Chapter VII: Hyacinth (6)

768 Sozomenus, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, ii. 5 (Migne’s _Patrologia
Graeca_, lxvii. 948). The connexion of the meteor with the festival
of Adonis is not mentioned by Sozomenus, but is confirmed by
Zosimus, who says (_Hist._ i. 58) that a light like a torch or a
globe of fire was seen on the sanctuary at the seasons when the
people assembled to worship the goddess and to cast their offerings
of gold, silver, and fine raiment into a lake beside the temple. As
to Aphaca and the grave of Adonis see above, pp. 28 _sq._

769 Matthew ii. 1-12.

M198 Attis the Phrygian counterpart of Adonis. His relation to Cybele.
His miraculous birth. The death of Attis.

770 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59. 7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et
mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A.
Mullach, iii. 33; Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8;
Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 3 and 22. The
ancient evidence, literary and inscriptional, as to the myth and
ritual of Attis has been collected and discussed by Mr. H. Hepding
in his monograph, _Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult_ (Giessen,
1903).

771 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, p. 168 ed. L.
Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859); Socrates, _Historia
Ecclesiastica_, iii. 23. 51 _sqq._

772 Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 223 _sqq._; Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 15;
_id._, _Ad Nationes_, i. 10; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, iv. 35.
As to Cybele, the Great Mother, the Mother of the Gods, conceived as
the source of all life, both animal and vegetable, see Rapp, in W.
H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, _s.v._
“Kybele,” ii. 1638 _sqq._

773 Scholiast on Lucian, _Jupiter Tragoedus_, 8, p. 60 ed. H. Rabe
(Leipsic, 1906), (vol. iv. p. 173 ed. C. Jacobitz); Hippolytus,
_Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, pp. 168, 170 ed. Duncker and
Schneidewin.

774 Pausanias, vii. 17. 11; Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v.
9, pp. 166, 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Arnobius, _Adversus
Nationes_, v. 6.

775 See above, pp. 99 _sqq._

776 S. I. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, pp. 115 _sq._
See above, pp. 78, 213 _sqq._

777 That Attis was killed by a boar was stated by Hermesianax, an
elegiac poet of the fourth century B.C. (Pausanias, vii. 17);
compare Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8. The other story
is told by Arnobius (_Adversus Nationes_, v. 5 _sqq._) on the
authority of Timotheus, who professed to derive it from recondite
antiquarian works and from the very heart of the mysteries. It is
obviously identical with the account which Pausanias (_l.c._)
mentions as the story current in Pessinus. According to Servius (on
Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115), Attis was found bleeding to death under a
pine-tree, but the wound which robbed him of his virility and his
life was not inflicted by himself. The Timotheus cited by Pausanias
may be the Timotheus who was consulted by Ptolemy Soter on religious
matters and helped to establish the worship of Serapis. See
Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 28; Franz Cumont, _Les Religions
Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 77, 113,
335.

778 Pausanias, vii. 17. 10; Julian, _Orat._ v. 177 B, p. 229, ed. F. C.
Hertlein (Leipsic, 1875-1876). Similarly at Comana in Pontus, the
seat of the worship of the goddess Ma, pork was not eaten, and swine
might not even be brought into the city (Strabo, xii. 8. 9, p. 575).
As to Comana see above, p. 39.

779 S. Sophronius, “SS. Cyri et Joannis Miracula,” Migne’s _Patrologia
Graeca_, lxxxvii. Pars Tertia, col. 3624, πρὸς πλάνην Ἑλληνικὴν
ἀποκλίνουσαν [_scil._ τὴν Ἰουλίαν] καὶ ταύτῃ διὰ τὸν Ἀδώνιδος
Θάνατον τὰ κρέα παραιτεῖσθαι τὰ ὕεια.

780 Ovid, _Metam._ x. 103 _sqq._

M199 Worship of Cybele introduced into Rome in 204 B.C.

781 Livy, xxix. chs. 10, 11, and 14; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 259 _sqq._;
Herodian, ii. 11. As to the stone which represented the goddess see
Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, vii. 49.

782 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xviii. 16.

M200 Attis and his eunuch priests the Galli at Rome.

783 Lucretius, ii. 598 _sqq._; Catullus, lxiii.; Varro, _Satir.
Menipp._, ed. F. Bücheler (Berlin, 1882), pp. 176, 178; Ovid,
_Fasti_, iv. 181 _sqq._, 223 _sqq._, 361 _sqq._; Dionysius
Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit. Rom._ ii. 19, compare Polybius, xxii. 18
ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1866-1868).

784 Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 41. See Robinson Ellis,
_Commentary on Catullus_ (Oxford, 1876), pp. 206 _sq._; H. Hepding,
_Attis_, pp. 142 _sqq._; Fr. Cumont, _Les Religions Orientales dans
le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 83 _sq._

It is held by Prof. A. von Domaszewski that the Claudius who
incorporated the Phrygian worship of the sacred tree in the Roman
ritual was not the emperor of the first century but the emperor of
the third century, Claudius Gothicus, who came to the throne in 268
A.D. See A. von Domaszewski, “Magna Mater in Latin Inscriptions,”
_The Journal of Roman Studies_, i. (1911) p. 56. The later date, it
is said, fits better with the slow development of the worship. But
on the other hand this view is open to certain objections. (1)
Joannes Lydus, our only authority on the point, appears to identify
the Claudius in question with the emperor of the first century. (2)
The great and widespread popularity of the Phrygian worship in the
Roman empire long before 268 A.D. is amply attested by an array of
ancient writers and inscriptions, especially by a great series of
inscriptions referring to the colleges of Tree-bearers
(_Dendrophori_), from which we learn that one of these colleges,
devoted to the worship of Cybele and Attis, existed at Rome in the
age of the Antonines, about a century before the accession of
Claudius Gothicus. (3) Passages of the Augustan historians (Aelius
Lampridius, _Alexander Severus_, 37; Trebellius Pollio, _Claudius_,
iv. 2) refer to the great spring festival of Cybele and Attis in a
way which seems to imply that the festival was officially recognized
by the Roman government before Claudius Gothicus succeeded to the
purple; and we may hesitate to follow Prof. von Domaszewski in
simply excising these passages as the work of an “impudent forger.”
(4) The official establishment of the bloody Phrygian superstition
suits better the life and character of the superstitious, timid,
cruel, pedantic Claudius of the first century than the gallant
soldier his namesake in the third century. The one lounged away his
contemptible days in the safety of the palace, surrounded by a hedge
of lifeguards. The other spent the two years of his brief but
glorious reign in camps and battlefields on the frontier, combating
the barbarian enemies of the empire; and it is probable that he had
as little leisure as inclination to pander to the superstitions of
the Roman populace. For these reasons it seems better with Mr.
Hepding and Prof. Cumont to acquiesce in the traditional view that
the rites of Attis were officially celebrated at Rome from the first
century onward.

An intermediate view is adopted by Prof. G. Wissowa, who, brushing
aside the statement of Joannes Lydus altogether, would seemingly
assign the public institution of the rites to the middle of the
second century A.D. on the ground that the earliest extant evidence
of their public celebration refers to that period (_Religion und
Kultus der Römer_,2 Munich, 1912, p. 322). But, considering the
extremely imperfect evidence at our disposal for the history of
these centuries, it seems rash to infer that an official cult cannot
have been older than the earliest notice of it which has chanced to
come down to us.

785 Arrian, _Tactica_, 33; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ xii. 836.

786 On the festival see J. Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2
(Leipsic, 1885) pp. 370 _sqq._; the calendar of Philocalus, in
_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. i.2 Pars prior (Berlin,
1893), p. 260, with Th. Mommsen’s commentary (pp. 313 _sq._); W.
Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, pp. 291 _sqq._; _id._,
_Baumkultus_, pp. 572 _sqq._; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der
Römer_,2 pp. 318 _sqq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 147 _sqq._; J.
Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. (Paris, 1911)
pp. 82 _sqq._

M201 The spring festival of Cybele and Attis at Rome. The Day of Blood.

787 Julian, _Orat._ v. 168 C, p. 218 ed. F. C. Hertlein (Leipsic,
1875-1876); Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 41; Arnobius,
_Adversus Nationes_, v. chs. 7, 16, 39; Firmicus Maternus, _De
errore profanarum religionum_, 27; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis
et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A.
Mullach, iii. 33. As to the guild of Tree-bearers (_Dendrophori_)
see Joannes Lydus, _l.c._; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae
Selectae_, Nos. 4116 _sq._, 4171-4174, 4176; H. Hepding, _Attis_,
pp. 86, 92, 93, 96, 152 _sqq._; F. Cumont, _s.v._ “Dendrophori,” in
Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, v. 1. coll. 216-219; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes
Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 82 _sq._, 92 _sq._

788 Julian, _l.c._ and 169 C, p. 219 ed. F. C. Hertlein. The ceremony
may have been combined with the old _tubilustrium_ or purification
of trumpets, which fell on this day. See Joannes Lydus, _De
mensibus_, iv. 42; Varro, _De lingua Latina_, vi. 14; Festus, pp.
352, 353 ed. C. O. Müller; W. Warde Fowler, _Roman Festivals of the
Period of the Republic_ (London, 1899), p. 62.

789 Trebellius Pollio, _Claudius_, 4; Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 25.

790 Lucian, _Deorum dialogi_, xii. 1; Seneca, _Agamemnon_, 686 _sqq._;
Martial, xi. 84. 3 _sq._; Valerius Flaccus, _Argonaut._ viii. 239
_sqq._; Statius, _Theb._ x. 170 _sqq._; Apuleius, _Metam._ viii. 27;
Lactantius, _Divinarum Institutionum Epitome_, 23 (18, vol. i. p.
689 ed. Brandt and Laubmann); H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 158 _sqq._ As
to the music of these dancing dervishes see also Lucretius, ii. 618
_sqq._

_ 791 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 90 _sq._, 101 _sq._

792 Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, 22 and 24; Lactantius, _Divin. Instit._
i. 21. 16; _id._, _Epitoma_, 8; Schol. on Lucian, _Jupiter
Tragoedus_, 8 (p. 60 ed. H. Rabe); Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix.
115; Prudentius, _Peristephan._ x. 1066 _sqq._; “Passio Sancti
Symphoriani,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, v. 1463,
1466); Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 14; Scholiast on Nicander,
_Alexipharmaca_, 8; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 163 _sq._ A story told
by Clement of Alexandria (_Protrept._ ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter)
suggests that weaker brethren may have been allowed to sacrifice the
virility of a ram instead of their own. We know from inscriptions
that rams and bulls were regularly sacrificed at the mysteries of
Attis and the Great Mother, and that the testicles of the bulls were
used for a special purpose, probably as a fertility charm. May not
the testicles of the rams have been employed for the same purpose?
and may not those of both animals have been substitutes for the
corresponding organs in men? As to the sacrifices of rams and bulls
see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,” _Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen
Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498 _sqq._; H.
Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4118 _sqq._; J.
Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 84 _sqq._

793 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 5 _sq._

M202 Eunuch priests in the service of Asiatic goddesses.

794 Strabo, xiv. 1. 23, p. 641.

795 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 15, 27, 50-53.

796 Lucian, _op. cit._ 10.

797 Lucian, _op. cit._ 15.

798 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 49-51.

799 Catullus, _Carm._ lxiii. I agree with Mr. H. Hepding (_Attis_, p.
140) in thinking that the subject of the poem is not the mythical
Attis, but one of his ordinary priests, who bore the name and
imitated the sufferings of his god. Thus interpreted the poem gains
greatly in force and pathos. The real sorrows of our fellow-men
touch us more nearly than the imaginary pangs of the gods.

As the sacrifice of virility and the institution of eunuch priests
appear to be rare, I will add a few examples. At Stratonicea in
Caria a eunuch held a sacred office in connexion with the worship of
Zeus and Hecate (_Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum_, No. 2715).
According to Eustathius (on Homer, _Iliad_, xix. 254, p. 1183) the
Egyptian priests were eunuchs who had sacrificed their virility as a
first-fruit to the gods. In Corea “during a certain night, known as
_Chu-il_, in the twelfth moon, the palace eunuchs, of whom there are
some three hundred, perform a ceremony supposed to ensure a
bountiful crop in the ensuing year. They chant in chorus prayers,
swinging burning torches around them the while. This is said to be
symbolical of burning the dead grass, so as to destroy the field
mice and other vermin.” See W. Woodville Rockhill, “Notes on some of
the Laws, Customs, and Superstitions of Korea,” _The American
Anthropologist_, iv. (Washington, 1891) p. 185. Compare Mrs. Bishop,
_Korea and her Neighbours_ (London, 1898), ii. 56 _sq._ It appears
that among the Ekoi of Southern Nigeria both men and women are, or
used to be, mutilated by the excision of their genital organs at an
annual festival, which is celebrated in order to produce plentiful
harvests and immunity from thunderbolts. The victims apparently die
from loss of blood. See P. Amaury Talbot, _In the Shadow of the
Bush_ (London, 1912), pp. 74 _sqq._ Mr. Talbot writes to me: “A
horrible case has just happened at Idua, where, at the new yam
planting, a man cut off his own _membrum virile_” (letter dated
Eket, Nr Calabar, Southern Nigeria, Feb. 7th, 1913). Amongst the
Ba-sundi and Ba-bwende of the Congo many youths are castrated “in
order to more fittingly offer themselves to the phallic worship,
which increasingly prevails as we advance from the coast to the
interior. At certain villages between Manyanga and Isangila there
are curious eunuch dances to celebrate the new moon, in which a
white cock is thrown up into the air alive, with clipped wings, and
as it falls towards the ground it is caught and plucked by the
eunuchs. I was told that originally this used to be a human
sacrifice, and that a young boy or girl was thrown up into the air
and torn to pieces by the eunuchs as he or she fell, but that of
late years slaves had got scarce or manners milder, and a white cock
was now substituted” (H. H. Johnston, “On the Races of the Congo,”
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) p. 473;
compare _id._, _The River Congo_, London, 1884, p. 409). In India,
men who are born eunuchs or in some way deformed are sometimes
dedicated to a goddess named Huligamma. They wear female attire and
might be mistaken for women. Also men who are or believe themselves
impotent will vow to dress as women and serve the goddess in the
hope of recovering their virility. See F. Fawcett, “On Basivis,”
_Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay_, ii. 343 _sq._ In
Pegu the English traveller, Alexander Hamilton, witnessed a dance in
honour of the gods of the earth. “Hermaphrodites, who are numerous
in this country, are generally chosen, if there are enough present
to make a set for the dance. I saw nine dance like mad folks for
above half-an-hour; and then some of them fell in fits, foaming at
the mouth for the space of half-an-hour; and, when their senses are
restored, they pretend to foretell plenty or scarcity of corn for
that year, if the year will prove sickly or salutary to the people,
and several other things of moment, and all by that half hour’s
conversation that the furious dancer had with the gods while she was
in a trance” (A. Hamilton, “A New Account of the East Indies,” in J.
Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, viii. 427). So in the worship of
Attis the Archigallus or head of the eunuch priests prophesied;
perhaps he in like manner worked himself up to the pitch of
inspiration by a frenzied dance. See H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones
Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 142, 143, Nos. 4130, 4136;
G. Wilmanns, _Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_ (Berlin, 1873), vol.
i. p. 36, Nos. 119a, 120; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans
l’Empire Romain_, ii. 93 _sq._ As to the sacrifice of virility in
the Syrian religion compare Th. Nöldeke, “Die Selbstentmannung bei
den Syrern,” _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, x. (1907) pp.
150-152.

M203 The sacrifice of virility. The mourning for Attis.

800 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 7 and 16; Servius on Virgil,
_Aen._ ix. 115.

801 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59; Arrian, _Tactica_, 33; Scholiast on
Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore
profanarum religionum_, 3 and 22; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v.
16; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115.

802 See above, p. 267.

803 Arnobius, _l.c._; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv.,
_Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

804 Above, p. 230.

805 See below, p. 274.

M204 The Festival of Joy (_Hilaria_) for the resurrection of Attis on
March 25th. The procession to the Almo.

806 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 22, “_Nocte
quadam simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur et per numeros digestis
fletibus plangitur: deinde cum se ficta lamentatione satiaverint,
lumen infertur: tunc a sacerdote omnium qui flebant fauces
unguentur, quibus perunctis hoc lento murmure susurrat:_

θαρρεῖτε μύσται τοῦ θέου σεσωσμένου; ἔσται γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐκ πόνων
σωτήρια.

_Quid miseros hortaris gaudeant? quid deceptos homines laetari
compellis? quam illis spem, quam salutem funesta persuasione
promittis? Dei tui mors nota est, vita non paret.... Idolum sepelis,
idolum plangis, idolum de sepultura proferis, et miser cum haec
feceris, gaudes. Tu deum tuum liberas, tu jacentia lapidis membra
componis, tu insensibile corrigis saxum._” In this passage Firmicus
does not expressly mention Attis, but that the reference is to his
rites is made probable by a comparison with chapter 3 of the same
writer’s work. Compare also Damascius, in Photius’s _Bibliotheca_,
p. 345 A, 5 _sqq._, ed. I. Bekker (Berlin, 1824), τότε τῇ Ἱεραπόλει
ἐγκαθευδήσας ἐδόκουν ὄναρ ὁ Ἄττης γένεσθαι, καί μοι ἐπιτελεῖσθαι
παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν τὴν τῶν ἱλαρίων καλουμένων ἑορτήν; ὅπερ
ἐδήλου τὴν ἐξ ᾅδου γεγονυῖαν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν. See further Fr. Cumont,
_Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909),
pp. 89 _sq._

807 Macrobius, _Saturn_. i. 21. 10; Flavius Vopiscus, _Aurelianus_, i.
1; Julian, _Or._ v. pp. 168 D, 169 D; Damascius, _l.c._; Herodian,
i. 10. 5-7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” _Fragmenta
Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. In like
manner Easter Sunday, the Resurrection-day of Christ, was called by
some ancient writers the Sunday of Joy (_Dominica Gaudii_). The
emperors used to celebrate the happy day by releasing from prison
all but the worst offenders. See J. Bingham, _The Antiquities of the
Christian Church_, bk. xx. ch. vi. §§ 5 _sq._ (Bingham’s _Works_
(Oxford, 1855), vii. 317 _sqq._).

808 Aelius Lampridius, _Alexander Severus_, 37.

_ 809 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), pp.
260, 313 _sq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 51, 172.

810 Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 337-346; Silius Italicus, _Punic._ viii. 365;
Valerius Flaccus, _Argonaut._ viii. 239 _sqq._; Martial, iii. 47. 1
_sq._; Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 3. 7; Arnobius, _Adversus
Nationes_, vii. 32; Prudentius, _Peristephon._ x. 154 _sqq._ For the
description of the image of the goddess see Arnobius, _Adversus
Nationes_, vii. 49. At Carthage the goddess was carried to her bath
in a litter, not in a wagon (Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, ii. 4).
The bath formed part of the festival in Phrygia, whence the custom
was borrowed by the Romans (Arrian, _Tactica_, 33). At Cyzicus the
Placianian Mother, a form of Cybele, was served by women called
“marine” (Θαλάσσιαι), whose duty it probably was to wash her image
in the sea (Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, Brussels,
1900, pp. 403 _sq._, No. 537). See further J. Marquardt, _Römische
Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 373; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 133 _sq._

M205 The mysteries of Attis. The sacrament. The baptism of blood. The
Vatican a centre of the worship of Attis.

811 Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter;
Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 18.

812 Above, p. 272.

813 H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 185.

814 Prudentius, _Peristephan._ x. 1006-1050; compare Firmicus Maternus,
_De errore profanarum religionum_, 28. 8. That the bath of bull’s
blood (_taurobolium_) was believed to regenerate the devotee for
eternity is proved by an inscription found at Rome, which records
that a certain Sextilius Agesilaus Aedesius, who dedicated an altar
to Attis and the Mother of the Gods, was _taurobolio criobolioque in
aeternum renatus_ (_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. No. 510; H.
Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4152). The phrase
_arcanis perfusionibus in aeternum renatus_ occurs in a dedication
to Mithra (_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. No. 736), which,
however, is suspected of being spurious. As to the inscriptions
which refer to the _taurobolium_ see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,”
in _Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender
dargebracht von seinen Schülern_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498-520; H.
Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp.
140-147, Nos. 4118-4159. As to the origin of the _taurobolium_ and
the meaning of the word, see Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments
Figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra_ (Brussels, 1896-1899), i.
334 _sq._; _id._, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme
Romain_,2 pp. 100 _sqq._; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans
l’Empire Romain_, ii. 84 _sqq._; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus
der Römer_,2 pp. 322 _sqq._ The _taurobolium_ seems to have formed
no part of the original worship of Cybele and to have been imported
into it at a comparatively late date, perhaps in the second century
of our era. Its origin is obscure. In the majority of the older
inscriptions the name of the rite appears as _tauropolium_, and it
has been held that this is the true form, being derived from the
worship of the Asiatic goddess Artemis Tauropolis (Strabo, xii. 2.
7, p. 537). This was formerly the view of Prof. F. Cumont (_s.v._
“Anaitis,” in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, i. 2. col. 2031); but he now prefers the
form _taurobolium_, and would deduce both the name and the rite from
an ancient Anatolian hunting custom of lassoing wild bulls.

815 Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta
Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

816 Sallustius philosophus, _l.c._

_ 817 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. Nos. 497-504; H. Dessau,
_Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4145, 4147-4151, 4153;
_Inscriptiones Graecae Siciliae et Italiae_, ed. G. Kaibel (Berlin,
1890), p. 270, No. 1020; G. Zippel, _op. cit._ pp. 509 _sq._, 519;
H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 83, 86-88, 176; Ch. Huelsen, _Topographie
der Stadt Rom im Alterthum, von H. Jordan_, i. 3 (Berlin, 1907), pp.
658 _sq._

_ 818 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, xiii. No. 1751; H. Dessau,
_Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4131; G. Wilmanns, _Exempla
Inscriptionum Latinarum_ (Berlin, 1873), vol. ii. p. 125, No. 2278;
G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 p. 267; H. Hepding,
_Attis_, pp. 169-171, 176.

_ 819 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, xiii. No. 1751; G. Wilmanns,
_Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. i. pp. 35-37, Nos. 119, 123,
124; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4127, 4129,
4131, 4140; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 pp. 322
_sqq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 191.

M206 The sanctity of the pine-tree in the worship of Attis.

820 As to the monuments see H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_,
Nos. 4143, 4152, 4153; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 82, 83, 88, 89.

821 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 27.

_ 822 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 47 _sq._, 71;
_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 138, 143, 152, 153, 154,
155, 156, 157, 158.

823 Etymologicum Magnum, p. 220, line 20, Γάλλος, ὁ φιλοπάτωρ
Πτολεμαῖος; διὰ τὸ φύλλα κισσοῦ κατέστιχθαι, ὡς οἱ γάλλοι. ᾽Αεὶ γὰρ
ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς τελεταῖς κισσῷ ἐστεφανοῦντο. But there seems to be
some confusion here between the rites of Dionysus and those of
Attis; ivy was certainly sacred to Dionysus (Pausanias, i. 31. 6
with my note). Compare C. A. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_ (Königsberg,
1829), i. 657, who, in the passage quoted, rightly defends the
readings κατέστιχθαι and ἐστεφανοῦντο.

_ 824 Encyclopaedia Britannica_,9 xix. 105. Compare Athenaeus, ii. 49, p.
57. The nuts of the silver-pine (_Pinus edulis_) are a favourite
food of the Californian Indians (S. Powers, _Tribes of California_
(Washington, 1877), p. 421); the Wintun Indians hold a pine-nut
dance when the nuts are fit to be gathered (_ib._ p. 237). The
Shuswap Indians of British Columbia collect the cones of various
sorts of pines and eat the nutlets which they extract from them. See
G. M. Dawson, “Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia,”
_Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada_, ix.
(Montreal, 1892) Transactions, section ii. p. 22. With regard to the
Araucanian Indians of South America we read that “the great staple
food, the base of all their subsistence, save among the coast
tribes, was the _piñon_, the fruit of the Araucanian pine
(_Araucaria imbricata_). Every year during the autumn months
excursions are made by the whole tribe to the pine forests, where
they remain until they have collected sufficient for the following
year. Each tribe has its own district, inherited by custom from
generation to generation and inviolate, by unwritten law, from other
tribes, even in time of warfare. This harvest was formerly of such
supreme importance, that all inter-tribal quarrels and warfares were
suspended by mutual accord during this period.” See R. E. Latcham,
“Ethnology of the Araucanos,” _Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute_, xxxix. (1909) p. 341. The Gilyaks of the Amoor valley in
like manner eat the nutlets of the Siberian stone-pine (L. von
Schrenk, _Die Völker des Amur-Landes_, iii. 440). See also the
commentators on Herodotus, iv. 109 φθειροτραγέουσι.

825 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xiv. 103.

826 Strabo, x. 3. 12 _sqq._, pp. 469 _sqq._ However, tipsy people were
excluded from the sanctuary of Attis (Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_,
v. 6).

827 Scholiast on Lucian, _Dial. Meretr._ ii. 1, p. 276 ed. H. Rabe
(Leipsic, 1906).

M207 Attis as a corn-god. Cybele as a goddess of fertility. The bathing
of her image either a rain-charm or a marriage-rite.

828 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 8 and 9, pp. 162, 168
ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore
profanarum religionum_, 3; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et
mundo,” _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach,
iii. 33. Others identified him with the spring flowers. See
Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelii_, iii. 11. 8 and 12, iii. 13. 10
ed. F. A. Heinichen (Leipsic, 1842-1843); Augustine, _De civitate
Dei_, vii. 25.

829 W. Helbig, _Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer
Altertümer in Rom_2 (Leipsic, 1899), i. 481, No. 721.

830 The urn is in the Lateran Museum at Rome (No. 1046). It is not
described by W. Helbig in his _Führer_.2 The inscription on the urn
(_M. Modius Maxximus archigallus coloniae Ostiens_) is published by
H. Dessau (_Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4162), who does not
notice the curious and interesting composition of the cock’s tail.
The bird is chosen as an emblem of the priest with a punning
reference to the word _gallus_, which in Latin means a cock as well
as a priest of Attis.

831 Gregory of Tours, _De gloria confessorum_, 77 (Migne’s _Patrologia
Latina_, lxxi. 884). That the goddess here referred to was Cybele
and not a native Gallic deity, as I formerly thought (_Lectures on
the Early History of the Kingship_, p. 178), seems proved by the
“Passion of St. Symphorian,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia
Graeca_, v. 1463, 1466). Gregory and the author of the “Passion of
St. Symphorian” call the goddess simply Berecynthia, the latter
writer adding “the Mother of the Demons,” which is plainly a
Christian version of the title “Mother of the Gods.”

832 Above, p. 265. In the island of Thera an ox, wheat, barley, wine,
and “other first-fruits of all that the seasons produce” were
offered to the Mother of the Gods, plainly because she was deemed
the source of fertility. See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum
Graecarum_,2 vol. ii. p. 426, No. 630.

833 H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 215-217; compare _id._ p. 175 note 7.

834 Ptolemaeus, _Nov. Hist._ i. p. 183 of A. Westermann’s _Mythographi
Graeci_ (Brunswick, 1843).

835 Pausanias, viii. 25. 5 _sq._

836 Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ xii. 30. The place was in Mesopotamia, and the
goddess was probably Astarte. So Lucian (_De dea Syria_) calls the
Astarte of Hierapolis “the Assyrian Hera.”

837 Pausanias, ii. 38. 2.

838 Julian, _Orat._ v. 173 _sqq._ (pp. 225 _sqq._ ed. F. C. Hertlein);
H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 155-157. However, apples, pomegranates, and
dates were also forbidden. The story that the mother of Attis
conceived him through contact with a pomegranate (above, pp. 263,
269) might explain the prohibition of that fruit. But the reasons
for tabooing apples and dates are not apparent, though Julian tried
to discover them. He suggested that dates may have been forbidden
because the date-palm does not grow in Phrygia, the native land of
Cybele and Attis.

M208 The name Attis seems to mean “father.”

839 P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen
Sprache_ (Göttingen, 1896), p. 355.

840 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58. 4; Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium
haeresium_, i. 9, p. 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin. A Latin
dedication to _Atte Papa_ has been found at Aquileia (F. Cumont, in
Pauly-Wissowa’s _Realencyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, ii. 2180, _s.v._ “Attepata” H. Hepding,
_Attis_, p. 86). Greek dedications to Papas or to Zeus Papas occur
in Phrygia (H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 78 _sq._). Compare A. B. Cook,
“Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” _Classical Review_, xviii. (1904) p.
79.

841 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 6 and 13.

842 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_2 (London, 1873), i. 223.

M209 Relation of Attis to the Mother Goddess. Attis as a Sky-god or
Heavenly Father. Stories of the emasculation of the Sky-god.

843 Rapp, _s.v._ “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und
röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1648.

844 She is called a “motherless virgin” by Julian (_Or._ v. 166 B, p.
215 ed. F. C. Hertlein), and there was a _Parthenon_ or virgin’s
chamber in her sanctuary at Cyzicus (Ch. Michel, _Recueil
d’Inscriptions Grecques_, p. 404, No. 538). Compare Rapp, in W. H.
Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1648;
Wagner, _s.v._ “Nana,” _ibid._ iii. 4 _sq._ Another great goddess of
fertility who was conceived as a Virgin Mother was the Egyptian
Neith or Net. She is called “the Great Goddess, the Mother of All
the Gods,” and was believed to have brought forth Ra, the Sun,
without the help of a male partner. See C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der
Religion im Altertum_, i. 111; E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the
Egyptians_ (London, 1904), i. 457-462. The latter writer says (p.
462): “In very early times Net was the personification of the
eternal female principle of life which was self-sustaining and
self-existent, and was secret and unknown, and all-pervading; the
more material thinkers, whilst admitting that she brought forth her
son Rā without the aid of a husband, were unable to divorce from
their minds the idea that a male germ was necessary for its
production, and finding it impossible to derive it from a being
external to the goddess, assumed that she herself provided not only
the substance which was to form the body of Rā but also the male
germ which fecundated it. Thus Net was the type of
partheno-genesis.”

845 Quoted by Eustathius on Homer, _Il._ v. 408; _Fragmenta Historicorum
Graecorum_, ed. C. Müller, iii. 592, Frag. 30.

846 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 i. 321 _sqq._, ii. 270
_sqq._ For example, the Ewe people of Togo-land, in West Africa,
think that the Earth is the wife of the Sky, and that their marriage
takes place in the rainy season, when the rain causes the seeds to
sprout and bear fruit. These fruits they regard as the children of
Mother Earth, who in their opinion is the mother also of men and of
gods. See J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 464, 548.
In the regions of the Senegal and the Niger it is believed that the
Sky-god and the Earth-goddess are the parents of the principal
spirits who dispense life and death, weal and woe, among mankind.
The eldest son of Sky and Earth is represented in very various
forms, sometimes as a hermaphrodite, sometimes in semi-animal shape,
with the head of a bull, a crocodile, a fish, or a serpent. His name
varies in the different tribes, but the outward form of his
ceremonies is everywhere similar. His rites, which are to some
extent veiled in mystery, are forbidden to women. See Maurice
Delafosse, _Haut-Sénégal-Niger_ (Paris, 1912), iii. 173-175.

847 Hesiod, _Theogony_, 159 _sqq._

848 Porphyry, _De antro nympharum_, 16; Aristides, _Or._ iii. (vol. i.
p. 35 ed. G. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1829); Scholiast on Apollonius
Rhodius, _Argon._ iv. 983.

849 A. Lang, _Custom and Myth_ (London, 1884), pp. 45 _sqq._; _id._,
_Myth, Ritual, and Religion_ (London, 1887), i. 299 _sqq._ In
Egyptian mythology the separation of heaven and earth was ascribed
to Shu, the god of light, who insinuated himself between the bodies
of Seb (Keb) the earth-god and of Nut the sky-goddess. On the
monuments Shu is represented holding up the star-spangled body of
Nut on his hands, while Seb reclines on the ground. See A.
Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London, 1897), pp.
230 _sq._; E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_, ii. 90,
97 _sq._, 100, 105; A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_2 (Berlin,
1909), pp. 35 _sq._; C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion im
Altertum_, i. 33 _sq._ Thus contrary to the usual mythical
conception the Egyptians regarded the earth as male and the sky as
female. An allusion in the _Book of the Dead_ (ch. 69, vol. ii. p.
235, E. A. Wallis Budge’s translation, London, 1901) has been
interpreted as a hint that Osiris mutilated his father Seb at the
separation of earth and heaven, just as Cronus mutilated his father
Uranus. See H. Brugsch, _Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter_
(Leipsic, 1885-1888), p. 581; E. A. Wallis Budge, _op. cit._ ii. 99
_sq._ Sometimes the Egyptians conceived the sky as a great cow
standing with its legs on the earth. See A. Erman, _Die ägyptische
Religion_,2 pp. 7, 8.

850 Compare _The Dying God_, pp. 105 _sqq._

851 Julian, _Or._ v. pp. 165 B, 170 D (pp. 214, 221, ed. F. C.
Hertlein); Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv.
_Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

852 Drexler, _s.v._ “Men,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und
röm. Mythologie_, ii. 2745; H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 120, note 8.

853 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp.
145 _sq._, Nos. 4146-4149; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 82, 86 _sq._, 89
_sq._ As to Men Tyrannus, see Drexler, _s.v._ “Men,” in W. H.
Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Myth._ ii. 2687 _sqq._

854 On the other hand Sir W. M. Ramsay holds that Attis and Men are
deities of similar character and origin, but differentiated from
each other by development in different surroundings (_Cities and
Bishoprics of Phrygia_, i. 169); but he denies that Men was a
moon-god (_op. cit._ i. 104, note 4).

M210 The high priest of Attis bore the god’s name and seems to have
personated him. The drawing of the high priest’s blood may have been
a substitute for putting him to death in the character of the god.
The name of Attis in the royal families of Phrygia and Lydia. The
Phrygian priests of Attis may have been members of the royal family.

855 In letters of Eumenes and Attalus, preserved in inscriptions at
Sivrihissar, the priest at Pessinus is addressed as Attis. See A.
von Domaszewski, “Briefe der Attaliden an den Priester von
Pessinus,” _Archaeologische-epigraphische Mittheilungen aus
Oesterreich-Ungarn_, viii. (1884) pp. 96, 98; Ch. Michel, _Recueil
d’Inscriptions Grecques_, pp. 57 _sq._ No. 45; W. Dittenberger,
_Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae_ (Leipsic, 1903-1905), vol.
i. pp. 482 _sqq._ No. 315. For more evidence of inscriptions see H.
Hepding, _Attis_, p. 79; Rapp, _s.v._ “Attis,” in W. H. Roscher’s
_Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 724. See also
Polybius, xxii. 18 (20), (ed. L. Dindorf), who mentions a priest of
the Mother of the Gods named Attis at Pessinus.

856 The conjecture is that of Henzen, in _Annal. d. Inst._ 1856, p. 110,
referred to by Rapp, _l.c._

_ 857 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 75 _sq._; _The Dying
God_, pp. 151 _sq._, 209.

858 Article “Phrygia,” in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th ed. xviii.
(1885) p. 853. Elsewhere, speaking of the religions of Asia Minor in
general, the same writer says: “The highest priests and priestesses
played the parts of the great gods in the mystic ritual, wore their
dress, and bore their names” (_Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia_, i.
101).

859 Strabo, xii. 5. 3, p. 567.

860 (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, “A Study of Phrygian Art,” _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_, ix. (1888) pp. 379 _sqq._; _id._, “A Study of Phrygian
Art,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, x. (1889) pp. 156 _sqq._; G.
Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, _Histoire de l’Art dans l’Antiquité_, v. 82
_sqq._

861 Herodotus, i. 94. According to Sir W. M. Ramsay, the conquering and
ruling caste in Lydia belonged to the Phrygian stock (_Journal of
Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) p. 351).

862 Herodotus, i. 34-45. The tradition that Croesus would allow no iron
weapon to come near Atys suggests that a similar taboo may have been
imposed on the Phrygian priests named Attis. For taboos of this sort
see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 225 _sqq._

863 H. Stein on Herodotus, i. 43; Ed. Meyer, _s.v._ “Atys,” in
Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, ii. 2 col. 2262.

864 See above, pp. 13, 16 _sq._, 48 _sqq._

_ 865 The Dying God_, pp. 161 _sqq._

866 See (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, _s.v._ “Phrygia,” _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_, 9th ed. xviii. 849 _sq._; _id._, “A Study of Phrygian
Art,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) pp. 350 _sq._ Prof.
P. Kretschmer holds that both Cybele and Attis were gods of the
indigenous Asiatic population, not of the Phrygian invaders
(_Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_, Göttingen,
1896, pp. 194 _sq._).

M211 The way in which the representatives of Attis were put to death is
perhaps shown by the legend of Marsyas, who was hung on a pine-tree
and flayed by Apollo.

867 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58 _sq._ As to Marsyas in the character of a
shepherd or herdsman see Hyginus, _Fab._ 165; Nonnus, _Dionys._ i.
41 _sqq._ He is called a Silenus by Pausanias (i. 24. 1).

868 Pausanias, x. 30. 9.

869 Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, i. 4. 2; Hyginus, _Fab._ 165. Many
ancient writers mention that the tree on which Marsyas suffered
death was a pine. See Apollodorus, _l.c._; Nicander,
_Alexipharmaca_, 301 _sq._, with the Scholiast’s note; Lucian,
_Tragodopodagra_, 314 _sq._; Archias Mitylenaeus, in _Anthologia
Palatina_, vii. 696; Philostratus, Junior, _Imagines_, i. 3; Longus,
_Pastor._ iv. 8; Zenobius, _Cent._ iv. 81; J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_,
i. 353 sqq. Pliny alone declares the tree to have been a plane,
which according to him was still shown at Aulocrene on the way from
Apamea to Phrygia (_Nat. Hist._ xvi. 240). On a candelabra in the
Vatican the defeated Marsyas is represented hanging on a pine-tree
(W. Helbig, _Führer_,2 i. 225 _sq._); but the monumental evidence is
not consistent on this point (Jessen, _s.v._ “Marsyas,” in W. H.
Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 2442). The
position which the pine held in the myth and ritual of Cybele
supports the preponderance of ancient testimony in favour of that
tree.

870 Herodotus, vii. 26; Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i. 2. 8; Livy, xxxviii.
13. 6; Quintus Curtius, iii. 1. 1-5; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ v. 106.
Herodotus calls the river the Catarrhactes.

871 Aelian, _Var. Hist_. xiii. 21.

M212 Marsyas apparently a double of Attis. The hanging and spearing of
Odin and his human victims on sacred trees. The hanging and spearing
of human victims among the Bagobos.

872 Catullus, lxiii. 22; Lucretius, ii. 620; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 181
_sq._, 341; Polyaenus, _Stratagem._ viii. 53. 4. Flutes or pipes
often appear on her monuments. See H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae
Selectae_, Nos. 4100, 4143, 4145, 4152, 4153.

873 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, p. 168, ed. Duncker
and Schneidewin.

874 Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio insularum Aquilonis_, 27 (Migne’s
_Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. 643).

875 S. Bugge, _Studien über die Entstehung der nördischen Götter- und
Heldensagen_ (Munich, 1889), pp. 339 _sqq._; K. Simrock, _Die Edda_8
(Stuttgart, 1882), p. 382; K. Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_
(Berlin, 1870-1900), iv. 244 _sq._; H. M. Chadwick, _The Cult of
Othin_ (London, 1899), pp. 3-20. The old English custom of hanging
and disembowelling traitors was probably derived from a practice of
thus sacrificing them to Odin; for among many races, including the
Teutonic and Latin peoples, capital punishment appears to have been
originally a religious rite, a sacrifice or consecration of the
criminal to the god whom he had offended. See F. Liebrecht, _Zur
Volkskunde_ (Heilbronn, 1879), pp. 8 _sq._; K. von Amira, in H.
Paul’s _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_,2 iii. (Strasburg,
1900) pp. 197 _sq._; G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus
Poeticum Boreale_ (Oxford, 1883), i. 410; W. Golther, _Handbuch der
germanischen Mythologie_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 548 _sq._; Th.
Mommsen, _Roman History_, bk. i. ch. 12 (vol. i. p. 192, ed. 1868);
_id._, _Römisches Strafrecht_ (Leipsic, 1899), pp. 900 _sqq._; F.
Granger, _The Worship of the Romans_ (London, 1895), pp. 259 _sqq._;
E. Westermarck, _The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, i.
(London, 1906) pp. 439 _sq._ So, too, among barbarous peoples the
slaughter of prisoners in war is often a sacrifice offered by the
victors to the gods to whose aid they ascribe the victory. See A. B.
Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_ (London, 1887),
pp. 169 _sq._; W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_2 (London,
1832-1836), i. 289; Diodorus Siculus, xx. 65; Strabo, vii. 2. 3, p.
294; Caesar, _De bello Gallico_, vi. 17; Tacitus, _Annals_, i. 61,
xiii. 57; Procopius, De bello Gothico, ii. 15. 24, ii. 25. 9;
Jornandes, _Getica_, vi. 41; J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_4
(Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 36 _sq._; Fr. Schwally, _Semitische
Kriegsaltertümer_ (Leipsic, 1901), pp. 29 _sqq._

_ 876 Havamal_, 139 _sqq._ (K. Simrock, _Die Edda_,8 p. 55; K.
Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. 270 _sq._).

877 Fay-Cooper Cole, _The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao_
(Chicago, 1913), pp. 114 _sqq._ (_Field Museum of Natural History,
Publication 170_).

M213 The hanging of Artemis. The hanging of Helen. The hanging of animal
victims.

878 Pausanias, viii. 23. 6 _sq._ The story, mentioned by Pausanias, that
some children tied a rope round the neck of the image of Artemis was
probably invented to explain a ritual practice of the same sort, as
scholars have rightly perceived. See L. Preller, _Griechische
Mythologie_, i.4 305, note 2; L. R. Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek
States_ (Oxford, 1896-1909), ii. 428 _sq._; M. P. Nilsson,
_Griechische Feste_ (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 232 _sqq._ The Arcadian
worship of the Hanged Artemis was noticed by Callimachus. See
Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 38, p. 32, ed. Potter.

879 Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xii. 85, p. 1714; I. Bekker, _Anecdota
Graeca_ (Berlin, 1814-1821), i. 336 _sq._, _s.v._ Ἄγαλμα Ἑκάτης. The
goddess Hecate was sometimes identified with Artemis, though in
origin probably she was quite distinct. See L. R. Farnell, _The
Cults of the Greek States_, ii. 499 _sqq._

880 Antoninus Liberalis, _Transform._ xiii.

881 Pausanias, iii. 19. 9 _sq._

882 H. von Fritze, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,” _Jahrbuch des kaiser.
deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts_, xviii. (1903) pp. 58-67. In the
ritual of Eleusis the sacrificial oxen were sometimes lifted up by
young men from the ground. See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge
Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 vol. ii. pp. 166 _sq._ No. 521 (ἤραντο δὲ
καὶ τοῖς μυστηρίοις τοὺς βοῦς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τῇ θυσίαι, κτλ.); E. S.
Roberts and E. A. Gardner, _Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, ii.
(Cambridge, 1905) pp. 176 _sq._, No. 65. In this inscription the
word ἤραντο is differently interpreted by P. Stengel, who supposes
that it refers merely to turning backwards and upwards the head of
the victim. See P. Stengel, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,”
_Jahrbuch des kaiser. deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts_, xviii.
(1903) pp. 113-123. But it seems highly improbable that so trivial
an act should be solemnly commemorated in an inscription among the
exploits of the young men (_epheboi_) who performed it. On the other
hand, we know that at Nysa the young men did lift and carry the
sacrificial bull, and that the act was deemed worthy of
commemoration on the coins. See above, p. 206. The Wajagga of East
Africa dread the ghosts of suicides; so when a man has hanged
himself they take the rope from his neck and hang a goat in the
fatal noose, after which they slay the animal. This is supposed to
appease the ghost and prevent him from tempting human beings to
follow his bad example. See B. Gutmann, “Trauer und Begrabnissitten
der Wadschagga,” _Globus_, lxxxix. (1906) p. 200.

883 See above, p. 146.

M214 Use of the skins of human victims to effect their resurrection.

_ 884 The Scapegoat_, pp. 294 _sqq._

885 Herodotus, iv. 71 _sq._

M215 Skins of men and horses stuffed and set up at graves. Some tribes of
Borneo use the skulls of their enemies to ensure the fertility of
the ground and of women, the abundance of game, and so forth.

886 Jean du Plan de Carpin, _Historia Mongalorum_, ed. D’Avezac (Paris,
1838), cap. iii. § iii.

_ 887 Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah, texte Arabe accompagné d’une traduction_,
par C. Défrémery et B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1853-1858), iv. 300
_sq._ For more evidence of similar customs, observed by Turanian
peoples, see K. Neumann, _Die Hellenen im Skythenlande_ (Berlin,
1855), pp. 237-239.

888 Captain R. Fitz-roy, _Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His
Majesty’s Ships __“__Adventure__”__ and __“__Beagle__”_ (London,
1839), ii. 155 _sq._

889 Herodotus, iv. 103. Many Scythians flayed their dead enemies, and,
stretching the skin on a wooden framework, carried it about with
them on horseback (Herodotus, iv. 64). The souls of the dead may
have been thought to attend on and serve the man who thus bore their
remains about with him. It is also possible that the custom was
nothing more than a barbarous mode of wreaking vengeance on the
dead. Thus a Persian king has been known to flay an enemy, stuff the
skin with chaff, and hang it on a high tree (Procopius, _De bello
Persico_, i. 5. 28). This was the treatment which the arch-heretic
Manichaeus is said to have received at the hands of the Persian king
whose son he failed to cure (Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, i.
22; Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, lxvii. 137, 139). Still such a
punishment may have been suggested by a religious rite. The idea of
crucifying their human victims appears to have been suggested to the
negroes of Benin by the crucifixes of the early Portuguese
missionaries. See H. Ling Roth, _Great Benin_ (Halifax, 1903), pp.
14 _sq._

890 W. H. Furness, _Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters_ (Philadelphia,
1902), p. 59. According to Messrs. Hose and McDougall, the spirits
which animate the skulls appear not to be those of the persons from
whose shoulders the heads were taken. However, the spirits (called
_Toh_) reside in or about the heads, and “it is held that in some
way their presence in the house brings prosperity to it, especially
in the form of good crops; and so essential to the welfare of the
house are the heads held to be that, if through fire a house has
lost its heads and has no occasion for war, the people will beg a
head, or even a fragment of one, from some friendly house, and will
instal it in their own with the usual ceremonies.” See Ch. Hose and
W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_ (London, 1912), ii. 20,
23.

891 Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_2 (London,
1863), i. 197.

892 Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 206 _sq._ In quoting this
passage I have taken the liberty to correct a grammatical slip.

893 Spenser St. John, _op. cit._ i. 204. See further G. A. Wilken, “Iets
over de schedelvereering,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en
Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, xxxviii. (1889) pp. 89-129;
_id._, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iv. 37-81. A
different view of the purpose of head-hunting is maintained by Mr.
A. C. Kruyt, in his essay, “Het koppensnellen der Toradja’s van
Midden-Celebes, en zijne Beteekenis,” _Verslagen en Mededeelingen
der koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde,
Vierde Reeks, iii. 2 (Amsterdam, 1899), pp. 147 _sqq._

The natives of Nias, an island to the west of Sumatra, think it
necessary to obtain the heads of their enemies for the purpose of
celebrating the final obsequies of a dead chief. Their notion seems
to be that the ghost of the deceased ruler demands this sacrifice in
his honour, and will punish the omission of it by sending sickness
or other misfortunes on the survivors. Thus among these people the
custom of head-hunting is based on their belief in human immortality
and on their conception of the exacting demands which the dead make
upon the living. When the skulls have been presented to a dead
chief, the priest prays to him for his blessing on the sowing and
harvesting of the rice, on the fruitfulness of women, and so forth.
See C. Fries, “Das ‘Koppensnellen’ auf Nias,” _Allgemeine
Missions-Zeitschrift_, February, 1908, pp. 73-88. From this account
it would seem that it is not the spirits of the slain men, but the
ghost of the dead chief from whom the blessings of fertility and so
forth are supposed to emanate. Compare Th. C. Rappard, “Het eiland
Nias en zijne bewoners,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en
Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, lxii. (1909) pp. 609-611.

M216 The stuffed skin of the human representative of the Phrygian god may
have been used for like purposes.

_ 894 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 4-7.

_ 895 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 169 _sqq._

M217 Popularity of the worship of Cybele and Attis in the Roman Empire.

896 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4099, 4100, 4103,
4105, 4106, 4116, 4117, 4119, 4120, 4121, 4123, 4124, 4127, 4128,
4131, 4136, 4139, 4140, 4142, 4156, 4163, 4167; H. Hepding, _Attis_,
pp. 85, 86, 93, 94, 95, Inscr. Nos. 21-24, 26, 50, 51, 52, 61, 62,
63. See further, J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire
Romain_ (Paris, 1911), pp. 73 _sqq._, 103 _sqq._

897 S. Dill, _Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_2
(London, 1899), p. 16.

898 Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vii. 26.

899 But the two were publicly worshipped at Dyme and Patrae in Achaia
(Pausanias, vii. 17. 9, vii. 20. 3), and there was an association
for their worship at Piraeus. See P. Foucart, _Des Associations
Religieuses chez les Grecs_ (Paris, 1873), pp. 85 _sqq._, 196; Ch.
Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, p. 772, No. 982.

900 Rapp, _s.v._ “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und
röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1656.

901 As to the savage theory of inspiration or possession by a deity see
(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 ii. 131 _sqq._ As to
the savage theory of a new birth see _Balder the Beautiful_, ii. 251
_sqq._ As to the use of blood to wash away sins see _The Magic Art
and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 107 _sqq._; _Psyche’s Task_, Second
Edition, pp. 44 _sq._, 47 _sqq._, 116 _sq._ Among the Cameroon
negroes accidental homicide can be expiated by the blood of an
animal. The relations of the slayer and of the slain assemble. An
animal is killed and every person present is smeared with its blood
on his face and breast. They think that the guilt of manslaughter is
thus atoned for, and that no punishment will overtake the homicide.
See Missionary Autenrieth, “Zur Religion der Kamerun-Neger,” in
_Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii. (1893)
pp. 93 _sq._ In Car Nicobar a man possessed by devils is cleansed of
them by being rubbed all over with pig’s blood and beaten with
leaves. The devils are thus transferred to the leaves, which are
thrown into the sea before daybreak. See V. Solomon, “Extracts from
diaries kept in Car Nicobar,” in _Journal of the Anthropological
Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 227. Similarly the ancient Greeks
purified a homicide by means of pig’s blood and laurel leaves. See
my note on Pausanias, ii. 31. 8 (vol. iii. pp. 276-279). The
original idea of thus purging a manslayer was probably to rid him of
the angry ghost of his victim, just as in Car Nicobar a man is rid
of devils in the same manner. The purgative virtue ascribed to the
blood in these ceremonies may be based on the notion that the
offended spirit accepts it as a substitute for the blood of the
guilty person. This was the view of C. Meiners (_Geschichte der
Religionen_, Hanover, 1806-1807, ii. 137 _sq._) and of E. Rohde
(_Psyche_,3 Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903, ii. 77 _sq._).

902 A good instance of such an attempt to dress up savagery in the garb
of philosophy is the fifth speech of the emperor Julian, “On the
Mother of the Gods” (pp. 206 _sqq._ ed. F. C. Hertlein, Leipsic,
1875-1876).

M218 The spread of Oriental faiths over the Roman Empire contributed to
undermine the fabric of Greek and Roman civilization by inculcating
the salvation of the individual soul as the supreme aim of life.

903 As to the diffusion of Oriental religions in the Roman Empire see G.
Boissier, _La Religion Romaine d’Auguste aux Antonins_5 (Paris,
1900), i. 349 _sqq._; J. Reville, _La Religion à Rome sous les
Sévères_ (Paris, 1886), pp. 47 _sqq._; S. Dill, _Roman Society in
the Last Century of the Western Empire_2 (London, 1899), pp. 76
_sqq._