FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[428]Herod. 3, 7; 1, 131; 7, 69, 86.[429]Eratosthenes in Strabo, p. 767.[430]Strabo, p. 777.[431]Diod. 2, 48; 3, 44.[432]Diod. 2, 48, 50, 54; 3, 42, 43. The accounts of the grove are taken from Agatharchides.—Strabo, p. 777.[433]"Hist. Nat." 6, 32.[434]Amm. Marcell. 14, 4.[435]Herod. 3, 107-113.[436]Heracl. Cuman. Fragm. 4. ed. Müller.[437]Apud Strabon. p. 768 ff.[438]Agatharch. "De Mari Erythr.;" apud Diod. 3, 45-48, and the excerpt of Photius in Müller, "Geogr. Gr. Min." 1, 111 ff.; cf. Strabo, p. 778.[439]Strabo, p. 778.[440]"Hist. Nat." 12, 32; 6, 32 seq.[441]The queen of Sheba, who brings such large gifts of gold and spices to Solomon, must in any case be regarded as the queen of the rich spice land, and with this account agree other passages in which Sheba is mentioned. To the Seba, who are mentioned in Psalm lxxii. 10, 15, as rich in gold along with the Sheba, and are described in Isaiah as people of great stature (xlv. 15; cf. xliii. 3), and are placed in Genesis x. 7 among the children of Cush, I cannot assign any place. Prideaux assumes that the two nations became amalgamated; "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 2.[442]Isaiah xxi. 13, 14, 17.[443]Dümichen, "Die Flotte einer ægyptischen Königin."[444]G. Smith, "Assyr. Discov." p. 286; Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 56, 143, 163.[445]G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," pp. 264, 265, 275.[446]Gen. xxv. 1-11; xxvi. 34; xxxvi. 11.[447]Birch, "The Annals of Tutmes III.;" "Archæolog." vol. xlv.[448]Papyrus Harris in Chabas, "Recherches sur la Dynastie 19," p. 59.[449]Movers, "Phœnizier," 2, 3, 302.[450]Strabo, p. 756; Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 12, 32.[451]Isaiah xxi. 13, 14.[452]Movers, "Phœnizier," 2, 3, 293.[453]Isaiah lx. 6.[454]Herod. 3, 97.[455]1 Kings xxii. 49; 2, xiv. 7, 22; 2 Chronicles xvii.; 2, xxvi. 6, 7. Under Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, Elath was again lost.—2 Kings xvi. 6.[456]Caussin de Percival, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 16, 17; Wellsted, "Reisen in Arabien, von E. Rödiger," 1, 307.[457]Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 19.[458]D. H. Müller, "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 1876, s. 522 ff.[459]Osiander in the "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 10, 17-73; Praetorius,loc. cit.26, 417 ff; Gildemeister and Levy,loc. cit.24, 188.[460]Genesis xxv. 1-6.[461]Genesis xxxvi. 12-16.[462]The table in Genesis x. 7, places Ramah, Shebah, Dedan, Havilah, among the sons of Cush, but in the genealogy of the Arabs (c. xxv.) Shebah and Dedan are given to Joktan and Midian.[463]Nöldeke. "Ueber die Amalekiter," s. 23 ff.[464]Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49, arrives at the year 794 for the birth of J'arab, by allotting thirty-three years to each generation. Wüstenfeld, in his genealogical tables, gives from thirty to thirty-four generations between Kachtan and Mohammed, and thus, though he allows forty years for each generation, cannot reach beyond the year 700B.C.for Kachtan.[465]Osiander, in "Zeitschr. d. d. Morgen. Gesellschaft," 10, 27.[466]Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49-60; Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 10.[467]Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1, 166 ff. Wüstenfeld ("Genealogische Tabellen") reaches higher, because, as already remarked, he allows forty years for a generation.[468]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 41, 30; Lenormant, "Lett. Assyr." 2, 10.[469]Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M. G." 7, 474; 10, 63; 11, 472; Lenormant,loc. cit.279; Caussin,loc. cit.1, 113; Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 18.[470]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," 8, 24; Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M. G." 7, 473 ff.[471]Osiander,loc. cit.7, 487. On a stone image we find a cow and a calf with the inscription "Uzza."[472]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 73, 78. On the seven black stones of the planets at Erech.—"W. A. J." 2, 50. On the stones of the Kaabah, Lenormant, "Lettres Assyr." 2, 120 ff.; Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1, 165, 176 ff.[473]Strabo, p. 784; Suid. Θεὸς Ἄρης; Steph. Byz. Δουσαρή.[474]Krehl,loc. cit.s. 49. Seeibid.on the worship of Alful, Sahd, and Sahid.[475]Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 330 ff.[476]Nöldeke, "Inschrift. des Mesa," s. 6. The amalgamation of Astarte with Camus, like the amalgamation with Melkarth among the Phenicians presupposes the separate worship of the goddess.—G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 283.

[428]Herod. 3, 7; 1, 131; 7, 69, 86.

[429]Eratosthenes in Strabo, p. 767.

[430]Strabo, p. 777.

[431]Diod. 2, 48; 3, 44.

[432]Diod. 2, 48, 50, 54; 3, 42, 43. The accounts of the grove are taken from Agatharchides.—Strabo, p. 777.

[433]"Hist. Nat." 6, 32.

[434]Amm. Marcell. 14, 4.

[435]Herod. 3, 107-113.

[436]Heracl. Cuman. Fragm. 4. ed. Müller.

[437]Apud Strabon. p. 768 ff.

[438]Agatharch. "De Mari Erythr.;" apud Diod. 3, 45-48, and the excerpt of Photius in Müller, "Geogr. Gr. Min." 1, 111 ff.; cf. Strabo, p. 778.

[439]Strabo, p. 778.

[440]"Hist. Nat." 12, 32; 6, 32 seq.

[441]The queen of Sheba, who brings such large gifts of gold and spices to Solomon, must in any case be regarded as the queen of the rich spice land, and with this account agree other passages in which Sheba is mentioned. To the Seba, who are mentioned in Psalm lxxii. 10, 15, as rich in gold along with the Sheba, and are described in Isaiah as people of great stature (xlv. 15; cf. xliii. 3), and are placed in Genesis x. 7 among the children of Cush, I cannot assign any place. Prideaux assumes that the two nations became amalgamated; "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 2.

[442]Isaiah xxi. 13, 14, 17.

[443]Dümichen, "Die Flotte einer ægyptischen Königin."

[444]G. Smith, "Assyr. Discov." p. 286; Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 56, 143, 163.

[445]G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," pp. 264, 265, 275.

[446]Gen. xxv. 1-11; xxvi. 34; xxxvi. 11.

[447]Birch, "The Annals of Tutmes III.;" "Archæolog." vol. xlv.

[448]Papyrus Harris in Chabas, "Recherches sur la Dynastie 19," p. 59.

[449]Movers, "Phœnizier," 2, 3, 302.

[450]Strabo, p. 756; Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 12, 32.

[451]Isaiah xxi. 13, 14.

[452]Movers, "Phœnizier," 2, 3, 293.

[453]Isaiah lx. 6.

[454]Herod. 3, 97.

[455]1 Kings xxii. 49; 2, xiv. 7, 22; 2 Chronicles xvii.; 2, xxvi. 6, 7. Under Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, Elath was again lost.—2 Kings xvi. 6.

[456]Caussin de Percival, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 16, 17; Wellsted, "Reisen in Arabien, von E. Rödiger," 1, 307.

[457]Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 19.

[458]D. H. Müller, "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 1876, s. 522 ff.

[459]Osiander in the "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 10, 17-73; Praetorius,loc. cit.26, 417 ff; Gildemeister and Levy,loc. cit.24, 188.

[460]Genesis xxv. 1-6.

[461]Genesis xxxvi. 12-16.

[462]The table in Genesis x. 7, places Ramah, Shebah, Dedan, Havilah, among the sons of Cush, but in the genealogy of the Arabs (c. xxv.) Shebah and Dedan are given to Joktan and Midian.

[463]Nöldeke. "Ueber die Amalekiter," s. 23 ff.

[464]Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49, arrives at the year 794 for the birth of J'arab, by allotting thirty-three years to each generation. Wüstenfeld, in his genealogical tables, gives from thirty to thirty-four generations between Kachtan and Mohammed, and thus, though he allows forty years for each generation, cannot reach beyond the year 700B.C.for Kachtan.

[465]Osiander, in "Zeitschr. d. d. Morgen. Gesellschaft," 10, 27.

[466]Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49-60; Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 10.

[467]Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1, 166 ff. Wüstenfeld ("Genealogische Tabellen") reaches higher, because, as already remarked, he allows forty years for a generation.

[468]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 41, 30; Lenormant, "Lett. Assyr." 2, 10.

[469]Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M. G." 7, 474; 10, 63; 11, 472; Lenormant,loc. cit.279; Caussin,loc. cit.1, 113; Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 18.

[470]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," 8, 24; Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M. G." 7, 473 ff.

[471]Osiander,loc. cit.7, 487. On a stone image we find a cow and a calf with the inscription "Uzza."

[472]Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 73, 78. On the seven black stones of the planets at Erech.—"W. A. J." 2, 50. On the stones of the Kaabah, Lenormant, "Lettres Assyr." 2, 120 ff.; Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1, 165, 176 ff.

[473]Strabo, p. 784; Suid. Θεὸς Ἄρης; Steph. Byz. Δουσαρή.

[474]Krehl,loc. cit.s. 49. Seeibid.on the worship of Alful, Sahd, and Sahid.

[475]Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 330 ff.

[476]Nöldeke, "Inschrift. des Mesa," s. 6. The amalgamation of Astarte with Camus, like the amalgamation with Melkarth among the Phenicians presupposes the separate worship of the goddess.—G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 283.

Between the basin of the Euphrates and Tigris and the Mediterranean rise the mountains of Syria, an elevated plateau which ascends gradually from the right bank of the Euphrates and descends steeply on the sea-coast. A peculiar depression, known as Hollow Syria,[477]divides this region in its entire length from north to south—from the Taurus to theN.E.point of the Red Sea, and separates the plateau into an eastern and a western half. The bed of the narrow valley reaches its greatest elevation in the neighbourhood of the city of Baalbec (Heliopolis). From this point the Orontes flows towards the north and irrigates the green gardens of Emesa and Hamath, till it turns westward and finds a way toward the sea at Antioch; the Leontes and the Jordan flow towards the south. Between steep walls of rock the Jordan hurries down the gorge, and passes in a rapid course through the lakes of Merom and Kinneroth (Gennesareth), which are formed by the streams from the mountains on either side. The deeper the bed of the valley the more valuable are the fruits growing in the tropic atmosphere. The country round Jericho, the city of palms, sheltered from the winds of the table-land and heated by the rays refracted from the walls of rock, produces grapes and figs for ten months in the year; its wealth in dates and balsam was rated high in antiquity.[478]The course of the Jordan ends in the Dead Sea, the surface of which is about 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean.

Out of Hollow Syria rises on the east like a wall of rock the plateau of Aram,[479]in naked, wild, and broken ridges, which, in Antilibanus, the highest point, reaches 9,000 feet. On the back of the mountains we find at first green pastures overshadowed by forests of oak, but further towards the east the heights become bald and desolate, until the land, as it sinks towards the Euphrates, gradually assumes the character of the deserts, which are broken only by the fruitful depressions of Damascus, Hieropolis (Membidsh), and Tadmor (Palmyra).

On the west of the fissure the land is differently shaped. The coast is a narrow strip of land, which only extends into small plains at the mouths of the mountain streams; it is hot, moist, and unhealthy, but of great fertility. Soon the white and yellow limestone rocks of the mountains begin to rise. On these heights the air is purer and cooler, and terraces planted with myrtles and oleanders, with pines, fig-trees, and mulberries, alternate with vineyards. On the broad slopes of the loftier mountain ridges rise splendid forests of tamarisks, planes, cypresses and nut-trees, and above all magnificent cedars. Even now some trees are found here forty feet in girth and ninety feet in height.[480]Just in front of the highestridges of rock lie green slopes, on which feed numerous flocks of black goats, disturbed by jackals, bears, and lions, dwelling in the desolate gorges. Between the mouth of the Orontes and the promontory of Carmel, which runs out far into the sea, this mountain wall, which stretches out to the sea, reaches its greatest height in the peaks of Libanus (over 10,000 feet) of which Tacitus remarks with astonishment that they retained the snow even in that hot climate.[481]Rising above the green pastures and forests, the cultivated and watered fields, this ridge with its white mantle of snow gives the appearance of a winter landscape above perpetual spring. Southward of Carmel the mountains become lower, and at the same time less precipitous and picturesque. The coast is broader and more sandy, flatter, and with fewer harbours. In the place of the steep ridges is a grassy depression (Esdraelon, Galilee), overtopped by one or two peaks only, like Tabor (1,700 feet). Then parallel ridges again form valleys, broad and fruitful and overshadowed by forests (Samaria), until the land between the Dead Sea and the coast assumes a severer and wilder character. There the table-land is rough and bare, the valleys are narrow and deep clefts, the soil is stony. From Libanus the eye looks out on the most various groups of wooded promontories and a smiling coast, but in Judæa the landscape exhibits none but severe and simple outlines. On the wide expanses only a few bushes of pale olives arise, or transparent groups of a few palm-trees. The grassy plains have made way for steppes or downs, and even the bed of the valleys is covered with fresh green only in the brief rainy season. The region round the Dead Sea is wholly desolate. Springs of sulphur and bedsof bitumen point to a volcanic origin; the large proportion of salt contained in the water makes it impossible for fish to live in the lake, and the deposits of salt which cover the country round restrict the vegetation.

In contrast to the vast and uniform regions of the Tigris and Euphrates and Arabia, the western mountains of Syria exhibit change and variety. The narrowness of the coast forces the inhabitants upon the sea, the luxuriant fertility of the deeper valleys invites to cultivation of the land and the planting of vines and orchards, while the upland valleys and mountain slopes permit nothing but pastoral life, combined with a little agriculture. There is no central district from which these numerous and for the most part secluded mountain cantons can be brought into unity and governed. In the place of the uniform development of large masses of people we have here to expect a variety of modes of culture; in the place of one huge despotic kingdom, and the uniform movement of wandering tribes a more independent and unfettered development of small communities; sharp contrasts appear in the place of a general civilisation. At the same time these Syrian coasts by the sea and mountain air, by life on the ocean and among the hills, compensate to a great degree the enervating influences of the Eastern sun, and thus the elements are combined which are wont to keep fresh and vigorous the life and power of the inhabitants. As the sea attracted the inhabitants to distant regions, and trained upon its waves a mobile, enterprising, active population, so on the other hand did the severe formation of the hills and the seclusion of the valleys lead to a uniform unchanging mode of life and a desire to retain what was customary andtraditional. The nearer these opposites approached each other the more energetic must have been their mutual operation, the more lively the process of intellectual life, and the more productive its results.

The mountain district extending on the west of the fissure from Mount Hermon and the sources of the Orontes southward as far as the desert which divides Syria from Egypt was by its inhabitants called Canaan. We met with this name already in the inscriptions of Sethos I. It means lower land, and has obviously been transferred from the coast to the interior. Among the Greeks the southern strip of coast was named Palæstina, after the Philistines (the Pelishtim) who possessed it; the northern part, from Carmel to the Eleutherus (Nahr-el-Kebir) was Phenicia; among the Egyptians the coast was known as Kaft; the tribes of the interior, and more especially those of Northern Syria, were known as Retennu.[482]

The oldest information about these districts which has come down to us is contained in the statements about the campaigns which Kudur-Lagamer and Kudur-Mabuk of Elam are said to have undertaken against Syria (p. 251). If we might regard the kings of Elam, who extended their power over Babylonia, and then forced their way to Syria, as belonging to the fourth dynasty of Berosus, the campaign of Kudur-Lagamer and Kudur-Mabuk could be placed about the year 2000B.C.When Babylonia under Sarrukin and Hammurabi shook off the supremacy of Elam, Sarrukin is said to have advanced towards Syria as far as the "Western Sea" (p. 260). Three centuries later Syria was attacked from the western or opposite side. As soon as the kings of Upper Egypt had succeeded in expelling the Hyksos from the land, theycarried their arms towards Syria, and in these campaigns repeatedly touched the Euphrates. In the times of Tuthmosis I. (1646-1625B.C.) we are told that he traversed Syria towards the north, advanced as far as the Euphrates, and set up a column there. Tuthmosis III. (1591-1565B.C.) marched seven times against Syria; in the fourth campaign (1580B.C.) he reached and crossed the Euphrates; then he appears to have advanced through Mesopotamia as far as the Tigris, and to have collected tribute there.[483]More than one hundred and fifty years later Sethos I. (1439-1388B.C.) fought against the Schasu,i. e.the Shepherds, "who extend as far as Canana," the Cheta (Hittites), and the Retennu,i. e.the Syrians. Ramses II. (1388-1322B.C.) invaded the land of Kaft, and caused memorials of his victories to be engraved upon the rocks at Nahr-el-Kelb, in the neighbourhood of Berytus, fought against the Hittites and their allies from the Euphrates, the prince of Karchemish, and then concluded peace and entered into friendship with the prince of the Cheta (p. 150 ff). The campaigns of Ramses III. (1269-1244B.C.) were also directed against the Schasu, the Cheta, whose prince he took alive, the Amari (the Amorites) and the Pulista (the Philistines,p. 164).

The inscriptions of these Pharaohs prove that the tribes of Syria, even as early as the sixteenth centuryB.C., had arrived not only at a settled mode of life, but at a vigorous trade and a civilisation far from contemptible. The princes of Syria met Tuthmosis III. with numerous war-chariots, of which in the battle of Megiddo they lost 924 (p. 132). If Tuthmosis can mention 107 cities from Hamath inthe north to Gaza in the south which he had subjugated, the population must have been already more numerous and the land more thickly inhabited. The names quoted prove that Gaza (Kazatu), Damascus (Tamesku), Hamath (Hamtu), Joppa (Japu), Berothai (Berytus), Kades (Kadeshu), Ashtaroth Karnaim (Astartu), and many cities frequently mentioned at a later date, were already in existence: several of them are represented to us on the monuments of the Pharaohs, as situated on heights and surrounded by strong walls.

The tribute received by Tuthmosis III. from Syria is sufficient evidence that the valleys of Canaan were well cultivated, that extensive trade relations had already been formed, and that metals were in use to a considerable amount. Syria contributed to Tuthmosis not wine only, honey and dates, but also considerable quantities of spices. The Retennu contributed at one time 1,718 minæ of sweet wine. The Hittites contributed 8 silver rings, weighing in all 301 Egyptian pounds, and 93 Egyptian pounds of gold; the Retennu paid 40 bars, and afterwards 80 bars (bricks) of iron; on one occasion they contributed 761 Egyptian pounds, and in another year 1,495 pounds of silver and 55 pounds of gold.[484]It was remarked above (p. 304) that these tributes also prove that the measures and weights of Babylon were already in use in Syria at that time.

The monuments of the Pharaohs also prove that the land was divided into independent districts, governed by hereditary princes. The leading and most powerful tribe at the time of the Ramessids was that of the Hittites in the south of Canaan. In the fourteenth centuryB.C.this tribe, with its confederates, could place 2,500 war chariots in the field. We have already seen (p. 152) that the king of the Hittites, the son of Maursar and grandson of Sepalulu, entered into an alliance and compact with Rameses II., as one power with another. In the records of the Egyptians the court and army of the Hittites are found well arranged. Generals of the cavalry, masters of the horse, and scribes are mentioned, and the sculptures of the Pharaohs exhibit the Hittites in their chariots in magnificent clothing and armour. The inscriptions of Rameses II. mention Baal and Astarte as gods of the Hittites—deities which we have already found at Babylon under the names of Bel and Istar. We have less information of the land of Kaft, of the Amari, and finally of the Pulista, who are first mentioned under Rameses III., and of the tribes of the Retennu to the north of the Cheta. As was remarked above, the Pharaohs did not succeed in establishing a lasting supremacy over Syria. Even Tuthmosis III., who achieved the greatest successes, did no more than force the Syrian princes to pay him tribute for a short series of years.

Thus the beginnings of settled life, of agriculture, of cities and trade in Canaan cannot be placed later than the year 2,000B.C., and this result is confirmed by the tradition of the Hebrews. According to Genesis, Ham, the second son of Noah, begat Canaan, and Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and Amori, and Hivi, and Arvadi, and Hamathi, and afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.[485]Hence, with the Hebrews, the Sidonians passed for the oldest Canaanites. The name means Fishcatcher, and a tribe limited to a narrow strip of coast may soon have betaken themselves to thesea. The primogeniture of the Sidonians was afterwards explained to mean that the origin of their city, Sidon, belonged to the oldest period. That the second city of this tribe, Sor (Tyre), "the daughter of Sidon,"[486]was proud of her great antiquity, we learn from other sources. When Herodotus was there, and inquired about the erection of the most sacred temple in the city, the temple of Melkarth, he received the answer that this shrine had been built, together with the city, about 2,300 years before his time, i.e. about the year 2,750B.C.Lucian also assures us that the temples of Phenicia and the temple of Melkarth at Tyre were founded not much later than the oldest Egyptian temples.[487]

Northward of Sidon, at the mouths of the Nahr Ibrahim and the Nahr-el-Kelb (Adonis and Lycus), was settled the tribe of the Giblites,i. e.the mountaineers, whose cities were Gebal (Byblus) and Berothai (Berytus). Byblus claimed to be the oldest city in the land—older than Sidon—and to have been built by El, the supreme deity. At any rate, as we have already seen, it was in existence at the time of Tuthmosis III., whose inscriptions also mention the city of a third tribe, that of Arvadi,i. e.the Arvadites, whom the Hebrews mention among the sons of Canaan. This tribe was in possession of a considerable district to the north of Byblus, on the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kebir (Eleutherus), and of a rocky island off the coast, on which lay their city Arvad, the Aratu of the Egyptians, the Aradus of the Greeks.

The tradition of the Hebrews derived the Hittites from Heth, the second son of Canaan. The centre of their land, which stretched from the coast to theJordan, was formed by the bare and stony mountains round Hebron. Here, according to Hebrew story, giants once dwelt—the Anakim—whose father and chief was Arba; after this prince, Hebron was formerly called Kirjath-Arba. To this city also the Hebrews ascribe a great antiquity; it was built seven years earlier than Zoan (Tanis) in Egypt.[488]We do not know the date of the building of Zoan, but the name occurs as early as the inscriptions of Sesurtesen I., whose reign we must place about the year 2,350B.C.[489]With the Hittites of Hebron the Hebrew Scriptures represent their own forefathers as living in peaceful and friendly intercourse in the century 2100-2000B.C.We have already seen what a sustained resistance the disciplined forces of the princes of the Hittites were able to make against the attacks of Egypt for two centuries—from the middle of the fifteenth to the middle of the thirteenth centuryB.C.War against the Cheta is a standing item in the inscriptions of the Ramessids.

Northward of the Hittites lay the tribes which the tradition of the Hebrews derives from Hivi and Amori, the younger sons of Canaan, the Hivites and Amorites—the former in the beautiful mountain valleys round Gibeon and Sichem, northwards as far as Mount Hermon; the latter, a numerous and powerful tribe, outside the land of Canaan, north-east of Jordan, from the Jabbok in the south to Hermon in the north.[490]The Amorites, as we may venture to assume, were the Amari of Egyptian inscriptions. Furthest to the north, in the valley ofthe Orontes, were the Hamathites, whom the Hebrews also reckon among the sons of Canaan.

On the other hand, the Damascenes, the northern neighbours of the Amorites, whose city is mentioned by the Egyptians with Hamath as early as the sixteenth century, and who in the ninth and eighth centuriesB.C.were the centre of the most powerful community in the Syrian interior, were not reckoned by the Hebrews among the sons of Canaan; and the inscriptions of the Assyrians also place the Damascenes among the Arimi,i. e.Aramaeens. Nor are the old inhabitants of the valley of the Jordan included by Hebrew tradition among the Canaanites, which is here associated with the principalities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Adamah, Zeboim, and Zoar, and the names of the princes who once fought against Kedor Laomer in the valley of Siddim. But Jehovah caused fire and brimstone to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah owing to the sins of the inhabitants, and destroyed these cities and the whole region. The Philistines also, whom we find in possession of the coast from Gaza in the south to Carmel in the north, were not counted by the Hebrews among the sons of Canaan. It has been remarked that the name occurs for the first time in Egyptian inscriptions in the first half of the thirteenth centuryB.C.The Hebrews tell us that the Philistines marched from Caphtor and overcame the Avites, who dwell "in villages as far as Gaza." By Caphtor we should probably understand the eastern sea coast of Egypt, the north-east of the Delta, where a Semitic population may have established itself firmly from the time of the Hyksos, and may have been able to maintain themselves after their expulsion. Yet there is nothing to contradict the assumptionthat, at the time of their expulsion by Amosis and the Tuthmosis, a part of the Hyksos turned towards Syria, and that the Philistines were sprung from these. We may remember that Manetho terms the Hyksos Phenicians, or kinsmen of the Phenicians, and tells us that they retired in the direction of Syria, and Herodotus represents the shepherd Philitis as pasturing his flocks at Memphis.[491]In the eleventh centuryB.C.we find the Philistines under the dominion of the princes of the cities of Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. The princes had their palaces; the cities were protected by walls and towers, and possessed extensive temples, in which were images of wood and iron, and rich offerings. The five cities formed a federation, their princes (Seranim) sat in a common council, led out their armies in common, and in common offered thankofferings for the victories won. They could bring into the field a splendid army of chariots, horsemen, heavy-armed soldiers, and bowmen; the soldiers were divided into troops of hundreds and thousands.[492]

Towards the middle of the thirteenth century a considerable alteration took place in the interior of Canaan, between the coast of the Philistines and the valley of the Jordan. The Amorites advanced towards the south over the Jabbok, and subjugated the Moabites, who dwelt in this district to the east of the Dead Sea, as far as the Arnon. They spread westwards over the Jordan, and overthrew the ancient federation of the Hittites. These were either subjugated or driven out; only in some mountain cantons did the Hittites maintain themselves. In their place the Amorites ruled between the coast and the Dead Sea, and this district was now known as the "Mountain of the Amorites."[493]

Northwards also the Amorites pressed forward against the Hittites, and took possession of their land as far as Lake Merom.[494]It was only in Gibeon and the surrounding districts that the Hivites held their own;[495]and all the Hittites and Hivites who refused subjugation and slavery were compelled to retire to the coast. It must have been a heavy blow that could shatter the power of the Hittites; while the collection of a numerous population on the coast, which was caused by the new supremacy of the Amorites, was in its turn of important consequence for the cities of Phenicia. But the new masters of the southern land did not form a consolidated power, like the Hittites before them; they were broken up into separate tribes, so that among them, and the remnants of the Hittites and Hivites, there were about thirty small principalities. The ancient power of the Hittites must have been important enough to leave behind a very lasting impression. The Book of Joshua uses the expression "land of the Hittites," for the whole region from the sea to the Euphrates, andthe Assyrian inscriptions of the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries include beside the land of Arimi,i. e.of the Aramæans the whole of Canaan from Hamath to the sea and southwards as far as Egypt, under the name of the "land of Chatti."[496]

FOOTNOTES:[477]Strabo, p. 756. "It is true that the whole land from Seleucis to Egypt and Arabia is also called Hollow Syria, but strictly speaking the name is given only to the land between Libanus and Antilibanus."[478]Strabo, p. 763.[479]Genesis xxxi. 20-24; Strabo, pp. 627, 784.[480]Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 396.[481]Tacit. "Histor." 5, 6.[482]Ebers, "Ægypten und die Bücher Mose's," s. 131 ff.[483]De Rougé, "Annales de Toutmes;" cf.suprap. 136.[484]Brandis, "Münzwesen," s. 80, 92.[485]Genesis x. 15-19.[486]Isaiah xxiii. 3; Justin, 18, 3.[487]Herod. 2, 34; Lucian, "De dea Syria," 2, 3.[488]Judges i. 10; Joshua xiv. 12, 15; xv. 13, 14; Numbers xiii. 23.[489]Ebers, "Ægypten," s. 188.[490]Genesis xv. 16; xxxiv. 2; Joshua iii. 10; xi. 3; Jud. iii. 3.[491]Above,p. 127; Gen. x. 13, 14; Amos ix. 7; Deut. ii. 23; Jeremiah xlvii. 4; Stark, "Gaza," s. 104 ff. Ebers explains Kaphtor byKaft-ur,i. e.Great Kaft, Great Phenicia. To Ai-Kaphtor the Egyptian Aa-Kaft,i. e.island and coast land, curved coast land would correspond.—"Ægypten," s. 131 ff.[492]Stark, "Gaza," s. 132-136, 318 ff.[493]Deut. i. 7, 20, 44; Joshua x. 5, 6; xi. 3. The Jebusites who possessed the Jerusalem of later times were a tribe of the Amorites. They and their king are expressly mentioned as Amorites.[494]In the book of Joshua, as well as in the prophet Amos, it is the Amorites whom the Hebrews have to contend against, mingled with scanty remnants of the Hittites and Hivites. Besides this, the advance of the Amorites against the Moabites is sufficiently proved (videExodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and the migration of the Hittites by their settlement in Cyprus.[495]Joshua ix. 7, 10.[496]Joshua i. 4; Schrader, "Keilsch. und Alt. Test," s. 30.

[477]Strabo, p. 756. "It is true that the whole land from Seleucis to Egypt and Arabia is also called Hollow Syria, but strictly speaking the name is given only to the land between Libanus and Antilibanus."

[478]Strabo, p. 763.

[479]Genesis xxxi. 20-24; Strabo, pp. 627, 784.

[480]Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 396.

[481]Tacit. "Histor." 5, 6.

[482]Ebers, "Ægypten und die Bücher Mose's," s. 131 ff.

[483]De Rougé, "Annales de Toutmes;" cf.suprap. 136.

[484]Brandis, "Münzwesen," s. 80, 92.

[485]Genesis x. 15-19.

[486]Isaiah xxiii. 3; Justin, 18, 3.

[487]Herod. 2, 34; Lucian, "De dea Syria," 2, 3.

[488]Judges i. 10; Joshua xiv. 12, 15; xv. 13, 14; Numbers xiii. 23.

[489]Ebers, "Ægypten," s. 188.

[490]Genesis xv. 16; xxxiv. 2; Joshua iii. 10; xi. 3; Jud. iii. 3.

[491]Above,p. 127; Gen. x. 13, 14; Amos ix. 7; Deut. ii. 23; Jeremiah xlvii. 4; Stark, "Gaza," s. 104 ff. Ebers explains Kaphtor byKaft-ur,i. e.Great Kaft, Great Phenicia. To Ai-Kaphtor the Egyptian Aa-Kaft,i. e.island and coast land, curved coast land would correspond.—"Ægypten," s. 131 ff.

[492]Stark, "Gaza," s. 132-136, 318 ff.

[493]Deut. i. 7, 20, 44; Joshua x. 5, 6; xi. 3. The Jebusites who possessed the Jerusalem of later times were a tribe of the Amorites. They and their king are expressly mentioned as Amorites.

[494]In the book of Joshua, as well as in the prophet Amos, it is the Amorites whom the Hebrews have to contend against, mingled with scanty remnants of the Hittites and Hivites. Besides this, the advance of the Amorites against the Moabites is sufficiently proved (videExodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and the migration of the Hittites by their settlement in Cyprus.

[495]Joshua ix. 7, 10.

[496]Joshua i. 4; Schrader, "Keilsch. und Alt. Test," s. 30.

Our knowledge of the religious conceptions of the Canaanites consists of scattered and meagre statements. Yet these statements are enough to show with certainty that the ideas of the Syrians about the powers of Heaven rested on the same basis as the worship of the Babylonians. But the sensual and lascivious side of this worship, no less than the cruel and bloody side, is more strongly and broadly developed in Syria than in Babylonia, while, on the other hand, the complete development of the star-worship, as we found it on the lower Euphrates, is unknown in Syria. The gods who were regarded as alien and hostile to natural life were worshipped by the Canaanites with severe abstinence and harsh asceticism, with self-mutilation and human sacrifices; while the deities of procreation and birth, who were considered favourable to life, were worshipped with the most shameless prostitution and the most unbridled debauchery. Indeed these rites, distinguished by sensual excess and bloody asceticism, were united by that mysterious link which in the human breast brings debauchery and pain into close connection; and hence this worship is a true copy of the Semitic mode of feeling, which wavers between luxurious enjoyment andfanatical destruction, between cringing servility and stiff-necked obstinacy, between effeminate retirement in the harem, and bold achievements in the battle-field.

The Phenicians are said to have possessed sacred scriptures of very great antiquity. In Babylonia we found a city to which the sacred scriptures were specially allotted, Sepharvaim on the Euphrates; in Canaan, Debir, in the neighbourhood of Hebron, was at one time called Kiriath Sepher,i. e."city of scriptures." The scriptures of the Phenicians are said to be derived from Esmun one of their gods, or from a series of hierophants, Thabion, Isiris, Sanchuniathon and Mochus. According to the evidence of Poseidonius, Mochus lived before the Trojan war.[497]Sanchuniathon also, a Sidonian according to some, according to others a Syrian, and to others a Berytean, is said to have lived before or during the time of the Trojan war. He is said to have collected his writings from the archives of the Phenician cities, from the records in the temples, and a document of Hierombal which had been placed by the latter before Abelbaal, king of Berytus, and had met with approval, and it is maintained from the catalogue of the Phenician kings that Hierombal and Sanchuniathon lived before the Trojan war.[498]Of the writings of Sanchuniathon, Philo of Byblus, who wrote in the first half of the second century,B.C., is said to have given a Greek translation in hisHistory of the Phenicians. Of this supposed translation of a supposed original, discovered after much research by Philo, besides which he pretended to have made use of the sacred scriptures of the Egyptians, the Books of Thoth, some excerpts and fragments have come down to us. Scanty and unconnected as these are, theyshow us at once that Philo, whatever his original may have been, was far removed from any mere repetition of old religious views, that the syncretistic culture of his time had exercised a strong influence on his own ideas, and that his whole point of view belongs to that kind of enlightenment which pretended to find in the gods a number of deified kings, who had once ruled over the land in ancient days. Yet Philo also allowed that, over and above these, the sun, moon, planets, and certain elements were worshipped as gods.[499]

Following the cosmogonic systems, as they may have been drawn out with greater definiteness after the Hellenistic period, Philo assumes as the beginning of all things an obscure and moving atmosphere, and a dark and melancholy chaos. When the wind of his Beginning felt the yearning of love, a mixture took place, and this combination was named Desire. Desire is the beginning of all things. From the union of the wind with itself arose Mot, which some explain as mud, others as putrefaction of a watery mixture. Out of this arose the seeds of all and the origin of all things. Mot was fashioned after the form of an egg. "And then shone forth the sun and moon, and the great constellations. As the air now sent forth a fiery glow, winds and clouds arose from the kindling of the sea and the earth, and vast tempests of rain streamed down; and when all this dashed together, there followed thunderings and lightning, by which the creatures were awaked, and on the earth and in the sea the male and the female elements began to move.[500]And from the wind Kolpia and his wife Baau, which means night, Aeon and Protogonus, mortal men, were begotten. Aeon discovered the nourishment obtainedfrom trees. And Aeon and Protogonus begot Genos and Genea, who dwelt in Phœnicia; and when the fierce heat came they stretched out their hands to the sky and the sun. As they regarded the sun as the only lord of the sky, they called him Belsamen, which among the Phenicians means lord of the sky, and among the Greeks Zeus." But Aeon and Protogonus had also begotten children, called by the names of Phos (light), Pyr (fire), and Phlox (flame). These discovered fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, and taught the use of fire, and begot children who surpassed all others in size and stature. The names of these giants were given to the mountains of which they possessed themselves, to Casius, Libanus, Anti-libanus, and Brathy (Tabor?). The giants begot Samemrumus, who is also called Hypsuranius, and Usous. These made a traffic of their mothers, for it was the custom in those days for the women to associate with any one. Samemrumus lived at Tyre, and discovered the art of making huts out of reeds and sedge, while Usous invented clothing made of the skins of the beasts which he knew how to slay. Samemrumus rebelled against Usous, but the latter took a tree and divested it of the branches, and was the first who went on board a vessel. Then he dedicated two pillars to the fire and the wind, and offered to these the blood of the beasts which he had taken. When the brothers were dead, prayers were offered to the pillars, and each year a festival was celebrated in honour of them. And for a long time afterwards Agreus (the hunter) was among the descendants of Usous, and Halieus (the fisher) among those of Samemrumus. From these sprung two brothers, of whom the one was Chusor,i. e.Hephaestus, who discovered the working of iron, and the other, whoinvented the fish-hook and was the first navigator, was named Zeus Meilichius;[501]and the two together discovered the building of walls by bricks. From these came Agros (the field), and Agrotes (the husbandman), who was worshipped in Phœnicia as a god, and was called the greatest god in Byblus. From these sprung Misor and Sydyk; from Sydyk came the Cabiri, who invented the ship.

About this time Eljon, named "the Highest," was born, and a woman of the name of Beruth; and these two dwelt at Byblus. They begot Uranus and Ge, and when "the Highest" fell in conflict with wild beasts, he was worshipped by his children as a god with libation and sacrifices. But Uranus succeeded his father in the kingdom, and took his sister Ge to wife, and with her begot El, who is also called Cronus, Dagon, who, after discovering corn and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrius, and Atlas. But as Uranus begot children with other women, El, when he was grown up, determined to revenge the slight put upon his mother. He provided himself with a sickle and a lance of iron, attacked Uranus, drove him from his throne, expelled him from the land, and took the kingdom for himself. He surrounded his house with a wall, and built Byblus, the first city of the Phenicians. His brother Atlas, whom he suspected, he threw into the abyss, and covered him with earth; his son he slew with the sword, and cut off his daughter's head. When in the thirty-second year of his reign he had laid an ambush for his father Uranus in the interior of the land, and in this way had got him into his power, he cut off his genitals, close by some springs and rivers. The blood flowed into thesesprings and streams, and this place became sacred, and is shown even at the present day. At the wish of El, "Astarte the Great," the daughter of Uranus, and Zeus Demarus, the son of Uranus by a concubine, and Adodus "the king of the gods," ruled over the land. As a symbol of her supremacy, Astarte placed the head of an ox on her own head, and when she had wandered over the whole earth she found a star fallen from heaven, took it, and dedicated it at Tyre on the sacred island. But when a pestilence came, and a mortality, El burnt his only son in royal robes as a sacrifice to Uranus on the altar which he had erected, and circumcised himself and forced his comrades to do the same. The city of Byblus he handed over to the goddess Baaltis, Berytus to the sea-god, to the Cabiri, and to the descendants of Agrotes (the husbandman) and of Halieus (the fisher), and when El came into the land of the South, he gave all Egypt over to Taauthus to be a royal habitation for him. To El, after his death, was consecrated the star named after him.[502]

We should indeed be in an evil case if we were restricted for our knowledge of Canaanitish rites to these fragments, which carry so plainly on the front of them their late origin, their fictitious genealogical combinations, into which the gods are brought, their over-subtle Euhemerism, and their mixture with Greek and Egyptian ideas. That threads of various systems of cosmogony intertwine and cross each other in these fragments is proved by the derivation of the origin of the world, first from the wind, and next from chaos, and then from Kolpia and Baau, and by the repetition even to the third time of the discovery of hunting, agriculture, and navigation. Happily there are other sources of information which allow us tobring the statements of Philo into some sort of order, and to supplement them in very essential points. We saw that the highest god of the Babylonians was El. If Philo tells us that the star known by his name,i. e.the planet Saturn, was consecrated to king El after his death, and if this king allows Astarte, Demarus, and even Adodus, the king of the gods, to rule after his death,—if he apportions cities and provinces to Baaltis and the Cabiri,—it becomes clear enough that for the Canaanites also El was the ruling god, and that in Syria also the planet Saturn belonged to him. But from the contest of El with Uranus,i. e.with the sky-god, in Philo, we may also with certainty conclude, that among the Canaanites also the highest place was allotted to Baal-Samim,i. e.to the lord of the sky, as Philo rightly explains that name; Philo denotes him as the god worshipped by the earliest generations of mankind. Among the Greeks also there was a myth, borrowed no doubt from the East, that Zeus (Baal) had once striven with El-Cronus.[503]As the god of Saturn, the El of the Canaanites would have to be placed beside the Adar of the Eastern Semitic nations. The inscriptions of Ramses II. have already mentioned Baal as the god of the Cheta. We also saw that the nomads of the peninsula of Sinai consecrated their highest mountain summit to the god of this name. The Moabites invoked Baal on Mount Peor. In Canaan also the mountain summits were sacred to this deity; in the south of the land the lonely peak of Casius on the Serbonian lake, then Carmel, Tabor, and Hermon. The Philistines worshipped him at Ekron; the names of numerous places in Canaan,—Baal Hamon, Baal Hazor, Baal Meon, Baal Gad, Baal Perazim, Baal Tamar, Baalath, Baalbec, &c.,—giveus sufficient proof of the widespread worship of Baal in Canaan. We shall not go wrong if we regard him as the deity of the beneficent operation of the sun. If El cuts off the genitals of Uranus,i. e.of Baal-Samim, and the blood flows into the springs and streams, the meaning of the myth is without doubt that the beneficent god has imparted his life-giving, creating power to the fertilising water. Among the Phenicians springs and streams were sacred. The Carthaginian Hannibal swore to his compact with Philip king of Macedonia before "the rivers, meadows, and waters," and the Zeus Demarus of Philo must be explained as Baal Tamar,i. e.Baal in the procreative power. Northward of Sidon there falls into the sea a river especially sacred to Baal Tamar, which the Greeks called Tamyras (now Nahr Damur). It marks, no doubt, the spot where the act in the myth was localised, which, as Philo observes, was still pointed out. Pliny tells us that with the Belus,i. e.Baal (Sihor Libnath of the Hebrews), a mountain stream falling into the sea southward of Sidon, after a brief, and in the plain, a sluggish course from the parent lake, customs of a very sacred nature were connected.[504]

The goddess whom the Syrians invoked, beside the sun-god, had various names. According to the fragments of Philo, El had handed over the government of the city of Byblus to Baaltis,i. e.to Bilit, the "mistress." At Ascalon she was known as Derceto, at Hierapolis (Bambyke, Membidsh) as Atargatis;[505]the Hebrews call her Ashera. Herodotus calls the goddess of Ascalon Aphrodite Urania; he also denotes her as the goddess of the sexual impulse and of procreation, and mentions the temple at Ascalon, as the oldest temple of this goddess which he knew; "from this comes the shrine of Urania in Cyprus, as the Cyprians themselves said; and the Phenicians, who also belonged to Syria, founded the temple of Urania on Cythera." Pausanias observes that the Assyrians had been the first among men to worship Urania, and after the Assyrians came the Paphians in Cyprus, and the Phenicians at Ascalon.[506]Hence we may conclude that Baaltis, in nature or in name, was not far removed from the Bilit or Mylitta of the Babylonians, and this conclusion is sufficiently confirmed by all that we know of the worship of Baaltis. Cinyras, the first king of Byblus, is said to have erected shrines to Aphrodite at Byblus and in Cyprus, and his daughters are said to have paid service to the goddess with their persons. The maidens of Byblus waited for strangers in the market-places, just as the maidens of Babylon waited in the temple (p. 269), and the price of compliance was paid, as in Babylon, to Aphrodite.[507]Of the maidens of Cyprus we are told that they went down to the sea shore in order to sell themselves to the sailors on landing.[508]We also find that sacred servants, male and female, who dedicated themselves to this form of worship, were always to be found in the temples of the Syrian goddess, and even married women entered their ranks at certain times.[509]The Hebrews tell us that the women wove tents for Ashera, and that paramours, male and female, were in her sanctuaries.[510]Inshady groves, on green hills, and among the mountain forests of Libanus, sacrifice was offered to this goddess. The lofty trees, the terebinth, the evergreen pine and the cypress were sacred to her; the pomegranate, the symbol of fruitfulness, was her peculiar fruit. The ram, the he-goat, and the dove, especially the white dove, animals of vigorous procreation and reproduction, were dedicated to her, and formed the most welcome offerings. In the temples of the goddess before the cell in which she was worshipped under the form of conical stones or upright pillars of wood, were dove-cotes and pools of water.[511]Fish also were dedicated to this goddess; and certain kinds of fish were sacred among the Syrians. These were not to be injured, and enjoyed divine honours.[512]Beside the rich and ancient temple of Derceto at Ascalon was a lake abounding in fish. At Hierapolis the image of Atargatis, which had a dove on the head, was carried down to the lake near the temple. This image of "the Assyrian Urania" was also carried down to the sea, amid a great crowd collected from Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia.[513]The image of Derceto at Ascalon, on the shore of the sea, in that temple which was the oldest of Urania, known to Herodotus, was a woman as far as the waist, but from the thighs downwards she had the body of a fish.[514]From the custom of carrying the image of the goddess to pools of water, and the form of the goddess at Ascalon, has arisen the legend of the Greeks, that at Ascalon or Hierapolis she threw herself intothe water, and was changed into a fish. The colonies of the Phenicians worshipped a Venus Marina, and the goddess of Berytus is said to have come from the sea; with the Greeks the goddess of Cyprus and Cythera is said to have risen from the sea.[515]Appian remarks that the goddess of Hierapolis was regarded by some as Aphrodite, by others as Hera, and by others again as the source and spring of all that came out of moisture.[516]Hence the Bilit (Baaltis) of Byblus, the Derceto of Ascalon, the Atargatis of Hierapolis, the Ashera of the Hebrews, was a deity favourable to birth and fertility, the power of nature which creates from moisture and water.

A male deity also, who gave fruit and increase from water, was worshipped by the Canaanites. At Gaza and Ashdod, the cities of the Philistines, and near the coast, at Beth-Dagon, and Kaphar-Dagon, the god Dagon was invoked, whom Philo mentioned as the Zeus Arotrius, the Zeus of the field, the god of nourishment. His temple at Gaza was the pre-eminent shrine of the Philistines, the centre of their federation. The image of Dagon in his temple at Ashdod had the face and hands of a man, the body of a fish, and again the feet of a man.[517]Philo's account denotes Dagon as the discoverer of the plough and the god of nourishment, as the giver of corn and protector of the field, and therefore he must in any case have been a spirit of increase and fertility. We found the name of this god in Babylonian inscriptions of the time of Hammurabi, and before it, his image, and that of his priests, among the monuments of Assyria. We saw that his name designated him as a fish-god, and know that Babylonian legendsconnected him with the sea, and represented him as arising from the sea (p. 272).

By the side of the deities of the beneficent powers of nature and of birth, the Canaanites placed severe and gloomy deities, who were averse and hostile to the bloom of nature, the life and generation of mankind. These were Moloch and Astarte. The first is known to the Greeks under the name of Cronus, and from Philo's account of El we must deduce the relation of this god to Saturn. The Moloch of the Canaanites is the cruel destroying god of war; fire in its consuming, though also in its purifying properties, was his element. He is said to have been represented in the form of a bull or with a bull's head or horns.[518]Among the booty which Sethos I. (1439-1388B.C.) brought back from his campaigns against the Cheta and Retennu we may see, in the sculptures at Karnak (p. 150), the image of a bull.[519]The Canaanites offered human sacrifices to Moloch. If we remember that the Sepharvites of Babylonia offered up men to Adrammelech,i. e."to king Adar," the spirit of the planet Saturn, we may venture to regard the Moloch of the Canaanites as the god of Saturn, without excluding the possibility that the burning glow of the midsummer sun may have lain at the root of the Canaanite conception of this god.[520]Not only were captives, often to the number of thousands, sacrificed to Moloch in gratitude for the victory bestowed;[521]but also at the beginning of an important undertaking, or the opening of a campaign, his favour was sought byhuman sacrifices. These were indispensable in order to appease his wrath, and turn destruction from all upon the head of a few.[522]If the crops withered, or a pestilence devastated the cities, or great reverses fell upon the land in war, human victims were burned as expiatory offerings.[523]Such offerings could only be taken from among the native families. Pure victims as yet undefiled by sexual intercourse, children and youths, were, as it seems, the most welcome sacrifice. The dearest possession was the most powerful expiation. The best beloved children, the firstborn or only son, must be offered to the god "as a ransom."[524]We have seen above (p. 356), how Philo represents El himself as performing this sacrifice of a son. Only the surrender of what was dearest could touch the cruel feeling of the relentless god, and turn his wrath upon the enemy so that he laid his curse upon him. Thus it came to pass that the eldest son of the king was clothed with purple and burned to Moloch in the place of the ruler of the land. When Joram, king of Israel, had shut up the king of Moab in Kir Harosheth, "the Moabite took his firstborn son, who would have been king in his place, and sacrificed him as a burnt offering upon the wall. Then there was great indignation against Israel, and Israel turned back to his own land."[525]Hamilcar, Hanno's son, burnt himself in the year 480B.C., when the battle of Himera went against the Carthaginians; and when Himilco, in the year 406B.C., besieged Agrigentum, and a pestilence came upon the army, he sacrificed a boy to Cronus, in order to stay the plague.[526]When Agathocles of Syracuse,after landing in Africa had defeated the Carthaginian army, and encamped under the walls of Carthage, the Carthaginians believed that they had brought the anger of the god upon them because of late, instead of sacrificing the children of the noblest citizens, they had secretly purchased and substituted other children. Inquiry showed that this had been done in some cases. In expiation, 200 boys of the first families were selected as victims, and the families, who were suspected of previously withdrawing their children from the god, now spontaneously brought forward 300 children. "In Carthage," so Diodorus, who tells us this incident, continues, "there was an iron image of Cronus, which held out the hands in a downward position, so that the victim placed upon them rolled into a cavity filled with fire."[527]The cries of the victims, Plutarch tells us, were drowned by the noise of drums and flutes; the mothers were compelled to stand by without lamentation or sighing. If a sigh or a tear escaped them, they were regarded as dishonoured; but the child was burnt just the same. A Roman poet gives an invocation to the "paternal gods" of Carthage, whose temples are cleansed by murder, and who rejoice in being worshipped by the agony of mothers.[528]

The inscriptions of Ramses II. mentioned Astarte as the goddess of the Hittites; the name of their city Astaroth we have already found in the form of Astartu in the inscriptions of Tuthmosis III. (p. 343). The Philistines worshipped Astarte; for the Sidonians, the "great Astarte" was the goddess of their city. "A virgin-goddess"[529]she ruled over the fortune of battle; she is the goddess of war,bringing death and destruction, the goddess of death. Coins of Sidon represent her with a spear in her hand. As the goddess of war she carried a spear in her temples in Cyprus and Cythera.[530]In her temple on the ancient fortress of Carthage, she was represented riding on a lion, with a spear in her hand. The Istar of the Babylonians and Assyrians carried the bow (p. 270). When the Philistines carried off the armour of Saul, king of Israel, they dedicated it in the house of Astarte. If Astarte, according to Philo, consecrates a star on the island of Tyre, we have already seen (p. 270) that Venus when rising was the star of Istar at Babylon. Yet the Astarte of the Syrians stood in a closer relation to the moon. Philo told us that she carried on her head the head of an ox. The monuments of Sethos display, beside the bull's image of Baal, a cow's head with a segment of the moon; and on Carthaginian stones we find the full moon between the horns of an ox. With the horns of the moon the goddess is known as Astaroth Karnaim,i. e.the horned Astarte. The priests of Astarte were pledged to continence and celibacy, and on the priestesses of the "heavenly maiden," the "maiden of the sky,"[531]virginity was imposed. No married woman could enter her temples. In her temples, as in those of Moloch, burned the eternal fire.[532]Like Moloch, Astarte also received human sacrifices. To the virgin-goddess the youthful were offered, and maidens and women were burned.[533]As in the worship of Ashera the Syrians attempted to transfuse themselves intothe nature of the goddess, to sink and pass into her being, so also the worship of Astarte required that they should become like the goddess, and that lust should be killed in them. It was the highest and most acceptable sacrifice, if priests and laymen made themselves eunuchs in honour of the virgin-goddess. During the festival of Astarte it was the custom, while the congregated people were thrown into excitement and frenzy by the sound of cymbals, drums, and double pipes, for young men to spring forward, seize the ancient sword which lay on the altar of the goddess, and therewith to mutilate themselves.[534]At a later time there were thousands of eunuch-attendants in the temples of Astarte, while others went about through the land in female clothing, their faces painted after the manner of women, begging and mortifying their flesh. To the sound of drums and pipes they whirled round with wild movements and contortions of the body, and bent their heads to the ground, so that their hair trailed in the mire. At the same time they bit their arms and cut themselves with swords. The most frenzied began to moan and prophesy. At last he bewailed his sins, took up the knotted whip, and beat himself on the back till the blood ran down. When the dancing and the scourging was ended, the eunuchs collected subscriptions from the bystanders. Some gave money; others, milk, wine, cheese, and meal. These they hastily gathered together in order to compensate, by a hearty meal at evening in their retreat, for the torments of the day.[535]

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