Neu-Guinea_, iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 124.
649 Father Lambert, “Mœurs et Superstitions de la tribu Bélep,” _Les
Missions Catholique_, xii. (1880) p. 273; _id._, _Mœurs et
Superstitions des Néo-Calédoniens_ (Nouméa, 1900), p. 218.
650 F. J. de Santa-Anna Nery, _Folk-lore Brésilien_ (Paris, 1889), p.
253.
651 R. Temesváry, _Volksbräuche und Aberglauben in der Geburtshilfe und
der Pflege des Neugeborenen in Ungarn_ (Leipsic, 1900), p. 8.
Compare E. S. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_ (London, 1909-1910),
i. 106.
652 A. C. Kruyt, “Het koppensnellen der Toradja’s van Midden-Celebes, en
zijne beteekenis,” _Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke
Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, iv. Reeks, iii.
(Amsterdam, 1899) p. 199.
653 E. Beardmore, “The Natives of Mowat, Daudai, New Guinea,” _Journal
of the Anthropological Institute_, xix. (1890) p. 464.
M206 Custom in Morocco of beating people with the skins of sacrificed
sheep or goats.
654 E. Westermarck, “The Popular Ritual of the Great Feast in Morocco,”
_Folk-lore_, xxii. (1911) pp. 163-165.
655 See below, pp. 298, 302, 304.
656 E. Westermarck, _op. cit._ pp. 165 _sq._, 170, 178. The purificatory
character of the rite is duly recognised by Dr. Westermarck (_op.
cit._ p. 178).
M207 European custom of beating cattle with branches to make them healthy
or drive away the witches from them. The rowan-tree as a protection
against witchcraft.
657 J. G. v. Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_ (Jena, 1854), i. 155.
658 W. H. D. Rouse, “Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades,” _Folk-lore_,
x. (1899) p. 179.
659 K. Bartsch, _Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg_ (Vienna,
1879-1880), ii. p. 258, § 1348.
660 J. F. L. Woeste, _Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark_
(Iserlohn, 1848), pp. 25 _sq._; A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers
und des Göttertranks_2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 161 _sqq._ The
ceremony takes its name of “quickening” from _Quieke_ or
_Quickenbaum_, a German name for the rowan-tree. Quicken-tree is
also an English name for the rowan.
_ 661 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 52 _sqq._
662 Rev. W. Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of
Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 188.
663 A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 106, §
145.
664 J. F. L. Woeste, _Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark_
(Iserlohn, 1848), p. 26. Compare A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers
und des Göttertranks_2 (Gütersloh, 1886), p. 179.
M208 European custom of beating people with branches at Easter to do them
good: “Easter Smacks.”
665 F. S. Krauss, _Kroatien und Slavonien_ (Vienna, 1889), p. 108.
666 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 257.
667 Th. Vernaleken, _Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Österreich_
(Vienna, 1859), pp. 300 _sq._; O. Freiherr von
Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen_ (Prague, preface
dated 1861), pp. 163-167; A. Peter, _Volksthümliches aus
Österreichisch-Schlesien_ (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 285; J. A. E.
Köhler, _Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte
Überlieferungen im Voigtlande_ (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 173 _sq._; M.
Toeppen, _Aberglauben aus Masuren_2, (Danzig, 1867), pp. 69 _sq._;
A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 70, §
83; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_ (Berlin, 1875), pp. 258-263; W.
Müller, _Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren_ (Vienna
and Olmütz, 1893), pp. 322, 399 _sq._; Dr. F. Tetzner, “Die
Tschechen und Mährer in Schlesien,” _Globus_, lxxviii. (1900) p.
340; P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_
(Leipsic, 1903-1906), pp. 100 _sq._; Alois John, _Sitte, Brauche und
Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen_ (Prague, 1905), pp. 67 _sq._
Mannhardt’s whole discussion of what he calls “the Blow with the Rod
of Life” (“_Der Schlag mit der Lebensrute_”) deserves to be studied.
See his _Baumkultus_, pp. 251-303; and compare his treatment of the
same theme, “Der Schlag mit dem Februum,” _Mythologische
Forschungen_ (Strasburg, 1884), pp. 113-153. The custom of “Easter
Smacks” can be traced back to the twelfth century, when the practice
was for women to beat their husbands on Easter Monday and for
husbands to retaliate on their wives on Easter Tuesday. See J.
Belethus, _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_, cap. 120, appended to G.
Durandus’s _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_ (Lyons, 1584), p. 546
recto: “_Notandum quoque est in plerisque regionibus secundo die
post Pascha mulieres maritos suos verberare, ac vicissim viros eas
tertio die quemadmodum licebat servis in Decembri dominos suos
impune accusare._”
M209 European custom of beating people with branches in the Christmas
holidays (Holy Innocents’ Day, etc.) to do them good.
668 Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen_
(Prague, 1905), pp. 5, 23 _sq._, 25, 28. Compare Th. Vernaleken,
_Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Österreich_ (Vienna, 1859), pp.
301 _sq._
669 J. A. E. Köhler, _Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte
Überlieferungen im Voigtlande_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 174; W.
Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 264 _sq._
670 August Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen_
(Vienna, 1878), pp. 181 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 265.
Compare G. Bilfinger, _Unterschungen über die Zeitrechnung der alten
Germanen_, ii., _Das Germanische Julfest_ (Stuttgart, 1901), pp. 85
_sq._
M210 The intention of beating people with fresh green leaves is to renew
their life and vigour.
M211 Hence the custom of beating the human victims at the Thargelia with
fig-branches and squills was probably a charm to increase their
reproductive energies.
_ 671 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 24 sq. It is highly
significant that the heathen of Harran celebrated the marriage
festival of all the gods and goddesses in the very month (March) in
which the artificial fertilization of the date-palm was effected (D.
Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus_, St. Petersburg, 1856,
ii. 36, 251). The frequency with which the artificial fertilization
of the palm-tree by a mythical winged figure is represented on
Assyrian monuments furnishes strong evidence of the religious and
economic importance of the ceremony.
M212 Hence the human victims at the Thargelia may have primarily
represented spirits of vegetation.
M213 Parallel between the human sacrifices at the Thargelia and the
bloody ritual of the Arician Grove.
_ 672 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 40 _sqq._, ii. 376
_sqq._
M214 The custom of sacrificing human representatives of the gods among
the Aztecs of Mexico.
673 J. de Acosta, _The Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (London,
Hakluyt Society, 1880), ii. 323. I have modernized the spelling of
the old English translator, whose version was originally published
in 1604. Acosta resided both in Peru and Mexico, and published his
work at Seville in 1590. It was reprinted in a convenient form at
Madrid in 1894. Compare A. de Herrera, _General History of the Vast
Continent and Islands of America_, translated by Captain John
Stevens (London, 1725-1726), iii. 207 _sq._
M215 Sacrifice of a man in the character of the great god Tezcatlipoca at
the festival of Toxcatl in the fifth Aztec month.
674 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la
Nouvelle-Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Siméon (Paris,
1880), pp. 61 _sq._: “_On appelait le cinquième moi_ toxcatl. _Au
premier jour on faisait une grande fête en l’honneur du dieu appelé_
Titlacauan, _autrement dit_ Tezcatlipoca, _que l’on croyait être le
dieu des dieux. C’était en son honneur que l’on tuait, le jour de sa
fête, un jeune homme choisi.... Cette fête était la principale de
toutes, comme qui dirait la Pâque, et, en réalité, elle se célébrait
aux environs de la Pâque de résurrection, ou quelques jours après_.”
Compare J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 14, vol.
ii. p. 256 (Madrid, 1723). As to Tezcatlipoca, the greatest of the
Mexican gods, see J. G. Müller, _Geschichte der amerikanischen
Urreligionen_ (Bâle, 1867), pp. 613 _sqq._; H. H. Bancroft, _The
Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London, 1875-1876), iii. 199
_sqq._, 237 _sqq._; E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii.
(Berlin, 1899) pp. 125 _sqq._ (_Veröffentlichungen aus dem
königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde_, vol. vi. Heft 2/4).
675 On the twenty-third of April according to the Spanish text of
Sahagun’s work as translated in French by D. Jourdanet and R. Simeon
(p. 52); the twenty-seventh of April according to the Aztec text of
Sahagun’s work as translated into German by Professor E. Seler
(_Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. 194).
676 J. de Acosta, _Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1880), ii. 378, 380; Diego Duran, _Historia de las
Indias de Nueva España_ (Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 99, 101; _Manuscrit
Ramirez, Histoire de l’Origine des Indiens qui habitent la Nouvelle
Espagne selon leurs traditions_, publié par D. Charnay (Paris,
1903), pp. 159, 160 _sq._ According to Clavigero, the fifth Mexican
month, in which the sacrifice of the human representative of
Tezcatlipoca took place, began on the 17th of May (_History of
Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen, London, 1807, i. 299); but this
must be an error.
677 E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp. 117 note
1, 121-125, 153 _sq._, 166 _sq._ (_Veröffentlichungen aus dem
königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde_, vol. vi. Heft 2/4).
678 J. de Acosta, _op. cit._ ii. 380; Diego Duran, _op. cit._ ii. 101;
_Manuscrit Ramirez, Histoire de l’Origine des Indiens qui habitent
la Nouvelle Espagne selon leurs traditions_, publié par D. Charnay
(Paris, 1903), p. 160; J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib.
x. cap. 14, vol. ii. p. 257 (Madrid, 1723). I have modernized the
spelling of Acosta’s old translator (Edward Grimston).
M216 The training and equipment of the human god. The manner of the
sacrifice.
679 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet, et R. Siméon (Paris, 1880), pp.
61 _sq._, 96-99, 103; E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii.
(Berlin, 1899), pp. 116-165, 194-209 (the latter passage contains
the Aztec text of Sahagun’s account with a German translation); J.
de Acosta, _The Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1880), pp. 350 _sq._; _Manuscrit Ramirez, Histoire
de l’Origine des Indiens qui habitent la Nouvelle Espagne selon
leurs traditions_, publié par D. Charnay (Paris, 1903), pp. 157
_sqq._, 180 _sq._; Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva
España_ (Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 98-105; J. de Torquemada,
_Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 14, vol. ii. pp. 256 _sqq._
(Madrid, 1723); F. S. Clavigero, _History of Mexico_, translated by
Charles Cullen, Second Edition (London, 1807), i. 300; Brasseur de
Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de
l’Amérique-Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 510-512; H. H.
Bancroft, _The Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,
1875-1876), iii. 319 _sq._ According to Torquemada the flesh of the
human victim was eaten by the elders “as a sacred and divine flesh”;
but this is not mentioned by the other authorities of the sixteenth
century cited above. Elsewhere (_Spirits of the Corn and of the
Wild_, ii. 92 _sq._) I cited this cannibal banquet as an example of
a sacramental communion with the deity; but the silence of most
early writers on the point makes it doubtful whether the custom has
been correctly reported by Torquemada and later writers.
M217 Sacrifice of a man in the character of the great Mexican god
Vitzilopochtli (Huitzilopochtli) in the month of May.
680 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Siméon (Paris, 1880), pp.
99-104; E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp.
159-165, 202-209; F. S. Clavigero, _History of Mexico_, translated
by Ch. Cullen, Second Edition (London, 1807), i. 301-303; Brasseur
de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de
l’Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 512-516; H. H. Bancroft, _The Native
Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 321-324. As to the dances of the
maidens wearing garlands of maize, see also J. de Acosta, _Natural
and Moral History of the Indies_ (London, 1880), ii. 380.
M218 Sacrifice of a man in the character of the great Mexican god
Quetzalcoatl in the month of February.
681 J. de Acosta, _The Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1880), ii. 321; Diego Duran, _Historia de las
Indias de Nueva España_ (Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 118-120; _Manuscrit
Ramirez, Histoire de l’Origine des Indiens qui habitent la Nouvelle
Espagne selon leurs traditions_, publié par D. Charnay (Paris,
1903), pp. 182 _sq._ Acosta’s description of the idol is abridged.
As to the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl, worshipped especially by the
people of Cholula, see J. G. Müller, _Geschichte der amerikanischen
Urreligionen_ (Bâle, 1867), pp. 577 _sqq._; H. H. Bancroft, _The
Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London, 1875-1876), iii. 248
_sqq._
682 J. de Acosta, _The Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1880), ii. 384-386. I have modernized the old
translator’s spelling. The accounts of Duran and the anonymous
author of the Ramirez manuscript agree verbally with that of Acosta.
It is plain that Acosta and Duran drew on the same source, which may
be the Ramirez manuscript. However, Duran is the only one of the
three who gives the date of the festival (the third of February).
See Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_ (Mexico,
1867-1880), ii. 120 _sq._; _Manuscrit Ramirez, Histoire de l’Origine
des Indiens qui habitent la Nouvelle Espagne selon leurs
traditions_, publié par de Charnay (Paris, 1903), pp. 182 _sqq._
Compare A. de Herrera, _The General History of the Vast Continent
and Islands of America_, translated by Captain John Stevens (London,
1725-1726), iii. 218 _sq._; J. G. Müller, _Geschichte der
amerikanischen Urreligionen_ (Bâle, 1867), pp. 589 _sq._; H. H.
Bancroft, _The Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,
1875-1876), iii. 286.
M219 Sacrifice of a woman in the character of the Mexican Goddess of Salt
in the month of June.
683 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Siméon (Paris, 1880), pp.
64, 115-117; J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_ (Madrid, 1723),
lib. x. cap. 18, vol. ii. p. 268. Compare F. S. Clavigero, _History
of Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen (London, 1807), i. 305; Brasseur
de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations Civilisées du Mexique et de
l’Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 517 _sq._; H. H. Bancroft, _The Native
Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 325-327.
M220 Sacrifice of a woman in the character of the Mexican Goddess of the
Young Maize about Mid-summer.
684 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet R. Siméon (Paris, 1880), pp. 65
_sq._, 118-126; J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_ (Madrid,
1723), lib. x. cap. 19, vol. ii. pp. 269-271; E. J. Payne, _History
of the New World called America_, i. (Oxford, 1892) pp. 421-423.
Compare Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilisées du
Mexique et de l’Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 518-520; H. H. Bancroft,
_The Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 326 _sq._ I have
followed Torquemada (vol. ii. p. 269) and the French translators of
Sahagun (p. 65, note 2) in deriving the name of Xilonen from
_xilotl_ in the sense of “young cobs of maize.” But according to E.
J. Payne, the word _xilotl_ means “hair,” and Xilonen is “Hairy
Mother” (_Mater comata_) with reference to the hair-like fibres or
tassels that shoot from the maize-cobs. See E. J. Payne, _op. cit._
i. 417. On either interpretation the goddess is a personification of
the young maize. The goddess of the maize in general was called
Cinteotl or Centeotl (Centeutl), a name which, according to
Torquemada, is derived from _centli_, “maize-cob” (_Monarquia
Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 25, vol. ii. p. 52). But E. J. Payne, while
he regards Cinteotl as the maize-goddess, explains her name
differently. He says (_op. cit._ i. 416 _sq._): “The Totonacs
worshipped the corn-spirit under names which were translated into
Mexican as Tzinteotl (goddess of beginning or origin) and
Tonacayohua (provider of our food). They considered her to be the
wife of the sun, their supreme god. Theoretically subordinated to
him, the maize-goddess was in practice the chief deity of the
Totonacs: it was to her service that the principal warriors,
quitting their wives and children, dedicated themselves in their old
age.” Similarly Clavigero, who lived many years in Mexico and
learned the Mexican language, explains Cinteotl (Tzinteotl) to mean
“original goddess”; he adds that the Maize Goddess changed her name
“according to the different states of the grain in the progress of
its growth” (_History of Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen, i. 253
note p). Another name applied to the Maize Goddess Cinteotl was
Chicomecohuatl or “Seven Snakes.” See J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia
Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 13, vol. ii. p. 255; J. G. Müller,
_Geschichte der amerikanischen Urreligionen_ (Bâle, 1867), pp. 491
_sqq._; E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp.
108 _sq._, 112. Some have held that Cinteotl was a Maize God rather
than a Maize Goddess. See H. H. Bancroft, _The Native Races of the
Pacific States_, iii. 349 _sqq._
M221 Sacrifice of a woman in the character of the Mexican goddess “Our
Mother” on Christmas Day.
685 The Mexican year of three hundred and sixty-five days was divided
into eighteen months of twenty days each, with five supplementary
days over. See J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap.
36, vol. ii. p. 300 (Madrid, 1723); B. de Sahagun, _Histoire
Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle Espagne_, traduite par D.
Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), p. lxvii.; F. S. Clavigero,
_History of Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen (London, 1807), i. 290
_sq._
686 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp.
75, 158-160; J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 29,
vol. ii. pp. 284 _sq._ (Madrid, 1723). Compare F. S. Clavigero,
_History of Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen (London, 1807), i. 312;
Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations Civilisées du Mexique
et de l’ Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 535 _sq._; H. H. Bancroft, _The
Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 337 _sq._
M222 Sacrifice of a woman in the character of the Mexican goddess the
Mother of the Gods at the end of August or beginning of September.
M223 The farewell to the market. The skin of the sacrificed woman flayed
and worn by a man who personated the goddess.
687 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp.
18 _sq._, 68 _sq._, 133-139: J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_
(Madrid, 1723), lib. x. cap. 23, vol. ii. pp. 275 _sq._; Diego
Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_ (Mexico, 1867-1880),
ii. 185-191. Compare Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations
civilisées du Mexique et de l’Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 523-525; H.
H. Bancroft, _The Native Races of the Pacific States_, iii. 353-359;
E. J. Payne, _History of the New World called America_, i. (Oxford,
1892), pp. 470 _sq._ A statue of basalt, about half the size of
life, said to have come from Tezcuco, represents a man clothed in a
human skin which he wears on his body, his arms, and his face; his
own skin is painted bright red, the other skin a dirty white. See H.
H. Bancroft, _op. cit._ iv. 522; Marquis de Nadaillac, _L’Amérique
Préhistorique_ (Paris, 1883), p. 295, fig. 119. In the Art Museum
(_Kunst-Museum_) at Bâle there is a statuette of the same sort. It
is labelled: “_Xipe. Der in einer Menschenhaut gekleidete Gott.
Gesch. v. H. Luk. Vischer (1828-1837)._” The figure is about
eighteen inches high and appears to be made of a porous stone. It
represents a man seated on his haunches with his feet crossed in
front of him and his hands resting on his knees. His own skin, of
which the legs, feet, hands, wrists, neck and part of the face are
visible, is coloured a terra-cotta red. The rest of his body is
covered by the representation of the skin of a human victim, of a
greyish colour, quite distinct from that of the wearer, and this
skin is also worn like a mask on his face. At his back the jacket of
human skin only partially meets, displaying the wearer’s red skin
under it for some distance; it is as if the skin of the human victim
had been split up the back and then drawn together and fastened at
the back of the wearer like an ill-fitting and imperfectly buttoned
coat. The hands of the human victim are represented dangling at the
wrists of the seated figure. I saw this remarkable statuette in the
Museum at Bâle on July 25th, 1912, but I was not able to remove it
from the case for closer examination. As to Xipe, the Mexican god
clad in a human skin, whom the statuette represents, see below, pp.
296 _sqq._
M224 Young girl chosen to personate the Mexican Goddess of the Maize,
Chicomecohuatl.
688 As to this name for the Maize Goddess, see above, p. 286, note 1.
M225 Adoration of the girl who personated the Goddess of the Maize.
M226 The girl who personated the Goddess of the Maize carried in
procession and worshipped with offerings of human blood. The human
representative of the Maize Goddess put to death on a heap of corn
and her skin flayed and worn by a priest.
689 Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_ (Mexico,
1867-1880), ii. 179-184. This remarkable festival appears not to be
noticed by the other early Spanish writers such as Sahagun, Acosta,
and Torquemada, who have given us detailed descriptions of the
Mexican festivals. It might perhaps have been conjectured that Duran
was here describing the similar festival of the Mother of the Gods
(see above, pp. 288 _sqq._), which fell about the same time of the
year. But the conjecture is excluded by the simple fact that Duran
describes both festivals, the one immediately after the other,
assigning as their dates the fifteenth and sixteenth of September
respectively (_op. cit._ ii. 180, 185 _sq._). Almost nothing is
known about Duran except that he was a Spanish monk, apparently a
native of Mexico, who had weak health and died in 1588. His work
remained in manuscript till it was edited at Mexico in 1867-1880 by
José F. Ramirez. The original manuscript is preserved in the
Natìonal Library at Madrid. The accounts contained in his history
bear internal marks of authenticity and are in general supported by
the independent testimony of the other early Spanish authorities.
M227 Identification of the human victim with the Goddess of Maize whom
she personated.
_ 690 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 236 _sqq._
M228 The resurrection of the Maize Goddess set forth by the wearing of
the skin of her human representative.
M229 Xipe, the Flayed God, and the Mexican festival of the Flaying of
Men.
M230 The human shambles. The holy beggars clad in the skins of the flayed
human victims.
M231 Various Mexican gods personated by the men clad in the skins of the
human victims.
691 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp.
37 _sq._, 58-60, 87-94, 584 _sq._; E. Seler, _Altmexikanische
Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp. 76-100, 171-188 (the latter passage
gives the Aztec text of Sahagun’s account with a German
translation); Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_
(Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 147-155; J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia
Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 11, vol. ii. pp. 252 _sq._ (Madrid, 1723).
Compare F. S. Clavigero, _History of Mexico_, translated by C.
Cullen, Second Edition (London, 1807), i. 297 _sq._; Brasseur de
Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de
l’Amérique-Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 503 _sq._; H. H.
Bancroft, _The Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,
1875-1876), ii. 306 _sqq._ According to Torquemada, the prisoners
were flayed alive, but this statement is not, so far as I know,
supported by the other early Spanish authorities. It is Duran who
gives the 20th of March as the date of the festival at which the
captives were killed and skinned; but this is inconsistent with the
evidence of Sahagun, according to whom the second Aztec month, in
which the festival fell, ended with the 13th of March. See B. de
Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle Espagne_, p.
51.
M232 Men roasted alive as images of the Fire-god.
692 J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 30, vol. ii. pp.
285 _sq._ (Mexico, 1723); B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des
Choses de la Nouvelle Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R.
Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp. 164 _sq._ The latter writer does not
describe the mode in which the victims were sacrificed at this
quadriennial festival; but he describes as in the text the annual
sacrifice of victims in honour of the fire-god in the tenth month of
the Mexican year (_op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._, 129 _sqq._). Compare F.
S. Clavigero, _History of Mexico_, translated by C. Cullen, Second
Edition (London, 1807), i. 306 _sq._; H. H. Bancroft, _The Native
Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 329 _sq._
M233 Women flayed in honour of the Fire-god and their skins worn by men
who personated gods.
693 J. de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. x. cap. 30, vol. ii. p.
286 (Madrid, 1723). Compare F. S. Clavigero, _History of Mexico_,
translated by C. Cullen, Second Edition (London, 1807), i. 283
_sq._; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilisées du
Mexique et de l’Amérique-Centrale_, iii. 539 _sq._
M234 The personation of a god by a man wearing the skin of a human victim
is probably intended to represent and ensure the resurrection of the
deity. The idea of resurrection from the dead is suggested by the
observation of snakes and other creatures that cast their skins.
694 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon, pp. 37, 93; E.
Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin. 1889) pp. 96, 185
(quoting the Aztec text of Sahagun).
695 R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch-Guiana_ (Leipsic, 1847-1848), ii.
319. I have already noticed this and the following stories of the
origin of death in _The Belief in Immortality_, i. 69 _sqq._
696 R. Schomburgk, _op. cit._ ii. 320.
M235 Savage notion that men would have been immortal, if only they could
have cast their skins like serpents and crabs.
697 A. Landes, “Contes et Légendes Annamites,” _Cochinchine française,
Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 25 (Saigon, 1886), pp. 108 _sq._
698 H. Sundermann, “Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst,”
_Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, xi. (1884) p. 451; _id._, _Die
Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst_ (Barmen, 1905), p. 68; E.
Modigliani, _Un Viaggio a Nias_ (Milan, 1890), p. 295; A. Fehr, _Der
Niasser im Leben und Sterben_ (Barmen, 1901), p. 8.
699 P. Kleintitschen, _Die Küstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup
bei Münster, preface dated Christmas, 1906), p. 334.
700 R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp. 260, 265; W.
Gray, “Some Notes on the Tannese,” _Internationales Archiv für
Ethnographie_, vii. (1894) p. 232. The same story of the origin of
death has been recorded in the Shortlands Islands and among the Kai
of German New Guinea. See C. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre unter den Kannibalen
der Salomo-Inseln_ (Dresden-Blasowitz, 1903), p. 148; Ch. Keysser,
“Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss’s _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_,
iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 161 _sq._ It is also told with some
variations by the natives of the Admiralty Islands. See Josef Meier,
“Mythen und Sagen der Admiralitätsinsulaner,” _Anthropos_, iii.
(1908) p. 193.
701 Miss A. Werner, “Two Galla Legends,” _Man_, xiii. (1913) pp. 90
_sq._
M236 Hence the Mexicans apparently thought that they could renew their
own skins by putting on those of other people.
M237 General conclusion: the custom of putting human beings to death in
the character of gods has prevailed in many parts of the world.
_ 702 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 40 _sqq._, ii. 376
_sqq._
M238 Annual periods of license. The Roman Saturnalia.
703 Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 536-540, _Aen._ viii. 319-327, with the
comments of Servius; Tibullus, i. 3. 35-48; Ovid, _Fasti_, i. 233
_sqq._; Lucian, _Saturnalia_, 7; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 7. 21-26;
Justin, xliii. 1. 3-5; Aurelius Victor, _Origo gentis Romanae_, 3;
Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit. Rom._ i. 34. On Saturn and the
Saturnalia see especially L. Preller, _Römische Mythologie_,3 ii. 10
_sqq._ Compare J. Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2
(Leipsic, 1885) pp. 586 _sqq._; W. Warde Fowler, _The Roman
Festivals of the Period of the Republic_ (London, 1899), pp.
268-273; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_2 (Munich,
1912), pp. 204 _sqq._; _id._, in W. H. Roscher’s _Ausführliches
Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, iv. 427 _sqq._ A good
account of the Saturnalia, based on the texts of the classical
writers, is given by Dezobry (_Rome au siècle d’Auguste_,3 iii. 143
_sqq._). The name Saturn seems to be etymologically akin to _satus_
and _satio_, “a sowing” or “planting.” Compare Varro, _De lingua
Latina_, v. 64, “_Ab satu est dictus Saturnus_”; Festus, _s.v._
“Opima spolia,” p. 186 ed. C. O. Müller: “_ipse [Saturnus] agrorum
cultor habetur, nominatus a satu, tenensque falcem effingitur, quae
est insigne agricolae_.” Compare Tertullian, _Ad Nationes_, ii. 12;
Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, iv. 9; Augustine, _De civitate Dei_,
vii. 2, 3, 13, 15, 18, 19. The god’s name appears in the form
Saeturnus inscribed on an ancient bowl (H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones
Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. pars i. p. 2, No. 2966).
704 Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Ant. Rom._ i. 38; Macrobius, _Saturn._
i. 7. 31; Lactantius, _Divin. Inst._ i. 21; Arnobius, _Adversus
Nationes_, ii. 68.
705 For the general dissipation of the Saturnalia see Seneca, _Epist._
18; for the seven days of the popular festival see Martial, xiv. 72.
2; Macrobius, _Sat._ i. 10. 2; Lucian, _Saturnalia_, 21.
M239 The license granted to slaves at the Saturnalia. The mock King of
the Saturnalia.
706 Horace, _Sat._ ii. 7. 4 _sq._; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 7. 26;
Justin, xliii. 1. 4; Plutarch, _Sulla_, 18; Lucian, _Saturnalia_, 5,
7; Porphyry, _De antro nympharum_, 23.
707 Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 12. 7, i. 24. 23; Solinus, i. 35; Joannes
Lydus, _De mensibus_, iii. 15; Athenaeus, xiv. 44, p. 639 B; Dio
Cassius, lx. 19.
708 Seneca, _Epist._ 47. 14. Compare Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 23.
709 Tacitus, _Annals_, xiii. 15; Arrian, _Epicteti Dissert._ i. 25. 8;
Lucian, _Saturnalia_, 4.
M240 Personation of Saturn at the Saturnalia by a soldier who afterwards
suffered death. The sarcophagus of St. Dasius, the martyr on whom
the lot fell to play the part of Saturn.
710 “Les Actes de S. Dasius,” _Analecta Bollandiana_, xvi. (1897) pp.
5-16. I have to thank Prof. Cumont for courteously sending me a copy
of this important paper. The bearing of the new evidence on the
Saturnalia has been further discussed by Messrs. Parmentier and
Cumont (“Le roi des Saturnales,” _Revue de Philologie_, xxi. (1897)
pp. 143-153).
711 The phrase of the Paris MS. is ambiguous (τοῖς ἀνωνύμοις καὶ
μυσαροῖς εἰδώλοις προσεκόμιζεν ἑαυτὸν σπονδήν, ἀναιρούμενος ὑπὸ
μαχαίρας); but the other two versions say plainly that the mock king
perished by his own hand (μέλλοντα ἑαυτὸν ἐπισφάξαι τῷ βωμῷ τοῦ
Κρόνου, Berlin MS.; ἑαυτὸν ἐπισφάξαι αὐτοχείρως τῷ Κρόνῳ, Milan
MS.).
712 Franz Cumont, “Le tombeau de S. Dasius de Durostorum,” _Analecta
Bollandiana_, xxvii. (Brussels, 1908) pp. 369-372. The inscription
on the sarcophagus runs thus: Ἐνταῦθα κατακεῖται ὁ ἅγιος μάρτυς
Δάσιος ἐνεχθεὶς ἀπὸ Δωροστόλου. The inscription on the altar runs
thus: “_Vetere diruta nobiliorem FF. Karmelitani excalciati aram
extruxerunt subter qua sanctorum martyrum Peregrini Flaviani Dasii
corpora et infantium ab Herode necatorum ossa minus decenter
antiquitus recondita honorificentius et populo spectanda reponi
curaverunt die virgini et matri Theresiae sacro anno MDCCCIV._”
M241 The mock King of the Saturnalia may have been the degenerate
successor of a series of temporary kings who personated Saturn at
the Saturnalia and were put to death in the character of the god.
713 The opinion that at Rome a man used to be sacrificed at the
Saturnalia cannot be regarded as in itself improbable, when we
remember that down apparently to the establishment of Christianity a
human victim was slaughtered every year at Rome in honour of Latian
Jupiter. See Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 9, _Contra Gnosticos
Scorpiace_, 7; Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, 22 and 30; Lactantius,
_Divin. Instit._ i. 21; Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 56. We may
conjecture that at first the sacrifice took place on the top of the
Alban Mountain, and was offered to Saturn, to whom, as we have seen,
high places were sacred.
M242 The modern Carnival perhaps the equivalent of the ancient
Saturnalia.
_ 714 The Dying God_, pp. 220 _sqq._
M243 The King of the Bean on Twelfth Night. Crosses made by the King of
the Bean to protect the house against demons and witchcraft.
715 Joannes Boemus, _Mores, Leges, et Ritus Omnium Gentium_ (Lyons,
1541), p. 122; _The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written
in Latin verse by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe,
1570_, edited by R. C. Hope (London, 1880), pp. 45 _sq._; E.
Pasquier, _Recherches de la France_ (Paris, 1633), pp. 375 _sq._; R.
Herrick, “Twelfth Night, or King and Queene,” _The Works of Robert
Herrick_ (Edinburgh, 1823), ii. 171 _sq._; J. Brand, _Popular
Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i. 21 _sqq._; T. F.
Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), pp. 24-28;
R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_ (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 61
_sqq._; Desgranges, “Usages du Canton de Bonneval,” _Mémoires de la
Société Royale des Antiquaires de France_, i. (Paris, 1817) pp.
233-236; L. Beaulieu, _Archéologie de la Lorraine_ (Paris,
1840-1843), i. 255 _sq._; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_
(Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 23 _sqq._; _id._, _Das festliche Jahr_
(Leipsic, 1863), pp. 20-23; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les Fêtes
religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp. 29-50; J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und
Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel des Eifler Volkes_ (Trèves,
1856-1858), i. 6; Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et Légendes du
Centre de la France_ (Paris, 1875), i. 19-29; J. Lecœur, _Esquisses
du Bocage Normand_ (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 125; L.
Bonnemère, “Le Jour des Rois en Normandie,” _Revue des Traditions
populaires_, ii. (1887) pp. 55 _sq._; P. Sébillot, “La Fête des
Rois,” _Revue des Traditions populaires_, iii. (1888) pp. 7-12; A.
Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, Légendes et Contes des Ardennes_
(Charleville, 1890), pp. 74 _sq._; J. L. M. Noguès, _Les Mœurs
d’autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), pp. 49
_sqq._; L. F. Sauvé, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889),
pp. 16 _sq._; Ch. Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris,
1900), pp. 16 _sq._; F. Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du
Perche_ (Paris, 1902), i. 312-315; Anatole France, “Le roy boit,”
_Annales Politiques et Littéraires_, 5 Janvier, 1902, pp. 4 _sq._;
_La Bresse Louhannaise_, Janvier, 1906, pp. 42-46. The custom of
making white crosses on the ceiling is reported for Germany and
Switzerland, but apparently not for France. It is mentioned in the
earliest of the works cited above, namely that of Joannes Boemus,
whose description applies especially to Franconia (Franken).
716 This I learn from my friend M. Léon Chouville of Rouen and
Cambridge. The custom is also kept up in Bresse (_La Bresse
Louhannaise_, Janvier, 1906, pp. 44-46).
M244 Serious significance of the King of the Bean and Twelfth Night.
Divination on Twelfth Night.
717 L. Beaulieu, _Archéologie de la Lorraine_ (Paris, 1840-1843), i. 256
note 1; E. Cortet, _Essai stir les Fêtes religieuses_ (Paris, 1867),
p. 43.
718 L. F. Sauvé, _op. cit._ pp. 17 _sq._
719 Anatole France, “Le roy boit,” _Annales Politiques et Littéraires_,
5 Janvier, 1902, p. 5. In some parts of France divination was
practised for this purpose on Christmas Day. Twelve grains of wheat,
each representing a month of the year, were placed, one after the
other, on a hot fire-shovel; if the grain bounced up from the
shovel, wheat would be dear in the corresponding month, but it would
be cheap if the grain remained still. See J. B. Thiers, _Traité des
Superstitions_ (Paris, 1679), p. 268. See further P. Sébillot, _Le
Folk-lore de France_, iii. (Paris, 1906) pp. 510 _sq._
M245 Bonfires on the Eve of Twelfth Night. Fire applied to the
fruit-trees on the Eve of Twelfth Night in Normandy and the
Ardennes.
720 Ch. Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris, 1900), p. 12.
721 J. Lecœur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Condé-sur-Noireau,
1883-1887), ii. 126-129. Compare Amélie Bosquet, _La Normandie
Romanesque et Merveilleuse_ (Paris and Rouen, 1845), pp. 295 _sq._;
W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_ (Berlin, 1875), pp. 536 _sqq._
722 A. Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, Légendes et Contes des Ardennes_
(Charleville, 1890), pp. 75 _sq._
M246 Fires kindled on Twelfth Night or the Eve of Twelfth Night in
England for the sake of the crops.
723 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_, New Edition
(London, 1883), i. 33. In many parishes of Gloucestershire it used
to be customary on Twelfth Day to light twelve small fires and one
large one (J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 28).
_ 724 The Gentleman’s Magazine_, vol. lxi., February, 1791, p. 116. The
article is signed J. W. and dated “Hereford, Jan. 24.” The passage
is quoted, correctly in substance, but with many verbal changes, by
J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_, i. 30 _sq._, and
by (Mrs.) E. M. Leather, _The Folk-lore of Herefordshire_ (Hereford
and London, 1912), p. 93.
M247 One of the fires on Twelfth Day said to be intended “to burn the old
witch.” Parallel custom observed in Macedonia on the Eve of Twelfth
Night.
725 (Mrs.) Ella Mary Leather, _The Folk-lore of Herefordshire_ (Hereford
and London, 1912), pp. 93 _sq._
726 (Mrs.) E. M. Leather, _op. cit._ pp. 94 _sq._
727 See above, pp. 164 _sqq._
728 G. F. Abbott. _Macedonian Folk-lore_ (Cambridge, 1903), pp. 73-75.
729 This opinion is mentioned by (Mrs.) E. M. Leather, _The Folk-lore of
Herefordshire_, p. 95.
M248 Other accounts of the fires on Twelfth Night in England and Ireland.
730 Thomas Pennant, “A Tour in Scotland, 1769,” in John Pinkerton’s
_Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), iii. 49.
731 Thomas Hyde, _Historia religionis veterum Persarum_ (Oxford, 1700),
p. 257.
732 Sir Henry Piers, _Description of the County of Westmeath_, quoted by
J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i.
25.
733 H. J. Byrne, “All Hallows Eve and other Festivals in Connaught,”
_Folk-lore_, xviii. (1907) p. 439.
M249 Belief of the Germanic peoples that the weather for the twelve
months of the year is determined by the weather of the Twelve Days.
734 C. S. Burne and G. F. Jackson, _Shropshire Folk-lore_ (London,
1883), p. 408.
_ 735 The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse
by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570_, edited
by R. C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 46; E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen,
Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben_ (Stuttgart, 1852), p. 473, § 237;
A. Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau,
1861-1862), i. 468, § 696; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche
Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_ (Leipsic, 1848), p. 411; A. Kuhn,
_Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen_ (Leipsic, 1859), ii.
115, § 354; A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin,
1869), p. 61, § 74; Montanus, _Die deutschen Volksfeste,
Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube_ (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 18; M.
Toeppen, _Aberglauben aus Masuren_2 (Danzig, 1867), p. 61; L.
Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_
(Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 29, § 294; August Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten
und Gebräuche aus Thüringen_ (Vienna, 1878), p. 175; K. Bartsch,
_Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg_ (Vienna, 1880), p.
250, § 1292; Christian Schneller, _Märchen und Sagen aus
Wälschtirol_ (Innsbruck, 1867), p. 231; J. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde
der Siebenbürger Sachsen_ (Vienna, 1885), p. 282; Willibald Müller,
_Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren_ (Vienna and
Olmutz, 1893), p. 317; Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im
deutschen Westböhmen_ (Prague, 1905), p. 12; P. Drechsler, _Sitte,
Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_ (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 16
_sq._
736 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben_
(Stuttgart, 1852), p. 473, § 237; A. Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus
Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 468, § 696.
737 A. Birlinger, _op. cit._ i. 470.
738 F. J. Vonbun, _Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Chur, 1862), p.
131; A. Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_, i. 469; Chr.
Schneller, _Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol_ (Innsbruck, 1867), p.
231.
M250 Belief of the Celtic peoples that the weather for the twelve months
of the year is determined by the weather of the Twelve Days.
739 Jules Lecoeur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Condé-sur-Noireau,
1883-1887), ii. 20 _sq._
740 J. Loth, “Les douze jours supplémentaires (_gourdeziou_) des Bretons
et les douze jours des Germains et des Indous,” _Revue Celtique_,
xxiv. (1903) pp. 310 _sq._
741 J. G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 243.
742 Thomas Pennant, “A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides in
1772,” in John Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_ (London,
1808-1814), iii. 384.
M251 The Twelve Nights among the ancient Aryans of India.
_ 743 The Hymns of the Rigveda_, translated by R. T. H. Griffith
(Benares, 1889-1892), book iv. hymn 33, vol. ii. pp. 150 _sqq._; H.
Zimmer, _Altindisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1879), pp. 365-367; A.
Hillebrandt, _Ritual-Litteratur, Vedische Opfer und Zauber_
(Strasburg, 1897), pp. 5 _sq._ However, the Ribhus are very obscure
figures in Vedic mythology. Compare H. Oldenberg, _Die Religion des
Veda_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 235 _sq._; A. A. Macdonnell, _Vedic
Mythology_ (Strasburg, 1897), pp. 131 _sqq._
M252 The Twelve Nights are probably an ancient intercalary period
introduced to equate twelve lunar months to the solar year.
744 F. Max Müller, _Lectures on the Science of Language_, Sixth Edition
(London, 1871), i. 6 _sqq._; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der
indogermanischen Altertumskunde_ (Strasburg, 1901), p. 547; _id._,
_Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte_3 (Jena, 1906-1907), ii. 228.
745 This explanation of the sacredness of the twelve days among the
Indo-European peoples of the East and West is due to A. Weber. See
O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde_
(Strasburg, 1901), pp. 391-394; _id._, _Sprachvergleichung und
Urgeschichte_3 (Jena, 1906-1907), ii. 2. pp. 228-234. It is accepted
by J. Loth (in _Revue Celtique_, xxiv. 1903, pp. 311 _sq._),
Professor H. Hirt (_Die Indogermanen_, Strasburg, 1905-1907, ii.
537, 544), Professor J. H. Moulton (_Two Lectures on the Science of
Language_, Cambridge, 1903, pp. 47 _sq._), and J. A. MacCulloch (in
Dr. J. Hastings’s _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iii. 81
_sq._), but is rejected on what seem to me insufficient grounds by
Professor O. Schrader (_ll.cc._).
_ 746 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 307 _sqq._
M253 The superstitions attaching to the Twelve Nights are not of
Christian origin.
_ 747 Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie_ (Chemnitz, 1759), pp. 860, 861;
_Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern_ (Munich,
1860-1867), i. 365; A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2
(Berlin, 1869), p. 61; P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube
in Schlesien_ (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 15; A. John, _Sitte, Brauch
und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen_ (Prague, 1905), p. 11. The
phrase “the Twelve Nights” in the sense of “the Twelve Days and
Nights” is doubtless derived from the ancient Aryan custom of
counting by nights instead of by days and of regarding the period of
the earth’s revolution on its axis as beginning with the night
rather than with the day. See Caesar, _De bello Gallico_, vi. 18;
Tacitus, _Germania_, 11; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der
indogermanischen Altertumskunde_ (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 844 _sqq._;
J. Loth, “L’Année celtique,” _Revue Celtique_, xxv. (1904) pp. 115
_sqq._ The Athenians reckoned a day from sunset to sunset, and the
Romans reckoned it from midnight to midnight (Censorinus, _De die
natali_, xxiii. 3).
748 A. Tille, _Die Geschichte der deutschen Weihnacht_ (Leipsic, preface
dated 1893), pp. 3 _sq._, 281 _sqq._; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der
indogermanischen Altertumskunde_ (Strasburg, 1901), p. 392.
749 P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_ (Leipsic,
1903-1906), i. 15.
750 A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 61, §
74. As to the varying dates of the Twelve Nights see further E.
Mogk, “Mythologie,” in H. Paul’s _Grundriss der germanischen
Philologie_, iii.2 (Strasburg, 1900), p. 260.
751 See above, p. 324.
752 Thus A. Wuttke observes that by far the greater part of the
superstitions attaching to the Twelve Nights are of purely heathen
origin (_Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 p. 61); and K. Weinhold
similarly remarks that the superstitions in question cannot have
originated in Christian dogmas, and that they point to the
sacredness of the winter solstice among the heathen tribes of
Germany (_Weinacht-Spiele und Lieder aus Süddeutschland und
Schlesien_, Vienna, 1875, p. 4).
753 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 254 _sqq._; and for
Easter in particular see my letter “Attis and Christ,” _The
Athenaeum_, No. 4184, January 4th, 1908, pp. 19 _sq._; Franz Cumont,
_Les Religions orientales dans le Paganisme romain_2 (Paris, 1909),
pp. 106 _sq._, 333 _sq._
M254 An intercalary period a natural subject of superstition to primitive
peoples.
M255 The Three Kings of Twelfth Night.
754 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i.
21 _sq._; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les Fêtes religieuses_ (Paris,
1867), pp. 32, 38, 39-42; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_
(Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 21 _sq._, 30 _sq._; _id._, _Fest-Kalender
aus Böhmen_ (Prague, N.D.), p. 18; _id._, _Das festliche Jahr_
(Leipsic, 1863), pp. 23-26; _Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des
Königreichs Bayern_ (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 262 _sq._; L. F. Sauvé,
_Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), pp. 15-18; Ch.
Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris, 1900), pp. 13-15; _La
Bresse Louhannaise_, Janvier, 1906, p. 42; P. Drechsler, _Sitte,
Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_ (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 51; A.
John, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen_
(Prague, 1905), pp. 32-34; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, _Feste und Bräuche
des Schweizervolkes_ (Zürich, 1913), pp. 104, 121.
755 Matthew ii. 1-12.
756 Ch. Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris, 1900), pp. 13-16.
757 L. F. Sauvé, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), pp.
15-17. Compare the old Roman cure for the falling sickness (above,
p. 68).
758 O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen_
(Prague, N.D.), pp. 17 _sq._
759 Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_ (Brussels, 1861-1862), i.
22. The mere names of the three kings worn on the person were
believed to be a cure for epilepsy. See J. B. Thiers, _Traité des
Superstitions_ (Paris, 1679), pp. 350 _sq._
760 R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_ (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 62,
referring to Warton’s _History of English Poetry_.
M256 The Lord of Misrule in England. Reign of the Lord of Misrule during
the Twelve Days. Lord of Misrule in the Temple.
761 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i.
497 _sqq._; E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i.
403 _sqq._
762 John Stow, _A Survey of London, written in the year 1598_, edited by
William J. Thoms (London, 1876), p. 37.
763 Sir Thomas Urquhart, _The Discovery of a most Exquisite Jewel, more
precious than Diamonds inchased in Gold_ (Edinburgh, 1774), p. 146.
764 J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 499.
765 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i.
497 _sqq._ As to the Lords of Misrule in colleges and the Inns of
Court see further E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_, i. 407
_sqq._
766 Sir Richard Steele, in _The Spectator_, Friday, 14th December 1711.
M257 Lord of Misrule at the English Court.
767 E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_, i. 405-407.
M258 The Festival of Fools in France.
768 L. J. B. Bérenger-Feraud, _Superstitions et Survivances_, iv.
(Paris, 1896) pp. 4 _sq._, quoting Jacob, _Mœurs et Coutumes du
Moyen-Age_. Compare E. Cortet, _Essai sur les Fêtes religieuses_
(Paris, 1867), pp. 50 _sqq._ In some places the festival was held on
the octave of Epiphany. See E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_
(Oxford, 1903), i. 323.
769 E. Cortet, _op. cit._ p. 51; Papon, _Histoire Générale de la
Provence_, iii. p. 212, quoted by L. J. B. Bérenger-Feraud, _op.
cit._ iv. 9 _sq._; E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford,
1903), i. 293 _sq._, quoting a circular letter which was addressed
by the Faculty of Theology at Paris to the bishops and chapters of
France on March 12th, 1445. Many details as to the mode of
celebrating the Festival of Fools in different parts of France are
on record. See A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des
Provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 293-295; E.
Cortet, _op. cit._ pp. 52 _sqq._; L. J. B. Bérenger-Feraud, _op.
cit._ iv. 5 _sqq._; G. Bilfinger, _Untersuchungen über die
Zeitrechnung der alten Germanen_, ii. _Das germanische Julfest_
(Stuttgart, 1901), pp. 72 _sq._; and especially E. K. Chambers, _The
Mediaeval Stage_, i. 274 _sqq._
M259 Buffooneries in the churches at the Festival of Fools.
770 E. Cortet, _Essai sur les Fêtes religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp.
53-56; L. J. B. Bérenger-Feraud, _Superstitions et Survivances_, iv.
28-41; E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i.
330-334. While the Festival of Fools appears to have been most
popular in France, it is known to have been celebrated also in
Germany, Bohemia, and England. See E. K. Chambers, _op. cit._ i. 318
_sqq._ In his youth the Bohemian reformer John Huss took part in
these mummeries. The revellers wore masks. “A clerk, grotesquely
vested, was dubbed ‘bishop,’ set on an ass with his face to the
tail, and led to mass in the church. He was regaled on a platter of
broth and a bowl of beer, and Huss recalls the unseemly revel which
took place. Torches were borne instead of candles, and the clergy
turned their garments inside out and danced” (E. K. Chambers, _op.
cit._ i. 320 _sq._).
M260 Festival of the Innocents and the Boy Bishop in France.
771 E. Cortet, _Essai sur les Fêtes religieuses_, p. 58; E. K. Chambers,
_The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i. 317 _sq._, 336 _sqq._
Compare L. J. B. Bérenger-Feraud, _Superstitions et Survivances_,
iv. 25-28. From the evidence collected by the latter writer it
appears that in some places the election of the Boy Bishop took
place on other days than Childermas. At Alençon the election took
place on the sixth of December; at Vienne, in Dauphiné, on the
fifteenth, and at Soissons on St. Thomas’s Day (the twenty-first of
December).
772 This I learn from my wife, who as a girl was educated in the
convent.
M261 The Boy Bishop in England.
773 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1883), i.
421-431; E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i.
352 _sqq._; (Mrs.) Ella Mary Leather, _The Folk-lore of
Herefordshire_ (Hereford and London, 1912), pp. 138 _sq._; _County
Folk-lore_, II. _North Riding of Yorkshire, York and the Ainsty_,
edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1901), pp. 352 _sq._
774 J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 426.
M262 The customs and superstitions associated with the Twelve Days or
Nights are probably relics of an old heathen festival of
intercalation at midwinter.
M263 Superstitions associated with intercalary periods among the Aztecs
of Mexico and the Mayas of Yucatan.
775 As to the Aztec year see above, p. 287 note 1.
776 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle
Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp.
77, 283; E. Seler, “The Mexican Chronology,” in _Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin No. 28_ (Washington, 1904), p. 16 (where some
extracts from the Aztec text of Sahagun are quoted and translated);
J. de Acosta, _Natural and Moral History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1880), ii. 392.
777 Diego de Landa, _Relation des Choses de Yucatan_ (Paris, 1864), pp.
204 _sq._, 276 _sq._
M264 The five supplementary days of the year in ancient Egypt.
778 Geminus, _Elementa Astronomiae_, viii. 18, p. 106, ed. C. Manitius
(Leipsic, 1898).
779 G. Foucart, in Dr. J. Hastings’s _Encyclopaedia of Religion and
Ethics_, iii. (1910) p. 93. Professor Ed. Meyer adduces astronomical
and other grounds for thinking that the ancient Egyptian calendar,
as we know it, began on the 19th of July, 4241 B.C., which
accordingly he calls “the oldest sure date in the history of the
world.” See Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_2, i. 2. (Stuttgart
and Berlin, 1909), pp. 101 _sq._, § 197; and against this view C. F.
Lehmann-Haupt, in the _English Historical Review_, April 1913, p.
348.
780 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 12. Compare Diodorus Siculus, i. 13. 4
_sq._ As to Keb and Nut, the parents of Osiris, Isis, and the rest,
see A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_ (Berlin, 1905), p. 29. The
Egyptian deities Keb, Nut, and Thoth are called by Plutarch by the
Greek names of Cronus, Rhea, and Hermes. On account of these Greek
names the myth was long thought to be of comparatively recent date;
“but the Leyden Papyrus (i. 346) has shown that the legend existed
in its essential features in the time of the Thebans, and the Texts
of the Pyramids have carried it back to the very beginnings of
Egyptian mythology” (G. Foucart, _l.c._). As five days are the
seventy-second, not the seventieth, part of three hundred and sixty
days, it was proposed by Wyttenbach to read τὸ ἑβδομηκοστὸν δεύτερον
instead of τὸ ἑβδομηκοστὸν in Plutarch’s text. See D. Wyttenbachius,
_Animadversiones in Plutarchi Moralia_ (Leipsic, 1820-1834), iii.
143 _sq._
M265 Early attempts of the Aryan peoples to correct the lunar year by
intercalating a month at intervals of several years instead of
intercalating twelve days in every year.
781 H. Zimmer, _Altindisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1879), pp. 365-370. Compare
_The Hymns of the Rigveda_, translated by R. T. H. Griffith
(Benares, 1889-1892), Book i. Hymn 164, stanza 48 (vol. i. p. 293),
Book iii. Hymn 55, stanza 18 (vol. ii. pp. 76 _sq._).
782 J. A. MacCulloch, in Dr. J. Hastings’s _Encyclopaedia of Religion
and Ethics_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) pp. 78 _sqq._ Compare S. de
Ricci, “Le calendrier Gaulois de Coligny,” _Revue Celtique_, xix.
(1898) pp. 213-223; _id._, “Le calendrier Celtique de Coligny,”
_Revue Celtique_, xxi. (1900) pp. 10-27; _id._, “Un passage
remarquable du calendrier de Coligny,” _Revue Celtique_, xxiv.
(1903) pp. 313-316; J. Loth, “L’année Celtique,” _Revue Celtique_,
xxv. (1904) pp. 113-162; Sir John Rhys, “The Coligny Calendar”,
_Proceedings of the British Academy, 1909-1910_, pp. 207 _sqq._ As
the calendar stands, the number of days in the ordinary year is 355,
not 354, seven of the months having thirty days and five of them
twenty-nine days. But the month Equos has attached to it the sign
ANM, which is attached to all the months of twenty-nine days but to
none of the months of thirty days except Equos, all of which, except
Equos, are marked with the sign MAT. Hence, following a suggestion
of M. S. de Ricci (_Revue Celtique_, xxi. 25), I suppose that the
month Equos had regularly twenty-nine days instead of thirty, and
that the attribution of thirty days to it is an error of the scribe
or mason who engraved the calendar.
In the Coligny calendar the summer solstice seems to be marked by
the word _trinouxtion_ affixed to the seventeenth day of the first
month (Samonios, nearly equivalent to our June). As interpreted by
Sir John Rhys (_op. cit._ p. 217), the word means “a period of three
nights of equal length.” If he is right, it follows that the Celts
who constructed the calendar had observed the summer solstice.
M266 Equivalence of the new intercalary month to the old intercalary
Twelve Days multiplied by two and a half. The intercalary month may
have been a period of license, during which the reins of government
were held by a temporary king.
783 J. A. MacCulloch, in Dr. J. Hastings’s _Encyclopaedia of Religion
and Ethics_, iii. 79. Compare Sir J. Rhys, “The Coligny Calendar,”
_Proceedings of the British Academy, 1909-1910_, pp. 292 _sq._
M267 The modern Carnival is perhaps the equivalent of the ancient
Saturnalia.
784 We know from Livy (xxii. i. 19 _sq._) that the Saturnalia was
celebrated in December as early as the year 217 B.C.; and in his
learned discussion of the proper date of the festival the antiquary
Macrobius gives no hint that it ever fell at any other time than in
December (_Saturnal._ i. 10). It would be a mistake to infer from
Livy’s account of the Saturnalia in the year 217 B.C. that he
supposed the festival to have been first instituted in that year;
for elsewhere (ii. 21. 1) he tells us that it was established at the
time when the temple of Saturn was dedicated, namely in the year 497
B.C. Macrobius (_Saturn._ i. 8. 1) refers the institution of the
Saturnalia to King Tullus Hostilius. More probably the festival was
of immemorial antiquity.
M268 The Saturnalia may have originally fallen at the end of February,
which would be an appropriate time for a festival of sowing.
785 Macrobius, _Sat._ i. 12. 7; Solinus, i. 35, p. 13 ed. Th. Mommsen
(Berlin, 1864); Joannes Lydus, _De Mensibus_, iii. 15. On the other
hand, we know that the ceremony of renewing the laurels, which
originally took place on the first of March, was long afterwards
transferred to the first of January. See Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 135
_sqq._, and Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 12. 6, compared with
_Geoponica_, xi. 2. 6, where the note of the commentator Niclas may
be consulted. This transference is strictly analogous to the change
which I conjecture to have been made in the date of celebrating the
Saturnalia.
786 Palladius, _De re rustica_, books iii. and iv. _passim._
_ 787 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 137-139.
_ 788 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 136-144, ii. 97
_sqq._
789 Compare C. Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_ (London, 1903), ii. 268: “To
the Huichol so closely are corn, deer, and hikuli associated that by
consuming the broth of the deer-meat and the hikuli they think the
same effect is produced—namely, making the corn grow. Therefore when
clearing the fields they eat hikuli before starting the day’s work.”
M269 The Lenten fast in spring may be an old heathen period of abstinence
intended to promote the growth of the seed. Autumnal rites of
mourning and fasting for the sake of the seed.
_ 790 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 104 _sqq._ The
Indians of Santiago Tepehuacan abstain from flesh, eggs, and grease
while they are engaged in sowing cotton and chilis, because they
believe that were they to partake of these viands at that time, the
blossoms would fall and the crop would suffer. See “Lettre du curé
de Santiago Tepehuacan à son évêque sur les mœurs et coutumes des
Indiens,” _Bulletin de la Société de Géographie_ (Paris), Deuxième
Série, ii. (1834) p. 181.
791 In Franche-Comté not only husbands and wives were expected to be
continent from the first Sunday of Lent to the first Sunday after
Easter, but even sweethearts separated during that time, bidding
each other a formal farewell on the first of these days and meeting
again with similar formality on the last. See C. Beauquier, _Les
Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris, 1900), p. 35. I am informed that the
observance of chastity during Lent is enjoined generally by the
Catholic church. As to its injunction by the Coptic church see F.
Wüstenfeld, _Macrizi’s Geschichte der Copten_ (Göttingen, 1845), p.
84; _Il_ Fetha Nagast, _o Legislazione dei Re, codice ecclesiastico
e civile di Abissinia, tradotto e annotato da_ Ignazio Guidi (Rome,
1899), p. 164.
792 Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, v. 22; Sozomenus, _Historia
Ecclesiastica_, vii. 19 (Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, lxvii. coll.
632-636, 1477); W. Smith and S. Cheetham, _Dictionary of Christian
Antiquities_, _s.v._ “Lent,” vol. ii. pp. 972 _sq._; Mgr. L.
Duchesne, _Origines du Culte Chrétien_ (Paris, 1903), pp. 241-243.
793 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 27.
794 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 69: καὶ γὰρ Ἀθήνῃσι νηστεύουσιν αἱ
γυναῖκες ἐν θεσμοφορίοις χαμαὶ καθήμεναι, καὶ Βοιωτοὶ τὰ τῆς Ἀχαιᾶς
μέγαρα κινοῦσιν, ἐπαχθῆ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐκείνην ὀνομάζοντες, ὡς διὰ τὴν
τῆς Κόρης κάθοδον ἐν ἄχει τῆς Δήμητρος οὕσης. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ μὴν οὗτος
περὶ πλειάδα σπόριμος, ὂν Ἀθὺρ Αἰγύπτιοι, Πυανεψιῶνα δ᾽ Ἀθηναῖοι,
Βοιωτοὶ δὲ Δαμάτριον καλοῦσι. As to the festival and the rule of
chastity observed at it, see further _Spirits of the Corn and of the
Wild_, i. 116, ii. 17 _sq._
M270 The Buddhist Lent.
795 H. Fielding, _The Soul of a People_ (London, 1898), pp. 172 _sq._
The orthodox explanation of the custom is that during these three
months the Buddha retired to a monastery. But “the custom was far
older even than that—so old that we do not know how it arose. Its
origin is lost in the mists of far-away time.” Compare C. J. F. S.
Forbes, _British Burma_ (London, 1878), pp. 170 _sq._; Shway Yoe,
_The Burman, his Life and Notions_ (London, 1882), i. 257, 262
_sqq._
M271 Inversion of social ranks at ancient Greek festivals held in Crete,
Troezen, and Thessaly.
796 Athenaeus, xiv. 44 _sq._, pp. 639 B-640 A.
M272 The Greek festival of the Cronia compared to the Roman Saturnalia.
The Olympian Cronia held at the spring equinox.
797 Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 7. 37 and i. 10. 22; Demosthenes, _Or._
xxiv. 26, p. 708. As to the temple of Cronus and Rhea, see
Pausanias, i. 18. 7; Im. Bekker’s _Anecdota Graeca_ (Berlin,
1814-1821), i. p. 273, lines 20 _sq._ That the Attic month
Hecatombaeon was formerly called Cronius is mentioned by Plutarch
(_Theseus_, 12). Other Greek states, including Samos, Amorgos,
Perinthus, and Patmos, had a month called Cronion, that is, the
month of Cronus, which seems to have coincided with June or July.
See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_2 (Leipsic,
1898-1901), Nos. 644 and 645; E. Bischoff, “De fastis Graecorum
antiquioribus,” _Leipziger Studien für classischen Philologie_, vii.
(1884) p. 400. At Magnesia on the Maeander the month of Cronion was
the time of sowing (Dittenberger, _op. cit._ No. 553, lines 15
_sq._), which cannot have fallen in the height of summer. Compare
_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 8.
_ 798 Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum_, iii. No. 77; Ch. Michel, _Recueil
d’Inscriptions Grecques_ (Brussels, 1900), No. 692, pp. 595 _sq._;
I. de Prott et L. Ziehen, _Leges Graecorum Sacrae_, i. (Leipsic,
1896), No. 3, pp. 7 _sq._; E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner,
_Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, Part II. (Cambridge, 1905), No.
142, pp. 387 _sq._ From the same inscription we learn that cakes
with twelve knobs were offered to other deities, including Apollo
and Artemis, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hercules.
799 Scholiast on Hesiod, _Works and Days_, 370 (p. 170 ed. E. Vollbehr,
Kiel, 1844): Καὶ ἐν τοῖς πατρίοις ἐστιν ἑορτὴ Πιθοιγία, καθ᾽ ἣν οὒτε
οἰκέτην οὔτε μισθωτὸν εἴργειν τῆς ἀπολαύσεως τοῦ οἴνου θεμιτὸν ἦν,
ἀλλὰ θύσαντας πᾶσι μεταδιδόναι τοῦ δώρου τοῦ Διονύσου. As to the
festival of the opening of the wine-jars see August Mommsen,
_Heortologie_ (Leipsic, 1864), pp. 349 _sqq._; _id._, _Feste der
Stadt Athen im Altertum_ (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 384 _sqq._ “When the
slaves,” says Plutarch, “feast at the Cronia or go about celebrating
the festival of Dionysus in the country, the shouts they raise and
the tumult they make in their rude merriment are intolerable” (_Non
posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum_, 26). That the original
festival of Cronus fell at Athens in Anthesterion is the view of
Aug. Mommsen (_Heortologie_, pp. 22, 79; _Feste der Stadt Athen_, p.
402).
800 Pausanias, vi. 20. 1. Compare Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit.
Rom._ i. 34. The magistrates called “kings” (βασίλαι) by Pausanias
are doubtless identical with “the kings” (τοὶ βασιλᾶες) mentioned in
a law of Elis, which was found inscribed on a bronze plate at
Olympia. See H. Roehl, _Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae_
(Berlin, 1882), No. 112, p. 39; C. Cauer, _Delectus Inscriptionum
Graecarum propter dialectum memorabilium_2 (Leipsic, 1883), No. 253,
p. 175; H. Collitz, _Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften_,
No. 1152 (vol. i. Göttingen, 1884, p. 321); Ch. Michel, _Recueil
d’Inscriptions Grecques_, No. 195, p. 179.
M273 The magistrates called Kings who celebrated the Cronia at Olympia
may have personated King Cronus himself. Perhaps the man who
annually personated King Cronus was put to death. A man annually
sacrificed to Cronus at the Cronia in Rhodes.
801 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 44 _sqq._, ii.
177, 361.
802 Hesiod, _Works and Days_, 111, 169; Plato, _Politicus_, p. 269 A;
Diodorus Siculus, iii. 61, v. 66; Julian, _Epistola ad Themistium_,
p. 258 C (pp. 334 _sq._, ed. F. C. Hertlein, Leipsic, 1875-1876);
“Anonymi Chronologica,” printed in L. Dindorf’s edition of J.
Malalas (Bonn, 1831), p. 17. See further M. Mayer’s article
“Kronos,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm.
Mythologie_, ii. (Leipsic, 1890-1897) col. 1458.
803 See M. Mayer, _op. cit._ ii. 1501 _sqq._
804 Pausanias, vi. 20. 4 _sq._
805 Plato, _Republic_, ix. p. 565 D E; pseudo-Plato, _Minos_, p. 315 C;
Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ viii. 81; Pausanias, viii. 2 and 38; Porphyry,
_De abstinentia_, ii. 27; Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, xviii. 17.
The suggestion that Lycaean Zeus may have been merely a successor of
Cronus is due to my friend Professor W. Ridgeway.
806 Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 54.
_ 807 The Dying God_, pp. 161 _sqq._
M274 The Babylonian festival of the Sacaea.
_ 808 The Dying God_, pp. 113 _sqq._
809 Athenaeus, xiv. 44, p. 639 C; Dio Chrysostom, _Or._ iv. 69 _sq._
(vol. i. p. 76 ed. L. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1857). From Athenaeus we
learn that the festival was described or mentioned by Berosus in his
first book and by Ctesias in his second.
810 Strabo, xi. 8. 5, p. 512.
M275 The Sacaea by some identified with Zakmuk or Zagmuk, the Babylonian
festival of the New Year, which was held about the spring equinox in
March. Annual renewal of the king of Babylon’s power at the Zakmuk
festival.
811 Strabo, xi. 14. 16, pp. 532 _sq._; Ed. Meyer’s article “Anaitis,” in
W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i.
(Leipsic, 1884-1890) pp. 330 _sqq._
812 By A. H. Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_ (London and
Edinburgh, 1887), p. 68; Bruno Meissner, “Zur Entstehungsgeschichte
des Purimfestes,” _Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen
Gesellschaft_, l. (1896) pp. 296-301; H. Winckler, _Altorientalische
Forschungen_, Zweite Reihe, ii. Heft 3 (Leipsic, 1900), p. 345; C.
Brockelmann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,”
_Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 _sq._
813 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_ (Strasburg, 1890), pp. 84
_sqq._; H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,”
_Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft_, xi. (1891) pp.
159 _sqq._; A. Jeremias, _s.v._ “Marduk,” in W. H. Roscher’s
_Lexicon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 2347 _sq._; M.
Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_ (Boston, U.S.A., 1898),
pp. 186, 677 _sqq._; R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian
Literature_ (New York, 1901), pp. 136 _sq._, 137, 140, 149; C.
Brocklemann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,”
_Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 _sqq._; H.
Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte
Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 370 _sq._, 374, 384 _n._4, 402, 514
_sqq._; _id._, “Zum Babylonischen Neujahrsfest,” _Berichte über die
Verhandlungen der königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse_, lviii.
(1906) pp. 126-156; M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les Religions
Sémitiques_2 (Paris, 1905); pp. 285 _sqq._ King Gudea is thought to
have flourished about 2340 B.C. See Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des
Altertums_,2 i. 2. (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1909) pp. 488 _sq._ As to
the ceremony of grasping the hands of Marduk’s image, see also C. F.
Lehmann (-Haupt), _Šamaššumukin, König von Babylonien_ (Leipsic,
1892), pp. 50 _sqq._; Sir G. Maspero, _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples
de l’Orient Classique_, iii. _Les Empires_ (Paris, 1899). pp. 381
_sq._
M276 Reasons for identifying the Sacaea with Zakmuk.
814 On this subject the Master of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge
(the Rev. C. H. W. Johns), has kindly furnished me with the
following note: “ZAG is the name of the ideogram meaning ‘head or
beginning.’ MU is the sign for ‘year.’ When put together ZAG-MU
means ‘beginning of year.’ But ZAG-MU-KU means ZAG MU-d, _i.e._ ZAG
with MU suffixed. Therefore it is the name of the ideogram, and
there is as yet no _proof_ that it was ever read Zakmuk. Hence any
similarity of sound with either Sacaea or Zoganes is precarious. I
cannot prove that the signs were _never_ read Zakmuku, but that is
not a Semitic word nor a Sumerian word.”
815 The statement occurs in an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. See P.
Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 85; H. Zimmern, in E.
Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin,
1902), p. 402. The title of the president of the divine synod, “king
of the gods of heaven and earth,” is believed by Professor Zimmern
to have originally referred to the god Nabu, though at a later time
it was applied to Marduk.
M277 A difficulty in identifying the Sacaea with Zakmuk is that the two
festivals seem to have been celebrated at different times of the
year, Zakmuk falling in March and the Sacaea in July. Suggested ways
of meeting the difficulty.
_ 816 See The Dying God_, p. 116 note 1. In Egypt the Macedonian calendar
seems to have fallen into great confusion. See W. Dittenberger,
_Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae_ (Leipsic, 1903-1905), ii.
pp. 649 _sq._ I would remind the reader that while the _dates_ of
the Syro-Macedonian months varied in different places, their _order_
was the same everywhere.
817 See above, p. 355, note 5. On the other hand Prof. H. Zimmern
prefers to suppose that the Sacaea was quite distinct from Zakmuk,
and that it fell in July at the time of the heliacal rising of
Sirius, which seems to have been associated with the goddess Ishtar.
See H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte
Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 426 _sq._
_ 818 Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ “Year,” vol. iv. (London, 1903)
coll. 5365 _sqq._
_ 819 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 59 _sqq._
_ 820 The Golden Bough_, Second Edition, iii. 237 _sqq._
821 J. Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_2 (Leipsic, 1885), pp. 200
_sq._
M278 An argument for identifying Sacaea and Zakmuk is the apparent
connexion of both with the Jewish festival of Purim.
822 H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,”
_Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft_, xi. (1891) pp.
157-169; W. Nowack, _Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie_ (Freiburg
i. B. and Leipsic, 1894), ii. 198 _sqq._; Br. Meissner, “Zur
Entstehungsgeschichte des Purimfestes,” _Zeitschrift der deutschen
morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, l. (1896) pp. 296-301; Fr. Cumont,
“Le roi des Saturnales,” _Revue de Philologie_, xxi. (1897) p. 150;
P. Haupt, _Purim_ (Leipsic, 1906). The various theories which have
been propounded as to the origin of Purim are stated and discussed
by Prof. L. B. Paton in his _Commentary on the Book of Esther_
(Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 77-94. See also _Encyclopaedia Biblica_,
_s.v._ “Purim,” vol. iii. (London, 1902) coll. 3976 _sqq._
823 S. R. Driver, _Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament_8
(Edinburgh, 1909), p. 484. Professor T. Witton Davies would date the
book about 130 B.C. See _Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther_, edited by Rev.
T. Witton Davies (Edinburgh and London, N.D.), pp. 299-301 (_The
Century Bible_).
824 2 Maccabees xv. 36. As to the date of this book, see S. R. Driver,
_op. cit._ p. 481.
M279 The Jewish festival of Purim seems to be derived from the Babylonian
festival of Zakmuk.
825 We know from Josephus (_Antiquit._ iii. 10. 5) that in the month
Nisan, the first month of the Jewish year, the sun was in Aries. Now
the sun is in Aries from March 20th or 21st to April 19th or 20th;
hence Nisan answers approximately to April, and Adar to March.
826 Esther iii. 7.
827 Esther iii. 7, ix. 26.
828 This is the view of H. Zimmern (_Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft_, xi. (1891) pp. 157 _sqq._), and it
is favoured by W. Nowack (_Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie_,
ii. 198 _sq._). Compare H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die
Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 518.
829 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, pp. 240 _sq._
830 The explanation is that of P. Jensen, quoted by Th. Nöldeke in
_Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ “Esther,” vol. ii. (London, 1901)
col. 1404 note 1. In Greek, for a similar reason, the word for
“pebble” and “vote” is identical (ψῆφος). As to this etymology see
also C. H. W. Johns, _s.v._ “Purim,” _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, iii.
(London, 1902) coll. 3979 _sq._
M280 Connexion of Purim with the Sacaea. The joyous nature of Purim.
831 Esther x. 22.
832 J. Buxtorf, _Synagoga Judaica_ (Bâle, 1661), pp. 554 _sq._, 559
_sq._
833 J. Buxtorf, _op. cit._ p. 559; Schickard, quoted by Lagarde,
“Purim,” _Abhandlungen der kön. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu
Göttingen_, xxxiv. (1887) pp. 54 _sq._ Compare J. Chr. G.
Bodenschatz, _Kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden_ (Erlangen,
1748), ii. 256. For the rule forbidding men and women to exchange
garments, see Deuteronomy xxii. 5.
834 J. J. Schudt, _Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten_ (Frankfort and Leipsic,
1714), ii. Theil, pp. 309, 314, 316, iv. Theiles die ii.
Continuation, p. 347; I. Abrahams, _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_
(London, 1896), pp. 261 _sqq._ I have to thank my learned friend Dr.
S. Schechter for bringing both these works to my notice.
M281 The origin of Purim according to the book of Esther. The rival pairs
Mordecai and Esther on the one side, Haman and Vashti on the other.
M282 Analysis of the names Mordecai and Esther, Haman and Vashti.
Jensen’s theory that Haman and Vashti were Elamite deities in
opposition to the Babylonian deities Mordecai (Marduk) and Esther
(Ishtar).
835 P. Jensen, “Elamitische Eigennamen,” _Wiener Zeitschrift für die
Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vi. (1892) pp. 47-70; compare _ib._ pp.
209-212. All Jensen’s etymologies are accepted by W. Nowack
(_Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie_, Freiburg i. Baden and
Leipsic, 1894, ii. 199 _sq._); H. Gunkel (_Schöpfung und Chaos_,
Göttingen, 1895, pp. 310 _sq._); D. G. Wildeboer (in his commentary
on Esther, pp. 173 _sqq._, forming part of K. Marti’s _Kurzer
Hand-Commentar zum alten Testament_, Freiburg i. B. 1898); Th.
Nöldeke (_s.v._ “Esther,” _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, vol. ii. coll.
1404 _sq._); and H. Zimmern (in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften
und das Alte Testament_,3 Berlin, 1902, pp. 485, 516 _sq._). On the
other hand, Br. Meissner (_Zeitschrift der deutschen
morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, I. (1896) p. 301) and M. Jastrow
(_The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 686, note 2) suspend
their judgment as to the identification of Haman and Vashti with
Elamite deities, though they apparently regard the identification of
Mordecai and Esther with Marduk and Ishtar as quite certain. The
doubt which these scholars felt as to the derivation of one at least
of these names (Vashti) is now known to be well founded. See below,
p. 367, note 3.
It deserves to be noted that on the twenty-seventh day of the month
Tammuz the heathen of Harran used to sacrifice nine male lambs to
Haman, “the supreme God, the father of the gods,” and they ate and
drank on that day. Chwolsohn suggests a comparison of the festival
with the Athenian Cronia. See D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der
Ssabismus_ (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 27 _sq._, 211 _sqq._
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.