In Surrye, not fer fro the Ryvere Eufrate, is a Cytee that Holy highte and holy is in sothe, for it is of Iuno Assurien.

Hierapolis, or better, in accordance with the coins, Hieropolis. It is N.W. of Aleppo, on the main road into Mesopotamia, 15 Roman miles from the crossing of the Euphrates, and by road about 116 Roman miles from Lucian’s birthplace, Samosata. Its Syrian name was Makog, (properly Manbog, i.e. “spring,” according to Baudissin, Studien, ii, 159), in Greek, Bambyce. 1t was dubbed Hieropolis in the time of Seleucus Nicator (Ael. V.H. 12, 2), but the old name persisted (Manbij; le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p 500) and still attaches to the ruins, on which see Hogarth, Annual of the British School at Athens, 1907-8, p. 186 sqq ; Cumont, Beudes Syriennes, p. 22 sqq., p. 35 sgq. Lucian does not identify the city with “ancient Ninus,” as do Philostratus and Ammianus.

Yit I wene that the cyteene hadde not this name atte firste, whan that it was founded, but of olden tyme it was other, and after,” whan here servys of the Goddesse wex gret, it was their chaunged to this. Touching this cytee I purpos me to seyn alle that is in it, and I schalle speke of the customes that thei folwen in here rytes, and the feste dayes that thei kepen, and the sacrifises that thei perfourmen. And I schalle reherce alle the tales that men tellen of hem that establisschede the holy place, and how that the temple was bylded. And I that write am Assurien,

Confusion between Assyrian and Syrian is not peculiar to this piece nor to Lucian. It goes back to Herodotus, who says that “Syrian” is the Greek equivalent of the barbarian “Assyrian” (7,63 ; see Macan’s note, and cf. 140).

and of that that I devyse you, some partie saughe I with mine owne eyen, and some partie I lerned be informacioun fro _ the prestes, that is to seyn, tho thynges that I descryve that weren beforn min owne tyme.

Of alle peples whereof wee knowen, Egyptyens weren firste, as men seyn, for to taken conceyte of Goddes, and to stablisschen holy places and closes, and to apoynten feste dayes. And thei firste knewen holy names and maden holy tales. But no long tyme after, Assuryens herden rumour and speche of Egyptyens as touching to goddes, and rereden seyntuaryes and temples, in the whiche thei lette putten ymages and setten symulacres.

In Astrology, Lucian similarly credits the Egyptians with priority over the Chaldaeans in the study of the stars. In th cases his view, surprising in a Syrian, was the common one of his time, to be found, for instance, in Diodorus

But auncientlye amonges Egyptyens weren temples withouten symulacres. And in Surrye ben temples almost als olde as tho in Egypte, of the whiche I have seen the moste, and namely the temple of Hercules in Tyre, not that Hercules that Grekes preysen in here songes, but that oon wherof I speke is moche elder, and is Tyres patroun.

The god was Melkart. Herodotus was told by the priests there that the cult was established when the city was founded, and was then (ca. 430 B.c.) 2,300 years old (Herod. 2, 44).

In Phenicye is another grete temple that men of Sidon kepen. Thei seyn, it is of Astarte, and Astarte, I trowe, is Luna the Mone.

The Emperor Elagabalus, being the Sun, brought — Astarte the Moon from Phoenicia and wedded her (Herodian 5, 6, 3-5). But she was not originally or at any time primarily the moon; and in Babylonia, as Ishtar, she had for her emblem a star, the planet Venus (Baudissin, 19). Clay (p. 47) believes that the name Ashera, Ashirta, Ishtar, is that of a mortal woman, an early queen of Hallab (Aleppo).

But oon of the prestes tolde me, it belongeth to Europe, Cadmus suster. Sche was Agenor the Kinges daughter ; and after that sche vanisched, Phenicyens yafen hir that temple for worschipe and maden a storie of hir, that sithe sche was fair, love coveytede hir, and transformed his lyknesse in to a bole, and than ravissched hir awey and bar hir on his bac to Crete. That same storie I herde of othere Phenicyens also ; and the moneye that Sidonyes usen hath Europe sittynge on the bole that is Iove.

The coins are described in Head, Historia Nummorum, 2nd ed., pp. 797 sg. The temple itself contained, in later days at least, a painting of the Europa episode (Achilles Tatius 1, 1). The story was also localized at Tyre, where the house of Agenor and the bower of Europa were shown (Arrian, Anab. 2, 24, 2; Nonnus, Dionys. 40, 353 sqq.) and where in the eighth century (Malalas, p. 31) the people still mourned the abduction in a feast called the ak) ayer, The name Europa is considered Greek ; whether this particular myth is Cretan or Phoenician in origin the evidence does not seem sufficient to determine.

Natheles wille thei not avowen that the temple is of Europe.

And Phenicyens han an other maner servys, not Assuryen but Egyptyen, that cam from Elyople into Phenicye. I have not seen it, but it also is gret and auncien.

This cult was at Heliopolis (Baalbek). The god, who appears to have been originally Hadad but to have undergone syncrisis with the sun-god and with the Syrian ‘ “Apollo,” was worshipped far and wide as Jupiter Heliopolitanus. The cult image, says Macrobius (Saturn. 1, 23, 10) came from Heliopolis in Egypt by way of Assyria. The ambiguity of Lucian’s Greek (for fepdy suggests “holy place”) seems meant to convey the jocose implication that the magnificent new temple, built by Antoninus Pius, had been transported thither without human hands,

But I saughe in Byblos a gret temple of Venus of Byblos, wherin thei perfourmen cerimonyes in mynde of Adoon; and I lernede tho cerimonyes.

To natives of Byblos their goddess was just Baalat (Mistress), and to other Semites Baalat Gebal (Mistress of Byblos) ; in Syriac and Greek Baltis or Beltis is used as if it were her name. So too Adonis to them was simply Adon (Lord); an early name, or perhaps epithet, was Kliun (Philo of Byblos; cf. Baudissin, p. 76, Meyer, Gesch., p. 395). It was only late, if at all, that fe was there identified with Tammuz, upon whom, as fourth king of Erech, see Clay, pp. 44 sgg. The temple, which contained a baetylic stone, is represented on coins (Babelon, Perses Achéménides, p. 200, and pl. xxvii, 1] and 12),

Thei seyn that the dede that was don to Adoon be the bore befell in here londe, and for memorie of that myschaunce everyche yeer thei beten here brestes and sorwen and perfourmen tho cerimonyes, makynge gret doel thorgh that contree. And whan mournthe betynge and the wepynge is atte ende, first thei maken offringes to Adoon, as though he were ded; and than, on the morwe, thei fablen that he is quick, and fecchen him forth in to the eyr, and lette air schaven here hedes as don Egyptyens whan that Apis is ded.

Lucian abridges his account of the rites because they were familiar. I see no reason to suppose that they differed essentially from the Alexandrian rites as described by Theocritus (15 end). From him we learn that Adonis comes to life for but a day, during which he is couched with the goddess in the temple. Next morning the women carry him to the sea-shore, and (cf. scholion) commit him to the waves. Lucian’s phrase és tty hépa xéumovet, which has been curiously interpreted, is to my mind equivalent to #£w oloedues in Theocritus, and the usual éxxoulCovar.

And alle wommen that wole not lette schaven hem, thei payen this penance, that upon o day thei profren hem for achat of here beautee ; but the merkat is open to straungers alle only, and the huyr becometh an offring to Venus.

See Frazer i, 36 sqg., and the comment of How and Wells on Herodotus 1, 199. Note also the apocryphal Epistle of Jeremiah, 42; and on the “hire,” Deuteronomy 23, 18.

Natheles, ther ben somme men of Byblos that seyn Osiris of Egypte lyeth enterred amonges hem, and the doel and the cerimonyes ben alle made in mynde of Osiris in stede of Adoon.

Byblos was known to the Egyptians from the time of the Old Kingdom, and her goddess impressed them deeply. She was identified with Hathor at least as early as the Middle Kingdom, and her story contributed to the shaping of the Isis-Osiris myth. When the coffin of Osiris was thrown into the Nile by Typhon, it drifted out to sea, and so to Byblos, where Isis sought and found it (Plutarch, Zsis and Osiris, c. 13 sgg.; cf. Frazer, ii. 9 sqg., 12, 127; Baudissin, pp. 193 sqq. ).

And I schalle seye you the cause whi this semeth hem trewe. Eech yeer an heed cometh from Egypte to Byblos, heaa that passeth the see betwene in seven iorneyes, and the windes dryven it, be governaunce of the Goddes, and it torneth not asyde in no wyse but cometh all only to Byblos. And this is hoolyche merveylle. whoty It befalleth everyche yere, and befel that tyme that I was in Byblos, and I saughe the heed, that is of Byblos.

The pun signifies that the head was of papyrus, made, no doubt, of a sort of papier m4ché, as in a mummy-case. In the commentary of Cyril on Isaiah 18 (Migne 70, 441) we learn, instead, of an earthen pot that contained a letter from the women of Alexandria to those of Byblos, saying that Aphrodite had found Adonis. There may be something in the tale of its drift, for the Nile current sets over to the Phoenician shore, and it is Nile mud that silts up Phoenician harbours (cf. H. Guthe, Paldstina, p. 27).

And in the londe of Byblos is arf other merveylle, a Ryvere goynge out of the Mount Libanon in to the See, the which is cleped Adoon. Everyche yeer it is bebledde and leseth his kyndely hewe, and whan natural it falleth in to the See, it maketh mochel therof rede; and so it betokneth the doel to hem of Byblos.

The Adonis is the present Nahr Ibrahim, a short distance S. of Byblos, “I have crossed it on Easter day when it was turbid and ruddy with the rich red sandstone soil from Lebanon” (C. R. Conder, Palestine, p. 206; cf. Frazer i, 225). A similar discoloration of certain unnamed rivers and springs is implied in the tale of Philo of Byblos that Uranus was mutilated by Cronus at a certain place in the interior near springs and rivers, that his blood flowed into them, and that the place was still pointed out (Miiller, Fr. Hist. Graec., iii, p. 568). Epiphanius (adv. Haeres. 51, 30) bears personal witness that at the exact day and hour of the miracle of Cana the water of a spring at Cibyra in Caria used to turn into wine, and on the word of his brothers that the same was true of the river of Gerasa in Arabia. He does not tell us who is his warrant in the case of the Nile, but observes that that is why the natives bottle and set away Nile-water on a certain date. See also Pausanias 4, 35, 9, and Frazer’s note.

For they seyn that in tho dayes Adoon is ywounded up Libanon, and his blod that cometh into the water chaungeth the ryvere and yeveth the streme his name. Thus seyn lewed folk. But I trowe that a man of Byblos spak sothe that devysed me an other cause of the chaunge, seyinge: “The Flom Adoon, o straunger, renneth thorgh Libanon, and erthe of Libanon is right broun. Therfore whan roughe windes that arysen in tho dayes beren the erthe to the ryvere, the erthe, that is ful rody, maketh him blody. So of this chaunge nys not the blod, as they seyn, the resoun, but the lond.” He of Byblos devysed me thus; but and al it so be that he spak trewely, yit to me it semeth passing merveyllous that the wind aryseth at the righte tyme.

Also, I went up on Libanon fro Byblos, oon iorneye, be cause I lernede that ther was an old seyntuarye of Venus that Cinyras founded; and I saughe the temple, and it was old.

At Aphaea, between Byblos and Baalbek, at the head of the Adonis, where Adon was buried and Baalat died of grief. Down to the fifth century a bright light appearing in the sky near the temple summoned the worshippers at set times, and an artificial pond gave omens; offerings were thrown into it, which sank if the goddess was favourable or floated if she was adverse (Zosimus i, 58; cf. Socrates 1, 18). The site is eloquently described by Frazer, i, 28, and pictured in Perrot-Chipiez, Hist. de l’Art iii, fig. 18, opposite p. 56 ; for the rock-sculptures in the neighbourhood, to one of which the description of the goddess in Macrobius (Saturn. 1, 21, 5) refers, see Baudissin, p. 78 and pls. i-iii, and for the ruins of the temple, destroyed under Constantine but possibly rebuilt under Talia Rouvier, Bulletin Archéologique, 1900, 169 sqq. Lucian’s amusing reticence is by way of parody on Herodotus, |’ and derives its point from the fact that his reader, knowing: the reputation of the place (Euseb. Vit. Constant. 3, 55), is’ all agog to hear about it.

Thise ben the olde and grete seyntuaryes in Surrye.

But of hem alle, as I wene, is non gretter than tho in the Holy Cytee, ne non other temple mo blessed, ne non other lond holier. Costevouse costly werkes ben therinne, and aunciene offringes, and manye merveylles, and symulacres in lyknesse of goddes. Also, the goddes ben apertely reveled unto hem; for here symulacres sweten and meven and prophecyen, and ofte tymes hath ben schowtynge in the temple whan the holy place was under lokke, and many han herde. Certes, in richesse it is first amonges alle that I knowe; for thider cometh moche tresor from Arabye and Phenicye and Babiloyne, and moche fro Cappadocye, and som Cilicyens bryngen, and som Assuryens. And I saughe what hath ben prively put up in the temple, many robes and other thinges that have ben chosen out as silver outher gold. And of festes and solempnytees noon other folk in the world hath apoynted so many.

Whan I asked how many yeres the seyntuarye hadde dured, and who thei wenden that here supposed Goddesse were, manye stories weren tolde, both prestes lore and lewede folkes, and verraye fables; and some weren outlandissche, but othere somme acordeden to hem of Grece. Alle thise seyinges schalle reherce, but I beleve hem not in no kynde.

The more partie seyn, Deucalioun, the Scythe,

Deucalion in the réle of a Scythian is odd. Hence Buttmann, rightly recognising that the tale is close akin to the Babylonian flood-story, proposed the reading Σισύθεα, considering Sisythes a possible variant of the name that in Berossus is Xisouthros. This is tempting, and has been widely accepted ; but the mistake, if there be one, is quite as likely to be due to Lucian or to his informant as to a scribe.

founded the seyntuarye—that Deucalioun in the tyme thereof the grete Flode befel. Of Deucalioun Ihave herd a tale amonges Grekes, that thei tellen in mynde of him; and the storie is of this maner kynde.

This generacioun, the men of now a dayes, nas not the firste, but that firste generacioun al perissched, and thise ben of the seconde generacioun that cam of Deucalioun and multiplyed eftsones. Of tho firste men, thei seyn that thei were right felonouse and didde wikkede dedis, for thei ne kepten not non othes, ne herberweden no straungers, ne receyveden harno fugityves; and for that skylle the grete tribu- cause lacioun cam upon hem. Anon the erthe sent forthe moche water and grete reynes were made and the ryveres flowede gretli and the see wex wondur high, in to tyme that alle thinges weren chaunged to water and alle men weren dede, outtaken Deucalioun that was laft unto the seconde generacioun for his gode conseil and his gode werkes. And his deliveraunce cam in this wyse. In to a gret arke that he hadde he putte his children and his wyves, and thanne entrede, and at entrynge ther camen to him swyn and hors and lyouns kynd and serpentes and alle bestes that lyven on erthe, two and two. And he resceyvede as hem alle, and thei diden him non harm, but betwene hem was great charitee fro the goddes, and in oon; arke thei alle seyleden whyl the water prevayled. So seyn Grekes of Deucalioun.

In spite of Lucian’s repeated assurance, the story is more Semitic than Greek. On the West Semitic origin of the flood-story, see Clay, where also a translation of the Babylonian tale according to Berossus may be found (p. 82 sq.).

But of that that sewede, men of the Holy Cytee sotiowed tellen a tale that is worthy of gret merveylle, how that in here londe opnede a huge hole and resceyvede alle the water; and whan this happed, Deucalioun leet maken awteres and leet bylden over the hole a atars temple halowed to Iuno.

At Gezer, not far from Jerusalem, “there is a living tradition that the waters of the flood burst forth in the neighbourhood” (Cook, p. 107). Likewise at Athens, within the enclosure of Olympian Zeus, in the precinct of Olympian Earth: ‘here the ground is cloven to a cubit’s width; and they say that after the deluge which happened in Deucalion’s time the water ran away down this cleft. Every year they throw into it wheaten meal kneaded with honey” (Pausanias 1, 18, 7, Frazer’s translation).

I saughe the hole, that is benethe the temple, a right lityl oon. If whilom it was gret and now is become suche as it is, I wot neer, but that I saughe is smal.

In tokene of that storie thei don thus. Twyes eech yeer water cometh fro the See in to the temple. And not prestes only bryngen it, but al Surrye and Arabye; and fro beyonden Eufrate gon manye men to the See and bryngen alle watre, that anon thei scheden out in the temple, and thanne it goth adoun in to that hole; and al be it that the hole is smal, natheles it taketh inne gret plentee of water. And in doynge thus thei seyn that Deucalioun made suche ordeynaunce for the seyntuarye in memorie of that tribulacioun and that benefice.

Further details of this rite are given in ¢. 48. Frazer's note on Pausanias l.c. compares an Athenian Hydrophoria connected with the memory of the flood; also the annual water-pouring in the Temple at Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles. The performance was not simply commemorative; the offering at Athens of meal and honey was chthonic, and so was the water-pouring there (Cleidemus in Athenaeus 5, p. 410a). At Hieropolis the object was to quell evil spirits, according to Melito. “But touching Nebo, which is in Mabug, why should I write to you; for lo! all the priests which are in Mabug know that it is the image of Orpheus, a Thracian Magus. And Hadran (i.e. Hadaranes, a double of Hadad) is the image of Zaradusht, a Persian Magus, because both of these Magi practised Magism to a well which is in a wood in Mabug, in which was an unclean spirit, and it committed violence and attacked the passage of every one who was passing by in all that place in which now the fortress of Mabug is located; and these same Magi charged Simi, the daughter of Hadad (cf. c. 33), that she should draw water froin the sea, and cast it into the well, in order that the spirits should not come up,” etc. (Cureton, Spicil, Syr. 44 sq.) Early modern travellers have seen seawater poured into a brook (Baudissin, Studien, ii, p. 181), and it is perhaps significant that nowadays the Jans are angry if water is spilled on the hearth (Baldensperger, Jmmovable East, p. 85). Cf. Baudissin, p. 437, 3.

a Now that is the olde aunciene storie amonges hem touching to the temple.

But othere men , trowen that Semiramys of Babyloyne, of the which sothely ben manye werkes in Asye, sche made this foundacioun, and not for Iuno but for hir owne Moder, that hadde to name Derketoun.

A legend of Ascalon made Semiramis the daughter of Derceto by a Syrian youth with whom Aphrodite (i.¢. Astarte) made Derceto fall in love. In her grief and shame, Derceto destroyed the youth, exposed the daughter, and herself leaped into a pool and was turned into a fish. Semiramis was miraculously attended by doves until she was discovered and handed over to Simmas, a royal overseer ; eventually she married Ninus (Ctesias, quoted by Diodorus Siculus 2, 4). She was intimately connected with temple traditions at Hieropolis : two statues of her stood near the temple, with one of which the story was connected that she had once tried to usurp the place of the goddess (cc. 39, 40), and some thought that the “token” of c. 33 represented her.

. And I beheld the schap of Derketoun in Phenicye, a straunge merveylle, halfundel womman, but the tothere half, wel fro thighes to feet, streccheth out in a fissches tayl.

Cook, p. 30 sg. speaks of “various rude and almost shapeless objects of bronze which have been interpreted, thanks to a more realistic specimen from the Judaean Tell Zakariya, as models of an amphibious creature with human head and the tail of a fish;”’ and he adds: “a splendid Carthaginian sarcophagus of a priestess (M. Moore, Carthage of the Phoenicians, frontispiece) represents a woman of strange beauty with the lower part of the body so draped as to give it a close resemblance to a fish’s tail.” But in Hellenistic times the goddess was almost always represented in human form. For other stories of her transformation, see W. Robertson Smith, Eng. Hist. Rev., ii (1887), 303 sg. ; Gruppe, Gr. Mythol. p. 1345; for the survival of the belief into modern times, Niéldeke, Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenlind. Gesellsch. 35, 220.

. But the ymage in the Holy Cytee is hoolyche woman, and the tokenes of here seyinge ben not right certeyn. Thei leven fissches holy thynge, and thei ne touchen fissche never; and though of othere foules thei eten alle, the dowve thei ne eten not, but sche is holy, as thei wenen.

See cc. 45, 54, with the notes thereon.

And thise thinges ben don, thei trowen, be cause of Derketoun and Semiramys, the oon for that Derketoun hath schap of a fissche, and the tother because that atte laste Semiramys tornede to a dowve.

On the transformation of Semiramis into a dove, see Athenagoras, Legat. pro Christ. 76 (Ctesiae Fragmenta ed. Miiller, p. 17); Diodorus 2, 20, 2. Diodorus (2, 4, 6; cf. Hesychius) says that the name Semiramis is derived from the word for dove in the Syrian dialect. At all events the similarity of the Assyrian word summatu (dove) helps to account for her introduction into these stories (Lehmann- Haupt, Roscher’s Lexikon, s.v. Semiramis, p. 694).

But to me, that the temple was bylded of Semiramys peraventure may I graunte; but that it longeth to Derketoun I ne leve not in no kynde.

Lucian’s scepticism is unjustified. Pliny (5, 81) and Strabo (16, p. 785) were better informed. Atargatis is the Greek version of ‘Atar-‘ata; Derceto is the Greek version of the abbreviated form Tar-‘ata. See Cumont in Pauly- Wissowa, Realencycl., under Atargatis and Dea Syria.

For amonges somme peples of Egypte thei ne eten not fissche, and that is not-don for no favour to Derketoun.

In Astrology, c. 7, Lucian tells why these Egyptians do it; it is because they were especially devoted to the sign Pisces. This may be more than a mere jest ; Cumont says: “Old totems of Semitic tribes or of Egyptian nomes survived in the form of constellations” (Astrology and Religion, p. 116; cf. p. 81). But for the abstaining in Egypt other reasons were given, from Herodotus on (2, 37; cf. Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, cc. 7, 32, 72, and for other references, Frazer, Pausanias iv, p. 154). See also page 398, note 1.

Ther is also an other holy storie that I herde from a wys man, how that the goddesse is Cibella and the servys founded of Attis. Attis was a Lydien of kynde, that first leet teche the ceremonyes that longen to Cibella. And alle rytes that Phrygiens and Lydiens and Samothracyens perfourmen, tho rytes lerneden thei of Attis. For whan Cibella gelt him, he cessed to lede the lyf of a man, but chaunged to femele schappe, and did on wommenes clothynge, and goynge to every londe perfourmed ceremonyes and reherced what betyd him and preysed Cibella in songes. Ther with alle cam he to Surrye, and for als moche as the peple beyonden Eufrate resceyvede him not, ne his cerimonyes nouther, he founded the seyntuarye in this place. And for a signe thereof, the goddesse for the most partie ressembleth Cibella, for lyouns drawen hir and sche holt a timbre and bereth tours on hir hede, right as Lydiens formen Cibella. Also he spak of Galles that ben in the temple, seyinge that Galles gelden hem and counterfeten Attis not at alle for no worschipe of luno but for worschipe of Cibella.

This identification of the Dea Syria with Rhea has been spoken of as a temple-legend. Is it not rather a simple deduction of Lucian’s “wise man,” based upon general resemblance and upon the presence of Galli in both cults? The resemblance, however, was real, and the identification was not unusual ; a striking instance is in Bardesanes, where the Syriac version (Cureton, 31) has Tharatha, the Greek, as quoted by Eusebius, Rhea. It has been revived by modern scholars, notably Meyer, and with good reason ; but whether the “Mother-goddess” is Semitic in origin, as he formerly held, or non-Semitic (Hittite), as he now argues, is still, it seems to me, an open question. See note below on Combabus.

But after myn avis, al be it that this is wel semynge, it is not trewe, for I have herde an other cause whi thei gelden hem that is a gret dele mo to beleven.

Me liketh what men seyn of the seyntuarye that acorden fulle wel to hem of Grece,that demen the goddesse Iuno and the seyntuarye mad of Bachus, Semeles sone. For withouten doubte Bachus cam to Surrye in that passage in the whiche he wente to Ethiope. And in the temple ben manye tokenes of Bachus foundour, as namely foreyne garnements and precious stones of Ynde and olifauntes hornes, that Bachus broght from Ethiope. And two yerdes, or pileres, stont in the entree, passynge highe, on the whiche is writen this scripture : “I Bachus presentede thise yerdes to Iuno my step moder.”

Phallic pillars, further described below, cc. 28-29. The inscription is much too pointed to be genuine ; it is a hoax like that in the True Story 1, 7 (vol. i, p. 255). Pillars were an ordinary feature of Semitic “high places,” both of wood (asherim) and of stone (masseboth) ; see Frazer, Folklore, iii, 62 sqq. In the case of the asherim I know of no direct evidence that they were phallic, but the masseboth, many of which still survive, are sometimes clearly of that nature (Cook, 14, 28 ; see also le Strange, Palestine wnder the Moslems, p. 294, for a curious survival of this significance). The pillars at Hieropolis were made of wood, since cleats were nailed to them; they were therefore asherim, and form a further bond between Ashera (Astarte) and Atargatis. Whether originally phallic or not, they were in Lucian’s day themselves used as “high places” ; see below.

Now to me this sufficeth, natheles I schalle seye you another thing that is in the temple, that longeth to ceremonyes of Bachus. Men of Grece formen yerdes for worschipe of Bachus that beren on hem litylle men made of wode that han grete membres, the whiche men thei nempnen Popets.

See Herodotus 2, 48, on Egyptian puppets (ἀγάλματα νευρόσπαστα).

And in the temple ther is this same thing; on the righte syde sitt a lityl man of brasse that hath a gret membre.

So seyn thei of the foundours of the holy place. And now I schalle speke of the temple, wher that it was sett and who that leet bylden it. Men seyn, the temple that stont now is not that oon the whiche was bylded atte firste, but that was beten doun sithen som tyme, and the temple that stont now is the werk of Stratonice, wyf to the Kyng of Assurye.

Stratonice was daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes and wife of Seleucus Nicator; she was subsequently surrendered by him to his son Antiochus I, Soter, by a former wife, Apama. The famous tale which follows (in Lucian a pure digression, but quite in the Herodotean manner) is rehearsed at length by Plutarch also (Demetrius 38). Rohde has made it pretty clear that, though possible enough (Galen claimed to have detected hidden love in the same way), as far as Antiochus is concerned it is fiction (Griech. Roman, p. 52.)

I trowe, this is thilke Stratonice that hir step sone lovede, that was betraysed by the phisicyens

Erasistratus (Plutarch, l.c.),

invencioun, For whan the infortune oppressed him, he mighte not susteyne the mysese that semede him schamful, and so he stille (quietly) felle into syknesse, and lay withouten ony peyne; and his hewe chaunged outerly, and his bodye feblede eech day. But whan the phisicyen saughe that he was wayk withouten pleyne cause, he iugged that the syknesse was love. For of derne (secret) love ther ben manye signes, as waike eyen, voyce, hewe, teeres. And whan that he perceyved it, he did thus. With his righte honde he kepte the yonge mannes herte, and thanne he sent after all tho that weren in the house. And whan everyche of the othere entrede, this was in gret ese, but whan his step moder cam, he chaunged his hewe and swatte and schoke and his herte stirte (leaped). Thise thinges scheweden his love to, the phisicyen, that helede him thus.

After that he hadde clepede the yonge mannes fader, that was sor adrad, “This syknesse,” quod he, “wherof thy child is wayk nis not syknesse but synne, for verrayly he soffreth of no peyn, but of love and wodenesse (frenzy). And he coveyteth that he may not have in no wyse, lovynge my wyf that I wil not forgon.” So that oon lyde in gyle. And anon that other besoghte him: “Be thy conynge and thy phisik, destroie me not my sone ; for he is not in this cas of his owne wille but hath the syknesse mawgree himself. Therfore do thou not thorghe despyt make sorwe in alle the rewme, ne thou that art phisicyen brynge manslaughtre in to phisik.” Thus preyde he, al unwar. And_ that oon answerde: “Thou forthrest wykked dedis, revynge me from my mariage and destreyninge a pore leche. What woldestow thiself have don and he coveytede thy wyf, thou that axest suche bones (boons) of me?” Therwith he replyede that he him self wolde never have ben ialous over his wyf ne grucched (begrudged) his sone deliveraunce, if so be he hadde coveyted his step moder; for it was not the lyke infortune to lese awyfasasone.

Compare the famous story in Herodotus (3, 119) of the wife of Intaphrenes, who preferred brother to husband and sons.

_ And whan the phisicien herde that, “Wherfore than,” quod he, “dostow beseche me? Parfey, he loveth thy wyf, and alle that I seyde was fausse!” Than was the fader overcomen, and yold bothe wyf and rewme (realm) to his sone, and goyinge himself to the contree of Babyloyne leet make a cytee nyghe Eufrate that was cleped after his owne name, ther as his dethe befel.

The known facts are that Seleucus made Antiochus joint-ruler in 293 B.c.; that the marriage of Stratonice to Antiochus may have taken place at that time, but the date is not known; and that in 281, on becoming master of the whole realm of Alexander through the defeat of Lysimachus, he planned to entrust, and perhaps actually did entrust, all Asia to his son, intending himself to assume the throne of Macedonia. But within a few months he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus near Lysimachia in Thrace. He built many cities named after him; this Seleucia, 15 miles below Baghdad, is generally called “on the Tigris,” but it lay between the two rivers, which at that point are only 25 miles apart, and the canal Naarmalcha, connecting the Euphrates with the Tigris, flowed by it.

Thus did the phisicien bothe knowe and hele love.

Now, I seye you, why] yit that Stratonice duellede with her formere housbond, hir mette a dreme how that Iuno bade hir to bylde the temple for hir in the Holy Cytee, and if sche sholde not obeye, sche manaced hir with manye harmes. Atte first, sche ne took no fors (note) of it ; but after, whan a grete sykness hent hir, sche told the dreme to hir housbond and enforced hir to apayen (appease) Iuno, and behight (promised) to bylde the temple. Anon sche becam hool, and thanne hir housbond wolde sende hir to the Holy Cytee, and with hir a gret tresor and a gret hoost, some for to bylden and other some for here seurtee. Therfore he sompned oon of his frendes, a right fayr yong man that highte Combabe,

The name Kombabos, which does not occur elsewhere in Greek, has been identified as that of the opponent of Gilgamesh in the Gilgamesh-Epic, Hu(m)-ba-ba (Schrader- Zimmern, p. 570, and note 2), Clay has shown (pp. 49-53) that this name is not Elamite, but Amorite or West Semitic ; he holds that it was borne by a historical personage who lived in a cedar district of the West and humiliated Babylonia at the time of Gilgamesh, about 4000 B.c. However that may be, Kombabos is Humbaba, and in this story, which is the temple-legend, the name of Kombabos is the significant part ; Stratonice has taken the place of an earlier female. I believe her immediate predecessor was Semiramis, from Ammianus Marcellinus, 14, 6, 17, and her general connection with this site; she in her turn probably ousted an earlier Sima or Ata, with whom Kombabos may have been brought into connection through building or rebuilding the temple (cf. Clay, p. 51, note 22).

and seyde: “For thou art noble, Daun Combabe, I love thee most of alle mine frendes, and I preyse thee gretli for thy coninge and for thy gode wille to me, that thou hast discovered beforn. And now me nedeth of grete feyth, wherfore I wole that thou folwe my wyf, for to acomplisshe the werke in my name, and to perfourme the sacrifises, and to reule the hoost ; and whan thou retornest thou schalt gete highe worschipe fro me.” Therwith anon Combabe gan preye and beseche him ful besily that he scholde not send him forth ne betaken (entrust) him nouther that tresor, that was moche to en:rust gret for him, ne his wyf, ne the holy werk. For he was adrad lest that ialousie scholde assayle him afterwardes as touching to Stratonice, that he moste lede forthe allone.

But sithe the kyng wolde not herknen in no kynde, he assayde an other requeste, for to graunte him seven dayes space, and than sende him forth, whan he hadde don a thing thereof he hadde most nede. And whan he obteyned this bone lightely, he wente to his owne house and caste himself adoun and pleyned right so: ‘Allas wrecche, what have I to don with this feythe, what have I to don with this viage, whereof I seighe now the ende ? I am yong, and schal folwen a fayre womman. This schalle be gret meschief to me, but if I putte awey al cause of evylle ; therfore most I perfourme a gret dede that schal hele me of alle fere.”

Thus he seyde, and thanne he marrede him self ; and whan he hadde kutte offe his genitours he put hem into a lityl pot, and bawme with alle, and hony and othere thinges of swete smelle. Thanne he selede it with a signet that he bar, and helede his wounde. And after, whan him wel semede for to don iorneye, goynge to the kyng, beforn manye men that ther weren he toke (gave) him the pot, seyinge thus : “O sire, this grete tresor I was wont for to kepe prevely, and I lovede it wel ; but now, for als moche as I schal gon a fer weye, I wole betaken it to you. Kepeth it sikkerly ; for this to me is bettre than gold, this to me is als dereworth as my lyf. Whan I retorne, I schal bere it home ayen saf and sound.” So the kyng resceyved it and seelede it with an other signet and bad his stywardes for to kepen it curyously.