Chapter VIII: The Saturnalia and Kindred Festivals (12)

836 Th. Nöldeke, _s.v._ “Esther,” in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, vol. ii.
(London, 1901) coll. 1405. But in a letter, written to me (20th May
1901) since the publication of the last edition of this book,
Professor Nöldeke expresses a doubt whether he has not followed
Jensen’s mythological identifications in the book of Esther too far.

M283 But the proposed etymology of Vashti is untenable.

837 “The change of _m_ to _w_ or _v_ (the Hebrew ו = _waw_) is frequent
and certain” (the Rev. C. H. W. Johns in a letter to me, May 19th,
1913). The change is vouched for also by my friend Professor A. A.
Bevan, who cites as an instance the name of the Babylonian king
Amel-Marduk, which in Hebrew is changed into Evil-Merodach (2 Kings
xxv. 27; Jeremiah lii. 31). See E. Schrader, _Die Keilinschriften
und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 396.

838 The name of the Elamite goddess is read as Parti by the Rev. Father
Scheil. See E. Cosquin, _Le Prologue-cadre des Mille et Une Nuits,
les Légendes Perses, et le Livre d’Esther_ (Paris, 1909), p. 68
(extract from the _Revue Biblique Internationale_, Janvier et Avril,
1909, published by the Dominicans of Jerusalem). The Master of St.
Catharine’s College, Cambridge (the Rev. C. H. W. Johns), has kindly
examined the facsimile of the inscriptions for me. He informs me
that Father Scheil’s reading is correct and that the reading Mashti
is quite wrong. He further tells me that Jensen was misled by an
incorrect edition of the inscriptions to which alone he had access.
The signs for _par_ (or _bar_) and _mash_ in the inscriptions
resemble each other and therefore might easily be confused by a
copyist. All Jensen’s etymologies, except that of Mordecai, are
adversely criticized by M. Emile Cosquin in the work to which I have
referred (pp. 67 _sqq._). He prefers with Oppert to derive all the
names except Mordecai (the identity of which with Marduk he does not
dispute) from the old Persian. However, these derivations from the
Persian are rejected by Professor Th. Nöldeke, whose opinion on such
a point is entitled to carry great weight. See _Encyclopaedia
Biblica_, ii. (London, 1901) col. 1402, _s.v._ “Esther.”

M284 The mock king of the Sacaea seems to have personated a god. The view
of Movers.

839 F. C. Movers, _Die Phoenizier_, i. (Bonn, 1841) pp. 490 _sq._; 2
Samuel xvi. 21 _sq._, compare xii. 8. It was a well-attested custom
of the Assyrian kings, when they had conquered a city, to take into
their harem the daughters of the vanquished princes and rulers. See
C. F. Lehmann (-Haupt), _Šamaššumutkîn König von Babylonien_
(Leipsic, 1892), p. 31. The Persian and Scythian kings seem also to
have married the wives of their predecessors. See Herodotus, iii. 68
and 88, iv. 78; K. Neumann, _Die Hellenen im Skythenlande_, i.
(Berlin, 1855) p. 301. Such a custom points to an old system of
mother-kin under which the royal dignity was transmitted through
women. See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 268
_sqq._

M285 The mock king of the Sacaea may have mated with a woman who played
the part of a goddess, whether Anaitis, Astarte, or Semiramis.
Identity of the mythical Semiramis with Astarte. The lovers of
Semiramis and Ishtar (Astarte).

840 Ed. Meyer, _s.v._ “Anaitis,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech.
und röm. Mythologie_, i. (Leipsic, 1884-1890) coll. 352 _sq._ At the
temple of Anaitis in Acilisena, a city of Armenia, the daughters of
the noblest families regularly prostituted themselves for a long
time before marriage (Strabo, xi. 14. 16, p. 532). Agathias
identified Anaitis with Aphrodite (_Hist._ ii. 24), and when the
Greeks spoke of the Oriental Aphrodite, they meant Astarte or one of
her equivalents. Jensen proposes to identify Anaitis with an Elamite
goddess Nahuntí, whom he takes to have been equivalent to Ishtar or
Astarte, especially in her quality of the Evening Star. See his
article, “Elamitische Eigennamen,” _Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde
des Morgenlandes_, vi. (1892) pp. 64-67, 70.

841 Diodorus Siculus, ii. 20; Aelian, _Var. Hist._ vii. 1.

842 W. Robertson Smith, “Ctesias and the Semiramis Legend,” _English
Historical Review_, ii. (1887) pp. 303-317. Amongst other evidence,
Smith refers to Diodorus Siculus, from whose account (ii. 4) of the
birth of Semiramis he infers that she “is the daughter of Derceto,
the fish goddess of Ascalon, and is herself the Astarte whose sacred
doves were honoured at Ascalon and throughout Syria.” It seems
probable that the legendary Semiramis is to be identified with
Shammuramat, the “palace wife” of Samsi-Adad, king of Assyria, and
mother of King Adad-Nirari; she lived towards the end of the ninth
century B.C., and is known to us from Assyrian inscriptions. See C.
F. Lehmann-Haupt, _Die historische Semiramis und ihre Zeit_
(Tübingen, 1910), pp. 1 _sqq._; _id._, _s.v._ “Semiramis,” in W. H.
Roscher’s _Lexicon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, iv. coll. 678
_sqq._

843 Strabo, xii. 3. 37, p. 559, compare xi. 8. 4, p. 512. Zela is the
modern Zileh, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants clustered at the
foot of the so-called mound of Semiramis, which is an inconsiderable
protuberance of natural rock crowned by the walls of an old citadel.
The place is singularly destitute of ancient remains, but every year
in the first fortnight of December a fair is held in the town, to
which merchants come not only from the whole of Asia Minor, but also
from the Caucasus, Armenia, and Persia. This fair may very well be a
direct descendant of a great festival held in honour of Anaitis or
Astarte. See G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, _Histoire de l’Art dans
l’Antiquité_, iv. (Paris, 1887) p. 649; F. Cumont et E. Cumont,
_Voyage d’Exploration archéologique dans le Pont et la Petite
Arménie_ (Brussels, 1906), pp. 188 _sqq._

844 Berosus, cited by Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ v. 65, p. 57
ed. Potter (where for Ταναΐδος we should read Ἀναΐτιδος, as is done
by C. Müller, _Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum_, ii. 509).

845 Strabo, xi. 8. 4, p. 512, xii. 3. 37, p. 559. The nature of the
ἱερόδουλοι at Zela is indicated by Strabo in a passage (xii. 3. 36)
where he describes a similar state of things at Comana, a city not
far from Zela. His words are πλῆθος γυναικῶν τῶν ἐργαζομένων ἀπὸ τοῦ
σώματος, ὦν αἰ πλείους εἰσὶν ἰεραί.

846 Herodotus, i. 184; Strabo, xvi. i. 2, p. 737; Diodorus Siculus, ii.
14.

847 Ctesias, cited by John of Antioch, in C. Müller’s _Fragmenta
Historicorum Graecorum_, iv. 539.

848 Diodorus Siculus, ii. 13. Note that the first husband of Semiramis
is said to have hanged himself (Diodorus Siculus, ii. 6).

M286 The sacred harlots of Ishtar.

849 A. Jeremias, _Izdubar-Nimrod_, (Leipsic, 1891), pp. 23 _sqq._; M.
Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_ (Boston, U.S.A.,
1898), p. 482; L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_
(London, 1899), pp. 159 _sqq._; P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-Babylonische
Mythen und Epen_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 169, 171; R. F. Harper,
_Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_ (New York, 1901), pp. 338
_sq._; _Das Gilgamesch-Epos, neu übersetzt von_ Arthur Ungnad _und
gemeinverständlich erklärt von_ Hugo Gressmann (Göttingen, 1911),
pp. 31 _sq._ The true name of the Babylonian hero, which used to be
read as Izdubar, has been found to be Gilgamesh. See M. Jastrow,
_op. cit._ pp. 468 _sq._; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die
Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 566 note
4; A. Ungnad, _Das Gilgamesch-Epos_, pp. 76 _sq._ Aelian mentions
(_De natura animalium_, xii. 21) a Babylonian king, Gilgamus, whose
name is doubtless identical with that of the hero.

850 A. Jeremias, _op. cit._ pp. 59 _sq._; M. Jastrow, _op. cit._ pp. 475
_sq._, 484 _sq._; Herodotus, i. 199. The name which Herodotus gives
to the goddess is Mylitta, but this is only a corruption of one of
her Semitic titles, whether Baalath (Hebrew בעלת) “mistress,” or
perhaps rather _Mullittu_, from _Mu’allidtu_ (Hebrew מילדת), “she
who helps to the birth.” See E. Meyer, _s.v._ “Astarte,” in W. H.
Roscher’s _Lexicon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 648; H.
Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte
Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 423 note 7. The female “votaries of
Marduk” are repeatedly mentioned in the code of Hammurabi. See C. H.
W. Johns, _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters_
(Edinburgh, 1904), pp. 54, 55, 59, 60, 61; _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,
Second Edition, p. 63.

M287 The myth of Ishtar (Astarte) and her lovers acted at the Sacaea in
Zela.

851 Along with Anaitis at Zela there were worshipped two deities named
Omanos and Anadates; Strabo says that they were Persian divinities,
and certainly their ritual as described by him was purely Persian.
See Strabo, xi. 8. 4, p. 512, xv. 3. 15, p. 733; Franz Cumont, _Les
Religions orientales dans le Paganisme romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp.
214 _sq._ It has been proposed to identify their names, first, with
those of the two Persian archangels (Amshaspands), Vohumano or Vohu
Manah (“Good Thought”) and Ameretât (“Immortality”), and, second,
with those of Haman and his father Hammedatha in the book of Esther
(iii. 1). In order to support the identification of Anadates with
Ameretât and Hammedatha it has been further proposed to alter
Anadates into Amadates or Amardates in the text of Strabo, which
would assimilate the name to Amurdâd, a late form of Ameretât. See
P. Jensen, _Hittiter und Armenier_ (Strasburg, 1898), p. 181; Franz
Cumont, _Textes et Monuments figurés relatifs aux Mystères de
Mithra_, i. (Brussels, 1899) pp. 130, 131; H. Winckler,
_Altorientalische Forschungen_, Dritte Reihe, i. (Leipsic, 1901) p.
4; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte
Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 516 note 3; P. Haupt, _Purim_
(Leipsic, 1906), p. 26; L. B. Paton, _Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Book of Esther_ (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 88, 92. As
to the Persian archangels (Amshaspands) see C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte
der Religion im Altertum_ (Gotha, 1896-1903), ii. 200 _sqq._; L. H.
Gray, “The Double Nature of the Iranian Archangels,” _Archiv für
Religionswissenschaft_, vii. (1904) pp. 345 _sqq._; J. H. Moulton,
_Early Religious Poetry of Persia_ (Cambridge, 1911), pp. 58 _sqq._
But apart from the philological difficulty created by the forcible
alteration of Strabo’s text in order to bring it into conformity
with the theory, it is difficult to see how the highly abstract
conceptions of the archangels “Good Thought” and “Immortality” could
have passed into the highly concrete and by no means angelic figures
of Haman and Hammedatha. This latter difficulty has been pointed out
to me in a letter (8th June, 1901) by my friend the Rev. Professor
J. H. Moulton, who further informs me that in Persian religion Vohu
Manah is never linked with Ameretât, whereas Ameretât is constantly
linked with another archangel Haurvatât (“Health”). Professor
Theodor Nöldeke in a letter to me (20th May, 1901) also expresses
himself sceptical as to the proposed identifications; he tells me
that the name of a Persian god cannot end in _data_, just as the
name of a Greek god cannot end in -δωρος or -δοτος. On the whole it
seems better to leave Omanos and Anadates out of the present
discussion.

M288 Such sacred dramas are magical rites intended to influence the course of nature. M289 Magical intention of sacred dramas and masked dances among savages. M290 Masked dances among the Indians of North-West America.

852 Franz Boas, “The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the
Kwakiutl Indians,” _Report of the United States National Museum for
1895_ (Washington, 1897), p. 396.

853 Franz Boas, _op. cit._ pp. 420 _sq._ The description applies
specially to the masked dances of the Kwakiutl tribe, but probably
it holds good for the similar dances of the other Indian tribes on
the same coast. Thus among the Bella Coola Indians “the masks used
in the dances represent mythical personages, and the dances are
pantomimic representations of myths. Among others, the thunder bird
and his servant ... appear in the dances” (F. Boas, _op. cit._ p.
651).

M291 These masked dances represent mythical incidents and are supposed to
have been revealed to the Indians by their guardian spirits.

_ 854 Tamanawas_ or _tamanous_ is a Chinook term signifying “guardian
spirits.” See _Totemism and Exogamy_, iii. 405 _sqq._

855 James G. Swan, _The Indians of Cape Flattery_, p. 66, quoted by
Franz Boas, _op. cit._ pp. 637 _sq._

M292 Gods or spirits personated by the actors in the masked dances. M293 The dances accompanied by songs.

856 J. Adrian Jacobsen, “Geheimbünde der Küstenbewohner
Nordwest-America’s,” _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für
Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte_ (1891), pp. 384 _sq._
The passage has been already quoted by me in _Totemism and Exogamy_,
iii. 500-502.

M294 Spirits personated by masked performers among the Esquimaux of Bering Strait. M295 The animal masks worn by the actors. M296 Identification of the masked actor with the mythical being whom he represents.

857 As to the belief of these Esquimaux that at the Festival of the Dead
the spirits of the departed enter into and animate their human
namesakes, see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 371.

858 E. W. Nelson, “The Eskimo about Bering Strait,” _Eighteenth Annual
Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington,
1899) pp. 394 _sq._

M297 Dramatic ceremonies of the Cora Indians of Mexico in which the
actors personate gods. Masked dances of the Brazilian Indians to
ensure fertility and abundance.

859 K. Th. Preuss, _Die Nayarit Expedition_, I. _Die Religion der Cora
Indianer_ (Leipsic, 1912), pp. xcii. _sqq._, xcv. _sqq._

860 Th. Koch-Grünberg, _Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern_ (Berlin,
1909-1910), i. 130-140, ii. 169-201. The passage translated in the
text occurs in vol. ii. p. 196.

M298 Masked dances of the Monumbo in German New Guinea. Masked dances of
the Kayans of Borneo.

861 F. Vormann, “Tänze und Tanzfestlichkeiten der Monumbo-Papua
(Deutsch-Neuguinea),” _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 415 _sq._, 418
_sqq._, 426 _sq._

862 A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 324.
As to these masquerades of the Kayans see _Spirits of the Corn and
of the Wild_, i. 95 _sq._, 186 _sq._

M299 Dramatic performances of the Sea Dyaks of Borneo, in which the actor
personates a god.

863 Rev. J. Perham, “Mengap, the Song of the Dyak Sea Feast,” _Journal
of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 2
(Singapore, December, 1878), pp. 123 _sq._, 134; H. Ling Roth, _The
Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo_ (London, 1896), ii. 174
_sq._, 183. Compare E. H. Gomes, _Seventeen Years among the Sea
Dyaks of Borneo_ (London, 1911), pp. 213 _sq._: “This song of the
head feast takes the form of a story setting forth how the mythical
hero Klieng held a head feast on his return from the warpath, and
invited the god of war, Singalang Burong, to attend it. It describes
at great length all that happened on that occasion. The singing of
this song takes up the whole night. It begins before 8 P.M., and
lasts till next morning. Except for a short interval for rest in the
middle of the night, the performers are marching and singing all the
time.” On the third day of the festival the people go out on the
open-air platform in front of the house and sacrifice a pig. “The
people shout together (_manjong_) at short intervals until a hawk is
seen flying in the heavens. That hawk is Singalang Burong, who has
taken that form to manifest himself to them. He has accepted their
offerings and has heard their cry” (E. H. Gomes, _op. cit._ p. 214).

M300 Religious or magical origin of the drama.

864 A. E. Haigh, _The Attic Theatre_ (Oxford, 1889), pp. 4 _sqq,_ The
religious origin of Greek tragedy is maintained by Professor W.
Ridgeway (_The Origin of Tragedy_, Cambridge, 1910), but he finds
its immediate inspiration in the worship of the dead rather than in
the worship of Dionysus.

865 H. Oldenberg, _Die Literatur des alten Indien_ (Stuttgart and
Berlin, 1903), pp. 236 _sqq._ Professor Oldenberg holds that the
evolution of the Indian drama was probably not influenced by that of
Greece.

M301 The representation of mythical beings by living men and women may
furnish a common ground where two rival schools of mythology can
meet and be reconciled.
M302 The legend of Semiramis and her lovers a duplicate of the myth of
Aphrodite and Adonis, of Cybele and Attis, of Isis and Osiris.

_ 866 Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 239 _sq._

_ 867 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 97 _sqq._

M303 Sardanapalus and Ashurbanapal. The legendary death of Sardanapalus
in the fire.

868 C. P. Tiele, _Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte_ (Gotha, 1886-1888),
pp. 351 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_
(Boston, U.S.A., 1898), p. 43; Sir G. Maspero, _Histoire Ancienne
des Peuples de l’Orient Classique_, iii. _Les Empires_ (Paris,
1899), pp. 378 _sqq._; C. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian
Literature_ (New York, 1901), pp. 94 _sqq._

869 Athenaeus, xii. 38 _sq._, pp. 528 F-530 C; Diodorus Siculus, ii. 23
and 27; Justin, i. 3. Several different versions of the king’s
epitaph have come down to us. I have followed the version of
Choerilus, the original of which is said to have been carved in
Chaldean letters on a tombstone that surmounted a great barrow at
Nineveh. This barrow may, as I suggest in the text, have been one of
the so-called mounds of Semiramis.

M304 The burning of Sandan, a mythical god or hero of Western Asia. K. O.
Müller’s description of the burning of Sandan.

870 Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv. 8; Dio Chrysostom, _Or._ xxxiii. p. 408
(vol. ii. p. 16 ed. L. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1857). Coins of Tarsus
exhibit the effigy on the pyre, which seems to be composed of a
pyramid of great beams resting on a cubical base. See K. O. Müller,
“Sandon und Sardanapal,” _Kunstarchäologische Werke_ (Berlin, 1873),
iii. 8 _sqq._, whose valuable essay I follow. For fuller details see
_Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 91 _sqq._, 139 _sqq._

871 Agathias, _Hist._ ii. 24.

872 Joannes Lydus, _De magistratibus_, iii. 64; Apollodorus,
_Bibliotheca_, ii. 6. 2 _sq._; Lucian, _Dial. deorum_, xiii. 2.

873 K. O. Müller, “Sandon und Sardanapal,” _Kunstarchäologische Werke_
(Berlin, 1873), iii. 16 _sq._ The writer adds that there is
authority for every stroke in the picture. His principal source is
the sixty-second speech of Dio Chrysostom (vol. ii. p. 202 ed. L.
Dindorf), where the unmanly Sardanapalus, seated cross-legged on a
gilded couch with purple hangings, is compared to “the Adonis for
whom the women wail.”

M305 Death in the fire of men who personate gods or heroes.

874 Herodotus, i. 7.

875 Herodotus, i. 86 _sq._, with J. C. F. Bähr’s note. According to
another and perhaps more probable tradition the king sought a
voluntary death in the flames. See Bacchylides, iii. 24-62; _Adonis,
Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 141 _sqq._

_ 876 The Dying God_, pp. 41 _sq._

877 Sophocles, _Trachiniae_, 1195 _sqq._:

πολλὴν μὲν ὕλην τῆς βαθυρρίζου δρυὸς κείραντα πολλὸν δ᾽ ἄρσεν
ἐκτεμόνθ᾽ ὁμοῦ ἄγριον ἔλαιον, σῶμα τουμὸν ἐμβαλεῖν.

The passage was pointed out to me by my friend the late Dr. A. W.
Verrall. The poet’s language suggests that of old a sacred fire was
kindled by the friction of oak and wild olive wood, and that in
accordance with a notion common among rude peoples, one of the
pieces of wood (in this case the wild olive) was regarded as male
and the other (the oak) as female. On this hypothesis, the fire was
kindled by drilling a hole in a piece of oak with a stick of wild
olive. As to the different sorts of wood used by the ancients in
making fire by friction, see A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und
des Göttertranks_2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 35 _sqq._; _The Magic Art
and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 249 _sqq._ In South Africa a
special fire is procured for sacrifices by the friction of two
pieces of the _Uzwati_ tree, which are known respectively as husband
and wife. See _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 65.

_ 878 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 68.

879 F. C. Movers, _Die Phoenizier_, i. (Bonn, 1841) p. 496.

880 This suggestion was made by F. Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_
(Heilbronn, 1879), p. 9. It occurred to me independently.

881 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 49.

M306 Traces of human sacrifice in the Jewish festival of Purim; effigies
of Haman burnt.

882 Codex Theodosianus, Lib. XVI. Tit. viii. § 18: “_Judaeos quodam
festivitatis suae solleni Aman ad poenae quondam recordationem
incendere, et sanctae crucis adsimulatam speciem in contemptu
Christianae fidei sacrilega mente exurere provinciarum rectores
prohibeant: ne locis suis fidei nostrae signum immisceant, sed ritus
suos infra contemptum Christianae legis retineant: amissuri sine
dubio permissa hactenus, nisi ab inlicitis temperaverint._” The
decree is dated at Constantinople, in the consulship of Bassus and
Philip. For _locis_ we should probably read _jocis_ with Mommsen.

883 Fr. Cumont, “Une formule grecque de renonciation au judaïsme,”
_Wiener Studien_, xxiv. (1902) p. 468. The “Christian fast” referred
to in the formula is no doubt Lent. The mention of the Jewish
Sabbath (the Christian Saturday) raises a difficulty, which has been
pointed out by the editor, Franz Cumont, in a note (p. 470): “The
festival of Purim was celebrated on the 14th of Adar, that is, in
February or March, about the beginning of the Christian Lent; but
that festival, the date of which is fixed in the Jewish calendar,
does not always fall on a Saturday. Either the author made a mistake
or the civil authority obliged the Jews to transfer their rejoicings
to a Sabbath” (Saturday).

884 Israel Abrahams, _The Book of Delight and other Papers_
(Philadelphia, 1912), pp. 266 _sq._ Mr. Abrahams ingeniously
suggests (_op. cit._ pp. 267 _sq._) that the ring waved over the
fire was an emblem of the sun, and that the kindling of the Purim
fires was originally a ceremony of imitative magic to ensure a
supply of solar light and heat.

885 Albîrûnî, _The Chronology of Ancient Nations_, translated and edited
by Dr. C. Edward Sachau (London, 1879), pp. 273 _sq._

886 Quoted by Lagarde, “Purim,” p. 13 (_Abhandlungen der königlichen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen_, xxxiv. 1887).

887 M. Güdemann, _Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der
abendländischen Juden_ (Vienna, 1880-1888), ii. 211 _sq._; I.
Abrahams, _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_ (London, 1896), pp. 260
_sq._

888 J. J. Schudt, _Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten_ (Frankfort and Leipsic,
1714), ii. Theil, p. 309.

M307 Accusations of ritual murder brought against the Jews. The
accusations probably false.

889 Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, vii. 16; Theophanes,
_Chronographia_, ed. J. Classen (Bonn, 1839-1841), vol. i. p. 129.
Theophanes places the event in the year 408 A.D. From a note in
Migne’s edition of Socrates, I learn that in the Alexandrian
calendar, which Theophanes used, the year 408 corresponded to the
year which in our reckoning began on the first of September 415.
Hence if the murder was perpetrated in spring at Purim it must have
taken place in 416.

890 This is the view of H. Graetz (_Geschichte der Juden_,2 iv. Leipsic,
1866, pp. 393 _sq._) and Dr. M. R. James (_Life and Miracles of St.
William of Norwich_ (Cambridge, 1896), by A. Jessopp and M. R.
James, pp. lxiii. _sq._).

891 For an examination of some of these reported murders, see M. R.
James, _op. cit._ pp. lxii. _sqq._; H. L. Strack, _Das Blut im
Glauben und Aberglauben der Menschheit_ (Munich, 1900), pp. 121
_sqq._ Both writers incline to dismiss the charges as groundless.

M308 Mitigation of human sacrifice by the substitution of a criminal for
the victim.

892 Above, pp. 353 _sq._

M309 The “fast of Esther” before Purim. Jensen’s theory that the “fast of
Esther” was originally a mourning for the annual death of a deity
like Tammuz.

893 J. Buxtorf, _Synagoga Judaica_ (Bâle, 1661), cap. xxix. p. 554; J.
Chr. G. Bodenschatz, _Kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden_
(Erlangen, 1748), ii. 253 _sq._

894 Esther iv. 3 and 16, ix. 31.

895 So far as I know, Professor Jensen has not yet published his theory,
but he has stated it in letters to correspondents. See W. Nowack,
_Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie_ (Freiburg i. Baden and
Leipsic, 1894), ii. 200; H. Günkel, _Schöpfung und Chaos_
(Göttingen, 1895), pp. 311 _sqq._; D. G. Wildeboer, in his
commentary on Esther, pp. 174 _sq._ (_Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum
Alten Testament_, herausgegeben von D. K. Marti, Lieferung 6,
Freiburg i. B., 1898). In the Babylonian calendar the 13th of Adar
was so far a fast day that on it no fish or fowl might be eaten. In
one tablet the 13th of Adar is marked “not good,” while the 14th and
15th are marked “good.” See C. H. W. Johns, _s.v._ “Purim,”
_Encyclopaedia Biblica_, iii. (London, 1902) col. 3980.

896 M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_ (Boston, U.S.A.,
1898), pp. 471 _sq._, 475 _sq._, 481-486, 510-512; L. W. King,
_Babylonian Religion and Mythology_ (London, 1899), pp. 146 _sqq._;
P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen_ (Berlin, 1900),
pp. 116-273; R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_ (New
York, 1901), pp. 324-368; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die
Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), pp.
566-582; _Das Gilgamesch-Epos, neu übersetzt von_ Arthur Ungnad _und
gemeinverständlich erklärt von_ Hugo Gressmann (Göttingen, 1911).
Professor Jastrow points out that though a relation cannot be traced
between each of the tablets of the poem and the corresponding month
of the year, such a relation appears undoubtedly to exist between
some of the tablets and the months. Thus, for example, the sixth
tablet describes the affection of Ishtar for Gilgamesh, and the
visit which she paid to Anu, her father in heaven, to complain of
the hero’s contemptuous rejection of her love. Now the sixth
Babylonian month was called the “Mission of Ishtar,” and in it was
held the festival of Tammuz, the hapless lover of the goddess.
Again, the story of the great flood is told in the eleventh tablet,
and the eleventh month was called the “month of rain.” See M.
Jastrow, _op. cit._ pp. 484, 510.

897 Ezekiel viii. 14.

M310 The resurrection of the dead god perhaps represented by a living man
who afterwards died in earnest in the character of the god. This
would explain the apparent duplication of the principal characters
in the book of Esther: Haman and Vashti would represent the gods
dying, while Mordecai and Esther would represent the gods rising
from the dead.

_ 898 Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 183 _sq._, 227.

899 Esther vii. 8.

900 See above, p. 368.

_ 901 Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, p. 183.

902 J. J. Schudt, _Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten_ (Frankfort and Leipsic,
1714), ii. Theil, p. 316.

M311 The Persian setting of the book of Esther. The Persian ceremony of
the “Ride of the Beardless One” in spring.

903 Dio Chrysostom makes Diogenes say to Alexander the Great, οὐκ
ἐννενόηκας τὴν τῶν Σακαίων ἑορτήν, ἢν Πέρσαι ἄγουσιν (_Or._ iv. vol.
i. p. 76 ed. L. Dindorf). The festival was mentioned by Ctesias in
the second book of his Persian history (Athenaeus, xiv. 44 p. 639
C); and down to the time of Strabo it was associated with the
nominal worship of the Persian goddess Anaitis (Strabo, xi. 8. 4 and
5, p. 512).

904 Lagarde, “Purim,” pp. 51 _sqq._ (_Abhandlungen der königl.
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen_, xxxiv. 1887).

905 Th. Hyde, _Historia religionis veterum Persarum_ (Oxford, 1700), pp.
183, 249-251; Albîrûnî, _The Chronology of Ancient Nations_,
translated and edited by Dr. C. Edward Sachau (London, 1879), p.
211.

M312 The “Beardless One” in the Persian ceremony is apparently the
degenerate successor of a temporary king.

_ 906 The Dying God_, pp. 148 _sqq._

907 Esther vi. 8 _sq._, viii. 15.

M313 The “Ride of the Beardless One” seems to be a magical ceremony for
the expulsion of winter.

_ 908 The Dying God_, pp. 254 _sqq._

M314 The opposition of Haman and Vashti to Mordecai and Esther seems to
be a contrast between the annual death of nature in winter and its
revival in spring.

909 The goddess Ishtar certainly seems to have embodied the principle of
fertility in animals as well as in plants; for in the poem which
describes her descent into the world of the dead it is said that

“_After the mistress Ishtar had descended to the land of
No-Return,_
_ The bull did not mount the cow, nor did the ass leap upon the
she-ass,_
_ The man did not approach the maid in the street,_
_ The man lay down to sleep upon his own couch,_
_ While the maid slept by herself._”

See C. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_ (New York,
1901), pp. 410 _sq._; P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und
Epen_ (Berlin, 1900), p. 87.

910 The interpretation here given of the four principal personages in
the book of Esther was suggested by me in the second edition of this
book (1900). It agrees substantially with the one which has since
been adopted by Professor H. Zimmern (in E. Schrader’s _Die
Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 Berlin, 1902, p. 519), and
by Professor P. Haupt (_Purim_, Leipsic, 1906, pp. 21 _sq._).

911 In this connexion it deserves to be noted that among the ancient
Persians marriages are said to have been usually celebrated at the
vernal equinox (Strabo, xv. 3. 17, p. 733).

912 The five days’ duration of the mock king’s reign may possibly have
been an intercalary period introduced, as in ancient Egypt and
Mexico, for the purpose of equalizing a year of 360 days (twelve
months of 30 days each) to a solar year reckoned at 365 days. See
above, pp. 339 _sqq._

913 However, the legend that Semiramis burned herself on a pyre in
Babylon for grief at the loss of a favourite horse (Hyginus, _Fab._
243; compare Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ viii. 155) may perhaps point to an
old custom of compelling the human representative of the goddess to
perish in the flames. We have seen (above, p. 371) that one of the
lovers of Ishtar had the form of a horse. Hence the legend recorded
by Hyginus is a fresh link in the chain of evidence which binds
Semiramis to Ishtar.

M315 Wide prevalence of festivals like the Saturnalia in antiquity. Such
festivals seem to have been held by agricultural communities for the
good of the crops, and at them the king or his substitute appears to
have personated the god of fertility, and to have been put to death
in that character in order to ensure that the god should rise from
the dead with renewed youth and vigour.
M316 The festivals point to a remarkable homogeneity of civilization over
a great part of the Old World in antiquity.

_ 914 The Dying God_, pp. 148 _sqq._

_ 915 The Dying God_, pp. 46 _sqq._

M317 The periodical sacrifice of deified men for the sake of maintaining
the course of nature perhaps helps to explain traditions which
represent the world or parts of it as created out of the bodies of
gods. The Brahmanical theory of the perpetual renewal of the
creation in the daily sacrifice.

916 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp.
478-480. Compare E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin,
1899) p. 117.

917 Berosus, quoted by Eusebius, _Chronicorum liber prior_, ed. A.
Schoene (Berlin, 1875), coll. 14-18; _id._, in _Fragmenta
Historicorum Graecorum_, ed. C. Muller, ii. 497 _sq._; P. Jensen,
_Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 2
_sqq._; L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_ (London,
1899), pp. 54 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and
Assyria_ (Boston, U.S.A., 1898), pp. 408 _sqq._; H. Zimmern, in E.
Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin,
1902), pp. 488 _sqq._; M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les Religions
Sémitiques_2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 366 _sqq._; R. W. Rogers, _Cuneiform
Parallels to the Old Testament_ (Oxford, preface dated 1911), pp. 31
_sq._, 36. In the Hebrew account of the creation (Genesis i. 2) “the
deep” (תהום _tĕhom_) is a reminiscence of the Babylonian mythical
monster Tiamat.

_ 918 Hymns of the Rig Veda_, x. 90 (vol. iv. pp. 289-293 of R. T. H.
Griffith’s translation, Benares, 1889-1892). Compare A. A.
Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_ (Strasburg, 1897), pp. 12 _sq._

_ 919 The Satapatha Brâhmana_, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part iv.
(Oxford, 1897) pp. xiv.-xxiv. (_The Sacred Books of the East_, vol.
xliii.). Compare Sylvain Lévi, _La doctrine du sacrifice dans les
Brâhmanas_ (Paris, 1898), pp. 13 _sqq._

920 [The following Note formed part of the text in the Second Edition of
_The Golden Bough_ (London, 1900), vol. iii. pp. 186-198. The
hypothesis which it sets forth has not been confirmed by subsequent
research, and is admittedly in a high degree speculative and
uncertain. Hence I have removed it from the text but preserved it as
an appendix on the chance that, under a pile of conjectures, it
contains some grains of truth which may ultimately contribute to a
solution of the problem. As my views on this subject appear to have
been strangely misunderstood, I desire to point out explicitly that
my theory assumes the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth as a
great religious and moral teacher, who founded Christianity and was
crucified at Jerusalem under the governorship of Pontius Pilate. The
testimony of the Gospels, confirmed by the hostile evidence of
Tacitus (_Annals_, xv. 44) and the younger Pliny (_Epist._ x. 96),
appears amply sufficient to establish these facts to the
satisfaction of all unprejudiced enquirers. It is only the details
of the life and death of Christ that remain, and will probably
always remain, shrouded in the mists of uncertainty. The doubts
which have been cast on the historical reality of Jesus are in my
judgment unworthy of serious attention. Quite apart from the
positive evidence of history and tradition, the origin of a great
religious and moral reform is inexplicable without the personal
existence of a great reformer. To dissolve the founder of
Christianity into a myth, as some would do, is hardly less absurd
than it would be to do the same for Mohammed, Luther, and Calvin.
Such dissolving views are for the most part the dreams of students
who know the great world chiefly through its pale reflection in
books. These extravagances of scepticism have been well exposed by
Professor C. F. Lehmann-Haupt in his _Israel, seine Entwicklung im
Rahmen der Weltgeschichte_ (Tübingen, 1911), pp. 275-285. In
reprinting the statement of my theory I have added a few notes,
which are distinguished by being enclosed in square brackets.]

M318 The mockery of Christ compared to the mockery of the King of the
Saturnalia.

921 P. Wendland, “Jesus als Saturnalien-König,” _Hermes_, xxxiii. (1898)
pp. 175-179.

M319 The mockery of Christ compared to the mockery of the King of the
Sacaea.

922 The resemblance had struck me when I wrote this book originally
[1889-1890], but as I could not definitely explain it I preferred to
leave it unnoticed. [The first in recent years to call attention to
the resemblance seems to have been Mr. W. R. Paton, who further
conjectured that the crucifixion of Christ between two malefactors
was not accidental, but had a ritual significance “as an expiatory
sacrifice to a triple god.” See F. C. Conybeare, _The Apology and
Acts of Apollonius and other Monuments of Early Christianity_
(London, 1894), pp. 257 _sqq._; W. R. Paton, “Die Kreuzigung Jesu,”
_Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft_, ii. (1901) pp.
339-341. The grounds for the conjecture are somewhat slender. It is
true that a Persian martyr, S. Hiztibouzit, is said to have been
crucified between two malefactors on a hill top, opposite the sun
(F. C. Conybeare, _op. cit._ p. 270), but the narrator of the
martyrdom gives no hint of any sacred significance attaching to the
triple crucifixion.]

923 Matthew xxvii. 26-31. Mark’s description (xv. 15-20) is nearly
identical.

924 Dio Chrysostom, _Or._ iv. vol. i. p. 76 ed. L. Dindorf. As I have
already mentioned, the Greek word which describes the execution
(ἐκρέμασαν) leaves it uncertain whether the man was crucified or
hanged.

M320 At Purim the Jews may have annually put to death a man in the
character of Haman, and Christ may have perished in that character.
But the Passover, at which Christ was crucified, fell a month after
Purim. Perhaps the annual Haman, like the annual Saturn, was allowed
a month’s license before being put to death.

925 See above, p. 392.

926 [The extreme improbability involved in the suggested transference of
the date of the Crucifixion is rightly emphasized by my colleague
and friend Professor C. F. Lehmann-Haupt in some observations and
criticisms with which he has favoured me. He writes: “I regard it as
out of the question that ‘Christian tradition shifted the date of
the Crucifixion by a month.’ You yourself regard it as improbable;
but in my opinion it is impossible. All that we hear of the Passion
is only explicable by the Passover festival and by the circumstance
that at that time every believing Jew had to make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. Without the background of the festival all that we know
of the Crucifixion and of what led up to it is totally
unintelligible.”]

927 Esther iii. 7.

M321 The part taken by the soldiers in the mockery of Christ.

928 Tacitus, _Hist._ iii. 24 _sq._, compared with ii. 74.

929 Luke xxiii. 11.

M322 The theory that Christ died, not as a malefactor, but in the
character of Haman helps to explain both Pilate’s reluctance to put
him to death, and it also explains the remarkable superscription on
the cross.

930 Matthew xxvii. 37; Mark xv. 26; Luke xxiii. 38; John xix. 19.

M323 The part of Mordecai in the annual drama in which Christ died as
Haman may have been played by Barabbas. The mock King Carabas in
Egypt.

931 Matthew xxvii. 15-26; Mark xv. 6-15; Luke xxiii. 16-25; John xviii.
38-40.

932 Philo Judaeus, _Adversus Flaccum_, vol. ii. pp. 520-523 ed. Th.
Mangey (London, 1742). The first to call attention to this passage
was Mr. P. Wendland (“Jesus als Saturnalien-König,” _Hermes_,
xxxiii. (1898) pp. 175 _sq._). [Mar-na, “Our Lord,” was the title of
a Philistine deity worshipped at Gaza and elsewhere. See C. P.
Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion im Altertum_ (Gotha, 1896-1903), i.
258. Compare _Hebrew and English Lexicon_, edited by F. Brown, S. R.
Driver, and Ch. A. Briggs (Oxford, 1906), p. 1101.]

M324 Hypothesis that every spring at Purim or Passover the Jews paraded
two prisoners in the characters of Haman and Mordecai, of whom one
was put to death and the other released.

933 Matthew xxi. 1-13; Mark xi. 1-17; Luke xix. 28-46; John xii. 12-15.
[As to the license accorded to temporary kings, see _The Dying God_,
pp. 56 _sq._, 148 _sqq_.]

M325 Barabbas (“Son of the Father”) may have been the regular title of
the prisoner who was released in the character of Mordecai.

934 [_The Dying God_, pp. 166 _sqq._]

935 [In favour of the theory in the text, which supposes that in the
tragic drama of the crucifixion Jesus and Barabbas played parts
which were the complements, if not the duplicates, of each other, it
might, as M. Salomon Reinach has pointed out, be alleged that in the
Armenian and old Syriac versions of Matthew xxvii. 16 and 17, as
well as in some Greek cursive manuscripts, the name of the prisoner
whom Pilate proposed to release is given as Jesus Barabbas, a
reading which was also known to Origen and was not absolutely
rejected by him. See _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ (London, 1899-1903),
_s.v._ “Barabbas,” vol. i. col. 477; _Evangelion da-Mepharreshe_,
edited by F. C. Burkitt (Cambridge, 1904), i. 165, ii. 277 _sq._ In
the latter passage Prof. Burkitt argues that Jesus Barabbas was
probably the original reading in the Greek text, though the name
Jesus is omitted in nearly all our existing manuscripts. Compare S.
Reinach, “Le roi supplicié,” _Cultes, Mythes, et Religions_, i.
(Paris, 1905) pp. 339 _sq._]

M326 The theory that Christ was put to death, not as a criminal, but as
the annual representative of a god, whose counterparts were well
known all over Western Asia, may help to explain his early
deification and the rapid spread of his worship.

936 Pliny, _Epist._ x. 96. The province which Pliny governed was known
officially as Bithynia and Pontus, and extended from the river
Rhyndacos on the west to beyond Amisus on the east. See Professor
[Sir] W. M. Ramsay, _The Church in the Roman Empire_ (London, 1893),
p. 224. Professor Ramsay is of opinion “that the description of the
great power acquired by the new religion in the province applies to
Eastern Pontus at least.” The chief religious centre of this
district appears to have been the great sanctuary of Anaitis or
Semiramis at Zela, to which I have already had occasion to call the
reader’s attention. Strabo tells us (xii. 3. 37) that all the people
of Pontus took their most solemn oaths at this shrine. In the same
district there was another very popular sanctuary of a similar type
at Comana, where the worship of a native goddess called Ma was
carried on by a host of sacred harlots and by a high priest, who
wore a diadem and was second only to the king in rank. At the
festivals of the goddess crowds of men and women flocked into Comana
from all the region round about, from the country as well as from
the cities. The luxury and debauchery of this holy town suggest to
Strabo a comparison with the famous or rather infamous Corinth. See
Strabo, xii. 3. 32 and 36, compared with xii. 2. 3. Such were some
of the hot-beds in which the seeds of Christianity first struck
root.