atys with Zeus (Farnell, Cults, i., pp. 36, 37). In this way our Sandan-Atys might come to be regarded quite naturally as a sun-god (like Hadad-Zeus); and hence we should obtain a reasonable explanation for the identification of this deity with Apollo.
77:48 The image of the god is borne aloft on the shoulders of his priests in the Hittite sanctuary near Boghaz-Keui (L. H., pl. lxv. and p. 239). Strabo (xii. iii. 32) relates a similar custom at Comana (Pontus) at the Exodi of the Goddess, also (xv. iii. 15) in the worship by the Persian settlers of Omanus at Zela in Cappadocia. So, too, the statue of Hadad in Assyria is shown borne by his priests on a representation from Nineveh (Layard, Nineveh, ii., 1849, pl. f. p. 451); and Macrobius (Sat. i. 17) tells us that the image of the analogous god of Heliopolis (cf. n. 26, p. 70) was carried about in a similar manner on a bier.
77:49 Incidentally it is noteworthy that the group of emblems which distinguishes the king-priest at Boghaz-Keui (L. H., pls. lxviii., lxxi.) is enclosed by columns which separate the celestial emblem, the winged disc, from the terrestrial, the boot. (Cf. Hom., Odyssey, i. 52.)
78:50 The ox and lion have been already noticed as sacred to the Hittite chief god and goddess, with whom they arc associated in religious art. (Cf. L. H., pls. xliv., lxv.) The eagle appears (a) at Boghaz-Keui and at Eyuk as a double eagle identified with twin goddesses (L. H., pl. lxv. p. 79 and p. 269); and (b) in the gigantic carving near Yamoola (L. H., pl. xlix.), where it is triumphing, it would seem, over lions. An inscription of Boghaz-Keui refers to a "house" or "temple of the eagle" (Jour. R. A. S., 1909, p. 971). This bird would naturally seem to be an appropriate emblem of Zeus-Hadad, but there is nothing to substantiate this probability. The horse appears on Hittite sculptures only in an ordinary capacity; but in Anatolia in general developed sacred attributes. (Cf. Ramsay, "Relig. of Asia Minor," in Hastings' Dict. Bibl., extra vol., p. 115 b.)
79:51 The cap and "toga" of the priesthood on the Hittite sculptures distinguish them always from the deities and the people who are familiarly represented as wearing the tall conical hat, e.g., the chief priests of Boghaz-Keui (L. H., pls. lxviii., lxxi.), the king-priest at Eyuk (ibid., pl. lxxii.), and at Sakje Geuzi, in Syria (pl. lxxxi.). On the election of the High Priest by the local worshippers compare the similar custom in vogue at the temple of Hadad and Atargatis at Delos (Bull. Corr. Hell., 1882, p. 486).
79:52 Cf. the sculptures of Eyuk (L. H., pl. lxxiii.), where three musicians are represented, with trumpet, bag-pipe and guitar. A lyre is figured in a sculpture from Marash (Humann and Puckstein, Reisen—Atlas, pl. xlvii. No. 2), and a guitar-player in the mural decorations of Senjerli (Ausgrab. III., pl. xxxviii.).
79:53 Cf. the accounts of Strabo concerning the temples at p. 80 Comana of Cappadocia (bk. xii. ii. 3), where he states that it contained great multitudes of worshippers and temple servants, of the latter at the time he was there at least 6,000. So, too, at Venasa, in the "temple of Zeus" (Strabo, xii. ii. 6). Cf. the sculptures of Eyuk (L. H., pl. lxxii.), where a number of priest-servants are represented in different avocations. On the rock-walls of the sanctuary near Boghaz-Keui numerous women as well as men are represented in the train of the male and female goddesses respectively; and in the small shrine of the youthful god which adjoins it there is a further group of men who, like those without, seem to be taking part in a ceremonial dance in rapid movement, with their sickles held aloft (L. H., pl. lxix. and pp. 220, 227).
80:54 Notwithstanding the differences of ritual, the association of "Zeus" and "Hera" together in this paragraph is again significant of the original dual character of the cult.
80:55 The sacred lake is still conspicuous. Cf. Maundrell, op. cit. p. 154: "On the west side is a deep pit, of about 100 yards diameter; it . . . seemed to have had great buildings all round it, with the pillars and ruins of which it is now almost filled up, . . . but . . . there was still water in it." Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. i. 516: "a rocky hollow." Hogarth (Jour. Hell. Stud. xiv. p. 187) describes also "the scanty remains of a stepped quay wall or revetment, with water stairs at intervals."
The Hittite river-gods are invoked in witness of their treaty with Egypt (c. 1271 B.C.). Cf. also Ramsay, Luke the Physician, pp. 171 et seq.; Pauline and other Studies, pp. 172, 173. On the general question of sacred waters in Syria, see Robertson-Smith, op. cit. pp. 170-172; Frazer, op. cit. pp. 22-23.
81:56 See also § 14, n. 28. No local tradition of this seems to survive, but Xenophon (Anabasis, I. iv. 9) records a parallel case of "tame fish looked upon as gods" in the Chalus, near Aleppo. Modern instances near Doliche, just north of Aintab, and elsewhere in Syria, are described by Cumont (Oriental Relig., p. 245, note 36) and Hogarth (op. cit., p. 188). So also near the mosque of Edessa (Sachau, Reise, p. 196); and in Asia Minor, at Tavshanli, on the Rhyndacus, sacred fish are still preserved in a large cistern (Cumont, loc. cit., ap. Munro).
Atargatis, according to the form of the legend given by the scholiast on Germanicus' "Aratus" was born of an egg which the sacred fishes found in the Euphrates and pushed ashore. On the general subject, see Robertson-Smith, op. cit. p. 292, also pp. 174-175 and 219.
81:57 Cf. the legend that Hera bathed in the Chaboras, a p. 82 Mesopotamian tributary of the Euphrates, after her marriage with Zeus (Ælian, Nat. Animalium, xii. 30). The further reference to fishes implies their sanctity to the goddess, and to this extent reveals Atargatis as a fish-goddess (see note 25). This is, however, clearly not her chief character at Hierapolis.
82:58 On the local use of the word "sea," meaning thereby the Euphrates, see note 23. On the further subject of the narrative, cf. §§ 13, 36. It is of interest to notice that Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxi. 37) describes a method of filtering sea water into empty sealed vessels.
82:59 Ἀλεκτρυὼν ἱπός. The narrative is unintelligible unless we suppose that the words by allusion or textual change signify some special priestly office. Thus Blunt (Works of Lucian, London: Briscoe, 1711, p. 267) translates "a sacred cock, or priest, called Alectryo." Is it possible that the word in this sense was in common vogue, on the analogy of the Latin Gallus, a cock? (Cf. an inscription on an urn in the Lateran Museum at Rome, cited by Frazer, op. cit. p. 233, on which the cock is used as p. 83 emblem of the Attis-priest, with a punning reference to the word.) Belin de Ballu, in his translation (Paris, 1789), v. 178, following Paulmier de Grentruéuil, unhesitatingly substitutes Γάλλος, and translates accordingly.
83:60 In this festival of the Pyre at Heliopolis one or two details may profitably be noticed. The "tall trees" suggest the pine, sacred to Attis. (Cf., inter alia, Farnell, Cults, p. 645, and Frazer, op. cit., p. 222.) It is possible that in the sculptures of Boghaz-Keui the objects on which the high priest stands (L. H., pl. lxviii.) are indeed fir-cones. Goats and sheep we have seen led to sacrifice at Eyuk; the former animal is frequently represented in association with the Hittite chief god, and was no doubt sacred to him. "Cattle" indicate the bull, the emblem of the great god, and the cow with which his consort might be reciprocally identified. Cf. Pausanias (XI., iii. 7), where the bull and cow are seen to be sacred to Zeus and Hera respectively; and compare especially the details of the Dædala with this holocaust. The hanging of garments or shreds of them on trees near sacred places, or trees themselves, is a common practice in the East and in Egypt to-day. (Cf. also Rob.-Smith, op. cit., p. 335.) p. 84 In the last words of the paragraph it is significant that no special mention is made of a goddess in connection with this rite.
84:61 Cf. the rites surviving in the worship of Kybele and Attis in Rome. For a description and bibliog., see Cumont, op. cit., ch. iii., Asia Minor, p. 46 ff., and Frazer, op. cit., p. 233.
84:62 On this custom, which is specially characteristic of the worship of the goddess, see, inter alia, Frazer, op. cit., p. 224; Farnell, Greece and Babylon, pp. 256, 257; also our Introduction, p. 3, n. 10
85:63 Cf. § 15, above, n. 7. On the general aspect of this custom, see, especially, Frazer, op. cit., Appendix iv. p. 428.
85:64 No actual act of sacrifice is represented in Hittite art, though at Eyuk and Malâtia goats and rams are seen led to the altar of the god. The general subject of burnt sacrifice and holocausts among the Semites is discussed fully by Rob.-Smith, op. cit., x. xi., and numerous special rites of extreme interest are described by Frazer, op. cit. On the sacred animals of Asia Minor, see also Ramsay, Relig. of Asia Minor, op. cit., pp. 114, etc.
85:65 On the sanctity and abhorrence of the pig, see especially, Ramsay, op. cit. p. 115 b, and Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 32, where he points out that the Halys River divided these two points of view. See also Robertson-Smith, op. cit. pp. 153, 392, n., 448; and the discussion of his theory of p. 86 Adonis as a swine-god by Farnell, Cults, p. 645. For the swine in connection with the Cult of Set in Egypt, cf. Newberry, in Klio, xii. (1912), p. 397 ff.
86:66 Cf. also § 16. This statement is confirmed by Xenophon, Anabasis, I. iv. 9. According to Ælian (Nat. Ann. iv. 2), the dove was an especially sacred companion to Astarte, and this is borne out by archaic clay figurines of the goddess from Phœnicia, Asia Minor, Rhodes, Delos, Athens and Etruria. These are ascribed to "Aphrodite" by Fürtwangler (Roscher's Lexikon f. Griech. u. Röm. Mythologie, p. 410, q.v.); but are indistinguishable as to character and provenance from the original deity. (Cf. also Ed. Meyer, in the same, art. Astarte.) In Babylonian and Assyrian art and mythology the bird does not seem to appear in the same inseparable association with Ishtar, though we have the suggestive passage: "Like a lonely dove, I rest" (Pinches, op. cit., col. iii. ll. 1, 2). On this point Mr. L. W. King writes: "In the earlier periods there is no evidence that a bird was associated with Ishtar, and I have little doubt that the association was a comparatively late addition to her cult. Of course the myth of the Allatu bird is early, but can hardly be connected with the symbolic or votive bird under her Phœnician form" (Letter dated Sept. 7, 1912). Diodorus relates how the child Semiramis was fed by doves, and how eventually she took flight to heaven in the appearance of this bird.
In Hittite art of Asia Minor, however, the bird appears in association with the enshrined Goddess-mother, at Yarre (Jour. Hell. Stud. xix. fig. 4), at Fraktin (Fig. 7), and in two carvings from Marash (L. H., pp. 119, 151, 164).
In glyptic art the evidence of association is confirmatory (see Hayes Ward, Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, pp. 293, etc., especially Nos. 898, 904, 908, 943). With the naked goddess, who may be of Syrian origins (ibid. p. 162), and is found represented on a sculpture of Carchemish p. 87 (L. H., p. 128), but not elsewhere on Hittite monuments, the bird appears only sporadically.
Among the Semites the pigeon was peculiarly sacred (Robertson-Smith, op. cit. p. 294), and sacrificed only on special occasions (ibid. p. 219; cf. also Leviticus xix. 4, 49 Numbers, vi. 10). The sacred character of the bird does not seem to survive in any form.
87:68 Cf. especially Rob.-Smith, op. cit. p. 477 ff.
88:69 The libation is a feature of Hittite worship represented on several sculptures, e.g., at Fraktin and at Malâtia (see Fig. 1, p. 5). At the latter place live animals (rams) are shown in the sculpture (L. H., pl. xliv.) behind the priest, being led by an attendant. This is not shown in our illustration, in which also the Hittite hieroglyphics are omitted from the field for the sake of clearness. These sculptures have been lately removed, it is reported, to Constantinople.
88:70 The special character of this sacrifice is strongly suggestive of a totemistic influence. On the general aspect of human sacrifice among the Semites, cf. Rob.-Smith, op. cit., pp. 371, 464. On human sacrifice in the Cult of Dionysus, cf. Frazer, op. cit., p. 332. Children were sacrificed to Moloch, who was identified with Cronos, an original deity of vegetation (cf. Farnell, Culls, p. 28, n.). Attempts have been made (cf. Dussaud, Rev. Arch., loc. cit., ap. Movers; Six, Rev. Num., loc. cit.) to identify the god of Hierapolis with Cronos. While we cannot accept the theory, this field of enquiry is attractive; and the suggested identity might arise in myth by grouping the god as father of the goddess's son in a natural triad.
89:71 Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist., vi. 4, and xxii. 2. On this subject, cf. Rob.-Smith, op. cit., p. 334, note 1. In the Sudan, according to Bruce, some of the tribes tattooed their stomachs, sides and backs, as with fish-scales. Professor Strong reminds us that there have been found a number of bodies of Nubians of the time of the Middle Empire (c. 2000 B.C.) with definite tattooing; and the patterns pricked upon the skin of these desiccated bodies were identical with those painted on the dolls buried with them. Cf. Dr. Elliot Smith, The Ancient Egyptians, p. 56.
89:72 See also § 55, where a first act of the pilgrim is to shave his head; and § 6, where it appears that at Byblos the female locks could be sacrificed as an alternative to offering their own persons. At Trœzene, according to Pausanias (xxxii.), the custom was to sacrifice the hair before marriage. In Catullus, Ode lxvi., Berenice dedicates her hair to Venus. On the general question, see Robertson-Smith, op. cit., p. 329.