Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore
§ 1. An Alternative Theory. § 2. Sacred Women in India. § 3. Sacred Men and Women in West Africa. § 4. Sacred Women in Western Asia. § 5. Sacred Men in Western Asia. § 6. Sons of God. § 7. Reincarnation of the Dead. § 8. Sacred Stocks and Stones among the Semites.
φύσεως ἀπαρνησάμενοι, θηλείᾳ νόσῳ τὴν δαίμονα ἱλεοῦντο. But probably Eusebius is here speaking of the men who castrated themselves in honour of the goddess, and thereafter wore...
10. Chapter IV. Sacred Men and Women.(M38) In the preceding chapter we saw that a system of sacred prostitution was regularly carried on all over Western Asia, and that both in Phoenicia and in Cyprus the practice...
12. Chapter VI. The Burning of Sandan.(M88) In Cyprus the Tyrian Melcarth was worshipped side by side with Adonis at Amathus,(377) and Phoenician inscriptions prove that he was revered also at Idalium and Larnax Lap...
14. Chapter VIII. Volcanic Religion.(M140) Thus it appears that a custom of burning a god in effigy or in the person of a human representative was practised by at least two peoples of Western Asia, the Phoenicians...
29. iv. 2) refer to the great spring festival of Cybele and Attis in away which seems to imply that the festival was officially recognized by the Roman government before Claudius Gothicus succeeded to the purple; and we may hesitate to follow Prof...
17. Chapter X. The Gardens of Adonis.(M181) Perhaps the best proof that Adonis was a deity of vegetation, and especially of the corn, is furnished by the gardens of Adonis, as they were called. These were baskets o...
9. Chapter III. Adonis in Cyprus.(M22) The island of Cyprus lies but one day’s sail from the coast of Syria. Indeed, on fine summer evenings its mountains may be descried looming low and dark against the red fi...
26. xxv. 52), γυναῖκες γοῦν ἐν εἰδωλείοις τῆς Φοινικῆς πάλαιπροεκαθέζοντο, ἀπαρχόμεναι τοῖς ἐκεῖ θέοις ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν μισθαρνίαν, νομίζουσαι τῇ πορνειᾳ τὴν θέον ἑαυτῶν ἰλάσκεσθαι καὶ εἰς εὐμενείαν ἄγειν αὐτὴν διὰ τούτων. Th...
25. vi. 26): it seems to have been a tree stripped of its branches andplanted in the ground beside an altar, whether of Jehovah or of other gods (Deuteronomy xvi. 21; Jeremiah xvii. 2). That the _asherah_ was regarded as a goddess, the female part...
8. Chapter II. Adonis in Syria.(M9) The myth of Adonis was localized and his rites celebrated with much solemnity at two places in Western Asia. One of these was Byblus on the coast of Syria, the other was Pa...
13. Chapter VII. Sardanapalus and Hercules.(M128) The theory that kings or princes were formerly burned to death at Tarsus in the character of gods is singularly confirmed by another and wholly independent line of argume...
28. iii. 48, ὁ Ἄδωνις, ἤγουν ὁ σῖτος ὁ σπειρόμενος, ἔξ μῆνας ἐν τῇ γῇποιεῖ ἀπο τῆς σπορᾶς καὶ ἔξ μῆνας ἔχει αὐτὸν ἡ Ἀφροδίτη, τουτέστιν ἡ εὐκρασία τοῦ ἀέρος. καὶ ἐκτότε λαμβάνουσιν αὐτὸν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Origen, _Selecta in Ezechielem_ (Migne’s _Patr...
24. Chapter VII. Hyacinth.(M225) Another mythical being who has been supposed to belong to the class of gods here discussed is Hyacinth. He too has been interpreted as the vegetation which blooms in spri...
23. Chapter VI. Oriental Religions in the West.(M217) The worship of the Great Mother of the Gods and her lover or son was very popular under the Roman Empire. Inscriptions prove that the two received divine honours, separat...
18. Chapter I. The Myth and Ritual of Attis.(M198) Another of those gods whose supposed death and resurrection struck such deep roots into the faith and ritual of Western Asia is Attis. He was to Phrygia what Adonis was t...
22. Chapter V. The Hanged God.(M211) A reminiscence of the manner in which these old representatives of the deity were put to death is perhaps preserved in the famous story of Marsyas. He was said to be a Ph...
15. Chapter IX. The Ritual of Adonis.(M171) Thus far we have dealt with the myth of Adonis and the legends which associated him with Byblus and Paphos. A discussion of these legends led us to the conclusion that am...
7. Chapter I. The Myth of Adonis.(M1) The spectacle of the great changes which annually pass over the face of the earth has powerfully impressed the minds of men in all ages, and stirred them to meditate on the...
11. Chapter V. The Burning of Melcarth.(M84) If a custom of putting a king or his son to death in the character of a god has left small traces of itself in Cyprus, an island where the fierce zeal of Semitic religion...
16. mill. That this was indeed the principal aspect in which Adonis presentedhimself in later times to the agricultural peoples of the Levant, may be admitted; but whether from the beginning he had been the corn and nothing but the corn, may be doubted....
19. Chapter II. Attis As a God of Vegetation.(M206) The original character of Attis as a tree-spirit is brought out plainly by the part which the pine-tree plays in his legend, his ritual, and his monuments.(820) The story...
6. Chapter VII. Hyacinth.These studies are an expansion of the corresponding sections in my book _The Golden Bough_, and they will form part of the third edition of that work, on the preparation of whic...
21. Chapter IV. Human Representatives of Attis.(M210) From inscriptions it appears that both at Pessinus and Rome the high-priest of Cybele regularly bore the name of Attis.(855) It is therefore a reasonable conjecture that...
20. Chapter III. Attis As The Father God.(M208) The name Attis appears to mean simply “father.”(839) This explanation, suggested by etymology, is confirmed by the observation that another name for Attis was Papas;(840)...
2. Chapter IV. Sacred Men and Women.§ 1. An Alternative Theory. § 2. Sacred Women in India. § 3. Sacred Men and Women in West Africa. § 4. Sacred Women in Western Asia. § 5. Sacred Men in Western Asia. § 6. Sons o...
3. Chapter VI. The Burning of Sandan.§ 1. The Baal of Tarsus. § 2. The God of Ibreez. § 3. Sandan of Tarsus. § 4. The Gods of Boghaz-Keui. § 5. Sandan and Baal at Tarsus. § 6. Priestly Kings of Olba. § 7. The God o...
5. Chapter VIII. Volcanic Religion.§ 1. The Burning of a God. § 2. The Volcanic Region of Cappadocia. § 3. Fire-Worship in Cappadocia. § 4. The Burnt Land of Lydia. § 5. The Earthquake God. § 6. The Worship of Me...
4. Chapter VII. Sardanapalus and Hercules.§ 1. The Burning of Sardanapalus. § 2. The Burning of Croesus. § 3. Purification by Fire. § 4. The Divinity of Lydian Kings. § 5. Hittite Gods at Tarsus and Sardes. § 6. The Res...
1. Part IV: Adonis Attis Osiris.