of the camels. Compare Selden, de Diis Syris, Syntagma, II. p. 291.

§. 409. OF TAMMUZ AND ADONIS.

In the course of time, various fables were invented relative to the sun and moon in their character of deities, one of which was the story of Adonis. The name of Adonis, 7, i. e. my lord, is in itself an intimation that the sun is implied by it. The stories concerning him, although not always consistent, agree in this, that he was an object of love to Venus, Astarte, or the moon; that he was afterwards slain by a boar, and that he was at length permitted to spend his time alternately and at equal intervals, as a shade in the realms of Proserpine, and in his original form on the earth. (Compare the large German edition of this work, part iii. §. 133.)

The Egyptians had a fable, that their god Osiris was shut up in a box by Typhon and thrown into the Nile; that he was found by Isis at Byblos in Syria; was finally slain by Typhon, his body cut into pieces, and his limbs scattered in every direction. Isis, however, collected his limbs together and buried them, These stories respecting Osiris and Adonis, although quite dissimilar, were at last connected together. For in Syria the women celebrated the anniversary of Adonis's death with violent expressions of grief; and the Egyptian women honoured that of Osiris in a similar manner. In both cases the period of mourning was followed by a festival of joy; in Syria for Adonis returning to life, and in Egypt for the limbs of the dismembered Osiris having been collected and buried. The Egyptians had a curious custom, on this occasion, of writing an epistle, enclosing it in a box of the papyrus, and throwing it into the sea. The enclosed epistle, it was said, was wafted by water to Byblos, and although it related to the discovery and burial of the limbs of Osiris, yet the inhabitants of Byblos interpreted it as allusive to the restoration of Adonis to life.

In Syria this festival was held in the month Tammuz, or July, at which time the river named Adonis, having overflowed its banks, and contracted a red colour from the earth, was thought to be tinged with the blood of Adonis, and then the grief of the women began. When this colour in the water was no longer perceptible,

the return of Adonis to life was announced, and sorrow was converted into joy. The women, when they mourned for Adonis, were expected to shave their heads; in failure of which they were bound to prostitute themselves to some stranger, and pay the price to the temple of Venus. This is the festival which is spoken of in Ezekiel, viii. 14, for Adonis in Syriac is called Tammuz.

§. 410. MOLOC, MOLEC, MALCOM, MILCOM.

Planets were worshipped under the name nib; for we find them, in 2 Kings, xxiii. 5, spoken of in connection with the sun and moon; and the horses and chariots which were assigned to the sun by the Mehestani; so that there is no doubt that the seven planets are meant, which in the Zend-Avesta, part iii. Dun-Dehesh, §. 5. p. 66, are represented as being stationed for guards or watches.

Of these planets, Saturn, more than any others, was made an object of worship; with regard to whom a mythological story was prevalent, that he devoured his own offspring; a circumstance of which indeed we have an intimation in the custom of offering children to him in sacrifice, which existed among the Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Carthaginians, by whom he was known under the various names of Moloc, Molec, Malcom, and Milcom, Eusebius, Præp. Evang. IV. c. 16.

This monster of a deity was represented by a statue of brass, with arms extended, but declining towards the earth. The children to be offered to the god were placed upon his arms, and as their declination was considerable the victims readily rolled from them into a furnace placed below, and glowing with fire, Diodorus Siculus, XX. 14. The offering up of children in this manner was very early forbidden by Moses; but they were sacrificed after his time by Ahaz and Manasseh, notwithstanding his injunctions on the subject.

The word, to cause to pass through, and the phrase , to cause to pass through the fire, are used in relation to human sacrifices in Deut. xii. 31; xviii. 10; 2 Kings, xvi. 3; xxi. 6; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; xxxiii. 6. These words are not to be considered as meaning literally to pass through, and that alone. They are rather synonymous with, to burn,

and, to immolate, with which they are interchanged, as may be seen by an examination of Ps. cvi. 38; Jer. vii. 31; xix. 5; Ezek. xvi. 20, 21.

In the later periods of the Jewish kingdom this idol was

בִּי בֶן הַכֹּם or כִּי הַיּוֹם .erected in the valley south of Jerusalem, viz

in the valley of Hinnom, and in that part of the valley called Tophet,, so named from the drums, n, p, which were beaten to prevent the groans and cries of children sacrificed from being heard, 2 Kings, xxiii. 10; Is. xxx. 33; Jer. vii. 31, 32; xix. 6—14. The place was so abhorrent to the more recent Jews, that they applied the name Ge Hinnom or Gehenna, to the place of torments in a future life. The word Gehenna is very frequently used in this sense by oriental writers as far as India. Compare Wetstein's New Testament at Matt. v. 22.

§. 411. CONCERNING Chiun and Remphan.

The god CHIUN, 1, whose small tabernacles (probably resembling the small shrines of Diana mentioned Acts, xix. 24.) were carried secretly by the Hebrews in their journey through the Arabian wilderness, (Amos, v. 26.) is the same with Saturn. As a confirmation of this we observe that the Arabic and Persian word for Saturn means just; the Syriac is 7; the Chaldaic, 17, the meaning of both of which is also just. And it is well known the reign of Saturn was celebrated for the exercise of justice.

The Alexandrine interpreter has rendered the Hebrew word Chiun by the word Ρεμφαν, Ρεφαν, Ραιφαν, which, in the Coptic dialect, is the name for Saturn, Della Valle's Travels, part i. p. 125. The prophet Amos calls this god both a star and a king ; as, in fact, Saturn was both a planet and the king or idol-deity, otherwise called MOLEC, MOLOC, MILCOM, and MALCOM. This double character of Saturn, as a star in heaven and a monarch on earth, appears to be recognised in the Hebrew words

and

, Annamelech and Adrammelech, (2 Kings, xvii. 31,) for both of the deities thus named were worshipped by the offering up of human sacrifices.

The Egyptians consecrated the seventh day of the week to Saturn; hence Saturn is denominated by the Jews, ', 'NAZW. A Caaba is said to have been formerly consecrated to him at Mecca, Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 140.

That Teraphim were images sculptured in imitation of the human form, is evident from 1 Sam. xix. 13; and that they were household gods is clear also from Gen. xxxi. 19, 34, 35; 1 Sam. xix. 13–17; 2 Kings, xxiii. 24. It appears from Ezekiel (chap. xxi. 21.) that responses were sought from them, the same as from oracles. Compare Zech. x. 2; Judg. xvii. 5; xviii. 5, 6, 14-20; Hosea, iii. 4. This is confirmed by 1 Sam. xv. 23, where Teraphim are spoken of in connection with the arts of divination. The etymology of the word coincides with the above statement, for

according to Bar Bahlul, means an inquirer, one who asks. The name of this idol, when we consider that it was first brought from Mesopotamia, Gen. xxxi. 19, is derived more naturally from τρυφάω,

, a Syriac word, than from the Arabic, Greek τpupáw, which is the derivation proposed by Michaelis, who would make the Teraphim the same as the Sileni.

He rests his hypothesis chiefly on Lev. xvii. 7. The word , hairy, which is there used, he supposes is not to be rendered goats, which in other places are denominated Yip, but SILENI, i. e. apes or satyrs, and for this reason more especially, that the Hebrews, as is evident from other sources, would not have sacrificed he-goats to she-goats. But granting that the word in question should be rendered in the way he proposes, still its identity with Teraphim is by no means certain. On the contrary, it is evident,

I. That in the district of Mendusium in Egypt, both she-goats and he-goats were considered sacred; and that a certain species of the he-goat was worshipped with divine honours, Herod. ii. 46; Strabo, p. 802; comp. Jablonsky, Pantheon Egypti, p. 279.

II. In Leviticus, xvii. 3, it is not said that the Hebrews sacrificed she-goats to the 7, as Michaelis seems to imagine; nor is this passage to be compared necessarily with xvii. 7, where there is nothing said about she-goats as sacrifices.

III. Goats do not only appear under the unqualified Hebrew word, in Lev. xvi. 9, 18, 20, as Michaelis himself has admitted, but also in Lev. iv. 24; ix. 15; 2 Chron. xi. 15; Dan. viii. 21.

IV. That Teraphim were found only among barren women, which is maintained by Michaelis, and brought in favour of his argument, is refuted by many passages, which have been already adduced. Further, the Teraphim mentioned Gen. xxxi. 19, 34, did not belong to the unfruitful Rachel, but to Laban. Michal is the only barren woman mentioned as possessing Teraphim, 1 Sam. xix. 13.

§. 413. DAGON.

The sculptured image or representation of DAGON, 127, (from 27, a fish,) exhibited, as may still be seen on ancient coins, the appearance of a woman above, but of a fish below. (Compare the original German edition of this work, P. III. tab. XII. No. III.) This figure of the idol agrees with what is said of it in 1 Sam. v. 4, 5; comp. Zeph. i. 9; since it lost in its fall upon the ground the head and hands; and only the stump, 127, or fish, was remaining.

Dagon was the god of the Philistines, Judges, xvi. 23-26; 1 Sam. v. 1-5; 1 Macc. x. 83. Temples were erected in honour of this deity at Gaza, at Azotus, at Ascalon, as is evident both from Diodor. Sic. ii. 4; Herod. i. 105; and from ancient coins; (see Michaelis, alte Or. Bibl. vi. Th. S. 86-99;) and also, it is probable, in some other cities of the Philistines, who formerly emigrated from Egypt, where certain fishes were worshipped with divine honours. This deity is not to be confounded with the Ashtaroth, in whose temple the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 10.) deposited the armour of Saul. It is true, that in the parallel passage in 1 Chron. x. 10, the Hebrew is, the temple of their god; but although the noun be masculine it may be applied to Ashtaroth, i. e. Ashtaroth may be considered as being meant here, since the Hebrew has no separate termination, in this instance, for the feminine.

Dagon also was of the feminine gender, and Herodotus, who says she was worshipped at Ascalon, compares her to Venus, i. 105. This idol is likewise called Derketo, Athara, and Atargatis; Strabo, p. 748, 785; Lucian, De Dea Syra. That the name Derketo is Syriac, the termination to is itself an indication. Indeed Diod. Siculus (i. 4.) expressly says, that the goddess worshipped at Ascalon was called by the Syrians, Derketo.