iii. 48, ὁ Ἄδωνις, ἤγουν ὁ σῖτος ὁ σπειρόμενος, ἔξ μῆνας ἐν τῇ γῇ

ποιεῖ 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 _Patrologia Graeca_, xiii. 800), οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀναγωγὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν μύθων δεινοὶ καὶ μυθικῆς νομιζομένης θεολογίας, φασί τὸν Ἄδωνιν σύμβολον εἶναι τῶν τῆς γῆς καρπῶν, θρηνουμένων μὲν ὅτε σπείρονται, ἀνισταμένων δέ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χαίρειν ποιούντων τοὺς γεωργοὺς ὅτε φύονται. Jerome, _Commentar. in Ezechielem_, viii. 13, 14 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xxv. 83), “_Eadem gentilitas hujuscemodi fabulas poetarum, quae habent turpitudinem, interpretatur subtiliter, interfectionem et resurrectionem Adonidis planctu et gaudio prosequens: quorum alterum in seminibus, quae moriuntur in terra, alterum in segetibus, quibus mortua semina renascuntur, ostendi putat._” Ammianus Marcellinus, xix. 1. 11, “_in sollemnibus Adonidis sacris, quod simulacrum aliquod esse frugum adultarum religiones mysticae docent_.” _Id._ xxii. 9. 15, “_amato Veneris, ut fabulae fingunt, apri dente ferali deleto, quod in adulto flore sectarum est indicium frugum_.” Clement of Alexandria, _Hom._ 6. 11 (quoted by W. Mannhardt, _Antique Wald- und Feldkulte_, p. 281), λαμβάνουσι δὲ καὶ Ἄδωνιν εἰς ὡραίους καρπούς. _Etymologieum Magnum_ _s.v._ Ἄδωνις κύριον; δύναται καὶ ὁ καρπὸς εἶναι ἄδωνις; οἶον ἀδώνειος καρπός, ἀρέσκων. Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ iii. II. 9, Ἄδωνις τῆς τῶν τελείων καρπῶν ἐκτομῆς σύμβολον. Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv. _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 32, οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ... αὐτὰ τὰ σώματα θεοὺς νομίσαντες ... Ἴσιν μὲν τὴν γῆν ... Ἄδωνιν δὲ καρπούς. Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 4, τῷ Ἀδώνιδι, τουτέστι τῷ Μαΐῳ ... ἢ ὡς ἄλλοις, δοκεῖ, Ἄδωνις μέν ἐστιν ὁ καρπός, κτλ. The view that Tammuz or Adonis is a personification of the dying and reviving vegetation is now accepted by many scholars. See P. Jensen, _Kosmologie der Babylonier_ (Strasburg, 1890), p. 480; _id._, _Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen_, pp. 411, 560; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 p. 397; A. Jeremias, _s.v._ “Nergal,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, iii. 265; R. Wünsch, _Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta_ (Leipsic, 1902), p. 21; M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les Religions Sémitiques_,2 pp. 306 _sqq._; W. W. Graf Baudissin, “Tammuz,” _Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirchengeschichte_; _id._, _Esmun und Adonis_, pp. 81, 141, 169, etc.; and Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_,2 i. 2. pp. 394, 427. Prof. Jastrow regards Tammuz as a god both of the sun and of vegetation (_Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, pp. 547, 564, 574, 588). But such a combination of disparate qualities seems artificial and unlikely.

M176 Tammuz or Adonis as a corn-spirit bruised and ground in a mill.

689 D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus_ (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 27; _id._, _Ueber Tammûz und die Menschenverehrung bei den alten Babylioniern_ (St. Petersburg, 1860), p. 38. Compare W. W. Graf Baudissin, _Adonis und Esmun_, pp. 111 _sqq._

M177 The mourning for Adonis interpreted as a harvest rite.

690 M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les Religions Sémitiques_2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 307 _sq._

691 Hence Philo of Alexandria dates the corn-reaping in the middle of spring (Μεσοῦντος δὲ ἔαρος ἄμητος ἐνίσταται, _De special. legibus_, i. 183, vol. v. p. 44, ed. L. Cohn). On this subject Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie writes to me: “The Coptic calendar puts on April 2 beginning of wheat harvest in Upper Egypt, May 2 wheat harvest, Lower Egypt. Barley is two or three weeks earlier than wheat in Palestine, but probably less in Egypt. The Palestine harvest is about the time of that in North Egypt.” With regard to Palestine we are told that “the harvest begins with the barley in April; in the valley of the Jordan it begins at the end of March. Between the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest an interval of two or three weeks elapses. Thus as a rule the business of harvest lasts about seven weeks” (J. Benzinger, _Hebräische Archäologie_, Freiburg i. B. and Leipsic, 1894, p. 209). “The principal grain crops of Palestine are barley, wheat, lentils, maize, and millet. Of the latter there is very little, and it is all gathered in by the end of May. The maize is then only just beginning to shoot. In the hotter parts of the Jordan valley the barley harvest is over by the end of March, and throughout the country the wheat harvest is at its height at the end of May, excepting in the highlands of Galilee, where it is about a fortnight later” (H. B. Tristram, _The Land of Israel_, Fourth Edition, London, 1882, pp. 583 _sq._). As to Greece, Professor E. A. Gardner tells me that harvest is from April to May in the plains and about a month later in the mountains. He adds that “barley may, then, be assigned to the latter part of April, wheat to May in the lower ground, but you know the great difference of climate between different parts; there is the same difference of a month in the vintage.” Mrs. Hawes (Miss Boyd), who excavated at Gournia, tells me that in Crete the barley is cut in April and the beginning of May, and that the wheat is cut and threshed from about the twentieth of June, though the dates naturally vary somewhat with the height of the place above the sea. June is also the season when the wheat is threshed in Euboea (R. A. Arnold, _From the Levant_, London, 1868, i. 250). Thus it seems possible that the spring festival of Adonis coincided with the cutting of the first barley in March, and his summer festival with the threshing of the last wheat in June. Father Lagrange (_op. cit._ pp. 305 _sq._) argues that the rites of Adonis were always celebrated in summer at the solstice of June or soon afterwards. Baudissin also holds that the summer celebration is the only one which is clearly attested, and that if there was a celebration in spring it must have had a different signification than the death of the god. See his _Adonis und Esmun_, pp. 132 _sq._

692 Diodorus Siculus, i. 14. 2. See below, vol. ii. pp. 45 _sq._

_ 693 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 180 _sqq._, 204 _sqq._

M178 But probably Adonis was a spirit of fruits, edible roots, and grass before he became a spirit of the cultivated corn. M179 The propitiation of the corn-spirit may have fused with the worship of the dead.

694 W. Mannhardt, _Mythologische Forschungen_ (Strasburg, 1884), pp. 1 _sqq._; _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 216 _sqq._

M180 The festival of the dead a festival of flowers.

695 T. B. Macaulay, _History of England_, chapter xx. vol. iv. (London, 1855) p. 410.

696 This explanation of the name _Anthesteria_, as applied to a festival of the dead, is due to Mr. R. Wünsch (_Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta_, Leipsic, 1902, pp. 43 _sqq._). I cannot accept the late Dr. A. W. Verrall’s ingenious derivation of the word from a verb ἀναθέσσασθαι in the sense of “to conjure up” (“The Name Anthesteria,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xx. (1900) pp. 115-117). As to the festival see E. Rohde, _Psyche_3 (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), i. 236 _sqq._; Miss J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_2 (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 32 _sqq._ In Annam people offer food to their dead on the graves when the earth begins to grow green in spring. The ceremony takes place on the third day of the third month, the sun then entering the sign of Taurus. See Paul Giran, _Magie et Religion Annamites_ (Paris, 1912), pp. 423 _sq._

697 E. Renan, _Mission de Phénicie_ (Paris, 1864), p. 216.

M181 Pots of corn, herbs, and flowers, called the gardens of Adonis.

698 For the authorities see Raoul Rochette, “Mémoire sur les jardins d’Adonis,” _Revue Archéologique_, viii. (1851) pp. 97-123; W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p. 279, note 2, and p. 280, note 2. To the authorities cited by Mannhardt add Theophrastus, _Hist. Plant._ vi. 7. 3; _id._, _De Causis Plant._ i. 12. 2; Gregorius Cyprius, i. 7; Macarius, i. 63; Apostolius, i. 34; Diogenianus, i. 14; Plutarch, _De sera num. vind._ 17. Women only are mentioned as planting the gardens of Adonis by Plutarch, _l.c._; Julian, _Convivium_, p. 329 ed. Spanheim (p. 423 ed. Hertlein); Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xi. 590. On the other hand, Apostolius and Diogenianus (_ll.cc._) say φυτεύοντες ἢ φυτεύουσαι. The earliest extant Greek writer who mentions the gardens of Adonis is Plato (_Phaedrus_, p. 276 B). The procession at the festival of Adonis is mentioned in an Attic inscription of 302 or 301 B.C. (G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 vol. ii. p. 564, No. 726). Gardens of Adonis are perhaps alluded to by Isaiah (xvii. 10, with the commentators).

M182 These gardens of Adonis were charms to promote the growth of vegetation. The throwing of the “gardens” into water was a rain-charm. Parallel European customs of drenching the corn with water at harvest or sowing. Use of water as a rain-charm at harvest and sowing.

699 In hot southern countries like Egypt and the Semitic regions of Western Asia, where vegetation depends chiefly or entirely upon irrigation, the purpose of the charm is doubtless to secure a plentiful flow of water in the streams. But as the ultimate object and the charms for securing it are the same in both cases, I have not thought it necessary always to point out the distinction.

_ 700 The Dying God_, pp. 232, 233 _sqq._

_ 701 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 272 _sqq._

702 W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme_ (Berlin, 1875), p. 214; W. Schmidt, _Das Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und Branch der Romänen Siebenbürgens_ (Hermannstadt, 1866), pp. 18 _sq._ The custom of throwing water on the last wagon-load of corn returning from the harvest-field has been practised within living memory in Wigtownshire, and at Orwell in Cambridgeshire. See J. G. Frazer, “Notes on Harvest Customs,” _Folk-lore Journal_, vii. (1889) pp. 50, 51. (In the first of these passages the Orwell at which the custom used to be observed is said to be in Kent; this was a mistake of mine, which my informant, the Rev. E. B. Birks, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, afterwards corrected.) Mr. R. F. Davis writes to me (March 4, 1906) from Campbell College, Belfast: “Between 30 and 40 years ago I was staying, as a very small boy, at a Nottinghamshire farmhouse at harvest-time, and was allowed—as a great privilege—to ride home on the top of the last load. All the harvesters followed the waggon, and on reaching the farmyard we found the maids of the farm gathered near the gate, with bowls and buckets of water, which they proceeded to throw on the men, who got thoroughly drenched.”

703 G. A. Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens_ (Hermanstadt, 1880), p. 24; H. von Wlislocki, _Sitten und Brauch der Siebenbürger Sachsen_ (Hamburg, 1888), p. 32.

704 G. Drosinis, _Land und Leute in Nord-Euböa_ (Leipsic, 1884), p. 53.

705 Matthäus Prätorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_ (Berlin, 1871), p. 55; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 214 _sq._, note.

706 M. Prätorius, _op. cit._ p. 60; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 215, note.

707 H. Prahn, “Glaube und Brauch in der Mark Brandenburg,” _Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde_, i. (1891) p. 186.

708 O. Hartung, “Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt,” _Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde_, vii. (1897) p. 150.

709 W. Kolbe, _Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche_ (Marburg, 1888), p. 51.

_ 710 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern_, ii. (Munich, 1863) p. 297.

711 E. H. Meyer, _Badisches Volksleben_ (Strasburg, 1900), p. 420.

712 J. Walter Fewkes, “The Tusayan New Fire Ceremony,” _Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History_, xxvi. (1895) p. 446.

713 “Lettre du curé de Santiago Tepehuacan à son évêque,” _Bulletin de la Société de Géographie_ (Paris), Deuxième Série, ii. (1834) pp. 181 _sq._

M183 Gardens of Adonis among the Oraons and Mundas of Bengal.

_ 714 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 59 _sqq._

715 E. T. Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_ (Calcutta, 1872), p. 259.

716 E. T. Dalton, _op. cit._ p. 188. As to the influence which trees are supposed to exercise on the crops, see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 47 _sqq._

M184 Gardens of Adonis in Rajputana.

717 Lieut.-Col. James Tod, _Annals and Antiquities of Rajast’han_, i. (London, 1829) pp. 570-572.

718 G. F. D’Penha, “A Collection of Notes on Marriage Customs in the Madras Presidency,” _Indian Antiquary_, xxv. (1896) p. 144; E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_ (Madras, 1906), p. 2.

M185 Gardens of Adonis in North-Western and Central India.

719 E. T. Atkinson, _The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India_, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) p. 870.

720 W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_ (Westminster, 1896), ii. 293 _sq._ Compare Baboo Ishuree Dass, _Domestic Manners and Customs of the Hindoos of Northern India_ (Benares, 1860), pp. 111 _sq._ According to the latter writer, the festival of Salono [not Salonan] takes place in August, and the barley is planted by women and girls in baskets a few days before the festival, to be thrown by them into a river or tank when the grain has sprouted to the height of a few inches.

721 Mrs. J. C. Murray-Aynsley, “Secular and Religious Dances,” _Folk-lore Journal_, v. (1887) pp. 253 _sq._ The writer thinks that the ceremony “probably fixes the season for sowing some particular crop.”

_ 722 Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency_, xx. (Bombay, 1884) p. 454. This passage was pointed out to me by my friend Mr. W. Crooke.

_ 723 Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency_, xx. 443, 460.

M186 Gardens of Adonis in Bavaria. Gardens of Adonis on St. John’s Day in Sardinia.

_ 724 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern_ (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 298.

725 Antonio Bresciani, _Dei costumi dell’ isola di Sardegna comparati cogli antichissimi popoli orientali_ (Rome and Turin, 1866), pp. 427 _sq._; R. Tennant, _Sardinia and its Resources_ (Rome and London, 1885), p. 187; S. Gabriele, “Usi dei contadini della Sardegna,” _Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari_, vii. (1888) pp. 469 _sq._ Tennant says that the pots are kept in a dark warm place, and that the children leap across the fire.

M187 Gardens of Adonis on St. John’s Day in Sicily.

726 G. Pitrè, _Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano_ (Palermo, 1889), ii. 271-278. Compare _id._, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_ (Palermo, 1881), pp. 297 _sq._ In the Abruzzi also young men and young women become gossips by exchanging nosegays on St. John’s Day, and the tie thus formed is regarded as sacred. See G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890), pp. 165 _sq._

M188 In these Sardinian and Sicilian ceremonies St. John may have taken the place of Adonis. Custom of bathing in water or washing in dew on the Eve or Day of St. John (Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Day). Petrarch at Cologne on St. John’s Eve.

727 R. Wünsch, _Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta_, pp. 47-57.

728 See above, pp. 10, note 1, 224 _sq._, 226.

729 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 490.

730 G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_, pp. 156-160. A passage in Isaiah (xxvi. 19) seems to imply that dew possessed the magical virtue of restoring the dead to life. In this passage of Isaiah the customs which I have cited in the text perhaps favour the ordinary interpretation of טל אורת as “dew of herbs” (compare 2 Kings iv. 39) against the interpretation “dew of lights,” which some modern commentators (Dillmann, Skinner, Whitehouse), following Jerome, have adopted.

731 G. Pitrè, _Feste patronali in Sicilia_ (Turin and Palermo, 1900), pp. 488, 491-493.

732 G. Pitrè, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_, p. 307.

733 Petrarch, _Epistolae de rebus familiaribus_, i. 4 (vol. i. pp. 44-46 ed. J. Fracassetti, Florence, 1859-1862). The passage is quoted by J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 489 _sq._

734 J. Grimm, _op. cit._ i. 489.

735 Letter of Dr. Otero Acevado, of Madrid, _Le Temps_, September 1898.

736 J. Lecœur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 8; A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 150.

737 A. de Nore, _op. cit._ p. 20; Bérenger-Féraud, _Réminiscences populaires de la Provence_ (Paris, 1885), pp. 135-141.

738 A. Breuil, “Du Culte de St. Jean Baptiste,” _Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie_, viii. (1845) pp. 237 _sq._ Compare _Balder the Beautiful_, i. 193 _sq._

739 Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_, edited by J. F. Ramirez (Mexico, 1867-1880), ii. 293.

M189 The custom of bathing at midsummer is pagan, not Christian, in its origin.

740 Augustine, _Opera_, v. (Paris, 1683) col. 903; _id._, Pars Secunda, coll. 461 _sq._ The second of these passages occurs in a sermon of doubtful authenticity. Both have been quoted by J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 490.

741 E. Doutté, _Magie et Religion dans l’Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers, 1908), pp. 567 _sq._; E. Westermarck, “Midsummer Customs in Morocco,” _Folk-lore_, xvi. (1905) pp. 31 _sq._; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather_ (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 84-86. See _Balder the Beautiful_, i. 216.

M190 Old heathen festival of midsummer in Europe and the East. M191 Midsummer fires and midsummer couples in relation to vegetation.

_ 742 Balder the Beautiful_, i. 160 _sqq._

_ 743 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 65 _sq._

_ 744 The Dying God_, p. 262.

745 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), p. 257.

M192 Gardens of Adonis intended to foster the growth of vegetation, and especially of the crops. Modes of divination at midsummer like the gardens of Adonis.

_ 746 Balder the Beautiful_, i. 328 _sqq._, ii. 21 _sqq._

747 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 464; K. von Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_ (Munich, 1855), p. 183. For more evidence see _Balder the Beautiful_, i. 165, 166, 166 _sq._, 168, 173, 174.

748 The use of gardens of Adonis to fertilize the human sexes appears plainly in the corresponding Indian practices. See above, pp. 241, 242, 243.

749 G. Pitrè, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_, pp. 296 _sq._

750 G. Pitrè, _op. cit._ pp. 302 _sq._; Antonio de Nino, _Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Florence, 1879-1883), i. 55 _sq._; A. de Gubernatis, _Usi Nuziali in Italia e presso gli altri Popoli Indo-Europei_ (Milan, 1878), pp. 39 _sq._ Compare L. Passarini, “Il Comparatico e la Festa di S. Giovanni nelle Marche e in Roma,” _Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari_, i. (1882) p. 135. At Smyrna a blossom of the _Agnus castus_ is used on St. John’s Day for a similar purpose, but the mode in which the omens are drawn is somewhat different. See Teofilo, “La notte di San Giovanni in Oriente,” _Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari_, vii. (1888) pp. 128-130.

751 Matthäus Prätorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_ (Berlin, 1871), p. 56.

_ 752 The Dying God_, pp. 261 _sq._

_ 753 The Dying God_, pp. 233 _sqq._, 261 _sqq._

M193 Sicilian gardens of Adonis in spring.

754 G. Pitrè, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_, p. 211.

755 Κήπους ὡσίουν ἐπιταφίους Ἀδώνιδι, Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xi. 590.

756 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La tradizione Greco-Latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), p. 50.

M194 Resemblance of the Easter ceremonies in the Greek Church to the rites of Adonis.

757 C. Wachsmuth, _Das alte Griechenland im neuen_ (Bonn, 1864), pp. 26. _sq._ The writer compares these ceremonies with the Eleusinian rites. But I agree with Mr. R. Wünsch (_Das Frühlingsfest der Insel Malta_, pp. 49 _sq._) that the resemblance to the Adonis festival is still closer. Compare V. Dorsa, _La tradizione Greco-Latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore_, pp. 49 _sq._ Prof. Wachsmuth’s description seems to apply to Athens. In the country districts the ritual is apparently similar. See R. A. Arnold, _From the Levant_ (London, 1868), pp. 251 _sq._, 259 _sq._ So in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem the death and burial of Christ are acted over a life-like effigy. See Henry Maundrell, _Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, __A.D.__ 1697_, Fourth Edition (Perth, 1800), pp. 110 _sqq._; _id._, in Th. Wright’s _Early Travels in Palestine_ (London, 1848), pp. 443-445.

M195 Resemblance of the Easter ceremonies in the Catholic Church to the rites of Adonis.

758 G. Pitrè, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_, pp. 217 _sq._

759 G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_, pp. 118-120; A. de Nino, _Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_, i. 64 _sq._, ii. 210-212. At Roccacaramanico part of the Easter spectacle is the death of Judas, who, personated by a living man, pretends to hang himself upon a tree or a great branch, which has been brought into the church and planted near the high altar for the purpose (A. de Nino, _op. cit._ ii. 211).

760 The drama of the death and resurrection of Christ was formerly celebrated at Easter in England. See Abbot Gasquet, _Parish Life in Mediaeval England_, pp. 177 _sqq._, 182 _sq._

M196 The Christian festival of Easter perhaps grafted on a festival of Adonis.

761 The comparison has already been made by A. Maury, who also compares the Easter ceremonies of the Catholic Church with the rites of Adonis (_Histoire des Religions de la Grèce Antique_, Paris, 1857-1859, vol. iii. p. 221).

M197 The worship of Adonis at Bethlehem. The Morning Star, identified with Venus, may have been the signal for the festival of Adonis. The Star of Bethlehem.

762 Jerome, _Epist._ lviii. 3 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xxii. 581).

763 Bethlehem is בית-לחם, literally “House of Bread.” The name is appropriate, for “the immediate neighbourhood is very fertile, bearing, besides wheat and barley, groves of olive and almond, and vineyards. The wine of Bethlehem (‘Talhamī’) is among the best of Palestine. So great fertility must mean that the site was occupied, in spite of the want of springs, from the earliest times” (George Adam Smith, _s.v._ “Bethlehem,” _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, i. 560). It was in the harvest-fields of Bethlehem that Ruth, at least in the poet’s fancy, listened to the nightingale “amid the alien corn.”

764 John vi. 35.

765 Above, p. 227.

766 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii. 9. 14, “_Urbique propinquans in speciem alicujus numinis votis excipitur publicis, miratus voces multitudinis magnae, salutare sidus inluxisse eois partibus adclamantis._” We may compare the greeting which a tribe of South American Indians used to give to a worshipful star after its temporary disappearance. “The Abipones think that the Pleiades, composed of seven stars, is an image of their ancestor. As the constellation is invisible for some months in the sky of South America, they believe that their ancestor is ill, and every year they are mortally afraid that he will die. But when the said stars reappear in the month of May, they imagine that their ancestor is recovered from his sickness and has returned; so they hail him with joyous shouts and the glad music of pipes and war-horns. They congratulate him on his recovery. ‘How we thank you! At last you have come back? Oh, have you happily recovered?’ With such cries they fill the air, attesting at once their gladness and their folly.” See M. Dobrizhoffer, _Historia de Abiponibus_ (Vienna, 1784), ii. 77.

767 M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, pp. 370 _sqq._; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 p. 424.

768 Sozomenus, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, ii. 5 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, lxvii. 948). The connexion of the meteor with the festival of Adonis is not mentioned by Sozomenus, but is confirmed by Zosimus, who says (_Hist._ i. 58) that a light like a torch or a globe of fire was seen on the sanctuary at the seasons when the people assembled to worship the goddess and to cast their offerings of gold, silver, and fine raiment into a lake beside the temple. As to Aphaca and the grave of Adonis see above, pp. 28 _sq._

769 Matthew ii. 1-12.

M198 Attis the Phrygian counterpart of Adonis. His relation to Cybele. His miraculous birth. The death of Attis.

770 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59. 7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33; Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 3 and 22. The ancient evidence, literary and inscriptional, as to the myth and ritual of Attis has been collected and discussed by Mr. H. Hepding in his monograph, _Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult_ (Giessen, 1903).

771 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, p. 168 ed. L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859); Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, iii. 23. 51 _sqq._

772 Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 223 _sqq._; Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 15; _id._, _Ad Nationes_, i. 10; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, iv. 35. As to Cybele, the Great Mother, the Mother of the Gods, conceived as the source of all life, both animal and vegetable, see Rapp, in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, _s.v._ “Kybele,” ii. 1638 _sqq._

773 Scholiast on Lucian, _Jupiter Tragoedus_, 8, p. 60 ed. H. Rabe (Leipsic, 1906), (vol. iv. p. 173 ed. C. Jacobitz); Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, pp. 168, 170 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin.

774 Pausanias, vii. 17. 11; Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, pp. 166, 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 6.

775 See above, pp. 99 _sqq._

776 S. I. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, pp. 115 _sq._ See above, pp. 78, 213 _sqq._

777 That Attis was killed by a boar was stated by Hermesianax, an elegiac poet of the fourth century B.C. (Pausanias, vii. 17); compare Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8. The other story is told by Arnobius (_Adversus Nationes_, v. 5 _sqq._) on the authority of Timotheus, who professed to derive it from recondite antiquarian works and from the very heart of the mysteries. It is obviously identical with the account which Pausanias (_l.c._) mentions as the story current in Pessinus. According to Servius (on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115), Attis was found bleeding to death under a pine-tree, but the wound which robbed him of his virility and his life was not inflicted by himself. The Timotheus cited by Pausanias may be the Timotheus who was consulted by Ptolemy Soter on religious matters and helped to establish the worship of Serapis. See Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 28; Franz Cumont, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 77, 113, 335.

778 Pausanias, vii. 17. 10; Julian, _Orat._ v. 177 B, p. 229, ed. F. C. Hertlein (Leipsic, 1875-1876). Similarly at Comana in Pontus, the seat of the worship of the goddess Ma, pork was not eaten, and swine might not even be brought into the city (Strabo, xii. 8. 9, p. 575). As to Comana see above, p. 39.

779 S. Sophronius, “SS. Cyri et Joannis Miracula,” Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, lxxxvii. Pars Tertia, col. 3624, πρὸς πλάνην Ἑλληνικὴν ἀποκλίνουσαν [_scil._ τὴν Ἰουλίαν] καὶ ταύτῃ διὰ τὸν Ἀδώνιδος Θάνατον τὰ κρέα παραιτεῖσθαι τὰ ὕεια.

780 Ovid, _Metam._ x. 103 _sqq._

M199 Worship of Cybele introduced into Rome in 204 B.C.

781 Livy, xxix. chs. 10, 11, and 14; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 259 _sqq._; Herodian, ii. 11. As to the stone which represented the goddess see Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, vii. 49.

782 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xviii. 16.

M200 Attis and his eunuch priests the Galli at Rome.

783 Lucretius, ii. 598 _sqq._; Catullus, lxiii.; Varro, _Satir. Menipp._, ed. F. Bücheler (Berlin, 1882), pp. 176, 178; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 181 _sqq._, 223 _sqq._, 361 _sqq._; Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit. Rom._ ii. 19, compare Polybius, xxii. 18 ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1866-1868).

784 Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 41. See Robinson Ellis, _Commentary on Catullus_ (Oxford, 1876), pp. 206 _sq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 142 _sqq._; Fr. Cumont, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 83 _sq._

It is held by Prof. A. von Domaszewski that the Claudius who incorporated the Phrygian worship of the sacred tree in the Roman ritual was not the emperor of the first century but the emperor of the third century, Claudius Gothicus, who came to the throne in 268 A.D. See A. von Domaszewski, “Magna Mater in Latin Inscriptions,” _The Journal of Roman Studies_, i. (1911) p. 56. The later date, it is said, fits better with the slow development of the worship. But on the other hand this view is open to certain objections. (1) Joannes Lydus, our only authority on the point, appears to identify the Claudius in question with the emperor of the first century. (2) The great and widespread popularity of the Phrygian worship in the Roman empire long before 268 A.D. is amply attested by an array of ancient writers and inscriptions, especially by a great series of inscriptions referring to the colleges of Tree-bearers (_Dendrophori_), from which we learn that one of these colleges, devoted to the worship of Cybele and Attis, existed at Rome in the age of the Antonines, about a century before the accession of Claudius Gothicus. (3) Passages of the Augustan historians (Aelius Lampridius, _Alexander Severus_, 37; Trebellius Pollio, _Claudius_,