iv. 2) refer to the great spring festival of Cybele and Attis in a

way 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. von Domaszewski in simply excising these passages as the work of an “impudent forger.” (4) The official establishment of the bloody Phrygian superstition suits better the life and character of the superstitious, timid, cruel, pedantic Claudius of the first century than the gallant soldier his namesake in the third century. The one lounged away his contemptible days in the safety of the palace, surrounded by a hedge of lifeguards. The other spent the two years of his brief but glorious reign in camps and battlefields on the frontier, combating the barbarian enemies of the empire; and it is probable that he had as little leisure as inclination to pander to the superstitions of the Roman populace. For these reasons it seems better with Mr. Hepding and Prof. Cumont to acquiesce in the traditional view that the rites of Attis were officially celebrated at Rome from the first century onward.

An intermediate view is adopted by Prof. G. Wissowa, who, brushing aside the statement of Joannes Lydus altogether, would seemingly assign the public institution of the rites to the middle of the second century A.D. on the ground that the earliest extant evidence of their public celebration refers to that period (_Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 Munich, 1912, p. 322). But, considering the extremely imperfect evidence at our disposal for the history of these centuries, it seems rash to infer that an official cult cannot have been older than the earliest notice of it which has chanced to come down to us.

785 Arrian, _Tactica_, 33; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ xii. 836.

786 On the festival see J. Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 (Leipsic, 1885) pp. 370 _sqq._; the calendar of Philocalus, in _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), p. 260, with Th. Mommsen’s commentary (pp. 313 _sq._); W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, pp. 291 _sqq._; _id._, _Baumkultus_, pp. 572 _sqq._; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 pp. 318 _sqq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 147 _sqq._; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. (Paris, 1911) pp. 82 _sqq._

M201 The spring festival of Cybele and Attis at Rome. The Day of Blood.

787 Julian, _Orat._ v. 168 C, p. 218 ed. F. C. Hertlein (Leipsic, 1875-1876); Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 41; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. chs. 7, 16, 39; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 27; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. As to the guild of Tree-bearers (_Dendrophori_) see Joannes Lydus, _l.c._; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4116 _sq._, 4171-4174, 4176; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 86, 92, 93, 96, 152 _sqq._; F. Cumont, _s.v._ “Dendrophori,” in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, v. 1. coll. 216-219; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 82 _sq._, 92 _sq._

788 Julian, _l.c._ and 169 C, p. 219 ed. F. C. Hertlein. The ceremony may have been combined with the old _tubilustrium_ or purification of trumpets, which fell on this day. See Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 42; Varro, _De lingua Latina_, vi. 14; Festus, pp. 352, 353 ed. C. O. Müller; W. Warde Fowler, _Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic_ (London, 1899), p. 62.

789 Trebellius Pollio, _Claudius_, 4; Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 25.

790 Lucian, _Deorum dialogi_, xii. 1; Seneca, _Agamemnon_, 686 _sqq._; Martial, xi. 84. 3 _sq._; Valerius Flaccus, _Argonaut._ viii. 239 _sqq._; Statius, _Theb._ x. 170 _sqq._; Apuleius, _Metam._ viii. 27; Lactantius, _Divinarum Institutionum Epitome_, 23 (18, vol. i. p. 689 ed. Brandt and Laubmann); H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 158 _sqq._ As to the music of these dancing dervishes see also Lucretius, ii. 618 _sqq._

_ 791 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 90 _sq._, 101 _sq._

792 Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, 22 and 24; Lactantius, _Divin. Instit._ i. 21. 16; _id._, _Epitoma_, 8; Schol. on Lucian, _Jupiter Tragoedus_, 8 (p. 60 ed. H. Rabe); Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115; Prudentius, _Peristephan._ x. 1066 _sqq._; “Passio Sancti Symphoriani,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, v. 1463, 1466); Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 14; Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 163 _sq._ A story told by Clement of Alexandria (_Protrept._ ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter) suggests that weaker brethren may have been allowed to sacrifice the virility of a ram instead of their own. We know from inscriptions that rams and bulls were regularly sacrificed at the mysteries of Attis and the Great Mother, and that the testicles of the bulls were used for a special purpose, probably as a fertility charm. May not the testicles of the rams have been employed for the same purpose? and may not those of both animals have been substitutes for the corresponding organs in men? As to the sacrifices of rams and bulls see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,” _Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498 _sqq._; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4118 _sqq._; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 84 _sqq._

793 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 5 _sq._

M202 Eunuch priests in the service of Asiatic goddesses.

794 Strabo, xiv. 1. 23, p. 641.

795 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 15, 27, 50-53.

796 Lucian, _op. cit._ 10.

797 Lucian, _op. cit._ 15.

798 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 49-51.

799 Catullus, _Carm._ lxiii. I agree with Mr. H. Hepding (_Attis_, p. 140) in thinking that the subject of the poem is not the mythical Attis, but one of his ordinary priests, who bore the name and imitated the sufferings of his god. Thus interpreted the poem gains greatly in force and pathos. The real sorrows of our fellow-men touch us more nearly than the imaginary pangs of the gods.

As the sacrifice of virility and the institution of eunuch priests appear to be rare, I will add a few examples. At Stratonicea in Caria a eunuch held a sacred office in connexion with the worship of Zeus and Hecate (_Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum_, No. 2715). According to Eustathius (on Homer, _Iliad_, xix. 254, p. 1183) the Egyptian priests were eunuchs who had sacrificed their virility as a first-fruit to the gods. In Corea “during a certain night, known as _Chu-il_, in the twelfth moon, the palace eunuchs, of whom there are some three hundred, perform a ceremony supposed to ensure a bountiful crop in the ensuing year. They chant in chorus prayers, swinging burning torches around them the while. This is said to be symbolical of burning the dead grass, so as to destroy the field mice and other vermin.” See W. Woodville Rockhill, “Notes on some of the Laws, Customs, and Superstitions of Korea,” _The American Anthropologist_, iv. (Washington, 1891) p. 185. Compare Mrs. Bishop, _Korea and her Neighbours_ (London, 1898), ii. 56 _sq._ It appears that among the Ekoi of Southern Nigeria both men and women are, or used to be, mutilated by the excision of their genital organs at an annual festival, which is celebrated in order to produce plentiful harvests and immunity from thunderbolts. The victims apparently die from loss of blood. See P. Amaury Talbot, _In the Shadow of the Bush_ (London, 1912), pp. 74 _sqq._ Mr. Talbot writes to me: “A horrible case has just happened at Idua, where, at the new yam planting, a man cut off his own _membrum virile_” (letter dated Eket, Nr Calabar, Southern Nigeria, Feb. 7th, 1913). Amongst the Ba-sundi and Ba-bwende of the Congo many youths are castrated “in order to more fittingly offer themselves to the phallic worship, which increasingly prevails as we advance from the coast to the interior. At certain villages between Manyanga and Isangila there are curious eunuch dances to celebrate the new moon, in which a white cock is thrown up into the air alive, with clipped wings, and as it falls towards the ground it is caught and plucked by the eunuchs. I was told that originally this used to be a human sacrifice, and that a young boy or girl was thrown up into the air and torn to pieces by the eunuchs as he or she fell, but that of late years slaves had got scarce or manners milder, and a white cock was now substituted” (H. H. Johnston, “On the Races of the Congo,” _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) p. 473; compare _id._, _The River Congo_, London, 1884, p. 409). In India, men who are born eunuchs or in some way deformed are sometimes dedicated to a goddess named Huligamma. They wear female attire and might be mistaken for women. Also men who are or believe themselves impotent will vow to dress as women and serve the goddess in the hope of recovering their virility. See F. Fawcett, “On Basivis,” _Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay_, ii. 343 _sq._ In Pegu the English traveller, Alexander Hamilton, witnessed a dance in honour of the gods of the earth. “Hermaphrodites, who are numerous in this country, are generally chosen, if there are enough present to make a set for the dance. I saw nine dance like mad folks for above half-an-hour; and then some of them fell in fits, foaming at the mouth for the space of half-an-hour; and, when their senses are restored, they pretend to foretell plenty or scarcity of corn for that year, if the year will prove sickly or salutary to the people, and several other things of moment, and all by that half hour’s conversation that the furious dancer had with the gods while she was in a trance” (A. Hamilton, “A New Account of the East Indies,” in J. Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, viii. 427). So in the worship of Attis the Archigallus or head of the eunuch priests prophesied; perhaps he in like manner worked himself up to the pitch of inspiration by a frenzied dance. See H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 142, 143, Nos. 4130, 4136; G. Wilmanns, _Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_ (Berlin, 1873), vol. i. p. 36, Nos. 119a, 120; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 93 _sq._ As to the sacrifice of virility in the Syrian religion compare Th. Nöldeke, “Die Selbstentmannung bei den Syrern,” _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, x. (1907) pp. 150-152.

M203 The sacrifice of virility. The mourning for Attis.

800 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 7 and 16; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115.

801 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 59; Arrian, _Tactica_, 33; Scholiast on Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 8; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 3 and 22; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 16; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 115.

802 See above, p. 267.

803 Arnobius, _l.c._; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

804 Above, p. 230.

805 See below, p. 274.

M204 The Festival of Joy (_Hilaria_) for the resurrection of Attis on March 25th. The procession to the Almo.

806 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 22, “_Nocte quadam simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur et per numeros digestis fletibus plangitur: deinde cum se ficta lamentatione satiaverint, lumen infertur: tunc a sacerdote omnium qui flebant fauces unguentur, quibus perunctis hoc lento murmure susurrat:_

θαρρεῖτε μύσται τοῦ θέου σεσωσμένου; ἔσται γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐκ πόνων σωτήρια.

_Quid miseros hortaris gaudeant? quid deceptos homines laetari compellis? quam illis spem, quam salutem funesta persuasione promittis? Dei tui mors nota est, vita non paret.... Idolum sepelis, idolum plangis, idolum de sepultura proferis, et miser cum haec feceris, gaudes. Tu deum tuum liberas, tu jacentia lapidis membra componis, tu insensibile corrigis saxum._” In this passage Firmicus does not expressly mention Attis, but that the reference is to his rites is made probable by a comparison with chapter 3 of the same writer’s work. Compare also Damascius, in Photius’s _Bibliotheca_, p. 345 A, 5 _sqq._, ed. I. Bekker (Berlin, 1824), τότε τῇ Ἱεραπόλει ἐγκαθευδήσας ἐδόκουν ὄναρ ὁ Ἄττης γένεσθαι, καί μοι ἐπιτελεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν τὴν τῶν ἱλαρίων καλουμένων ἑορτήν; ὅπερ ἐδήλου τὴν ἐξ ᾅδου γεγονυῖαν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν. See further Fr. Cumont, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 89 _sq._

807 Macrobius, _Saturn_. i. 21. 10; Flavius Vopiscus, _Aurelianus_, i. 1; Julian, _Or._ v. pp. 168 D, 169 D; Damascius, _l.c._; Herodian, i. 10. 5-7; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. In like manner Easter Sunday, the Resurrection-day of Christ, was called by some ancient writers the Sunday of Joy (_Dominica Gaudii_). The emperors used to celebrate the happy day by releasing from prison all but the worst offenders. See J. Bingham, _The Antiquities of the Christian Church_, bk. xx. ch. vi. §§ 5 _sq._ (Bingham’s _Works_ (Oxford, 1855), vii. 317 _sqq._).

808 Aelius Lampridius, _Alexander Severus_, 37.

_ 809 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), pp. 260, 313 _sq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 51, 172.

810 Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 337-346; Silius Italicus, _Punic._ viii. 365; Valerius Flaccus, _Argonaut._ viii. 239 _sqq._; Martial, iii. 47. 1 _sq._; Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 3. 7; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, vii. 32; Prudentius, _Peristephon._ x. 154 _sqq._ For the description of the image of the goddess see Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, vii. 49. At Carthage the goddess was carried to her bath in a litter, not in a wagon (Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, ii. 4). The bath formed part of the festival in Phrygia, whence the custom was borrowed by the Romans (Arrian, _Tactica_, 33). At Cyzicus the Placianian Mother, a form of Cybele, was served by women called “marine” (Θαλάσσιαι), whose duty it probably was to wash her image in the sea (Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, Brussels, 1900, pp. 403 _sq._, No. 537). See further J. Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 373; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 133 _sq._

M205 The mysteries of Attis. The sacrament. The baptism of blood. The Vatican a centre of the worship of Attis.

811 Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 15, p. 13 ed. Potter; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 18.

812 Above, p. 272.

813 H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 185.

814 Prudentius, _Peristephan._ x. 1006-1050; compare Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 28. 8. That the bath of bull’s blood (_taurobolium_) was believed to regenerate the devotee for eternity is proved by an inscription found at Rome, which records that a certain Sextilius Agesilaus Aedesius, who dedicated an altar to Attis and the Mother of the Gods, was _taurobolio criobolioque in aeternum renatus_ (_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. No. 510; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4152). The phrase _arcanis perfusionibus in aeternum renatus_ occurs in a dedication to Mithra (_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. No. 736), which, however, is suspected of being spurious. As to the inscriptions which refer to the _taurobolium_ see G. Zippel, “Das Taurobolium,” in _Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum L. Friedlaender dargebracht von seinen Schülern_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 498-520; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 140-147, Nos. 4118-4159. As to the origin of the _taurobolium_ and the meaning of the word, see Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments Figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra_ (Brussels, 1896-1899), i. 334 _sq._; _id._, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_,2 pp. 100 _sqq._; J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_, ii. 84 _sqq._; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 pp. 322 _sqq._ The _taurobolium_ seems to have formed no part of the original worship of Cybele and to have been imported into it at a comparatively late date, perhaps in the second century of our era. Its origin is obscure. In the majority of the older inscriptions the name of the rite appears as _tauropolium_, and it has been held that this is the true form, being derived from the worship of the Asiatic goddess Artemis Tauropolis (Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 537). This was formerly the view of Prof. F. Cumont (_s.v._ “Anaitis,” in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i. 2. col. 2031); but he now prefers the form _taurobolium_, and would deduce both the name and the rite from an ancient Anatolian hunting custom of lassoing wild bulls.

815 Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv., _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

816 Sallustius philosophus, _l.c._

_ 817 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vi. Nos. 497-504; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4145, 4147-4151, 4153; _Inscriptiones Graecae Siciliae et Italiae_, ed. G. Kaibel (Berlin, 1890), p. 270, No. 1020; G. Zippel, _op. cit._ pp. 509 _sq._, 519; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 83, 86-88, 176; Ch. Huelsen, _Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum, von H. Jordan_, i. 3 (Berlin, 1907), pp. 658 _sq._

_ 818 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, xiii. No. 1751; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4131; G. Wilmanns, _Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_ (Berlin, 1873), vol. ii. p. 125, No. 2278; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 p. 267; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 169-171, 176.

_ 819 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, xiii. No. 1751; G. Wilmanns, _Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. i. pp. 35-37, Nos. 119, 123, 124; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4127, 4129, 4131, 4140; G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_,2 pp. 322 _sqq._; H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 191.

M206 The sanctity of the pine-tree in the worship of Attis.

820 As to the monuments see H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4143, 4152, 4153; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 82, 83, 88, 89.

821 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 27.

_ 822 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 47 _sq._, 71; _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 138, 143, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158.

823 Etymologicum Magnum, p. 220, line 20, Γάλλος, ὁ φιλοπάτωρ Πτολεμαῖος; διὰ τὸ φύλλα κισσοῦ κατέστιχθαι, ὡς οἱ γάλλοι. ᾽Αεὶ γὰρ ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς τελεταῖς κισσῷ ἐστεφανοῦντο. But there seems to be some confusion here between the rites of Dionysus and those of Attis; ivy was certainly sacred to Dionysus (Pausanias, i. 31. 6 with my note). Compare C. A. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_ (Königsberg, 1829), i. 657, who, in the passage quoted, rightly defends the readings κατέστιχθαι and ἐστεφανοῦντο.

_ 824 Encyclopaedia Britannica_,9 xix. 105. Compare Athenaeus, ii. 49, p. 57. The nuts of the silver-pine (_Pinus edulis_) are a favourite food of the Californian Indians (S. Powers, _Tribes of California_ (Washington, 1877), p. 421); the Wintun Indians hold a pine-nut dance when the nuts are fit to be gathered (_ib._ p. 237). The Shuswap Indians of British Columbia collect the cones of various sorts of pines and eat the nutlets which they extract from them. See G. M. Dawson, “Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia,” _Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada_, ix. (Montreal, 1892) Transactions, section ii. p. 22. With regard to the Araucanian Indians of South America we read that “the great staple food, the base of all their subsistence, save among the coast tribes, was the _piñon_, the fruit of the Araucanian pine (_Araucaria imbricata_). Every year during the autumn months excursions are made by the whole tribe to the pine forests, where they remain until they have collected sufficient for the following year. Each tribe has its own district, inherited by custom from generation to generation and inviolate, by unwritten law, from other tribes, even in time of warfare. This harvest was formerly of such supreme importance, that all inter-tribal quarrels and warfares were suspended by mutual accord during this period.” See R. E. Latcham, “Ethnology of the Araucanos,” _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xxxix. (1909) p. 341. The Gilyaks of the Amoor valley in like manner eat the nutlets of the Siberian stone-pine (L. von Schrenk, _Die Völker des Amur-Landes_, iii. 440). See also the commentators on Herodotus, iv. 109 φθειροτραγέουσι.

825 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xiv. 103.

826 Strabo, x. 3. 12 _sqq._, pp. 469 _sqq._ However, tipsy people were excluded from the sanctuary of Attis (Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 6).

827 Scholiast on Lucian, _Dial. Meretr._ ii. 1, p. 276 ed. H. Rabe (Leipsic, 1906).

M207 Attis as a corn-god. Cybele as a goddess of fertility. The bathing of her image either a rain-charm or a marriage-rite.

828 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 8 and 9, pp. 162, 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 3; Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33. Others identified him with the spring flowers. See Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelii_, iii. 11. 8 and 12, iii. 13. 10 ed. F. A. Heinichen (Leipsic, 1842-1843); Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vii. 25.

829 W. Helbig, _Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom_2 (Leipsic, 1899), i. 481, No. 721.

830 The urn is in the Lateran Museum at Rome (No. 1046). It is not described by W. Helbig in his _Führer_.2 The inscription on the urn (_M. Modius Maxximus archigallus coloniae Ostiens_) is published by H. Dessau (_Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, No. 4162), who does not notice the curious and interesting composition of the cock’s tail. The bird is chosen as an emblem of the priest with a punning reference to the word _gallus_, which in Latin means a cock as well as a priest of Attis.

831 Gregory of Tours, _De gloria confessorum_, 77 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, lxxi. 884). That the goddess here referred to was Cybele and not a native Gallic deity, as I formerly thought (_Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship_, p. 178), seems proved by the “Passion of St. Symphorian,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, v. 1463, 1466). Gregory and the author of the “Passion of St. Symphorian” call the goddess simply Berecynthia, the latter writer adding “the Mother of the Demons,” which is plainly a Christian version of the title “Mother of the Gods.”

832 Above, p. 265. In the island of Thera an ox, wheat, barley, wine, and “other first-fruits of all that the seasons produce” were offered to the Mother of the Gods, plainly because she was deemed the source of fertility. See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 vol. ii. p. 426, No. 630.

833 H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 215-217; compare _id._ p. 175 note 7.

834 Ptolemaeus, _Nov. Hist._ i. p. 183 of A. Westermann’s _Mythographi Graeci_ (Brunswick, 1843).

835 Pausanias, viii. 25. 5 _sq._

836 Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ xii. 30. The place was in Mesopotamia, and the goddess was probably Astarte. So Lucian (_De dea Syria_) calls the Astarte of Hierapolis “the Assyrian Hera.”

837 Pausanias, ii. 38. 2.

838 Julian, _Orat._ v. 173 _sqq._ (pp. 225 _sqq._ ed. F. C. Hertlein); H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 155-157. However, apples, pomegranates, and dates were also forbidden. The story that the mother of Attis conceived him through contact with a pomegranate (above, pp. 263, 269) might explain the prohibition of that fruit. But the reasons for tabooing apples and dates are not apparent, though Julian tried to discover them. He suggested that dates may have been forbidden because the date-palm does not grow in Phrygia, the native land of Cybele and Attis.

M208 The name Attis seems to mean “father.”

839 P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_ (Göttingen, 1896), p. 355.

840 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58. 4; Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, i. 9, p. 168 ed. Duncker and Schneidewin. A Latin dedication to _Atte Papa_ has been found at Aquileia (F. Cumont, in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, ii. 2180, _s.v._ “Attepata” H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 86). Greek dedications to Papas or to Zeus Papas occur in Phrygia (H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 78 _sq._). Compare A. B. Cook, “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” _Classical Review_, xviii. (1904) p. 79.

841 Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 6 and 13.

842 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_2 (London, 1873), i. 223.

M209 Relation of Attis to the Mother Goddess. Attis as a Sky-god or Heavenly Father. Stories of the emasculation of the Sky-god.

843 Rapp, _s.v._ “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1648.

844 She is called a “motherless virgin” by Julian (_Or._ v. 166 B, p. 215 ed. F. C. Hertlein), and there was a _Parthenon_ or virgin’s chamber in her sanctuary at Cyzicus (Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, p. 404, No. 538). Compare Rapp, in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1648; Wagner, _s.v._ “Nana,” _ibid._ iii. 4 _sq._ Another great goddess of fertility who was conceived as a Virgin Mother was the Egyptian Neith or Net. She is called “the Great Goddess, the Mother of All the Gods,” and was believed to have brought forth Ra, the Sun, without the help of a male partner. See C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion im Altertum_, i. 111; E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_ (London, 1904), i. 457-462. The latter writer says (p. 462): “In very early times Net was the personification of the eternal female principle of life which was self-sustaining and self-existent, and was secret and unknown, and all-pervading; the more material thinkers, whilst admitting that she brought forth her son Rā without the aid of a husband, were unable to divorce from their minds the idea that a male germ was necessary for its production, and finding it impossible to derive it from a being external to the goddess, assumed that she herself provided not only the substance which was to form the body of Rā but also the male germ which fecundated it. Thus Net was the type of partheno-genesis.”

845 Quoted by Eustathius on Homer, _Il._ v. 408; _Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum_, ed. C. Müller, iii. 592, Frag. 30.

846 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 i. 321 _sqq._, ii. 270 _sqq._ For example, the Ewe people of Togo-land, in West Africa, think that the Earth is the wife of the Sky, and that their marriage takes place in the rainy season, when the rain causes the seeds to sprout and bear fruit. These fruits they regard as the children of Mother Earth, who in their opinion is the mother also of men and of gods. See J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 464, 548. In the regions of the Senegal and the Niger it is believed that the Sky-god and the Earth-goddess are the parents of the principal spirits who dispense life and death, weal and woe, among mankind. The eldest son of Sky and Earth is represented in very various forms, sometimes as a hermaphrodite, sometimes in semi-animal shape, with the head of a bull, a crocodile, a fish, or a serpent. His name varies in the different tribes, but the outward form of his ceremonies is everywhere similar. His rites, which are to some extent veiled in mystery, are forbidden to women. See Maurice Delafosse, _Haut-Sénégal-Niger_ (Paris, 1912), iii. 173-175.

847 Hesiod, _Theogony_, 159 _sqq._

848 Porphyry, _De antro nympharum_, 16; Aristides, _Or._ iii. (vol. i. p. 35 ed. G. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1829); Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, _Argon._ iv. 983.

849 A. Lang, _Custom and Myth_ (London, 1884), pp. 45 _sqq._; _id._, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_ (London, 1887), i. 299 _sqq._ In Egyptian mythology the separation of heaven and earth was ascribed to Shu, the god of light, who insinuated himself between the bodies of Seb (Keb) the earth-god and of Nut the sky-goddess. On the monuments Shu is represented holding up the star-spangled body of Nut on his hands, while Seb reclines on the ground. See A. Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London, 1897), pp. 230 _sq._; E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_, ii. 90, 97 _sq._, 100, 105; A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 35 _sq._; C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion im Altertum_, i. 33 _sq._ Thus contrary to the usual mythical conception the Egyptians regarded the earth as male and the sky as female. An allusion in the _Book of the Dead_ (ch. 69, vol. ii. p. 235, E. A. Wallis Budge’s translation, London, 1901) has been interpreted as a hint that Osiris mutilated his father Seb at the separation of earth and heaven, just as Cronus mutilated his father Uranus. See H. Brugsch, _Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter_ (Leipsic, 1885-1888), p. 581; E. A. Wallis Budge, _op. cit._ ii. 99 _sq._ Sometimes the Egyptians conceived the sky as a great cow standing with its legs on the earth. See A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_,2 pp. 7, 8.

850 Compare _The Dying God_, pp. 105 _sqq._

851 Julian, _Or._ v. pp. 165 B, 170 D (pp. 214, 221, ed. F. C. Hertlein); Sallustius philosophus, “De diis et mundo,” iv. _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, ed. F. G. A. Mullach, iii. 33.

852 Drexler, _s.v._ “Men,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 2745; H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 120, note 8.

853 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. pp. 145 _sq._, Nos. 4146-4149; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 82, 86 _sq._, 89 _sq._ As to Men Tyrannus, see Drexler, _s.v._ “Men,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Myth._ ii. 2687 _sqq._

854 On the other hand Sir W. M. Ramsay holds that Attis and Men are deities of similar character and origin, but differentiated from each other by development in different surroundings (_Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia_, i. 169); but he denies that Men was a moon-god (_op. cit._ i. 104, note 4).

M210 The high priest of Attis bore the god’s name and seems to have personated him. The drawing of the high priest’s blood may have been a substitute for putting him to death in the character of the god. The name of Attis in the royal families of Phrygia and Lydia. The Phrygian priests of Attis may have been members of the royal family.

855 In letters of Eumenes and Attalus, preserved in inscriptions at Sivrihissar, the priest at Pessinus is addressed as Attis. See A. von Domaszewski, “Briefe der Attaliden an den Priester von Pessinus,” _Archaeologische-epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich-Ungarn_, viii. (1884) pp. 96, 98; Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, pp. 57 _sq._ No. 45; W. Dittenberger, _Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae_ (Leipsic, 1903-1905), vol. i. pp. 482 _sqq._ No. 315. For more evidence of inscriptions see H. Hepding, _Attis_, p. 79; Rapp, _s.v._ “Attis,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 724. See also Polybius, xxii. 18 (20), (ed. L. Dindorf), who mentions a priest of the Mother of the Gods named Attis at Pessinus.

856 The conjecture is that of Henzen, in _Annal. d. Inst._ 1856, p. 110, referred to by Rapp, _l.c._

_ 857 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 75 _sq._; _The Dying God_, pp. 151 _sq._, 209.

858 Article “Phrygia,” in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th ed. xviii. (1885) p. 853. Elsewhere, speaking of the religions of Asia Minor in general, the same writer says: “The highest priests and priestesses played the parts of the great gods in the mystic ritual, wore their dress, and bore their names” (_Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia_, i. 101).

859 Strabo, xii. 5. 3, p. 567.

860 (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, “A Study of Phrygian Art,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) pp. 379 _sqq._; _id._, “A Study of Phrygian Art,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, x. (1889) pp. 156 _sqq._; G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, _Histoire de l’Art dans l’Antiquité_, v. 82 _sqq._

861 Herodotus, i. 94. According to Sir W. M. Ramsay, the conquering and ruling caste in Lydia belonged to the Phrygian stock (_Journal of Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) p. 351).

862 Herodotus, i. 34-45. The tradition that Croesus would allow no iron weapon to come near Atys suggests that a similar taboo may have been imposed on the Phrygian priests named Attis. For taboos of this sort see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 225 _sqq._

863 H. Stein on Herodotus, i. 43; Ed. Meyer, _s.v._ “Atys,” in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, ii. 2 col. 2262.

864 See above, pp. 13, 16 _sq._, 48 _sqq._

_ 865 The Dying God_, pp. 161 _sqq._

866 See (Sir) W. M. Ramsay, _s.v._ “Phrygia,” _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th ed. xviii. 849 _sq._; _id._, “A Study of Phrygian Art,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, ix. (1888) pp. 350 _sq._ Prof. P. Kretschmer holds that both Cybele and Attis were gods of the indigenous Asiatic population, not of the Phrygian invaders (_Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_, Göttingen, 1896, pp. 194 _sq._).

M211 The way in which the representatives of Attis were put to death is perhaps shown by the legend of Marsyas, who was hung on a pine-tree and flayed by Apollo.

867 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 58 _sq._ As to Marsyas in the character of a shepherd or herdsman see Hyginus, _Fab._ 165; Nonnus, _Dionys._ i. 41 _sqq._ He is called a Silenus by Pausanias (i. 24. 1).

868 Pausanias, x. 30. 9.

869 Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, i. 4. 2; Hyginus, _Fab._ 165. Many ancient writers mention that the tree on which Marsyas suffered death was a pine. See Apollodorus, _l.c._; Nicander, _Alexipharmaca_, 301 _sq._, with the Scholiast’s note; Lucian, _Tragodopodagra_, 314 _sq._; Archias Mitylenaeus, in _Anthologia Palatina_, vii. 696; Philostratus, Junior, _Imagines_, i. 3; Longus, _Pastor._ iv. 8; Zenobius, _Cent._ iv. 81; J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, i. 353 sqq. Pliny alone declares the tree to have been a plane, which according to him was still shown at Aulocrene on the way from Apamea to Phrygia (_Nat. Hist._ xvi. 240). On a candelabra in the Vatican the defeated Marsyas is represented hanging on a pine-tree (W. Helbig, _Führer_,2 i. 225 _sq._); but the monumental evidence is not consistent on this point (Jessen, _s.v._ “Marsyas,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 2442). The position which the pine held in the myth and ritual of Cybele supports the preponderance of ancient testimony in favour of that tree.

870 Herodotus, vii. 26; Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i. 2. 8; Livy, xxxviii. 13. 6; Quintus Curtius, iii. 1. 1-5; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ v. 106. Herodotus calls the river the Catarrhactes.

871 Aelian, _Var. Hist_. xiii. 21.

M212 Marsyas apparently a double of Attis. The hanging and spearing of Odin and his human victims on sacred trees. The hanging and spearing of human victims among the Bagobos.

872 Catullus, lxiii. 22; Lucretius, ii. 620; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 181 _sq._, 341; Polyaenus, _Stratagem._ viii. 53. 4. Flutes or pipes often appear on her monuments. See H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4100, 4143, 4145, 4152, 4153.

873 Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 9, p. 168, ed. Duncker and Schneidewin.

874 Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio insularum Aquilonis_, 27 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. 643).

875 S. Bugge, _Studien über die Entstehung der nördischen Götter- und Heldensagen_ (Munich, 1889), pp. 339 _sqq._; K. Simrock, _Die Edda_8 (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 382; K. Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_ (Berlin, 1870-1900), iv. 244 _sq._; H. M. Chadwick, _The Cult of Othin_ (London, 1899), pp. 3-20. The old English custom of hanging and disembowelling traitors was probably derived from a practice of thus sacrificing them to Odin; for among many races, including the Teutonic and Latin peoples, capital punishment appears to have been originally a religious rite, a sacrifice or consecration of the criminal to the god whom he had offended. See F. Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_ (Heilbronn, 1879), pp. 8 _sq._; K. von Amira, in H. Paul’s _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_,2 iii. (Strasburg, 1900) pp. 197 _sq._; G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_ (Oxford, 1883), i. 410; W. Golther, _Handbuch der germanischen Mythologie_ (Leipsic, 1895), pp. 548 _sq._; Th. Mommsen, _Roman History_, bk. i. ch. 12 (vol. i. p. 192, ed. 1868); _id._, _Römisches Strafrecht_ (Leipsic, 1899), pp. 900 _sqq._; F. Granger, _The Worship of the Romans_ (London, 1895), pp. 259 _sqq._; E. Westermarck, _The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, i. (London, 1906) pp. 439 _sq._ So, too, among barbarous peoples the slaughter of prisoners in war is often a sacrifice offered by the victors to the gods to whose aid they ascribe the victory. See A. B. Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_ (London, 1887), pp. 169 _sq._; W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_2 (London, 1832-1836), i. 289; Diodorus Siculus, xx. 65; Strabo, vii. 2. 3, p. 294; Caesar, _De bello Gallico_, vi. 17; Tacitus, _Annals_, i. 61, xiii. 57; Procopius, De bello Gothico, ii. 15. 24, ii. 25. 9; Jornandes, _Getica_, vi. 41; J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_4 (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 36 _sq._; Fr. Schwally, _Semitische Kriegsaltertümer_ (Leipsic, 1901), pp. 29 _sqq._

_ 876 Havamal_, 139 _sqq._ (K. Simrock, _Die Edda_,8 p. 55; K. Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. 270 _sq._).

877 Fay-Cooper Cole, _The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao_ (Chicago, 1913), pp. 114 _sqq._ (_Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 170_).

M213 The hanging of Artemis. The hanging of Helen. The hanging of animal victims.

878 Pausanias, viii. 23. 6 _sq._ The story, mentioned by Pausanias, that some children tied a rope round the neck of the image of Artemis was probably invented to explain a ritual practice of the same sort, as scholars have rightly perceived. See L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, i.4 305, note 2; L. R. Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_ (Oxford, 1896-1909), ii. 428 _sq._; M. P. Nilsson, _Griechische Feste_ (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 232 _sqq._ The Arcadian worship of the Hanged Artemis was noticed by Callimachus. See Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 38, p. 32, ed. Potter.

879 Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xii. 85, p. 1714; I. Bekker, _Anecdota Graeca_ (Berlin, 1814-1821), i. 336 _sq._, _s.v._ Ἄγαλμα Ἑκάτης. The goddess Hecate was sometimes identified with Artemis, though in origin probably she was quite distinct. See L. R. Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_, ii. 499 _sqq._

880 Antoninus Liberalis, _Transform._ xiii.

881 Pausanias, iii. 19. 9 _sq._

882 H. von Fritze, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,” _Jahrbuch des kaiser. deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts_, xviii. (1903) pp. 58-67. In the ritual of Eleusis the sacrificial oxen were sometimes lifted up by young men from the ground. See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 vol. ii. pp. 166 _sq._ No. 521 (ἤραντο δὲ καὶ τοῖς μυστηρίοις τοὺς βοῦς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τῇ θυσίαι, κτλ.); E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, _Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, ii. (Cambridge, 1905) pp. 176 _sq._, No. 65. In this inscription the word ἤραντο is differently interpreted by P. Stengel, who supposes that it refers merely to turning backwards and upwards the head of the victim. See P. Stengel, “Zum griechischen Opferritual,” _Jahrbuch des kaiser. deutsch. Archäologischen Instituts_, xviii. (1903) pp. 113-123. But it seems highly improbable that so trivial an act should be solemnly commemorated in an inscription among the exploits of the young men (_epheboi_) who performed it. On the other hand, we know that at Nysa the young men did lift and carry the sacrificial bull, and that the act was deemed worthy of commemoration on the coins. See above, p. 206. The Wajagga of East Africa dread the ghosts of suicides; so when a man has hanged himself they take the rope from his neck and hang a goat in the fatal noose, after which they slay the animal. This is supposed to appease the ghost and prevent him from tempting human beings to follow his bad example. See B. Gutmann, “Trauer und Begrabnissitten der Wadschagga,” _Globus_, lxxxix. (1906) p. 200.

883 See above, p. 146.

M214 Use of the skins of human victims to effect their resurrection.

_ 884 The Scapegoat_, pp. 294 _sqq._

885 Herodotus, iv. 71 _sq._

M215 Skins of men and horses stuffed and set up at graves. Some tribes of Borneo use the skulls of their enemies to ensure the fertility of the ground and of women, the abundance of game, and so forth.

886 Jean du Plan de Carpin, _Historia Mongalorum_, ed. D’Avezac (Paris, 1838), cap. iii. § iii.

_ 887 Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah, texte Arabe accompagné d’une traduction_, par C. Défrémery et B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1853-1858), iv. 300 _sq._ For more evidence of similar customs, observed by Turanian peoples, see K. Neumann, _Die Hellenen im Skythenlande_ (Berlin, 1855), pp. 237-239.

888 Captain R. Fitz-roy, _Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships __“__Adventure__”__ and __“__Beagle__”_ (London, 1839), ii. 155 _sq._

889 Herodotus, iv. 103. Many Scythians flayed their dead enemies, and, stretching the skin on a wooden framework, carried it about with them on horseback (Herodotus, iv. 64). The souls of the dead may have been thought to attend on and serve the man who thus bore their remains about with him. It is also possible that the custom was nothing more than a barbarous mode of wreaking vengeance on the dead. Thus a Persian king has been known to flay an enemy, stuff the skin with chaff, and hang it on a high tree (Procopius, _De bello Persico_, i. 5. 28). This was the treatment which the arch-heretic Manichaeus is said to have received at the hands of the Persian king whose son he failed to cure (Socrates, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, i. 22; Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, lxvii. 137, 139). Still such a punishment may have been suggested by a religious rite. The idea of crucifying their human victims appears to have been suggested to the negroes of Benin by the crucifixes of the early Portuguese missionaries. See H. Ling Roth, _Great Benin_ (Halifax, 1903), pp. 14 _sq._

890 W. H. Furness, _Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters_ (Philadelphia, 1902), p. 59. According to Messrs. Hose and McDougall, the spirits which animate the skulls appear not to be those of the persons from whose shoulders the heads were taken. However, the spirits (called _Toh_) reside in or about the heads, and “it is held that in some way their presence in the house brings prosperity to it, especially in the form of good crops; and so essential to the welfare of the house are the heads held to be that, if through fire a house has lost its heads and has no occasion for war, the people will beg a head, or even a fragment of one, from some friendly house, and will instal it in their own with the usual ceremonies.” See Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_ (London, 1912), ii. 20, 23.

891 Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_2 (London, 1863), i. 197.

892 Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 206 _sq._ In quoting this passage I have taken the liberty to correct a grammatical slip.

893 Spenser St. John, _op. cit._ i. 204. See further G. A. Wilken, “Iets over de schedelvereering,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, xxxviii. (1889) pp. 89-129; _id._, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iv. 37-81. A different view of the purpose of head-hunting is maintained by Mr. A. C. Kruyt, in his essay, “Het koppensnellen der Toradja’s van Midden-Celebes, en zijne Beteekenis,” _Verslagen en Mededeelingen der koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Vierde Reeks, iii. 2 (Amsterdam, 1899), pp. 147 _sqq._

The natives of Nias, an island to the west of Sumatra, think it necessary to obtain the heads of their enemies for the purpose of celebrating the final obsequies of a dead chief. Their notion seems to be that the ghost of the deceased ruler demands this sacrifice in his honour, and will punish the omission of it by sending sickness or other misfortunes on the survivors. Thus among these people the custom of head-hunting is based on their belief in human immortality and on their conception of the exacting demands which the dead make upon the living. When the skulls have been presented to a dead chief, the priest prays to him for his blessing on the sowing and harvesting of the rice, on the fruitfulness of women, and so forth. See C. Fries, “Das ‘Koppensnellen’ auf Nias,” _Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, February, 1908, pp. 73-88. From this account it would seem that it is not the spirits of the slain men, but the ghost of the dead chief from whom the blessings of fertility and so forth are supposed to emanate. Compare Th. C. Rappard, “Het eiland Nias en zijne bewoners,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, lxii. (1909) pp. 609-611.

M216 The stuffed skin of the human representative of the Phrygian god may have been used for like purposes.

_ 894 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 4-7.

_ 895 Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 169 _sqq._

M217 Popularity of the worship of Cybele and Attis in the Roman Empire.

896 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, Nos. 4099, 4100, 4103, 4105, 4106, 4116, 4117, 4119, 4120, 4121, 4123, 4124, 4127, 4128, 4131, 4136, 4139, 4140, 4142, 4156, 4163, 4167; H. Hepding, _Attis_, pp. 85, 86, 93, 94, 95, Inscr. Nos. 21-24, 26, 50, 51, 52, 61, 62, 63. See further, J. Toutain, _Les Cultes Païens dans l’Empire Romain_ (Paris, 1911), pp. 73 _sqq._, 103 _sqq._

897 S. Dill, _Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_2 (London, 1899), p. 16.

898 Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vii. 26.

899 But the two were publicly worshipped at Dyme and Patrae in Achaia (Pausanias, vii. 17. 9, vii. 20. 3), and there was an association for their worship at Piraeus. See P. Foucart, _Des Associations Religieuses chez les Grecs_ (Paris, 1873), pp. 85 _sqq._, 196; Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’Inscriptions Grecques_, p. 772, No. 982.

900 Rapp, _s.v._ “Kybele,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 1656.

901 As to the savage theory of inspiration or possession by a deity see (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 ii. 131 _sqq._ As to the savage theory of a new birth see _Balder the Beautiful_, ii. 251 _sqq._ As to the use of blood to wash away sins see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 107 _sqq._; _Psyche’s Task_, Second Edition, pp. 44 _sq._, 47 _sqq._, 116 _sq._ Among the Cameroon negroes accidental homicide can be expiated by the blood of an animal. The relations of the slayer and of the slain assemble. An animal is killed and every person present is smeared with its blood on his face and breast. They think that the guilt of manslaughter is thus atoned for, and that no punishment will overtake the homicide. See Missionary Autenrieth, “Zur Religion der Kamerun-Neger,” in _Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii. (1893) pp. 93 _sq._ In Car Nicobar a man possessed by devils is cleansed of them by being rubbed all over with pig’s blood and beaten with leaves. The devils are thus transferred to the leaves, which are thrown into the sea before daybreak. See V. Solomon, “Extracts from diaries kept in Car Nicobar,” in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 227. Similarly the ancient Greeks purified a homicide by means of pig’s blood and laurel leaves. See my note on Pausanias, ii. 31. 8 (vol. iii. pp. 276-279). The original idea of thus purging a manslayer was probably to rid him of the angry ghost of his victim, just as in Car Nicobar a man is rid of devils in the same manner. The purgative virtue ascribed to the blood in these ceremonies may be based on the notion that the offended spirit accepts it as a substitute for the blood of the guilty person. This was the view of C. Meiners (_Geschichte der Religionen_, Hanover, 1806-1807, ii. 137 _sq._) and of E. Rohde (_Psyche_,3 Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903, ii. 77 _sq._).

902 A good instance of such an attempt to dress up savagery in the garb of philosophy is the fifth speech of the emperor Julian, “On the Mother of the Gods” (pp. 206 _sqq._ ed. F. C. Hertlein, Leipsic, 1875-1876).

M218 The spread of Oriental faiths over the Roman Empire contributed to undermine the fabric of Greek and Roman civilization by inculcating the salvation of the individual soul as the supreme aim of life.

903 As to the diffusion of Oriental religions in the Roman Empire see G. Boissier, _La Religion Romaine d’Auguste aux Antonins_5 (Paris, 1900), i. 349 _sqq._; J. Reville, _La Religion à Rome sous les Sévères_ (Paris, 1886), pp. 47 _sqq._; S. Dill, _Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_2 (London, 1899), pp. 76 _sqq._

904 Compare Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ii. 604, vi. 661; Origen, _Contra Celsum_, viii. 73 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xi. 1628); G. Boissier, _La Religion Romaine d’Auguste aux Antonins_5 (Paris, 1900), i. 357 _sq._; E. Westermarck, _The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_ (London, 1906-1908), i. 345 _sq._; H. H. Milman, _History of Latin Christianity_,4 i. 150-153, ii. 90. In the passage just cited Origen tells us that the Christians refused to follow the Emperor to the field of battle even when he ordered them to do so; but he adds that they gave the emperor the benefit of their prayers and thus did him more real service than if they had fought for him with the sword. On the decline of the civic virtues under the influence of Christian asceticism see W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne_3 (London, 1877), ii. 139 _sqq._

905 To prevent misapprehension I will add that the spread of Oriental religions was only one of many causes which contributed to the downfall of ancient civilization. Among these contributory causes a friend, for whose judgment and learning I entertain the highest respect, counts bad government and a ruinous fiscal system, two of the most powerful agents to blast the prosperity of nations, as may be seen in our own day by the blight which has struck the Turkish empire. It is probable, too, as my friend thinks, that the rapid diffusion of alien faiths was as much an effect as a cause of widespread intellectual decay. Such unwholesome growths could hardly have fastened upon the Graeco-Roman mind in the days of its full vigour. We may remember the energy with which the Roman Government combated the first outbreak of the Bacchic plague (Th. Mommsen, _Roman History_, iii. 115 _sq._, ed. 1894). The disastrous effects of Roman financial oppression on the industries and population of the empire, particularly of Greece, are described by George Finlay (_Greece under the Romans_,2 Edinburgh and London, 1857, pp. 47 _sqq._).

M219 Popularity of the worship of Mithra; its resemblance to Christianity and its rivalry with that religion. The festival of Christmas borrowed by the Church from the religion of Mithra.

906 See Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments figurés relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra_ (Brussels, 1896-1899); _id._, _s.v._ “Mithras,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, ii. 3028 _sqq._ Compare _id._, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 207 _sqq._

907 Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments_, i. 333 _sqq._

908 E. Renan, _Marc-Aurèle et la Fin du Monde Antique_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 576 _sqq._; Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments_, i. 339 _sqq._

909 Tertullian, _De corona_, 15; _id._, _De praescriptione haereticorum_, 40; Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, i. 66; _id._, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 78 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, vi. 429, 660). Tertullian explained in like manner the resemblance of the fasts of Isis and Cybele to the fasts of Christianity (_De jejunio_, 16). Justin Martyr thought that by listening to the words of the inspired prophets the devils discovered the divine intentions and anticipated them by a series of profane and blasphemous imitations. Among these travesties of Christian truth he enumerates the death, resurrection, and ascension of Dionysus, the virgin birth of Perseus, and Bellerophon mounted on Pegasus, whom he regards as a parody of Christ riding on an ass. See Justin Martyr, _Apology_, i. 54.

910 J. de Acosta, _Natural and Moral History of the Indies_, translated by E. Grimston (London, 1880), bk. v. chs. 11, 16, 17, 18, 24-28, vol. ii. pp. 324 _sq._, 334 _sqq._, 356 _sqq._

911 Compare S. Dill, _Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_2 (London, 1899), pp. 80 _sqq._; _id._, _Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius_ (London, 1904), pp. 619 _sqq._

912 E. Renan, _Marc-Aurèle et la Fin du Monde Antique_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 579 _sq._; Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments_, i. 338.

913 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xviii. 221; Columella, _De re rustica_, ix. 14. 12; L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_ (Berlin, 1825-1826), ii. 124; G. F. Unger, in Iwan Müller’s _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i.1 (Nördlingen, 1886) p. 649.

914 In the calendar of Philocalus the twenty-fifth of December is marked _N. Invicti_, that is, _Natalis Solis Invicti_. See _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior (Berlin, 1893), p. 278, with Th. Mommsen’s commentary, pp. 338 _sq._

915 Cosmas Hierosolymitanus, _Commentarii in Sancti Gregorii Nazianzeni Carmina_ (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xxxviii. 464): ταύτην [Christmas] ἧγον ἔκπαλαι δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν ἑορτὴν Ἔλληνες, καθ᾽ ἤν ἐτελοῦντο κατὰ τὸ μεσονύκτιον, ἐν ἀδύτοις τισὶν ὑπεισερχόμενοι, ὄθεν ἐξιόντες ἔκραζον: “Ἡ παρθένος ἕτεκεν, αὔξει φῶς.” ταύτην Ἐπιφάνιος ὁ μέγας τῆς Κυπρίων ἱερεύς φησι τὴν ἑορτὴν καὶ Σαῤῥακηνούς ἄγειν τῇπαρ᾽ αὐτῶν σεβομένῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ, ἤν δὴ Χαμαρᾶ τῇ αὐτῶν προσαγορεύουσι γλώττῃ. The passage is quoted, with some verbal variations, by Ch. Aug. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_ (Königsberg, 1829), ii. 1227 note 2. See Franz Cumont, “Le Natalis Invicti,” _Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1911_ (Paris, 1911), pp. 292-298, whose learned elucidations I follow in the text. That the festival of the Nativity of the Sun was similarly celebrated in Egypt may be inferred from a Greek calendar drawn up by the astrologer Antiochus in Lower Egypt at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century A.D.; for under the 25th December the calendar has the entry, “Birthday of the Sun, the light waxes” (Ἡλίου γενέθλιον; αὔξει φῶς). See F. Cumont, _op. cit._ p. 294.

916 Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i. 18. 10.

917 F. Cumont, _s.v._ “Caelestis,” in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, v. i. 1247 _sqq._ She was called the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah vii. 18, xliv. 18), the Heavenly Goddess (Herodotus, iii. 8; Pausanias, i. 14. 7), or the Heavenly Virgin (Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 23; Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, ii. 4). The Greeks spoke of her as the Heavenly Aphrodite (Herodotus, i. 105; Pausanias, i. 14. 7). A Greek inscription found in Delos contains a dedication to Astarte Aphrodite; and another found in the same island couples Palestinian Astarte and Heavenly Aphrodite. See G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecorum_,2 vol. ii. pp. 619 _sq._, No. 764; R. A. Stewart Macalister, _The Philistines, their History and Civilization_ (London, 1913), p. 94.

918 Dedications to Mithra the Unconquered Sun (_Soli invicto Mithrae_) have been found in abundance. See Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments_, ii. 99 _sqq._ As to the worship of the Unconquered Sun (_Sol Invictus_) see H. Usener, _Das Weihnachtsfest_2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 348 _sqq._

919 Fr. Cumont, _op. cit._ i. 325 _sq._, 339.

920 J. Bingham, _The Antiquities of the Christian Church_, bk. xx. ch. iv. (Bingham’s _Works_, vol. vii. pp. 279 _sqq._, Oxford, 1855); C. A. Credner, “De natalitiorum Christi origine,” _Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie_, iii. 2 (1833), pp. 236 _sqq._; Mgr. L. Duchesne, _Origines du Culte Chrétien_3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 257 _sqq._; Th. Mommsen, in _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior, p. 338. The earliest mention of the festival of Christmas is in the calendar of Philocalus, which was drawn up at Rome in 336 A.D. The words are _VIII. kal. jan._, _natus Christus in Betleem Judee_ (L. Duchesne, _op. cit._ p. 258).

M220 Motives for the institution of Christmas.

921 Quoted by C. A. Credner, _op. cit._ p. 239, note 46; by Th. Mommsen, _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior, pp. 338 _sq._; and by H. Usener, _Das Weihnachtsfest_2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 349 _sq._

922 Augustine, _Serm._ cxc. 1 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xxxviii. 1007).

923 Leo the Great, _Serm._ xxii. (_al._ xxi.) 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, liv. 198). Compare St. Ambrose, _Serm._ vi. 1 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xvii. 614).

M221 The Easter celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ appears to have been assimilated to the celebration of the death and resurrection of Attis, which was held at Rome at the same season. Heathen festivals displaced by Christian.

924 A. Credner, _op. cit._ pp. 236 _sqq._; E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 ii. 297 _sq._; Fr. Cumont, _Textes et Monuments_, i. 342, 355 _sq._; Th. Mommsen, in _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, i.2 Pars prior, pp. 338 _sq._; H. Usener, _Das Weihnachtsfest_2 (Bonn, 1911), pp. 348 _sqq._ A different explanation of Christmas has been put forward by Mgr. Duchesne. He shows that among the early Christians the death of Christ was commonly supposed to have fallen on the twenty-fifth of March, that day having been “chosen arbitrarily, or rather suggested by its coincidence with the official equinox of spring.” It would be natural to assume that Christ had lived an exact number of years on earth, and therefore that his incarnation as well as his death took place on the twenty-fifth of March. In point of fact the Church has placed the Annunciation and with it the beginning of his mother’s pregnancy on that very day. If that were so, his birth would in the course of nature have occurred nine months later, that is, on the twenty-fifth of December. Thus on Mgr. Duchesne’s theory the date of the Nativity was obtained by inference from the date of the Crucifixion, which in its turn was chosen because it coincided with the official equinox of spring. Mgr. Duchesne does not notice the coincidence of the vernal equinox with the festival of Attis. See his work, _Origines du Culte Chrétien_3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 261-265, 272. The tradition that both the conception and the death of Christ fell on the twenty-fifth of March is mentioned and apparently accepted by Augustine (_De Trinitate_, iv. 9, Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xlii. 894).

925 See above, pp. 253 _sqq._

926 However, the lament for Adonis is mentioned by Ovid (_Ars Amat._ i. 75 _sq._) along with the Jewish observance of the Sabbath.

927 See above, pp. 268 _sqq._

928 Columella, _De re rustica_, ix. 14. 1; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xviii. 246; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 21. 10; L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, ii. 124.

929 Mgr. L. Duchesne, _Origines du Culte Chrétien_,3 pp. 262 _sq._ That Christ was crucified on the twenty-fifth of March in the year 29 is expressly affirmed by Tertullian (_Adversus Judaeos_, 8, vol. ii. p. 719, ed. F. Oehler), Hippolytus (_Commentary on Daniel_, iv. 23, vol. i. p. 242, ed. Bonwetsch and Achelis), and Augustine (_De civitate Dei_, xviii. 54; _id._, _De Trinitate_, iv. 9). See also _Thesaurus Linguae Latinae_, iv. (Leipsic, 1906- 1909) col. 1222, _s.v._ “Crucimissio”: “_POL. SILV.__ fast. Mart 25 aequinoctium. principium veris. crucimissio gentilium. Christus passus hoc die._” From this last testimony we learn that there was a gentile as well as a Christian crucifixion at the spring equinox. The gentile crucifixion was probably the affixing of the effigy of Attis to the tree, though at Rome that ceremony appears to have taken place on the twenty-second rather than on the twenty-fifth of March. See above, p. 267. The Quartodecimans of Phrygia celebrated the twenty-fifth of March as the day of Christ’s death, quoting as their authority certain acts of Pilate; in Cappadocia the adherents of this sect were divided between the twenty-fifth of March and the fourteenth of the moon. See Epiphanius, _Adversus Haeres._ l. 1 (vol. ii. p. 447, ed. G. Dindorf; Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xli. 884 _sq._). In Gaul the death and resurrection of Christ were regularly celebrated on the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh of March as late as the sixth century. See Gregory of Tours, _Historia Francorum_, viii. 31. 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, lxxi. 566); S. Martinus Dumiensis (bishop of Braga), _De Pascha_, 1 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, lxxii. 50), who says: “_A plerisque Gallicanis episcopis usque ante non multum tempus custoditum est, ut semper VIII. Kal. April. diem Paschae celebrent, in quo facta Christi resurrectio traditur._” According to this last testimony, it was the resurrection, not the crucifixion, of Christ that was celebrated on the twenty-fifth of March; but Mgr. Duchesne attributes the statement to a mistake of the writer. With regard to the Roman practice the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh of March are marked in ancient Martyrologies as the dates of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. See _Vetustius Occidentalis Ecclesiae Martyrologium_, ed. Franciscus Maria Florentinus (Lucca, 1667), pp. 396 _sq._, 405 _sq._ On this subject Mgr. Duchesne observes: “Hippolytus, in his Paschal Table, marks the Passion of Christ in a year in which the fourteenth of Nisan falls on Friday twenty-fifth March. In his commentary on Daniel he expressly indicates Friday the twenty-fifth of March and the consulship of the two Gemini. The Philocalien Catalogue of the Popes gives the same date as to day and year. It is to be noted that the cycle of Hippolytus and the Philocalien Catalogue are derived from official documents, and may be cited as evidence of the Roman ecclesiastical usage” (_Origines du Culte Chrétien_,3 p. 262).

930 Mgr. L. Duchesne, _op. cit._ p. 263.

931 Mgr. L. Duchesne, _l.c._ A sect of the Montanists held that the world began and that the sun and moon were created at the spring equinox, which, however, they dated on the twenty-fourth of March (Sozomenus, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, vii. 18). At Henen-Su in Egypt there was celebrated a festival of the “hanging out of the heavens,” that is, the supposed reconstituting of the heavens each year in the spring (E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_, ii. 63). But the Egyptians thought that the creation of the world took place at the rising of Sirius (Porphyry, _De antro nympharum_, 24; Solinus, xxxii. 13), which in antiquity fell on the twentieth of July (L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 127 _sqq._).

932 See above, pp. 263, 281 _sqq._

_ 933 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 324 _sqq._

934 Above, pp. 246 _sqq._

_ 935 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 14 _sqq._

936 See below, vol. ii. pp. 81 _sqq._

937 Above, pp. 302 _sqq._

938 Another instance of the substitution of a Christian for a pagan festival may be mentioned. On the first of August the people of Alexandria used to commemorate the defeat of Mark Antony by Augustus and the entrance of the victor into their city. The heathen pomp of the festival offended Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the Younger, and she decreed that on that day the Alexandrians should thenceforth celebrate the deliverance of St. Peter from prison instead of the deliverance of their city from the yoke of Antony and Cleopatra. See L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 154.

M222 Coincidence between the pagan and the Christian festivals of the divine death and resurrection.

939 Lactantius, _De mortibus persecutorum_, 2; _id._, _Divin. Institut._ iv. 10. 18. As to the evidence of the Gallic usage see S. Martinus Dumiensis, quoted above, p. 307 note.

M223 Different theories by which pagans and Christians explained the coincidence.

940 The passage occurs in the 84th of the _Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti_ (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, xxxv. 2279), which are printed in the works of Augustine, though internal evidence is said to shew that they cannot be by that Father, and that they were written three hundred years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The writer’s words are as follows: “_Diabolus autem, qui est satanas, ut fallaciae suae auctoritatem aliquam possit adhibere, et mendacia sua commentitia veritate colorare, primo mense quo sacramenta dominica scit celebranda, quia non mediocris potentiae est, Paganis quae observarent instituit mysteria, ut animas eorum duabus ex causis in errore detineret: ut quia praevenit veritatem fallacia, melius quiddam fallacia videretur, quasi antiquitate praejudicans veritati. Et quia in primo mense, in quo aequinoctium habent Romani, sicut et nos, ea ipsa observatio ab his custoditur; ita etiam per sanguinem dicant expiationem fieri, sicut et nos per crucem: hac versutia Paganos detinet in errore, ut putent veritatem nostram imitationem potius videri quam veritatem, quasi per aemulationem superstitione quadam inventam. Nec enim verum potest, inquiunt, aestimari quod postea est inventum. Sed quia apud nos pro certo veritas est, et ab initio haec est, virtutum atque prodigiorum signa perhibent testimonium, ut, teste virtute, diaboli improbitas innotescat._” I have to thank my learned friend Professor Franz Cumont for pointing out this passage to me. He had previously indicated and discussed it (“La Polémique de l’Ambrosiaster contre les Païens,” _Revue d’Histoire et de Littérature religieuses_, viii. (1903) pp. 419 _sqq._). Though the name of Attis is not mentioned in the passage, I agree with Prof. Cumont in holding that the bloody expiatory rites at the spring equinox, to which the writer refers, can only be those of the Day of Blood which formed part of the great aequinoctial festival of Attis. Compare F. Cumont, _Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain_2 (Paris, 1909), pp. 106 _sq._, 333 _sq._

M224 Compromise of Christianity with paganism. Parallel with Buddhism.

941 On the decadence of Buddhism and its gradual assimilation to those popular Oriental superstitions against which it was at first directed, see Monier Williams, _Buddhism_2 (London, 1890), pp. 147 _sqq._

942 The historical reality both of Buddha and of Christ has sometimes been doubted or denied. It would be just as reasonable to question the historical existence of Alexander the Great and Charlemagne on account of the legends which have gathered round them. The great religious movements which have stirred humanity to its depths and altered the beliefs of nations spring ultimately from the conscious and deliberate efforts of extraordinary minds, not from the blind unconscious co-operation of the multitude. The attempt to explain history without the influence of great men may flatter the vanity of the vulgar, but it will find no favour with the philosophic historian.

M225 The Greek Hyacinth interpreted as the vegetation which blooms and withers away.

943 G. F. Schömann, _Griechische Alterthümer_4 (Berlin, 1897-1902), ii. 473; L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, i.4 (Berlin, 1894) pp. 248 _sq._; Greve, _s.v._ “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 2763 _sq._ Other views of Hyacinth have been expressed by G. F. Welcker (_Griechische Götterlehre_, Göttingen, 1857-1862, i. 472), G. F. Unger (“Der Isthmientag und die Hyakinthien,” _Philologus_, xxxvii. (1877) pp. 20 _sqq._), E. Rohde (_Psyche_,3 i. 137 _sqq._) and S. Wide (_Lakonische Kulte_, Leipsic, 1893, p. 290).

944 Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, i. 3. 3, iii. 10. 3; Nicander, _Ther._ 901 _sqq._, with the Scholiast’s note; Lucian, _De saltatione_, 45; Pausanias, iii. 1. 3, iii. 19. 5; J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, i. 241 _sqq._; Ovid, _Metam._ x. 161-219; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxi. 66.

945 Theophrastus, _Histor. Plant._ vi. 8. 1 _sq._ That the hyacinth was a spring flower is plainly indicated also by Philostratus (_Imag._ i. 23. 1) and Ovid (_Metam._ x. 162-166). See further Greve, _s.v._ “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 2764; J. Murr, _Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie_ (Innsbruck, 1890), pp. 257 _sqq._; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde_ (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 383 _sq._ Miss J. E. Harrison was so kind as to present me with two specimens of the flower (_Delphinium Ajacis_) on which the woful letters were plainly visible. A flower similarly marked, of a colour between white and red, was associated with the death of Ajax (Pausanias, i. 35. 4). But usually the two flowers were thought to be the same (Ovid, _Metam._ xiii. 394 _sqq._; Scholiast on Theocritus, x. 28; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxi. 66; Eustathius on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 557, p. 285).

946 Xenophon, _Hellenica_, iv. 5. 7-17; Pausanias, iii. 10. 1.

M226 The tomb and the festival of Hyacinth at Amyclae.

947 Pausanias, iii. 1. 3, iii. 19. 1-5.

948 Hesychius, _s.v._ Ἑκατομβεύς; G. F. Unger in _Philologus_, xxxvii. (1877) pp. 13-33; Greve, _s.v._ “Hyakinthos,” in W. H. Roscher’s _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 2762; W. Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_,3 i. 339. From Xenophon (_Hellenica_, iv. 5) we learn that in 390 B.C. the Hyacinthian followed soon after the Isthmian festival, which that year fell in spring. Others, however, identifying Hecatombeus with the Attic month Hecatombaeon, would place the Hyacinthia in July (K. O. Müller, _Dorier_,2 Breslau, 1844, i. 358). In Rhodes, Cos, and other Greek states there was a month called Hyacinthius, which probably took its name from the Hyacinthian festival. The month is thought to correspond to the Athenian Scirophorion and therefore to June. See E. Bischof, “De fastis Graecorum antiquioribus,” _Leipziger Studien für classische Philologie_, vii. (1884) pp. 369 _sq._, 381, 384, 410, 414 _sq._; G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 vol. i. pp. 396, 607, Nos. 614, note 3, 744, note 1. If this latter identification of the month is correct, it would furnish an argument for dating the Spartan festival of Hyacinth in June also. The question is too intricate to be discussed here.

949 Athenaeus, iv. 17, pp. 139 _sq._ Strabo speaks (vi. 3. 2, p. 278) of a contest at the Hyacinthian festival. It may have been the chariot races mentioned by Athenaeus.

950 Hesychius, _s.v._ Πολύβοια.

M227 Hyacinth an aboriginal god, perhaps a king, who was worshipped in Laconia before the invasion of the Dorians. His sister Polyboea may perhaps have been his spouse.

951 E. Rohde, _Psyche_,3 i. 137 _sqq._

952 Pausanias, iii. 19. 3. The Greek word here used for sacrifice (ἐναγίζειν) properly denotes sacrifices offered to the heroic or worshipful dead; another word (θύειν) was employed for sacrifices offered to gods. The two terms are distinguished by Pausanias here and elsewhere (ii. 10. 1, ii. 11. 7). Compare Herodotus, ii. 44. Sacrifices to the worshipful dead were often annual. See Pausanias, iii. 1. 8, vii. 19. 10, vii. 20. 9, viii. 14. 11, viii. 41. 1, ix. 38. 5, x. 24. 6. It has been observed by E. Rehde (_Psyche_,3 i. 139, note 2) that sacrifices were frequently offered to a hero before a god, and he suggests with much probability that in these cases the worship of the hero was older than that of the deity.

953 Pausanias, iii. 19. 14.

954 See above, p. 44; and below, vol. ii. pp. 213 _sqq._