De Syria dea

And in the clos at large pasturen grete boles and hors and egles and beres and lyouns; and thei don no manere harm to men but ben everyche of hem holy and tame.[*](Sacred animals were a common feature of temple-closes in Greece (Gardner-Jevons, Manual, p. 188). Plato introduces sacred bulls into his utopian Atlantis, Critias, 119 p. )

Prestes thei apoynten withouten nombre, of the whiche some sleen the victimes and some beren the offrynges of licours and some ben cleped Fuyrbereres and some Awtere Prestes. Whan I was there, mo than a 300 weren wont to assemblen hem for sacrifise. Thei ben clothed in whyte robes alle, and thei han a poynted cappe on here hedes.[*](For the pointed cap, see Cumont in Daremberg-Saglio, Dict. des Ant., s.v. Syria Dea, fig. 6698, and the reference in the next note (Abd-Hadad). ) And everyche yeer a newe chefe preste is sett over hem, that allone wereth a robe of purpre and is crouned with a coronale of gold.[*](Coins of Hieropolis, of the fourth century, B.c. (Babelon, Perses achéménides, No. 315), show the high priest Abd-Hadad in the dress here described. Compare Herodian 5, 3, 6 (costume of Elagabalus; cf. Dio Cassius 79, 11); Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents, p. 41 (Sharbil, priest of Nebo) ; Athenaeus 5, 215 8.c. (priest of Sandan at Tarsus). )

And therto is other gret multytude of religious men, of floyteres and piperes and Galles, and also wommen that ben wode and out of here witte.

Twyes each day sacrifise is perfourmed, to the which allecomen. To Iove thei sacrificen withouten ony noys, ne syngynge not ne floytynge; but whan thei presenten offrynges to Iuno, thanne thei syngen and floyten and sounen cymbales. And as to this thei mighte not telle me no thing certeyn.

Ther is also a lak, a lityl fro the temple, in the whiche holy fissches ben norysscht, withouten nombre and of dyverse kyndes. Some of hem ben ful grete, and thise han names and comen whan thei ben

That lak is passynge depe. I assayde it not, but men seyn that it hath wel mo than a 200 fadmes ; and in the myd place ther of stont an awtere of stone. Seeynge it on a sodeyne, thou woldest trowen that it fleyted and rode upon the water, and manye men wenen thus; but I suppose that a gret piler pight undernethe bereth up the awtere. And it is ever more dressed with gerlondes and hath encens brennynge, and manye swymmen overthwart to it eech day for a vowe that thei han, and bryngen gerlondes.[*](Gruppe (Gr. Myth. u. Religionsgesch., p. 813) connects this "Floating” island with the holy island of Tyre, the floating island of Chemmis in the swamps of Buto, and with the Greek stories of Delos and Patmos. )

At that place ben wondur grete festes, the which highte Desceyntes unto the Lak, be cause that in tho festes alle the ydoles gon doun to the lak. Amonges hem Iuno cometh first, be cause of the fissches, to the entente that Iove schalle not seen hem first; for if so be that this happeth, thei dyen alle, as men seyn. And for sothe he cometh to

Wondur grete ben also the festes that thei ben wont to make in goynge to the see. Of tho festes ne can I not seye no thing certeyn, be cause that I ne wente not myself ne assayde not that pilgrimage. But what thei don whan thei retornen, that I saughe and schalle devyse you. Thei beren everychon a pot fulle of water, and thise pottes ben seeled with waxe. And of hem self thei ne breke not the seel for to schede it out; but ther is a holy Cokke,[*](Not, according to Dussaud, a Gallus, but an overseer. ) that woneth (dwells) nyghe to the lak, that whan he resceyveth the vesseles he loketh to the seel, and getteth him a fee for to undon the bond and remeve the waxe; and the Cokke gadereth moche silver thorghe this werk. And fro thens thei hem self bryngen it in to the temple, and scheden it out; and after this thei perfourmen sacrifise, and than thei wenden hoom ayen.

But the grettest of alle festes wherof I knowe is kepte in the firste somer sesoun, and some men clepen it Fuyr Feste and some Torche Feste. Ther inne thei don sacrifise in this wyse. Thei kutten grete trees and setten hem in the clos, and after, brynginge gotes and schepe and othere bestes, thei hangen hem fro the trees, alle on lyve, and eke briddes (birds) and clothes and ioyelles of gold and of silver, And whan thei han mad everyche thing complet and perfyt, thei beren the ydoles aboute the trees, and thanne thei casten inne fuyr and als swythe alle tho

And upon sette dayes the multytude assemblen hem in the clos, and manye Galles and tho religious men that I spak of pertourmen here cerimonyes ; and thei kutten here owne armes and beten that oon that other upon the bak.[*](See 1 Kings, 18, 26-28. )— And manye that stont ther neer floyten, and manye beten timbres, and othere syngen wode songes and holy. This is don withouten the temple, and thei that don it comen not in to the temple.

And in thise dayes Galles ben made. For whan tho floyten and perfourmen here rytes, that folye sone entreth into manye, and manye ther ben that camen for to seen and thanne wroghten in thilke manere. And I shal descryve what thei don. ‘The yong man to whom Fortune hath goven this adversitee, he casteth offe his clothinge and cometh in to the myddes, cryinge in a grete voyce, and taketh up a swerd that hath stode there thise manye yeeres, I wene. Thanne he geldeth him right anon and renneth throghe the Cytee berynge in his hondes tho parties therof he gelt him. And that house into the whiche he schalle casten thise, he

And Galles at here dyenge ben not enterred in lyk manere as other men, but gif a Galle dye, his felawes liften him up and carryen him in to the skirtes of the Cytee and sette doun the man himself and the fertre on the whiche thei broghte him, and easten stones aboven;[*](Compare Joshua8, 29, and for the modern practice, Baldensperger, 16, 1. Perhaps originally the Gallus was stoned to death at the expiration of a certain time. ) and whan this is don, thei wenden hoom ayen. And thei wayten for the nombre of 7 dayes or that thei entren in to the temple; for if thei entren before, thei misdon.

And the customes that thei folwen therto ben thise. If so be that ony of hem seeth a dede man, he cometh not in to the temple that day; but on the nexte daye, aftre that he hath pured him, thanne he entreth. And tho that ben of the dede mannes kyn wayten for the space of 30 dayes and lette schaven here hedes or thei entren; but before that this hath ben don, it is not leful for to entren.[*](On the pollution of death, see Leviticus 21, 1-3; Ezekiel 44,25. Cf. Frazer, ii, 227 sqgq. On shaving the head, Levit. 21,5; Ezekiel 44, 20. )

Thei sacrificen boles and kyn and gotes and schepe. Swyn only thei ne sacrificen not nouther eten be cause that thei demen hem unclene.[*](Klagabalus, by way of syortula, gave away all manner of animals except pigs; “for he abstained from them by the law of the Phoenicians” (Herodian 5, 6,9; cf. Dio Cassius 79,11). Suidas 8.v. Aouvivos alludes to the custom as Syrian, and Sophronius (Migne 87, 3, p. 3624) in the case of a girl from Damascus ascribes it to the worship of Adonis. See Baudissin, p. 142 sgg. “In Palestine and Syria the animal was used in certain exceptional sacrifices which were recognized as idolatrous (Isaiah 65, 4 ; 66, 17) and it was an open: uestion whether it was really polluted or holy” (Cook, 48). here was similar uncertainty in Egypt; see Herodotus 2,47, and Plutarch, Jsis and Osiris, 8. Lucian is perhaps thinking of the pig as holy in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, and Demeter worship generally. It was holy also in Crete, and apparently in Babylon (Ninib). ) But othere men demen hem not unclene but holy. And amonges briddes the dowve semeth hem wondur holy thing,

And I schal telle you what the pilgrimes alle don. Whan that a man wole faren for the firste sythe (time) to the Holy Cytee, he schaveth his heed and his browes,[*](Shaving the head and brows was probably purificatery in this connection. See Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 4. ) and after that, he sacrificeth a schep; and than he kerveth it and eteth it alle, saf only the flees that he leyeth on the erthe and kneleth ther on, and taketh the bestes feet and heed and putteth upon his owne heed. Ther with alle he preyeth, askynge that this present sacrifise be resceyved and behotynge (promising) a grettere that nexte sythe.[*](By this procedure the worshipper seems clearly to indicate that the sacrificed sheep is a substitute for himself; it is so understood by Frazer, Folklore, i, 414, 425-428. What the worshipper says and does is equivalent to: “Take “ this poor offering in my stead, part for part ; myself I will offer next time,” In Schrader-Zimmern, p. 597, a cuneiform inscription is cited that concerns such a vicarious sacrifice : "The lamb, the substitute for a man, the lamb he gives for the man’s life; the head of the lamb he gives for the head of the man,” etc. For another view, see Robertson Smith, Rel. of the Semites, p. 438. ) And whan alle this is atte ende, he putteth a gerlond on his owne heed and on the hedes of his felawes that wolle gon that ilke pilgrimage. Thanne levynge his owne contree he doth iorney; and he useth cold watre bothe for to wasschen with and to drynken, and slepeth alle weyes on the erthe; for he ne may not liggen in no maner bedde un to tyme that his pilgrimage be fulfilled and he be comen ayen to his owne contree.[*](Psalm 132, 3; cf, Robertson Smith, Rel. of the Semites, 481 sqq. )

And in the Holy Cytee he is reseeyved

And the sacrifises ben not perfourmed in the temple, but whan he hath presented his victime beforn the awtere, he schedeth offrynge of wyn there on, and thanne he ayen ledeth him on lyve to his logging, and’ whan he is comen there he sacrificeth and preyeth be him self.

Ther is also this other maner sacrifise. Theidressen here victimes with gerlondes and hurlen hem doun the degrees of the entree on lyve, and in fallynge doun thei dyen. And some men hurlen here owne children thens, but not in lyke manere as the bestes. Thei putten hem in a walet and beren hem doun in hond, and thei scornen hem with alle, seyinge that thei ben not children but oxen.[*](A relic of child-sacrifice. “Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6,7). On traces of infant sacrifice discovered in the excavations in Palestine, see Cook, pp. 36, 38, 43; Frazer, Folklore i, 418 and note. From recent excavations in asanctuary of Tanit at Carthage, it is apparent that firstborn children were offered to that goddess during the whole period of Punic occupation (Am. Journal of Archaevl., 1923, R 107). “Jephthah’s daughter had many successors before adrian tried to stamp out the practice. At Laodicea a virgin was annually sacrificed to ‘ Athena’ until a deer took her place ; Elagubalus was accused of offering children in his sun-temple at Rome; . . . an Arabian tribe annually sacrificed a child, which they buried beneath the altar that served them as an idol. In many parts, too, bodies of slain victims were used for purposes of. divination” (Bouchier, Syria as a Roman Province, p. 247 sq.). )

And alle Ieten marke hem, some on the wriste and some on the nekke; and for that skylle alle Assuryens beren markes.[*](Lucian probably means tattooing, although actual brandng was practised on occasion. “Some are afflicted with such an extravagancy of madness that, leaving themselves no room for a change of mind, they embrace slavery to the works of human hands, admitting it in writing, not upon sheets of papyrus as the custom is in the case of human chattels, but by branding it upon their bodies with a heated iron with a view to its indelible permanency ; for even time does not fade these letters” (Philo Judaeus, de Monarchia 1, 8 fin.). The view that this was the “mark of Cain” is forever being advanced anew, only to be anew denied. The practice was forbidden to the Jews (Levit. 19, 28, where the Septuagint reads: kal ypdupara orixta ob worhoere ev éyiv), Among the Moslem population it still survives, but apparently without any religious significance. “A Syrian custom: the workers in tattoo are generally Syrian, and the decoration is seen mainly in Syria and North Palestine” (H. Rix, Tent and Testament, p. 103). In du Soul’s time all Christians who visited the Holy Land came back tattooed, he tells us (Lucian, ed. Hemsterhuys-Reitz, iii, p. 489). )

And thei don another thing, in the whiche thei acorden to men of Trosen allone of Grekes, and I schalle telle you what tho don. Men of Trosen han made ordeynaunce as touchinge the maydens and the bachelers, that thei schulle not maryen or thei lette scheren here lokkes for worschipe of Ypolite ; and so thei don. That thing is don also in the Holy Cytee. The bacheleres offren of here berdes, and the children from here birthe leten holy crulles growe, the which thei scheren whan thei ben presented in the temple and putten in boystes outher of silver or often tymes of gold, that thei naylen faste in the temple, and than gon here weye; but first thei wryten there on here names everychon. Whan I was yong, I fulfilled that ryte; and bothe my crulle and my name ben yit in the seyntuarye.[*](For the custom at Troezen see Pausanias 2, 32, 1; but he speaks only of girls. Its general prevalence is shown in Frazer’s note on that passage, in which the item of chief interest in connection with Lucian is that in Caria, at the temple of Zeus Panamaros, it was customary for a man to dedicate a lock of hair in a stone receptacle on which was carved his name and that of the priest or priestess in charge the receptacle was preserved in the temple.)