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SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
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BY
CLAUDE REIGNIER CONDER, R.E.,
AUTHOR OF ' TENT WORK IN PALESTINE,' ' HETH AND MOAB,' ETC.
PUBLISHED FOR THE COMMITTEE OF THE PALESTINE EXPLORA TION FUND.
LONDON ALEXANDER P. WATT,
2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1889.
[All rights reserved.]
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR C. EDWARD OF WALES, K.C.,
IN MEMORY OF THE INTEREST WHICH
H.R.H. EXPRESSED IN THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF PALESTINE,
AND OF HIS TRAVELS IN THE HOLY LAND,
%hx& SHcrrfc is JUbicatfcb,
WITH HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS's PERMISSION,
BY THE AUTHOR.
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
—*■
CHAPTER
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE - I. THE CANAANITES II. THE PHOENICIANS
III. THE HEBREWS -
IV. JEWS AND SAMARITANS - V. THE GREEK AGE -
VI. THE HERODIAN AGE VII. THE ROMAN AGE VIII. THE BYZANTINE AGE IX. THE ARAB CONQUEST - X. THE CRUSADERS - CONCLUSION NOTES AND ERRATA LIST OF AUTHORITIES - INDEX
PAGE
ix
xi
I
58 114
146 179 197 226 270 322 376 453 454 457 461
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Egyptian and Hamathite Hieroglyphics. To face page 24
Cromlech on Mount Gilboa. Author's Sketch - 43
Dolmen near Heshbon. P. E. F. Photograph - 44
Phoenician Emblems from Gems and Steles - - 72
Pottery Bas-relief from Tell Jezer - - - 93
Bas-relief from W. et Tin. Author's Sketch - 94
Kabr Hiram. P. E. F. Photograph - - 96
Survey of Tyre. P. E. F. Survey corrected, 1881 - 105
Siloam Inscription. Squeeze taken 188 i. To face page 118
Tomb Door, Neby Turfini. Author's Sketch - 131
Hebrew Text from Tomb at Kerawa. Author's Copy 134
Inscription, Beni Hezir Tomb, from De Vogue's Copy 193 Head of Hadrian found near Jerusalem. Author's
Sketch - - - - - - - 236
Kamu'at el Hirmil. Author's Sketch. To face page 246
Emblems from Jewish Tombs, etc. - - - 259
Text from Umm ez Zeinat. Author's Copy - - 261
Great Synagogue, Kefr BirIm. Survey Elevation - 262
Bas-relief from Nebratein Synagogue - - 264
Statue of Marnas. Author's Sketch - - - 287
Plan of the Bethlehem Basilica - - - 297
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Inscription on Tomb of Thecla Augusta. De Vogue's
Copy -••--••. 307
Sassanian Building at 'Amman. P. E. F. Photograph 352 Dome of the Rock Outer Wall. M. le Comte's
Drawing - - - - - - - 358
Acre. Marino Sanuto's Plan .... 396
Athlit (Chateau Pelerin). Author's Sketch - 399
Crusading Crests from Bethlehem. Author's Sketch 429
Tower at Tanturah. Author's Sketch - - 434
St. Mary at Ramleh. P. E. F. Plan - - - 437
Font of the Mediaeval Period - 439
MAPS.
Map of Syria in 1300 B.C. - - To face page 1
Map of Syria in 500 ad.-- „ 294
Map of Syria about 1180 a.d. - „ 412
Drawji specially under the Author's direction by Mr, G. Arm- strong^ late Sergt.-Major, R.E.
PREFACE
The following chapters are meant to give a general idea of the present state of our information concerning the ancient condition of a country which possesses peculiar interest as being the Holy Land of the Jew, the Christian, and the Moslem alike.
The limits of the country under consideration are the peninsula of Sinai on the south, and the Taurus Chain on the north, the Mediterranean on the west, and the desert on the east. It is clear, however, that the influence of surrounding nations in Egypt, Chaldea, and Asia Minor must always have been strongly felt in the long narrow line of sea-coast, generally known by the name of Syria towards the north and of Palestine to the south ; and it is intended in these pages to show not only what can be gathered from the antiquities of Syria itself concerning its ancient condition, but also how much light can now be obtained for the same purpose from the monumental remains of surrounding nations.
The progress of the study of antiquity in Assyria, Babylonia, Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt, as well as in Syria, has of late years been so rapid as entirely to revolutionize our ideas concerning the ancient history of Western Asia. The work of many well-
xii PREFACE.
known scholars will afford the basis of the present inquiry, which will, however, differ from other publica- tions in two respects : first, that Syria itself forms the main subject, and not merely the incidental parallel for consideration ; and secondly, that we shall be con- cerned not so much with history or literature as with archaeology and social conditions — with monuments and customs rather than with annals and books.
It is proposed, also, to found the present review of the results of exploration and research not on the Biblical narratives, but simply on monumental records. We shall, in fact, endeavour in the early chapters to show what could be known of Syria and of its inhabi- tants, Hebrews, Hittites, Phoenicians, etc., were there nothing left to us of a Hebrew literature. The reader will be able to judge for himself the effect of such a system on the illustration of the Bible, and only by incidental allusion will the connection between monu- mental and Biblical records be shown. It is, of course, well known that the results of study have hitherto all tended to show clearly the genuine character of Biblical literature so far as this is capable of being affected by archaeological criticism. Many theories once plausibly maintained have no doubt been destroyed by the dis- covery of the truth ; but the Bible as a whole stands out as the most wonderful monument of Oriental antiquity with which we are acquainted, and every year adds some fresh and welcome detail to the more perfect understanding of its varied contents.
It may perhaps be feared that these pages will con- tain only a new enumeration of well-known facts, and a repetition of what may be found at length in standard works. The reader must judge for himself if this is the case, and it is hoped that he will discover enough that
PREFA CE. xiii
is new and valuable to justify the attempt to summarize our information.*
The work is carried down'to a time much later than that of the close of the New Testament literature. This appears advisable for several reasons. First of all, we find in the mediaeval literature, as well as in modern customs, a survival of more ancient things which it is important to examine for the right under- standing of the more remote past ; and secondly, we are able, by a right study of the monuments and social conditions of Byzantine and Crusading Palestine, to avoid the errors of early writers who seemed to forget these important ages of the history of the country, and thus attributed to earlier races the work of Franks, Arabs, or Persians.
An archaeological account of Syria which stops short at the second century of our era must be extremely imperfect, seeing that by far the greater number of existing ruins date only as far back as the fourth and fifth centuries, while the native population is known to have retained unchanged its ancient paganism until at least as late a time.
* The rapid advance of Oriental archaeology may be best judged by reading Lenormant's ' Manual.' This was published in 1869, yet it is now in many respects quite obsolete, and his later works show great advance in the author's own views. Even the principle of the work is antiquated, for authorities are quoted without any reference to the time at which they lived as compared with the subjects of which they treat. The modern system which I have attempted to follow in these pages relies first on contemporary monumental evidence ; secondly on the writings of contemporary authors, and only very sparingly on the opinions of later authorities. Two other important rules must also be observed. First, that deductions should not exceed the safe limits of the actual state- ment ; and, secondly, that the credibility of each witness should be separately estimated.
xiv PREFACE.
With these few words of introduction we may pro- ceed to consider the ancient condition of Palestine from the earliest recorded times, through the period of the Hebrew and Persian monarchies, the Greek and Roman ages, the Byzantine and early Arab centuries, and down to the close of the Frank dominion, when the modern history of Syria may be said to begin.
In each period we must inquire into the social con- dition of the inhabitants of the country, and gather what we can concerning their race-origins, languages, religions, social customs, government, art, literature, and trade. Their architectural remains, inscriptions, and sculptures, with art objects and religious emblems, will form the basis of our knowledge ; and the evidence of ancient writers, great as is its value when fully weighed and clearly understood, must be considered to stand in a secondary position.
Finally, it may be noted that through the comparative method only — the method which has given such great results in every branch of scientific research — can really safe and permanent conclusions be expected in the study of antiquity.
C. R. C.
Note. — It is sincerely to be hoped that these chapters may attract the notice and indulgent criticism of some of those scholars from whom I have already learned so much, and to whom I am indebted for assistance and encouragement, so that in a later edition the work may profit by their corrections.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
CHAPTER I.
THE CANAANITES.
The country now called Syria* is first mentioned in Egyptian records under the title Luden or Ruten.t LudenJ was divided into Upper and Lower, the former, perhaps, embracing the Lebanon and part of Asia Minor, the latter term apparently applying to the country which we call Palestine, as far east as the
* The name Syria in Greek stands for the Hebrew Aram (' up- lands'). If it be of Semitic origin, it is not of the same root as Assyria, being spelt with Samech instead of Shin. The word Suria occurs in the Mishnah — ' Oholoth,' xviii.
f The Egyptians (like the Kaffirs and the early Greeks) did not clearly distinguish the sounds R and L, and the D and soft T in Egyptian are also interchangeable.
% Lude?i. This name is probably connected with that of Lydia — the Ludim of which Gugu (Gyges) was king in the time of Assur- bani-pal. In the bilingual inscription of the Decree of Canopus the Greek word Syria is represented by the Egyptian Ruten, show- ing the Rutennu to be inhabitants of Syria. On this monument the Phoenicians are called Kaft.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Euphrates. In Upper Luden the mountains rise to 10,000 feet above the sea, while the highest points of the watershed in Lower Luden do not exceed 4,000 feet.
The term Khar in'Egyptian texts appears to apply to the inhabitants of that part of Syria generally known as Phoenicia, and seems to be derived from the Semitic Akharu, * the back ' or ' west' This is the term whereby the Akkadian Martu (' house of the sunset') is translated in the Babylonian bilingual tablets, and the import- ance of the word will appear when we speak of the Phoenicians. This word is perhaps to be recognised as the original form of the Biblical Hor ha Har or ' moun- tain of the Khar' (Num. xxxiv.. 7), which is the title given to part of the Lebanon range.
The more familiar name Palestine does not occur on early monuments, but the Fenek (Phoenicians) are noticed in Egyptian records. Palestine, strictly speak- ing, is the country of the Peleshim or Philistines who inhabited the south-western plains towards the Egyptian frontier. In these plains the name still lingers in the form Fenish among the peasantry, for the N and L are often interchanged in the Fellah dialect. The garden of the Fenish (at Beit Jibrin), and the legend of the daughter of the Fenish King (at Soba and Latron), are the last survivals of the memory of the Philistines.
The term Canaan is translated ' lowlands,' and at a comparatively late period we find it on the Phoenician coins of Laodicea (or Ramitha), a city which is called ' Mother of the Canaan ' on coins of Seleucus. The
THE CANAANITES.
Phoenicians in North Africa also called themselves Canaanites,* or lowlanders.
It is curious, however, to note that a fortress of Canaanf existed, not in the lowlands, but apparently in the hills near Hebron. This is probably the present ruined site of Kan'an — a word which preserves un- changed the Hebrew lettering.
Several tribes are mentioned by name in Egyptian records as inhabiting parts of Syria, but two terms of wide application are in frequent use. The Amu or Asiatic foreigners may be thought to derive their name from the Semitic term 'Am or people. The Beni Amu, of whom Balaam is said to have been one (Num. xxii. 5), may perhaps be connected with the Egyptian term.
The Shasu, who according to the Egyptians dwelt in the Sinaitic deserts and in other parts of Syria, appear to have been predatory nomads like the wilder tribes of the modern Bedawin. As regards the Amaur, the Kheta, the Aperu, etc., we must speak later. J
* See Reland's ' Palestine,' vol. i., p. 7 ; 'Justin/ xix. 1, 10-13.
f The Pakaikna of the Mohar's journey is supposed by Chabas to be Pa Kanana. He identifies it with Kanah near Tyre ; but the spelling of the Egyptian word, if corrected as he proposes, would be identical with the Hebrew Canaan. The place, if a fortress, seems to have been near Achshaph (el Yasif) and Accho. The name Canaan applied to all the Syrian lowlands, including even the Jordan valley. The Kanana of Seti I. was a fortress beside a stream or lake in the Shasu country, and the identification of the site near Hebron has been accepted by several good scholars. The 'fortresses of Kanana' are also noticed by Thothmes III., with Orontes and Tennib in Syria ; the word being evidently thus used for 'lowlands,' as in Phoenicia. — ' Rec. Past.,' vol. ii., p. 51.
X The general term for Asiatics on the Egyptian monuments is Sati. In this we might perhaps recognise the Seth of Genesis.
I — 2
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Turning from Egyptian to Babylonian records, we find that Western Asia was peopled when history first begins to open to us (about 2,500 B.C.*), by two distinct Asiatic stocks which still dispute the possession of this part of the world — the Turanian or Ugro Altaic, and the Semitic. In addition to these we find Caucasian tribes in Armenia which remain yet unclassed, and which may possibly prove of great interest in connec- tion with the early Egyptian history. We know for certain that both Semitic and non-Semitic tribes were also in possession of Syria before 1,600 B.C., and our inquiry in the present chapter, embracing the period anterior to 1,000 B.C., may be divided under three heads, treating of the Turanians, the Semitic tribes, and the Egyptian settlements in Syria and in the Sinaitic desert.
Turanian Tribes.
The Turanian tribes, which at an early period spread south-west from the valleys of the Altai mountains,
* The recent discovery of an inscription of Nabonidus carries
back the date of Sargon, King of Agade, to about 3800 B.C. ; but
although the history of Egypt leads us to see no actual impossibility
in such a date, we may well pause to ask how Nabonidus, who-
reigned in 555 B.C., knew for certain the date of Sargon. Mr.
Pinches points out the existence of tablets carrying back the history
of Babylonia to 2232 B.C., but there is a considerable gap between
this date and that attributed to Sargon I. The tale of the birth of
Sargon, which closely resembles that of Perseus and of many other
heroes, is evidently mythical. The monuments at present recovered
in Babylonia and Assyria, with the exception of the inscriptions of
Sargon and his son, do not date earlier than about 2500 B.C. ; the
oldest Egyptian texts, about 3600 B.C., belong to the fourth dynasty.
THE CANAANITES.
north of China, had established themselves before 2500 B.C. not only in Media, on the highlands south of the Caspian, but also in Elam or Susiana, east of the lower part of the valley of the Tigris.* Four principal dialects are now distinguished as Turanian, in Baby- lonian and other cuneiform inscriptions, viz., that of the Akkadians or ' highlanders,' who came probably from the north and north-east, but settled in the extreme south, and whose name is recognised in_ the Accad of the Old Testament (Genesis x. 10) ; that of the Sumirs or ' settlers,' who dwelt in the Mesopotamian plains north of the Akkadians, and whose name has been by Lenormant and others connected with the Old Testament Shinar (Genesis xi. 2) ; that of the Elamites in Susiana,f whose name (but as a Semitic people) occurs in Genesis x. 22 ; and finally, that of the Kassi, the Cossaei of Strabo, who lived north of Elam, and in whom we may recognise, perhaps, the Cush
* The present inhabitants of Syria are the descendants of these older tribes. Turkoman shepherds living in tents in Northern Syria, and found even as far south as the plains of Esdraelon and Sharon, represent the Turanian element. The Fellahin are Semitic, and apparently mainly Aramean. The Bedawin are more or less pure Arab from the Hejaz, and in life and custom represent the Shasu of Egyptian annals. The Turkomans of the Sharon plain appear to descend from a horde which reached Damascus in 1295 A.D., and were settled in the Sahil (maritime plain). Cf. Yule's * Marco Polo,' i., p. 272.
t These Turanian races in Babylonia seem, however, to have been early mixed with Semitic tribes, and perhaps intermarried with them. Thus the Kings of Elam have Semitic names in some cases, like the Hittites in the Bible. It is not unnatural that such mixture should occur between races living in the same country.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of the Old Testament, a name supposed to mean < dark.'*
The affinity of these dialects to the great family of the Ugro-Altaic languages has been carefully demonstrated by Lenormant, and is now generally acknowledged. A connection of these ancient Tatar settlers with the Aithiops or ' dusky faces ' of Greek writers has also been indicated by the same writer. These latter were apparently the ' dark races ' which were ruled by Sargon I., akin, perhaps, to the black-haired Dravidians of India, whom Herodotus compares with the Aithiops of Asia (vii. 70), and who inhabited the southern parts of Chaldea and Iran/f*
The Turanian tribes appear to have been the first in
* Lenormant notices that the Turanian race in Media (which takes its name, he says, from a Turanian word Mata, ' land ') differs from the Akkadian. Its language is nearer to the Turkish branch, while the Ouralo-Altaic and Finnish are closer to the Turanian dialects of Mesopotamia. — 'Manual,' i., pp. 68, 343, 344.
f All scholars, says Lenormant (' Manual,' i., p. 58), are now agreed that the banks of the Tigris, Southern Persia, and part of India itself (where the tribes of this race were called Kausikas) were peopled by the Cushite family before being occupied by the Semitic and Aryan tribes. He attributes the Carians in Asia Minor to the same origin. The Dravidians in India are, however, not now included under the name Turanian, which is restricted to the northern light-coloured Ugro-Finnish race.
The Semitic word Casdim, used in the Bible, is rendered Chal- deans in the English. In the singular it occurs possibly in the name Arphaxad, ' limit of conquest ' (Genesis x. 22). It is found on a Phoenician seal with Egyptian figures in the word Meksed (perhaps ' conquest ').
On the boundary-stone of Nebuchadnezzar (perhaps the famous king so named) we find him called Kasid Mat Akharrz, ' Subduer of the land of the Westerns' (i.e., Phoenicians).
THE CANAANITES.
Asia to attain to a high state of civilization, and the wide-spread migrations of this great Asiatic stock have as yet not been traced to their farthest limits.* Suffice it here to note, that not only in Eastern Asia do the Chinese and the Japanese spring from the Altaic stock, but on the west they are recognised in the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, and the Basques ; in the north among Finns, Russians, and Esquimaux ; and in the south, perhaps among the Hottentots and Bushmen of South Africa. These Hottentots not only resemble closely the Tatar type in feature, but in language also have been thought to have a remote Turanian connection. In the Hottentot we may, perhaps, in our own times, study the primitive condition of the Turanian stock as existing in Asia at the earliest historic period. The general character of the religion of the Turanian tribes is now fairly established, and its main features are clearly parallel to those of Hottentot mythology. The sacred stone, the holy cairn, the ' tree-like one,' the ' coming redness ' (of dawn), the moon as the ' returning one,' and the ' greenness ' of the rainy season, are the propitious gods of this primitive race. The demon of darkness, or destroyer, the thunder-cloud
* The Caldai or Chaldeans, who are mentioned by Berosus and Diodorus Siculus, are noticed on the monuments in 879 B.C., and consisted of the Dakkuri, west of Euphrates, and the Ukan or Yakin, east of the river near the Persian Gulf, and south-east of the Dakkuri. They brought tribute to Shalmanezer. They took Babylon in 722 B.C. under Merodach Baladan. It is not known if these Chaldeans were Semitic, though this seems probable. The Greek writers make of the Chaldeans a priestly order — as in the Book of Daniel ; but this is apparently a later signification of the word.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and the lightning, are deprecated as evil beings. The serpent, connected with running waters in springs and rivers, is also holy : and the elements of astronomy are found in the worship of the ' flaming one ' — the Sun — of the Pleiades returning with the rains, of the belt of Orion, and the star Aldebaran. Houses and graves are oriented, and rude myths of the moon hare, the slaying of the lion and of the monster, the hero who passes dryshod through the sea and is cast into a pit, the babe who grows to a giant and becomes again a babe, recall the well-known details of Turanian mythology, as existing among the Finns and the Mongols.* The practice of circumcision with flint knives, and the prayers offered at the graves of ancestors, also serve per- haps to connect the Hottentot with his Asiatic ances- tors, and to indicate the wide-spread migrations of the Turanian race. It is becoming generally recognised by archaeologists, that in order to understand the religious ideas of such early tribes we must divest ourselves of all conceptions founded on the advanced thought of our own age. We must remember that abstract ideas had no existence ; that ' force ' was not conceived as possible save in connection with animal life ; that all motion was in fact supposed to be the manifestation of a life, breath, or spirit in the object moving, and that the idea of a common source of
* Cf. Hahn's ' Tsuni Goam.' The Hottentots have only developed the rudiments of a picture-writing not even reduced to a hieroglyphic system. The Bushman pictures are, however, very striking, and the Bushmen have been shown to be connected ethnically with the Hottentots.
THE CANAANITES.
movement was only slowly attained to by the most advanced thinkers of a later age. The result was the very natural belief in the existence of innumerable independent- spirits inhabiting every moving object. They were visible not only in man and beast, but in the tree tossing its branches, in the stone falling from a height, in the raging flame and the flowing stream. They were recognised also in the power of the unseen wind, in the swift scudding cloud, or the giant thunder- pillar raising its form from earth; in the sun,- moon, and stars soaring as great birds through heaven, and in the serpent-like dart of the lightning. This con- ception of the universe as an assemblage of mighty animals, each instinct with life, was not a theory but a natural phase of early thought. Those who find it difficult to grasp such a primitive conception should remember how in Egypt the sky is represented on monuments, now as Mother Nu bending over all, now as a cow with stars on her belly ; while the earth is at times the bull which swallows the sun ; at times the 1 mighty cackler ' Seb — the goose who lays each day a gold egg and a silver egg, which are the sun and moon. Such ideas are those of a child, and of mankind while yet in intellectual infancy.5*
* This view of the early religions of Asia is pf course very different from Totemism. I have never been able to find any evidence that Hebrews, Phoenicians, Arabs, or other Semitic races worshipped vermin, or supposed themselves descendants of pigs and dogs. The study of hieroglyphics shows us how very early what are called allegorical ideas existed. The word is misleading : the imperfections of early languages and the limited conceptions of the race really account for what is wrongly conceived of as allegory.
io SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Of the wondrous beings wherewith the early Tura- nians, like other early races, thus saw themselves sur- rounded, some were beneficent, some were evil. All that tends to the happiness of man was welcomed and worshipped ; all things evil were deprecated. The adoration of life lies at the very root of all these early religious systems, and the terror of darkness and death. Thus sun and moon, water and fire, the fruitful tree, the animals most useful to man, became his guardians and gods. The tempest, the lightning, the winter, the night, the plague, were evil beings from whom he sought protection, or vainly strove to depre- cate their wrath.
Among the Akkadians and kindred tribes we find such religious ideas very fully developed at an early period. Each settlement had its local sun-god and moon goddess. Nergal, 'the great chief;' Marduk, 'the sun's brilliance;' Tamzi, 'the sun's life;' Nin- kigal, ' the lady of the great region ;' Nin-ka-si, ' lady of the horned face,' were at first but local appellations of the two great luminaries. The spirit of earth and the spirit of heaven, with countless genii and demons, were also invoked or exorcised. Death and all disease were supposed, as among all primitive tribes, to be the work of unseen demons and witches. The storm fiends, the plague and fever demons, with Namtar — death or ' fate ' — were the most powerful of malignant beings ; while the fertilizing power of sunlight, dew, and
If we remember that Thmei has a feather instead of a head, we see that something beyond Totemism must be dealt with in Egyptian symbolism.
THE CANAANITES. ir
rain, was symbolized often by rude and unmistakable emblems.
The Akkadians also, like the Hottentots, believed in a hollow underworld, with its city of the dead peopled with ghosts flitting like birds or bats in the dark abyss, and ruled by Ir-Kalla, 'the mighty eater,' or nocturnal sun. The sun was conceived to descend through a hollow in the ' mountain of the world,' to travel by night through the dark abode of death, and to escape at dawn by the eastern gate. The moon also was at times detained by the infernal goddess, and was robbed of her light and glory. The ghosts of the dead were believed to be able to leave this prison for a while in order to haunt the living, and an Elysium under a silver sky was conceived as the abode of the just.
Such conceptions gave natural rise to stories con- cerning the adventures of Sun and Moon throughout the year, which we now call myths, and which in these early ages represented the childlike attempts of man to describe or explain the phenomena of nature. The Sun was said to struggle with the demon of darkness which had swallowed him — the dragon of the abyss, or the lion. He fought the wild bull or slew the giant Humbaba, ' the maker of darkness/ in whom some recognise the thunder-pillar. He visited the enchanted sunset garden in the west, and passed in his boat over the gloomy waters of the ocean upon which the earth was thought to float. The Moon in like manner was said to grow and diminish (to wax, as we now say, and to wane), to chase the Sun through heaven and descend to seek him in hell. The legends of Akkadians, trans-
12 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
lated later into Semitic dialects, represent nothing beyond the simplest observations of the history of sun and moon throughout the year or the month. The great gods of the Akkadians, An, Ea, and Mulge, were but the informing spirits (Zi, or ■ life ') of Heaven, Ocean, and Earth.*
The parallels which are found in later Asiatic folk-lore need not now detain us. The myths of the various Asiatic races have so close a connection as to make it seem more probable that they point to a period of extreme remoteness for their origin, than that the observation of the same phenomena led independently among various tribes to the same explanation. Myths occur among all early peoples ; but those of the Maories and of the Bantu races do not seem by any means as closely related to Asiatic folk-lore as are the folk-tales of the different Asiatic stocks to one another, and our general experience would lead us to suppose that inde- pendent explanations of any event would be marked by diversity rather than by a close accord, such as would naturally result when tradition handed down an early common explanation.
Not only was the religion of the early Turanians thus considerably developed, but their system of writing had also reached an advanced stage. It is generally acknowledged that the cuneiform or 'wedge- shaped ' writing originated among the Akkadian and
* The myths of the Akkadians are often very faithfully preserved among later Turanian tribes. The figure of the man-bull Heabani, for instance, and his adventures as the friend of a hero, may be recognised in Calmuc fairy-tales.
THE CANAANITES. 13
cognate tribes. Its natural derivation from picture- writing has been traced through the archaic forms of the earlier Babylonian texts. Like Egyptian hiero- glyphics, the system included both the use of symbols standing for syllables, and also of the older ideographs or sketches of the object, used as determinatives to secure the right understanding of the combined syllables. When this system came to be adopted by races speaking another language, the natural difficulty arose that the phonetic value of the ideographs was changed. Thus the Akkadian word Ki, or * land,' was expressed by a sign afterwards used to represent the Semitic Aretzu, * earth,' but still retained its phonetic value Ki when used as a syllable.* From the Assyrians these characters came to be employed by the Vannic tribes, and in Babylonia by the Persians, and continued in use until the Greek period. At an early age, how- ever, they were partially superseded, even in Baby- lonia, by the Phoenician alphabet, and as yet we have no evidence to show that they were ever used in Syria, save by the invading Assyrians and Babylonians.
This fact, which is generally recognised, is important as probably showing that a migration westwards of the Semitic tribes must be attributed to an early period, before the time when Turanian civilization had
* The examples given by Lenormant (' Manual,' i., p. 443) are as follows :
An ideograph lhc as a phonetic An in Assyrian. » Abu „ At „
The phonetic sound being the old non-Semitic word for the ideo- graph.
i4 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
been accepted by the Babylonians. The result was the adoption by Hebrews and Phoenicians of a simpler script, destined finally to supersede the clumsy cunei- form system.
In social customs and laws, the Akkadians had also reached a primitively civilized condition. It has been thought that the condition of women among them was more nearly like that which they enjoy among Finnic and Tatar tribes, than that which Semitic races per- mitted to the sex. The notices on which this view is founded are, however, perhaps hardly sufficient to decide the matter. Woman in all ages, and among all peoples in Asia, has probably enjoyed more power and consideration than we sometimes suppose,* although among the Semitic peoples, as among the early Greeks and other Aryans, the seclusion of the sex has been more habitual than among Turanians. The simple social laws of the Akkadians belong to an early stage of society, and we have even among the Hottentots linguistic evidence that before the separation of their various tribes they possessed the rudiments of social law in the acknowledgment of numerous family relationships, the practice of polygamy, and the regula- tion of inheritance. In the Akkadians we recognise a people far advanced beyond the condition of the savage unable to count or write, innocent of any sense of moral obligation or any art beyond that of the hunter ; but, on the other hand, it would probably be
* The Babylonian women, though of Semitic race, also engaged in trade on their own account. — ' Proceedings Soc. Bib. Arch.,' Feb. 5, 1884.
THE CANAANITES. 15
quite erroneous to regard them as having attained to a civilization or culture approaching even to that of the best ages of Egyptian history.
The Akkadians possessed a calendar, and gave names to the twelve months of the year. They knew how to make bricks, and built temples to the gods. They seem also to have carved in marble and worked in bronze. On the other hand, they held firmly the belief in dreams, portents, and the power of witches, which renders the life of the Zulu or the Bushman of our own times a continual condition of terror. It might per- haps once have been thought that the civilization of the Akkadians was derived from a Semitic source ; but all the evidence we possess seems to point to an opposite conclusion — as, for instance, in linguistic indications, such as the derivation of the Semitic word Hekal for a temple, from the Akkadian E-gal, or ' great house.'
It is to this early Turanian stock, of which the civilization has thus been sketched, that the important tribe of the Hittites may perhaps finally prove to have belonged.* These people, called Kheta on
* Professor Sayce considers that the Hittites were Alarodians of Cappadocian origin, and attributes to them the monuments of Eyuk and Boghaz Keui, Karabel, Ibreez, Hamath, Aleppo, Car- chemish, etc., but thinks that their culture was not advanced until they became established at Carchemish and Kadesh, being based on Babylonian art and indicating acquaintance with Egyptian sculpture. As regards the Boghaz Keui monument, the late Mr. Vaux, in his careful sketch of the remains found in Asia Minor, remarks : ' So far as we can judge from the engraving, the work resembles that of Behistan.' ' We are inclined to think that they must be of Persian origin.' Judging from the account given in Professor Sayce's ' Memoir of the Hittite Monuments,' there does
16 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Egyptian monuments, and Khatti on the Assyrian tablets, were certainly not a Semitic race, nor do they appear to have been very closely akin to the old Egyptian stock. We as yet know but very little of their language ;* but the negative evidence of the names of their princes and of their cities is sufficient to support the above statements, while the positive information perhaps tends to establish a Turanian origin. They were, indeed, the over-lords who ruled Semitic tribes, just as the Elamites ruled Semitic tribes in Babylon ; but the Egyptian sculptors of the fourteenth century B.C., who have given us representa- tions of the Hittite warriors in their chariots, have carefully distinguished them by a lighter complexion from their brown Semitic allies, and it is well known that differences of race were scrupulously distinguished by the Egyptians on their painted bas-reliefs. The general effect of the representation of the Hittites on the sculptures of Karnak bears a striking resemblance to the Tatar type, and the wearing of boots in place of sandals appears, possibly, as Professor Sayce has
not seem as yet to be any direct evidence of the Hittite origin of these sculptures, although the occurrence of hieroglyphics like those of Carchemish now forbids the Persian derivation.
* It is worthy of remark that the word Tar occurs in the names of several Hittite chiefs, such as Tar-tisibu, Tiatar, Tarkaunas, Tar- katagas, Mautar, and Totar. In Akkadian we have Tar for the 'chief (as in Tar-gal, 'great chief). Again, the word Sar, used in Aramaic for a leader, is found among the Hittites, as in Khelepsar, Khetasar, Maurasar. This word Sar is also of Akkadian origin, and was used in Egypt (see Professor Sayce, ' T. B. A.,' vol. v., and Chabas's ' Voyage d'un Egyptien,' p. 329). These indications seem to point to a Turanian origin for the Kheta.
THE CANAANITES. 17
remarked, to point to the northern derivation of the tribe, which is thought to have come from the Caucasus.*
We possess three Egyptian documents from which to form an opinion concerning the origin and civiliza- tion of the Hittites, namely, 1st, the list of towns conquered in Northern Syria by Thothmes III. ; 2nd, the famous account of the capture of Kadesh on Orontes by Rameses II., including the names of various Hittites ; and 3rd, the account of the travels of an Egyptian in Northern Syria and Palestine, belonging to the same reign with the last, which forms the subject of an important monograph by the French scholar Chabas.
From these sources we gather that the Khetat had attained to the over-lordship of the Semitic tribes of Northern Syria before the time of Thothmes III. That they lived in a country full of towns, the majority of which were known by non-Semitic names, and that
* The Hittite type, as represented on panels of the palace of Rameses III. (see Tomkins's ' Times of Abraham '), would appear to be less purely Turanian, the nose being aquiline. It is necessary to be very cautious in the matter, as the determinative in the case of one panel seems to show a southern tribe, although the com- plexion is yellow. There seems no impossibility in the creation of a peculiar type by the intermarriage of Hittites and Semitic tribes, and this may account for the Semitic names given to Hittites in the Old Testament. As regards the wearing of shoes, we find these on the feet of the Amu in Egyptian pictures, and they were also worn by the Phoenicians.
f The connection of the name Kheta with the word Kjttim for Cyprus, depends on the substitution of Caph for Cheth, which was no doubt sometimes made. Some archaeologists therefore propose to connect this name of Heth with Cush, the Kassi, Cathay (for China), and the Cutheans ; this would indicate a Turanian origin for the Hittites.
1 8 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the names of the Hittites themselves were non-Semitic, and apparently (though the evidence at present is meagre) Turanian. They had horses and chariots like the Amaur ; their complexion was lighter than that of the Semitic tribes, and they are generally represented as a hairless race ; they also wore pigtails of a very Chinese appearance, and boots. It is said that these boots had curled toes, like those of the modern Bashi- bazouk. Such boots occur, Professor Sayce tells us, on the feet of figures representing the Hittites at Karnak. In bas-reliefs representing inhabitants of Armenia, such curly-toed boots are also found, as well as on the Hamathite inscriptions. The Kheta warriors also wore cloaks, perhaps similar to the abba of modern times.
The treaty made between Rameses II. and the Kheta prince, whose daughter he afterwards married, was written on a silver plate. The Egyptian descrip- tion of this valuable document gives us a glance at the religion of the Kheta, and at their social condition. The animism of the Akkadians, already sketched, is reproduced in the Kheta invocation of mountains, rivers, clouds, and winds, which are evidently regarded as deities. In addition, we find Istar and Set (or Sut) to be their chief deities, having local shrines at their principal towns. As regards Set, he is called ' the king of heaven and earth,' and appears to be identical with the ancient Egyptian deity of the same name. From Egyptian documents and sculpture we know Set to have been the great god of night, appearing from the earliest times, now as the brother, now as the enemy
THE CANAANITES. 19
of Horus. Ra-Set is called ' the golden ' on an Egyptian sculptured sphinx found at Baghdad, a term also applied to Horus. Set appears also as the boar who swallows the eye of the god of day. The origin of the name Set or Sut is at present perhaps not certain, although, according to Lenormant, it is made to mean a 'pillar.'* De Rouge and others have sug- gested a connection with the Sed of Assyria and Babylonia, whence the Shedim or ' powers ' who have become goblins in the beliefs of the modern Jews; but it may finally prove that Set was one of the original non-Semitic gods common to Egyptians and other early tribes of Western Asia. Istar, the Kheta goddess, was also of Akkadian or Turanian origin, and there seems no evidence at present that the Kheta adopted Semitic deities ; but Kadesh,t their great fortress on Orontes, must have received its name from the Semitic popula- tion of Syria.
Set in Egypt is known as ' Son of Nu ' (the sky), agreeing with the Kheta appellation, ' lord of heaven.' His emblem was an extraordinary animal, with a head like that of an ant-bear, which cannot as yet be cer- tainly identified. It seems possibly to have been a
* See ' Origines de l'Histoire,' p. 217. There was an Assyrian god named Shita, whose shrine was near Arbela. — 'W. A. I.,' iii., pi. 66.
t The identification of Kadesh at the ruins of Kades, near Tell Neby Mendeh, which I proposed in 1881, has been accepted by several recent writers. Mr. Tomkins's argument that Kadesh stood in the lake of Kades seems to be met by the fact that this lake appears not to have existed till the third century a.d. See ' Heth and Moab,' p. 27.
2 — 2
20 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
dog or an ass, which latter, according to Epiphanius, was the emblem of Set.* The original symbol of Set was the menhir (since the stone is the determinative of his name), and his earliest cultus connected with that of Istar may have been that commonly known as 1 nature worship.'
The provisions of the treaty with the Hittites show a condition of settled society, and a nation employed even in the trades of ' skilful artisans ' living in cities with kings, scribes, and an army. The treaty is offensive as well as defensive, and wherever the Kheta obtained their civilization they appear at this time to have been nearly equal in power to the Egyptians. The treasure taken by Rameses on this campaign included bricks and rings of gold, vases and cups of bronze, heads of wild animals and deer. Thus, both in peace and in war in the fourteenth century B.C., the power of the tribes of Northern Syria quite equalled that of their neighbours in Asia and Africa.
Turning to the account of the conquests of Rameses IL, we find that the great league headed by the Hittites against Egypt included tribes of Northern Syria and Asia Minor. Among these are mentioned the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Aradus (the island on the Phoenician coast), the Mysians, Dardanians,
* Epiphanius (' Contra Haeret,' iii. and xxvi.) says that the ass represented Typhon, Seth, and the Gnostic Sabaoth. The attitude of the Set animal with tail raised, seated on its haunches, is, how- ever, not that natural to an ass. A dog has also been suggested. The dog was a deity of night in Egypt (Anubis), the son of Set. In Phoenicia the dog accompanies the sun — as in many other mythologies.
THE CANAANITES. 21
Moeonians, with Calchis (Kinnesrin), Carchemish, and Aleppo, and ■ all the people of Anaugas.' The study of the conquests of Thothmes I. and Thothmes III.,* two centuries before, shows that those great monarchs had yet earlier subdued all this country, including towns east of the Euphrates and north of Aleppo. The majority of names of towns in the geographical lists at Karnak appear to be non-Semitic in Northern Syria, although there is a mingling of clearly Semitic titles, such as Tel Benta, ' the maiden's hill.' The spoil taken by Thothmes III. included a gilt chariot of the Hittite king, with 924 other chariots, and precious stones, gold vessels, and a Phoenician diota or two- handled vase.
The Khatti of the Assyrian monuments are identified with the Kheta of the Egyptian. We gather the following information concerning the Hittites from these sources. Already in 1100 B.C. they are men- tioned as holding Carchemish, and about 850 B.C. this city was taken from them. The riches of the inhabi- tants of Northern Syria were still the same as in the days of Thothmes III. : silver, gold, tin, copper, horses, chariots, sheep, and oxen were their tribute. In the eighth century Shalmanezer found Hittites at Hamath, and subdued twelve Hittite rulers. Only in 717 B.C. was the Hittite capital at Carchemish finally colonized with Assyrians by Sargon, the conqueror of Samaria, whose policy of transplanting the defeated tribes led to the captivity of Israel.t
* Thothmes I. fought the Rutennu and advanced by Carchemish towards Mesopotamia, f The details of the Hittite history will be found in Wright's
22 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
It is interesting to inquire what was the greatest extent of the Hittite country. We know from Assyrian sources the names of the tribes north of Carchemish and Aleppo, such as Patinai, Gamgumi, Samallar Tuplai, and others. They may have been of the same race as the Hittites, though we have as yet no con- clusive evidence that this was the case. The evidence of the Hittite proper names is held by Professor Sayce to point to such kinship, and the language of these tribes is supposed by him to have been nearest akin to modern Georgian.
Historically, the name Kheta or Khatti is applied, by Egyptians and Assyrians alike, to the inhabitants of Northern Syria at Carchemish, Hamath, and Kadesh, We have as yet no right to extend the term to any tribe, even though of the same race, living north of the Taurus chain.
On the other hand, we have traces of the name further south, possibly at Hit on the Euphrates, at Tell Hatteh near Kadesh, at Hatta and Kefr Hatta in Philistia.* This southern extension agrees with the
* Empire of the Hittites,' in ■ Records of the Past/ and in other works. Chabas and Brugsch describe the Egyptian dealings with this people, and much useful information is found in Tomkins's ' Times of Abraham.' From these sources and from Professor Sayce and Mr. Ryland's papers in the publications of the Biblical Archaeological Society these pages are written, though the con- clusions are not always those of other writers. While, on the one hand, some may consider the conclusions too sceptical concerning the Hamathite texts, it is certain that others regard the whole Hittite question as an invention of modern scholarship. The truth no doubt lies between these extremes.
* Hattin is proposed by Rev. W. Wright ; but this is spelt with the hard Ta, a different root.
THE CANAANITES. 23
presence of Hittites in Hebron, as noticed in Genesis. The Hittites may perhaps be considered at one time to have advanced to the borders of Egypt, though in 1600 B.C. they were already only found in the north. Thns in the times of Joshua and Solomon ' the land of the Hittites ' is Northern Syria. Mariette proposed to identify the Hyksos with the Kheta (' Apercu,' p. 27), anc there certainly seem to be traces of non-Semitic blood in their portraits ; but here again we enter on speculations beyond the limits of our ascertained facts. In order to place the study of the tribes of Syria and Asia Minor on a firm basis, it seems now necessary to be very careful in our use of the information contained in the monumental texts. They are fragmentary and imperfect sources of information, and sweeping con- clusions may easily become misleading. Archaeologists have already jumped to two conclusions, which may be true, but which are not yet proved. First, that the monuments with peculiar hieroglyphic texts found in Asia Minor, Syria, and Babylon are Hittite writings ; and secondly, that there was a Hittite empire ruling over all the tribes of Syria and Asia Minor. We cannot yet prove or disprove either of these assertions. The history of Western Asia leads us to expect federa- tions for defensive purposes among numerous petty states in Syria, rather than a consolidated empire. The King of Kadesh and the Prince of Aleppo appear to have been independent in the reign of Rameses II., and there were twelve Hittite kings in Shalmanezer's age.
Possibly, then, the term ' empire of the Hittites ' is
24 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
as misleading as the term ' Hittite hieroglyphs.' Were it advantageous to propound a new theory we might, from the materials in hand, equally well speak of a Phoenician empire, since the Kaft and Khar certainly allied themselves with the Kheta, the Rutennu, and the Amaur.
The question of the Hittite literature is one which has as yet not passed the stage of theory and dispute. That the Hittite princes were accompanied by scribes, we learn from the poem of Pentaur ; and although these might have been possibly of Semitic or Egyptian race, it is perhaps more probable, considering the advanced civilization of non-Semitic tribes, that the scribes were also Hittites. The character in which they wrote, v*e have as yet no means of proving ; but several autho- rities, including Professor Sayce and Dr. Wright, are of opinion that the hieroglyphic character occurring on various inscriptions found in Northern Syria and in Asia Minor represents the Hittite character. Professor Sayce has gone further, and has endeavoured to read these inscriptions, and has suggested that the curious syllabaries used by the early Greeks in Caria, in Lycia, and in Cyprus, are derived from the Hittite hiero- glyphics. With regard to these theories, we may venture to suggest that it appears that the evidence at present available is not sufficient to place them in the category of inductively reasoned facts, however great our admiration for the ability and zeal of Professor Sayce. If it were certain that the Cypriote syllabaries were derived from the Syrian hieroglyphs, we should no doubt have a most valuable means of determining
HEBREW.
EGYPTIAN
HAMATHfTE.
) 12
P
n
J
u
^
DETERMINATIVE
Speech. Causation
Eartk Metal
Place Iafe
Movement
<S>
©
SI
A.
^
©
Country
THE CANAANITES. 25
the sounds represented on the hieroglyphic inscrip- tions ; but the resemblances are at present not numerous nor always very close, and the gap between the picture-writing of the Syrian texts and the conven- tional combination of straight lines and curves in the Cypriote syllabary is of course very wide.*
The resemblances between the Syrian hieroglyphs and those of Egypt are, on the other hand, sufficiently numerous to justify an inquiry whether or no they are merely fortuitous coincidences. About sixty signs may be compared, including many of those commonly used as alphabetic emblems in Egyptian, together with determinatives, such as those denoting ' country,'t * movement,' ' woman,' ' life,' ' sky,' ' metals ' ; the causative sign preceding verbs of action and the de- terminative of verbs of speech. J The scarabaeus and the pschent also occur in the Hamath texts.
* A stone bowl covered with figures, easily recognised as of the same script with that on the Hamath stones, has been found at Babylon. In this case the characters are incised. This discovery agrees with what is already known of the Babylonian style of the sculptures at Carchemish, on which similar hieroglyphics have been found. It is in Babylonia, perhaps, that the key to this interesting riddle will ultimately be discovered.
t This is the determinative for places in Egypt ; but Lenormant has noticed that the cuneiform determinative for countries and towns in Mesopotamia appears clearly to originate from the same sign. — ' Manual,' i., p. 306.
X We do not yet know in what language these inscriptions are written. The cuneiform was, it is true, read without the aid of any bilingual including a script already known. The number of cha- racters in Persian cuneiform being fixed and the ideographs treated as part of a cypher, it became possible for Grotefend and Sir H. Rawlinson to determine the language as Aryan. This was the
26 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
There are several ways in which this resemblance of Syrian and Egyptian hieroglyphs might possibly be explained. The Egyptians were an Asiatic race, and apparently brought their hieroglyphic system with them, already very complete, when they migrated to Egypt. The Syrian hieroglyphs* are far ruder and less conventional than the Egyptian ; they are, in the large
foundation of the wonderful modern study of cuneiform. In the case of the Cypriote syllabary the early attempts to read the riddle before a bilingual was found were, however, conspicuous failures, and the discovery of a Phoenician and Cypriote bilingual led Dr. Brandis and Mr. G. Smith to the unexpected discovery that the language was Greek.
* The following is the list of the monuments in this script at present known :
Hamath. Five basaltic texts in relief.
Aleppo. One basaltic text in relief.
Jerabis. Six basaltic texts in relief.
Ibreez. Bas-relief with inscription.
Asia Minor. Four texts discovered by Ramsay and Wilson.
Karabel. On the so-called Sesostris.
Boghaz Keni. Text in ten or eleven lines.
Eynk. Text and bas reliefs.
Mount Sipylos. On the statue of the weeping Niobe.
Babylon. Inscribed bowl.
Besides the terra cotta seals, the Ninevite seals, and the boss of Tarkondemos. We know, therefore, that this script was used by a people spreading over Asia Minor, Northern Syria, and Mesopo- tamia, having its centre possibly at Carchemish on the Euphrates. It is not at all improbable that this people may have been non- Semitic and akin to Hittites, Egyptians, Alarodians, or Colchians. The bowl and the seals may have been taken as spoils, and not made in Babylon ; only we must not forget that the Assyrians, Per- sians, and Phoenicians also pushed their way far into Asia Minor as conquerors or traders respectively.
THE CANAANITES. 27
majority of instances, carved in relief on hard black basalt, and may therefore be of very high antiquity ; they bear a closer resemblance in general character to the old wooden inscriptions of the tomb of Hosi, which are among the oldest known of Egyptian texts, than to the later hieroglyphs of the nineteenth dynasty. The Syrian hieroglyphs have also been found in various parts of Asia Minor, in districts approaching the pro- bable Asiatic home of the Egyptian race. Such in- dications might be taken to show that the Syrian hieroglyphs are the true prototypes of Egyptian characters, carved by the ancestors of the Egyptians, or by tribes bearing racial affinity to the Egyptian emigrants.
On the other hand, it is possible that the Hittites may have borrowed from Egypt, in more or less com- plete state, the system of writing used in the fourteenth century B.C., and that these texts may represent the rude attempts of local sculptors to reproduce Egyptian forms in a difficult material, for at present we have no clue to the language of the texts. It is, however, important to take into consideration the character of the sculptures which accompany the texts, and which might serve to lead us to a very different conclusion concerning their origin.
The Egyptians, we gather from their monuments, were a thin race, active rather than powerful. The same has been noticed concerning the Akkadians, who in this respect differed very greatly from the more sturdy build of the Assyrians and Babylonians, as represented on their monuments. The thews and
28 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
sinews of an Assyrian hero contrast in most remark- able manner with the slight forms of earlier Akkadian figures. Now, in every known case, the character of the figures accompanying the Syrian hieroglyphs is decidedly Semitic, both in proportions and also in general treatment. The fashion of shaving the upper lip, and wearing the beard untrimmed, is remarkably characteristic of the Phoenicians, both in their own statuary and also in Egyptian representations of this people. In the case of the Syrian hieroglyphic text found not far from Tarsus, a priest, or king, with his beard trimmed in the Phoenician manner, is represented worshipping a herculean deity, who, as Professor Sayce has noted, clearly resembles the Baal Tarz of Phoenician coins of this very city of Tarsus.
The reported discovery of the cartouche of Rameses II. on the Niobe of Mount Sipylos, which bears a Syrian inscription, seems to show that these hieroglyphs were in use at least as early as 1400 B.C., and that they were then distinct from Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is, as above shown, not impossible that they may be of Semitic origin ; and we might conjecture that the Phoenicians,* who developed their
* The discovery of the Babylonian bowl above noticed does not of necessity contradict such a conjecture, although it might in the end prove that the hieroglyphics are Babylonian and not Phoenician in origin. The Phoenicians, however, were intimately connected with the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, among whom the Phoenician alphabet was adopted, in the eighth century B.C. at latest. The intention of the paragraphs here devoted to these texts is to indicate the possible solutions of the puzzle, without any wish to form a premature opinion on the subject.
THE CANAANITES. 29
alphabet from the hieratic, may, at an earlier period, have used the hieroglyphic symbols in monumental inscriptions. The fact that the Syrian hieroglyphs are found at Eyuk, which is not far inland from the shores of the Black Sea, cannot be said to militate seriously against such a theory, since the Sidonians had a colony in this neighbourhood, in Sinope, at the mouth of the Halys, which flows near Eyuk.
Whatever be the final decision concerning these texts when some fortunate explorer lights on the much- needed key — a long bilingual — we may at least say that the present state of our information on the subject does not permit us to draw definite conclusions, or even to attribute these texts to the Hittites with certainty. Professor Sayce has drawn attention to what he believes to be a bilingual in cuneiform and Hittite ; but even if it were certain that the symmetri- cally repeated symbols of the silver boss of Tarkon- demos, King of Erme, were phonetic signs, or ideo- graphs, it is not clear that they are connected with the Hittite symbols, nor is the explanation of their meaning by any means convincing.
Semitic Tribes.
We have already seen that the Hittites of Kadesh were accompanied by tribes of the Ludennu, who appear to have been of Semitic origin ; and the name of Kadesh itself (' the holy ') is a well-known Semitic word. We have, however, still more important evidence of the existence of an early Semitic popula- tion in Syria, in the nomenclature of the Karnak lists
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
recording the names of cities conquered in Palestine by Thothmes III., for it is generally agreed that the Hebrew conquest of Canaan cannot be dated as early as the time of the great campaign of the Battle of Megiddo. The cities of Syria had, therefore, Semitic names before the Hebrews settled in Palestine, and it follows that their inhabitants must have been of Semitic origin. The same conclusion might be deduced from the Old Testament itself, and in the case of the Ammonites, Moabites, and the descendants of Ishmael and Esau, we find large tracts of country occupied by tribes akin to the Israelites at the time of the conquest. The names of the Canaanite tribes recorded in Genesis have also a meaning in Hebrew which indicates either that the tribes themselves were Semitic, or that the titles applied to them were appellations used by Semitic people dwelling among them. With exception of the Amaur (Amorites, or ' highlanders '), these titles — Perizzites, Hivites, Jebu- sites, and the rest — have not been found on Egyptian or Assyrian monuments ; but the Karnak lists furnish us not only with a proof of the existence of Semitic tribes in Syria, but also with clear indications as to their religion and civilization.
The Amaur are mentioned in the poem of Pentaur apparently as inhabiting Lebanon. The name is supposed by Ewald to mean * highlanders.' The country of the Amaur was invaded by Seti I. and Rameses II. There were two fortresses in it, viz., Dapur (or Dapl) and Kodesh, the latter represented on a hill with a stream one side. It is thought to be
THE CANAANITES. 31
another place than the Hittite Kadesh, although the Amaur are once noticed as if living not far from the latter fortress. Chabas makes Dapur to be Debir, and Kadesh to be Kadesh Barnea ; but Dapur might be Diblah in Upper Galilee, and Kadesh might be Kadesh Naphtali. In a text of the time of Rameses III., even the city of Carchemish is said to be in the land of the Amaur.
These Amorites seem by their features to have been a Semitic race : sallow, with long hair, reddish or black. They had bows, long shields, and chariots.* It was supposed by Professor Palmer that the name of the Amorites might be recognised in the name \Amarin. This is, of course, possible, since the Aleph has a tendency to harden into the guttural Ain ; but the name 'Amr in various forms is very common, and only the Hittites (at Tell Hetteh and Kefr Hatta), and perhaps the Kenites (at Yukin), can be said to have left their names in modern Palestine. The name of the Anakim has, however, been thought to be connected with the land of Anaka, mentioned in inscriptions of Thothmes III., apparently near Carmel.
The earliest appearance of the Semitic people in Babylonia is in the condition of pastoral and nomadic tribes, apparently advancing from their Arabian home, and ruled -by Elamite and other Turanian masters. In civilization they appear to have been inferior to the settled Akkadian and Sumerian peoples, from whom they received a knowledge of the arts, and by whose
* See Tomkins's 'Times of Abraham,' p. 85.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
language their own was enriched with terms relating to religion, law, and government. So, also, in Syria, we gather that the civilization of some of the Semitic tribes was inferior to that of their over-lords, the Hittites ; and the Shasu appear in Egyptian records as shepherds and predatory nomads, through whose country it was dangerous to pass, and from whom taxes or tribute could only be obtained by a military expedition.
Of the religion of these tribes we may gather some- thing by an examination of the names of towns in the Karnak lists, as well as of their social condition and language. The spoils taken by Thothmes III. also serve to show the civilization of the Canaanites ; thus, for instance, ' an ark of gold ' is among the articles taken at Megiddo, near which town, as we shall see shortly, there seems to have been a temple, with an image of Shin, the moon-god. We gather, therefore, that the ritual of the Canaanites in Palestine must have resembled that of the Phoenicians and Assyrians, among both of which races arks were used in the temples as well as among the Egyptians.
The name of Resheph (the Phoenician Rimmon, or Apollo), and perhaps of Chemosh (in the form Ac- mesh), of Ashtoreth, and of Shamash (moon and sun), are the most important to recognise among the town names of the Karnak lists, showing a people akin to the Phoenicians, Moabites, and Babylonians, worshipping the heavenly bodies under the same names. We have also Naamah ('the pleasant'), which was a Phoenician title of Istar ; Carmel, possibly named from the god
THE CANAANITES. 33
of the vine (Dionysus, or Bacchus) ; and Beth Anta, proving the adoration of Anat, the wife of Anu, and prototype of the Magna Mater. In Achshaph we may, perhaps, trace the worship of Kesaf, or Cassiopsea (' the silvery one,' or moon), who is, again, thought to be men- tioned in the travels of the Mohar ; and in Chinnereth, the name of Cinyras, a Phoenician representative, appar- ently, of the divine ' harper. In Adara and Adoraim, both occurring in the lists of Thothmes III., we recog- nise, possibly, the Babylonian Adar, or Saturn, and in 'Aphrah the ' fawn,' an emblem of Reseph and Dio- nysus, also a Phoenician symbol. Sabatna suggests a connection with Sabat, ' rest,' and the seventh day, and Ashameth recalls Ashima, a deity noticed in the Old Testament, apparently a kind of satyr. Hazor, * the enclosure,' may be the name of a sacred circle or grove, such as that of the Baal Hazor of the Book of Samuel. The names of towns have continually been derived from those of the gods there worshipped, as has been pointed out by several archaeologists. In the Old Testament we have many such cases, as, for instance, Beth Dagon, Beth Shemesh, Ashtoreth Carnaim, and, possibly, Beth Saida and Bethlehem, with many other instances.*
0 The names of Pagan origin preserved in those of Biblical
|
towns include : |
|
|
Ashtoreth Karnaim - |
' The two-horned Istar,' or moon. |
|
Azzah - |
'The strong,' a deity in Arabia. |
|
Baal |
'The lord,' common from Egypt to |
|
Nineveh. |
|
|
5, Hamon |
The Phoenician Jupiter Ammon. |
|
j, Hazor |
' Lord of the enclosure.' 3 |
34
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The evidence of the lists as regards the social con- dition of the people is less ample. The existence of
Baal Hermon - „ Shalisha - „ Tamar
Bamoth Baal -
Bene Berak
Bethany -
Beth Dagon
Bethlehem
Beth Peor
Beth Saida
Beth Shemesh -
Beth Shitta
Carmel
Charashim
Dan-
Eglon
Gilgal
Hadad Rimmon
Hazor
Jericho
Kadesh
Meonenim
Migdal Gad -
Naamah -
Nain
Nebo
Ophrah -
Parah
Rimmon -
Salem
Sidon
Timnah -
Tophel and Tophet
Zarephath
' Lord of the great sanctuary.'
1 Lord of three ' (a triad).
' Lord of the palm ' (a sacred tree).
' The high places of Baal.'
* Sons of Barak' or ' lightning' = Resheph.
Connected with Ami or Ani.
House of the great fish-god.
House of Lakhmu, the Creator.
House of the Priapus.
Perhaps, House of Tzid.
House of the sun (Shamash).
House of the thorn-tree (a sacred tree).
' The vineyard god.'
1 Enchanters.'
Perhaps ' the judge,' short for Diannissi.
' The calf (the sun emblem).
' The cromlech.'
Jupiter Pluvius of Assyria.
' The enclosure.'
1 The moon.'
' The holy.'
' Soothsayers.'
Fortress of Gad ('good luck').
' Pleasant ' (a name of Istar).
Perhaps the Akkadian Nin (' lord ').
'The prophet' (Assyrian Mercury).
' The fawn ' (sun emblem).
1 The heifer' (sun emblem).
1 High ' (the Assyrian Jupiter).
' Peace' (a name for Nisroch in Assyria).
Perhaps from Tzid, a Phoenician god.
' The south ' or mid-day.
Connected with Moloch.
A name of Istar.
Others might be added. Of course these form a minority among a number of names denoting the presence of hills, springs, wells, forests, gardens, towers, etc., which are purely geographical.
THE CANAANITES. 35
fortresses is shown by the name Migdol, ' the tower,' and that of open villages by the prefix Kirjath. Beth Tappuah ' house of the apple ' suggests the existence of orchards, and En Gannim, ' spring of gardens,' shows cultivation of a similar kind. Kadesh indicates the probable presence of Kodeshoth, or temple-women, and Rabbath may show a ' capital ' city of larger size. It appears, then, that the Semitic inhabitants of Palestine and Syria were akin in language, in religion, and in their rites of worship, to the Phoenicians in 1600 B.C., and were not merely a nomadic people. This agrees perfectly with the condition of the Amorites, Hivites, and other Semitic tribes which Joshua en- countered in Palestine a little later.
We shall see in the next chapter that the Phoenicians were already a civilized race in this century, and we may suppose that they were the traders who carried the use of a rough currency of gold rings and bricks throughout the country, and who sold such works of art to the Syrians, as the diota specially mentioned by Thothmes, as taken at Megiddo.
The journey of the Mohar in the reign of Rameses II. gives us another valuable glimpse of the condition of Syria in the fourteenth century B.C. Some doubt may exist as to the locality of places which he visited, but the general line of his journey is traceable beyond dispute.*
The Mohar was returning from the land of the
• Khatuma and Ikatai, mentioned with Aup, are not known. The former might be from the plural (Semitic) form of Kheta, as found in the Bible. In the lists of Thothmes III. we find a Khatuma, with other towns, apparently near Aleppo.
3—2
36 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Kheta, and from Aup, which appears to have been Northern Palestine. He mentions Aleppo, and Tibhah (i Chron. xviii. 8), the site of which is still unknown ; the latter, with Kadesh on Orontes, he visited. He next passed to Pamakar, which Chabas identifies with the Makras of Strabo, apparently the Phoenician coast noticed by the Greek writer with Marsias (perhaps Martu), the plain separating Lebanon and Antilebanon. This region, we learn, was covered with dense woods of trees, supposed to have been cypresses (or firs), oaks, and cedars. It was full of lions, wolves, and hyaenas ; and as the Egyptian determinative of the first word, Maou, is a lion, we find valuable evidence of the existence of lions in Palestine to a late period, although now extinct. The lion is also often shown on Assyrian sculptures. These wild animals, the Mohar tells us, were hunted by the Shasu, who are thus found as far north as Lebanon, and who are connected in a later passage with the Amu.
The Mohar seems probably to have come down the valley of the Eleutherus, for he next reaches Gebal, where (according to one rendering) he found the goddess Kesaf worshipped. She may be identified, as Chabas remarks, with Cassiopsea,* daughter of Cepheus, also worshipped at Joppa ; and her father's name is probably the Kefi, or Kaft, of Egyptian texts,
* This may be the Hebrew Kesaf (' silver '). The ' silvery one ' (Cassiopasa) claimed to be more beautiful than the Nereids, or daughters of Nahar (' the river'). The silver goddess brighter than the silver stream was no doubt the moon. It is one of the numerous Semitic myths which have found their way into Greek mythology.
THE CANAANITES. 37
a name applying to the Phoenicians. The Mohar passes on to Beirut, Sidon, Sarepta, and over the river Nazana (probably the Kasimiyeh), to Tyre, ' a city in the sea.' Thence, after passing Pakaikna and Achshaph (el Yasif), he proceeds by Hazor (the Hazor of Lower Galilee) to Hammath (near Tiberias) and Tarkaal, or Tarichese, reaching Matamim, which seems to be evidently Mat-ha-mim, ' the land of waters,' or region near the Sea of Galilee. C
The narrative here halts to enumerate the towns of the land of Takhis,* which seems to have been part of Aup,f and connected with Kati (' the circle '), the Egyp- tian name of Galilee, according to Chabas. The towns of Takhis include Kadesh, Dapul, Tsidphoth, and others which might be recognised (as I have endeavoured elsewhere to show in detail)]: in Upper Galilee, and with them is noticed Khanretza. Here, also, the Mohar saw an ' image of Sinah ' (the determinative of the word being the figure of an idol), which may be thought to show the worship of Sin, the moon-god, in this vicinity. He proceeds on his way to Rohob and Bethshean, and thence to Megiddo (possibly Mujedda'),
* Takhitz has also been read Terekhba (Birch) and Takheba (Brugsch). It appears to be mentioned as early as Una's time as a land of corn, figs, and olives, near the sea. — Tomkins, ' Times of Abraham,' p. 79.
f ' The land of the Khar from Tsor to Aup ' (Anastasi Papyrus III. i. 10) means probably Phoenicia from Tyre to Aup or Aub. The frontier fortress of Aup was Khanretza (Chabas proposes as a correction Khauretsa). This might be Harosheth (el Harithiyeh), as suggested by Chabas ; or not impossibly Chinnereth or Gennesa- reth, which is mentioned on the lists of Thothmes III., the Cheth, Gimel, and Caph being sometimes interchanged.
% See Conder's ' Handbook to the Bible,' p. 277, third edition.
33 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and alludes to the fords of Jordan. Here he demands camel flesh of the local chiefs, and then begins the most arduous part of his journey, across the Carmel watershed to the Sharon plain (neither of the latter names is, however, mentioned). The pass is rocky, and infested by Shasu thieves, and the road blocked by various kinds of bushes, such as still abound in Wady 'Arah, which was probably the route taken. Here the Mohar meets the Marmar, but whether this be a tribe, a man, or a demon, is as yet unknown. His horses take fright, his chariot is much injured ; and as this is the only occasion on which he finds difficulty in driving, save when he is crossing a pass at Pamakar, we may perhaps conclude that he journeyed in the plains, except when crossing Lebanon and the Carmel watershed, which agrees perfectly with the proposed route. Reaching Joppa, he finds a garden, where he amuses himself; and his chariot is mended by skilled workmen in wood, metal, and leather, but whether Egyptians or Syrians we are not told. From Joppa, he proceeds by Rehoboth and Raphia to Egypt.
Now, from this valuable document we see that although the name of Egyptian was regarded with terror even in the vicinity of Megiddo, and secured obedience near Tyre and Joppa, still the country was throughout infested by Shasu, who took opportunities of stealing all they could from the Mohar; and his journey is mentioned as the feat of a bold explorer in wild lands. The condition of Palestine reminds us, in fact, of that which is mentioned in the Book of Judges, when every man did that which was right in
THE CANAANITES. 39
his own eyes. The mountains were thickly covered with woods, or copses, and wild beasts, including the lion, abounded. All this agrees perfectly with the indications in the Book of Judges of the general anarchy then existing in parts of Syria.
There is one curious expression to be noted. Just before speaking of the Mat-ha-mim, the Scribe says : t Let me see Iah,' a place possibly the same as the Iaha conquered by Rameses III., as suggested by Chabas. There is a lacuna, however, here in the determinative, so that it is not quite certain that the word is geographical. Possibly we have here a temple consecrated to the worship of Jehovah. The name occurs close to that of Tarka-al (Tarichese), which appears to have been an important town, ' the meeting- place of all Mohars.' The terminative ' al ' or 'el' shows the worship of Elohim at this place, and the temple of Iah may, perhaps, have been in Taricheae.
Such, then, is the evidence of these monuments. We see a Syria not very unlike that of the nineteenth century, before the present influx of European resi- dents had commenced ; a country with cities and fields, with riches and temples, with kings, soldiers, and scribes, chariots and horses, artisans and traders, but also with forests, wild animals, wandering nomads and brigands. A country where the Tatar race was strongest, but yet only able imperfectly to rule the wilder tribes of the Semitic population, and where the Phoenicians were recognised as the chief trading people.
The lists of the spoils taken by Thothmes III. during the campaign against Kadesh and [Megiddo give an
40 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
astonishing idea of the civilization of the Syrians. These spoils were by no means all either the property or the manufacture of the Kheta, and some articles are enumerated as Phoenician. They include animals and skins, woods, metallic works of art, jewels, temple furniture, and warlike material.
At Megiddo itself, where the Phoenicians, the Hittites, the Katu, and the inhabitants of Naharain or Mesopotamia seem to have assembled to resist the Egyptian invasion, the spoil taken was enormous : horses, foals, bulls and cows, buffaloes and goats, are enumerated, with 280,200 bushels of corn from the plains of Megiddo, and mulberries, figs, and vines ; incense in amphorae, honey, and logs of sycamore for burning. Silver statues are noticed, and an ark of gold ; statues of the chief of Megiddo, of ebony in- laid with gold, the head being of gold ; and seven poles of the pavilion (perhaps temple pillars) plated with silver.* The chariots taken were plated with gold. Two hundred suits of armour of brass or bronze, bows and swords of different kinds are enumerated, with precious stones, gold in rings, and silver in rings, shekels or weights of gold, lapis-lazuli, the ornaments of a chief's daughter, gold dishes and vases, a cup (the work of the Kharu or Phoenicians), bronze vessels, and stone vases from Assyria,t a sceptre of gold in-
c' These 'poles of the pavilion ' (see ■ Records of the Past/ vol. ii., p. 45) throw a curious light on the account of the Tabernacle in the Pentateuch.
f Stone vases painted and varnished, from Yemen, Sana, and Mecca, were brought to Syria in the twelfth century a.d. — ' Assizes of Jerusalem and Edrisi.'
THE CANAANITES. 41
laid with jewels, and tables studded with gems. Of other furniture mention is made, including chairs of gold, ivory, ebony, and cedar inlaid with gold, together with the footstools of these chairs or thrones ; large tables of ivory and cedar, decorated with gems and gold, are also enumerated, and boxes or coffers of gold.
In another fragment the spoils from Kush (the Kossaei) and from Erech are noticed, including slaves, both native and negro, cattle, asses, goats, a lion's head, and an antelope ; incense, dates, oil, wine, cedar, fragrant wood, ivory, ebony, vases, tusks, a cedar chair, a silver jug of Phoenician origin, lapis-lazuli from Babylon, iron ore in bricks, iron vases with silver handles, chariots painted and inlaid with gold and silver, spears, shields, bows, armour, and a galley of the Remenu.*
The tribute of the Rutennu and Shasu included also diotas of gold and silver, and a vase in the shape of a bull's head, with rings of silver, silver dishes, manna, natron, precious stones, incense, dates, oil, honey, wine, cattle, kids, mares, ivory, bronze swords and spears. The Kheta brought negro slaves,-f gold and ivory ; and the corn stores of the country were looted, while the Phoenician towns of Simyra and Aradus seem also to have been pillaged. Clearly, then, Syria
c" The Remenu are generally supposed to have been Armenians ; but would Armenians have galleys ? Perhaps Arameans are in- tended, if the translation ' galley ' is reliable.
t How is it that we find negroes in Syria at this time ? Lenor- mant states that Rameses II., who made great slave-hunting expeditions into the Soudan, transported whole tribes of negroes into Asia, and brought Asiatics in their stead. — ' Manual,' i., p. 257.
42 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
was rich in corn, wine, and oil, and in gold and silver, gems, and works of art, as well as in flocks, herds, horses and asses, chariots, and arms and armour — a prosperous land before its conquest by the Israelites under Joshua.
In addition to the indications thus deducible from the monuments, we have existing remains in Syria which may reasonably be thought to be attributable to the early inhabitants of the country, in the numerous rude-stone structures of which so many examples have been described of late years. Such monuments being without inscription or sculpture, it is, of course, not possible to demonstrate with certainty their ages ; but there are indications in their distribution of their prob- able antiquity. Rude - stone monuments bearing a strong family resemblance in their mode of construc- tion and dimensions have been found distributed over all parts of Europe and Western Asia, and occur also in India. In some cases they are attributable to early Aryan tribes, in others they seem to be of Semitic origin. They include menhirs, or standing stones, which were erected as memorials, and wor- shipped as deities, with libations of blood, milk, honey, or water poured upon the stones. Dolmens, or stone tables, free standing — that is, not covered by any mound or superstructure,* which may be considered
0 This subject is considered in detail in ' Heth and Moab.' The dolmens are by some supposed to have been tombs once covered by earthen mounds. The exploration of the Moabite dolmens showed, however, very clearly that in many (probably in all) cases there could never have been a mound. Chambers under mounds, built of stones as are dolmens, are common enough, and are cer-
THE CANAANITES.
43
without doubt to have been used as altars on which victims (often human) were immolated. Cairns, also memorial, and sometimes surrounding menhirs ; these were made by the contributions of numerous visitors or pilgrims, each adding a stone as witness of his presence. Finally cromlechs, or stone circles, used as sacred enclosures or early hypasthral temples, often with a central menhir or dolmen as statue or altar. There are good reasons for connecting these enclosures
CROMLECH ON MOUNT G1LBOA.
with the observation of the rising and setting of the sun, and thus with the first rude calculation of the return of the seasons.
Each of these classes of monument has its distinctive name in the Semitic languages. The menhir is called
tainly in many cases tombs ; but these serve to prove the durability of such mounds. It is evidently impossible to suppose that 'free- standing dolmens ' would be suitable for tombs. The decaying' corpse would be left exposed to weather and wild beasts, and would infect the air. We know no instances of corpses being so neglected, save when enemies were left on the battlefield.
44
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Metzeb (the Arabic Nusb), rendered 'pillar' in the English version of the Old Testament ; the dolmen is called Mezbah, or * altar ' (the Arabic Medhbah) ; the cairn is mentioned as Margamah (the Arabic Merjemeh and Rujm), ' a heap ;' and the cromlech, or stone circle, appears, probably, under the names Gilgal and Hazor
DOLMEN NEAR HESHBON.
(the Arabic Hadhr), a • circle ' or ' enclosure.' Ex- amples of each of these classes of monument have been found in Syria, and they exist in great numbers in all parts of the country east of Jordan ; but a thorough examination of Palestine proper has shown that probably no such structures exist west of the river,
THE CANAANITES. 45
with exception of a few examples in Galilee. The existence of dolmens on the well-known site of Nebo, a mountain connected by name with the Semitic Mercury, suggests a connection with early astro- nomical worship, and the most natural explanation of the non-appearance of rude-stone monuments in Judea and Palestine seems to be that they were destroyed by the Jewish kings Hezekiah and Josiah, who carried out the injunctions of the Book of Deuteronomy, to demolish the religious emblems of the Canaanites. Neither Greeks, Romans, Persians, nor Arabs were likely to interfere with such structures, for each of these races erected similar monuments in connection with religious ceremonies. Thus the dolmens remain in some cases close beside Roman buildings in Gilead, and are respected as ' Ghouls' houses ' by the modern Bedawin .* We have numerous references in the Bible to the construction of similar monuments by the early Hebrews. The Stone of Bethel was a menhir, the Cairn of Mizpeh a memorial heap. The Israelites, under Joshua, are related to have built a Gilgal of
* With respect to the great millstone-like antiquity called Men- sef Abu Zeid, in theGhores Seisaban, not far from a large dolmen centre, the reader will find a paper in the Journal of the Anthropo- logical Institute, 1885, which describes similar monuments in America. They appear to be altars on which victims were killed and cut up. One example, fourteen feet in diameter, is mentioned, with representations of the sun, moon, stars, etc., on its face. The Mensef Abu Zeid is said to have been the ' dish ' on which Zeid — an Arab legendary hero — cut up a camel with rice to feast the Arabs. The stone Habhah, originally existing at Mecca, and on which camels were sacrificed, seems to have been another of these altars.
46 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
twelve stones ; and it was only in a later age that such monuments became odious from their connection with a cruel superstition.
The existence of human sacrifice among the early Asiatic tribes, to which there is frequent allusion in the Old Testament, is proved by the explicit directions of an Akkadian inscription prescribing the immolation of a son in times of great national trouble. This cruel custom survived, as we shall note, to a very late date among the Phoenicians ; but it was not peculiar to the Semitic tribes, and it is still hardly stamped out among the aborigines of India. In addition to such bloody rites, we have evidence in the name Succoth Benoth and in classic literature of the licentious worship of Istar, and of the celebration of immoral orgies at stated seasons, connected with the worship of life and fertility, which forms, perhaps, the most important feature of all the early Asiatic religions.* Such practices were still
0 We can obtain some idea of the sacred, ceremonial robes and ordinary dress of the various early tribes from Babylonian and Egyptian sculptures. The gods are represented in robes apparently of goats' hair, these robes being in some cases peculiarly made with flounces. On a tablet from Sippara (ninth century B.C.) the sun- god wears a long robe either of hair or of some striped material, with the cidaris turban (whence the Parsee hat seems derived). We may compare with these the ' coats of skins ' (Gen. iii. 21) given to Adam and Eve. The derivation of the Akkadians from a colder district may perhaps be connected with these robes. The ordinary dress of Babylonians and Assyrians was apparently much like modern Oriental dress in the same districts. The Rutennu are represented also with flounced dresses in Egyptian pictures, and such flounced dresses have been noticed by G. Smith and Mr. Loftus in Chaldea on dancing-boys, the dress being coloured red, yellow, and blue.
THE CANAANITES. 47
common in Syria in the fifth century a.d., and it is tolerably certain that they survive among the moun- taineers of Lebanon to the present day, as they do among the Sakti worshippers of India : for the women attached to a Hindu temple exactly reproduce the Kodeshoth, or ' devotees ' of Istar, found in every Kadesh or other town sacred to the great mother goddess. The Menhir, or conical stone, was the emblem throughout Syria of the gods presiding over fertility, and the cup hollows which have been found in menhirs and dolmens are the indications of the libations (often of human blood) once poured on these stones by early worshippers*
In addition to rude-stone monuments, we have other remains in the Tells, or mounds, to which great antiquity may be attributed. t The name is applied
Vestments worn on particular days in the temple of Sippara are mentioned in 880 B.C. The kejiyeh, or Arab shawl headdress, also appears to be represented on the monuments and to have been a very early headdress of the lower orders, as also is the white head- veil (Tarhah) of the women. Of arms and armour we also obtain a very clear idea from the monuments.
* The lingam worship of India is sufficiently familiar to all students. It is very interesting, however, to learn from Dr. Chaplin that it still survives in Palestine near the Sea of Galilee.
\ Flint instruments occur in Syria, as in Egypt, and in the Sinaitic peninsula. They are of all ages, from the present time back to the days when the rhinoceros was found in the Lebanon. I have found a few worked flints of little value in Galilee and in Moab ; but it is in the great caverns with stalagmitic floors that the oldest and most important specimens are found. A large collection has been made at Bethlehem by a priest, but the antiquity of these is unknown. The wild ox existed in Syria and Mesopotamia to a comparatively late historic period, as did also possibly the elephant.
48 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
both to natural features and also to artificial tumuli. The latter are found in plains and alluvial valleys, and in the case of those of Jericho, have been shown by excavation to have been composed of unburnt brick. The Tells abound in Syria, as, for instance, in the plains near Kadesh, and are often large enough to form the site of a modern village ; in other cases they would only have formed the citadel or shrine of a town sur- rounding the mound. It is on such mounds that the palaces of Babylon were also founded, the material being an unburnt brick ; and we have many instances in Syria (as, for example, at Tell 'Arad) in which a Tell of this structure marks the undisputed site of a very ancient town. Many of the towns conquered by Thothmes III. are now represented by ruined Tells. The presence of water in the vicinity of the Tells, which is also an almost invariable feature, tends to indicate an inhabited spot ; and, generally speaking, an artificial Tell may be regarded in Syria as the site of an ancient town, or the foundation on which a temple or citadel belonging to such a site once stood. In some cases the Tells appear to have possessed terraced sides with retaining walls of stone : it was on such walls that the sculptured bas-reliefs of Babylonians and Hittites were carved, and the appearance of the
The historic period in Egypt, it must be remembered, is as old as the prehistoric of Europe, according to the calculations of Lubbock (see ' Prehistoric Times,' p. 383, and Sir J. W. Dawson's paper on ' Prehistoric Man in Egypt and the Lebanon,' Vict. Instit., xviii. 71). There are caves on Carmel, in Judea, and elsewhere still awaiting examination, as, for instance, the cave of Umm et "Tuweimin, the stalasrmitic floor of which has never been broken.
THE CANAANITES. 49
mound in such cases must have resembled that of the Ziggurat or stepped monuments of Babylonia, such as the celebrated Temple of Bel at the capital. From the account of the battle of Megiddo, we gather that the cities of the Rutennu or Ludennu were fortified with walls possibly of mud and wood, and also of stone ; but these do not appear to have been of great height, seeing that the defeated fugitives were dragged over the ramparts by their clothes. The defence of the town depended, in fact, mainly on the height of the mound or Tell forming its base ; and the ease with which Canaanite cities were stormed appears to show that their fortifications were not very for- midable.
The use of caves as dwelling-places is indicated by such names as Beth Horon, ' house of the cavern.' The Syrian peasantry and the Turkish peasants of Asia Minor are still, to a great extent, troglodytic, and classical writers speak of the natives on the Red Sea shores as cave-dwellers. In Akkadian, the sign for house and cave is the same. In the Old Testament we find the Hebrews still dwelling in caves in the time of Saul and David. The Horites, or ' men of the hole,' seem to have got their name from dwelling in caves.
Briefly to sum up the present results of our inquiry as to the tribes of Syria before the time of the invasion under Joshua, we have seen that there is ample evidence of the existence of a mixed Semitic and non- Semitic population of great tribes called Kheta, Kaft, or Fenek, Amaur, Anaka, and Shasu ; of a civilization
4
50 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
having its focus chiefly in the north, but extending also to the south ; of walled cities, and temples ; of chariots ; of artisans and traders ; of riches in gold, silver, bronze, tin, and copper ; and of works of art, wrought vessels, and gems ; also of scribes and writers of hieroglyphics, and of a wide Phoenician commerce. The account of the Babylonian garment of Achan, and of the caravan which took Joseph to Egypt, are shown by this evidence to be quite credible in such an age.
From such a review of existing monuments, we appear then not only to gather more than might perhaps be expected about the early condition of Syria before the Hebrew invasion ; but, moreover, all that we thus learn must be considered to agree perfectly with such indications as might be gathered from the pages of the Old Testament. It remains to consider the influence of Egypt in Syria, which reached its culmination in the time of Rameses II.
^Egyptian Rule.
The earliest monuments to be found in any part of Syria are those which mark Egyptian domination in the Sinaitic peninsula. At Sarbut et Khadem ('the servant's pillar ') we have the name of Senefru of the third dynasty (circa 3600 B.C.) still visible, and he appears to have been the first Pharaoh to work the Sinaitic copper mines. In the time of Amenemhat of the twelfth dynasty, they were again worked, but they were abandoned apparently before the earliest date to which the Exodus can be ascribed. It appears, in fact, that the copper had been exhausted, as had the
THE CANAANITES. 51
quarries and mines of Hammamat before the time of the twelfth dynasty.
In the records of the conquests of the great eighteenth dynasty, we see the first ebb of the wave of Semitic migration, which, 500 years previously, had overflowed the delta and led to the establishment of the Hyksos kings at Zoan. The term Hyksos is explained by Brugsch to mean shepherd kings in the Egyptian language, Hik being a ruler or chief with the hieroglyph of a shepherd's crook, and Shashu being, as before noted, the term for the pastoral tribes of Southern Palestine.* The Hyksos, according to Manetho, were Arabs or Phoenicians, and the evidence of their Semitic origin has been made sufficiently clear to satisfy Egyptian scholars. The influence of these rulers on the native Egyptians is shown by the numerous Semitic words which appear in Egyptian records of the post-Hyksos period taking the place of the truly
* It has been pointed out by the Rev. H.C Tomkins that the type of the Sphinx at San, supposed to represent the features of a Hyksos king, is not purely Semitic. The high cheek-bones are like the Turanian type. The broad hooked nose is not unlike that of heads supposed to be Hittite. On the other hand, the large beards and the long hair of figures in the Hyksos room at the Boulak Museum are unlike the Egyptian and Hittite types, but re- semble early Babylonian figures, while the Phoenicians have long beards and thick hair on the monuments.
We must be very cautious in our conclusions on such subjects. The Hyksos and the Hittites both worshipped Set, but Set may not impossibly be a Semitic deity. It is possible that mixed Turanian and Semitic tribes existed in Egypt in the Hyksos cen- turies. Of the existence of a strong Semitic element at this period there is no doubt, and Mariette long ago suggested that the Hyksos were Khetas.
52 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
native terms used at an earlier period.* The strong Nubian dynasty, of which Thothmes III. was the most famous member, terminated the rule of the Semitic kings by the capture of Zoan. The influence which was exerted by the superior civilization of the older native race upon the Hyksos is evidenced by their adoption of the hieroglyphic character and Egyptian language in their inscriptions, and bore fruit later, as we are about to see, in the foundation of Phoenician civiliza- tion and trade.
The ordinary date given by Egyptologists for the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt makes that event to have taken place during the rule of the nineteenth dynasty ; but the two arguments usually put forward in support of this view are both open to serious objection. The first is based on the libellous account given by Manetho of the expulsion of a leprous people by the Pharaohs. It must not, however, be forgotten that Manetho only lived in the third century B.C., and is, therefore, not a strong authority to quote for events occurring at least eleven centuries before his time. The second argument was founded on the mention of
0 The names of the Semitic deities found noticed in Egypt in- clude Astarata (Ashtoreth) ; Baal ; Respu (Resheph), shown as a warrior, with an antelope's head as his crest — he was the Apollo of Phoenicia ; Anta (Anat, 'the sky') ; Kadesh (the Syrian Venus) ; and Bes, who is thought to have been an Arab deity something of the character of Silenus. Typhon also is the Semitic Tzephon, ' the dark ' or ' the north,' that being considered the dark quarter. The Semitic words used instead of Egyptian words in the Hyksos and later periods include Rosh, ' head ;' Beth, 'house ;' Bab, 'door;' Bir, ' well ;' Birkah, ' pool ;' Barak, ' to bless ;' and others, for which see Brugsch ( ' Hist.,' vol. i., p. 211).
THE CANAANITES. 53
the city of Raamses in Exodus (i. 11, xii. 37), whence it was urged that the events recorded must have occurred at the time when Rameses II. gave his name to the conquered Hyksos capital of Zoan. The land of Rameses (Genesis xlvii. n) is, however, mentioned also in Genesis in the account of Jacob's descent into E&ypt> and the logical outcome of such an argument would, therefore, place the descent of the Hebrews into the Delta as late as the time of the Ramessid dynasty. The argument might, however, be used quite as fairly to show that the Books of Genesis and Exodus were not written until the fourteenth century B.C. at earliest, and can hardly be considered of great weight, since no scholar has suggested so late a date as that of the Ramessids as being that historically attri- butable to the Hebrew immigration into Egypt. Con- sidering the friendliness of the Pharaohs to the family of Jacob, and the persecution which befell the Hebrews when ' another king arose,' it would seem more probable that the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt coincided with the duration of the Hyksos rule of 500 years, and that the Exodus should be placed shortly after the defeat of these Semitic kings, probably in the time of Thothmes IV. ; nor will any chronological difficulty be found* to interfere with such a view. In this case the
* If we attach any value to the statement by Josephus of the month corresponding to Abib in the Egyptian vague year at the time of the Exodus, it will be found that this coincidence could not have occurred at the time usually assumed by Egyptologists, but that it did occur about B.C. 1541. Josephus distinctly states that the month Nisan was the Pharmouthi of the Egyptians in the Exodus year (2 ' Ant.,5 xiv. 6). At the date given by Egyptologists Nisan coincides with Mechir, two months earlier.
54 SYRIAN STONE-LORE,
rule of the nineteenth dynasty of Ramessids will coin- cide with the times of the Hebrew Shophetim or Judges — a period of great disunion and foreign oppres- sion, as we gather from the Old Testament account, when incursions of wild Semitic tribes from the east alternated with Philistine raids. The Philistines, as we are about to note, were the allies, if not the subjects, of the Egyptians ; and Philistine rule, in all probability, involved subjection to the Pharaoh.
The Egyptians were themselves an Asiatic migratory people. Their language as yet has, indeed, not been classed, although said to present certain affinities to both Semitic and Aryan speech.* Points of contact between the Egyptians and the Cushitesf have been
* The archaic character of the language is shown not only by monosyllabic onomotapcetic words and the absence of inflection, but by the fact that the word contains the idea of noun, adjective, and verb all together. See Renouf, ' Religion of Egypt/ p. 36.
Lenormant (' Manual,' i. 72) groups with the Egyptian and the Coptic the idiom of Gallas and other dialects in and near Abys- sinia, also the Malagasy in Madagascar (though this, he says, is mixed with Malay elements). The languages of Nubia and Kor- dofan form, he says, a group in the family. Bischari, Berber, the Kabyle, Algerian, and Tuarik he also connects with the preceding, as well as the old language of the Canary Islands.
t According to Brugsch, the Egyptians were Cushites — that is, akin to the Turanian Akkadians. The Egyptian type previous to the Nubian dynasties, with wide face and short nose, is almost Turkish in feature. As regards the bright red colour which distin- guishes the Egyptians on the monuments, it is not certain that this represents actual complexion. The Hottentots still (even when wearing European clothing) colour the whole face red, both women and men, just the colour of the Egyptians, as a mark of joy and triumph, and to increase the beauty of their very Chinese-looking features.
THE CANAANITES. 55
noted, and the general ideas of the earlier Egyptian mythology are almost identical with those of the Akkadians, although the nomenclature is distinct. Herodotus was struck with the similarities which he noted between the Egyptians and the Colchians.* These he explained by supposing the latter to be an Egyptian colony, but it may perhaps be finally decided that the connection belongs to an earlier age, and that the Colchians sprang from the same stock with the forefathers of the Egyptian race in Asia.
That the Egyptians reached the Nile by travelling through Syria appears evident, although Upper Egypt is, by some writers, thought to have been separately colonized. It seems probable, therefore, that before the time of the great Semitic migration, which brought the Phoenicians to the Western Sea, and the Hyksos to the Delta, the early Pharaohs may have divided the over-lordship of Syria with the Hittite princes of the north. We have, however, no monuments of this early period in Syria, unless they should finally be recognised in the supposed Hittite hieroglyphs.
The conquests of Thothmes III. extended as far as Nineveh itself, but do not seem to have included the mountains between Shechem and Hebron, or the
* Herodotus (ii. 103-105) says the Colchians were an Egyptian colony established to work the mines ; they were dark and curly- headed, with the language and habits of Egyptians. They circum- cised and made linen. They seem to have belonged to the Cushite race, from which Brugsch derives the Egyptians. The Egyptians held in estimation as circumcised tribes the Caucasians, Acheans, Sardones, Zagylites, Taurians, Zygritae, Ligyes, and Ossetes. — Brugsch, 'Hist.,' ii., p. 124.
56 SYRIAN STONE-LORE,
basin of the Dead Sea, or the hills of Gilead and Moab. Rameses II. followed a similar route, and left his mark in his fifth year on the bas-relief at the Dog River near Beirout, which Chabas thought to be the ' Rock of Sesostris/ noticed in the travels of the Mohar. Now that his cartouche has been found on the statue of Niobe, we can hardly doubt that he marched as far as the vicinity of Smyrna, thus vindi- cating the statement of Herodotus as to the conquests of Sesostris.
It is remarkable that the expedition of Thothmes starts from Sharon, which appears to have been under the rule of the Egyptians, and, in like manner, the Mohar, when he arrives in Joppa, finds himself in a friendly and civilized country. It seems, therefore, that the Sharon plain was under the rule of the Egyptians in 1600 and 1300 B.C. This would agree with the notice of the Philistines in the Book of Genesis (x. 14) as being of Egyptian origin. The Philistines were ' emigrants,' as their name is said to mean. They were an uncircumcised people, and among the Egyptians circumcision was not always general.* The
* The idea that the Philistines came from Crete rests on the very late authority of Tacitus, who says so expressly (' Hist.,' v. 2). We may ask, however, how did Tacitus know for certain the deri- vation of a race so ancient ? The Cherethites were apparently Philistines (1 Sam. xxx. 14 ; Ezek. xxv. 16 ; Zeph. ii. 5), but I have long ago pointed out that they may be named from the town of Keratiya in Philistia. The Biblical derivation from Mizraim seems generally neglected. Hitzig makes the Philistines a Pelasgic race (' Urgeschichte und Mythologie der Philister,' Leipzig, 1845.) Herodotus (ii. 128) makes Philition one of the shepherds in Egypt, which would connect the Pelethites or Philistines with the Hyksos as a Semitic people.
THE CANAANITES. 57
Philistine kings in the later times of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon had, it is true, Semitic names ; and the nomenclature of the towns of Philistia is Semitic ; but the rulers of the country, ' the five lords,' may have been Egyptians in the early days before Solomon ; for Gezer, according to the Bible, belonged to the Pharaoh even at that late period, and was given as the dower of Solomon's Egyptian wife. Gezer was due east of Joppa, in the north-east corner of Philistia.
Possibly, then, the oppression of Israel by Philistines was due to Egyptian tyranny, and this would agree with the apparent authority exerted over the in- habitants of Palestine by the Egyptian Mohar. The King of Egypt makes a treaty with the King of Kadesh as though their dominions marched on one another ; and until the establishment of the Hebrew kingdom, which always relied on Egypt for assistance against the invading Assyrians, there can be little doubt that the Pharaohs regarded the land of Ruten as part of their dominions, though constantly in rebellion. The riches of the country made Syria a desirable possession, and the innumerable kinglets of the Kheta, the Phoenicians, the Amaur, with the chiefs or sheikhs of the Shasu, were tributaries to Egypt so long as she had power to enforce her claims.
Our view of the ancient condition of Syria before iooo B.C. would, however, be very incomplete without notice of the great commercial race dwelling on the shores at the feet of Lebanon ; and to a consideration of their antiquities we must now direct our attention.
CHAPTER II.
THE PHOENICIANS.
Phoenician tradition, as preserved by Herodotus and by Strabo, points to the derivation of this famous people from the Semitic stock of Babylonia. In the present critical age such tradition is not accepted without question ; still, the tendency of all serious study is towards the vindication of the honesty and general correctness of the father of history, although many of his more marvellous tales are now relegated to their proper position in the mythology of the early Asiatic races. Strabo's attempts at philology may not stand modern criticism,* but the eastern derivation of the Phoenician people may be argued on entirely independent grounds. It is true that we may attach little value to the statement of the Phoenician priests, which reaches us second-hand through Herodotus, to
* It is objected to Strabo's statement (XVI. iii. 4) as to Tyre and Aradus being called after islands in the Persian Gulf of the same name, that Pliny calls the first of these islands Tylos. This is not as strong an argument as it seems, for / and r are not distin- guished in an early linguistic stage, as may be shown in Egyptian, in ancient Greek, or even in the Sechuana language in South Africa to the present day, and in Syrian Arabic.
THE PHOENICIANS. 59
the effect that the temple at Tyre was founded in 2750 B.C., but they were at least as likely to know this historically as was Nabonidus, of Babylon, to know that Sargon lived about 3800 B.C. ; and yet students are prepared to accept the latter date on the authority of a clay tablet of the sixth century B.C., while rejecting" the former statement of the Greek historian.
That the shores of the Mediterranean at the foot of Lebanon were early peopled by a Semitic race, is shown beyond dispute by contemporary monumental evidence from Egypt.* The trade of the Khar with the Delta began, it is believed, as early as the time of the thirteenth dynasty, or about 2300 B.C. The presence of Semitic rulers in the Delta led naturally to the establishment of a great Phoenician colony in Egypt during the period of Hyksos domination (2100 to 1600 B.C.), and the name Caphtor is thought to be derived from the Kaft — a title commonly given to this race on Egyptian inscriptions. This Semitic colony does not appear to have been entirely broken up by the Nubian dynasty, and in papyri of the
* The name Martu is supposed to occur in the Marathus of Phoenicia, now Amrit, and the name Usu, said to have been that of a suburb of Tyre, is compared with the giant Usoiis, of Sanchoniatho, who first voyaged on a tree in Phoenician waters. As Usu and Martu are Akkadian words, it is argued that we have here evidence of a Turanian element in Phoenicia (Tomkins's ' Times of Abraham/ p. 95), which would agree with the mention of Sidon as descended equally with Heth from Ham (Gen. x. 15). Nothing would be more probable than the existence of Turanians in this part of Syria before the Semitic Phoenician immigration. At present, however, we are chiefly concerned with the Semitic race in Phoenicia.
6o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
nineteenth dynasty Semitic titles are given to the officials of the Egyptian court.
The Khar, as represented on the bas-reliefs of Thothmes III., are, by complexion and features, clearly a Semitic people, and the same conclusion may be deduced from the name of the Phoenician (Arisu or Haris*) who became for a time ruler of Lower Egypt, the last king of the nineteenth dynasty. The intro- duction of a new type of hieratic writing in the time of the eighteenth dynasty renders it probable that the original invention of the Phoenician alphabet in Egypt must be dated between the seventeenth and twenty- third centuries B.C.
That the migration of the Phoenicians from the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates must have oc- curred, if at all, at a very early historic period, seems to be indicated by the fact that they did not bring, with them the cuneiform system of writing which the Semitic tribes in Babylonia adopted from the Tura- nians. Various indications may, however, be men- tioned, which seem to show that the Phoenicians were really connected with the tribes of Mesopotamia. The first of these is the name Khar which they bear on Egyptian monuments, and which is recognisable as a corruption of the Assyrian Akharu, 'the hinder side' or ' west.' Among the Hebrews, who lived in sight of the sea, the term Yamah, or ' seawards,' was used to
0 Cheres is the name of the rising sun in Hebrew; Haris is also a common name of Arab heroes and early monarchs. The name Aretas is thought to be connected with Hirith, which again is very close to Haris.
THE PHOENICIANS. 61
designate this quarter. The Assyrian term, which is connected with Kedem (' in front '), for the east, is one which would be used by an inland people. The Phoenicians would not have been called by a Semitic name meaning * westerns ' by the Egyptians, who lived south-west of them, nor was Phoenicia a western land to the Greeks, who connected it with the legend of Kadmus (Kedem, 'the east'). They were only ' westerns ' from the point of view of Assyrians and Babylonians, and it is from the plains of Mesopotamia that the title must have come.* This would perhaps involve the conclusion that the Phoenicians lived first in Babylonia, on the assumption that it shows them to have been recognised as the western branch of a Semitic people living farther east. The desert of Syria could only be crossed north of Damascus or on the extreme south in the direction of Petra.
Again, with exception of Bel or Baal, and Istar or Ashtoreth, the names given to the gods by the Phoeni- cians were generally different from those by which the same deities were known to the Assyrians and Baby- lonians ; but the myth of Istar and Tammuz, to which allusion has been found in the Babylonian texts, was one of the most famous legends of Phoenicia, better known to us under its classical form as the
0 Nebuchadnezzar (apparently the famous king of the name, though this is still doubtful) is called Kasid Mat Akharri, ' con- queror of the land of the westerns,' on the boundary-stone bearing his name. Herodotus says the Phoenicians were called Achivi in Greece. This might perhaps be a copyist's error for Achiri or Akharri, the forms upsilon and rho being easily confused in some ancient MS. of the historian.
62 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
story of Venus and Adonis. Now the name of Tammuz is proved to be the Akkadian Tam-zi, ' sun- life ;' and although it has as yet not been found in Phoenician inscriptions (owing, perhaps, to the substi- tution of less venerated titles), yet we know from classical sources that Tammuz was the name of the sun in Phoenicia. We find, therefore, that while the later local Semitic names of deities were, as a rule, not brought westwards by the Phoenicians, the Akkadian name of the sun, and the Akkadian legend of the loves of sun and moon, were so transported by some race, either Turanian or Semitic.
The god Nergal was also known to the Phoenicians. The epitaph of a Sidonian merchant, buried at Athens, shows him to have been high priest of this deity. Nergal was an Akkadian god, the Ner-gal, or ' great ruler.' An early bas-relief from Amrit shows us this god mounted on the lion, holding another lion in his left hand, and a sword in his right, with sun and moon above his head.
These circumstances, taken together, seem most simply explained by the hypothesis of an early migra- tion at a time when Turanian civilization only existed in Babylonia, and before the hierarchy of Semitic deities, equivalent to the Akkadian, had been estab- lished by the priests of united Semitic tribes at Babylon.
One of the main difficulties which we must encounter in considering the early history of Phoenicia lies in the comparative lateness of all the known Phoenician monuments. This might perhaps be taken to show
THE PHCENICIANS. 6
j>
that the inhabitants of this part of Syria only attained slowly to a civilization which owed its elements equally to that of Assyria on the east and of Egypt on the south. We have, however, indications which seem clearly to show that the great invention of the Phoenician alphabet, which is, perhaps, the most valuable gift bequeathed by this great trading race to later ages, was already perfected before the destruction of the Hyksos rule in Egypt. We have also represen- tations of highly finished bowls and other vessels of metal, with rings and bricks of gold, brought by the Kaft or Phoenicians to the victorious Thothmes III. The description of these and other works of Syrian art has been detailed in the preceding chapter. A considerable advance in ideas of art is reached when vases are made in fanciful forms, such as heads of bulls and eagles ; and the forms of the bronze diotas represented on the pictures are, in some cases, very elegant. The Phoenicians, therefore, had attained to more than the elements of a native civilization before the year 1600 B.C.
The scientific study of the origin of the alphabet is one of the greatest of recent gains to the subject of Oriental archaeology. The theory of De Rouge, ably developed by Dr. Isaac Taylor, may be said to be now the generally received explanation, and Dr. Taylor's careful examination of the question justifies his conclusion that only once in the history of the world have the circumstances which led to the inven- tion occurred in combination. The earliest attempts to record events took the form of picture-writing in
64 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Asia, as among the American Indians. Both cunei- form and hieroglyph trace their origin to such a rude method of representation. The two systems de- veloped independently until the cuneiform signs in- cluded five hundred characters, phonetic, ideographic, and determinative ; and the natural result, when these symbols came to be used by other races — such as the Medes and the Persians — was the simplification of the cumbrous system by the selection of a certain number of the more generally useful signs. As in Assyria, so in Egypt, the original pictures were gradually con- ventionalized, and the use of papyrus led to the inven- tion of a cursive hand (the hieratic), developing from rude and rapid sketches of the older monumental hieroglyphic pictures. The number of signs grew so that at length some four hundred in all had to be learned by the scribe, and the process of simplification led to the use of certain selected signs as representing syllables,* and thus to the more abstract and difficult conception of a consonantal alphabet of twenty-five hieratic letters.
This alphabet was already in existence when the Semitic traders began to deal with the Egyptians of the Delta. The advantages of the simple system must soon have struck a shrewd commercial people like the Phoenicians ; and the study made by De Rouge has shown to the satisfaction of most students how, from the twenty-five Egyptian cursive letters, the earliest forms of the twenty-two Phoenician letters were taken.
0 The syllables were the initial ones of the word for which the sign originally stood as an ideograph
THE PHCENICIANS. 6$
The trader had no time to devote to the study of the elaborate monumental system, and thus, as so often happens, the absence of cultivation among practical men led to the simplification of a method which had become cumbrous through over-elaboration. The trader seized on the practical results of Egyptian civilization, and thus inaugurated a new era of general progress. The sounds of the symbols were preserved by means of new names given to the letters in the language of the adapters. These new names appear to have been taken from rude resemblances of form which have been traced in seventeen cases out of the twenty-two. Thus, for instance, the third letter was called Gimel, from the resemblance to the head and neck of a camel; and Aleph, 'the ox,' was the name given to the first letter, which, in its earliest known form, resembles the profile of a horned bull. This adoption of the form and sound of a letter with a change in its name is remarkable in the case of Slav, Irish, Gothic, Latin, and Indian alphabets, and the Greeks are almost the only people who preserved the old foreign names as well as the forms and sounds of their letters'.
There is, as yet, no direct evidence of the time when the Phoenician alphabet, invented in Egypt, began to be first used in Syria. Certainly it must be placed before iooo B.C., and Professor Taylor gives 1500 B.C. as the approximate date. We are also unable to say at what exact time the Hebrews began to use the same system. All we can say from monu- mental evidence is that the Hebrews, before 700 B.C.,
5
66 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and the Moabites before 900 B.C., possessed alphabets varying sufficiently from the Phoenician to indicate a considerable lapse of time since the original common prototypes came into use.
The first important Phoenician port appears to have been Sidon.* The colonies in the eastern Mediter- ranean, including Cyprus, Rhodes, and the islands of the Archipelago, Thebes, and even Pronestas in the Sea of Marmora, and Sesamos and Sinope in the Black Sea, were Sidonian. Only at Thasos and Lemnos were Tyrian colonies to be found, while only Golgos in Cyprus and Melos in the Peloponnesus are attributed to Arvad. The Sidonians found their way further west to the southern shores of Italy and to Leptis Magna on the Cyrenaic Gulf.t Apparently about 1000 B.C. the trade of the world began to be absorbed by the younger city Tyre ; but her more important colonies were chiefly offshoots from the * new city ' Carthage, founded opposite to the Sicilian coast about goo to 800 B.C. ; and the expedition of Hanno (500 B.C.), when Africa is said to have been
* Our principal guides in this chapter will be Perrot and Chipiez on Phoenician art and Taylor on the alphabet, but much of the information is to be found scattered through the publications of the Palestine Exploration Fund and the Society of Biblical Archaeology ; and the collection of M. Peretie at Beyrout, which I visited in 1881, with visits to Gebal, Tyre, Sidon, etc., supplied many details. The object of the chapter is to replace literary by monumental evidence, and to rely rather on existing antiquities than on the late Phoenician and classical literature, on which Movers, Kenrick, Lenormant, and other writers on Phoenicia were obliged mainly to depend.
t The Phoenicians were also found at Athens and Corinth and Calchis as early, apparently, as 1200 B.C.
THE PHOENICIANS. 67
circumnavigated as far as the 8th degree N. latitude,* was Carthaginian. Still, there is thought to be evidence of earlier Tyrian colonies in Italy, Sicily, and Spain, while the archaic Phoenician remains of Sardinia seem, perhaps, older than 600 B.C., when Carthage became supreme in the western Mediter- ranean, and they may be due to direct Tyrian coloni- zation.t
The growing power of Assyria became a danger to Tyre, although her trade was still very flourishing down to 500 B.C. The siege of Tyre in 574 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar appears to have been finally raised, and the city was only really conquered in 333 B.C. by Alexander the Great. Rivals had appeared, however, as far back as 690 B.C., in the Greek fleets which Sennacherib defeated off the Cilician coast. The kings of Sidon appear to have deserted their cities during Assyrian raids, and to have returned when danger was over, seeking refuge meanwhile in Cyprus.
* The southern point reached (the Gulf of Sherboro) is just where the African coast trends east. Hanno naturally concluded he had reached the south limit of the African continent (see Lenormant's 1 Manual,' ii., p. 265). An earlier circumnavigation of Lybia in the time of Necho (before 600 B.C.) is noticed by Herodotus (iv. 42) with the, to him, incredible fact that the sun was on the right, supposed to mean in the north, at midday. This would involve the supposition that the Phoenicians proceeded to the southern hemisphere.
t The distinction between Tyrian and Carthaginian colonies is seen in the treaties with Rome, where special stipulations are made as to the Tyrian towns (Lenormant, ' Manual,' ii., p. 247). Our information as to the colonies is, however, obtained from late sources — Strabo and the Roman historians.
5—2
68 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
This happened in 701 B.C. and in 680 B.C., and is mentioned by Isaiah (xxiii. 12) as well as on the Assyrian monuments.
The Phoenician settlements in Cyprus were very important ; they were on the south side of the island, and from their remains we gather more information than from any other source concerning this important people. It was here, apparently, that the Egyptian and Phoenician navies met.* Cyprus appears as a Phoenician land in the Iliad. Here, also, the Phoeni- cians met the Greeks of Asia Minor, apparently as early as the twelfth century B.C. The Assyrians, how- ever, subdued the island, and the portrait of Sargon (circa 700 B.C.) is found at Kition. The six chiefs of the Cyprians did homage to this monarch, and paid tribute to Nineveh.
Thus, on the shores of the Mediterranean, from the days of Hezekiah, and probably from those of Solomon, we find that same intercourse of nations, Aryan, Turanian, and Semitic, which continued without interruption through Persian, Greek, and Roman times. We are too apt to forget how general was this intercourse ; and it is only through the comparative study of archaeology that we escape from the mis- leading view of nations as living isolated in their own countries, and ignorant of their neighbours.
* Besides the navies in the Red Sea the Egyptians seem to have had ships in the Mediterranean. Witness the battle near the 1 Tower of Rameses,' on a sculpture from Medinet Abu, where the ships of Rameses III. are shown defeating a navy of tribes supposed to be Mediterranean peoples. — Lenormant, ' Manual,' i., p. 266.
THE PHOENICIANS. 69
The study of Phoenician antiquities is specially important in connection with the Old Testament, since we know how close was the connection between the Hebrews and their northern kinsmen, from the days of Solomon downwards. We have also rich materials in the statues, buildings, metal work, and gems and coins of Phoenicia, serving to illus- trate the contemporary civilization of the Hebrew people.
The religion of the Phoenicians was closely akin to that of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The myths of the Akkadians were well known from a remote period on the Mediterranean shores, pre- served to us not merely in the late writings of Philo of By bios, for we have much earlier information from gems, seals, and sculptures of a very authentic nature.
The earliest ideas found among the Phoenicians belong, perhaps, to the Turanian population, and formed the popular folk-lore of the country. Thus, the chief emblem worshipped in the temples was a pillar, or a cone,* derived, no doubt, from the rude
* The cone, which was the emblem of Aphrodite in Cyprus, is sometimes replaced by a pillar on a square base. Three of these are found side by side on a Carthaginian votive stele. I have twice found similar steles in Moab, evidently not Roman milestones, as they were not anywhere near a road. The trilithon becomes later a shrine in which the cone or a statue stands. On Gilboa I found a dolmen with a menhir standing in front of it, just as also found in Sweden. The cone appears at the top of pillars as well as on altars. Such cippi are shown on Cyprian coins, and with a pyramidal head were used in Sardinia by Phoenicians for funerary inscriptions. The cone also appears in Assyria.
7o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
menhirs which were worshipped by early savage tribes, such as Dravidians, Arabs, Celts, Hottentots, etc., in all parts of the world. These menhirs often stood beneath trilithons or dolmens (as, for instance, in Malta), or were placed before an altar made by a stone laid flat on an upright base. These bilithon altars (talyots) still remain in the Balearic islands, and the representations on early Babylonian cylinders of tables whereon a small fire might be kindled, or an offering of some small object laid, seem to indicate a deriva- tion from similar structures. The original temple in which the cone and its shrine, or its altar, were placed, was but a cromlech or enclosure, square or round, made by setting up stones. Remains of such an enclosure, with a dolmen on one side, are found on the north banks of the Zerka M'ain in Moab, and at 'Adlun, near Sarepta, in Phoenicia.* It was from this idea of a sacred enclosure, or Gilgal, with its ■ pillar ' or Metzebah, that the hypasthral temples of Byblos and Baalbek developed.t The original Kaaba at
0 It requires a robust imagination to see an emblem of sun or fire in a cone ; but the cone or the menhir were early used in con- nection with sun-worship as pointers.
f In the course of inquiry I have never met with any explanation of the name Baalbek, which is spelt with Cafth. Possibly in this we should recognise Bacchus, whose name has been derived from Baku, to weep (cf. the Biblical Bochim (Judges ii. i) and Baca (Psalm lxxxiv. 6). A Bacchic dance is shown on the interior of the smaller temple at Baalbek (on a bas-relief showing the thyrsus with Pan's-pipe, and horns, which I copied in 1881). If the name Bacchus be really Semitic there is no difficulty in supposing Baal- Baku to have become in Arabic Baalbek ; and Bacchus, like
THE PHCENICIANS. 71
Mecca, with its red stone sacred to Hobal, was another such temple, and the Khonds and other non- Aryan tribes in India still build such temples of rude stones, daubed with red — a survival of the old practice of anointing the menhirs and the sacred cone or pillar with blood of victims, sometimes, apparently, human. Among Indians the pillar is a lingam, and such, apparently, was its meaning among the Phoenicians ; but these shrines, whether called cromlechs, Gilgals, or Hazeroth, are always connected, among Celts, Dravidians, or early Semitic tribes, with the adoration of the rising sun, and often serve to mark the seasons, by the direction of the shadow of the central menhir at sunrise.
Among other primitive emblems used by the Phoeni- cians is the ' hand,' occurring on votive steles at Carthage, sometimes in connection with the sacred fish. This hand is still a charm in Syria, called Kef Miriam, ' the Virgin Mary's hand,' and sovereign against the evil-eye. The red hand is painted on walls, and occurs, for instance, in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople, and elsewhere. It is common also in Ireland and in India (Siva's hand), and on early sceptres, always as an emblem of good luck. The use on votive or memorial tablets appears to explain the Hebrew name Yad, or ' hand,' given, for instance, to the memorial raised by Absalom, and to that
Tammuz, was an autumn sun deity (the Aramean Dionysus), and as such connected with the feasts of mourning.
The old name of Mecca was Bekka, which may perhaps be also connected with Bacchus.
72 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
erected by Saul at Carmel (i Sam. xv. 12; 2 Sam. xviii. 18).*
Another curious Phoenician emblem sometimes oc- curring with the Caduceus is, perhaps, a variety of the Egyptian Ankh, or emblem of life, which is also common in Assyria round the necks of kings. It occurs on Maltese coins and on Carthaginian tablets, and we meet something like it again on the coins of Herod, also in connection with the Caduceus, or stick with snakes round it. The origin of the Ankh has never been very fully explained, though its value as meaning ' life ' is certain.t If, however, we turn to Akkadian representa- tions of the tree of life (as on the cylinder of Dungi), and compare them with Phoeni- cian representations of this tree (as, for instance, on a carnelian cylinder from Damascus with the name Bel Aitan), we may, perhaps, conclude that the origin of this curious emblem is to be found in a conventional render- ing of the tree of life. We know that the story of the tree of life was known not only to the Babylonians but also to the Phoenicians — as preserved by Sanchonia- thon. The Ankh may thus be connected with the Asherah, the sacred ■ erection ' or ' grove ' of the
0 Mr. Greville Chester mentions among the Phoenician amulets found in Rhodes, in Sardinia, and at Cumae in Southern Italy, 'phalli, hands with one finger extended, and models of fire-altars.' — P. E. F. Quarterly, January, 1886, p. 45.
f The phallic interpretation is stoutly denied by Renouf, who points out that the Egyptians used much simpler symbols to convey phallic ideas.
THE PHCENICIANS. 73
Canaanites, well known in Assyria as the holy and shining tree of Asshur.*
The emblems as yet noticed were early symbols having no direct connection with the worship of the sun. Nor has the deification of mountains (Baal Lebanon, Baal Hermon, etc.) any necessary solar origin, but the names of many, if not most, of the Phoenician gods connect them with sky, sun, and moon ; and although these names are not those used in Babylonia, the character of the deities is very similar. Indeed, the more we study Asiatic theogonies the more we perceive how closely akin were the ideas of all the ancient tribes, whether Turanian, Cushite, Semitic, or Caucasian. There is no possibility of really contrasting the ideas of the various races, but rather do we trace a gradual advance in all, ter- minating among Vedic Aryans, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, and Arabs, in the declaration that ' God is One,' and that all the powers or beings worshipped are but manifestations of His informing spirit. Pas- sages are quoted by archaeologists from the sacred books and inscriptions of all these races, showing that the higher thought of the priests and philosophers early recognised this Oneness of the gods.
Very remarkable evidence of this has been lately brought forward by Mr. Theophilus Pinches, who shows that the name Jehovah in the form Ya is to be recognised in the cuneiform inscriptions, and has a
* The tree was sometimes covered with a veil. Pherecydes, of Syros, speaks of the ' tree and the peplos.' — Clemens Alex. ' Strom., vi. 6.
74 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Semitic derivation from the old verb yau, * to be.' This confirms the accepted derivation of the Divine name in Hebrew. Mr. Pinches's researches appear to have put this question beyond dispute,* and the name occurs as a compound with other titles of deities. Thus we have Ya-Rammu (Hebrew Joram), and as early as 887 B.C., Abiya or Abijah, also Assur-ya, Shamash-ya, Nergal-ya, Ninip-ya, Ya-kin, and Ya-sumu. These compounds are readily understood when we remember that the Babylonians (according to late accounts) recognised the unity of their many deities. ' The living one,' or everlasting, was manifest in Asshur (the creator), Shamash (the sun), Nergal (the great ruler), just as the unknown and hidden God is said in Egyptian texts to be manifest in Osiris, Ra, or Horus.
It has long been known that the Divine name (probably that mentioned as the ' hidden name,' known only to the wise god Ea) was also used in Phoenicia. It might, of course, be denied that the name Iao, which the Clarian oracle declared to be that of the supreme deity, known as Zeus and Helios, had any connection with the Hebrew word Yehuah,t or Jehovah ; but we
9 ' Proceedings Soc. Bib. Arch.,' Nov. 3, 1885, p. 28 : It is thus shown that the names Zedekiah, Hoshea, etc., occurring on Ninevite contract-tables are not of necessity names of Jews or Israelites. They may be Phoenician or Aramean. Professor Sayce has called attention to the existence of such names in Northern Syria, and Lenormant had already recognised this before 1869 (' Lettres Assyr.,' ii., p. 193). I have also been favoured with a valuable letter on the subject by Mr. Pinches.
t As to the pronunciation of the Divine name, the conclusions of Lenormant (' Lettres Assyr.,' ii., p. 193) should be carefully weighed against the German transliteration Yahweh. Mr. Pinches's
THE PHCENICIANS. 75
do not depend only on literary evidence. We have in the British Museum a coin with the name Yahu over a divine figure in a chariot. We have again a Phoenician gem from Beyrout with the name Isaiah (' Jehovah the Saviour ') as a legend, with the conventional represen- tation of the winged sun and two stars. We have also ascarabseus of the seventh century B.C., with a Phoeni- cian legend of the 'wife of Joshua;' and another scarab in the British Museum shows a sphynx with the Egyptian pschent headdress, and the title * as a memorial of Hoshea.' Clearly, therefore, the owners of these seals, this Isaiah, Joshua and Hoshea, were Phoenician worshippers of Jehovah ; and as early as the seventh century B.C., their names are compounded with the holy name.
In 650 b.c, we find Yahimelek, son of the King of Tyre, mentioned by Asshur-banipal. About 500 B.C., we have the inscription of Jehu-Melek reminding us of the name of Jehu in the history of Israel, which is also found in Assyrian texts as that of the supposed ' son of Omri.' This form is the same already noted as occurring on the coin, which, on account of its shape, cannot be supposed earlier than the sixth century B.C. We have also the names Yaazer and Yual (Joel) in Phoenician texts from Malta.
We know, again, that the Syrian kings had similar compound names, as, for instance, Yehu-badi and
discovery also brings a new element into the controversy. As far as my ear serves me, the sharp sound of the European w does not represent that of the Semitic u in the Arabic of Syria. Even in such a word as ' wady ' the French on is much nearer to the true sound.
76 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Yoram, Hamathite names mentioned in cuneiform texts ; and the conclusion is, apparently, inevitable that the sacred name was common to the various Semitic races of Western Asia, as early, at least, as 900 B.C.
There is nothing in this demonstration which fails to harmonize with the Old Testament. We find the Hittite Uriah owning a Semitic name apparently com- pounded with Yah, as early as the time of David; Balaam, from Pethor on Euphrates, also adored Jehovah, and there are other instances tending to the same conclusion.* In Exodus we are told that the sacred name was not known to the early patri- archs, and it has been noticed that hardly a name occurs in the Pentateuch compounded of the name Jehovah. Joshua is, perhaps, the earliest Hebrew man's name so composed ; but in David's time, names compounded with Baal appear to have been more common. The name of Jehovah appears on the Moabite Stone as that of the God of Israel in the ninth century B.C. At present, we have no monu- mental evidence of the derivation of this name, whether received by Phoenicians and Assyrians from Hebrews, or by Hebrews from other people, or whether commonly known to all branches of the Semitic race from an early age. The latter conclusion would, perhaps, best agree with the words in Genesis, * Then began men to call on the name of Jehovah ' (Genesis iv. 26).
Turning from this interesting question, we may notice briefly the monumental evidence of the character * Isa. xliv. 28 ; Jer. xxv. 9, xxvii. 6, xliii. 10 ; Mai. i. 14.
THE PHCENICIANS. 77
of Phoenician religion. Their gods were powers of heaven, sky, sun, moon, thunder, etc., also the spirit of ocean (the Akkadian Ea), and the infernal Moloch (Mulge of the Akkadians), to whom human sacrifices were offered down to Roman times, though this we now know was not a peculiar rite of Phoenicia, for human sacrifice appears to have been universal among early Asiatics. Baal Samim, ' the Lord of Heaven,' is mentioned in Sardinian votive inscriptions. He answers to Anu, the sky god of Babylonia, and his consort Meleket-hash-Shemim, * the Queen of Heaven,' is mentioned by Jeremiah (vii. 18, xliv. 17-19, 25). The Phoenician equivalent of Ea seems to have been called Tsid and Tsidon, from whom, perhaps, Sidon was named, and who appears at Carthage ; whether this name is connected, as some have thought, with Poseidon (Abu Tzidon)* must be considered doubtful.
The goddesses in Phoenicia and at Carthage receive a curious class of titles. Thus we have Tanit Peni Baal (Tanith, ' face of Baal ') at Carthage, and in Phoenicia itself, Ashtoreth sem Baal (' Ashtoreth, name of Baal.')f Ashtoreth, under all her names, was the
0 There is a ruin named Abu Sidun in Upper Galilee, perhaps connected with this deity. It is interesting to note that the early Aryans had no god of the sea. They came from an inland country.
t The promontory called Theouprosopon, in Phoenicia, was pro- bably called Peni-el in Phoenician. It is now called Jebel en Nur, 'the mountain of light.' There was such a mountain near the Jabbok, probably the present Jebel Osh'a. In Hebrew the word Pene geographically appears to mean ' the east,' like Kedem, 'the front.' In India the goddesses are called Saktis, or ' manifestations ' of the gods. This, perhaps, shows the meaning of the Phoenician
78 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
great female divinity represented with her hands raised to her breasts, just as in figures recently found in Babylonia. The meaning of this attitude may be understood by comparing the figure of the Indian goddess Maya, who presses from her breasts streams of milk which nourish all creation. The headdress of Ashtoreth appears to be a representation of the moon disc (a * round tire like the moon '), and was just like the headdress still worn by the peasant women in central Palestine. She is represented holding in her hands a flat disc or cake, evidently one of the Cunim or cakes mentioned by Jeremiah (viii. 18), as offered with incense and libations to the * Queen of Heaven.' She appears, also, both in Babylon and in Phoenicia, nursing her infant like the group of Isis and Horus in Egypt. She appears, again, with the dove in her hand — the well-known emblem of the Venus of Cyprus. The many local Ashtoreths and Baals with geographical affixes may be compared with the local Madonnas of Italy. The titles evidently originated in the attempt to distinguish various famous shrines of deities who were, nevertheless, the same in every case.
The name El, the common Semitic word for God, meaning ' the mighty one,' is also found on Phoenician scarabs as a compound ; and figures of a deity with four wings may be supposed to represent El, since Sanchoniathon tells us that he was so represented.
title. Tanit does not appear to be certainly translated, though Lenormant renders it ' the pre-eminent.' Perhaps it may be con- nected with Tan, the Egyptian Tanen, the god of heaven. In a Graeco- Punic text Tanit is equivalent to Artemis.
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The name of Moloch is also found, as, for instance, in Gad-Moloch,* a proper name on a seal found at Jerusalem, which shows the sun represented, as in Assyria, with human head, wings, and tail, while, below, the disc rises from the moon-cup flanked by priests or genii. This combination of sun and moon is common in Phoenician and Egyptian symbolism, and is the origin of the Turkish flag.
The chief Tyrian deity was Melkarth, who is identi- fied in Carthaginian bilinguals with Dionysus. The name Dionysus, which reached the Greeks direct from Assyria (being the name of the sun, 'judge of men,' as Mr. Talbot has shownt), is not found in Phoenicia or in Cyprus. The figure of Hercules with the lion headdress, and the name Melkarth Eshmun, is, how- ever, common ; and the struggle of Hercules and the lion is one of the commonest subjects on Phoenician gems in Sardinia and elsewhere. This group is exactly like one found in Assyria, no doubt represent- ing the struggle of the hero called provisionally Izdubar, who was the Babylonian Hercules. The name Mel- karth (commonly, but perhaps rather doubtfully, trans- lated ' King of the City ') reappears in the Greek Melicertes, for Melkarth and Ashtoreth had altars even in the Piraeus. Legends of the Phoenician Her- cules also became disseminated in Greece, and his adventures with a serpent woman (LeiathaneJ) have
0 Compare Melek Set and Melek Safa, mentioned in the next chapter, at Jerusalem.
t ' Trans. Bib. Arch. Soc.,' ii., p. 33.
X Leiathane is apparently Leviathan, the marine dragon, or Leui- Tan.
80 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
survived even in the traditions of the house of Savoy in Europe. This serpent princess is also shown on a Phoenician amulet found in a Sardinian tomb. It has been remarked as curious that the name of Tammuz has not been found in texts, though the mourning for the dead Tam-zi was a Phoenician prac- tice. The reason is, perhaps, that the name was con- sidered too holy for use, or else that it was not Semitic, and that the names Melkarth and Eshmun were used instead. Eshmun is one of the commonest Phoenician titles of the sun-god, and compounded in proper names, such as Eshmunazer. Its translation is not as yet very satisfactorily settled. The boar which slew Tammuz is shown on Phoenician gems with wings.* The legend is, perhaps, nearest to the Egyptian myth of Set as the boar swallowing the eye of Horus. It is not as yet known in Babylonia, though Tammuz, as one of the husbands of Istar, is noticed in the legend of Izdubar. A colossal figure from Amathus, now to be seen in the museum at Constantinople, shows the Phoenician Hercules, fourteen feet high, holding the lion (its head is lost) by the hind-legs, and wearing the lion-skin as in Greece. This is, perhaps, one of the earliest statues of Hercules.
A curious dwarf figure is also common in Phoenicia. It appears to be the infant Horus, who, according to one legend, was born with twisted limbs. This figure belongs, perhaps, to the period (sixth to fourth centuries
* The shining boar is mentioned in connection with the sun in the hymns of the Zendavesta. The winged boar also occurs in Greece. ' Lettres Assyr.,' ii., p. 252.
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B.C.) when Egyptian influence was strong in Phoenicia, and when the names of Horus and Osiris are found in Phoenician inscriptions.*
Another figure has been thought to represent Bes, the Egyptian deity (supposed to be of Arab derivation), the husband of the lion-headed Bast. This deity is called by Brugsch the god of laughter, and compared with Silenus ; but this explanation seems doubtful. The great mask with open jaws shown in terra cotta Phoenician images, seems rather to be intended for the terrible Moloch or Mulge, like the open-mouthed Yama of Hindus, the king of the dead who rends and devours the wicked. It is with just such a head that Mulge is represented on a bronze tablet from Palmyra. Pygmies, called Pataeci (probably from Ptah, represented as a dwarf), and resembling late Egyptian figures of the Cabiri (the planets), are, however, also found. Thus the Phoenicians appear to have had their goblins and demons as well as the Akkadians, who described such beings as lion-headed with bird's claws.
Two Phoenician gods remain to be enumerated,
Baal Hammon and Resheph. The first was the
original Jupiter Ammon, shown with ram's horns on a
throne supported by rams. His name is said to mean
* To this period of Egyptian influence we may attribute the gem published by the Rev. W. Wright, which shows a gryphon, a scarabeus, and a human figure of Egyptian type with the word Am. This word is apparently the Egyptian An or On, the name of the rising sun ; and the gryphon represents Horus ; while the beetle is Kheper, the sun before its rising. The human figure would repre- sent the mid-day sun ; and the three answer to the Egyptian triad of rising, mid-day, and setting sun.
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' the lord of heat/ apparently the summer sun. The ram's horns appear later, on the coins of Alexander the Great — the son of Ammon. Resheph was the Phoeni- cian Apollo, like Marduk, a warrior god. His name signifies ( thunder,' and his emblem was the stag's head, the exact symbolism being, however, not very clear. He appears to be the Jupiter Pluvius, like the Aryan Indra.
It is interesting to note how many of the Greek myths were derived from Phoenicia. The story of Venus and Adonis, of Melcarth, of Kadmus and Europa (' east and west '), are acknowledged to be so derived. It is, of course, in some cases doubtful whether a mythical figure came to Phoenicia from Greece or the reverse, for there was another current of Semitic influence flowing from Assyria to Greece, which in time was reflected to Phoenicia, when Greek art began to replace Egyptian influence. We may, however, per- haps include the legend of Perseus and that of Bellerophon among those myths derived from Phoeni- cia. As regards the first, the scene is laid at Joppa — a Phoenician port in early times — and the killing of Medusa, from whose body Pegasus and Chrysaor are shown springing forth, is the subject of a sculptured Phoenician sarcophagus of the early Greek period, found in Cyprus.
As regards the latter, we know that Pegasus, the winged horse, is represented both in Assyrian bas-reliefs and on Carthaginian coins ; while the Chimaera, with the goat's head springing from the back of the monster behind the lion's head, is sculptured on the steps of a
THE PHCENICIANS. 83
throne found in the temple of Golgos in Cyprus. The legend of Bellerophon is found in Lycia, not far from Phoenicia, as early as 530 B.C., for he is shown slaying the Chimasra on the interior of the portico of a tomb at Tlos. The story is akin to the Assyrian legend of Marduk slaying the monster Tiamat, which possessed horns, hoofs, claws, wings, and a scaly tail. This is, perhaps, the origin of the group found on Phoenician bowls of the best period, when a hero slays a winged griffin, sometimes represented with its hind-legs kick- ing up in the air in a very lively manner. This subject alternates on one bowl with the group of a winged deity killing a lion. From such hints we gather that the Greeks, who borrowed from Egypt, from Assyria, from Persia, and from the early art of Lydia, were also indebted to the Phoenicians, from whom they obtained their alphabets, as will hereafter appear.
Continuing our examination of Phoenician monu- ments, we may gather something of the ritual of the temples from the same sources. Sanchoniatho speaks of arks or ships borne in procession. We have a representation of such a symbolic ship on a carnelian scarab found at Amrit, in Phoenicia. It has the sun above it, and the letters Kher (Horus).* It resembles very closely the sacred ship of Hea, shown on a Babylonian seal. These arks are constantly mentioned in Chaldea, and similar symbolic ships in Egypt were supposed to convey Osiris through the waters of Hades.
0 This is read Kheb by Perrot ; but the proposed reading seems possible from the form of the second letter. There is evidence that the name Horus was spelt with the Cheth in Phoenicia.
6—2
84 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The Phoenicians at Gebal used annually to observe a feast of floating papyrus arks on the river Adonis, and this custom survives in many Mediterranean countries. In February, 1882, I saw symbolic ships carried through the streets of Constantinople to be floated in the Bosphorus.* Apamea, in Phrygia, appears to have had a shrine with one of these arks. Hence its later name, Cibotus.f The story of Noah's ark resting on a mountain near Apamea appears to be a later invention, when in the second century a.d. the Jews spread throughout Asia Minor; and a coin of Alexander Severus shows the ark, the dove with olive-branch, and the figures of Noah (with his name Noe) and of his wife issuing from it. Possibly the Chaldean story of the flood may have reached Apamea earlier than the Jewish.
The figures of the two cherubim which flanked the ark, as described in the Book of Kings, are like those on Phoenician gems. On a Maltese coin we find a four-winged figure holding the crook and flail, and with the pschent as in Egypt, but with the curled wings
0 The emblem of the boat, or ark, is very widely used. In Rome the 5th of March was the Feast of Isidis Navigium in the rustic calendar (Apuleius, lib. xi.; Lactantius, 'Instit./ i. 27), when (in memory of the voyage of Isis, as recorded by Plutarch) a ship was offered laden with the first-fruits of spring. In Germany these rites are mentioned at Aix in a.d. 1133, and at Ulm in 1533 (Grimm's * German Mythol./ i. 237) ; also at Tubingen in 1584, and at Manheim down to 1870 (see B. Gould, ■ Curious Myths/ P- 333)' The solar boat is a very old emblem in Egypt.
t The word Cibotus appears to be the Babylonian Gubut used with reference to the ark in which Sargon was set floating by his mother. — ' Trans. Bib. Arch. Soc.,' i., p. 270.
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peculiar, it is said, to Phoenician art. On another coin, an angel with the same curled wings (seen on Phoenician sphinxes and griffins) is the obverse to a reverse of the sacred cone flanked by eagles.
The great bronze laver in Solomon's temple is also illustrated by Phoenician remains. At Amathus, a great basin of limestone was found, six feet high and nine feet in diameter, with sculptured handles having figures of bulls. This basin is now in the Louvre. Solomon's laver is described as supported on bronze bulls, and was ten cubits in diameter by five in height, not much larger than the Phoenician laver.
In the Phoenician temples of the later age, libation tables, like those of the Hyksos period in the Boulak Museum, seem to have been used. One of these, found at Umm el 'Amud near Alexandroschene, with the figure of an eagle on the side, I described in 1881 ; and the block found in the temple of Golgos, thought to be a pedestal for two statues, seems to be another example. These were developments of the old ' cup hollows ' found in dolmens and rocks, which retained the blood of victims, or libations of oil, wine, honey, or milk.
The ornamentation described as covering the walls of Solomon's temple may be compared also with the patterns on some of the Phoenician bowls from the tenth to the fourteenth century B.C. In some of these we find griffins ramping against a conventional pattern of the sacred tree — like that of Asshur — recalling the ' carved figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and open flowers ' wrought in gold (1 Kings vi. 22) ; and the lions, the bulls, the cherubim, the festoons or * hanging
86 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
work ' on the * bases,' have all their equivalents in Phoenicia. The two bronze pillars, Jachin and Boaz, set up in the porch of the Jerusalem temple, have been compared by Mr. Fergusson with the great obelisks placed in front of Phoenician temples, which are shown on coins from Cyprus.* It must, however, be noted that we have no evidence of an early temple in Phoenicia as large as Solomon's, which in plan was more like those of Egypt. The profusion of gold carved work and bronze, and of vessels of electrum, no doubt resembling the Phoenician paterae, agrees with all that we know of the art of this early age (noo B.C.), since such metal work precedes the use of marble and carved stone, and was considered even by the Greeks, in the Homeric age, to be the richest possible style of adorn- ment, although Greece was in later ages so famous for her statuary. It must also be noted that six centuries before Solomon's time we find works of art in gold and
* The total height of these pillars was at least 18 + 5, or 23 cubits. The height of the temple was 30 cubits. It is quite possible that the pillars may have stood m the porch, supporting an architrave and cornice 7 cubits high. Mr. Fergusson thought they stood in front (like those in the Toran or symbolic gates before Indian and Japanese temples), with a stone beam above. He suggests this arrangement also in Herod's temple, which seems improbable ; we have nothing of the kind in any building of Egypt, Phoenicia, or Babylonia, save the phalli or obelisks of Phoenicia and of Hierapolis in Syria, which have no superstructure. The capitals of Jachin and Boaz were adorned with network, chains, pomegranates, and lily-work. The lotus capitals of Egypt have been compared. In Phoenicia we have perhaps something of the kind in the adornment of a sarcophagus at Amathus with balls and lotus-flowers.
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bronze represented as brought in tribute by Phoenicians and Hittites from Syria. The Old Testament account of the first temple is therefore clearly shown by archaeological evidence to be at least possible for the age of Solomon.
The religious art of ancient races must always occupy a large share of the attention of the archaeolo- gist ; but we now turn to questions of government, custom, architecture, literature, art, and trade in Phoenicia.
We have no evidence of any early Semitic republic in Asia. Carthage was governed by an oligarchy, Phoenicia by chiefs or kings in her towns. The Assyrian annals speak of numerous kings both in Cyprus and in Phoenicia itself. The Suffetes or judges of the Carthaginians* have been compared with the Hebrew Shophetim (rendered 'judges ' in the English Bible), and we must carefully guard against Western colouring in speaking of Eastern countries. The Phoenician system is no doubt best illustrated by the native government of Syria, while yet only rudely organized by the Turks half a century since. Each town had its chief, assisted by a council of elders like the Sheikhs and the Mukhtars of the Fellahin. The
* Livy xxx. 7 ; and at Gades, xxvii. yj. The Suffetes were chosen from the great families by consent of the populace. They took command of armies and fleets, as well as of civil functionaries. They presided over the Senate, and appear to have been elected for life. The Senate consisted of three hundred rich men, and was a permanent body, with right of proclaiming war or peace. There was a smaller committee of thirty senators, and a superior council of ten elected by senators from among themselves.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Phoenician priests no doubt held also the same relation to the civil governors, which the village Imam or Mosque Sheikh holds to the chief of the place. The office of Sheikh and that of Imam are alike generally hereditary ; and the religious chief has an important influence over the councils of the village, as has also any elder reputed for piety, honesty, good sense, or wealth.
The various small kingdoms were leagued together and connected by trade. The Phoenicians were too busy getting peacefully rich to have time or inclination for foreign conquest. It seems probable that they had no native army, though we find foreign mercenaries, Persians, Lydians, and Cimmerians (Gammadim), mentioned by Ezekiel at Tyre (Ezekiel xxvii. 10, n). They were, however, accustomed to the chase, as shown by designs on Phoenician gems and bowls. The kingdoms of Assyria, Babylon, and Jerusalem appear to have been far more powerful in a military sense than the little Phoenician states ; and though Esar Haddon married a daughter of the King of Tyre, she does not appear to have ranked with his principal wives.
Turning to the monumental evidence as to dress and other social subjects, we find four periods, the earliest after the original age of metallic ornamentation being that of Assyrian influence ; while from the sixth to the fourth century Egyptian types prevail, and after about 300 B.C. Greek fashions succeed. The Phoenician priests shaved their heads like the Egyptian, while the other classes grew their hair often very long. We have statues of Phoenicians of very late date showing men with long plaited hair on their shoulders ; and the
THE PHCENICIANS. 89
same fashion prevails among the Kaft of the Egyptian monuments of the reign of Thothmes III., on which the shaven-headed priest also appears. These plaits of hair are worn to the present day by the Bedawi dandies in Syria, and the fashion shown on the monu- ments for men thus survives, as does the moon-shaped tire of the women. On the same monuments of Thothmes III. we find a Phoenician with a long beard, but shaven upper-lip ; and this fashion is also remarkable in Phoenician statues from Cyprus. It has been thought by Perrot to be a fashion only found in Greek and Etruscan figures, and has not been traced in Assyria, where the moustache and beard seem to have been worn long ; but, as above shown, it was a Phoenician custom in 1600 B.C. The bas-relief at Ibreez shows us exactly this fashion of the shaven upper-lip in connec- tion with Syrian hieroglyphics. In the fourth century we have statues with carefully curled hair in Cyprus, sometimes under a headdress like that of the Bedawin. The Phoenician ladies seem to have hidden their hair under veils, as the Jewesses still do, and sometimes wore close-fitting bonnets, such as may still be seen in use among the young unmarried women of Samaria.*
The caps worn by men, sometimes round, some- times conical, may also be compared with the felt cap (libbddeh) worn by the modern Fellahin in Palestine. f A terra cotta figure from Amrit, in the Louvre, shows a cidaris or cylindrical cap with lappets on the
0 These bonnets are the Shebesim of Isaiah (iii. 18). The ' round tires like the moon ' are attached to them after marriage, t On the Egyptian pictures some of the men wear only a white
9o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
shoulders, very similar to that now worn by Greek priests in Syria ; another form resembles the Oscan cap worn in Italy, which is also akin to the Phrygian. The lazzaroni of Naples are in many respects very Phoenician in dress and custom, and used to wear the Oscan cap, which is, however, gradually disappearing.* Some Phoenician headdresses are thought to represent the Egyptian Klaft ; helmets are also in other cases represented with nose-pieces.
The use of striped or variegated clothes is also shown to have existed. The Samaritan peasantry, whom we have compared with the Phoenicians, wear such striped robes still.")* Egyptian dress — the shenti or skirt with two uraei in front — has also been found on a gigantic torso from Sarepta, and on a Cyprian statue apparently Phoenician. In some statuettes shoes are represented, and the Amu also wear shoes in Egyptian pictures.
Customs connected with death are illustrated by the contents of the tombs. Thus we find that the curious
fillet. This seems to be the cord binding the kefiyeh, which is still sometimes worn by itself by the very poor.
* The Neapolitans preserve many apparently Semitic customs. They paint eyes on the prows of their boats, like the Phoenicians ; and I have seen them, in the hills near Sorrento, jumping through a fire shouting ' Bel, Bel !' which they understand to mean ' beau- tiful,' but which suggests the survival of passing through the fire to Baal. They also in Naples jump into the sea in their clothes at a certain festival. In addition to the Carthaginian colonies in Sicily, there were ancient Sidonian colonies in Southern Italy, one of which, at Temesa, was not far from Naples.
*j* It is curious that the Samaritan peasantry preserve so much that seems to be Phoenician ; for the Samaritans were Sidonians according to some accounts.
THE PHOENICIANS. 91
habit of placing gold leaves over the eyes and other apertures of the corpse was copied by the Phoenicians from the Egyptians.
The soul is represented in a Cyprian monument like a human-headed bird raising its hands to its mouth to catch the ' water of life,' as in Egypt, where the souls surround the tree of Neith or of Hathor in the same curious form. The tomb in Phoenicia was called ' the eternal house,' as in Egypt, a fact testified by a Punic text from Malta. In Sardinia, many interesting re- mains occur in tombs — scarabei of elaborate design, glass amulets representing heads or mystic eyes, and little cases made of gold or silver, perhaps hung round the neck of the corpse, and containing texts written on gold plates rolled round cylinders of gilded bronze. Some of the inscriptions are Phoenician, others are in the Safa script of the second century a.d. Similar cases appear to have been found at Sidon and in Malta — the former with Hebrew cabalistic texts repeating the name of the deity. These charms resemble the Mezuza and the phylacteries of the Jews, the scapular of Ireland, the charms (of leather) used by Italians, and the Arab charms prepared by the Mahdi. It has, in fact, been a common practice of all Semitic races, and of others as well, to tie such amulets round the necks of both the living and the dead, to secure health or final resurrec- tion.*
Sacrifices at tombs, in honour of the dead ancestor,
were, we know, common in Egypt from the earliest
■• Among other amulets the Babylonian married women wore olive-shaped beads of baked clay, inscribed with the name of the
92 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
times. In Phoenicia they seem to have continued down to Roman times, judging from a little altar cut at the end of a sarcophagus of late appearance found at Umm el 'Amud by Renan, which I saw still lying in the open in 1881. It has been thought that the small terra cotta figures found in Cyprian tombs are reminiscences of sacrifices originally offered to the dead. We know that among many early tribes the wives, slaves, horses, etc., of chiefs were slain at the tomb,* that their ghosts might accompany the spirit of the dead master; and this indeed is the true origin of Suttee, and accounts for the corpses found in Celtic tumuli heaped round the sepulchral cist. In Phoenicia we find little images of warriors, chariots, and horses in the tombs, recalling the fact that small pith figures of men were flung over the Milvian bridge in later times in Rome, to replace the human victims formerly there sacrificed by drowning.
Figures of the gods in terra cotta also occur in the tombs, including those of Baal Hamon and Ashtoreth. In Sidon, Egyptian figures have been found, such as Anubis, or the silver statuette of Turn, or a blue porcelain figure of Amen with Egyptian necklaces.
woman, that of her husband, and the date of the wedding, as 1 Manutamat whom Baket Alsi has taken the day of the feast of Sabat,the ninth year of Merodach Baladan, King of Babylon.' These were the marriage certificates of the age. See Lenormant, ' Manual,' i., p. 493.
* See the account by Herodotus (iv. 71, 72) of Scythian customs. A wife, a cupbearer, groom, lacquey, messenger, some horses, golden cups, and other necessaries were buried in the open space round the king's tomb. Remains of such interments have been found in our islands, e.g., Crookstone Hill.
THE PHCENICIANS.
93
FROM TELL JEZER.
deities were rods for the
The Boulak Museum is rich in similar statuettes of
blue porcelain, generally represent- ing Osiris between Isis and Neph- thys. In Assyria, such statuettes of Nergal and other gods were buried under the foundations of houses. At Tell Jezer, in Philistia, a similar pottery figure of Ashtoreth was found (see ' Palestine Survey Memoirs,' vol. iii.), and it is stated that the Fellahin often discover similar figures which they call ' dolls.' These statuettes of amulets to secure the favour of the deceased.*
The earliest Phoenician tombs at Tyre are chambers with kokimf at the bottom of shafts filled — like Egyptian tomb-shafts — with stones. The sepulchre was thus quite hidden, and the site of the cemetery of Tyre has indeed only recently been indicated by the discovery of one tomb, which can be entered from the face of a cliff. The cemetery seems to lie under the
* Figures of soldiers are found in Cyprus, in tombs containing arms, and supposed to be those of warriors. The figures of Ash- toreth, generally naked, like that found at Tell Jezer, are supposed to have belonged to the tombs of women. The pottery figures often have a few touches of paint on them.
t The word koka and the plural kokim are used by general con- sent to designate the pigeon-holes or tunnels for the corpses running in from the side of the chamber in Phoenician and Hebrew tombs, before the adoption of the Greek form of sepulchre. Tombs with kokim are found at Carthage (800-200 B.C.), and in Italy, as well as in Syria.
94
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
present Moslem necropolis, and may one day prove to yield a rich harvest. The tombs of Gebal, on the other hand, are chambers entered from the face of the rock, as in Hebrew tombs. In Wady et Tin near Tyre, west of Burj el Kibleh, is a cemetery of tombs seem- ingly ancient, since some have kokim ; and over one of these is a block of rock with an interesting bas-relief.
It has been described incorrectly by Guerin as a Good Shepherd surrounded by sheep's heads. In 1881 I made a careful drawing on the spot. It represents a figure in a long robe with a dog on the right at its feet ; and on the left a pot whence grows a vine, forming a conventional pattern of leaves and grape-bunches which extend up on the two sides of the figure. The figure is defaced, but probably represents Melkarth, the Tyrian Hercules, with his legendary dog. This may be connected with the figures already noticed as found in the tombs. Bottles containing originally spices, and glass ' tear-bottles,' are also found in the sepulchres.
Between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C., the Phoenicians buried in sarcophagi called ' anthropoid,' having a human head, or a terminal figure, or even an entire recumbent form, on the lid, the body of the
FROM WADY ET TIxW
THE PHCENICIANS. 95
sarcophagus being shaped like a mummy-case. Such is the famous coffin of Eshmunazar with its Egyptian- like face and celebrated Phoenician inscription. These recall the wooden cases which may be seen in the Boulak Museum ; and the Phoenicians seem at this period to have learned to embalm like the Egyptians. Some of these sarcophagi were made in pottery. Frag- ments of pottery coffins were found by the Survey party in Galilee in 1872, and others have been dis- covered lately at Shefa 'Amr. They have been found in Malta and Gozo with male and female figures on the lids ; and at Arvad the head of a woman with corkscrew curls seems to have belonged to such a terra- cotta sarcophagus.
The Phoenicians also used wooden coffins with metal clamps and medallions, and at a later period are even thought to have used lead. During Roman times their sarcophagi resemble those found in all parts of Syria, placed sometimes in two tiers in the sides of the tomb-chamber. In the Greek age the use of monu- ments erected over tombs is noticeable, the tomb itself beneath being rock-cut. The anthropoid sarco- phagi are also placed in rock-cut chambers with masonry vaulting. The tombs at Amrit, including that surmounted by two obelisks or round towers with rounded tops (the cylindrical base being flanked by rude lions in relief), belong to the Greek age,* as does
c The crenelated and the dog-tooth ornamentations on these obelisks (called Meghazil, or ' spindles/ by the Arabs) are shown by Perrot to be of Assyrian derivation. The dog-tooth pattern also appears on the peculiar capitals, believed to be Phoenician, found in Cyprus.
96
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
KABR HIRAM.
THE PHCENICIANS. 97
also probably the so-called tomb of Hiram. They should be compared with such monuments as the tomb of Cyrus, and with the later Syrian tombs (about 200 B.C.). One of these conspicuous monuments has a pyramidal roof. It is, in short, only a large cippus, similar to smaller examples from Sardinia.
The Burj el Bezzak, or ' tower of the Snail ' at Amrit, approaches nearer to the tomb towers of Moab which belong to the second century a.d., being a masonry structure in two stories intended to hold two tiers of sarcophagi. In Malta, a Phoenician tomb of round shape at the bottom of the shaft is found, just like a tomb at Tyre, which contained a sarcophagus. Round tombs with radiating kokim were also found by the Survey party in the plain of Sharon, at 'Amman, and elsewhere, as detailed in the ' Memoirs.' A shaft tomb exists near Athlit, probably Phoenician, and, like that at Malta, it has foot-holes cut in the sides of the shaft to assist in climbing up and down. With the excep- tion of the great anthropoid sarcophagi, there is nothing to show a very marked distinction between the Hebrew and Phoenician tombs from the earliest to the latest age. The history of the sepulchres in Phoenicia agrees perfectly with the chronological series which has been established independently in Palestine.*
A moment's consideration must be devoted to Phoe- nician temples. The earliest of these, as before re- marked, were mere cromlechs ; but as time went on, pillars took the place of menhirs, and structural shrines
0 See my paper on Tombs in the ' Memoirs of the Survey of Palestine ' (volume of special papers).
7
98 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
were added. We have coins of Byblos showing the temple at this place, consisting of a cella or small square building with a pediment, and a large hypsethral court bounded by columns on all four sides. As one rides through the modern village of Jebeil, one sees the pillars once belonging to this court supporting the house-fronts of a long bazaar. On coins of Cyprus we have a temple with a central tower flanked by turrets, looking very like a cathedral front. The courtyard in front is semicircular, paved, and inhabited by sacred doves. A railing, with doors and lattice-work — perhaps of metal — bounds the court. This reminds us of the Soreg, or lattice railing, round the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem. At Byblos the sacred cone stood in the hypsethral court. At Belat, in Upper Galilee, not very far from Tyre, and on the borders of Phoenicia, such a hypsethral court still exists, and may safely be supposed to represent a Phoenician temple of the Greek or of the Roman age. It is described and figured in the ' Memoirs ' (vol. i.).* Another such court, belonging probably to the time of Herod the Great, exists at the foot of the Hill of Samaria on the north side. The great Temple of Baalbek was of the same character — a large quadrangle, with a single row of pillars on each side, and without either roof, outer walls, or inner colonnades.
In the Belat example the corners are occupied by double semi-pillars — a peculiarity found also in the Galilean synagogues of the second century A.D.
° Robinson regards this as a temple, and says it cannot well be Jewish. — ' Later Bib. Res.,' p. 65.
THE PHCENICIANS. 99
Two magnificent examples of this form of double semi-pillar occur at Tyre. They are of red granite, 26 feet long, and 3 J feet in diameter of each semi- pillar, presenting splendid monolithic masses of polished stone. From what we know of crusading architecture, it seems highly improbable that these columns, though now found in the ruins of the cathedral, were originally hewn in the twelfth century. It is more likely that, as at Jerusalem, Csesarea, and in other cases, the Christian shrine stands on the site of a pagan temple. In this case the double semi - pillars are perhaps remains of the old Temple of Melkarth, of which Herodotus speaks in writing about Tyre. He saw also a pillar of gold, and one of green-stone, said to shine at night (Herod, ii. 44).
The small square shrines erected in Phoenicia seem to have resembled those set up by the wayside in Italy, holding a picture and a lamp. The M'abed,* or ' place of worship,' found by Renan at 'Amrit, and two others at 'Ain el Haiyat (' Spring of Snakes '), are examples, per- haps as old as 400 B.C. They are remarkable for a cornice consisting of the heads of cobras (ursei), whence, per- haps, the name Haiyat. They are stone boxes, open in front, and must have contained statues. Indeed, we have a sculptured fragment, figured by Renan, which shows us such a shrine, with its cornice of serpents, and a seated figure of Assyrian type within. The uraei are the originals of the decoration on classic cornices of
0 The M'abed is 10 feet by io feet by 12 feet high, standing on a rock base, 10 feet high, in an excavated courtyard of rock, 50 yards by 50 yards.
7—2
ioo SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
leaves not serrated. Renan compares these shrines to the Kaaba, and suggests that each represents a Thebah, or ' ark.' They seem to have developed from the old arrangement of the trilithon, enclosing a menhir or cone. The details seem to show that they belong to the period of Egyptian influence in Phoenicia.
We have interesting evidence of the sacred dances which we know to have formed part of the ritual of the Hebrews and Phoenicians. Indeed, they still survive, not only in Asia Minor, but in Palestine. At edh Dhaheriyeh (Debir), in 1874, I saw the elders of the village dancing solemnly before the shrine of their Neby. David, it will be remembered, danced with almost the fury of a Bacchic rite before the ark. The Derwish dances must also not be forgotten, and the dancing in the Jerusalem Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles, mentioned in the Mishnah.
A rude limestone group, now in the Louvre, shows us one of these Phoenician dances. Three robed figures, with hoods like monks, dance round a man playing the Halil, or double pipe. There are also terra cottas showing dances round cones or nests with doves on a tree-trunk. In one case a vase stands by the tree, and a tambourine-player stands outside the circle of four dancers. This dancing round the tree seems also to be represented on a steatite cylinder, and no doubt was practised in Assyria round the tree of Asshur. Similar rites have even survived in our nurseries (from the early Igdrasil cultus) in the game ' Here we go round the mulberry-bush,' and are con- nected with the May-pole dance.
THE PHOENICIANS. 101
The Phoenician music seems to have been similar to the Hebrew. The double pipe, the harp (Kinnur), and the tambourine, are represented in sculpture. The harp, or lyre, is the same shape used in Greece, and shown on Jewish coins.* Trumpets, horns, and the Nebel, or lute, were also no doubt used, and the small hand-drum (Toph). There are few arts in which the modern Europeans stand so far in advance of Orientals as in music. Hebrew and Jewish music, like that of Phoenicia, and of the modern Syrians, was of the most primitive character, and the songs were no doubt mere repetitions of one or two notes, such as are still commonly heard in the East.
The use of horses in Phoenicia is shown by many representations of horsemen and chariots. It was presumably very ancient. The Egyptians got the use of the horse from Asia at a comparatively late period by Phoenician trade, f Chariots were employed in war in the time of Thothmes III., and their use by the Egyptians assisted the wide conquests of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. The various Syrian nations seem all from north to south to have used chariots as early as 1600 B.C. at least. In Akka-
0 The lyre struck with the plectum is also shown at Beni Hasan in the procession of the thirty-seven Amu.
f The Khar are shown bringing horses as well as gold and silver vessels, blue-stone, green-stone, jewels, etc. Thothmes I. appears to have been the earliest conqueror who introduced horses into Egypt from Mesopotamia (Lenormant, ' Manual/ i., p. 229). Armenia appears from an early period to have been a horse-breed- ing country. The Kurdish horses are still celebrated for endurance. With horses, chariots were introduced into Egypt from Asia.
102 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
dian the horse is called the ' animal from the East.' Ezekiel mentions the trade with Armenia at Tyre in horses (xxvii. 14). The Amu coming to Egypt are represented with an ass carrying their children, and no doubt the ass was as much used as it still is, the horse being reserved for war and the chase. Among Persians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians, the horse takes his place in sacred symbolism, but is absent from the sacred animal worship of Egypt — a very sure sign of the late introduction of its use.
Returning to questions of architecture and art, the first and most important question is that of Phoenician masonry. It has been shown by the discovery of walls at Eryx in Sicily, which have Phoenician masons' marks on the lower courses, that the chief characteristics of the early Phoenician buildings were : first, the use of unsquared stones ; and secondly, that of false arches. The first peculiarity survives in the peasant archi- tecture of Syria. The temples of Giganteia, and of the Hagiar Kem, in Gozo and Malta, give examples of this unsquared stone-work. At Banias, twenty-five miles north of Arvad, another specimen of this work remains. The early Pelasgic buildings of Asia Minor, and the fortress of Gaiour Kalessi, in Phrygia, give other examples. In short, the first structures erected by Pelasgi, Etruscans, Phoenicians, and Alarodians, present, as we should expect, only a slight advance from the first attempts at construction found in the early cromlechs, dolmens, and menhirs. In Phoenicia, Etruria, and Asia Minor alike, the false arch formed by stones set in horizontal courses, and cut to the
THE PHCENICIANS. 103
arch form, is associated with the unsquared stones. The true arch is mentioned by Wilkinson in Egypt in the reigns of Amenophis I.* and Psamtek II. Ethi- opian pyramids have true vaults, and both round and pointed arches (not earlier than about 700 B.C.). Layard found pointed arches in the drains at Nimrud, probably as old as the eighth or ninth centuries B.C.
The false arch occurs at Eryx, either cut out of a single block, or from several courses. It is very interesting to be able to point to similar false arches in the aqueduct from Ras el 'Ain (the undoubted site of Palae-Tyrus) to Tyre itself.
This aqueduct appeared to me to be Roman work, until by careful examination I found that the arches near the great reservoir were not structural but false. The original note, made on the spot on the nth May, 1881, runs thus : 'The round arches are of equal-sized voussoirs, with keystones. Near Tell Habish, how- ever, there are arches not structural, but made by corbelling out the stones in successive courses to form a round arch ' : these arches are five feet in diameter. The fall from the reservoirs to the sea is 80 feet, so that the aqueduct easily conveyed water to Tyre, though the latter part has now been destroyed. Menander appears to mention this aqueduct (see Josephus, * Ant.,' IX. xiv. 2) in Shalmanezer's time, the water •supply being already from Palsetyrus. The false arches,
* Psamtek II. dates only 594-589 B.C. Amenophis I. from 1700 B.C. ; but the brick roof of the tomb bearing his name ■(Wilkinson, ' Egypt and Thebes,' pp. 81 and 126) is perhaps a later restoration.
104 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
if not the structural ones — probably restorations — may therefore well be supposed to be as old as 850 B.C. (at latest), and are among the oldest Phoenician remains still existing in Syria.
The Tyrians used very large stones in some build- ings, as for instance in the Hagiar Kem, at Malta, and in the walls of Arvad. The large stones of the sea-wall at Sidon may also probably be Phoenician. This mega- lithic masonry was, however, chiefly built in the later age, the fourth to second centuries B.C. We shall have occasion to speak of it again in treating of the Greek period. The use of large stones preceded in Syria the discovery of mortar, which came into use in the later Roman age with brick, and gradually superseded the costly but very durable megalith ic style of the Herodian and Antonine periods. Concrete was used by the Carthaginians in the second century B.C., and is found on the moles of Adrumetum and Thapsus, in Africa.* The exploration of the mole of the Egyptian harbour at Tyre, in 1881, showed that concrete, with very hard mortar, had been laid on the rocks, which were not previously recognised as part of the harbour wall.f
We know very little about the earliest ornamental
* Concrete tombs are also found in Carthage, and a concrete tomb exists at Jerusalem (see c Memoirs/ Jerusalem volume, Wady er Rababy). It has loculi, not kokim.
t M. Perrot repeats Renan's error of supposing this harbour to be lost. There is no doubt of its position and extent, as surveyed in 1881. In 1877 the plan made was incomplete (see 'Memoirs,' vol. iii., Appendix). Renan also causes great confusion by his theories about Palse-Tyrus, the true site of which at Ras el 'Ain. can easily be demonstrated.
THE PHOENICIANS.
T0$
column capitals used by the Phoenicians. In the fourth century B.C. they employed Doric forms. Various capitals from Cyprus give most peculiar details, but
gy^fljf
i5aolTeet>
>&i
SURVEY OF TYRE.
these also do not appear to be very early, nor is their Phoenician origin certain.
Among the arts of the Phoenicians that of writing takes the first place. The monuments from which the
106 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
history of the alphabet is traced are still few in the more remote ages ; but it is known that the Phoenician letters were modified as early as 750 B.C., when a very distinct Aramean alphabet is already found in Assyria. This great trade alphabet, called Aramean, differs from the South Semitic forms found in Himyaritic and Ethiopic, and brought north to the Hauran by Tha- mudite tribes. These modifications must again be noticed later.*
Four periods of Phoenician art are distinguishable. First, the early bronze age, when very beautiful works were executed, as shown on the pictures of Thothmes II. Secondly, from the close of the eighth century B.C. to the close of the sixth, when Assyrian art supplied the types copied, and when Phoenicia was a province of Assyria. Thirdly, in the sixth and fifth centuries, when Egyptian art was copied in a somewhat servile manner, and hieroglyphs were used as ornamentation, evidently without any meaning beyond decoration. Lastly, in the fifth century the Phoenicians began to imitate rude Greek art, and continued to do so to a late period. Mr. Greville Chester has recently remarked on the names of Egyptian Kings, from Menkara of the fourth dynasty to Amases II. of the twenty-sixth dynasty (564-526 B.C.), found in use merely as adornments on Phoenician scarabs. The influence of Greece was after- wards so strong that the Phoenicians who traded with Greeks left off circumcising themselves, as noticed by Herodotus (ii. 104).
* The following is a conspectus of Phoenician and other Syrian inscriptions (see Taylor's ' Hist, of Alphabet/ vol. i.) :
THE PHCENICIANS. 107
The designs on Phoenician gems of the Assyrian and Egyptian periods are varied and fanciful. We have on these, and in sculpture, the gryphon, the sphinx, the scarab, the winged horse, the boar, the serpent-woman, with cherubs of various kinds, and many other ima- ginative figures. The curling wings of these creatures are thought to be distinctive of Phoenician art.
On the Phoenician seals a name with the preposition * Li ' is commonly found. Some of the names are those of deities, and it might appear that these were the names of the gods often represented on the gems ; but the texts found on Aramaic bowls, recently described, from Nimrud,* leave it beyond doubt that both gems and bowls are inscribed with the names of their owners. The Phoenician gems are, therefore, signets like those still used in Syria. It is beyond the scope of the pre- sent inquiry to speak further of the metal work, -pottery,
Baal Libnan text, on copper - perhaps 1000 B.C.
Moabite stone - 876 B.C.
Lion weights from Nineveh - - 745-686 B.C.
Siloam inscription - about 703 B.C.
Abu Simbel texts - 645-589 B.C.
Coffin of Eshmunazar - 580-330 B.C.
Coins of Aradus - 522-465 B.C.
Coins of Tyre - 465-424 B.C.
Coins of Gebal - 405-360 b C.
Phcenician-Cypriot bilingual - - 375 b c Coins of Artaxerxes (at Tyre and Gebal) - 360-339 B.C.
Cypriot texts - 312-254 B.C.
Texts at Umm el Amud - 132 B.C.
Coins of Tyre - - - 145 B.C-153 A.D.
0 'Proceedings Bib. Arch. Soc.,* March 4, 1884 : 'To Baalezer the scribe.''
108 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
glass,* coins, paintings, and statuary of Phoenicia, which are so beautifully illustrated by the great work of Perrot and Chipiez ; for we are concerned, not with art, but with archaeology as bearing on the life and manners of the Phoenicians, and as serving to illustrate the contemporary civilization of the Hebrews, and the manners of the present Semitic inhabitants of Syria.
One important subject remains to engage our atten- tion, namely, Phoenician trade. The Phoenicians were the first to steer by the pole-star in the Mediterranean, and their power and fame rested chiefly on their bold sea voyages and wide maritime trade.
A Phoenician ship, as represented on the Assyrian monuments, was much like those of Greeks and Romans, with high prow and two or more banks of oars. The Syrian ships which assisted Sennacherib in the Persian Gulf, about 700 B.C., were no doubt manned by Phoenicians.
Herodotus speaks of little figures called Pataikoi,
0 The Phoenicians are credited with the invention of glass at the Belus river, near Acre (Pliny, H. N. xxxvi. 21 ; Scylax, 104). In the Bible this river is called Shihor Libnath, which is thought by some to mean ' river of glass/ The earliest glass seems, however? to have been made in Egypt, and is supposed to have been known as early as the Old Empire. It was commonly used in Egypt during the time of the first Theban dynasty, before the arrival of the Phoenician traders. A bottle of the time of Thothmes III., be- lieved to be Egyptian, exists in the British Museum. Glass bottles are common in the ancient tombs of Palestine and Phoenicia, and some of the coloured glass of Phoenicia is very beautiful. It con- tinued to be made at Tyre in the middle ages, and is still made at Hebron. Lenormant states ('Manual,' ii., p. 214) that glass- blowing is frequently represented on tombs of the fourth and fifth dynasties in Egypt.
THE PHCENICIANS. 109
placed in the prow of Phoenician trireme galleys (iii. 37); he compares them with a statue of Ptah at Memphis — whence it is supposed they took their name. There was a Cyrenaic God of Agriculture, Aptouchos, ' The Plougher,' whose name might also be supposed to be connected. These little images are shown on the galley-prows on the Phoenician coins. In a terra-cotta model of a galley from Amathus, the pataikos appears to be steering, with an enormous head. This galley has the symbolic eye on its prow — the eye of Osiris — already mentioned in tombs, and shown on Egyptian ships as well. The Neapolitans, whose boats have high prows like those of Phoenicia, still paint this eye on either side of the prow. In size these galleys, if like those of Greece, would not have exceeded about 100 feet in length — a great contrast to modern steamers ; hence it is easy to understand the small size of the famous harbours of Tyre and Sidon. The two Tyrian harbours each occupied about twelve acres, and that of Sidon twenty acres. A study of the Syrian coast shows why the Hebrews were so different to the Tyrians in their dislike of the sea. South of the Bay of Acre there is no natural harbour, and the Phoenicians even can hardly have touched at Joppa or at the little road- steads of Csesarea, Jamnia, Ashdod, and Gaza, save in fine weather. Northern Syria possesses several ports, that of Tripoli being the best, and that of Latakia quite equal to Tyre, Sidon, or Gebal. The Carthaginian harbours together are said to have occupied fifty-eight acres. Perrot compares this with the sixty-five acres of Marseilles, supposed to hold 1,100 merchant vessels.
no SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The name of Tarshish is bound up with Phoenician trade. This town has been placed variously in Ceylon, Arabia, and Spain ;* but a careful consideration of the subject seems to point to Tarsus, on the south coast of Asia Minor, as the true site — the Tarshish of which Paul was a native. Two objections have been raised to this view — first, that it is not a seaport ; and secondly, that tin is not found in its vicinity. Both objections are answerable. It is clear from the account of Cleo- patra's pageant (Plutarch's ' Life of Antony ') that the river Cydnus was then navigable to Tarsus, and there- fore was so in the earlier days of Phoenician trade. It is also clear that tin must have been known in Asia as early as 1600 B.C., since bronze (copper and tin) was in use at least as early. Now Spain, and Tartessus in Spain, were probably not known until about the time of the building of Carthage, or 800 B.C. The tin men- tioned in the Bible (Ezek. xxvii. 12), with silver, iron, and lead, as coming from Tarshish, may have been a trade-product coming overland from the Caucasus, and not of necessity from tin mines at the city itself. Tar- shish is noticed with Cyprus and Lydia, Tubal (a tribe of Asia Minor), and Javan (Ionia), and in Genesis (x. 4) as an Ionian colony. The east wind breaking the ships of Tarshish (Ps. xlviii. 7) was no doubt one of those gales from the Lebanon or Taurus, which make the Syrian harbours — such as the Gulf of Alexandretta — so dangerous in winter. Evidence of the wide spread of
* The difficulty in 2 Chron. xx. 36 is not removed by placing Tarshish in Spain. Perhaps we should read ' to make ships to go to Tarshishj and they made ships in Ezion Geber.'
THE PHCENICIANS. hi
the Phoenicians is not wanting : they got to Aden, and to Britain (in 200 B.C.), and are thought to have cir- cumnavigated Africa by 600 B.C.* Yet this is no reason why a Tarshish in Spain should be coupled by Isaiah with the towns of Asia Minor, and included in Ezekiel's description of the trade of Tyre (xxvii.) with India, Persia, Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Assyria, and Cyprus.
This Tyrian trade is clearly described by one familiar with Tyre, and many of its more remarkable features agree with the evidence afforded by Egyptian pictures and by remains dug up in Cyprus and Asia Minor. Ivory, for instance, is found in Nineveh, with Egyptian carved designs ; it is also found in Troy. An ivory box was found in Eshmunazar's sepulchre. Ivory is com- monly found in Cyprus and Phoenicia, being apparently an Egyptian export. In the next chapter we shall speak of the ivory throne of Hezekiah. The purple, red and green colours for dyeing, obtained from the MurexTrunculus, were native articles of Tyrian trade ; and at Sidon the debris of the dyeing works may be seen. In 1881 I saw ram-skins being dyed red outside this town.
The slave-trade of Phoenicia is also attested, not only by Ezekiel (xxvii. 13) but by the pictures of Thoth- mes III. On these pictures small pale figures, perhaps meant for children of the Caucasian tribes, are repre- sented as brought by the Khar in tribute. The slaves, according to Ezekiel, came from Tubal, and the Tuplai, we now know from Assyrian monuments, lived north of
* Herod., iv. 42. They also discovered the Canaries and Madeira, as deduced from a passage in Diod. Sic, v. xix.
H2 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Aleppo in Cappadocia. Thus the ancient inhabitants of Armenia seem, like the modern Georgians, to have supplied the slave-markets of the Mediterranean as early as 1600 B.C. by selling their children.
Finally we come to the question, Did the Phoenicians ever land in Britain ? That they traded with the tin islands (Kassiteridse or Scilly Isles) is certain, and this trade they kept secret as a monopoly (Strabo, iii. v. n). Diodorus Siculus speaks of the strangers who came to the shores of Great Britain for tin. It has been thought, however, that tin was obtained by the Phoenicians through the traders of Bretagne, who crossed the Channel in their coracles. Strabo says that the strangers gave salt, bronze vases, arms, and pottery to the natives of the Kassiteridae. No Phoenician inscrip- tions have been found in either England or Ireland, and the Scilly Islands seem, perhaps, to have been the farthest point reached in the North.
The Phoenicians, thus described from the monu- ments, appear to have been as closely akin to the Hebrews as was their language to Hebrew. In Genesis the Semitic race of Phoenicia does not seem to be specially noticed, Tyre being omitted from the ethnographic lists, and Sidon only noticed in connec- tion with the Turanian race, which, as we have seen, existed in Northern Syria. Tyre is first mentioned in monumental history in the * Travels of a Mohar ' (fourteenth century B.C.), but was no doubt a great trading city even earlier. The name of Baal, which is so commonly found in Phoenicia, is also found in the Bible as that of the deity commonly worshipped by the
THE PHCENICIANS. 113
Israelites down to the days of Ezra. The Samaritans are said by Josephus to have called themselves Sido- nians,* and we cannot doubt that the Fenek t were but a tribe of that western division of the Semitic race which included the inland inhabitants of Syria, the Hebrews, the Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites, and the Semitic population of the Egyptian Delta.
0 'Ant.,' 12, v. 5: 'We are originally Sidonians, as is evident from the public records ' (supposed to have been said about 180 B.C.).
f It seems not impossible that the word Pannag(Ezek. xxvii. 17) is the same as Fenek or Punic, and refers to the wheat of the Phoenician coast.
8
CHAPTER III.
THE HEBREWS.
The name Hebrew has not been found on the monu- ments as yet discovered in Egypt, for the Aperu, mentioned in the records, were in Egypt in the time of Rameses III., which is regarded as too late a date for the habitation of Heliopolis by 2,083 Hebrews, and the Aperu are even mentioned in the time of Rameses IV. The hieroglyphic second sign is that standing for F or P, and not that usually employed for B *
There is certainly no reason why some record of the alliance of David with Hiram, or of Solomon with the Pharaoh, should not yet be discovered, since we have monuments more than a thousand years older from Chaldea, and yet more ancient from Egypt, and con- sidering that our information is still very fragmentary, while many inscriptions yet uncollected are known to
* In an inscription of Rameses IV. at Mamat we find * Aperu of the Anu,' the Anu being a warlike Nubian race. 'Aperu' may mean workmen. In the time of Rameses II. they are mentioned as drawing stones to build the enclosure at Pa Ramessu, appa- rently as captives (see ' Speaker's Commentary,' vol. i., part i., p. 467). Brugsch calls the Aperu ' redskins.'
THE HEBREWS. 115
remain in the Delta and in Babylonia. If, however, a strong independent state was constituted in Syria by the prowess of David and the policy of Solomon, at a time when the powers of Egypt and of Assyria were both waning, we should naturally expect to hear less of its history from external sources than we gather of the condition of the country from the boastful annals of conquerors like Rameses II., or Sennacherib.
There is sufficient reason to suppose that the civiliza- tion of the Hebrews was not inferior to that of sur- rounding Semitic races. In Phoenicia we have seen how the growth of a peculiar civilization, beginning at the time of the Hyksos domination, steadily developed and spread, lasting to Roman times, in spite of the vicissitudes of the national history. The discovery of the Moabite Stone shows that this civilization was shared to a certain degree even by so remote a district as that east of the Dead Sea. On that monument the Hebrews already appear as worshippers of Jehovah, and as overlords for a time of Moab itself. It would be incredible, therefore, that the kings of Samaria and Jerusalem should have ruled a people less advanced than the subjects of King Mesha in wealth, power, and cultivation. *
We have two documents in existence, which suffi- ciently prove the wealth and civilization of Jerusalem
* The Moabite Stone tells us that the Moabites worshipped Istar-Chemosh ; that they erected fortresses, palaces, towers, and apparently bridges. They had, it would seem, images of the gods, and they could write. There is nothing surprising in this condition of civilization in Moab after what we have learned concerning the Amorites, Hittites, etc., in the preceding chapters.
8—2
n6 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
in the time of Hezekiah. The first contains evidence of wide commercial relations ; the second gives indica- tions of a considerable lapse of time since the first birth of Hebrew civilization. The first is the account given by Sennacherib of his unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem ; the second is the celebrated Siloam inscription — the oldest monument of Hebrew literature remaining still extant. In the face of these documents it is no longer possible to suppose that the Hebrews were merely rude tribes which only attained to a knowledge of writing and to a national literature by adopting the civilization of their Assyrian and Babylonian captors.
Hezekiah, we are told by Sennacherib, sent a tribute including thirty talents (£15,000) of gold, 800 talents (£400,000) of silver, precious stones, a chair of ivory, with elephants' hides, elephants' tusks,* rare woods of every kind, a vast treasure, as well as the eunuchs of his palace, singing men and singing women. The mention of ivory is especially important. We know that Egyptian ivory objects have been found in Nineveh, and in the oldest remains of Troy. It
* It is not quite certain that the word amsz signifies the elephant, since Tiglath Pilezer I. (in 11 20-1 100 B.C.) shot the amsi with his bow between the Tigris and the Euphrates. We do not know if the elephant inhabited Mesopotamia at this period, and has since become extinct. The ivory, however, of the throne is distinct from the amsi teeth or horns. An inscription of the reign of Thothmes III. mentions 120 elephants hunted for their tusks in the land of Nii, when an Egyptian cut off the ' hand ' or trunk of one of them. Dr. Birch understands Nineveh or India by Nii. The other places mentioned in this inscription are in Syria. If the identification of Nii be correct, the elephant may have existed in Mesopotamia at about 1600 B.C. Possibly, however, Nii was in Africa.
THE HEBREWS. 117
appears, therefore, that during, or more probably before the time of Hezekiah, a trade with Egypt existed, and that the kings of Jerusalem either received as presents,/ or were rich enough to buy, considerable quantities of ivory, as well as precious metals and precious stones* We see also that music had made some advance in their courts, and that considerable trains of slaves surrounded them. In accord with these indications, we learn a little earlier that Sargon took 27,280 prisoners from the city of Samaria in 722 B.C. This agrees with the generally received conclusions which would make Jerusalem — a city certainly as important as Samaria — cover about 200 acres of ground, repre- senting a population of at least 20,000 souls. The city was in this case larger than Tyre, and its power of resistance to the Assyrian army is therefore compre- hensible.
The Siloam inscription has been placed by Dr. Taylor (though not with absolute certainty) as late as the time of Manasseh ; but if we accept the Old Testa- ment account of the great waterworks of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxii. 30), it seems more probable that the date should be earlier than 703 B.C. The arguments which Dr. Taylor has founded on a careful comparative study of the forms of the letters preclude, however, the possibility of more than this slight modification of probable date.
Doctor Taylor points specially to the forms of the Shin, and of the Mint and Nun. In the first case the form is old, but the other two letters have later shapes. The old forms occur in Nineveh 705-681 B.C.; but in
n8 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
tablets dating 680-640 B.C., the Mini and Shin are both of the form of the Siloam text. This induces Doctor Taylor to fix 681-668 B.C. as the date of the Siloam text, but it is possible that further discovery of dated monuments might show that the change in the forms of certain letters occurred a generation earlier in Palestine than in Assyria.*
The Siloam inscription (found in the rock-tunnel close to the pool in 1881) merely records the method of execution of the tunnel, yet its importance epigraphic- ally and philologically is immense. First, it shows us that several centuries must have elapsed, during which the modifications of form which distinguish the Phoenician, the Moabite, and the Hebrew scripts gradu- ally developed, and that the Hebrews, therefore, would probably have been in possession of the art of writing as early at least as the time, of Solomon. In the second place, it proves that the language of the Israelites, about 700 B.C., was that same pure Hebrew
* In addition to the Siloam text, we have a seal of Haggai found by Sir C. Warren at Jerusalem, which has the old forms of the Shin and of the Cheth and Heh. This seal may therefore be, perhaps, earlier than the sixth or seventh centuries B.C. The jar- handles with inscriptions (Li Melek Set and Li Melek Safa) dis- covered by Sir C. Warren have been called Phoenician, but may perhaps be Hebrew, and seem probably to be about the same age as the Siloam text. We have seen in the last chapter reason for supposing such inscriptions to give the names of the owners of the jars (comparing the graffite on Phoenician and Aramean bowls) ; and the names Set and Safa are probably compounded with that of Moloch, who was worshipped at Jerusalem according to the Book of Kings. The Mim on these jar-handles has the later form, but the Caph an early form.
ij- a.
* K
C
o
0
J2
00 00
13
C
o
C
C X
H
THE HEBREWS. 119
which is used in the earlier books of the Jewish Scrip- tures. It is true that recent study has shown that the true interpretation of Hebrew words may often be better judged by comparison with Assyrian than by that use of later Aramaic and Arabic, to which former scholars were of necessity confined ; but Hebrew, nevertheless, is a dialect distinct from those spoken in Assyria and Babylonia, differing also to a certain extent from Phoenician, and yet further from the later Aramaic spoken after the Captivity. We see, then, that there is no archaeological argument which forbids the assumption that the Hebrews possessed a literature during the time of their independence, and reason for supposing that they already used letters in the time of Solomon. The preservation of sacred books in such a script as that of the Siloam text would be at least as easy as the preservation of the Izdubar legends on tablets in the clumsy cuneiform writing; and it has been shown by Mr. H. F. Talbot that the use of papyrus was not confined to Egypt, but was also customary in Babylonia.* Papyri, or leather rolls, would not indeed last in the more humid climates of Palestine and Chaldea as they have lasted in the dry Egyptian climate. They have not been found in Phoenicia, although we can hardly doubt that such materials must have been early adopted by a practical
* Papyrus is called the ' reed of Egypt ' (W. A. I., v. 32, 62) in cuneiform inscriptions. The word Alali is rendered 'papyrus' by Talbot. It was used, says Professor Sayce, in Ur. The papyrus grew in the Euphrates (Pliny, H. N., xiii. 22). George Smith says that parchment also was used, called Ets-Likhusi. See also p. 15c.
120 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
people like the Phoenicians, who became acquainted with the use of papyrus in Egypt. The Egyptian papyrus, as well as the Syrian species, has, moreover, been found growing in Palestine, and the country thus possessed the means of making such rolls as are men- tioned in the Bible (Jer. xxxvi. 2) without importing the materials from abroad.
The similarities observed between the narrative of the earlier chapters of Genesis and the Izdubar tablets, with other fragments of Babylonian sacred literature, have led some critics rather hastily to conclude that the Jews first became acquainted with these narratives during their Babylonian captivity. Such a view, how- ever, contravenes the ordinary rules whereby archae- ologists attempt to trace the history of races. The names of Adam, Noah, and other patriarchs have never been found on Assyrian or Babylonian tablets. The ark-builder in Akkadian story is Tam-Zi, who became the Phoenician Tammuz. So far, then, as the evidence of names can guide, the Hebrew tradition appears to have been handed down independently from a remote period.*
If we study the Pentateuch from a purely archaeolo- gical standpoint, we also become aware of the existence of philological indications which seem to show that the Hebrews must early have committed to writing the
* Professor Sayce shows that the Akkadian account of the Flood as preserved in Assyrian tablets cannot be older than 2300 B.C. (the limit of the possible antiquity of the Akkadian calendar), or later than 1700 B.C. ; the probable age being about 2000 B.C. — ' Lect. on Bab. Lit.,5 p. 41.
THE HEBREWS. 121
national traditions. Semitic languages are slow to change, yet archaisms have been found in Genesis — such as the use of the masculine Nar instead of the feminine Narah for a ' girl,' and of the masculine form Hua for both genders, which mark a considerable antiquity,* and show also that the Hebrews pre- served the text of their ancient writings as carefully as the Babylonians. The number of Egyptian words peculiar to the Book of Exodusf is also a valuable indication, and recent studies have shown that the author of the narrative of the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage must have had considerable knowledge of the topography and language of the Delta.
We are justified, therefore, on purely antiquarian grounds, in supposing that the Hebrews possessed a sacred written literature before the time of their cap- tivity, a literature containing works of considerable antiquity and varied style.
* See Munk, ' Palestine,' p. 137. Professor Sayce remarks : ' In all the inscriptions (in Semitic Assyrian) which have come down to us, we find substantially the same language (' Rec. Past,' i., p. 6). The progress of language is shown by the alteration of archaic forms in the Samaritan Version (see Gesen., ' De Pent. Sam. Origine,' pp. 26 seq.j and Nutt's ' Samaritans,' p. 90). The Sama- ritans, in like manner, avoid in some passages the vigorous anthropomorphic expressions of the Hebrew.
t Cf. * Speaker's Commentary,' vol. i., part i., appendix. It must, however, not be forgotten that the Egyptians admitted many Semitic words into their language in the Hyksos period. The names of Moses, Putiel, Gersom, and Phinehas appear to be Egyptian, as is possibly also that of Aaron — a strong argument in favour of their historic reality.
122 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
That the Israelites worshipped Jehovah at least as early as the ninth century B.C., and afterwards, we also now know from monumental evidence — namely, from the Moabite Stone, and from the names of kings, such as Jehu, Hoshea, Azariah, and Hezekiah, found in cuneiform texts ; while, as before explained, the absence of rude-stone monuments in Judea, and their abundance in Moab and Gilead and Bashan, may be thought to point to the fulfilment of the commands recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy to destroy the idols of Canaan. These various facts, all ascertained within the last fifteen years, all tend towards the con- clusion that the Hebrews possessed a civilization not inferior to that of surrounding nations, and dating pro- bably as early as that of Phoenicia. The progress of knowledge has falsified some of the confident theories of purely exegetical students, and shows us that we may yet learn much more of early Hebrew history from monumental relics.
The account given in the Book of Kings of Solomon's Temple does not profess to be that of a contemporary writer, although older authorities (such as we see might have been preserved in Jerusalem archives) are quoted as known to the author. This Temple would appear, from the description, to have resembled rather those existing in Egypt than any of the rude hypaethral enclosures of Phoenicia. The building would have been small as compared with an Egyptian temple ; but its plan, its surrounding cells, and its dark interior recall the remains still standing at Karnak or Thebes. On the other hand, the cherubim carved on its walls
THE HEBREWS. 123
recall the winged monsters of Nineveh ; and we thus recognise in the account of the Hebrew writer an art which, like that of Phoenicia, borrowed its elements equally from the two great centres at Nineveh and Memphis. Not a stone of Solomon's Temple can be said now to remain ; but we gather that Phoenician workmen were employed in its construction, and our study of Phoenician art has served to illustrate in a remarkable manner the Biblical account of the Jerusalem Temple.*
It is unnecessary here to enlarge on the coincidences between the historical statements of the Book of Kings and the monumental records of Assyria and Babylonia. They have been fully treated by George Smith, Pro- fessor Sayce, and many other great authorities. They extend back to the ninth century B.C., the earliest names yet recovered being those of Ahab and of Jehu. The history of the later kings of Judah is clearly indi-
* The adornment of Solomon's Temple is described as consisting chiefly of woods and precious metals. The inscriptions of Nebu- chadnezzar tell us how the temple Beth Zida, which he built, was adorned with gold, silver, copper, and cedar and ivory. The style of the Jerusalem Temple is thus one natural to Western Asia before the Persian conquest, as noticed in the last chapter (p. 86) ; and as regards its interior, arks and incense-altars were known in Assyria, and sacred to the gods. The veil of the temple at Sippara is mentioned about 880 B.C. An ark of gold in Palestine is men- tioned by Thothmes III. about 1600 B.C. Pausanias (II. i. 7) speaks of the veil of the temple of Gabala in Syria, symbolizing the Cosmos, as late as the second century A.D. There is no detail in the description in the Book of Kings which appears improbable when viewed by aid of Babylonian, Phoenician, and Egyptian buildings.
124 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
cated on the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets, in general accordance with Hebrew records.*
We may proceed, therefore, to consider what is known of the religion, the social condition, archi- tecture, and art of the Hebrews, through study of existing remains, sculptures, and inscriptions, com- paring these with the scattered antiquarian notes which occur in the Old Testament books, and con- fining our attention to the period of the Hebrew monarchy from Solomon to Josiah. The necessity for so confining the anterior limit of our inquiry arises from the present condition of our antiquarian informa- tion. Of the early history of the Hebrews we have at present no knowledge derived from sources other than the Old Testament. It is true that some light has been thrown on that passage of Genesis which speaks of Amraphel king of Shinar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Arioch king of Ellasar, and Tidal king of Goim (xiv. i), by the recovery of the names of early Turanian monarchs in Babylonia ;f but this com-
* The kings mentioned in the cuneiform texts include Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, of Israel ; Azariah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh, of Judah. The monuments of the invaders left in Syria include the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar in Lebanon, near Hirmil, and at the Dog River, north of Beyrout, where six Assyrian tablets occur with three Egyptian. See * Trans. Bib. Arch. Soc./ vii., pp. 331-352.
f Professor Sayce has suggested that Arioch may be the Eri Aku of the monuments, son of Kudur Mabug, king of North- West Babylonia. He was nearly contemporary with the powerful Ham- merabi, an Elamite king of Babylon (2120 B.C.).
Tidal appears as Thargal in the LXX., whence Sir H. Rawlinson compares it with Targal = ' great chief in Akkadian. The reading
THE HEBREWS. 125
parison is restricted to the history of other tribes than the Hebrews. A great deal of light has also been thrown on the geographical lists of Genesis (x.) by the recovery of existing names of districts and cities ; but these discoveries afford no indication of date, although often plainly determining the ethnic origin of the tribes.
We have linguistic evidence of an early separation of the Hebrews and Assyrians in the differences between the two languages, for it has been noticed that within the range of time covered by the monuments, the Assyrian language remains unchanged. We have evi- dence in the name Hebrew, or ' the one on the other side,' of some great natural feature — river, mountain, or desert — crossed by these early emigrants ; and we have again reasons for concluding, through the radical connection of the Hebrew and Mesopotamian branches of the Semitic language, that these races had a common origin. Thus the few indications which we possess agree with the Hebrew account of the travels of Abraham from Ur (perhaps Ur-uk, the Akkadian 'great city'), near the mouth of Euphrates, probably a seaport west of the river, about 2000 B.C.
As regards the invasion of Palestine under Joshua, we have again no monumental information. The route by which the tribes entered Canaan is the same whereby the Arabs from the Hejaz afterwards ad- vanced in the seventh century ; but the previous
of names in cuneiform is, however, as yet so constantly subject to new improvements, that great caution is necessary in suggesting identities.
126 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
wanderings in the Sinaitic desert cannot be traced with the same precision which we attain through the preser- vation of ancient local names in the cultivated lands of Syria. Even the sites of Sinai and Hor have been called in question, and the desert contains (so far as is at present known) no Semitic inscription of early date. We have already spoken of the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, Tammuz, Dagon,* and other Semitic deities, which prevailed among the subjects of the kings of Israel and Judah, down to the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. We must, however, now refer to the various local shrines con- nected with the worship of Jehovah, which originated apparently as tribal sanctuaries before the establish- ment of a sacred centre in Jerusalem. According to Rabbinical writers of the second century a.d., these shrines, lawful before the erection of Solomon's Temple, became unlawful after, and are to be reckoned among the Bamoth, or ' high places,' where the kings of Israel and of Judah worshipped. These local centres exist throughout the length of Palestine, and are remarkable for one common peculiarity, namely, the extensive view commanded from the sacred spot in almost every case. In the north the site of Dan (Tell el Kady), near the main source of the Jordan, is one of the most romantic and picturesque spots in the country, abundantly watered, and overlooking the broad valley of the upper Jordan, with mountain
0 Istar Chemosh, probably a double deity, was worshipped, as we know from the Moabite Stone, as the chief deity in Dibon about 876 B.C.
THE HEBREWS. 127
peaks and ridges to north, east, and west. A group of dolmens recently discovered at this spot may be thought to have some connection with the early worship of the surrounding population.
Passing southwards, we find on the highest point of Carmel a spot which, by its name Mahrakah, or 'place of burning,' appears to be connected with sacrifice, and which commands one of the most remarkable and extensive views in Palestine. It was here that Elijah, according to the Book of Kings (1 Kings xviii. 30), repaired an ancient altar of Jehovah ; and at a later period the god Karmel * (perhaps the ' vineyard god,' or Semitic Bacchus) was here adored without temple, being in fact the spirit of the mountain itself, on the slopes of which the remains of ancient vineyard- terraces and rock-cut winepresses may still be seen.
The curious tumulus-shaped hill of Tabor is not mentioned by any ancient writer as a sacred mountain,t though Baal Hermon (the ' great sanctuary ') and the highest ridge of Bashan are classed as mountains of Elohim (Psalms xlii. 6 and lxviii. 15).
From Carmel we look south, and perceive the
0 Pliny, xxxi. 2 : ' Hoc et templo et Deo nomen.' Tacitus says (' Hist.,' ii.) : ' Ita vocant montem Deumque nee simulacrum Deo aut templum sic tradidere majores ; aram tantum et reverentiam/ — Reland, ' Pal. 111.,' p. 329.
t Psalm lxxxix. 12, 'Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name/ might be thought to indicate sanctuaries of Jehovah on both mountains. In Rhodes there was a sacred place, perhaps Phoenician, of Zeus Atabyrius, as well as at Agrigentum, a Rhodian colony, which title Reland connects with the name Tabor. — 'Pal. 111.,' P- 332.
128 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
shoulder of Gerizim, another mountain on which Jehovah was worshipped, at least in later times. The site of Shiloh, also within the bounds of Ephraim, is distinguished from any of the preceding by its secluded position, shut in by higher ridges on all sides, and entirely destitute of view. Here, according to the Book of Samuel (i Sam. i. 9) was the ' House of Jehovah,' with its sacred lamp and ark. Farther south again, on the highest part of the watershed, was Bethel (' the House of God '), consecrated by the memory of Abraham's altar, and of the anointed menhir raised by Jacob, but desecrated by the offer of human victims on altars apparently erected by the kings of Israel in honour of Jehovah, which are likened by the prophet (Hosea xii. 11) to * heaps in the furrows of the field.' Gilgal again, in the Jordan Valley, was a place of sacrifice about 700 B.C., and the site now fixed at Jiljulieh is remarkable for a view embracing the greater part of the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea with the sur- rounding hills.
Gibeon (' the Great Hill ') was the place where Solomon first worshipped Jehovah, and its high place (to follow Dean Stanley) possesses the same charac- teristics as a mountain shrine, whence the eye ranges over the western plains to the sea horizon (from the summit of Neby Samwil), while Nob, the city of the priests and of the ephod in the days of Saul, was also (if its site be correctly fixed at the present ruin Shaf at),* a place commanding an extensive panoramic
* Near Shaf at is the curious building called Tell el Ful (' Bean Mound5), perhaps an ancient Ophel, as one of the Ophels of
THE HEBREWS. 129
view. Kirjath Jearim (or Kirjath Baal), the * City of the Woods,' was the resting-place of the ark of Jehovah, according to the Book of Samuel, and from its rocky platform (if placed at Erma) the eye glances down the rugged gorge towards Beth Shemesh, and to the yellow Philistine plains beyond. When we thus recall the early tribal sanctuaries of Jehovah and con- sider the scenery of the well-known sites, we under- stand how the Syrians came to say, ' Their God is a God of the hills ' (1 Kings xx. 23, cf. 28).* It is to the suppression of the local worship of Jehovah at such shrines that the Rabshekeh, or commander-in-chief, of Sennacherib appears to refer in saying, ' Is not that
Galilee is now Fuleh. It was excavated by Sir C. Wilson, and carefully examined and measured by the Survey party (see ' Memoirs,' vol. iii.). There is nothing to give the date of this structure, which seems to have been a platform in perhaps two stages of stones not hewn, the joints packed with chips, the stones of no great size. In general effect it is not unlike the Ziggurat of Chaldea ; but, had it existed in Old Testament times, we should have expected some notice of the monument. If Mizpeh were at Shaf'at — which, though not certain, is not impossible — Tell el Ful may be the watchtower whence Mizpeh took its name. The Zig- gurat were temples and also observatories for astronomical purposes (as perhaps were the Pyramids during the lifetime of the king), generally in seven stages, in honour of the seven astronomical gods or Kabirim.
* I have as yet seen no criticism which is sufficient to upset the identification of Kirjath Jearim (the later Kirjath Arim) at Erma. The fact that 'Erma does not mean a wood in Arabic has no great force. Rameh does not mean a hill in modern Arabic, but this does not upset the identification of Ramah of Benjamin. The argument in favour of 'Erma will be found fully stated in the ' Memoirs ' (vol. iii.).
9
i3o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away ?' (2 Kings xviii. 22).*
The Hebrew conceptions of the unseen world are very clearly discoverable through a comparative study of the Book of Isaiah and of the Babylonian tablets. The name Sheol is said to be the Assyrian Sualu,f and Sheol was regarded by Hebrews and Akkadians alike as a subterranean region (Isa. xiv. 9) filled with ghosts (Rephaim), and ruled by Death himself (Ps. xlix. 14). A study of the Hebrew tombs leads us to the conclu- sion that no return to earthly life in the original body formed any part of the Hebrew expectation ; and this we also gather from the statements of the later Jewish writers. The Talmudic literature contains no such conception, but speaks of a general resurrection, when the souls of the dead shall enter new bodies springing
* Possibly this is meant by the expression in Sennacherib's in- scription speaking of Hezekiah as having ' acted towards the deity with hostility,' though it may only refer to the god of Ekron (pro- bably Dagon).
f This is maintained by Delitszch, though it has been called in question by Bertin. The curious tablet from Palmyra which was in M. Peretie^s collection seems to be Aramean rather than Phoe- nician. It represents, first, the seven gods — sun, moon, and five planets. Below is the corpse on a bier, guarded by genii with the fish-robe of Ea ; the ghost is departing safely while evil demons quarrel for it. Below is Mulge, a dreadful fiend, and his wife, the infernal goddess. She hold snakes in her hands, and is sucked by cubs ; she treads on a horse (often the emblem of death among Asiatics), which kneels in a boat floating on the infernal river bor- dered by plants (perhaps the asphodel) ; various offerings are laid on the bank, either to appease this lion-headed goddess (Nin-ki- gal), or as provision for the ghost. Among these is a horse's foot.
THE HEBREWS.
131
from the earth, and growing from the incorruptible bone Luz (the Os Coccygis) of the old skeleton, the
TOMB DOOR, NEBY TURFINI.
earth having been previously fertilized by a marvellous rain of manna. This belief survives to our own times among the Moslem eschatologists.
9—2
132 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Such conceptions find expression in the ordinary form of Hebrew tomb — a low chamber with a very small entrance, having on each side small tunnels, called kokim, or * ditches,' in Jewish literature, each only large enough to hold a single corpse placed with the feet nearest the entrance, and the head at the farther end, supported by a small raised step, or stone pillow. Thus each chamber was constructed to hold twelve to sixteen, or more, corpses, and the arrange- ment of the kokim was exactly similar to that of the Phoenician tombs of an early period. There is, how- ever, a difference in this respect, that the chamber is always reached by a door in the face of the rock, and never occurs at the bottom of a shaft. The door itself is often cut out of a single block* of basalt, or hard limestone, with stone hinges working in rock-cut sockets. The fastening, whether of metal or wood, is only now represented by bolt-holes in the jambs of the doorway. The comparative study of Syrian tombs
* The interesting tomb-door of stone which is described in the 'Memoirs' (vol. iii.), found near Neby Turfini, in the plain of Sharon, may perhaps be an example of Hebrew art. It has two lions' heads in the upper panels, and two bulls' heads in the lower. A similar panelled door exists at Samaria, apparently once belong- ing to a tomb with kokmt now existing in the Crusading church of St. John. Mr. L. Oliphant has recently found a panelled door at Semmaka, in a tomb with kokim.
In Phoenicia bronze lion-head masks, which in execution are very like those on the door from Neby Turfini, are found, and appear to have belonged to wooden sarcophagi of perhaps the fifth century B.C. A sarcophagus from Sidon, of the Greek period, has such lion- heads (but of better workmanship) holding a wreath. The bull is equally common in the sacred art of Assyria and Phoenicia.
THE HEBREWS. 133
shows that we may safely attribute this type of rock-cut sepulchre to a period previous to the Cap- tivity.
The tomb thus described has little resemblance to those of Egypt. There is no structural chamber where the family may meet to offer presents to the dead ; no niche where the Ka or image may be placed ; no room for a sarcophagus ; and the kokim are not sufficiently large, as a rule, to admit of the supposition that the bodies were embalmed or swathed in long bandages, like those which make the Egyptian mummy so bulky when preserved untouched. There is nothing in the Old Testament or in the sepulchres of Palestine to lead us to suppose that the embalming of the dead was a Hebrew custom.*
It may at first appear strange that the careful examination of so many Hebrew tombs has not led to the discovery of any inscriptions. These have been carefully sought, but only found in cases where the form of the letters, and that of the sepulchre alike,
* In Babylonia the body was laid generally, according to Raw- linson ('Ancient Monarchies/ 1., p. 167), on the left side, with a copper bowl in the left hand containing dates or other food. A seal cylinder was bound to the wrist. The right hand was placed as though taking food. Drinking-vessels were also buried in the tomb. No doubt the ghost was supposed to be nourished by the ghosts of the viands provided (as among Zulus, etc.). The em- balming of Joseph seems to be an exception, proving the rule stated in the text.
Herodotus says that the Babylonians buried their dead in honey — a statement not as yet understood (i. 198). The Babylonian Talmud ('Baba Bathra/ 3b) speaks of Herod preserving Mariamne in honey.
134 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
pointed to a date subsequent to the Captivity. One exception may be quoted, namely, the case of a tomb in the Jordan Valley, where a few letters of archaic
form have been found, resembling the alphabet of the Siloam text ; but even in this case the position of the site — not far from Shechem — together with the late survival of the old Phoenician alphabet among the Samaritans, seems to suggest a possibly late date for this example. It must be remembered that the earliest instinctive feeling manifested by wild tribes, such as the Hotten- tots and Kaffirs, leads men to hide the dead and to conceal their place of burial, whether through fear of the desecration of their remains or from some superstitious dread of the reappearance of the ghost. The idea of distinguishing the tomb by an inscribed epitaph is a late one among Phoenicians ; and in the absence of inscription we have confirmatory evidence of the antiquity of the Hebrew rock-cut cemeteries. It must not be forgotten that the art of writing was con- fined to scribes attached to kings and great cities, and the suggestion that inscribed bronze plates were attached to the walls or facade of the tomb-chamber can only be held to be applicable to later tombs. The Hebrew word for the vital principle was Nephesh, the same as the Assyrian Napistu, or ' breath ' (the Arabic Nefes used to signify ' self ') ; this breath, self or soul, descending into Hades or Sheol, inhabited the shade or ghostly body. The corpse was left to decay in the
THE HEBREWS. 135
sepulchre, and even its memory was left to fail from among men.*
The study of the Hebrew- tombs leads us to other conclusions. They are constantly found connected with cisterns and rock-cut wine-presses, to which it appears natural, in many cases, to assign an equal antiquity. It follows that the Hebrews were not merely a nomadic people, but a settled population, engaged in agricultural occupations. This, of course, with many other more important matters, we may gather from the Bible ; but the object of the present pages is to endeavour to show what we should have known of the Hebrews had the Bible never been written at all. That pastoral pursuits must have occu- pied those who lived in the present pastoral districts of the country we cannot doubt,-)- but the evidence of tells, tombs, winepresses, vineyard towers, cisterns, and rock-cut tanks and passages (such as that at Siloam) shows us clearly that the Hebrews were agri- culturists and mechanics possessed of cutting instru-
* The Arabs, before Islam, believed the soul to fly away as a bird called hama or sada — a kind of owl which flew round the tomb, and, if the individual were murdered, cried Eskuni (' Give me drink !') until the blood-money was paid or the blood-feud settled (Lenormant, ' Manual/ ii., p. 353). The souls of martyrs were believed to inhabit the crops of the green birds of paradise (see Sale, ' Introduction,' p. 91). The soul in Egypt was repre- sented as a human-headed bird. The owl is still a sacred bird in Palestine — perhaps in consequence of this old belief.
f Because these pastoral districts, as described in the Survey ' Memoirs ' and in my previous works, appear to have been always unfitted for agriculture.
136 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
ments (probably of iron), able to make bricks and to hew stone, and not merely nomads dwelling in tents.
We have already referred to the evidence of Hebrew trade. The main caravan routes, from the Euphrates to the Delta, did not, it is true, pass through Jerusalem, but the distance from that city to the western plains was only a short day's journey, and the tribute of smaller subject cities must have found its way to the capital. We can hardly suppose that the kings of Judah can have made extensive use of chariots in the rough mountains round their capital. They more pro- bably used sumpter mules, such as are shown on Assy- rian monuments. From an inscription of Sargon, it appears, however, that chariots were used at Samaria, which was situated in more open country not far from the maritime plains.
The inscriptions, as a rule, make us acquainted with the Hebrews only at times of national weakness and disunion. It is remarkable how numerous are the little kinglets who were conquered by the invading Assyrians. Thus, for instance, we find kings of Sidon, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, submitting to Sennacherib ; and Esarhaddon received tribute from kings of twelve Syrian and ten Cypriote cities, while Tyre, Jerusalem, Edom, Moab, Gaza, Askelon, Ekron, Gebal, Arvad, Samaria, Beth Ammon, and Ashdod, each apparently independent, submitted with Sidon.
On the other hand, we find Hezekiah occupying a far more important position than these local chiefs ; 200,150 of his people, and forty-six cities, with for- tresses and villages, were taken from him by Senna-
THE HEBREWS. 137
cherib,* according to the famous Taylor cylinder, after the battle fought with the Eyptians in the lowlands near Lydda. Horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep were also captured, and the strength of the walls of Jerusalem is shown by the fact that though the city was besieged, surrounded with forts, and attacked apparently with battering-rams and engines, it yet held out, and forced the invaders to make peace and raise the siege. It would appear from these accounts that the authority of the King of Judah must have extended over some considerable part of Southern Palestine,f not, however, including the Philistine plain or the centre of the country; and such a conclusion agrees perfectly with Biblical history.
The present sketch of Hebrew antiquity may be con- cluded by some reference to arts and sciences. It may be thought that, with exception of writing and music, the Hebrews before the Captivity possessed no arts, and that there is no evidence of any knowledge of science among them. There is no reason, however, to doubt the use of marble, cedar, precious metals, and gems, of bronze and even of ivory, in the adornment of their palaces and temples. J The ' ivory-house ' made
* The maritime cities of Joppa, Bene Berak, Hazor (Yazur), and Beth Dagon, in the plains west of Jerusalem, did not, however, belong to Hezekiah. They were under Zedek, King of Ascalon. — ' Records of the Past,' i., p. 36.
f Sennacherib states, ' I diminished his kingdom,* giving his towns to the kings of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ekron.
X Sennacherib speaks especially of ' workmen and builders,' showing that artisans existed in Jerusalem. In Jehu's time the Israelite tribute to Shalmanezer consisted of gold, silver, gold
138 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
by Ahab, and those referred to by Amos (i Kings xxii. 39; Amos iii. 15) appear to have been shrines inlaid with ivory, probably brought from Egypt ; and ivory, as we have already seen, was possessed in large quantities by Hezekiah. The ivory throne which he sent to Sennacherib may be compared with Solomon's lion throne (1 Kings x. 18), which was of ivory overlaid with gold. Indeed, we may almost conjecture that it was Solomon's original throne which Hezekiah, in his extremity, was forced to send to Nineveh. Such state chairs are often shown on Assyrian bas-reliefs, and in Phoenicia we have the actual remains of a throne of bronze from Curium, with lions' heads and paws and bulls' heads as part of the ornamentation. As regards the cherubim carved on the interior walls of the Templej we now know that the word Kirub is Semitic, with the meaning of ' strong.' In Ezekiel (i. 10, x. 14) it appears as equivalent to * bull.' A magic Assyrian formula contains the word Kirubu, as equivalent to the Shed, which is known to be the name given by the Assyrians to the great winged bulls of Nineveh — the cherubim of Assyria. Although there was thus appa- rently a wealth of fine art ornamentation in the Jeru- salem Temple which owed its origin to Phoenician craftsmen, it must not be forgotten that the Hebrews possessed no stone fit for purposes of sculpture in their country. The soft and coarse-grained alabaster, which the Assyrians were able to work into bas-reliefs of great beauty, was not found among the marls and crys-
buckets and cups and bottles, with lead and wood for maces. — G. Smith's 'Assyria,' p. 55.
THE HEBREWS. 139
talline limestones of Judea. The Hamathite inscrip- tions are carved in basalt, and on such a stone also the King of Moab engraved his famous text. The basaltic rocks are, however, not found in Judea, and the Siloam inscription is cut on a hard and very intractable dolo- mitic stone, with an almost conchoidal fracture. The letters are chased with a fine tool, and finished with considerable care — the hooks or shoes of the Zain, for instance, being exactly reproduced on each repetition of the letter ; but any work beyond that of incised writing would have been extremely difficult in such a stone, and the few Phoenician carvings on rocks in Galilee are of the rudest description. Thus, though such kings as Solomon seem to have had no objection to the representation of animal life, it appears that they were debarred from sculpture by natural causes, confining their efforts to the use of wood, bronze, gold and ivory.
The same causes also led to the rare use of stone for monumental inscription. Possibly bronze may have been employed, for the clay tablets of Mesopotamia could not easily be prepared in the hills of Judea; but the archives of Jerusalem contained, probably, as we have already noted, papyri and skins in rolls, which, even if the city had not been sacked by Nebuchad- nezzar, must infallibly have fallen into decay in a few centuries. Inscriptions are equally scarce in Phoenicia, and for the same reasons.
We have no mention in the Old Testament of the use of brick tablets by the Hebrews in Palestine. But though the rolls of the Jerusalem archives have no doubt long
140 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
since perished, there is, as we have seen, good reason to suppose that their contents have been preserved to us by continual transcription with great accuracy.
Another curious illustration of Hebrew graphic con- ceptions lies in the comparison of the Merkebeh or throne, whereon Jehovah is pictured by Ezekiel as seated, with a design on a cylinder, supposed to repre- sent the ship of the god Hea — the Akkadian Neptune. The god, who holds in his hand the ring and the stick,* is seated in the sacred barge on a throne'supported by living creatures, while behind him stands his angel or messenger. The resemblance only, of course, holds so far as a throne supported by living creatures is shown ; but we cannot doubt that the ark, the cherubim, and many other sacred emblems of the Hebrews, closely resembled those of the Babylonians and Assyrians.
There would seem to be evidence, in the names given by the Hebrews to the months, that they possessed a calendar of their own before the Captivity ; for though in eight cases the names are the same used in Assyria, in four cases they differ, and are peculiar to the Hebrews, who, however, at a later time, after their return to Jerusalem, employed the Aramean calendar names instead of those more anciently known.
* This ring and stick, held also in the hands of the Sun-god of Sippara, have puzzled several Assyrian authorities. We may per- haps compare them with the ring and the dagger which were given to Yima, the Median king, according to the Vendidad, wherewith he was to make the earth fruitful. The ring was the entrance to Yima's paradise, and may again be compared, therefore, with the litu (or Shakra), which Lenormant has connected with the ' fiery sword ' placed at the door of Eden.
THE HEBREWS. 141
The meaning of the Assyrian names has been eluci- dated by the labours of Professor Sayce and other scholars. Nisan, ' beginning,' is the month of the vernal equinox, followed by Iyyar, ' light ;' Sivan, ' bricks ' (brick-making occurring in May in Chaldea) ; and Tammuz, ' the sun-life,' or hot sun of June. The meaning of Ab and Elul is less clear, but Tasrit, ' the beginning,' marks the autumnal equinox, from which period the year was for some purposes counted to begin. The eighth month, Marchesvan, is named from the Assyrian Arakh-samna, ' eighth month.' Cisleu is the month of the 'giant,' probably, as Mr. Boscawen has suggested, the thunder-pillar, which first appears in November. Tebet is the month of ' rain,' Sebat that of ' destruction ' or storm, and Adar the month of ' darkness,' these being the three winter months of the year. The explanations thus afforded are simple and suggestive, marking the natural origin of a lunar calendar, which, by aid of an intercalary month (or even two in some cases), was made to fit the solar year, and not allowed to become fugitive like the Moslem year. Among the Jews at a later time the commencement of the month was made to depend on actual observation of the moon, and this probably was also a custom, long before the Captivity, among Hebrew astronomers.
The Assyrian calendar does not, however, explain to us the origin of the name Abib (' sprouts ') for the first month, or those of Zif, Ethanim, and Bui, which do not appear in the Aramaic calendar, used after the return from Captivity.
142 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The only natural conclusion appears to be that the Hebrews had given names to the months at a time when they were not in close connection with Assyria, and which was previous to the Captivity, since they afterwards used the Aramean nomenclature.
To sum up the results of the present inquiry, which aims at showing what we should know about the Hebrews had the Bible never been written at all, we have seen :
ist. The Hebrews were a people of common stock with the Semitic inhabitants of Mesopotamia, but separating from them at an early historic period.
2nd. They worshipped Jehovah at least as early as goo B.C., and probably much earlier.
3rd. They possessed the art of monumental writing, and an alphabet of common origin with that of Phoenicia and Moab some centuries before 700 B.C., and possibly as early as 1500 B.C.
4th. They were pastoral agriculturists, craftsmen, and traders. They possessed horses and chariots, flocks and herds, fenced cities and villages.
5th. The Hebrew monarchs were attended l?y slaves and musicians, made use of ivory thrones, and had treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, precious woods, and other articles of foreign origin. They defied at times even the Assyrian kings, and allied themselves with Egyptians and Babylonians.
6th. The Hebrews had a non-Assyrian calendar, and thus probably some knowledge of astronomy.
7th. It is probable that Hebrew literature was pre- served in records written on papyrus and leather, but
THE HEBREWS. 143
the knowledge of writing seems to have been confined to the scribes, and it was not extensively employed for sepulchral or other monumental purposes.
8th. In civilization there is every reason to suppose the Hebrews equalled their immediate neighbours, the Phoenicians, although perhaps not attaining to the con- dition of the Egyptians.
9th. They buried their dead in rocky tombs without embalming, and there is no monumental evidence that they expected any resurrection of the mortal body so buried.
10th. Their art seems rather to have approached that of the early Babylonian age, their buildings being adorned with metals and woods, while there is no evidence of the general cultivation of sculpture among them.
Such conclusions are in perfect accordance with the picture of Hebrew society which may be drawn from the Book of Kings ; and the value of the archaeological argument thus attempted lies in its refutation of those hasty and contemptuous estimates of Hebrew civiliza- tion which have been common among some recent writers, who, laying aside the Old Testament history as an ex parte and over-coloured statement of Hebrew life and history, have endeavoured to represent the Israelites of the time of the monarchy as rude and savage tribes, surrounded by more civilized peoples. Such, it appears, is not the conclusion warranted by a careful consideration of the monumental evidence available even in our own remote age.
If, on the other hand, we study the Hebrews by the
144 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
light of their own sacred literature, our estimate will be lowered in some respects instead of being raised.
The denunciations of the early prophets Amos, or Hosea, or Jeremiah, show us that the common people of the land — and very often their kings as well — were sunk in superstition of a cruel and shameless descrip- tion. They adored Tammuz, and Istar, and Baal ; they sacrificed sons and daughters ; they set up rude phallic idols, honoured by orgies and drunken rites. In their small internecine wars they committed cruelties equal to those of the ferocious Assyrians ; and in time of peace the rich oppressed the poor, and the kings, aided by Hittites or Egyptian mercenaries, tyrannized over the whole nation. The belief in witches, in enchantments, in portents, in ghosts and evil spirits, which was common to all the surrounding nations, was equally general among the Hebrews. Times of death and defeat were attributed to the wrath of Istar, no longer adored with offerings of cakes (Jer. vii. 18, etc.). All the early savage superstitions of the Turanian tribes of Chaldea were rife in Palestine before the Captivity, nor were they ever entirely stamped out ; they remain in modified form among the modern peasantry, although these profess a belief in either the Moslem or the Christian faith. Yet we must beware lest, because of these evidences of superstition and ferocity, we are led to under-estimate the civilization of the Hebrews. Even in the nineteenth century in Christian England, in a country full of railways and telegraphs, it is not difficult to collect evidence of the survival of savage custom and superstition, of the yet lingering belief in
THE HEBREWS. 145
witches and goblins which is still to be found in remote districts. In spite of their wealth, power, and advanced knowledge, the Assyrians were but cruel barbarians, who flayed their captives alive, pulled out their eyes and tongues, or cast them into wild beasts' dens or into the flames. This we learn from their own sculptures or inscribed cylinders.* The Phoenicians were equally ferocious ; and the Hebrews, in spite of their numerous degrading customs and beliefs, must be regarded as equal in civilization to any of their Semitic or Turanian neighbours.
* See Layard's ' Nineveh and Babylon/ p. 456 ; ' Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.,' iv., on ' Human Sacrifice ;' G. Smith's 'Assyria,' pp. 38, 41, 84, 161, 162.
10
CHAPTER IV.
JEWS AND SAMARITANS.
The taking of Babylon by Cyrus and the establishment of the Medo-Persian empire mark a distinct era in Jewish history. From 530 B.C. to 330 B.C., or from Cyrus to Alexander, we have two centuries of repose, during the greater part of which the Jews and other inhabitants of Syria remain almost without a history. This period must have been one very important, nevertheless, to the national growth and development, although we have as yet no inscribed monument in Syria which can safely be attributed to the age. The relations of Jerusalem with Babylon, which date from the return of the exiles, probably continued long after to be intimate. If we may rely on a statement in the Mishna, dating from the second century of our era, the appearance of the new moon at Jerusalem was signalled to Babylonia during the century preceding the fall of the Holy City, and perhaps from earlier times. We know that Hillel, and many other distinguished Rabbis, came to Palestine from Chaldea, and we may, without risk of contradiction, assume that the friendly relations between the followers of Ezra and the Jews of Baby-
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 147
Ionia continued without interruption from the time of the exiles' return down to the Roman age.
It is important to form some idea of the condition of adjoining countries during the two centuries of Persian rule in Syria.
Egypt during this period was no longer a formidable power. Theoretically she was ruled by Persian kings, from whom she continually revolted. Greece was about to make her name by the repulse of the Persian Xerxes in 480 B.C. The Lydian kingdom had attained already to a wealth and prosperity which made the name of Croesus famous. In India the knowledge of letters had already been obtained from Yemen, and the trade which probably began as early as 1000 B.C., between the Arabs and India, still continued.
Farther west Carthage was still in the plenitude of her power, extending the Semitic culture over the shores of the Mediterranean to Spain. The Phoe- nicians still flourished, and their art, at this time much influenced by Egypt, was, perhaps, at its culmination. Thus, although there was during this period no inde- pendent Semitic kingdom in existence in Asia, there was, perhaps, no period when the influence of the inhabitants of Syria was more widely felt in the world. In 146 B.C. Carthage fell, and from that time the Semitic commerce, already decaying in Asia, began to be cramped by the power of Rome.
In Asia Minor the Greek colonies were, in the sixth century B.C., steadily growing, especially on the western and southern shores of the peninsula ; and the Greeks were connected commercially not only with the Phoe-
10 — 2
148 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
nicians, whose colonies in Rhodes united in one state in 408 B.C., but also directly with the Arameans, or Northern Syrians.*
The Sidonian colonization of the Greek shores at Corinth, Thebes, Samothrace, Calchis, etc., is thought to have commenced as early as 1200 B.C., and the Phoenician letters came to Greece about the tenth century B.C. On the other hand, the Lydians of Sardis were in communication with Babylon, and through Lydia the Ionian alphabet, which finally superseded all other local alphabets in Greece, appears
* The names of Greek deities and heroes which are of Semitic origin are sufficiently numerous to show how considerable was the influence of the Phoenicians and Assyrians. Among the more generally accepted may be mentioned :
Adonis = Adoni, ' lord,' Phoenician.
Ammas = Amma, * mother ' (Cybele), Aramaic.
Astarte = Ashtoreth, Phoenician.
Athamas = Tammuz, Akkadian.
Dionysus = Daian Nissi ('judge of men'), the sun, Aramaic.
Erebus — • Arabah, ' the west,' Phoenician.
Eridanus = Yerden, ' the descender.'
Europa = Arabah, ' the west,' Phoenician.
Ismenus = Eshmun, ' the sun,' Phoenician.
Kadmus = Kedem, ' the east,' Phoenician.
Korybas = Kirub, ' the cherub.'
Melikertes = Melkarth, the Tyrian Hercules.
Mylitta = Mulida, the ' child-bearing' goddess, Aramaic.
Palaimon = Baal Hamon, Phoenician.
Typhon = Tsephon, ' north,' Aramaic.
Many others, such as Cabira and the Cabiri, may be added ; but the above are sufficient to indicate the influence in question. The name of Daphne has been derived from a hypothetical word, Dahana; but it might be suggested that, as this is a Syrian story, the true origin may be Dapanu, the herald of the sun in Assyria.
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 149
to have been derived before the seventh century B.C. Dionysus was a Babylonian deity, not found in Phoe- nicia, and reaching Greece by this same northern trade route through Asia Minor. The names of the Greek letters, such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, instead of Aleph, Beth, Gimel, tell the same story, pointing to an Ara- mean rather than to a Phoenician origin, while the Assyrian talent reached Greece through Phoenicia and the lighter Babylonian talent through Lydia.
Direct connection with Egypt was, in the sixth cen- tury B.C., still influencing the Asiatic Greeks. In the reign of Psammetichus II. the Ionian and Carian mer- cenaries found their way as far south as Abu Simbel, where they left their names scrawled on the gigantic statues in front of the temple, as though to confirm the statement of Herodotus concerning the presence of their hired foreign troops in Egypt. Dr. Isaac Taylor dates these texts about 594-589 B.C. at latest.* The use of the papyrus had not yet been barred, and the substitution of parchment, or ' paper of Pergamum,' had not yet come into use among the Greeks.t The earliest temple of the Mother Goddess at Ephesus was built about 500 B.C., and the archaic remains of the Temple of Apollo, near Miletus, show how strong was the
* The' Greeks had a colony at the sea-port of Naucratis under Ahmes or Amasis {circa 570 B.C.; see Herod., ii. 172-182); and this king, who re-occupied Cyprus, married a Greek and restored the temple at Delphi. The recent discovery of archaic inscrip- tions and other remains of the sixth century B.C. at this site will materially add to our knowledge of the age.
t Herodotus mentions papyrus and skins as used by the Ionians (v. 58). See back, p. 119.
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influence of Egypt on Ionian art.* The two early boustrophecion inscriptions of Chares (about 550 to 520 B.C.) at this site, give an alphabet clearly of Phoe- nician derivation. The use of brilliant colour in the adornment of these early temples was probably also due to Egyptian art.-)" Among the Carians, Persian influence is notable, even as late as 350 B.C., and the three forms of cuneiform writing, including the titles of Xerxes, have been found in the ruins of the mausoleum at Halicarnassus. In Lycia the remarkable rock-hewn tombs date back to the middle of the fourth century B.C. at least, and bas-reliefs, with Persian figures, occur at Xanthus of the same age. The Harpy tomb, which gives us figures of purely Greek type, is dated earlier than the Persian Conquest of Lycia, perhaps about
* Lenormant (' Manual,' ii. 234) supposes Ionian art to have been influenced by the Arameans, and Dorian art to have been under Phoenician influence. The Doric capital is supposed by Mr. Fergusson to be derived from Egypt, and the Ionic from Assyria. There are representations of capitals approaching the early Corinthian shown on sculptures from Koyunjik. The appear- ance of the Aramean alphabet in Greece agrees with these indica- tions. So does the probably Assyrian derivation of the myth of Hercules. Hercules is closely akin to Izdubar, and, like him, he slays the lion and the wild bull, voyages over the sea, visits an enchanted garden in the west, and goes to Hades.
The derivation of the name of Hercules has sorely puzzled Aryan scholars. As a suggestion, it may be worth while to point to Ir-Kalla, ' the great eater' (Hercules was famous for his appetite), who was the Akkadian god of the great city of the dead. He was a form of Nir-gallu (' great ruler'), originally the sun, and answered to the Egyptian Osiris as ruler of Amenti (Hades).
t The archaic statues found quite recently in excavation at the Acropolis — six mutilated female figures in marble — are also coloured.
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530 B.C., and the curious Lycian alphabet (akin to those of Caria and Cyprus) occurs with Greek inscrip- tions about 400 B.C. From indications gathered in Egypt, where these syllabic forms are found on Greek tombs, it appears that the Semitic alphabet finally superseded this earlier character about the time of Alexander the Great.
The same mixed population, Greek and Phoenician, which we find in Cyprus, Rhodes, and Asia Minor, existed also in the islands of the Archipelago. Carians and Ionians settled in Samos, which retained, however, its Semitic name, 'the lofty,' due to the great cliff which towers above surrounding isles. The Samians made treaties with Amasis of Egypt, and Cambyses of Persia, and a Samian is said to have been the first to venture into the Atlantic beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
One of the immediate and important results of the commerce thus established between Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, and Babylonia, appears to have been the invention of coined money, which begins to be generally used about the sixth century B.C. The earliest coins as yet known are found among the Lydians (700-637 B.C.),*
* Gyges, the Lydian (about 700 B.C.) is supposed to have invented coins, the earliest known being of electrum (gold and silver), with- out inscription. About 600 B.C. the coins become of purer gold, with lions' heads. The coins of Crcesus (568 B.C.) are of gold, with heads of lion and bull opposed. This design became common later, and had probably a religious meaning.
To Pheidon of JEgina. the invention of coins is also attributed. The earliest coins of JEgina. are electrum pieces dating about 680 B.C. ; they have designs on both obverse and reverse, and are rudely rounded. The Persian darics were oval, with an archer king on the obverse. See Madden's ' Coins of the Jews.'
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and notably in Cyprus, where silver coins of native manufacture are found, some of which, are thought to be as early as the middle of the sixth century. In Cilicia we have a coin of Pharnabazus, with his name in Phoenician letters, and on the reverse the name of Baal Tarz, dating about 400 B.C. In Babylonia we find the daric (an early form of coin impressed with a figure on an unshaped lump of metal) mentioned in the twelfth year of Nabonidus, or five years before the fall of Babylon. In the tenth year of Darius, shekel pieces, with the figure of a bird, are mentioned on inscribed tablets, and such coins, resembling the early tetra- drachm of Athens, with the figure of an owl on the reverse, and the head of Pallas on the obverse, have recently been found at Babylon by Mr. Rassam.
The researches of numismatists show that coinage was unknown to the Egyptians or other Asiatics before the seventh century.* The Phoenicians and Egyptians used gold and silver rings, and from the Phoenicians possibly the inhabitants of our own islands may have obtained this early rude prototype of a coin. Bars of gold and silver were also used, and the Kefa (Phoeni- cians) bring both rings and bars to Thothmes III. in
The Lydians, according to Lenormant, were Semitic conquerors of the older Maeonians {cf. ' Manual,' ii., p. 74), judging from the words of their language preserved by Greek writers.
* In Carthage leather coins were used (Perrot, ii., p. 442), The general type of Carthaginian coins is, however, Greek in character. As regards Phoenician coins, see De Luynes, ' Essay on Phoenician Coins/ 1846 ; and T. P. Six, ' Monnaies Phdniciennes,' Numismatic Chronicle, 1877, p. 177.
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the Egyptian pictures. The Babylonians and Assyrians also used such bars, and in the eighth century we begin to find weights in the figures of beasts (lions, bulls, and antelopes), also of birds, such as the duck, used in commerce, having the king's name in the cuneiform script, and the weight in Aramaic letters. These weights give us the proof of trade with the West as early as 742 B.C., and the Maneh Melek, or * royal weight,' is distinguished from other standards — Maneh of Carchemish, Maneh of the great goddess of Nineveh and Arbela, etc.
In the Bible there is nothing which can be supposed to refer to coined money until after the Captivity, when the daric, or darkon, is mentioned as in use among the Jews. It is not until a somewhat later period, under Greek influence, that we begin to be concerned with a Jewish coinage.
Turning our eyes farther east, we recognise a fusion of races in Babylonia and Susiana still more remark- able than that just mentioned. The Aryan colonists were pushing east from Greece, though it was not until 279 B.C. that the Gauls, under the second Brennus, crossed the Hellespont, and invaded Phrygia, where they gave their name, it is said, to the province of Galatia, and to the Galli, or Gallic priests of Cybele. A great wave of Aryan migration was also surging from the East in anticipation of the advance to the Helles- pont under Xerxes. Thus in the inscriptions of Darius Hystaspes, founder of the Persian empire, who inherited the dominions of Cyrus after the death of Cambyses in 522 B.C., we find three languages side by
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side — the Semitic Babylonian, the Aryan dialect, closely akin to that somewhat ignorantly called Zendic, and the Turanian language of the Medes and of the victorious Cyrus.
The Babylonians had encountered the Medes as early as 810 b:c, near the Caspian, and the regions of Kurdistan appear at this time to have had a mixed Turanian and Aryan population.* Tiglath Pileser II. and Sargon also fought in Media ; but about 650 B.C. the Median emigrants established themselves in Elam, and under Cyrus they had attained to the overlordship of the Persian Aryans, from whose language the Median dialect borrowed many words.
Not only were the languages of the subjects of Darius thus indicative of their mixed nationality, but the religion of the empire was equally indebted to three sources — Semitic, Turanian, and Aryan — for its origin. The inscription of Darius at Behistun de- scribes the Persian monarch as a worshipper of Ormazd (the ■ Ahura Mazdao,' or ' good lord,' of the Zendavesta). The tomb of Darius, however, shows us a sun-god (perhaps Mithra) represented with tail and wings, exactly like the earlier representations of Asshur or Shamash on Assyrian bas-reliefs.
Of the Persian religion we now judge mainly by a
* Thus the Median dialect of the Zendavesta is Aryan, but the Median language of the Achsemenian inscriptions is Turanian. Lenormant (* Manual,' ii., p. 43) supposes the upper classes to have been Aryans, and the agriculturists and pastoral and industrial classes to have spoken a tongue akin to the Turkish branch of Turanian languages.
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literature the antiquity of which is doubtful ; but the researches of Darmesteter have lately thrown great light on the origin of the Zendavesta and on its rela- tion to the early religions of Cyrus and Darius ; and although it is to the Sassanian kings, and perhaps to the last of the Arsacidse (about 226 A.D.), that we owe the careful collection and editing of the fragments said to have survived from the earlier sacred literature of the sixth century B.C., which was destroyed (according to tradition) by the Greeks under Alexander, there can still be little doubt that the existing laws, hymns, and rude philosophical and scientific treatises of the Ven- didad, the Yashts, and the Bundahish (though the last is only extant in its Pehlevi translation) represent very clearly the religious ideas of the mixed Medes and Persians with whom the Jews came in contact after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus.
The Magi appear to have been a Median tribe.* The early Zendic language was not ancient Persian, but a distinct dialect. When the Persians assumed power under Darius, the Magi were persecuted, but were in earlier times the priests of Cyrus ; and later they were protected by Xerxes, and under Artaxerxes Longimanus (465 B.C.) they acquired increased power. The Magi were iconoclasts in their early days, and Darius rebuilt the temples which the Magus Gaumata destroyed when he dispossessed Cambyses II. Temples, however, continued to be built even under the Sass- anians, when the Magian religion was firmly estab- lished.
* See Darmesteter, ' Introduction to the Zendavesta.'
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The sources of the Mazdean faith are to be sought in the earlier literature of the Akkadians, of the Baby- lonians, and of the early Aryans. Thus the celebrated Anahita, worshipped by Artaxerxes, owes probably her name and many of her attributes to Anat the heaven- goddess, wife of Anu, the Akkadian An or 'god.' Mithra, the god of light, has an Aryan origin, although in character and in the meaning of his name he recalls the old day-god of the Akkadians, Silik-Mulu-Khi. The distinctively Aryan figures in the Pantheon are Ahura, ' the living one ;' Mithra, ' the friend,' or god of light ; the hero Thraetona and the serpent Azi Dahak (who, however, are akin in meaning to the old Akkadian Marduk and Tiamat) ; Vayu, ' the sky ;' Yima, the Vedic Yama ; Serosh, the god of prayer ; and many other demons and heroes. The Haoma sacrifice is also of Aryan derivation ; while the exposure of the dead to birds and to the sacred dog are alike conceptions re- pugnant to Semitic people.
On the other hand, the Zendic dialect contains many scattered Semitic words of Aramaic origin ; and such a personification as Din, the goddess of religion, is clearly by name connected with the Semitic Pantheon.*
* We have an inscription of Cyrus, discovered in 1879, which mentions his worshipping Bel Marduk and Nebo.
Herodotus tells us (i. 131) that the Persians added the Babylonian goddess Mylitta (the goddess shown nursing a child) to their Pantheon. This deity was of Semitic origin, Anat-Mylitta being apparently the Mithra-Anahita of the Zendavesta. A recently dis- covered text of Artaxerxes Mnemon (405-339 B.C.) mentions Ormuzd Anaita and Mitra as protecting the king. — ' Proceedings Bib. Arch. Soc.,' May 5, 1885.
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The terrible demons of the Zendavesta are much more like those in which the Akkadians believed than like any of the enemies of the gods described in the Vedas. The seven archangels of Mazdeism seem also to be connected with the seven planetary deities which appear constantly on the monuments of Assyria.
To a Semitic source we may also, most probably, trace the description of the six days of Creation in the Persian scriptures. This has no counterpart in the early Vedic hymns of the Aryans, though fragments of such an account were recognised by George Smith on cuneiform tablets.
The geographical and scientific treatises of the Zen- davesta (Damdad Nask), the lists of animals, and the rude astronomical notes, also appear to be closely con- nected with the scientific tablets of the earlier Assyrians and Babylonians.
The Zendavesta contains many allusions to the future prophet, and to the glorious future life after a time of trouble ; to the resurrection of the just, and to the heavenly city — which form the themes of so many passages in the Talmudic writings, and in the Sibylline books, and other later productions of Palestinian and Egyptian Jews, as well as in the Bible itself. The Jews of the Persian and Greek periods must have found themselves much more in harmony with the worshippers of Ormuzd than with the barbarous pea- santry who surrounded them in Syria ; but it must not be forgotten that the Persian scriptures owed, pro- bably, quite as much to Semitic sacred literature as to the Median religion or to the early Aryan faith.
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Such then, briefly, was the condition of Western Asia during the two centuries following the capture of Babylon by the Medes. We may now turn to consider the state of society and the civilization of Syria itself during the same period. The materials for comparison outside the Bible literature are, unfortunately, still very meagre ; yet a careful consideration of the few facts available may lead to some conception of the condition of the country.
It was part of the policy of the Assyrians to trans- plant their captives from one part of their dominions to another, in order probably to break up the relation- ship of the various tribes, and thus to discourage the recurrence of those conspiracies and rebellions which constantly threatened the empire. It was to this policy that the captivity of Israel and (under the Babylonians) that of Judah were due; and we learn, on the other hand, that Sargon, in 720 B.C., after having defeated the Syrians of Hamath, colonized that country with 4,300 Assyrians ; and the records of the same monarch state that, after taking Samaria, he carried away 27,280 of the inhabitants to Assyria, and placed other captives in their room.* Sargon, in 721 B.C. brought Baby- lonians to Palestine; and in 719 b.c. the rebels of Minni and Armenia to Syria and Phoenicia. In 715 B.C. he appears to have transported some of the Thamudite Arabs to Samaria.
These statements agree with the Old Testament account (2 Kings xvii. 24) of the colonization of central Palestine by the men of Babylon, Cutha, Ava, * G. Smith's ' Assyria,' pp. 94, 95, 100.
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and Sepharvaim ; and in these colonizations we see the first foundation of an Aramaic population in Palestine, partially superseding the early Turanian and Semitic tribes over whom the Hebrew kings had ruled. The traces of this Aramaic (or North Semitic) admixture are still strongly marked in Syria. The language of the Fellahin presents still some of the peculiarities of the Aramaic speech. Jerome, in the fourth century, found Aramaic still the language of the country. The 1 emphatic Aleph,' as it is called, which is one of the marks of Aramaic dialect, is still used by the peasantry, who prefix the Aleph to words which in Hebrew or in Arabic should begin with some other letter. The final Van (as in Assyrian) is also remarkable in the Fellah nomenclature of the country.* The language of the Talmudic writers of the fourth and fifth centuries of our era is in many respects closely akin to that of the modern Syrian peasant, and many words — such as ' Morej ' for a threshing-sledge, and ' Jurn ' for a thresh- ing-floor— supersede the terms which in pure Arabic
* While attaching due importance to the Canaanite connection of the peasantry, on which M. Clermont Ganneau was the first to write scientifically, I would note that the word requires explanation. The Canaanites, or ' lowlanders,' must be taken to mean the early Semitic, not the early Turanian, tribes in Syria. The linguistic evidence, however, rather favours a strong Aramaic influence than an early Phoenician element in the peasant stock. It is clear that the Arab or Yemenite element is very slight, if at all present. We shall see later that the Aramaic language, alphabet, and names of deities spread all over Syria in Roman times, from Palmyra to Petra, and that these Arameans existed quite distinct from the Arab population, which already reached northwards to Damascus in the second century A.D.
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would represent such objects. The words ■ Sidd ' and ' Sadeh/ for a cliff or ridge, used in Palestine, also re- tain the Aramaic meaning, as in the Assyrian ' Sadi ' is a mountain. In modern Arabic ' Sidd ' is a dam, and in Hebrew ' Sadeh ' is a field.
The Biblical account of the religion of these Aramaic colonists agrees also with what we know of Assyrian polytheism. The men of Babylon (2 Kings xvii. 30) ' made Succoth Benoth ' (' booths of the girls ') ; for, as we know, the inhabitants of that city were addicted to the licentious worship of Mylitta ('the mother-goddess'), whose image, with babe on arm, has been found in Chaldea. The men of Sepharvaim or Sippara (' the city of the sun ') worshipped Adra-Melech and Anam- melech, the Assyrian Adar or Saturn and Anu, the sky-god, whose names are thus joined with the title Melek or ' king/ or with the older name of Mulge or Moloch, the Akkadian form of Baal, the infernal deity. To these gods they sacrificed their children, as did the Phoenicians also, in honour of Saturn, of Ashtoreth, and of Baal. The men of Cuth or Kutha (probably con- nected with the earlier Kassi, or Turanian inhabitants of Cush) worshipped Nergal, the Akkadian deity, who among the Assyrians was identified with the planet Mars : he was a god of war, and often represented as lion-headed. The Hamathites adored Ashima,* who is
* Ashima is also mentioned with Tammuz at Samaria by Amos (viii. 14). The Jews accused the Samaritans of worshipping Ashima — a satyr-like deity — and of saying that the world had been created by a goat {cf. T. B., * Sanhed.,' 63^). This appears to have been a vulgar and perhaps malicious twisting of the fact that the Samaritans used the words Hash-Shem (' the name ') in reading
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sometimes supposed to have been the Persian Aeshma Deva, or ' demon of destruction ;' but the gods of the colonists from Ava are less well known, Nibhaz not being identified, though Tartak is known as the Akka- dian god of the river Tigris, ' lord of the stone.'
It appears not impossible, therefore, that a Turanian element might be recognised in a population worship- ping such gods as Nergal and Tartak; and the later Jews always affirmed that the Samaritans generally were Cutheans, and therefore probably quite uncon- nected by race or origin with themselves. It cannot, however, be supposed that the entire native population of Samaria was transplanted to Nineveh, any more than that the entire population of Jerusalem was carried to Babylon ; and the colonization by the Aramean captives thus only added to the already numerous elements of Syrian population. In the Bible we are told that priests of Jehovah were sent to in- struct the colonists in what was regarded, no doubt, by the Assyrian monarchs, as a local cultus to be added to that of Nergal, Ashima, and the rest. The very pure Semitic type of the modern Samaritans, their preserva- tion of a pure form of Judaism, and of an alphabet not of Aramaic origin, leads us to suppose that the existing race has little or no connection with the Akkadian stock, and may probably have very ancient Hebrew blood in its veins.
(just as the Jews used and still use the word Adonai, or ' lord ') wherever the sacred name of Jehovah occurs in their Pentateuch. There is no trace of any polytheistic belief among modern Sama- ritans, who believe devoutly in one God.
II
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The Samaritan literature is all of a very late period, and perhaps hardly worthy of quotation as evidence of the history of this interesting people. Still, it is pos- sible that the Samaritan Book of Joshua may be founded on more ancient materials, and may contain a basis of fact among its wild legends, some of which (such as the account of Alexander's visit to the King- dom of Darkness) can be traced to the Persian litera- ture of the Sassanian period. The book in question is a compilation, and only the earlier part refers to the story of the conquest. It includes legends relating to the occupation of central Palestine by the Israelites (which is, curiously enough, not described in the Hebrew Book of Joshua) — legends which may, perhaps, bear to true history the same relation which the * Morte d' Arthur' bears to the history of the early British prince. In the second part of the book we find an account of the return of Israel, under Sanballat the Levite, to the sacred mountain Gerizim ; and although this cannot be confirmed by aid of monumental records or of Hebrew literature, there seems to be no inherent improbability in a return of Israelite captives having occurred at the time when the Jews under Ezra re- paired to Jerusalem. For it must be noted, in passing, that the popular theory of the ' lost ten tribes ' rests on no real foundation in fact.* The germ of the idea is
* Professor Socin has misunderstood my meaning in saying that the ' Nestorian Christians may be the descendants ' of Israelites re- maining in Babylonia. ' They claim to be Jews of the tribe of Naphtali, and in dialect and in many of their rites are indistin- guishable from the Jews of the same country' (' Tent Work,' i.,p. 43 ; cf. Grant's ' Nestorians,' 1841 ; Nutt's ' Samaritans,' p. 3). Nestorian
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found in the Apocryphal Greek Book of Ezdras ;* and it appears to have been a Jewish belief, about the
Christianity is based on that of the Sabeans or Mendaites, which was eminently Judaizing in tone ; and it is highly probable that some, if not all, of the Mendaites were originally Jews or Hebrews, though some may have been converted from the polytheism of Babylonia and have been of Babylonian extraction.
» 2 Ezdras xiii. 41-50. The country Arsareth, never before in- habited beyond the river which is to be dried up when the tribes return, may be compared with the region Arzah, mentioned in the Bundahish (xi. 4). It is sometimes supposed to mean ' a western land ' (Aretz Akhareth) ; and Arzah is a western region, one of the seven divisions of the earth. The popular opinion as to the preser- vation of the ark is founded on a passage in the second Book of Maccabees (ii. 1-13), relating that Jeremiah buried the ark on Mount Nebo. This book is probably a work of the Herodian period at earliest. In the book of Sir J. Maundeville, in 1322 A.D., we read that the ten tribes were called Gog and Magog, and shut up between two mountain ranges in Scythia until the end of the world (chap. xxvi.). There is a somewhat similar legend in the Koran, of a people oppressed by Gog and Magog visited by Moses in search of Elijah, where was an iron wall between two mountains near the Greek and Persian Seas, and a muddy fountain where the sun sets (' Sura/ xviii. 59-99). In the Shah-Nameh (about 1000 A.D.) the building of this wall against Gog and Magog — giant demons who devoured men and beasts — is attributed to Alexander the Great. Benjamin of Tudela (1 166 A.D.) speaks of four Jewish tribes residing in Bactria, but it seems doubtful if his account of in- dependent Jewish nationalities in the twelfth century is reliable. There is an allusion in Marco Polo to the country of Gog and Magog. It appears that in the Middle Ages the wall of Gog and Magog, which shut in the ten tribes, was identified with the Great Wall of China (see Yule's ' Marco Polo,' i., pp. 52, 250, 257, 259). The learned Emperor Frederic II. says, in a letter to Henry III., that the Tartars are the descendants of the ten tribes, and the people whom Alexander the Great shut up in the Caspian Moun- tains. The legend migrated east as time went on. There is no doubt that it is of Jewish origin. Josephus himself speaks (accord-
II— 2
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Christian era, that the ten tribes had wandered east under a great leader, crossing over some river in the direction of Central Asia. It is remarkable that a similar story of migration is preserved in Persian legends, but not connected with Jews or Israelites. In the Middle Ages the story was as popular as it still is with certain classes in our own times ; but it finds no mention in the Old or New Testament, and the ideas of those who believe Jeremiah to have travelled to Ireland, and the stone in the Coronation Chair to be the veritable stone erected by Jacob at Bethel, do not demand serious refutation. The Israelites, like the Jews, were scattered throughout Western Asia. Some remained in Mesopotamia, as did some also of the
ing to Colonel Yule) of Alexander's wall in the Hyrcanian province of Persia. In the Targums, however, Gog and Magog are identified with the Goths (Jerusalem Targum).
In the twelfth century the ark was believed by some to be under the Holy Rock in the Jerusalem Temple — probably a Jewish tradi- tion, since in the Talmud we have reference to the ark as being hidden somewhere in the Temple. The idea that it had been buried on Nebo was, however, not forgotten. In the Mishna ('Sanhed./x. 3) we read, 'The ten tribes will not return,' on account of Deut. xxix. 28. This was Rabbi Akiba's view. R. Eliezer was more merciful : * As the day darkens and brightens, so will it be with the ten tribes ; as it was dark for them, so will it be bright for them.'
The connection of Gog and Magog with the ten tribes seems to be founded on Ezekiel (xxxviii. and xxxix.), especially on the notice of the 'mountains of Israel' (xxxix. 4), which were apparently thought to be mountains where the ten tribes were dwelling securely (cf. xxxviii. 15), in the • uttermost parts of the north.'
Philo speaks of the return of Israel to Palestine, as does the Book of Jubilees (about 70 a.d.) and the Apocalypse of Baruch in 100 A.D. {cf. Zech. x. 6 ; Jer. xxiii. 5). Prof. Sayce connects the name of Gog with that of Gugu or Gyges.
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Jews ; some, possibly, may have returned to central Palestine. Gradually they became absorbed and lost among the other mixed nationalities of the country, and the theories which recognise the * lost tribes ' in Afghans or American Indians are not founded on any really scientific, ethnological, or antiquarian information. The similarities to Hebrew custom, or to the beliefs of the later Jews, can be explained on much sounder hypo- theses ; and those who would trace the lost tribes in Europe must first prove that they ever were lost at all. The most remarkable points in Samaritan archaeo- logy are the history of their alphabet and that of their version of the Pentateuch. The Samaritan alphabet is the direct lineal descendant of that which we have seen to have been common, by goo B.C. (with provincial variations) to the Phoenicians, the Moabites, and the Hebrews. It has been proved to have developed in Palestine quite separately from the Aramean alphabet, which grew up in Mesopotamia from the Phoenician as adopted by the traders of Babylon. We do not know at what time the use of writing first spread into central Palestine, but we can hardly doubt that the kings of Israel, like the kings of Judah, had their scribes and their archives of papyri or parchment-rolls. The earliest existing examples of Samaritan script are not supposed to be earlier than the sixth century a.d.,*
,,f The oldest inscription in distinctly Samaritan letters is that at Nablus, dating from the time of Justinian (area 537 A.D.), contain- ing an abridged version of the Decalogue. The MSS. of the Torah which have reached Europe date 599 A.H. (1202-3 A.D.), 605 a.h. (1208-9 A.D.), and 808 A.H. (1405 A.D.). The so-called ' Fire-Tried ' MS. is said to date 35 a.h. (655 A.D.). It is in book form. ■
1 66 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and by that time the hand had become a distinct and somewhat florid type, though still bearing the marks of its purely Phoenician origin. To the later Jews of the fourth and fifth centuries this script was known as Libonai, or ' Lebanon ' writing, showing that the Tal- mudists were aware of the Phoenician origin of the character.* It is in this character that the old copies of the Pentateuch now preserved at Shechem are written. Of these there are three : one comparatively recent; the second dating from 1456 a.d. (820 A.H.); while the oldest, shrined in its silver case and bound in green, is evidently yet earlier, and might perhaps, were it critically examined, be found to be even as old as the seventh century of our era.-f- These sacred rolls give us a distinct idea of the form taken by the earliest copies of the Pentateuch among the Jews, and we see in how comparatively small a compass the whole of the Old Testament, even when written in letters of com- paratively large size, could have been preserved in Hebrew archives.
The variations as yet known between the Samaritan and the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch are, as a rule, of very minor importance.! In those cases which are
* Tal. Bab., ' Sanhed.,' 21 and 22.
f I have seen the three MSS. at Nablus all together in the cup- board in which they are kept. The really old MS. I have seen three times. As regards the Tarikheh or acrostic said to be made by thickening letters in the text, one in each line, I have no personal information ; the assertion that it exists occurs in a letter written by a Samaritan. Professor Kraus claims to have seen it, and states that other MSS. contain similar acrostics. There is nothing impossible in such an expenditure of ingenuity among Oriental scribes.
+ Gesenius divides the variations of the Samaritan text as follows :
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 167
not merely copyists' errors, alterations seem to have been made in favour of peculiar Samaritan beliefs. The oldest MS. might (though this seems very unlikely) prove to contain more important variants. It is more probable that it would turn out to contain fewer variants than those already collated. The only im- portant Samaritan addition as yet known consists in a few words in Genesis which seem to fill an evident lacuna in the Hebrew text relating the quarrel of Cain and Atel.
It is generally supposed that the Samaritans obtained the Thorah or Law from the Jews soon after the Cap- tivity. Not impossibly they may have copied it about the time when the Greek translation was being made
1. Grammatical emendations, including the substitution of com-
morer for rarer forms, thus doing away with archaisms of the Hebrew text.
2. Glosses, sometimes also found in the LXX. and in Jewish
comnentaries.
3. Conjecural emendations of difficult passages.
4. Corrections from parallel passages.
5. Alteratbns in favour of Samaritan views.
6. Chronoogical differences.
7. Differences in Samaritan dialect.
8. Doctriml alterations and corrections of anthropomorphic and
anthnpopathetic expressions.
All these chmges seem to indicate that the Samaritan text, as at present knowa, is less archaic than the Hebrew. The striking re- semblances between the Samaritan text and the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX. nay perhaps also indicate that the Samaritan Penta- teuch is not oder than about 250 B.C. — that is, before the Pharisaic sect became cominant. The Pharisees were the special enemies of the Samaritars, who were closely connected with the Sadducees. — See Nutt's ' Samaritans,5 pp. 90-102.
1 68 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
in Alexandria. The adoption of a new sacred script by the Jews, imported from Babylonia, seems to render it probable that the Samaritan copy was made before this handwriting came to be employed for sacred texts, or the characters as well as the contents of the Jewish Scriptures would, we should suppose, have been adopted by the copyists. However this may be, it is clear that the complete schism which separated Jew and Samaritan in the later Greek and Herodiar times cannot have developed when the Pentateuch was adopted at Shechem.* It has been argued ty some that the existence of the Pentateuch among the Sama- ritans, who have not preserved a single line of any other part of the Hebrew Scriptures, is evidence that these other scriptures were not at that time in exist- tence. This is a very unsafe conclusion. We do not know that the early Samaritans may not have oossessed copies, now lost, of other Hebrew books ; bit even if they never accepted Hebrew accounts of the history of Israel, or Hebrew psalms and prophecies, it does not follow that these were not then written ; for the Torah or Law has always, in Jewish estimation, stood alone as a distinct work, more venerable even than the Nebaim or ' prophets,' and of far higher autlority than the Kethubim or ' writings ' of the period folowing the Captivity.
The sacred centre of the Samaritans is Gerizim, the
* The account of Josephus must be received withcaulion ; but according to his history (' Ant.,' xi., vii. 2) it would seem that the brother of the Jewish high-priest of the time of Alexander the Great was established at Shechem, at which time a sanctuary on Gerizim was, he says, established.
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 169
f Mount of Blessings.' On its summit a sacred rock marks the site where, according to their tradition, Joshua placed the Tabernacle, and afterwards built a temple, restored later by Sanballat on the return of the Israelites from captivity. On the slope of the moun- tain the Feast of the Passover is still celebrated in accordance with the injunctions of the Law, and the mountain is visited at other seasons of the Samaritan year. The traditions clustering round the sacred hill are innumerable, and at its feet are shown the grave of Joseph and the tombs of Eleazar and his descendants ;* while on the south the burial-place of Joshua was long venerated at Kefr Haris, ' the village of the sun-disc'
Josephus speaks also of a temple erected by San- ballat, but gives no description of its character (see 'Ant.,' xi., viii. 2-7 ; xii., v. 5 ; xiii., iii. 4). No ruins of any great building like that of Herod at Jerusalem remain on Gerizim, unless we are to recognise them in the foundations of Justinian's fortress ; and there is nothing suggesting either a central fane or a surround- ing courtyard. There is no doubt that the mountain was a sacred place during the Persian and Greek periods, and probably much earlier ; but Sanballat's temple, if it really existed, may have been nothing more than a hypaethral enclosure, like the Phoenician Temple of Byblos.
It is worthy of note that Josephus believed Sanballat to have lived in the time of Alexander the Great, or
* Awertah, the Abearthah of the Samaritans, seems to be the Gibeah Phinehas of the Bible (Josh. xxiv. 33). The tombs of Eleazar, Ithamar and Abishuah are here shown. — See 'Tent Work,' i., p. 77.
170 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
about 300 B.C. ; whereas the Book of Nehemiah agrees with Samaritan tradition in giving his date as about 450 B.C., a difference of some four generations.
The sacred rock on Gerizim has at some time or other been used as a place of sacrifice, and may have been enclosed in a Court more ambitious than the rude stone fence now surrounding it ; but we should cer- tainly have expected some remains to have still existed if any really important fane ever crowned the summit of Gerizim in Greek ages.
Of the later history of the Samaritans we must say something in the Roman and early Arab centuries, but may now turn to consider the condition of the Jews in Judea during the centuries of Persian rule.
The followers of Ezra appear to have brought back their old language but little changed, although Aramaisms, which mark a lapse from the pure distinc- tive Hebrew of Hezekiah's time, begin to appear in the books dating after the return.
According to the Talmudic writers, they also brought back a new alphabet called Ashuri, or Assyrian — being, in fact, the Aramean script used in Chaldea. This alphabet was derived from Phoenician, and is the parent of the Syriac, Arabic, and square Hebrew letters.* It first appears in the seventh century B.C. as a commercial alphabet, superseding the cuneiform, and sometimes used in dockets or commercial documents written in that clumsy character. It penetrated south- wards to Babylonia rather later, since Sidonian letters occur on Nebuchadnezzar's bricks in 560 B.C. It was * Taylor's ' Hist, of Alphabet/ ii., p. 248.
* JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 171
used in commerce in India and Egypt, and occurs on coins of Cappadocia, Bactria, Armenia, Persia, and Arabia. After the Christian era it was employed by Palmyrenes and Nabatheans, gradually becoming modified into square Hebrew, Syriac, Kufic, and Neshki. From the sixth to the fourth century B.C. it was used by the Persian satraps of Asia Minor on their coins. In Egypt it is found at Sakkarah as early as 482 B.C., and was there used by the Jews in 200 B.C. Square Hebrew, as a distinguishable modification of this alphabet, does not, however, appear on monu- ments before the first century B.C.
The language and letters of the priestly caste at Jerusalem were alike unintelligible to the Aramaic peasantry of the surrounding country.* We hear that the poorer Israelites left behind when Nebuchadnezzar took the rich as captives to Babylon, had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab ; the children ' could not speak the Jews' language,' but spoke * half the speech of Ashdod ' (Neh. xiii. 23). We are left to wonder what this speech may have been. In the time of Sennacherib we find Metaita to have been king of Ashdod ; and twenty years later, under Esarhaddon, the king's name is Akhimilki, or Ahimelech. The king of Ashkelon in the last of these reigns is Mitinti, and of Ekron Ika Samsu, who were preceded by Padia
* The Talmud seems very correct in saying that the old alphabet and Aramaic language were those of the ignorant (z.e., peasants), and the old language and Aramaic alphabet those of the priests. This curious result sprang from the return of Jewish priests, after the Captivity, from Babylon to Syria, where the Aramaic peasantry were settled. — Cf. Tal. Bab., ' Sanhed./ 21, 22.
172 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of Ekron and Zidika of Ashkelon in Sennacherib's time. At Gaza we find Yil-Baal in the first list, suc- ceeded by Zilli Baal in the second ; and under Esar- haddon (680 B.C.) we have Kaus Gabri king of Edom, and Musuri king of Moab, with Budail king of Beth Ammon. Some of these names, like Mitinti and Metaiti, are unfamiliar sounds (supposing them to be correctly transliterated), but the remainder may be compared with Phoenician and Hebrew names. They show worshippers of Baal and El and Shamash, and are clearly Semitic. These cities appear to have re- mained unaffected by the conquests of Assyria, as they professed friendship to the Great King ; and we may suppose that in Nehemiah's time the rulers — and pro- bably the population — were still Semitic. The * speech of Ashdod ' was then probably Semitic, and only dif- fered as a dialect from Hebrew. It may have had some admixture of Egyptian words, but in the main the difference was probably that between pure Hebrew, preserved by the Jewish priestly families, and the vulgar tongue. Hebrew, in fact, was fast becoming what it evidently had become before the time of Christ — a dead language used only for sacred literature. The Mishna in the second century a.d. is still written in Hebrew ; but the Aramaic has even invaded the Old Testament itself — as, for instance, in certain parts of the Book of Daniel, and of the chronicle of Ezra. This change of language led to the early growth of Targums, or * interpretations,' to which allusion is made in the Book of Nehemiah (viii. 8), although the existing Targums are of much later date. The priest read the
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 173
Hebrew lesson, and translated it into the vulgar Aramaic ; and this practice led to the final production of written paraphrases, often very considerably ampli- fying the original. Many of our own ideas concerning the Bible are unconsciously derived from these Tar- gums rather than from the original text.
The Jews appear, according to the Book of Nehemiah, to have taken to the trade of money-lending immediately on their return to Palestine (Neh. v. 1-15). We have tablets from Babylon dating in the reign of Nabonahid (before the conquest of the city by Cyrus), which refer to such monetary transactions, mentioning the amount of the interest, and the date from which it is payable. The Egibi banking firm, to which these tablets be- longed, appear to have exacted usurious interest. The sale of slaves by the same firm is also noticed, one being a certain Hoshea — perhaps an Israelite or a Phoenician. The tablets are in cuneiform ; but they have dockets on the edge in Aramaic letters, summar- izing briefly the contents. These tablets illustrate the complaints made by the peasants against the Jews to Nehemiah (v. 5), that their children were taken as slaves by the usurers, who advanced money to pay the taxes. The slaves sold by the Egibi firm may have been given in quittance of debts due by their owners. This ruining of the peasantry by usury and by the exaction of taxes which they have no means of paying, is depopulating Palestine at the present time, and the Jews are again the money-lenders to whom the Fellahin are obliged to apply.
The returning Jews lived partly in Jerusalem, partly
174 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
in the surrounding mountain-country. A curious custom, which still in some degree survives to our own times, is mentioned in the Bible in connection with this residence in the capital (Neh. xi. 2) : ' the people blessed ' the volunteers who, to the number of ten per cent., were selected to reside in the city. In ordinary Oriental parlance this may be thought to infer that a money present was given to these representative men, who in the later Herodian period appear, according to the Mishnah, to have assembled in the narrow cloister, close to the rostrum or balcony on which the priests stood, and thus at every Temple service they repre- sented Israel.* So, in our own time, the Halacha is a tribute collected from all parts of the world to support those poor Jews, who, dwelling in Jerusalem and praying at the Temple-wall, represent all Israel, and intercede for the nation in its fallen estate.
The tendency to separation from the rest of mankind which distinguished the later Jews is also already traceable in the Book of Ezra, as is that dread of ceremonial uncleanness, and of even unconscious breaches of the Levitical law, which makes the life of a pious rabbi more artificial and irksome than can be imagined by those who have not studied the subtle refinements of Talmudic prescription. It must not, however, be supposed that this scrupulous observation of Levitical law marks a condition of society peculiar to the Jews. The fear of uncleanness is quite as re- markable among the Brahmins of our own days ; and in the laws of the Zendavesta, but yet more in the later
* < Middoth,' ii. 6.
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 175
commentaries of the Sassanian period, we find most striking parallels to the seemingly puerile prescriptions of the Mishnah, which are founded on the simple prin- ciple of avoiding even the remote possibility of defile- ment. The sins of the follower of Zoroaster are weighed and calculated by a minute comparative scale of importance, ranging from the trivial neglect of some precaution unintentionally omitted, to the unpardon- able sin of wilful disobedience. The original intention of such laws was good and pious, but the tyranny of continually increasing regulations led inevitably to the neglect of the whole system by those who had no leisure to devote to such religious observances.
In Ezra's time such ideas were still in their infancy, and we must recur to the subject in speaking of the Rabbinical society of later times. It can, however, hardly be doubted that the growth of the sect of the Pharisees was connected with the influence upon the Babylonian Jews of the worship of Ormuzd by the pious Persians. The word Pharisee is generally ren- dered ' separatist,' from the Hebrew root meaning to divide ; but the Pharisees, whatever be the origin of their name, were to all outward appearance the Parsees of Syria.*
The present chapter is of necessity an imperfect
* The suggestion of a connection of Pharas (the Hebrew name of Persia) with Perushim, or Pharisees, is regarded by Kuenen as quite impossible ; but the suggestion that the Pharisees were influ- enced by Persia is quite independent of such derivations.
This subject is one which would lead us far away from monu- mental history. It is, however, further noticed in Chapter VIII., in speaking of the Talmud.
176 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
sketch. The absence of monuments reduces our archaeological evidence to that which is traceable in the history of the alphabet. We have seen, however, that the Assyrian records serve to explain the captivity of the Hebrews, while those of Persia give some idea of the religion with which the Jews at Babylon were in daily contact.
Turning to the question of the topographical remains of the age, we find that the area of the Holy City at this period appears to have been the same as in the time of the later kings of Judah; and the walls built by Nehemiah stood, indeed, on the site of the old ramparts. It has lately been suggested by Professor Sayce that these walls included only the Temple hill and the small quarter of Ophel to the south. Into such an area it would, of course, be impossible to squeeze the number of inhabitants mentioned in the Book of Kings and Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It would be impossible, also, to accept the measurements between some of the gates mentioned in the same books ; but even if we discard all these notices, a difficulty remains to be en- countered in the fact that the two hills west of the Temple certainly formed a part of Herodian Jerusalem. It is impossible to suppose that the city can have sud- denly increased to the size of two hundred acres, from about forty acres at most, during the troublous Has- monean age ; and most improbable that Hezekiah's capital should have been no larger than a small country village, in an age when Babylon and Nineveh had grown to such enormous size, and when Tyre covered more than one hundred acres.
JEWS AND SAMARITANS. 177
On the slopes of Ophel still remain foundations of the wall which probably existed at this time. The upper part of this rampart may perhaps be assigned to the time of Hadrian ; but the foundation of unsquared stones seems certainly to be as old as the age of Nehemiah, the great fortifier of Jerusalem. The cha- racter of the work resembles that of some of the early Phoenician fortress-walls still standing — as, for instance, at Eryx, or the northern Banias, or in Malta ; and the foundation of the rampart upon the red earth, and not upon the underlying rock, seems to suggest a hasty construction, especially when compared with the care- ful inletting into the live rock of the base courses of the Herodian Temple walls immediately to the north.*
* I have previously pointed out that the city of David, according to Professor Sayce's restoration and plan, would only have occupied five acres. To this it is replied that he supposes the site of Solo- mon's Temple also to have been covered by houses, and to have therefore formed part of the Jerusalem of David's time.
Solomon's palace on Ophel was, however, not in the city of David, as particularly stated in the Bible ; and the Bible does not mention that any town was pulled down when Solomon's Temple was built. The new theory rests on the false hypothesis of a valley between the Ophel spur and the Temple, which we know for cer- tain, from fifty rock observations taken in mining on this hill, never did exist. A sudden growth of Jerusalem over the western hills to cover two hundred acres must, moreover, according to this theory, have taken place in the third or fourth century B.C. Josephus, however, calls the wall round the great western hill ' very old,' and says it was built by David, Solomon, and other kings. The theory not only fails to answer the Bible descriptions and those of Josephus, but seems in itself highly improbable.
Professor Sayce calls attention to the ' small size of ancient cities.' Presumably he means the small size of small ancient cities, for Nineveh, Babylon, and Memphis were remarkably large cities.
12
i78 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The Ophel wall explored by Sir C. Warren is thus probably the oldest extant bit of Jewish masonry as yet discovered in any part of Palestine, although the rocky scarp on the hill of the upper city to the west may have been hewn at an earlier age, in the time of the Hebrew kings*
Jerusalem is said by Nehemiah to have been a large city even for the population then inhabiting it (over 10,000 souls), and the measurement of such towns as Cassarea, Rabbath Ammon, Tyre, etc., shows an average of over one hundred acres.
Dr. Schlieman supposed Troy to have stood on one small mound ; but even he gives to the later Ilium an area of one hundred acres ; and his theory as to Troy is not accepted by other writers, who consider that the mound only represents the fortress or acropolis of the city.
If Hezekiah ruled forty cities, and had all the riches mentioned by Sennacherib, we should naturally expect his capital not to have been one of the ' small ancient cities,' which seem not to have been important places.
CHAPTER V.
THE GREEK AGE.
The collision with the Greek kings of Asia of the Jewish pietists under Judas Maccabseus did not occur until nearly a century and a half after the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, and there is evidence in the antiquities of Syria that the Greek influence con- tinued considerably to affect the Jews and Samaritans even after the revolt of Modin ; for although the sects of the Chasidim and Pharisees remained always bitterly opposed to all things Greek, still, under the native Hasmonean kings, from the time of Aristobulus (106- 105 B.C.), the reassertion of the Greek influence is traceable in the Jewish coins, from which other valu- able indications may also be gathered.
The most important events of the centuries immedi- ately preceding the Modin revolt, from the point of view of Jewish archaeology, were the foundation of Alexandria and of Antioch, and the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. The conquests of Alexander did not at first revolutionize Palestine, yet there can be little doubt that the extended relations between East and West which mark the reign of the great
12 — 2
180 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Greek conqueror did finally affect the thought and civilization of Syria.
There is evidence of a sufficiently definite character, showing that the Assyrians, Arabs, and Phoenicians were in communication with India before 800 B.C., in- dependently of the Old Testament account of Solomon's ships and of the Indian spices brought to Tyre.* The South Asoka alphabet, about 250 B.C., has been shown to owe its origin to the early script of Yemen. The Egyptians had fleets in the Red Sea which visited the wondrous land of Punt (Somali) as early as the time of Queen Hatasu, about 1650 B.C., or long before the fleets of Solomon and Hiram are recorded to have gone on trading expeditions to Ophir in Yemen. The names of the elephant, the ape, and the peacock used in the Bible have been found to be Tamil, or South Indian words ;f and although this does not prove Ophir to have been in India or in Ceylon — for it was certainly in Arabia — it yet shows us that the Arabs traded with India, probably by coasting voyages. Such a voyage was accomplished by Alexander's admiral
0 If the translation 'silk' be accepted (Ezek. xvi. 10, 13), it appears that China was probably connected with Tyre by trade in the sixth century B.C. Lenormant (' Manual,' i. 496 ; ii. 203) maintains that the Babylonian trade extended to Little Thibet. He has carefully traced the trade routes from Babylon to India, Armenia, Lydia, Bactria, and as far as the Iaxartes.
t The Egyptian word eb for the elephant must, however, also be compared with the Hebrew Habim. It is curious that the ape is called Kqfi in Egyptian, Kapi in Sanskrit, Kuf in Hebrew, and Cepus in Latin — the Greek Kepos. The ape is the emblem of Thoth in Egypt (the cynocephalus). The Egyptians seem in these cases to have used Aryan names for both apes and elephants.
THE GREEK AGE. 181
Nearchus on the return from the Indus ; for it was not until the time of Augustus that Hippalus discovered the recurrence of the monsoon, and that direct voyages to India were attempted.
In Assyria we have also early evidence of a trade with India which may have followed the great caravan route through Kandahar by which Alexander advanced, or may also have been conducted by coasting voyages down the Persian Gulf. The appearance of an ele- phant among the spoil taken by Thothmes III. at Nineveh may be thought to show a very early connec- tion with India.
On the black obelisk of Shalmanezer II. (850 B.C.) we have representations of the Bactrian camel, the rhinoceros, the elephant, with apes and monkeys, and a bovine animal — perhaps the Indian buffalo ; all of which are brought as tribute, showing very clearly an Indian connection at this period. Tiglath Pileser II. (745-727 B.C.) carried his arms to the frontiers of India, across Sagartia (Zikruti), and Arachosia, or Arakuttu.*
The policy followed by Alexander of encouraging the
* The chief dates to be kept in mind in the present chapter are :
Conquest of Tyre by Alexander the Great
Era of the Seleucidas -
The revolt of Judas Maccabseus ...
Jerusalem taken by Antiochus V. Eupator
Death of Judas Maccabasus ....
Simon, the Hasmonean, allowed to coin money
Accession of John Hyrcanus -
Death „ „ „ -
Death of Alexander Jannaeus -
Jerusalem taken by Pompey -
|
332 |
B.C. |
|
313 |
)) |
|
168 |
j> |
|
163 |
» |
|
161 |
5> |
|
139 |
)J |
|
135 |
J> |
|
106 |
5) |
|
78 |
» |
|
63 |
35 |
1 82 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
amalgamation of the various nations over which he ruled, and his interest in the Brahminical philosophy, led to the appearance of many gymnosophists or naked ascetics, in Athens and in Asiatic Greece.* Some of these may have been Buddhists ; for Asoka, the great Buddhist monarch, lived in 250 B.C., and sent forth his missionaries from India in every direction ; and the Ptolemies, who succeeded Alexander in Egypt, were probably quite as much interested in Indian literature as they were in that of the Jews. On the existing steles of Asoka we have recorded the names of Anti- ochus Theos (261-246 B.C.), Ptolemy II., Antigonus of Macedon, Alexander II. of Epirus,and Magasof Cyrenejf and we have thus valuable confirmation of the accounts given by Greek historians and geographers of the rela- tions between Greece and India. Towards the close of the Greek period we find societies of hermits who, in their customs and philosophy, closely resemble the Indian philosophic ascetics, appearing in Egypt under the name of Therapeutae, and in Syria under that of
0 Clemens Alexandrinus (' Strom./ I. xv.) speaks of Pythagoras as a disciple of Brahmins, and of Samanaeans (or Buddhist Shamans) among the Bactrians. He calls Philo a Pythagorean.
f This monumental evidence of the relations between the half- Greek Buddhist monarchs of India and the West is of great importance, in face of the general denial (by Kuenen and others) of the westward spread of Buddhist influence. The story of Calnus, the hermit, who immolated himself, is in Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,' vi. 21). The history of the alphabet casts some light also on these relations. The alphabet of Asoka's inscription at Kapur-di- giri was of Aramaic origin ; and the Bactrian and Parthian coins, from 240 B.C. onward, give much the same character, showing that Persia was then influencing Northern India.
THE GREEK AGE. 183
Essenes. The relation of these sects to the Stoics, who traced their origin to a Phoenician founder, is sufficiently remarkable; and we cannot doubt that Greece owed much of its philosophy not only to Phoenicia and Assyria,* but also, after Alexander's time, to India. Such, then, were the new influences at work in Asia, in addition to the older civilizations of Egypt, Chaldea, and Persia.
The capital of the Seleucidse at Antioch was the centre of trade and art, as well as of government. Seleucia, its seaport, superseded the famous Tarshish (Tarsus), long the harbour whence the trade of Asia Minor and Aram found an outlet into the Mediter- ranean. Tyre and Sidon sink into comparative insig- nificance beside the great capital of Seleucus, although Phoenician remains of the period succeeding the cap- ture of Tyre by Alexander the Great are sufficiently numerous.
In Palestine itself we have no monument as yet known to belong to the fourth or third century B.c.,t although we have a coinage of the second century B.C. The Greek coinage reached the summit of aesthetic excellence in the beautiful gold coins of Alexander which are frequently found in Syria and Palestine. A hoard of these was discovered about 1872 near Mount Carmel.J The coins of the Seleucidae, many of which
0 The Greek speculations as to the origin of the world seem often clearly based on the philosophy of Phoenicia and Nineveh.
t Mr. Fergusson tells us that the Seleucidae have left no archi- tectural remains which have come down to our time.
X It is remarkable that coins of Alexander, struck at Sycamina, have been found, for Sycamina (Tell es Semak), under the
1 84 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
are of extreme beauty, are also discovered from time to time in Palestine.
When, however, we remember the troublous times which succeeded the division of Alexander's empire, the destruction of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes, the wars which followed, and the dissensions among the early Hasmoneans, we see that the period is not one when great architectural works are likely to have been undertaken in Syria. We have as yet found no traces of the monument of the Hasmonean brothers at Modin described by Josephus, or of the gymnasium at Jerusalem,* or of the temple built by Onias in Egypt — although the site of the last is known. Our attention is
Carmel promontory, is close to where this hoard of Alexanders was found. Coins of Alexander have also been found, struck, it is believed, at Scythopolis (Beisan) ; and coins of the Seleucidae were struck at Tyre and Sidon. Ptolemy I. struck coins at Tyre, Sidon,and Paphos. Antiochus Euergetes struck a coin in 181 B.C. apparently at Jerusalem itself ; and the curious emblem on this coin, generally called an anchor, is repeated on the Hasmonean coins.
0 It appears, according to the ' Megillah Taanith ' (viii. 17; ix. 20), that certain Pagan monuments were erected, probably by the Hellenizing Jews, in the Temple. These are called Siruga and Simoth) words of which the meaning is not well known, though the commentators on this ancient book (which is, at least, as old as the second century A.D.) render the latter apparently by Bimns, meaning a stone, probably the Greek Bomoi — 'altars.' This ap- pears to be the Jewish explanation of the passage in 1 Mace. iv. 43 — 'and bear the defiled stones into an unclean place.' Probably these stone monuments were something like the cones and menhirs of the Phoenicians already described. The Siruga may, as Graetz supposes, be connected with [the later Soreg, or lattice partition, round the Temple. We have seen that such fences also existed in Phoenician temples (cf. Derenbourg, 'Palestine d'apres les Thalmuds,' p. 61).
THE GREEK AGE. 185
therefore confined to the question of the Jewish alphabet, and to the deductions to be gathered from the Jewish coinage concerning the religion and government and civil- ization of the country under the later Hasmoneans. Be- yond Jordan we have also one very important monument of certain date (176 B.C.) in the Palace of Hyrcanus ; and the inscription written on the rock close beside this is of high antiquarian interest. Though thus forced to take a leap of 150 years from Alexander to the time of the Hasmoneans, we may still find evidence in their monumental remains of the silent growth of art during the period not yet represented by existing monuments. As regards language, there was little change from the conditions noted in the preceding chapter. Aramaic was steadily encroaching on Hebrew, and found its way even into sacred books. Greek also was becoming generally known, as evidenced by the Greek inscriptions on the Hasmonean coins, and by the existence of Greek Jewish books, like the Book of Wisdom and some of the Sibylline poetry.* The adoption of Greek art is also clearly indicated, not only by existing remains, but by the fact that so many Greek technical words found their way into Aramaic, as may still be seen in the Talmudic writings from the second to the fifth centuries a.d.
Thus, for instance, we have in the Mishnah itself the word ' exhedra ' occurring in an Aramaic form. Such words as ' palatium,' ' balneum,' and ' triclinium' were in
* The first Book of Maccabees is only known to us in Greek ; but Jerome appears to have known the Hebrew version (' Praefatio ad libros Paralip.').
1 86 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
like manner rather later introduced from Latin during the Roman age ; but the majority of these foreign im- portations are Greek, and may be supposed to have begun to creep into the language and literature in the age when a certain class of Jews became Hellenizers or admirers of all things Greek. Of these foreign words the most important is the well known Sanhedrin, a corruption of the Greek Synhedrion. Thus even the most famous religious council of the Jews was known among themselves by a Greek title which is sometimes thought to be as old as the time of John Hyrcanus.
Some of the objects engraved on the Hasmonean coins are of interest in connection with the Temple ritual, and thus with the religion of the Jews in the second century B.C. We are told that the very priests of Jerusalem were attracted by the Tyrian games, and introduced into the holy city many of the athletic and religious customs of Greece. Such, at least, is the testimony of Josephus and of the first Book of Mac- cabees. On the coins are represented the ethrog or lemon carried in the left hand, as we learn from the Mishnah, at the feast of Tabernacles ; the lulab, a kind of bunch of myrtle and willow round a young palm- shoot,* also carried at the same feast in the right hand ;
0 The lulab originally was only the palm-branch. They were stored on the roof of the Temple cloisters (' Succah,' iv. 4). A Sadducee, held to have defiled the Temple, is said to have been pelted with the ethrogs (' Succah,' 48^). Josephus (* Ant.,' xiii. 13-15) tells this story of Alexander Jannseus. In another passage of the Talmud (' Kiddushin/ J^a, cf. ' Zebakhim,' 62*2), it is told of R. Zeira in Babylonia. The custom of carrying lemons was at least as old as the time of Josephus. Plutarch describes
THE GREEK AGE. 187
and the baskets in which the first fruits were offered. The lemons and bunches are not mentioned in con- nection with this feast in the Old Testament. These lemons somewhat remind us of the fir-cones carried by the votaries of Bacchus. In Assyria we find Nisroch, the eagle-headed god, carrying the fir-cone, and Bacchus or Dionysus was a Semitic deity.* The Jewish custom might have a common origin with the practices of the votaries of Dionysus, one of whose festivals occurred in autumn about the time of the feast of Tabernacles. The blowing of horns, which is still a lugubrious feature of the feast of Tabernacles, also reminds us of the feasts of Dionysus. So does the solemn dancing in the Temple court, which formed part of the ritual of the feast of Tabernacles according to the Mishnah. The pouring of libations in the Temple during this feast recalls the great water-jars borne in procession at Athens and in Egypt.t The
Jewish ceremonies as resembling those of Bacchus (' Symposiacs,' iv. 6), and mentions tabernacles, palm-branches, thyrsoi, trumpets, with the high priest's mitre, and a fawn-skin dress with bells. The fawn-skin dress is not mentioned either in the Bible or by any Jewish writer, though there were many vestments used by the high priest on various occasions. The sacred dresses of the Akkadians appear to have been of goat-skin. The deer-skin is sacred in India. Fawn-skins formed the mystic Orphic dress (cf. Diod. Sic, i. 11).
* The lemon occurs in India as an emblem, apparently phallic. The fir-cone had a similar meaning in Greece (Gubernatis, ' Mythol. des Plantes,' ii., pp. 96, 290, 333). The citron is a native of Media, early introduced into Palestine. The apple of Dionysus was the quince, which was a bridal offering.
j* Water was drawn at Siloam in a golden vessel, and poured out with an equal quantity of wine (about two pints) in the Temple
1 88 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
baskets which were filled with first-fruits and carried to the temple not only at Hierapolis but also at Jeru- salem, and which are shown on Jewish coins, recall the baskets borne in the Eleusinian mysteries, and by the noble maidens of Athens. Another peculiarity of the feast of Tabernacles was the dance of maidens at Mozah near Jerusalem. This may have been a Semitic custom, though contrary to the usual habits of Jewish women. The young women of Jerusalem came forth, we are told, to greet David, and the maidens of Shiloh danced in the vineyards. So in our own times the peasant women take part in festivals in Palestine, but as a rule there is a complete separation of the sexes in public. The dance of Mozah almost inevitably brings to mind the Greek dances of the worshippers of Dionysus, and the rite finds no mention in the Old Testament. The procession of the bull with gilded horns, who was brought to Jerusalem at the feast of first-fruits according to the Talmud, also reminds us of Greek custom ; but it is not alone on such indications that our knowledge must rest, for we have numismatic
(' Succah,' iv. 9). The Jews saw a reference to this in Isaiah (xii. 3). ' Able men ' danced with torches before the congregation at this feast, while the priests blew horns and trumpets (' Succah,' v. 4). Pitchers were emptied to the sound of the trumpet on the second day of the Anthesteria at Athens at the Vernal Equinox (Succah was a feast of the Autumnal Equinox). On the first day of the same feast at Athens libations of wine, and torchlight pro- cessions, were made in honour of Dionysus. These similarities may not be regarded by modern Jews as due to any connection between the Jerusalem ritual and that of Dionysus ; but they evidently struck Roman writers like Plutarch.
THE GREEK AGE. 189
and architectural evidence of Greek influence among the Jews.*
The Jerusalem Temple was not the only one which had a sacred veil before its entrance. We have found such a veil mentioned in connection with the Temple of the Sun at Sippara in 880 B.C., together with ceremonial vestments proper for various feasts. The temple at Olympia (a Phoenician settlement) was famous for its Assyrian veil dyed with Tyrian purple, and the veil described by Josephus as symbolizing the heavens is like the veil of Gabala in Phoenicia, which symbolized the Cosmos. The Jerusalem veil is said to have been renewed every year.f
* In Roman times the Jews were supposed to worship Bacchus. It is possible that Antiochus, when he sacrificed a pig in the Jerusalem Temple, did not intend impiety, but only showed ignorance of the Semitic horror of the pig. Pigs were sacrificed and then eaten in Egypt, in honour of the moon and of Bacchus, the poor offering images of pigs made of dough (Herod, ii. 47, 48). The boar which slew Adonis was sacrificed to Aphrodite. The bones of young pigs sacrificed to Demeter have been found in the ruins of her temple at Cnidus. The boar was the emblem of the Gods of storm and darkness, of Ares (the ' pounder,' or God of Storm), and of Set, the God of Night, in Egypt.
f The suggestion of M. C. Ganneau that the Olympic veil came from Jerusalem seems to me improbable, in face of the evidence that so many other temples possessed such veils. As regards the annual weaving of the Jerusalem veils, see Tal. Bab. * Chullin,' 90& If there were two veils, as we should perhaps understand, it was only renewed annually, like the Kiswah, ' the holy carpet,' or * bridal robe of the Kaaba.' The veil, or peplos, covering the sacred oak in Phoenicia, recalls the ' hangings for the grove/ or robe for the Asherah — the sacred tree erected even in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Kings xxiii. 7 ; Ezek. xvi. 16) in Josiah's time. Among the Arabs also the sacred palm of Najran was decked with robes
i9o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The comparison thus suggested between Greek and Jewish rites applies, as will be seen, only to those rites which are noticed by Josephus or in the Talmud, and which are not noticed in the Bible. That the influence of the Hellenizing party in Palestine was powerful, both before the revolt of Modin and also later in the time of the Hasmonean princes succeeding Hyrcanus, will hardly be disputed, and this influence for a time at least affected the religion of the country. It is for the reader to judge whether the parallelism between the Dionysian rites and festivals and those of the Jews in the second century B.C. is best explained by the gradual growth of Hellenic tendencies in Judea, such as we trace in the coins of the Jews and in the architecture of Syria, or whether some other explanation of these apparent similarities is to be preferred.
The more important Jewish coins are chiefly of the Hasmonean age. Certain massive shekel pieces having the legend * Jerusalem the Holy ' and * Shekel Israel,' with the pot of manna and the triple pome- granate, have been variously attributed to the time of Ezra, and to that of Simon, brother of Judas Macca- baeus. According to the Book of Maccabees, Simon first of the Jewish leaders obtained leave to coin money. The shekels bear the marks { Year i,' or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, supposed to date from the era of Simon's being permitted to strike coins. It appears very un- likely that these highly finished coins can be as early
and jewels. The veil of the temple of Doto (Dido, or 'love'), at Gabala, is mentioned by Pausanias in the second century a.d.
THE GREEK AGE. 191
as the time of Ezra, but the years referred to may not impossibly be those of the Sabbatic cycle, since old coins (according to the Talmud) were not to be used for Temple tribute, and since the Sabbatic year was pretty certainly observed in Hasmonean times.
The dated Hasmonean coins bearing the names of the high priests are of great interest. The characters used are those of the old alphabet of Israel (with modifications) and are almost exactly the same as on the shekel coinage. The double cornucopia commonly shown appears to be copied from an Egyptian coin of one of the Ptolemies. The fact that no living creature is figured on any of these coins agrees with the strict observance of the Law among the Pharisees, who placed the Hasmoneans in power. The earliest of these pieces are attributed to Simon, with the legend 1 Year four of the redemption of Zion.' The lulab, ethrog, palm, and baskets occur on these coins, dating probably from the year 138 B.C. On one of these an elephant has been stamped (emblem of the Seleucid monarchs), as though to give it currency.
With John Hyrcanus (135-106 B.C.) we get the in- scription, ' The high-priest and the Sanhedrin (Heber) of the Jews ;' and again, * High-priest and chief of the Sanhedrin of the Jews.' Alexander Jannasus (105- 78 B.C.) first calls himself Melek, and on the reverse a Greek legend calls him Basileus Alexandros. He appears to have copied the coinage of Antiochus VIII., with whom he was allied. His queen Salome, or Alexandra, also during her peaceful reign (78-69 b.c) struck coins with a Greek legend ; and the types of the
192 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
later Hasmoneans in nowise differ from those of the coinage of Jannaeus. Down to the latest (Antigonus, 40-37 B.C.) they continue to use the old alphabet of Israel almost unchanged.*
The Aramean alphabet was, however, as we have already seen, the source whence modern square Hebrew was derived. This alphabet we find in use in the second century a.d. in Galilee ; and the tomb of the Beni Hezir, which probably belongs to the first century B.C., gives us the earliest known example of its employment in Palestine. Jewish tradition attributes the square alphabet to Ezra, and the Talmud explains that it was used for sacred writings ; but these state- ments are not of great authority. It seems probable that during the Hasmonean age the old alphabet gradually fell into disuse for literary purposes, and that the new alphabet had superseded it before the Christian era, though the old forms naturally survived very late in monumental writing.
Three other short inscriptions, besides that of the Beni Hezir tomb, have been found at Jerusalem. The first is a fragment found by De Saulcy (' Voyage,* ii. pp. 12-13), supposed to be the Hebrew of that prohibi- tion to enter the inner Temple court, of which M.
0 The ' Anchor ' of the coins of Antiochus Euergetes is, with the double cornucopia (of the Ptolemies), the commonest emblem on the Hasmonean coins. A similar anchor emblem occurs with the sacred fish on an early Christian sarcophagus, found in the vineyard of the Salviati College at Rome, and on Christian signet- rings. An eight-rayed star or sun is also shown on coins of Jannaeus and Salome (Alexandra). The palm-tree found on Jewish coins also occurs on those of Carthage.
THE GREEK AGE. 193
Clermont Ganneau has found the Greek version. The words ' Here let every man . . . keep silence ' have been read. The second is the inscription, found also by De Saulcy, on the sarco- phagus of Queen Sara (possibly Helena of Adiabene), in a lower chamber of the tombs of the kings of Adiabene. The third is on a tomb north-east of Jerusalem, also very short.
From a consideration of this evidence we may perhaps conclude that the Aramean alphabet was only just coming into use for monumental purposes in the Has- monean age, and that it did not supersede the old alphabet of Israel used on the Hasmonean coins until shortly before the Christian era. The ornamental letters of our modern coinage, as contrasted with the characters used in writing or in printing, form perhaps a parallel to the continued use of the alphabet of «"i
Israel on Jewish coins after the S-
Aramean forms had been adopted t—
in literature. The curious mixture XL
of square and earlier letters on *— "
the inscription at 'Arak el Emir serves, however, to
*3
194 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
show us how careful we must be in drawing con- clusions in the present state of our information on the subject.
This inscription of 'Arak el Emir (Tyrus) must date about 176 B.C., and consists of five letters. The shape of the first is still disputed, though a clear photograph by Lieutenant Mantell seems to show that it is a round 'Ain, as in Phoenician. Whatever be thought of this letter, it seems that the final letter belongs to the Aramaic alphabet, and the last but one to the Phoe- nician. We may thence, perhaps, gather that the distinct Aramean alphabet was not in use at this time, but that a transitional style was sometimes employed, in which letters from the old alphabet of Israel occurred indiscriminately with the new forms then known among the Jews.
The one relic of the architecture of the Hasmonean age which we possess is the palace built, close by the rock where this last inscription is carved, by the Jewish priest Hyrcanus, in or before 176 B.C., at the spot called Tyrus, on the slopes of the Moabite hills. It remains, with one wall still standing, at the site called 'Arak el Emir, ■ the Prince's Cliff.'
From Josephus, whose account is full and accurate, we learn that Hyrcanus first constructed defensible caves for his stables, treasury, and living-house. These have now all been planned and described. The mangers for over one hundred horses have been found cut in rock, with excavations intended for granaries and cisterns.
Immediately to the south of this ' troglodytic fortress'
THE GREEK AGE. 195
are the remains of the palace. Here we note three peculiarities. First, the enormous size of the stones, which are in some cases 8 feet high and 17 to 25 feet long, the face of the stone being surrounded with a sunken draft like the masonry of Herod's Temple at Jerusalem, which was probably an imitation of Greek art. Secondly, we note the imitation of Greek art in the details : we have honeysuckles, triglyphs, guttae, Doric and semi-Corinthian capitals, and moulded door- jambs, all evidently copied from Greece. In the third place, we note features peculiar, and apparently of local origin, such as the extraordinary, almost Egyptian- looking capitals of some of the central columns. The palace was apparently only one story high, perhaps with a flat wooden roof over the cornice. A staircase led up the eastern wall to this roof. The plan of the building is an oblong, with doors on all sides. The in- terior was divided into several chambers, but the exact dimensions of these cannot be traced, as the pillars and walls have fallen into the building, which was probably never completed.
The figures of gigantic animals, apparently lions, to which Josephus refers, are plainly to be seen still in situ. The carving is rude, and the reliefs are quite flat, and not moulded as in Greek alto-relievo.*
The drafted masonry, which we here meet for the first time, was perhaps an imitation of Greek style, since such masonry may be noted in the walls of the
• See 'Heth and Moab/ pp. 163-171. The palace measures 125 feet north and south, by 62^ feet east and west ; and the height of the wall, consisting of three courses, is 21 feet.
13—2
196 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Acropolis at Athens.* It was afterwards used not only by Herod, but by the Romans in the second century, and by Byzantines, Crusaders, and Arabs down to a very late period.
Such study of the few existing remains of the Greek period shows us that the influence of Greek civilization was no less marked in Syria than that of the earlier civilizations of Egypt, Chaldea, and Persia. Not with- out reason does Josephus endeavour to draw a parallel between the philosophy of the Jewish sects — Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes — and the systems of Greece. From Syria Greece borrowed much of her speculative literature, and to Syria she brought the philosophy of Plato through Alexandria ; but Syria and Greece alike owed yet more to the influence of Eastern countries, and even to the Aryans of Persia and of India.
° It used to be usual to speak of the ' Phoenician bevel,' by which this drafting was meant. It is true that we find such draft- ing in the Crusading walls at Sidon, and in a tomb with a pedi- ment of the Greek age at Amrit ; but Phoenician masonry proper is not drafted, and often not squared. The drafted Tower of the Algerines at Tyre is Crusading. Dr. Thomson mistook the Crusading work at Athlit for ' pure Phoenician.' At Pasargadae we have drafted masonry perhaps as old as 560 B.C. The walls of the Acropolis at Athens are not older than 430 B.C. at most. Fergusson compares these with Jewish drafted masonry.
CHAPTER VI.
THE HERODIAN AGE.
Our inquiry now leads us to consider the buildings and other antiquities of the age of Herod the Great and his successors of the Idumean dynasty who ruled Palestine under the Roman Emperors before the fall of the city, and of the times of the procurators who governed Syria from 6 A.D. to 66 A.D., with exception of the years 41 to 44 A.D., when Agrippa I. was king of Palestine.
The Idumean dynasty may be considered as repre- senting the first advance of the Arabs on Syria. They were no doubt akin to the Nabatheans of Petra, who, though their civilization was Aramaic, were connected by race and religion with the Arabs of Hejaz. The severance between the Jewish religious sects and the rulers of Palestine was therefore complete, and although Herod sought popularity by building a temple for the Jews, he also erected pagan temples in honour of Augustus and of the Phoenician god, Baal Samin. It follows that foreign influence naturally became much stronger in Palestine during the period under con- sideration than it had been even under Alexander
198 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Jannseus, and the final revolt was perhaps in conse- quence more violent and desperate than that of the earlier Hasmoneans against the civilization of Greece.* The social condition of the inhabitants of Palestine at this time is usually illustrated by the aid of the writings of Josephus, the Gospels, and the Mishnaic tracts. With regard to the latter, there seems good reason to suppose that they do represent the customs of the age and the ritual of the Temple and laws of the Sanhedrin before the destruction of Jerusalem. Still they were not, so far as we know, reduced to writing before the second century a.d. ; and as in former chapters our conclusions have been based on contemporary records and remains, so in the present one we must restrict ourselves to a consideration of monumental evidence, or to the works of such a contemporary writer as Josephus.
0 The chronology of the present chapter is as below :
Pompey takes Jerusalem - Herod made king by the senate - Herod takes Jerusalem - - Herod's Temple finished - Death of Herod the Great - Archelaus deposed. Coponius procurator - Marcus Ambivius procurator - Annius Rufus procurator - Death of Augustus Valerius. Gratus procurator Pontus Pilate procurator - Pilate recalled. Marcellus procurator Herod Agrippa I. receives the tetrarchy Philip Marcellus procurator ----- Herod Agrippa succeeds Antipas in Galilee and Perea 39
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THE HERODIAN AGE. 199
In the Herodian age the great sects, which we find to have been gradually separating under the native rulers of the Hasmonean house, attained to the fullest stage of their development. The upper orders were either Sadducees, Pharisees, or (among political circles) Herodians. The Essenes formed a distinct class in the community, and the peasantry retained no doubt the beliefs and customs which have already been de- scribed, and which we shall find later to have been still common in the fourth and fifth centuries of our era.
The Sadducees, as described by Josephus, seem to have retained the oldest of Semitic ideas.* They were
Herod Agrippa king of Judea and of the whole
kingdom of Herod the Great - - - - 41 A.D. Death of Agrippa I. Cuspius Fadus procurator - 44 „ Tiberius Alexander procurator - - - - 47 „ Ventidius Cumanus procurator. Agrippa II. suc- ceeds Herod, king of Chalcis. Claudius Felix procurator. Agrippa II. receives Bashan and
Abilene - - 49 „
Death of Emperor Claudius - - - - 54 „ Porcius Festus procurator - - - - - 56 „
Albinus procurator - 62 „
Gessius Florus procurator - - - - - 64 „
Revolt of the Jews - 66 „
Jerusalem destroyed by Titus - - - - 70 „ 0 In forming an estimate of the value to be attached to the evidence of Josephus, we must remember several things. First, that we must distinguish between such things as he relates of personal knowledge, and such as he merely transcribes from earlier authors. Secondly, that he wrote in Italy and not in Palestine, and probably without notes. Thirdly, that he writes with strong prejudice as a Pharisee. Fourthly, that the text of his works has
200 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
distinguished chiefly by their denial of the resurrection and of the immortality of the soul, as well as by their rejection of the prescriptions and precautionary rules of the Pharisees. There can be no real doubt when we consider carefully such evidence as exists in the Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, that the Semitic race in Chaldea, in Phoenicia, and among a majority of the mingled inhabitants of Palestine, never believed in the return of the soul to a terrestrial life. The Sheol of the Semitic races was the Hades of the Greeks, a state of life after death which was conceived as immu- table. The under-world was peopled by souls living in ghostly bodies, the wicked in torment, the just in the peaceful rest of Elysian fields. The tomb was the ' eternal house ' or ' long home,' the * land without return,' and the ■ city of the dead.' In such a book as
suffered greatly from copyists' errors and from wilful corruption. Some of his descriptions (for instance at Caesarea and at Gotapata) are certainly very exaggerated, others (as for instance at Masada) are wonderfully truthful. He possessed a wide knowledge of Pales- tine, and especially of Galilee. As regards the Old Testament he adds very little to our knowledge, and his work is chiefly interest- ing as showing the tone of Jewish thought on the subject about the time of Christ. The chronology of Josephus in all the principal passages has been tampered with or suffered in copying {e.g., 15 'Ant.,' xi. 1, and 1 'Wars,' xxi. 1) ; the comparison of Greek and Jewish weights in eight passages also shows corruption or careless- ness, no two calculations agreeing. The estimate of the colonnade at Samaria (15 'Ant.,' viii. 5) is more than double the real length, and the same is true as to the walls of Jerusalem. The itinerary distances also present contradictions. In such cases, however, we must suppose that he wrote from memory, and his general honesty of purpose must be conceded, as well as his generally full informa- tion as to the country and the events of his own age.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 201
Ecclesiastes we find a picture of these beliefs ; but the majority of the later Jewish writings, such as Eccle- siasticus, Wisdom, Enoch, the Psalms of Solomon, etc., are either of Pharisaic or else of Judeo-Egyptian origin, and do not present to us the ideas of the Sadducees.
The Pharisees* also were not believers in a general resurrection or in the immortality of all souls. We find from a study of the Talmudt that they expected only the righteous to be destined for a future life on earth in the days of Messiah, and regarded the souls of the wicked and of all foreigners as indistinguishable from those of the ■ beasts which perish.' In this respect they agreed exactly with the Persian worshippers of Ormuzd, among whom it was supposed that there was a certain ' brightness ' or spark of holy fire, which was in the future to make immortal the souls of the just. In enumerating the various kinds of sacred fire the VendidadJ mentions that found in the human frame. Apparently, therefore, the electric spark had already been observed in these early days in the hair, thus giving rise to a belief in the essential fire which has
s The phylacteries (Thephillin) worn by the Pharisees are only armlets such as are common among all nations, and still worn by Arabs, Italians, Irish peasants, etc. The Jews connect them with the Tetaphoth (Exodus xiii. 9-16). The Arba Canphoth ('four corners ') worn under the ordinary dress of the Jew recalls the Sadarah or sacred shirt of the Parsees.
t Mishnah, ' Sanhed./ x. 1 ; Tal. Bab., ' Aboda Zara,' 24a ; 1 Yebamoth,' 24^ : ' All Israel have a portion in the world to come.* Then follow the exceptions.
X Farg., viii. This same idea is found among Moslems, who speak of the Nur-en-Neby, or ' light of the prophet,' his essential fire, which was the first thing created.
202 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
lately been discovered by Renouf to have existed in Egypt as well as in Persia. The fate of the wicked after the judgment-day, according to the Persians, appears to have been to be blown away into darkness, while the righteous, passing safely over the ' bridge of the gatherer,' entered heaven, and afterwards returned to life with Sosiosh, the future prophet, to enjoy a terrestrial existence untroubled by the evil of the present world. Similar beliefs we also find to have been usual, not only among the Pharisees, but also — perhaps later — among certain sects of the Samaritans, while other Samaritan sects agreed with the Sadducees in discarding all such doctrine as to the future.*
The beliefs of the Essenes and their monastic life are similar to the beliefs and practices of the early Gnostic sects of Syria. They performed no sacrifices, and paid no attention to Pharisaic rites or books, having instead a literature of their own, and using apparently ' lustrations ' or baptisms instead of sacrifice. Their contempt of the world, their peaceful contented life and charity, seem to have secured them a general reverence. The hermit Banu or Bunai,f of whom Josephus was for a time a follower, appears to have belonged to this sect. Their connection with the Therapeutae of Egypt is usually recognised, and Pliny
• These sects of Samaritans were called Kusaniyah and Lifaniyah (see Nutt's 'Samaritans,' p. 80). They are mentioned by Masudi, circa 950 A.D., and by Sharastani two centuries later.
f Banu, Josephus, ' Vita,' 2 ; Bunai, Tal. Bab., ' Taanith,' 200 ; ' Gittin./ 56^ ; ' Ketuboth,' 66£ ; ' Sanhed.,' 43a. This hermit wore vegetable clothing and ate wild vegetables and fruits ; he lived in the desert, and bathed frequently in cold water day and night.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 203
speaks of their colony near the Dead Sea.* Josephus estimates their number at about four thousand. Their belief in charms, their prayers to the rising sun, and their reverence for light, show, however, that they were not far removed above the level of their fellows. We can hardly doubt that in the beliefs of this sect we trace more or less remotely the influence of Buddhism, which was at this time so strongly pressing on the West, and which we find to have been familiar as an Indian religion to the fathers of the Church, from Irenasus and Clement of Alexandria to Jerome.t It is difficult to believe that such monasticism was of purely Egyptian or Syrian origin. It certainly contravenes the most important principles of Judaism ; and in Egypt the wives of priests were priestesses in the great ages of the empire.
The common language of Palestine during the
6 Pliny, ' Hist. Nat.,' v. 17. Philo. 'Quod omnis probus liber.' ' De Vita Contemplativa ;' Josephus, ' Ant.,' xiii. 5, 9, andxviii. 1, 5 ; 'Wars,' ii. 8, 2-14. The genuineness of the essay ' De Vita Contempl.' has been lately attacked, but this is of small import- ance to our inquiry. {Cf. Kuenen, ' Hibbert Lect.,' p. 202.)
f Gaotema is noticed in the Zendavesta ('Fravardin Yasht,' 16), and Darmesteter remarks that Buddhism had obtained a footing in the western parts of Iran as early as the second century B.C. Irenseus speaks of the relics worshipped in Buddhist topes (' Anti- nicene Library,' vol. i., pp. 59, 60). In Jerome's works (' Contra Jovianum Epist.') we find an early account of the virgin birth of Buddha. Clemens of Alexandria speaks of Shamans in Bactria (' Strom.,' i. 15). In the ' Clementine Recognitions ' (I. xxxiii.) the Buddhist influence in Persia seems also to be noticed about 211 A.D. There were Indians in Alexandria at this time, as will be shown later (Chapter VII.). Kuenen disregards this view, but without giving very strong reasons, and indeed he appears to halt between two opinions.
204 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Herodian age was Aramaic* — the speech of Assyria — which had come westwards with the colonists planted by Sargon and other kings in Syria. Hebrew was already a dead language, standing to the living tongue in the relation of Latin to Italian. That Greek was also much in use we gather from the erection of notices in Greek in the Temple of Jerusalem, intended appa- rently for the warning of foreigners visiting the Temple courts. The coins of Herod also had Greek inscrip- tions ; and the books of Josephus, with many other works penned by Jews, both in Alexandria and also in Palestine, were written in Greek.
The trade of Syria at this time does not appear to have been as prosperous as it was in the Persian or in the later Antonine ages. Palmyra was only just rising to importance ; Tyre was sinking in decay. The great centres of Roman trade were at Alexandria and at Antioch ; the monsoon was discovered by Hippalus, and direct voyages from the Red Sea to India were first undertaken in the reign of Augustus. The Parthians were disturbing the communication with Bactria by their resistance to Roman rule, and the Arsacidae had overthrown the religion of Ormuzd. Antigonus, in 40 to 37 B.C., was only a satrap of the Parthian Pacorus, the power of the new Turanian in-
0 An exhaustive paper on the subject has lately been written by Dr. Neubauer {Cambridge Philological Journal, Nos. 26, 27) ; but it is curious that doubts on the subject should have existed in the face of the information we possess from monuments, etc. (see Gender's ' Handbook to the Bible,' pp. 185, 313, third edition). Palestine was, however, full of Greeks in this age, especially in the district of Decapolis.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 205
vaders having been enormously increased in 56 B.C. by the defeat of the Roman Crassus. Augustus, however, was at peace with Parthia, and an embassy from India came overland to Antioch about 24 a.d. The Red Sea was full of Arab trading ships ; but the route led, not through Palestine, but by Coptos, near Thebes, and so across to Berenice ; while the trade from the Akabah Gulf passed through Petra and Gaza to Egypt — Petra being already inhabited by Roman families as early as 23 a.d. Silk, of which we have already spoken, was still a luxury only attainable by trade with China. Pliny, about 30 A.D., is acquainted with gauze coming from Cos, but supposes it to be a vegetable product ; and the earliest description of its animal origin is found in Pausanias ('Graec. Descript.,' vi. 26), about 170 a.d.* The purple of Tyre and the balm of Jericho, where Cleopatra rented the gardens, were the chief products of Syrian trade with the West. The shipping trade of the Mediterranean was, however, gradually passing out of the hands of the Syrian races, and the Arabs, Indians, Romans, and Chinese were succeeding to the old monopolies of Phoenicians and Egyptians.
Our attention in the present chapter is chiefly to be devoted to the art and architecture of the period, as shown by existing buildings and coins ;t and these re-
* The silk of Cos was not that of the true silkworm, which was confined to China until the sixth century a.d. (see Gibbon, ch. xl.). See back, p. 180 ; and again in Chapter VIII.
-j- The following are the coins of the period (from Madden) :
Herod I. (the Great) - .... 37-4 b.c.
Herod Archelaus - - ... 4 b.c-6 A.D.
206
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
mains, unfortunately, are somewhat meagre. Herod the Great built new temples and other edifices at Jeru- salem, Caesarea, Samaria, Paneas, Masada, Ascalon, Hebron, Herodium, Antipatris, Phasaelis, and Siah in the Hauran. Archelaus built at Naarath and at Archelais in the Jordan Valley ; Philip the Tetrarch rebuilt Beth- saida, and Antipas built Tiberias. The remains of some of these buildings may be considered in succession.
The voluminous notes which have been published in periodicals have given a false idea of the present state of our knowledge concerning Jerusalem.* So far from
Herod Antipas -
Herod Philip II.
/without emperor's name \
I with title Megas Herod Agrippa lA under Caius
under Claudius
Vwith Agrippa II.
/without emperor's name ^ with name of Nero Agrippa II. - -< with name of Vespasian with name of Titus
Vwith name of Domitian Coponius, first procurator - Marcus Ambivius • - - Annius Rufus ----..- Valerius Gratus - Pontius Pilate
Claudius Felix
- 4 B.C. -40 A.D.
- 4 B.C.-34 A.D.
37-44 A.D.
- 48-IOO A.D.
6-9 A.D. IO-I2 A.D.
13-14 „
15-25 26-35
( under Claudius ) fi
( under Nero )
All these coins are of copper, with Greek inscriptions.
0 Of the points in Jerusalem topography which (as far as I know) I was the first to advocate in print, the following propositions have not met with any serious criticism since they were advanced in
THE HERODIAN AGE. 207
it being the case that all Jerusalem questions are matters of controversy, it may fairly be said that all
1877, and have been adopted by almost every recent writer since that time :
1. The identity of Calvary with the rock north of the city now
called el Heidemiyeh.
2. The site of the Holy House on the Sakhrah rock.
3. The site of the Upper Gihon at the Virgin's Fountain.
The following points fixed by M. Clermont Ganneau have been pretty generally accepted, and appear to me to be beyond dispute :
1. The identification of Zoheleth with the cliff below Silwan.
2. The consequent fixing of En Rogel at the Virgin's Pool.
The chief results of Sir C. Warren's excavations seem to be :
1. The definition of the extent of the outer wall of Herod's
Temple.
2. The discovery of the Ophel wall and of the Ophel tower.
3. The determination of the rock-levels of Jerusalem, continued
later by Herr Schick and by myself.
The site of the tomb of David is still disputed, and the old quarrel as to Akra has been revived ; while a new and very un- satisfactory theory has been propounded as to prae-exilic Jerusalem ; its advocates, however, always basing their arguments on the Jeru- salem of Nehemiah, after the exile.
The latest writer on the subject is the Rev. A. Henderson in Clark's series of Handbooks. He has visited the city, and writes with care and moderation. He says :
'The generally accepted identifications have been followed. There are points on which certainty can probably never be attained, but on the whole there seems no clear evidence warranting the adoption of any others of the many proposals. ... A glance at the plan of the ground will show the impossibility of supposing a wall on Akra so built as to exclude the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.'
This author accepts the identifications above noticed. Other points settled by Robinson in 1849 which still satisfy modern students are :
2o8 SYRIAN STONE LORE.
writers are in agreement as to the main features of the Jerusalem of the time of Herod the Great. The exact position of the Holy House in the Temple area may not be fixed to the satisfaction of every theorist, and the exact line of the second wall may still be doubted ; but these are now recognised as matters chiefly of antiquarian interest, and all the main questions are fairly well settled. It is, of course, only in cases where the facts are not known that controversy is possible ; and the incidental notices of ancient writers are apt to mislead when the monuments which they describe have perished. No one will, however, doubt that at the time of the final siege Jerusalem was a fortified town containing about three hundred acres, of which the normal population must consequently have been some 30,000 souls.
1. The site of the royal towers at the present citadel.
2. That of Antonia at the modern barracks.
3. The Tyropceon bridge which Robinson discovered.
4. The site of Bethesda at the Virgin's Pool.
5. The site of the Pool Amygdalon at the Hammam el Batrak.
6. The identity of Constantine's basilica with the Holy Sepulchre
Church, at the present site.
7. The site of the two Huldah Gates of the Temple.
8. The site of the tomb of Helena of Adiabene.
To De Vogue' we owe the best accounts of mediaeval and Byzan- tine Jerusalem. The sites of the Upper City, of Siloam, Kedron, Olivet, and Bezetha, have never been seriously questioned, and the course of the Tyropceon Valley has now been ascertained.
Among minor suggestions which I have hazarded, and which have never been challenged, is the identity of the tomb of Ananus with the so-called ' Retreat of the Apostles.'
In face of so many settled points it is misleading to deny that the study of Jerusalem antiquities has been immensely advanced by the exploration of the last twenty years.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 209
It is not intended here to repeat what has been fully stated in previous works (see * Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine,' Jerusalem volume ; and Conder's 1 Handbook to the Bible ') ; but a few remarks may be given on the architectural style of Herod's Temple.
Of this we judge partly by the existing remains of its rampart walls and gateways, partly by comparison with the temple of Siah erected by Herod and Agrippa in the Hauran about the Christian era.
The drafted masonry of the walls of the Herodian Temple is of one general character throughout, with differences of finish, according as the stones were or were not intended to be visible. The stones, though often longer, are only about half the height of those used by Hyrcanus in 176 B.C., as described in the last chapter. Many of the dimensions are found to be multiples of a cubit of 16 inches, which, as may be shown independently, was the approximate length of the Jewish unit. The walls above the level of the inner court were adorned, like the walls of the Hebron Haram, with pilasters and recesses. Their existence was suspected by De Vogue, and proved by my dis- covery of two such piers still existing in the north-west corner of the Haram. The foundation-stones were found by Sir C. Warren to have rudely painted Phoe- nician masons' marks, like those of the masonry at Eryx ; but our knowledge of the continued use of the old alphabet of Israel down to the time of Antigonus (37 B.C.), as found on his coins, shows that the existence of Phoenician masons' marks does not of necessity oblige us to attribute this masonry to either Solomon
210 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
or Zerubbabel. There can practically be no doubt that De Vogue was right when he attributed the large drafted masonry of the Haram to Herod the Great ; and none of the modifications of finish observed during Sir C. Warren's excavations are sufficiently important to make it necessary to suppose the work to belong to more than one historical epoch.
The great pillar and the domes with pendentives found in the western of the two passages which lead northwards from the Haram south rampart, are attri- buted by both Fergusson and De Vogue to Herod. The pillar is about 6 feet in diameter, thus vindicating Josephus's description of the girth of the columns of Herod's Temple (15 'Ant.,' xi. 5). Indeed, all the results of exploration tend to show the general correct- ness of the account of the Temple given by Josephus from memory, writing in Rome, and probably without any notes of measurement. The capital of this mono- lith is bell-shaped, and of somewhat Egyptian outline, with serrated leaves in low relief, having lotus-leaves above, immediately below the plinth. The ornamenta- tion of the dome, also in low relief, reminds us of the style of the tombs about to be noticed. Eight squares placed diagonally are adorned with geometrical designs, and between these runs an irregular trellis of vine- leaves and bunches, with sixteen rosettes and an outer border of corn-ears. The pendentives have a scallop- shell pattern. This dome was first figured by De Vogue. Mr. Fergusson says : ' The ornamentation is of a class that does not belong to domed or curved surfaces at all. What is Roman is wholly misplaced,
THE HERODIAN AGE. 211
but the vines and the foliage, which are Jewish, run through the whole, and bind together a design which without them would be ridiculous. It is not, however, Jewish ; it is so nearly Roman that we cannot but feel that it is introduced here before its time.' The style is, therefore, just what we should expect to have been that of Herod's Temple as a whole — namely, an Oriental attempt at the imitation of classic architec- ture, such as is noticeable also at Petra, and in the interior even of Arabia.
The temple at Siah is of the greatest importance to a study of the Jerusalem sanctuary. This building is distant about a mile or more from Kanawat, and pre- serves in its inscriptions the name of Herod and of Herod Agrippa. It was dedicated to Baal Samin (' the Lord of heaven'), and the altar is still in situ at the foot of the stairs as at Jerusalem. The lions' heads, gazelles, and horses shown in its sculpture indicate the pagan origin of this temple, but it must not be forgotten that Herod attempted to adorn his Jerusalem Temple with a golden eagle. The drawings of De Vogue give us a very clear idea of the Siah temple.
The naos itself was about 60 feet square, with a gateway in front, round the jambs and lintel of which the vine is carved in relief. Six pillars stood before the gate in a recessed porch, and steps led from the inner floor to the courtyard on the level of the base of the podium. In front was a courtyard paved, and having a single cloister round the three sides formed by a row of pillars and an outer wall, the latter con- tinued behind the nave to form a court without cloister
14 — 2
212 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
at the back. The pillars have bases ornamented with acanthus leaves, and in outline not unlike the capital in the Jerusalem Temple already noticed. The capital in one case approaches the Corinthian, with a small bust between the volutes. In another the capital is more like the Ionic, with a large bust above the plinth representing a Hercules or Dionysus. The eagle is sculptured on the under side of the epistylia once placed above the gate. The inscription once over the doorway is as below :
MAAEIXA902 MOAIEP.
The walls of the temple are only standing in situ to the height of two or three courses, but in plan and in architectural details the ruin illustrates in a remarkable manner the descriptions extant of the Jerusalem sanc- tuary.* The vine round the doorway of the latter seems, however, to have been of gold or gilded, and bunches given as offerings by individual priests are
* For a block-plan and restoration of the Temple of Herod see Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible,' pp. 359-386, third edition. Sir C. Warren's excavations have proved beyond question that the south-west and south-east corners of Herod's enclosure were the corresponding corners of the present Haram ; that the site of Antonia was at the present north-west angle of the Haram, and that the present north-east angle is not an angle of Herod's enclosure. It appears probable that the north-east angle of Herod's enclosure was near the Golden Gate, the line running west and coinciding with the present north wall of the platform of the Kubbet es Sakhrah. The present Birket Israel was not constructed probably until Roman times, or even later. The rock-levels seem to me to show very clearly that the Holy Rock must have stood under the Holy of Holies of the Temple.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 213
said to have been added from time to time. No other ornamentation is mentioned by Josephus, and that described in the Mishnah as consisting of five oak beams is not easily explained. Mr. Fergusson's sug- gestions on this point are hardly satisfactory, but the wood beams may have served for the attachment of the golden vine. A string course seems to have divided the height of the Jerusalem building into two orders, and the roof appears to have been flat, no pediment being mentioned. The interior containing the golden seven-branched lamp and table of shewbread, both re- presented on the arch of Titus, was quite dark, with a double veil over the door. There was no ark in Herod's Temple. The square court below that of the priests had a cloister like that of the Siah temple, with a gallery for the women above. The outer railing, called Soreg — a square of 500 cubits — seems, with its trellis-work about two feet high, to have resembled the barriers shown on coins of Byblos surrounding the court of a Phoenician temple. The stone steles with Greek inscriptions forbidding foreigners to enter — one of which has been discovered by M. Clermont Ganneau — were placed along this boundary railing. It is pos- sible that the foundations of part of the Court of the Women may yet some day be discovered beneath the modern platform of the Dome of the Rock. The passage to the northern gate, the Bath House, and the 1 Rock of Foundation,' which formed the floor of the Holy of Holies, have all been recognised in the present Haram. At Hebron we have a second building exactly repro-
214 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.-
ducing the main features of the Jerusalem Haram. The piers, made by recessing the wall from a bevilled podium at the level of the interior floor, here remain perfect, as well as the boldly corbelled inner cornice at the top of the wall. This profile should be compared with that of the cornices of the tombs in the Kedron Valley, which are attributed to the Herodian age. Though somewhat Egyptian in character, it was clearly used by the Jews about the Christian era.* It is re- markable that Josephus does not notice the Hebron Haram among the works of Herod the Great. Possibly it was erected by one of his successors in imitation of the Jerusalem Temple. There is little doubt that it already existed in 333 a.d., and the style is so exactly that of the Jerusalem Haram, including the sizes, finish, and drafting of the stones, that we cannot hesitate to attribute the building to the Herodian age. It is not mentioned in the Bible or in any early Jewish book.
At Caesarea Herod erected a temple in honour of Augustus. It seems probable that the foundations still remain near the Crusading Cathedral (see ' Memoirs,' vol. ii.), and excavations on this spot and at the theatre and hippodrome of Caesarea, both of which sites are known, would be of great interest and not difficult to accomplish. At present we know only of the niches in a wall, perhaps belonging to the temple, and of the magnificent remains of a red
0 A very similar cornice occurs in the mausoleum atThugga and in an ancient Maltese house, both attributed to the Phoenicians, but apparently not early examples of their art. — Perrot and Chipiez, ' Phoenicia,' i., p. 382.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 215
granite goal in the hippodrome.* The circuit of the Roman walls is marked by mounds, and the great aqueducts from the north have been traced and de- scribed. These must of necessity have been constructed almost as soon as the city became large, since there is no sufficient water-supply at Csesarea. The work has all the appearance of Roman work, the arches being half-circles with true voussoirs. It is of course difficult to say whether these remains should be attributed to Herod, or to the procurators of the first century, or e\en to the Romans of the Antonine age.
At Samaria we have the colonnades running round the hill, very probably Herodian. The pillars are of no great size, and the capitals are wanting. The central mound may mark the site of the naos, whence the place obtained its name, Sebaste or Augusta, from this Herodian temple in honour of Augustus. Ex- cavation at this site has as yet given no results, but is equally interesting with the exploration of Caesarea. On the north is the ruin of what may have been a hypsethral temple, as already noticed. The full de- scription of these remains will be found in the 'Memoirs' (vol. ii.).
At Paneas Herod also raised a temple to Augustus over the spring. No remains of this exist so far as has been discovered, unless the rock-cut niches in the cliff be held to have belonged to it. Such niches are common at the larger springs in Palestine, belonging
* It must not, however, be forgotten that the favourite public pastime of the Byzantine age was that of the hippodrome. The circus at Caesarea and that at Beisan may belong to the fourth or even to the fifth century.
216 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
apparently always to the Roman age. They no doubt held statues of the genii of the spring. Remains of columns occur in the village of Banias, and the Cru- saders who fortified the place may very probably, as at Ascalon, have destroyed the temple, and have used the pillars in their masonry. A Greek inscription* over one of the niches gives the title * Priest of Pan ; ' but as the temple of Siah was dedicated to a pagan deity we should have no difficulty in attributing another pagan dedication to Herod. The cavern was sacred to Pan ; the inscription, however, may perhaps be of later date than Herod's time. In another text at the same site the name of Agrippa occurs.
Ascalon, the famous city of the maritime Ashtoreth, Derceto, with its sacred fishpond similar to those still existing at Acre and Tripoli, was also rebuilt by Herod, who was there born. The pillars are now scattered in the walls built by the English Richard, and even the sites of the temple, the fish-pond, and the colonnades are doubtful. Sculptured fragments are often dug up in the gardens. One of these now in the Louvre re- presents three very ungraceful Graces, two seated, one in the centre standing, under conventional trees. They wear round tires like those of the Phoenician Ashtoreth, and a cestus or girdle of beads surrounds the waist of the central figure, which seems to be robed in a clinging garment, while the side figures are naked. This
* This has often been copied, but is much defaced. It is over the small southern niche. A second inscription high up on the south appears to bear the name of Agrippa as ' Archon of the year.' (See Robinson's ' Later Bib. Res.,' p. 407.)
THE HERODIAN AGE. 217
monument may be later than Herod's time, for Pagan- ism survived in Palestine to the fifth century a.d.
In 1815 Lady Hester Stanhope conducted excava- tions at Ascalon, and found a colossal statue of a Roman emperor, thought possibly to have been that of Augustus, erected by Herod. It was unfortunately broken up by the workmen in search of treasure supposed to be concealed within.
At Antipatris no Roman remains have yet been dis- covered, nor are the ruins of Phasaelis important. The ruined aqueducts of Naarath, or Neara, are probably the work of Archelaus, but present no architectural features. The site of Archelais, which he also built, has generally been placed at the insignificant ruins of Buseiliyeh ; but, as I have attempted to show, the true site is probably at Kerawa, a little lower down Wady Far 'ah (Sheet XII. of the Survey), near the large Tell of 'Abd el Kader. The name Kerawa may well be a corruption of the older Archelais. This site is remark- able for the only tomb in Syria as yet known to bear an inscription in letters resembling those of the old alphabet of Israel. The survival of that alphabet among the Samaritans at Shechem, not far away, may account for this peculiarity.
The ruins of Herodium (Jebel Fureidis), vulgarly known as the Frank Mountain, may also be supposed to be the work of Herod the Great. A circular fortress crowned the hill, the sides of which are artificially scarped. The masonry, though well cut, is of no great size, and has no drafted edges. The building is re- markable for a small chamber with a very flat dome,
218 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
much like that in the Temple gateway, which we have already attributed to the same builder. The lower palace or storehouse, the fountain fed by an aqueduct from Urtas, and other remains, are described in the ' Memoirs ' (vol. iii.), but present no very interesting architectural features.
The buildings at Masada appear to belong to two or more periods. A chapel, a hermit's cave with Greek Christian inscription, and other remains, are probably Byzantine. Parts of the surrounding wall, the ruined heaps of a large building, and the great tank are pro- bably Herodian. The roughness of the masonry con- trasts in a remarkable manner with the finished work of Herod's other buildings, but it is possible that a fortress intended only as a last resort did not, in Herod's estimation, deserve the same attention which he devoted to his temples and to his own mausoleum.
The site of Bethsaida Julias* has not as yet been fixed with certainty. It was east of Jordan, near its debouchure into the Sea of Galilee ; but the question which consequently remains to be answered is, What was the position of this debouchure in the time of Herod the Great ? It is tolerably certain that the soil brought down by the river must have added made- lands to the northern shores of the lake, which 1900 years ago were but swamps or subaqueous mud-banks. A ruin recently described by Mr. L. Oliphant may per-
* Some writers suppose that there were two Bethsaidas. I have endeavoured to show in my * Handbook to the Bible ' that this somewhat improbable hypothesis of the careful and venerable Reland is unnecessary.
THE HERODIAN AGE. 219
haps prove to mark the site of Bethsaida Julias. This site, called Ed Dekkeh* (' the terrace '), is only a mile from Et Tell, the place where Robinson places Julias. The ruins include a small temple, or synagogue, or other building, measuring 45 feet by 33 feet ; and there are many fragments of architectural ornamentation which recall the mixed Judseo-classic style of Herod's Temple at Jerusalem, and of the Judsean synagogues of the second century a.d. Pediments with vine- bunches, a cornice with the wheat-ear or laurel-leaf pattern, also appearing in the dome of the Double Gate- way at Jerusalem, may be noted among these. The remains may perhaps be as late as about 150 a.d., but might, without great improbability, be assigned to Herod Philip II. (4 B.C. -40 a.d.). They are evidently pagan works, and on one slab a sort of harpy is repre- sented with woman's body, and bird's tail and wings. We have already seen how old this monstrous figure is, both in Egypt and in Phoenicia, as an emblem of the soul. Greek art no doubt already influenced Galilee in the time of Herod, for the cities of Decapolis seem to have been inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek inscription of the temple of Siah is of this age.
To the Herodian age also belong the tombs in the Kedron Valley with sculptured friezes, and pillars of rock, and the tomb of Helena of Adiabene, north of the city. The tomb of the Beni Hezir, with its Aramaic text, Doric pillars and triglyphs, and inner chamber with kokim, is perhaps the earliest of the group, belonging to the first century B.C. The so-called tombs of Absalom
* < P. E. F. Quarterly Statement,' April, 1885, pp. 84, 85.
220 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and Zechariah, and the so-called ' Egyptian tomb '* south of the last, are perhaps later. The cupola of the 'Tomb of Absalom' resembles the cupolas of Petra (as in the Khazneh, or treasury), dating not earlier than ioo a.d. There is, however, a marked advance in the Petra architecture ; and the fine monuments at Jeru- salem were probably executed before the destruction of the city by Titus. The Beni-Hezir tomb recalls some of the later Lycian sepulchres (about ioo B.C.). The tomb of the royal family of Adiabene contains chambers both with kokim in the old Jewish style, and with arcosolta in the Roman fashion. Helena came to Jeru- salem about 48 a.d., after the death of her husband, Mumbaz ; and to this date approximately the sepulchre may be referred. It is mentioned by Pausanias (170 a.d.). The rock-cut frieze shows a strange mix- ture of classic and native style in its triglyphs, wreaths, and vine-bunches. The rolling stone before the door, noticed by Pausanias, is still in place. The three pyramids which once surmounted the facade have fallen, but fragments of them are said to have been found in excavation. The sarcophagus of Queen Sara,
* The so-called ' Egyptian tomb ' has a bold curved cornice, whence the idea of its Egyptian origin arose. This cornice, how- ever, occurs also on the so-called tombs of Absalom and Zechariah (monoliths cut from the rock), which are certainly not Egyptian but Graeco-Roman in style. M. Clermont Ganneau thought he could distinguish a portion of an ancient Hebrew text on the so-called Egyptian tomb, the rest destroyed by raising the door. Careful examination seemed to me to show that the door never has been so altered, and that the supposed letters are not letters at all. These marks are figured in the Jerusalem volume of the ' Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine/
THE HERODIAN AGE. 221
noticed in the preceding chapter, with its Aramaic in- scription, was found in the lowest chamber by De Saulcy, as were several coins and other fragments, all belonging to the period before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. The 'Tombs of the Judges,' as they are called, or ■ of the Sanhedrin,' according to the Jews, may be of about the same age with the last ; and to the same period we may ascribe the so-called ' Tomb of Joshua' at Tibneh, with others near it : the group at Khurbet el Jof, south-west of Hebron ; the tombs of 'Abud, where a painted interior occurs, with hokim, and with a door sculptured with vine-bunches ; together with other sepulchres throughout Palestine (as, for in- stance, at Deir ed Derb), having porticos rock-cut and supported by rocky monoliths, the interior chamber containing hokim.
Turning from architecture to the art of the Herodian coinage,* we find on Herod the Great's copper coins at first a reproduction of some of the Hasmonean types. In no known instance are human or animal forms represented ; but the erection of the Siah temple shows that the objection to such figures cannot have originated with Herodian princes : it was more pro- bably due to Jewish dislike of such infringement of their law. Among the coins of Herod the Greatf we
* See Madden's ' Coins of the Jews,' pp. 165-167.
t All the Herodian coins are of copper. The coinage of gold appears to have been forbidden in countries subject to Rome, and only certain autonomous cities were permitted to coin silver, such as Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea of Cappadocia, and Tarsus ; the kings of Mauretania also received such permission. Pompey forbad the Phoenicians to coin silver in their mints.—' Coins of the Jews/ p. 107.
222 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
find some with the double cornucopia and the anchor (possibly a trident), as on coins of Alexandra and of Antigonus. The pomegranate found on the Jewish silver shekel also occurs, and the caduceus, which we have already met in Phoenicia and at Carthage.
Another figure seems to be the prototype of the famous labanim, the emblem (P) of Constantine. The Tau, which, according to Ezekiel, was to be marked on the forehead of the Jew (Ezek. ix. 4), is also represented, with a tripod and palm-leaves on the reverse.
One design represents the eagle, but this has been thought to be a coin of Herod of Chalcis. Herod, be it remembered, placed a golden eagle over the Jeru- salem Temple ; but on the whole the evidence of the rest of his coinage favours the other attribution.
The coins of Archelaus are chiefly remarkable for the representation of triremes. The emblem of the grape- bunch, so frequently found in Jewish art of this age, occurs on them. On the coins of Antipas we find the name of his new city, Tiberias.
Herod Philip II. is the earliest of the dynasty to place the effigies of a Roman emperor on his money. Heads of Augustus appear on these coins, with the reverse a tetrastyle temple with pediment, having the date between the pillars. This must have been a temple in Bashan, since Philip's tetrarchy was in that district.
The coins of Agrippa are very distinct, having the state umbrella on the obverse, and three ears of wheat on the reverse. They are common in Palestine, and I have found specimens in Galilee. His coins under
THE HERODIAN AGE. 223
Caius are very Roman-looking, with the emperor's head and a quadriga, or four-horsed chariot. Under Claudius we find two joined hands and a king adoring Victory.*
One of the coins attributed to Agrippa II. appears clearly to have been struck at the city of Neronias, mentioned by Josephus as being the later name given by Agrippa II. to Banias.f It bears the usual tower- crowned head found on coins of cities, with a reverse of the double cornucopia and caduceus, thus reverting to Hasmonean types.
Coins of Agrippa II. under Vespasian are yet more purely Roman, though with Greek lettering. On the reverse a goddess, bearing the cornucopia and holding the ears of corn in her right hand, is represented with the Modius on her head, like the late Egyptian Serapis, an emblem apparently connected with the old idea of another goddess springing from the head — for the Modius often becomes a bust. Under Titus, Agrippa's coins present the Roman figure of Victory as the reverse to the emperor's head ; but under Domitian the double cornucopia and the caduceus reappear, showing the vitality of the old types used by the Seleucidae.
The coins of the procurators revert to the older Jewish types, but some new emblems appear. The
* Why Mr. Madden refers this to the Temple of Marnas it is difficult to understand, since there were many other pagan temples at Ascalon, Caesarea, Paneas, Samaria, etc., in Agrippa's dominions.
f Reland suggests a connection with Nereus and Nahar, but more probably it was named from Nero.
224 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
emperor's head is never shown ; the palm-tree and palm-branch constantly occur, the latter with its two bunches of dates approaching to the old Phoenician and Assyrian representations of the tree of life. The lituus or shepherd's crook is also represented, recalling the crook of Osiris in Egypt. The sudden political change following the fall of Jerusalem is clearly marked by the coinage of Vespasian with Latin legends and pagan figures, which represent Judea Capta mourning under the palm. These coins are in some cases of gold or silver, struck at Rome ; others are of copper struck by Titus in Palestine, with Greek legends. They show the importance attached to the conquest of Jerusalem, and the entire break up of the old policy of conciliation adopted in the Herodian times before the fanatical Siccarii had ruined their country.
Of the coins attributed by De Saulcy and by Madden to the various revolts, it is needless to speak : the theory is doubtful, for the forgery of such coins as that bearing the name Simon with the palm-tree, and the reverse a vine-leaf with text, ' Second year of the freedom of Israel,' still continues in Palestine.*
* Dr. Isaac Taylor remarks : l But these very coins, some of which were struck over Roman denarii, supply internal evidence that they were fabricated by moneyers who were only imperfectly acquainted with the alphabet which they employed. Letters are malformed or are actually turned the wrong way, and single letters are occasionally replaced by their Aramean equivalents' ('Hist. Alph.,' i., p. 242). Such remarks would apply quite as well to forgeries as to genuine coins, and indeed perhaps better. The pieces on which these probable forgeries are struck are much-worn copper' coins of Vespasian, Titus, and Trajan. The coinage of
THE HERODIAN AGE. 225
Canon Tristram found a silver coin with two trumpets and the legend ' Year two of Israel,' having a wreath on the reverse, and the legend ' Shemo,' akin to those of copper supposed to have been struck by Barco- chebas. These coins, when genuine, would seem more probably to belong to the age of Simon the Hasmonean. As a class they are chiefly interesting for the repre- sentation of a tetrastyle temple with flat roof, which might be intended for that built by Zerubbabel, if the coins are really Hasmonean.
We must here close our notice of the Herodian period, of which further remains may still await the explorer under the mounds of Cassarea, or perhaps at Samaria or Herodium. We have seen enough to show clearly the relations existing between the Jews and the heathen under the Idumean kings, and under the pro- curators ; the gradual encroachment of Roman power and civilization ; and the tolerant policy of the great emperors from Augustus to the latter half of Nero's reign.
Barcochebas is mentioned indeed in the Talmud of Jerusalem (300 a.d.), but not described. It is not known that Barcochebas's name was Simon. It is quite believable that a forger may have used a defaced Roman coin, hoping to obliterate the traces of its design with his new stamp, and to obtain an appearance of antiquity which newly-stamped metal would not present.
15
CHAPTER VII.
THE ROMAN AGE.
The second and third centuries of the Christian era were busy ages in Italy, in Egypt, and in Asia. The wealth and power of the Arab race in Syria rose steadily and quickly, on the foundation of extensive commerce reaching to India by sea and to Bactria by land. The civilization of the country gained a higher level than it had attained previously, and the Byzantine age which followed — intervening between the Roman period and the glories of the Ommeiyad and Abbasiyeh Khalifs — was one of comparative retrogression as con- trasted with the Antonine period about to be noticed, although Syria never really relapsed into barbarism until the conquest by the Turks, which has resulted in our own time in the complete ruin of the country.
Before considering the condition of Jews, Christians, and Pagans in Syria between 70 a.d. and 326 A.D., we may glance for a moment at Alexandria and Rome, which, with Antioch, formed the civilized centres of the Imperial dominions ; for it was by Rome and by Alexandria that the thought, the art, and the architec- ture of Syria were at this time chiefly influenced.
THE ROMAN AGE. 227
Science was in its infancy in the second century, and the writings of Pliny or of Irenaeus alike abound with extraordinary instances of scientific ignorance.* It was a credulous age, moreover, and even in Rome itself the beliefs of the upper classes, like those of modern Italians, were marked by the survival of very antiquated superstitions. Rome was full of strangers and of strange religions. The worship of Isis, which presents such strange similarities to that of the Madonna, at- tracted numerous devotees in Italy, and the remaining Mithraea of Europe show how far-spread was the cultus of Mithra imported from Persia by Pompey. Even early Christian art in the catacombs is remarkable for its connection with Paganism. At the beginning of the third century we find Orpheus and other pagan figures in Christian paintings, together with Moses and Noah. The presence of the Jews in Italy is attested by inscriptions, such as those of the Jewish catacombs at
* Pliny, for instance, believed that stags ate snakes ('Hist. Nat.,' viii. 32). Irenaeus states the following facts to be inexplicable by human intellect (II., xxviii. 2) : the rising of the Nile ; the migra- tion of birds ; the tides ; the formation of rain ; the cause of light- ning, thunder, clouds, vapours, winds, snow, hail, etc. ; the phases of the moon ; the nature of waters, metals, stones, etc. He believed in magic (xxxi. 3). In the ' Clementine Recognitions ' (about 211 A.D.), we are told that the crow conceives by its mouth ; the weasel brings forth by its ear ; that hares and hyenas change sex (an idea surviving very late in Europe as to hares) ; that moles are made of earth, vipers of ashes, bees of bull's flesh (compare Virgil), wasps from dead horses, beetles from dung (in a sense true), scorpions from the basil plant ; that parsley grows between deer's horns, and asparagus between those of she-goats (V., chap. xxv.). Aristotle also speaks of ivy growing on deer's horns — perhaps some false idea as to the velvet of the horns.
15—2
228 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Rome and Naples, as well as by the notices in Roman literature.* The Syrian emperors brought with them to the capital of the world the Phoenician cultus of the conical stone, and the troops of Kodesheth or Temple women. Even from India deputations came, it is said, to greet Augustus and Claudius, and Roman communi- cations with India and China are traced back to this same period of wide and prosperous dominion.
In Egypt also foreign influence was powerful. The old religion was greatly modified by Greek philosophy, and in Alexandria the Temple of Serapis was raised in honour of a deity originally brought from Sinope in Pontus. This also was the age of the great Gnostic doctors, who flourished chiefly in Alexandria, and whose ideas were very antagonistic to those of the Judaizing Christian sects of Syria — the Ebionites and Nazarenes. Serapis is thought by King to be the Indian Yama, the
* In the Jewish catacomb of the Via Portuensis, bilingual Greek and Hebrew texts of the second and third centuries occur, with representations of the golden candlestick, very similar to those of the Jaffa cemetery of the same period. The texts found at Naples have apparently no Hebrew lettering. Others were discovered in 1853 at Venosa, twenty-four being Hebrew, with the seven- branched candlestick, and the dove with an olive-leaf. At Oria and at Lavello other Hebrew catacombs occur. Another large cemetery at Vigna Randanini, two miles from Rome, contains 200 inscriptions from the reign of Augustus down to that of Con- stantine (Madden's * Coins of the Jews,' pp. 36-38). The Karaites had also probably reached the Crimea by this time, and their tombstones, some 700 in number, though in some cases as late as the tenth century, in others are attributed to the first, though a correction of the era may probably be suggested, making their date somewhat later — 113, 137, 196 A.D. at earliest {cf. 'P. E. F., Quarterly Statement,' October, 1883, p. 171).
THE ROMAN AGE. 229
infernal form of Siva. The polos or bust on the head of Serapis certainly recalls Gunga, the goddess whose head is often shown on the forehead of Yama. Serapis and Yama were both attended by a dog, like Cerberus, that of Serapis having the head of a lion and that of a wolf added to its own.*
Nor is this the only connection between Egypt and India traceable in the second century. The Brahmins and the Shamans or Buddhist monks were known to Irenseus and to Clement of Alexandria as well as to Jerome, as we have already seen ; and in the ' Clemen- tine Recognitions '-(* the Persians are said to have adopted some of the Brahmin customs. The influence of India may also be suspected in such writings as the 1 Poemandres,' which from its literary style is recog- nised as an Alexandrian work of the second century, which borrows no doubt largely from Plato, but seems also to reflect the philosophy of the ' Mahabharata.'
Bardesanes, writing in the third century (218-222 a.d.), distinguishes the Brahmins and Buddhists, taking his information from an Indian whom he met at Babylon. Dion Chrysostom, about 100 a.d., speaks of, Indians as residents in Alexandria, with Greeks, Italians, Bactrians, Persians, and Scythians. J Clearly, therefore, the great commercial capital of Egypt was
"* Tatian speaks of Glaukippe and her elephant child as a Greek idol (' To the Greeks/ xxxiii.). This recalls Ganesa, the elephant child in the arms of Parvati, in India.
t I., xxxiii ; IX., xx. The Sarmanes of the classic writers appear to be the Sramana or ascetics ; and the Semnoi of Clement of Alexandria to be Buddhist Shamans.
% l Ad Alexandrinos Orat./ xxxii.
230 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the gathering-place where Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and perhaps worshippers of Siva and Vishnu came constantly in contact with Christians and Greeks and Romans, as well as with the older cultus of Isis and Osiris.
The trade of the Mediterranean with Africa, India, and China followed four great routes :*
i. From Alexandria by river to Coptos (Ghouft), near Thebes ; thence to Berenice (south of Kosseir), and directly by the Red Seat to Ceylon or to the Indus — the monsoon having been discovered, and the direct voyage being first undertaken in the reign of Augustus.
2. By Petra to Basrah, at the mouth of the Euphrates, skirting the Syrian desert on its southern border. Elath, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, was also the city whereby the coasting trade and the caravan route from Gerrha (near Bahrein) and from Yemen communicated with the Nabathean capital of Petra, whence Egypt was reached through Gaza.
3. From Tyre, by Damascus, to Palmyra; thence (two days' journey) to Vologesia, on the Euphrates ; thence to the mouth of the Persian Gulf by river, and by sea to India. This trade was interrupted by the condition of Persia in the latter half of the first century,
* An interesting paper by H. E. O'Neill (Scottish Geog. Soc, vol. ii., Feb., 1886) describes the trade of Aduli (Massowah) with East Africa, extending to the latitude of Madagascar. The author supposes that about the Christian era gold may have been brought from Manica, on the Lower Zambesi, by Arab traders.
f Pliny, ' Hist. Nat.,' vi. 26. Strabo speaks of Arabs and Egyptians meeting at Coptos (xviii. 1, 44).
THE ROMAN AGE. 231
but attained to the greatest development in the third century, when the merchants travelling by the routes through Petra and Coptos were less able to monopolize the Indian trade. Hadrian put an end to the Alex- andrian monopoly, and bestowed privileges on Palmyra. Alexandrian trade had almost ceased to exist in the time of Zenobia, and Palmyra already traded with India* even earlier than Hadrian's time.
* The principal classical works which speak of India in- clude :
Diodorus Siculus circa 8 A.D.
Stribo - - - - - - - „ 23 „
Pliry - - -• » 77 „
Perplus of the Erythrean Sea - -perhaps 81-96 „
Ptobmy 1 38-161 „
Arrim 150-160 „
Pauianias - - 166-180 „
Barcesanes circa 214 „
JEhai - ., 225 „
Dion "hrysostom and Plutarch (about too A.D.) also refer to India ; and the Indian embassies are described by Strabo, Suetoniu;, Dion Cassius, and Pliny; but with exception perhaps of Pliny, :he Roman historians seem to have had very little original informatDn as to the far East. Arrian drew from the earlier Greeks before aid during the time of Alexander ; from Megasthenes, Eratosthmes, and Nearchus. This may account for the many marvellois stories which have come down to us through Marco Polo and Sir J. Maundeville, but which originate in the works of the Rorran writers on India.
The intercourse of Rome with China is supposed to have com- menced n the time of the Antonines. Chinese annals appear to refer to a Western trade with Burmah, Tonquin, and Cochin China, and even pntend that the ' King of the Ta-Thsin ' sent an embassy to China ii 166 A.D. (See Priault, ' Indian Travels and Embassies to Rorre,' p. 130.) That the Nestorian missionaries penetrated to China >ve know from the discovery at Singanfu of a bilingual in
232 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
4. The route by Seleucia, Antioch, and Nisibis, on the Euphrates ; thence to Babylon, and through Persia to Bactria and India overland, and thence to China. This great caravan line, on the security of which the prosperity of the trade of Antioch rested, is fully de- scribed in the geography of Cosmas, in the time of Justinian (535 a.d.) ; and it seems, indeed, thai the Indian trade gradually tended to move by more northerly routes, Alexandria monopolizing this com- merce in the first century, Palmyra in the thira, and Antioch in the sixth.
The land route was probably always the quickest, but it was disturbed by the Parthian raids, and only re-established securely when the great Sassanian dynasty succeeded the Arsacidae in 226 a.d., and when Persia was at peace with Rome. Diocletian vas the last Roman emperor who celebrated a triumph after a Persian war, and Justinian was forced to make 1 some- what humiliating peace with Nushirwan. Tht latter was, however, a statesman whose strong rule mide the overland route to India safe for a time.
Turning from the general question of the state of Roman commerce in the second and third centuries, we must now inquire into the antiquities of Syria — Pagan, Christian, and Jewish — during this peri»d, and
— !
Chinese and Syriac, dating 782 a.d.; and Christianity, or 'the religion of Ta-Thsin,' reached China as early as 636 a.d. Cosmas, in the reign of Justinian (about 535 a.d.), speaks of China as the country of silk, and describes the adjacent countries.
The name Ta-Thsin appears to have been a vaguely usei word for the West, differently applied by various writers.
THE ROMAN AGE. . 233
into the relations of Romans, Nabatheans, Arameans, Arabs, and Jews then inhabiting the country under the imperial rule. The Jews seem to have formed a very turbulent element in the State ; and indeed, in spite of the character which they bear for patience and long- suffering, it is noticeable that Oriental Jews have always been addicted to rioting whenever they formed a majority of the population. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus did not break the Jewish spirit. Within the next forty years Jewish seditions had to be quelled in Cyprus, Cyrene, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Trajan was at this time engaged in a Parthian war. In Cyprus the Jews are said to have massacred 240,000 Greeks, and obtained the mastery of the island, from which they were, however, soon expelled. In Cyrene (Tripoli) the Jews massacred 220,000 natives. The insurrection in Mesopotamia was only put down in 117 a.d., the year in which Trajan died and Hadrian succeeded.
Another revolt was quenched in blood in Palestine in 135 a.d., when, after the fall of Bether, and the death of Barcochebas and of Rabbi Akiba, the Jews were forbidden to enter or even to approach Jerusalem — an interdict not removed until two centuries later, in the time of Constantine.* The Roman satirists com- plain of the numbers of Jewish impostors of the lowest class, as well as Chaldean astrologers, infesting the
* The edict of Hadrian, forbidding Jews to enter Jerusalem (Euseb. Theophan., 312 A.D.), was renewed in 337, in consequence of a Jewish revolt in Galilee. In 333 a.d. they were allowed an annual visit to the temple. — Bordeaux Pilgrim.
234 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
great city itself.* In cities such as Antioch and Alex- andria the Jews had, from the very foundation of the town, a quarter of their own ; and by the time of the Antonines the pursuit of commerce had caused them to spread themselves all over Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy.
Jerusalem, after its second revolt, t became a Roman provincial town. It had its theatre and other public buildings, as enumerated by the Pascal Chronicle.]: A temple to Jupiter was raised on the site of Herod's Temple, and one to Venus on the knoll now venerated as Calvary. As regards the former, we have the evidence of an existing votive inscription built upside down into the south wall of the Temple area, and con- taining the name of Titus iElius Hadrianus. As regards the second, we do not entirely depend on the statement of Eusebius, for we have possible corroboration in the coins of Hadrian and of his successors. We have also a triumphal arch, thought to be Hadrian's, still stand- ing in Jerusalem, and now called the ' Ecce Homo '
* Juvenal, Sat. iii. and vi. ; Horace, Od. I. xi., Sat. ii. I.
t It is doubtful if Barcochebas took Jerusalem, which possibly- remained in ruins till 136 A.D. The original name of Barcochebas was Ben Kozeba. This has been thought to refer to the town of which he was a native. If so (and the objection of Derenbourg seems to have no real force), the most probable site is Kueiziba, south of Bethlehem, as I have pointed out several years ago, rather than Achzib, near Accho (ez Zib), or Chezib ('Ain Kezbeh), near the Philistine plain.
X Two market-places, a theatre, a mint, a tricameron, a tetra- nymphon, a dodekapylon (Chron. Pasc. in ann 3 ALL Hadr.). The walls of Jerusalem in Hadrian's time probably occupied much the same area as that enclosed by the present walls of the city.
THE ROMAN AGE. 235
arch. Hadrian was, apparently, fond of erecting such arches in the East, for there is another example at Isaura, in Asia Minor. The well-executed Roman head found by a peasant near the tomb of Helena, north of Jerusalem, is also supposed to have belonged to one of the two statues of Hadrian erected in the temple, according to the Bordeaux Pilgrim.*
The Roman coins subsequent to the great destruc- tion of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. are of copper, with Latin texts. One of Hadrian has the legend, * cond. co. jB. cap.' (' foundation of the colony of JElia. Capito- lina'), with a temple and statue apparently representing Jupiter. In another, Jupiter is represented seated in a temple, with two attendant figures. A coin of Anto- ninus Pius (138-161 a.d.) gives us a Bacchus with his attendant panther. Jerusalem herself, with turret- crown, appears on another. A Serapis appears on the reverse of other types ; and another coin gives the same figure as that found on Hadrian's coins, standing in a tetrastyle temple. This has been thought to re- present Venus in her temple on the mount traditionally identified with Calvary. The modius on the head in both examples may suggest, however, a male deity ; though the modius, or polos, is sometimes given to Venus, Fortune, and Isis, as well as to Pluto and Serapis. The short dress might be female, like that usually given to Diana ; but, as above stated, the god
* Jerome (Comm. in Isa. ii. 8) speaks of one statue of Hadrian, and one of Jupiter. He says that the equestrian statue of Hadrian was still standing on the site of the Holy of Holies (Comm. in Matt. xxiv. 15).
236
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
HEAD OF HADRIAN FOUND NEAR JERUSALEM.
THE ROMAN AGE. 237
with a modius on other coins of Antoninus Pius struck at Jerusalem is a bearded Jupiter. Madden and Wil- liams, however, agree that a female figure is intended in the former instance ; and it is fairly certain that Hadrian actually built two temples, as detailed by Eusebius and Jerome : one to Venus, on the Calvary hill ; and one to Jupiter, on the Temple site. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161-169 a.d.) again give us the Serapis and the seated Jupiter on coins bearing their joint names on the obverse ; and on other examples is a Victory or a turreted goddess with cornucopia and patera. Commodus (180-192 a.d.) has an equestrian statue of an emperor for reverse — perhaps that eques- trian statue of Hadrian which we know to have existed in Jerusalem till Jerome's time, near the Temple of Jupiter. Julia Domna, the Syrian empress, chooses the seated goddess with cornucopia and patera. Caracalla (211-217 a.d.) repeats the Serapis. Geta (211-212 a.d.) reverts to the Bacchus and panther. Diadumenianus (217-218 A.D.) repeats the seated Jupiter, with attendants who, as in the former case of Hadrian, seem to be female. Elagabalus, the Syrian (218-222 a.d.), has the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, also found on a coin of Lucius Verus (161-169 a.d.) struck at Jerusalem. The Serapis and the Jupiter with attendants recur also on coins of Elagabalus. The later emperors repeat the types already noted.*
* The emperors whose coins of vElia Capitolina are known include :
Hadrian 136-138 A.D.
Antoninus Pius 138-161 „
Marcus Aurelius ------ 161-180 „
238 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The various cities of Palestine were also allowed, like Jerusalem, to strike a copper coinage. The number of these coins, and of those struck by Constantine and his successors in Syria, is so great that they can be collected by the handful at any village in Palestine. The character of the art represented by such coinage steadily declines, until we reach the quaint and almost childish style of the late Byzantine medals. These coins may be best studied in the special work by De Saulcy, although the conclusions reached by that successful explorer have not always been endorsed by other writers.*
In 192 a.d. Septimius Severus, wedded to Julia Domna, a native of Emesa (Horns), succeeded Commodus. Caracalla, his son, thus probably had Semitic blood in his veins, and he was succeeded by Elagabalus, or Antoninus of Emesa, in 218 a.d. This Syrian emperor was again followed by his cousin, Alexander Severus (222-235 a.d). Philip of the Hauran (Arabs) was emperor from 244 to 249 a.d., succeeding Gordian III., and pre-
r Commodus 180-192 A.D.
JuliaDomna,) Piscennius Niger - - - - 194
173-217 J Septimius Severus - 193-211
(-Caracalla- ----- 211-217
Geta 211-212
Diadumenianus ■ 217-218
Elagabalus - - - - - 218-222
Alexander Severus - 222-235
Gordianus III. Pius - 238-244 Trajanus Decius,Herennius Etruscus,
and Hostilianus - 249-251
Valerianus 253-260
* De Saulcy, ' Numismatique de la Terre Sainte ' (Paris, 1874).
THE ROMAN AGE, 239
ceding Trajanus Decius. Thus for fifty-seven years, from the accession of Severus to the death of Philip Arabs, Syria was intimately connected with the empire ; and even earlier the influence of Julia Domna (173- 217 a.d.) secured many advantages for her native land. From 235 to 275 a.d. the empire was disturbed, and the Palmyrene kings took advantage of this weakness to claim almost complete independence. In 266 a.d. Odenathus, King of Palmyra, saved the State by his resistance to the Persian attack of Sapor, or Shahpur, who took Antioch in 238 a.d. He obtained the title of Augustus, and his widow, the celebrated Zenobia, threw off her allegiance to Rome in 267 a.d., and ruled not only Syria, but part of Egypt and Mesopotamia. In 273 a.d. she was defeated by Aurelian, when Palmyra was destroyed, and the prosperity of Syria declined for a time.
But while the Aramean or native Syrian influence in the empire was thus steadily growing for more than a century, another element was being introduced into the mixed population of Syria by the advance of the Arabs into the Hauran. Petra, the Nabathean* capital, had been Romanized even in the first century ; it was inhabited by Romans between 23 and 105 a.d., and its numerous rock -cut sepulchres, its theatre, and
p The Nabatheans are mentioned in the time of Asshur Bani Pal (668-648 B.C.). Their prosperity commenced in the time of Cyrus, and lasted till the Roman age. The Nabatheans appear in the third century B.C. in conflict with the Macedonian kings of Babylon. They were even then traders, with a capital at Petra. In the Bible, Nebaioth is a son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13). Ptolemy includes the Sinaitic desert as Nabathean.
240 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
other remains, belong probably to the latter period at earliest.* We may mark a very considerable advance in the Corinthian of the fluted columns of Petra upon the style of the Jerusalem tombs of the later Has- monean and Herodian period. The Nabatheans, whose capital was at Petra, possessed an alphabet of Aramean origin, and a considerable literature. The inscriptions found in the Sinaitic peninsula, once thought to be the writings of Israelites of the time of Moses, have been shown by Dr. Levy (in i860) to be Nabathean texts of the third and even of the fourth century a.d. They contain no dates, but consist of pious prayers for peace and health for the writer, or of pilgrim records. Some are Pagan in origin ; others, from the appearance of the Cross and of other Christian emblems, seem clearly to be Christian.
The Nabathean coins of kings and queens range from the time of Hyrcanus and Pompey and Herod, some bearing Hadrian's head, and some being as late as the time of Trajan (105 a.d.), when Petra became a Roman province. The names Malik, Harith, Dabel, Gamalith, and Sukaminth occur on these coins.-)- The celebrated ' Nabathean Book of Agriculture,' now only known in the Arabic translation of Kuthami, or rather
* They are sometimes placed even as late as the fourth century. Fergusson says of the Khazneh, or ' treasury,' at Petra, ' Though all the forms of the architecture are Roman, the details are so elegant, and generally so well designed, as almost to lead to the suspicion that there must have been some Grecian influence brought to bear upon the work.' This applies to other Roman buildings in Syria as well.
f Taylor, 'Alphabet,' i., pp. 328-332.
THE ROMAN AGE. 241
of Ibn Wahshiya el Kasdani (900 A.D.), is remarkable as containing a legend of Tammuz, apparently of Chaldean origin, and a note by the translator as to Nabathean belief in the numerous deaths of Tammuz, and as to the survival of the weeping for Tammuz in Baghdad and at El Harran down to the tenth century of our era, although the Sabians, who preserved the custom, were ignorant of its origin and meaning.* Maimonides, the famous Rabbi, who died in 1204 a.d., knew this Nabathean (or Sabian) book, and quotes the legend above mentioned.
The Nabathean culture was intimately connected with that of Palmyra,-f* of the Hauran, and of the Mendaites or Sabians, near the mouth of the Euphrates. The Aramean inscriptions of the Hauran form a link between Petra and Palmyra ; other texts, apparently Nabathean, have been found by Sir C. Warren and by myself in Moab.J A very important text of this class, found in the Hauran on a block of basalt, belongs to the time of Herod the Great, and is an inscription in honour of Maliketh. This is not, however, the earliest, as some of the texts go back to the second century B.C. The Mendaites, Sabians, or Christians of St. John, also spoke. Aramaic, and possessed an alphabet akin to the
* Baring Gould's ' Curious Myths,' pp. 278-283 ; Maimonides, ' More Nebushim/ iii. 29 ; Smith's ' Bible Diet.,' Art. Nebaioth.
f The Nabathean texts speak of princes, elders, horsemen, scholars, doctors, and bards. Their gods include Al and Allat, Baal Samim and Iarhi Baal, Kasin and 'Aziz, and Dushera. They had regular priests called Kahin, the Hebrew Cohen. The Kahin of the time of Muhammad meant only a wizard or soothsayer.
% See 'P. E. F. Quarterly Statement,' Jan., 1885.
16
242 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Nabathean. The coins of the kings of Characene, and texts from Abu Shadr, give the variations of this script in the second century a.d.* The Mendaites were an early Christian sect, whose ideas were similar to those of the Gnostic Carpocrates, with a strong Zoroastrian element. They were akin in many of their views to the Ebionites.
Mingled with the Nabathean or North Arab popula- tion of the Hauran was the dominant factor of the South Arabian immigration. About 120 A.D. a north- ward migration of the Himyarite tribes commenced, and in 190 a.d. Hira, near Kufa, south of the Euphrates, was inhabited by the Nasr families. In the third century it became a state independent of Persia, and was absorbed by Zenobia in her empire. At the same time other tribes (Kod'a and Salih) were pushing through Moab and into the Safa region, south-east of Damascus. These Thamudite tribes from the Hejaz brought north- wards the alphabet of Yemen, which was not derived from the Aramean letters, but apparently learned from the Phoenician traders at an early date, and gradually modified into an entirely distinct script. To the present day the traces of successive waves of immigration from Yemen are notable in the Belka. Inscriptions in an alphabet akin to the South Semitic group have been found at Medeba, in Moab. The Yemenite words Nejes ('a prince ') and Homri (' a Himyarite ') occur in Moab in connection with ruins dating probably from the second century a.d. ; and the Ausam, or tribe-marks of the Belka tribes, are letters of the Himyarite alpha- 9 Taylor's 'Alphabet,' i., p. 296.
THE ROMAN AGE. 243
bet.* The same alphabet is found also on rocks in the Nejed (Jebel Shammar) and at Taif; and, in short, that northward movement, which can be traced as early as 2500 B.C., continually recurs in history down to the present day, whenever the settled populations of Syria become disorganized, and the pressure of population in the Hejaz or in Yemen becomes strong. The Phoe- nician, the Thamudite, the Moslem, and the modern Wahhabi have followed each other along the same roads to Syria and to Mesopotamia — highways marked out by the unchanging physical features of Arabia and the Belka. The monuments of this mixed Aramean and Arab population in the Hauran, once ignorantly called ' giant cities,' bear inscriptions often containing dates, and generally written in bad Greek. Numbers of these have been collected and published by Waddington and De Vogue. The Ghassan dynasty in Bashan is said to have been converted to Christianity by the Ebionites as early as 180 a.d., when 'Amr I. began to build monasteries. This dynasty continued to rule under the Roman emperors down to 637 A.D., when Jebala VI., the last of the race, for a time after the defeat of Heraclius made common cause with Omar, but after- wards retired to Constantinople. The buildings of the
0 Prof. Robertson Smith has called attention to the importance of studying these tribe-marks. I made a collection of those in Moab, and in a special paper, as yet unpublished, have shown their derivation from Himyarite letters.
The tribes now in Moab came from the Hejaz at different times. The 'Adwan, perhaps related to the tribe of the same name in Arabia, came quite recently into this district, where they found the older tribe of the Ajermeh, who are now their allies or dependents.
16 — 2
244 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Hauran belong to the five centuries of Aramean and Arab ascendancy in Bashan before the Moslem invasion. The capital of the kingdom was Bozrah, and the era of Bozrah (106 a.d.) is that from which the inscriptions of the Hauran are dated.
One of the earliest Hauran texts is a Latin inscrip- tion at Suweida, of the reign of Nerva Trajan (103 a.d.), to whom it attributes a nymphaeum and an aqueduct. Another text of the fourteenth year of Antoninus Pius (151 a.d.) occurs near this same town in the Temple of 'Attil, and at Suweida itself is found the name of Marcus Aurelius ; at Hebran we have a fine Greek text of the reign of Antoninus Pius, 155 a.d., with remains of a colonnade ; at Shakka the tower is said to have been built by a certain Bassus in 176 a.d.*
Further north at Abila, beside the rushing Barada, great works were carried out. A Latin text records the cutting of the road in the time of Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. The remains of a temple and the numerous Greek funerary texts at this site belong to the second and following centuries. At Antioch also — the old Seleucid capital — these same great em- perors left their mark. The colonnades, in which Tiberius had placed statues, were roofed in so as to form a long covered bazaar by order of Antoninus Pius. The great temples of Baalbek, in honour of Jupiter, Baal, and Venus, are also attributed by their own in- scriptions to Antoninus Pius, and to the Empress Julia
0 West of Jordan, at the ruin Keisun, north of the Sea of Galilee, is a building with an inscription, including the names of Julia Domna and Marcus Aurelius, etc., which Renan attributes to the year 197 a.d.
THE ROMAN AGE. 245
Domna. It has often been pointed out that there is no reason for supposing the great stones built into the ramparts of Baalbek to be older than the rest of the masonry, and MM. Perrot and Chipiez have lately repeated this judgment. The great stones stand on courses similar to those occurring in all other parts of the wall, and the supposition that they are remains of an older Phoenician temple rests on no solid basis of fact.
Besides these dated monuments of the Antonine age there are others which may with confidence be attri- buted to the same period of peace and prosperity.* Such are the temples of Hermon, surrounding the sacred peak, which was simply enclosed in a circle of well-cut stones, near which was a cave, perhaps used as a Mithraeum. Similar temples occur in many Syrian villages, and near great springs such as the 'Ain Fiji. Gerasa, the great Roman city in Gilead, where temples, theatres, a basilica, baths, a naumachia basin, long streets of columns, a forum, and a triumphal arch remain within the ancient walls, is also probably the work of the Antonines. Rabbath Ammon, or Phila- delphia, with similar remains, and surrounded by tomb towerst and sculptured sepulchres, may be ascribed to
0 The altar recently found at Nablus, with sculptures of the Attic myth of Theseus, is also probably of this period, when the Romans held Shechem, and interfered with the Samaritan worship on Gerizim.
"|* Similar tomb towers containing sarcophagi have been men- tioned in Phoenicia (see p. 97), and they appear to have been erected throughout Syria. At Palmyra they consist in some cases of four or five stories. Some are as late even as the sixth century A.D. One remains near Semii'a, south of Hebron ; another
246 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the same age, since a milestone bearing the names of the Antonines, found by Lieut. Mantell in 1881, is evidence of the construction of the high-road near the town in the second century. Thus from north to south and from east to west we find Roman cities in Palestine and Syria, Roman or Grseco-Roman architecture, pagan temples, and pagan funerary monuments. Jerusalem and Petra, Philadelphia and Gerasa, Gadara, Damascus, Bostra, Edrei, Kenath, Emesa, Hamath, Antioch, were Roman provincial cities, and in the third century Palmyra with its Roman civilization becomes the in- dependent capital of a great Romanized Syrian empire, soon crushed by the imperial power.
The style of the buildings erected by the Ghassan kings is a debased imitation of the fine classic monu- ments erected by the emperors, and, as we are about to see, the Jews, as well as the Nabatheans, Arameans, and Arabs, had in the second century no art save that which they borrowed from the Romans.
between Nazareth and Haifa ; another east of Shechem, near Teiasir. Sometimes solid monuments were erected near the tombs. Such is the Kamua't el Hirmil (see ' Heth and Moab'), a solid tower in two stories, with pyramidal roof and bas-reliefs representing the hunting of the stag, bear, and wild boar, which Professor H. Lewis dates as not earlier than the third or fourth century. The foundations of a similar solid monument occur at Tell Neby Mendeh (Kadesh, or Laodicea ad Libanum) ; at El Hass a mausoleum with pediment belongs to the fourth century ; another, at El Barah, is of the sixth century, and is in three stories. Hunting-scenes like those on the Hirmil monuments are common in Asia Minor on various buildings (see Texier). ' These,' Professor H. Lewis remarks, ' belong to the class which took its origin in designs from the mausoleums of Helicarnassus or Cnidus.'
KAMUAT EL HIRMIL.
A.Easi/ Side B. Worth Side CTVesb Side D . SovUh Side
SHE
THE ROMAN AGE. 247
It was in the time of the Antonines, also, that roads were first made in Syria. These great highways with their cuttings through the rock (as at Minieh,* or Abila, or Ras en Nakurah and elsewhere), their side walls of unshaped stones, their central rib of stone, their stepped ascents, their guard-houses and mile- stones, run over hill and dale almost as straight as in our own less hilly land. They have been carefully traced in Palestine, and many inscribed milestones recovered.-)- These have usually the names of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, as for instance at Rabbath Ammon, at Jerusalem, and at Abila. The chief roads are shown in the Peutinger geographical tables of the fourth century (393 a.d.), and they are often noticed in the ' Onomasticon ' of Eusebius and Jerome. The opening up of Syria by these great lines of communi- cation was the first step to the establishment of the trade on which the prosperity of Palmyra rested, and even the granite of Egypt was carried as far as Gerasa, and to other inland cities far from the Mediterranean coast.
Side by side with paganism, early Christianity and
* The cutting at Minieh has been called an aqueduct. No such aqueduct is mentioned by any early writer, and it seems un- necessary, since there are fine springs on the other side of the cliff, from which water might have been more easily led. The cutting does not resemble an aqueduct channel, being too large. It is suitable for a road, and requisite to avoid a very steep hill.
•f Reland has collected some of these texts (see ' Pal. Illustr.,' i., p. 401). One from between Tyre and Sidon bore the names of Septimus Severus, Pertinax, and Marcus Aurelius. In 333 the Jerusalem Itinerary mentions regular Mutatios, or places for changing horses, along the roads between the towns.
248 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Rabbinical Judaism were growing stronger as the years passed by. The Christians who fled from Jerusalem to Pella before the great siege of 70 a.d., founded that church which developed into the Ebionite and Nazarene sects of the second century.* The Christians of the Hauran were followers of Peter ; they turned towards Jerusalem in prayer as the Holy City ; they circumcised and regarded the law with reverence. The Ebionites believed Jesus to have been only a prophet, and the son of Joseph ; the Nazarenes, however, accepted the first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, which the Ebionites rejected.t Paul and the Pauline literature formed the special objects of their detestation, and they possessed a Hebrew or Aramaic Gospel, now lost, called ' The Gospel of the Hebrews,' which contained peculiar statements, such as that the Jordan caught fire at our Lord's baptism, % and that the Holy Ghost, the mother of Christ, carried Him by a lock of His hair to Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration then occurred. The
5> See Irenseus, I. xxvl. ; Epiphanius Haer., xxix. 7, 8. Kokaba, near Ashtaroth Karnaim, was one of the Ebionite settlements in Bashan. It is probably the ruin Kaukab, in the Jaulan, west of Nawa.
j* Irenaeus states that the Ebionites agreed in their views as to the nature of Christ with Cerinthus and Carpocrates. Cerinthus held that the heavenly Christ descended on Jesus at His baptism, and left Him at the crucifixion. This is the foundation of heresies to be considered later. It reappears among the Druzes in the tenth century. Carpocrates, sometimes called the first Gnostic, made Jesus only a prophet, whose soul revolved through the universe, an idea apparently taken from the ' Phaedrus ' of Plato.
% This curious belief as to the fiery baptism in Jordan was also held by Justin Martyr, who was a native of Shechem (' Dialogue with Trypho,' lxxxviii.).
THE ROMAN AGE. 249
name of the Nazarenes survives to our own time in Syria, where Nusrani means a Christian in general. The Ebionite or Elkesaite literature included the 'Clementine Recognitions' (about 211 a.d.), a work showing wide knowledge of the ancient world, from Britain and Germany to Parthia, Scythia, and Media, and from the Crimea to Lybia. The immutability of the Law of Moses, the coming of the true Prophet, the new birth at baptism, and the ' teaching of the apostles,' are the principal tenets of this work, which is, however, also remarkable for the ignorance of natural history which the author exhibits, and for the expressed belief in astrology.*
The work lately discovered in Turkey called l Teach- ing of the Apostles ' belongs also, probably, to the Syrian Church of the second century. In it Christians are adjured to fast, to pray, to have all things in common, to abstain from infanticide and other prac- tices of the Gnostics, from the use of charms, and of astrology. They are, however, recognised as possessing slaves, as did all civilized races of the age. The Eucharist appears in its simplest form, but connected with the Vine of David and the reign of the Messiah. Christ is mentioned only as the son of David and servant of God, and the coming of Antichrist and of the Day of Resurrection are foretold. It seems clear that this work expresses the views of the Ebionite
0 The representations of the golden candlestick on buildings of the second century a.d. in the Hauran may be referred, not perhaps to Jewish origin, but to the Arabs converted to Ebionite Christianity, which was Judaizing in its tendency.
250 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Church of Bashan,* which held strictly to the Jewish side of Christianity.
At Antioch, Christianity was less severely Jewish. The Christoi, here first so named, were known to the vulgar as Chrestoi, or ' good ' people.-)- Saturninus, the Gnostic, founded his school at Antioch, and taught that Christ was a phantom not really born of flesh and blood. He was a rigid ascetic, and abstained from all animal food. Much of his philosophy was founded, apparently, on the Zoroastrian system. Tatian, known for his fierce attack on the pagan religion, founded a sect in Syria about 166 A.D., called Encratites, or Abstainers, the teetotalers of the age, who even used pure water instead of wine for the Eucharist. They forbade marriage and the eating of animal food, and they held the same view with Saturninus as to the phantom Christ, never either born or suffering death. Syria, indeed, at this time was full of Gnostic sects, such as the Ophites, who worshipped serpents in con- nection with the Eucharist ; the Markosians,J who
• Another peculiar passage in this important work relates to the ' Prophet who, in the spirit, orders a Table.5 This might be com- pared with the Table mentioned in the Koran (S., v. 112), which, according to the commentators, descended from heaven for Christ, having on it a fish with salt, which fish Christ caused to live. A table with fish and loaves is represented in the pictures of the Catacombs. The Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas contains a story of the salt fish restored to life by Christ. In the Middle Ages the Mensa Christi was connected with the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
f See Theophilus, Tertullian (' Contra Gentes/ 3), Lactantius ('Div. Inst.,' iv. 7, 5), Justin Martyr (1 Apol. iv.), Clemens Alex. (' Strom.,' ii. 3).
% The Markosians, named from Marcus, a disciple of Basilides, had a Gospel containing some of the legends found in the
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claimed to change the water of the holy cup to blood, and who believed in Cabbalistic figures and Syriac magic sentences ; the Cainites, who commended Judas Iscariot as a martyr ; the Adamites, who worshipped naked in their churches ; the Setheans, named from their views as to Seth ; and the Elkesaites (in the third century), who were connected with the older Essenes. The prophet of the latter lived in the days of Trajan, it is said, and received an inspired book from heaven. The Sabians or Mendaites, at the mouth of the Euphrates, were connected with this Essene Gnostic sect, which seems to have had its headquarters in the deserts of the Dead Sea;* and the Ebionites of Bashan accepted Elxai as a prophet. Elxai laid great stress on baptism frequently repeated, as among the Sabians, and shows a Judaizing tendency in his belief in the necessity of sacrifice. He honoured the patriarchs, and identified Christ with Adam, but rejected the later prophets. He commanded abstin- ence from flesh, but allowed marriage, which accounts for the late survival of the Sabians as ' Christians of St. John.' The Elkesaite Eucharist appears to have consisted of bread, salt, and probably water.
The Samaritans were not less infected with Gnosticism than the Christians of Syria. Simon Magus appears to have obtained a considerable following in Northern
Apocryphal work called ' Pseudo Matthew.' Some of the Gnostics who followed Carpocrates anticipated the modern Positivists, placing a statue of Jesus side by side with those of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle (Irenaeus, I. xxv. 6). ° Hippol., ix. 13 ; Epiphan., xix. 2-5.
252 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Syria as well as in Samaria. Equally with St. Paul he was hated by the Ebionites. Hippolytus gives us an account of his philosophic writings, which resemble very much the Gnosticism of the great Egyptian Gnostics, or Christian philosophers. Like Philo, he allegorized the Old Testament, and his disciple Men- ander instituted a baptism which, he said, would pre- vent men from ever growing old.* Epiphanius speaks of Sabians (or ' baptizers ') also among the Samaritans ; and there were several other Samaritan sects, such as the Dositheans, who answered to the Jewish Pharisees, and the Gorthenians. The old Sadducean orthodoxy of Samaria was rapidly breaking up, and in the tenth and twelfth centuries there were two great sects, called Kusaniya and Lifaniyeh, among Samaritans : the first (' true people ') believing in the Messiah (Taheb, or 'restorer') and in future life, which the older sect denied.
The ascetic and Judaizing Christianity of Syria in the second and third centuries presents a very marked contrast to the Christianity of Rome, of Egypt, or of Asia Minor. The Roman Christianity, when first we obtain monumental evidence of the creed of the popu- lace, as contrasted with that of their leaders, is hardly distinguishable from the surrounding Paganism. The paintings in the Catacombs are often Pagan. f The
° Simon and Menander were both natives of Samaria. Caperetaia, or Kefretta, near Shechem, was the home of Menander, and Gitta (Jett) was the home of Simon Magus. See Justin Martyr, i Apol., xxvi.
f The pictures in the Catacombs belong to the second, third, and fourth centuries. The subjects are most often ' The Good
THE ROMAN AGE. 253
Manes are invoked, nor is any Christian inscription in them known to be earlier than the third century. The
Shepherd' and 'The Vine.' The vine, as we know, was an emblem at least as early as the time of Herod in Syria. The figure bearing the lamb is not of necessity Christian. The Greeks had their lamb-bearing Hermes, and Phoenician statues in Cyprus represent the same subject (Perrot and Chipiez, ' Phoenicia,' ii., pp. 35, 189). In one case in the Catacombs this figure has the legend ' Paulus Pastor ' (fourth century). The earliest Christian inscription in the Catacombs dates from 204 a.d. (Marc. Aurele., p. 536). 'The Three Children in the Fire,' ' Daniel in the Lions' Den,' ' Jonah and the Gourd,' occur in the Catacombs in the second century. ' The Creation of Eve,' ' The Sacrifice of Isaac,' ' Jonah and the Whale,' ' The Stricken Rock,' ' Susanna and the Elders,' are also supposed to occur. New Testament subjects are said to include, 'The Magi,' 'Zaccheusand the Sycamore,' 'Feeding the Disciples,' 1 Healing the Paralytic,' ' The Raising of Lazarus,' ' Pilate Wash- ing his Hands,' 'Peter's Denial,' ' Peter Seized by the Jews.' In some cases, however, the explanation of the picture seems doubt- ful. The Pagan subjects include, ' The Three Graces ' (with the Shepherd), ' Orpheus,' * Cupid and Psyche.' The Christian tombs occur first among those of Jews, and also with others thought to be those of worshippers of Mithra. The emblems of the palm, dove, fish, anchor, phoenix, the tau, the labarum, and the fylfot occur, but not the cross. Fish are represented with the Eucharistic cake (see Stanley's ' Christian Institutions,' p. 250, and Marc. Aurele., p. 529). It seems possible that these emblems were chosen as least likely to offend Roman Paganism, and as easily adaptable to a Pagan interpretation.
There are two cemeteries in Palestine which may be thought, perhaps, to belong to this early Christian age, comparing them with the catacombs of Italy. One of these is at Sheikh Abreik, in Lower Galilee, west of Nazareth, where the tombs in one case form a regular catacomb, the chamber being adorned with paint- ings in red of the funereal palm, the wheel, and other designs. In one tomb there is a Greek inscription in red, consisting of the single word Parthenes (' of the Virgin '). The palm was a funereal emblem of the Roman Christians. In the other cemetery, at
254 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
emblem of the Cross is unknown. In Egypt, Basilides and Valentinus evolved a system which had but a slight foundation in Christianity, and which was marked by intense hatred of the Jews and of Jewish rites and history. The philosophy of Plato, the teaching of Zoroastrians, Buddhists, and Brahmins, mingled with Jewish and Syriac Cabbalistic ideas, formed the elements out of which the Gnostic systems were woven in endless variations. The worship of Dionysus, Cybele, Serapis, Isis, Harpocrates, Tammuz, Mithra, and many other pagan deities, mingled with Chris- tianity and with the peculiar Gnostic figures of Abraxas, Chnuphis, Iao, Sabaoth, Semes-Ailam, and the Agatho- dsemon, producing an art and a phraseology intended to astonish the ignorant and to bind together the secret sects, which had all things in common, and were often, with good cause, accused of vicious license among themselves. The later sects of the Manicheans, the Moslem heresies of the eighth, ninth, and tenth cen- turies, the Albigenses, Rosicrucians, Templars, and other secret orders of the Middle Ages, founded their dogmas mainly on the vain speculations of the Chris- tian philosophers of the second and third centuries, who, throwing aside the sober restraints of the orthodox
Mughr esh Sherif, in the plains south of Cassarea, a tomb exists, the interior also painted in red, as at Sheikh Abreik, with a cross in a circle over one of the doors. At Jerusalem we have more than one early Christian funerary tablet and Christian graffite on the Mount of Olives. See 'Memoirs of Pal. Survey,' vols, i. and ii., and ' Jerusalem,' vol., appendix.
Clemens Alexandrinus (' Paedagog.,' III. xi.) recommends for Christian signet-rings a dove, a fish, a ship, a lyre, or an anchor.
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teaching, followed their own fancies and the dogmas of Indian or Bactrian philosophers in a credulous and ignorant age.
North of Syria, Phrygia and Asia Minor were being convulsed by the revivalist movement of the Montanists, which was accompanied by scandalous extravagances in 170 a.d. The movement does not seem, however, to have affected the more sober Ebionite ascetics. In the third century Manes, the celebrated founder of the Manichean sect, appeared in Persia, claiming to be a Buddha, rejecting the Old Testament, and accepting only the fourth Gospel. He was fla37ed alive by the Magi in 275 A.D.; but in Justinian's time, nearly three centuries later, the Manicheans and the Montanists again became numerous, and on their teaching the Druze views as to Christ appear to rest.
At the commencement of the third century (218- 222 A.D.) Emesa became important as the native place of the Emperor Elagabalus, who carried to Rome the sacred black stone and the Kodeshoth, or dancing-girls, of the local sun-worship, and astonished the Romans, moreover, by wearing in public the dalmatic, or short- sleeved coat.* The erection of the great dam which makes the Lake of Kadesh, through which the Orontes flows, is attributed by the Rabbinical writers to Dio- cletian, circa 284 a.d. To this dam the city of Emesa owed its supply, by means of an aqueduct. In the third century also the Ghassan monarchs founded the Monastery of Job in the Hauran, where an ancient menhir was shown as the stone against which Job 0 'Christian Institutions,' p. 150.
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rubbed himself. This became a famous place of pil- grimage a century later, and the stone is still preserved.* Bozrah or Bostra, the capital of this Arab Christian kingdom of Bashan, was an important walled town. In 105 a.d. it had been made a Roman colony, under the name Nova Trajana Bostra. Many coins, some bearing the name of the city, have been there found. The gods adored were Bona Fortuna, and Dusares (Dhu Shera, ' the lord of gleaming '). Elagabalus estab- lished a military colony at this place, and its prosperity as a caravan centre continued to the Moslem age.
The third century is the great age of Palmyra, which became the capital of Western Asia for a few years from 267 to 273, under Zenobia. It is remarkable that Zenobia is called on some Palmyrene texts Yedithah, which, according to Athanasius, meant the Jewess.t She is said, however, to have claimed descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, and to have been able to read Greek and Latin, as well as Syriac and Egyptian. The Sabellian heretic Paul of Samosata, Metropolitan of Antioch, found refuge at her court, but her subjects were worshippers of the old gods of Phoenicia and Assyria, and the alphabet of Palmyra is of Aramaic origin, though Greek is also employed in some in-
0 See Chap. VIII. Uz is the Arabic 'Aud, connected with Edom in the Bible (Lam. iv. 21), and apparently a Nabathean people. It is therefore improbable that the scene of the book of Job is laid in the Hauran. 'Aud was a well-known Arab deity before Islam.
t It is remarkable also that Benjamin of Tudela speaks in 1 163 A.D. of 2,000 warlike Jews living at Palmyra, and making war on both Moslems and Christians. See Bonn's ' Early Travels in Palestine,' p. 92. Gibbon, ch. xi., Augustan Hist., Trebellius Pollio, etc.
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scriptions.* The names of Baal Samin ('the Lord of Heaven '), Agl Baal (' the Calf God '), and Melek Baal (Moloch) occur as those of Palmyrene deities. The Palmyrene statues are feeble attempts to repro- duce the classic art of the West. The buildings of Palmyra are fine specimens of a somewhat debased classic style. The coins of Palmyra, remarkable for their small size, are also classic in their types. The Aramean trading city of the third century had indeed little that was original in its art or civilization beyond the curious cursive hand here developed from the older Aramaic script. The Palmyrene archers were scattered by the Romans over the whole of their dominions, in Morocco, and in Britain as far north as the Roman wall. The courage and skill of the Syrians, under Odenathus, had indeed saved the empire from Sapor.
p A Greek inscription from Palmyra, dating 237 A.D., has lately been published with others in the native character by the Biblical Archaeological Society. The Palmyrene inscriptions are very numerous — at least 100 remain at the city. More than 150 have been copied and translated. The earliest dates 9 B.C. ; another (on the tomb of Elabel) 102 A.D. ; others 48 A.D. and 139 A.D. The greater number belong to the period 266-273 A.D. ; one, in Rome, is dated 235 A.D. Four remain in Algeria, where Palmyrene archers seem to have been stationed by the Romans. One is found (a Latin and Palmyrene bilingual) at South Shields : it is the epitaph of Regina, of the British tribe of Catuvellauni, freed- woman, and wife of a certain Barates, a Palmyrene, who belonged probably to the Syrian cohort of Hamath, stationed at Carvoran (Magnae), on the Roman Wall. This belongs to the beginning of the third century A.D., and is in a cursive hand. The fact that texts of the Safa alphabet are found in Sardinia (on amulets) may perhaps be explained in the same way. See Taylor's ' Alphabet,' i., p. 264 ; and Perrot and Chipiez, ' Phoenicia/ i., p. 247.
17
258 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The Arabs of the Hauran in like manner seem to have been stationed in Sardinia ; and we thus find, four cen- turies before the Moslem conquest, that the Syrian influence, like that of the Jews, began to permeate the Western world.
It remains only to consider the condition of the Jews in Syria during the second and third centuries. They were excluded, we know, from Jerusalem. Many had left the country. They were numerous in Rome, in Cyprus, in Antioch, in Alexandria, and even as far north as the Crimea. They had established synagogues in Mesopotamia, and were employed in the trade with the East. In Palestine we find monumental traces of their presence in three directions. At Jaffa, at Jeru- salem, and in Upper and Lower Galilee.
The small osteophagi, or stone boxes to contain bones, buried in older Jewish tombs on the Mount of Olives, and found by Dr. Chaplin and M. Clermont Ganneau, have rude granite, which have been translated by the latter savant. By Euting they are dated from the first century B.C. to the second century a.d. Some of the Greek letters seem, however, to have forms of the third century. Some letters of the Hebrew resemble those of the magic bowls from Babylon (fourth century a.d.), others approach the script of the Jewish catacombs in Italy (second and third centuries) ; and there is little doubt that a considerable range of time is represented by these osteophagi. The use of such small stone boxes appears to have been to hold the bones of Jews from foreign countries, who desired to be buried near the Valley of Jehoshaphat in anticipation of the Judgment-
THE ROMAN AGE. 259
day. A Jewish superstition represented that those interred at a distance must dig their way underground to Jerusalem through a cavernous region beset with serpents. This was a survival of the old ideas as to Sheol, or the Egyptian Amenti. The Jews consequently desired that their bones should rest on the slopes of Olivet, and down to the twelfth century such osteo- phagi were brought to Palestine from abroad.
Like the Christians of the cemeteries or ' sleeping places ' of Rome, or the Jews of the catacombs in the same city, the writers of the texts on the Jerusalem osteophagi usually inscribed the word * Peace ' on the coffin.* The Hebrew names Simeon, Yehudah, Eleasar, Nitai, Yeshua, Salome, Hanaiah, Yehochanan, and Joseph occur, and on some examples a peculiar mark like a bow and arrow. This mark I have also found over a rock-cut tomb door near Shunem, probably Jewish.t j/^
But besides the Jewish names and texts, in- cluding the name Salem-Sion, J there are also osteophagi
0 See M. C. Ganneau, 'Revue Arch./ 1883.
f I also found a similar mark painted in red on the gate of a mosque at Nablus. It may per- haps be connected with the so- called anchor of the Jewish coins (No. 2), found also on a Christian sarcophagus in Italy (No. 1). These luck-marks seem to me to be con- nected k with the tri-sul) a sacred emblem in India, and a mediaeval mason's mark (No. 3).
% Salemsah is one form of the name of Salome, applied to Alexandra, wife of Jannasus (l Sifra,' 110^). Salampsio also
17 — 2
26o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
with Greek texts and with crosses, apparently Christian. The names Antigone, Moschas ('the Heifer'),* Iesous, Salome, Menaem, Edeia, Nataniel, occur, with the words Mariados (of Mary), and (in Aramaic letters) Kyrikos. The latter word recalls the name of the 1 Lord's Day,' and the Quiriacus, who was an early Jewish Bishop of Jerusalem. It is perhaps not im- probable that these Judeo-Christian osteophagi held the bones of Ebionites from the Hauran anxious to repose at the Holy City. The earliest Christian catacombs at Rome are in like manner connected with Jewish ceme- teries. The text ' Mariah the fervent proselyte,' on a fragmentary osteophagus, may probably be Jewish rather than Christian. The seven-branched candlestick has not yet been found on any of these Jerusalem osteophagi.
The old Jewish cemetery at Jaffa has also yielded similar remains of the same date. In some cases the candlestick occurs with the inscriptions of this ceme- tery. One text, if correctly translated, is of interest : it is the tombstone of Yudan, son of a Rabbi, whose name may be read Tarphon or Tartan. If the former, he was a famous contemporary of Akiba,t about
appears as the name of a daughter of Herod (' Antiq.,' xviii. 5, 4). Cf. Derenbourg, p. 102.
0 The name Moschus also occurs at Baalbek in the second century. The southern tunnel has on one of the key-stones the words ' Divisio Mosci,' with a figure of Hercules with his club and lion-skin. The northern tunnel is ' Divisio . . chon.'
f R. Tarphon lived at Lydda. Not impossibly the tomb of Neby Turfini, south of Lydda, near which the curious carved door (see p. 131) was found, may preserve this Rabbi's name.
THE ROMAN AGE. 261
140 a.d., and his son would thus die about the end of the second century a.d. The text appears to belong to the second or third century, by the forms of its letters.
In Galilee we have two inscriptions in Aramaic letters, at Kefr Birim, of the second century a.d. At 'Ain Sinia a text of the same character was discovered in a tomb by Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake. In Lower Galilee I copied in 1873 a curious
text very rudely carved **»•■ ^3 I— *^ \ 3f**~ over a tomb door, the /
letters once painted in £ f J ^^\ ^f red. If correctly trans- § *-^
literated, it seems to H3
contain the name of
Eleazar Bar Azariah, a well known Rabbi, who died about 140 a.d.* The forms of some of the letters are very peculiar, and that of the Zain is most unusual. It was very carefully copied thrice. The Aleph pre- serves an ancient form, and the Ain is closed, not open as in Aramean. The Resh and the Beth have also their old Phoenician forms. The text may perhaps be judged by competent authority to be earlier than the age of which we are speaking. The tombs in this cemetery contain both kokim and loculi. But though not apparently written in the Aramean script, this inscription may still be late. The Hebrew coins pre- serve such letters at least to the first century B.C.
0 Eleazar Bar Azariah (Mishnah, ' Beracoth,' iii. 7) was one of the Tanaim. He succeeded Gamaliel the younger in 135 A.D. He fled to Sepphoris, and is thought to have died in Galilee (Derenbourg, p. 421).
262
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The Samaritans still use them in a modified form. The text may be an early Samaritan inscription, occurring as it does on the north border of Samaria.
Leaving the consideration of this puzzling and almost unique inscription, we may turn to the synagogues of Galilee for evidence of the wealth and power of the Jewish community in Galilee in the second century a.d.
GREAT SYNAGOGUE, KEFR BIRIM.
The Sanhedrin, which after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus had held its sittings at Jamnia on the Philis- tine coast, not far from Joppa, removed to Galilee after the death of Rabbi Akiba ; and after shifting from one town to another finally settled its abode at Tiberias. The Jews seem to have remained here quietly and undisturbed during the second and third centuries, engaged in building synagogues and in writing out the
THE ROMAN AGE. 263
Mishnah, or code of law, and its commentary the Jerusalem Talmud. The Mishnah was written out by Judah the Holy, and completed about 180-220 a.d. The Gemara of Jerusalem was completed by Rabbi Johanan before 300 a.d. The Talmud of Babylon — a different comment on the Mishnah — appears to have originated after the great quarrel between Tiberias and the Baby- lonian school (about 180 a.d.), and dates only from 500 a.d. ; but the Tosephta is said to be as old as 123 a.d., and the commentaries, Siphra and Siphre, as old as 243 a.d. Some of the Midrashim also belong to the Roman age, and the language and substance of these Jewish works bear evidence, as previously noticed, of the influence of the surrounding civilization of the Romans.
The synagogues of Galilee are attributed by mediaeval Jewish pilgrims to the famous Cabbalist Simeon Bar- Jochai of the second century (about 135 a.d.). It was in his name that the Book Zohar was forged in the thirteenth century, but none of his writings are known to exist. It is not, however, at all impossible that the tradition may be correct. The tomb of this Rabbi is still annually visited by the Jews at Meirun in Upper Galilee, and architects agree in supposing the Galilean synagogues to date from the second century a.d. The Jews, in fact, like all other subjects of Rome during the Antonine age, enjoyed the peace, wealth, and prosperity secured by strong government in Syria.
The synagogues are oblong buildings divided into walks by rows of pillars, and generally running north and south. They do not seem to be specially oriented,
264
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
nor are they turned towards Jerusalem. Indeed, save in the instance of Irbid, the doors are always on the south, so that the congregation turned their backs on the Holy City. The north side of any house was con- sidered unlucky by the Jews, which may account for this arrangement.* The double semi-pillars found commonly at one end of the building recall those which we have already noticed in Phoenicia. They have been
FROM NEBRATEIN SYNAGOGUE.
thought to be intended to support the gallery for the women, which must probably have existed in the synagogues. The style of the synagogue architecture is very like that of the Roman temples of the same age. The lion, the ram, the hare are carved on the lintels of the synagogue doors — a curious deviation from the law of Moses. The most southern of these synagogues is
0 The Babylonian Talmud (' Beracoth,' $b) tells us that Elijah slays the man who prays behind a synagogue. The north is called (Pirek R. Eleazar, ch. 3) the unfinished corner, full of demons, ghosts, devils, and storms. This is connected with the idea of the devil as ' the hidden one ' — that is to say Tsephun, or Typhon, the usual word for the north.
THE ROMAN AGE. 265
that at Semmaka on Carmel, which I discovered in
1873.* The Mishnah contains hints concerning the peasant
Paganism of the country in the second century, which
apparently survived even among the Jews themselves,t
though condemned by the Sanhedrin. The Markulim
(or Mercury) was a menhir, before which a rude altar
was erected, on which (and sometimes on the menhir
itself) small offerings were laid. Such monuments are
still traceable, one at Deir Ghazaleh on Gilboa, one
recently found in the Hauran. The Margamah was a
* heap ' of stones sometimes under a sacred tree, and
the cultus consisted in throwing a stone on the heap in
memory of a visit to the tree. This superstition is
even mentioned in the Bible (Prov. xxvi. 8), according
to Jerome, whose opinion on the matter as a resident
0 The following are the synagogues in order of preservation :
1. Large synagogue at Kefr Bir'im.
2. Synagogue at Meiron.
3. » „ Irbid.
4. Small synagogue at Kefr Bir'im.
5. Synagogue at Tell Hum.
6. „ „ Kerazeh. 7- j» „ Nebratein.
8. Small synagogue at el Jish.
9. Synagogue at Umm el 'Amed.
10. „ „ Semmaka on Carmel.
n. Large synagogue at el Jish.
12. Synagogue at Sufsaf (fragments).
There appears to be no ground for considering a building recently found beyond Jordan, by Mr. L. Oliphant, with a Hebrew text to be a synagogue.
t Cf. Mishna, ' Aboda Zarah,' iv. 1 ; ' P. E. F. Quarterly Statement,' Jan., 1885. See back, p. 43.
266 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
in Palestine is valuable.* Such cairns under trees may still be seen in Moab and elsewhere, while sacred trees are common throughout Syria. The Bath of Venus at Accho (still surviving in the sacred fish-pond in that city), the sacrifice of white cocks, the temples and statues of the Romans, which rose even in Galilee close to the Jewish synagogues (as for instance at Kadesh Naphtali), are also noticed in the Mishnah.
Yet though standing aloof from the Paganism, the Gnosticism, and even the Judaizing Christianity of the country, the Jews were not far advanced beyond their neighbours in knowledge and intelligence. The medi- cines prescribed in the Mishnah give evidence of this, such as the egg of a locust for earache, the tooth of a fox for sleeplessness, the nail from a cross for ague. The Babylonian commentator addst that the first large ant found at cross roads is a cure for fever.
The Mishnah is mainly concerned with the law as enforced at Jerusalem during the Herodian period. J It preserves, apparently, the accounts of eye-witnesses as to the government of the Jews of that age, and pre- scribes the rules still to be followed although the Temple was no more, and its sacrifices and ritual were abolished. The Mishnah formed a * hedge ' about the Levitical Law, the object of its seemingly puerile pre- scriptions being to render impossible the breaking of
0 The Revised Version does not accept this rendering of the Vulgate, ' As one who throws a stone on a Margamah.'
t Tal. Bab., ' Sabbath,' 66£.
t See Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible,' chapters ii. to ix., Part I.
THE ROMAN AGE. 267
any law mentioned in the Bible. The Mishnah is, how- ever, by no means so unique and original a product of national literature as is sometimes supposed. The com- mentaries written on the Zendavesta by pious Zoroas- trian devotees, which date at least from the times of the later Sassanians, present a very close parallel, both in general character and in many of their rules, to the Mishnaic literature ; and at the time when the Mishna was being written the Jews of Tiberias were in close communication with the great synagogues of Mesopo- tamia, where their brethren were living in constant contact with the Mazdean religion. There is every reason to believe that Rabbinical Judaism, not less than Gnostic Christianity or the creed of Islam, owed much to the powerful influence of the great Persian system of dualism, as established by the Sassanian dynasty.
The Mishnah is the latest work written in Hebrew by the Jews. Already, before 300 A.D., the Jerusalem Talmud, or Palestinian Commentary on the Mishnah, is penned in the barbarous Aramaic jargon which developed from the common dialect of the Herodian age, absorbing many Greek and Latin words from the speech of the ruling race. In Aramaic, also, the Targums are written, the earliest of which (Onkelos on the Pentateuch) appeared in Babylon about the end of the second or in the third century a.d. The Talmud distinguishes two great literary subjects — the Halacha, or decision on points of Levitical Law ; the Hagada or poetical commentary on the Bible. The Babylonian Talmud is specially rich in its Hagada, and contains
268 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the most valuable indications of Jewish folk-lore and legendary beliefs in the sixth century. There is nothing, however, of this kind in the Mishnah, which is the driest record of Jewish ritual and religious law, presenting to us the life of the Rabbis of Tiberias under the Antonine emperors.
The preceding pages will, it is hoped, give some idea of the condition of Syria in an age of great prosperity. As the traveller passed from one town to another, finding temples and theatres even on the borders of the Arabian desert, and great roads, well made and guarded, leading from city to city, he could not fail to admire the genius and power of Rome. The Syrians and Arabs, busy with a trade which connected India and China with Italy and even with Britain, were growing rich and civilized. The Christian ascetics and the Jewish Rabbis lived peacefully side by side under the strong imperial rule. The Gnostic philosophers and fanatics, engrossed in speculations concerning the nature of spiritual things, or eagerly preaching the immediate end of the world, were occasionally the cause of tumults and scandals repressed by the civil power ; but persecutions of the Christians, even if all those reported by the later ecclesiastical writers be accepted, were few and far between.* The number of the Christians — especially in the East — was constantly increasing.
° Origen (' Ad Celsum,' iii.) says that the number of those who had suffered for the faith was small (186-253 A.D.). Chrysostom, in the latter half of the fourth century, speaks of 200,000 families in Antioch, and 100,000 Christians, apparently half the population. ' In S. Ignatium Mart./ Horn. 4 ; ' In Matt.,5 Horn, lxxxv. 4 ; ' Chrysostom's Picture of his Age,' p. 92.
THE ROMAN AGE. 269
Pliny the younger, already in no a.d., speaks of them as numerous in Pontus. In 212 a.d. a tenth of the population of Carthage was Christian. Tertullian allows that Marcus Antoninus favoured the Christians, and by the time of Constantine nearly half his subjects in the East belonged to the faith which was publicly tolerated by Constantius in the edict of Milan in 313 A.D.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BYZANTINE AGE.
Our inquiry has at length reached the dark ages of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of the Christian era. Dark ages indeed ! — illumined by no new thought to benefit mankind, no commanding genius standing above his fellows, no step forward in art, in literature, in civilization. Ages of slow decay in the Roman empire ; of the advance of barbarism, of the decline of culture. Ages dishonest, and weak in consequence. Ages of bitter controversy and ignorant priestcraft. Whether we reflect on the Bishop of Constantinople clubbed to death by monks in the council-hall ; or on Hypatia torn in pieces by savage fanatics in the Cathedral of Alexandria ; or on the superstitions and scandals of the pilgrimages ; or on the organized trade in relics, we must equally become convinced of the barbarism of the Byzantine age. While, on the one hand, we are astonished at the antiquity of modern trade and civilization as we have traced it in the earlier chapters of this work, we are, on the other hand, equally surprised by the accumulated evidence of the backwardness of the society of Europe and of
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 271
Western Asia in the days of Constantine or of Jus- tinian. Even men like Jerome, who for learning and capacity stand in the front rank, are deeply tinged with the faults of the age. The fierce and narrow con- troversial tone of Jerome's letters contrasts with the value of his critical labours as one among the very few of the fathers* who were acquainted with Hebrew. The credulousness shown in his account of centaurs, satyrs, and other demons surrounding the hermits in the desert seems to us scarcely credible in a man of so great learning and intellectual power ; but it is the tone of the times, and we cannot turn to a single pilgrim diary or historical work without encountering similar stories on almost every page.
The age was one, however, of special importance in relation to Palestine, which was once more the Holy Land of all the numerous and hostile sects of Christen- dom. The Byzantine ruins of Syria are perhaps more numerous than those of all other ages put together. The country was full of monks, priests, bishops, anchorites, nuns ; of churches, chapels, monasteries, and lonely hermit-caves in rocks and valleys. It was full of barbarously worded Greek inscriptions : of pillars on which the Stylites lived and died. Full of pilgrims coming and going, and of Jews and Gnostics practising every kind of magic and Cabbalistic impos- ture. From the Patriarch downwards, men were busy
0 It appears that Origen and Jerome were the only two among the Patristic writers who knew Hebrew. Chrysostom knew a little Hebrew, but even so famous a writer as Irenasus shows the most remarkable ignorance of the language.
272 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
trading on the weakness and folly of their fellows ; while politic bishops strove to attract the imperial attention, and the priesthood was filled from the * lowest of the people.'*
In order to understand aright the antiquities of Syria, it is important to know the social condition of the country in the Byzantine age, to understand the religions of the land (Christian, Jewish, and Pagan), the civil and ecclesiastical organization of the country, the architecture, art, literature, and trade of the age. No really new element unknown in the third century was introduced, either in population or in civilization ; but the recognition of Christianity as the established religion of the empire made a very considerable altera- tion in the status of the Church, and in the architectural structures of the country.
It was an age of considerable luxury.f The dress of laymen and clergy alike was rich, and at times extrava- gant ; the church furniture was marked by that bar- barous profusion of gold and silver decorative work which still characterizes the interior of Greek, Syrian, or Armenian cathedrals. Chrysostom inveighs against the costume of the ladies in church, and mentions the custom of wearing new shoes and new clothes at the Easter feast. The luxury of the court of Damasus,
0 Chrysostom writes of the priests as speaking only vulgar Syriac, engaged in agriculture, hedging and ditching, but yet fairly ac- quainted with the Bible (' Ad Pop. Antioch.,' Horn. xix. i).
f The writings of Clemens of Alexandria (Paedagog II., 8,9, 11,) show equal luxury in Alexandria in the second century A.D. ; and in Rome, under Nero, the luxury of the first century was even more remarkable.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 273
Bishop of Rome in 366-384 a.d., drove Jerome in dis- gust from Italy. The corruption of the Church is not only most bitterly lamented by Gregory of Nazianzen, and by Chrysostom, but is clearly evidenced by such authentic documents as the Acts of the Councils. Chry- sostom compares the Church to a faded beauty, whose failing charms oblige her to resort to rich adornment.* Gregory has left us a diatribe against the bishops of his day, which might be thought the expression of disap- pointed ambition were its charges not fully justified by the official records of the proceedings of their synods.
From the day when the Church was first recognised by the empire, she seems, indeed, to have made no progress in the East. The explorer who, with a know- ledge of her history, visits the cathedrals and monas- teries of modern Syria, may imagine himself suddenly transported to the days of Chrysostom or of Saba. The rites, the vestments, the church decorations, and the structure of the building itself, the dress, the beliefs, the manners of the congregation, remain almost entirely unchanged. I have stood in the Chapel of St. Saba, have watched the Holy Fire, the Christmas at Beth- lehem, the Maronite Easter ; I have taken part in the gorgeous ritual of the Russian cathedral, and have followed Armenian processions with their nasal chants (unaccompanied by instrumental music) ; I have visited Georgian hermits and Jacobite bishops ; and on such occasions, especially when standing among the pale and dying ascetics at Mar-Saba, watching the incense
0 ' In 1 Cor.,' Horn, xxxvi. 5. Jerome also speaks of the pride and luxury of the bishops (' De Vita Clericorum ').
18
274 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
rise, the feeble forms hanging in their miserere seats, the hoarse chanting, the listless or fanatical faces, I have felt able to understand the Byzantine age, its superstition, its unbelief, its fierce narrow controversies, its blasphemy, immorality,* and dishonesty. The Eastern clergy do not bear, as a rule, in our own times, any better reputation than that which honest, moderate, and pious men, such as Gregory or Cyril of Jerusalem, have recorded against them in the fourth century. They are still, as then, chosen from illiterate peasants ; they are often vicious and corrupt ; they are utterly ignorant of all the best results of modern pro- gress. Good men are found among them still; but self-advancement, which is the vulgar ambition of the many, is attained by arts and deeds which disgrace the Church in the eyes of the world.
Theological controversy was the breath of life to all classes in the fourth century. Gregory of Nyssa corro- borates his brother the Theologos in his account of the extravagant love of such argument. In the hippo- drome, the theatres, the streets, and markets, the dignity of the Son was the one subject of conversation. If a stranger asked the price of bread, he was told, 'The Son is subject to the Father;' if a traveller asked for his bath, he was answered, ' The Son arose out of nothing.'t The Council of Nicsea condemned the Arian heresy in 327 a.d. ; but the East remained
* Chrysostom says that the Eucharist and other rites of the Church were parodied on the stage (' In Matt./ Horn. vi. 8). Gregory of Nazianzen says that the ridicule of a Christian was a favourite subject in comedies.
t ' Christian Institutions,' p. 297. Gregory Naz., Or., 22-27. Gregory Nyssa, ' De Deitate Filii.'
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 275
Arian at heart, and the controversy did not cease until the death of the last Arian emperor, Valens, in 378 a.d. Soon after, two other councils resulted in the separa- tion of East and West — Italy and Egypt against Syria and Persia — a schism which has never been healed. Western Syria was chiefly under the influence of ideas which had come down from the Ebionite Church of the second century. Eastern Syria and Persia were in like manner influenced by the early heresies of the Men- daites. The first, as we have seen, regarded Christ only as a prophet ; the latter sect considered Him to have been a divine phantom, inspiring for a time a human Jesus. Thus, at the beginning of the fifth century, arose the Syrian and the Nestorian Churches. Eutyches, supported by the second Council of Ephesus in 449 a.d., was condemned at Scutari (Chalcedon) in 451 a.d.; but his dogma of the oneness of Christ's nature (the Monophysite heresy) survived, and in the sixth century Jacob Baradseus, who died as Bishop of Edessa in 578 a.d., converted the Syrian (or Jacobite), the Armenian, the Coptic, and Abyssinian Churches to the Eutychian creed. The Syrians, who in 451 a.d. deserted Eutyches and took the side of the emperor, were nick- named Melchites, or Royalists ; from them is descended the Greek Catholic sect which now pays allegiance to Rome. Syrians and Melchites are now alike decaying sects among a larger population of Orthodox Greeks and Latins, whose schism depends on the dignity, not of the Son, but of the Holy Spirit.* The condemnation
0 Even as late as the seventh or eighth century the Filioque clause is absent from MSS. of the creed of the Church of Gaul
l8—2
276 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of Nestorius and the schism of the Persian Church occurred earlier, since the first Council of Ephesus, in 431 a.d., through the energy (and, it is said, the un- scrupulousness) of Cyril, cast out these later disciples of Cerinthus from the bosom of the Church. It is to the Nestorians, however, that the spread of Christianity eastwards is due. In the fourth century Chrysostom already speaks of Christians in China, in India, and even in Taprobane, or Ceylon. ('Contra Judaeos et Gentiles,' 6, and 12).
It is necessary to refer to these controversies, since they affected the language, literature, and alphabets of the sects thus originating. The doctrines of the Western Church were never regarded by Syrians as of absolute authority. Even Cyril of Jerusalem was a semi-Arian, and his dislike of the Homoousion formula led to his persecution as an Arian, while his moderation led again to his exile by an Arian emperor. Modera- tion and conciliation were indeed of little avail among the fanatics of the fourth century.*
The higher thought of the age, as preserved in the
(Mabillon's ' Musasum Italicum,' p. 376, quoted by Lundy, ' Monu- mental Christianity,' p. 350). The schism produced by the wars against images was made complete by the Popes in 774-800 A.D., and was aggravated in 1054 A.D., when the Pope sent his anathema to Constantinople : the rupture of East and West was consum- mated when the Venetians and the French seized Constantinople and drove out the Greeks in 1203-4 A.D.
0 The end of the world was still expected very shortly to occur in 348 a.d. Cyril says that the ' sign of the Son of man ' was to be a luminous cross visible in the sky (' Catech. Lect.,' xv. 22), and this appearance he believed to be observable on the 7th of May, 351 a.d. See ' Letter of Cyril to Constantine.'
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 277
writings of Jerome, Chrysostom, or Cyril of Jerusalem, was, however, far beyond the intellectual powers of the masses. The popular religion is pourtrayed by the fathers in a manner which shows it to have been exactly similar to that of the modern Syrian or Italian peasantry. Superstition and profanity existed side by side, and the most fanatical were in some cases also the most licentious. The religious ideas of monks, nuns, hermits, pilgrims, and of the ordinary unbaptized congregations, were regarded with pity and horror by the leaders of the age, and the strange heresies of the time are equally instructive when compared with their existing survivals in Syria.
In 341 A.D., the Egyptian monks — followers of Antony, first began to appear in Rome, and towards the close of the century Jerome speaks of their being numerous in Palestine.* He has himself described the life of Hilarion, his visit to the hermits in the Theban desert, his sojourn in Palestine and Cyprus, with the marvellous monsters, satyrs, centaurs, and the like, which he encountered. The Coenobites, or monks living in monasteries, are distinguished from the more venerated Anchorites living alone in inaccessible caves in the desert. These caves and the rock-hewn graves of the hermits are found in all parts of Syria, from Antioch to Masada, from Heshbon to Philistia. The stone bed, the crosses cut on the walls, the short texts, such as that in the hermit's cave at Masada,t attest
0 Hieron., Ep. xxxviii. ad Pammach. : 'Tantum fratrum multi- tudinem et monachorum choros.'
f Discovered in 1875. Thel word 'Kuriakos' in Greek letters with a cross. There is also a Byzantine chapel at Masada (Sebbeh).
278 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
their character. Still at Jericho the Georgian hermits remain in their cells on the cliff of Quarantania, and even in Moab the caves of anchorites occur. At Jerusalem they took possession of the rock-cut tombs on the east side of the Kedron, and the crosses which they cut on the walls may still be seen. In 391 a.d. St. Simeon was born, in 422 he mounted his pillar, east of Antioch, and on it he died in 459. The Order of the Stylites followed his example, and the solitary pillars found in the plains of Baalbek and Acre are very probably the witnesses of similar austerities. The hermits who sat in silence, gazing at their stomachs until they saw thence issuing the ' light of Tabor,' belong also to the fifth century; but such practices had been common centuries before the Christian era among the Buddhist and Hindu hermits dwelling in Bactrian caves ; nor was the martyrdom of Stylites an invention of his own.*
The practice of allowing ' subintroduced sisters ' to live in the houses of the celibates, though originating in the extravagances of the Theban hermitages, is said to have been peculiar to Antioch.i* It is strongly condemned by Chrysostom, and led to scandals not
Monasteries seem often to have grown up round the cell of some famous hermit like Hilarion, or Simeon Stylites, or St. Saba.
* In the account of the pagan temple at Hierapolis, sometimes attributed to Lucian, mention is made of two phalli or obelisks, to the top of which men ascended twice a year and remained for seven days. This temple was not far from the site of the monastery of Simeon Stylites.
t See ' St. Chrysostom's Religion of his Age,' S.P.C.K., 1876, p. 99 ; Eusebius, ' Hist. Eccles.,' vii. 30 ; Chrysostom, ' Contra eos qui subintroductas habent virgines opusc ' ; Cyprian, Epist. IV.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 279
less disgraceful than those which arose from the practice of the kiss of peace at the Eucharistic ceremony.* The pilgrimages also were not free from scandalous abuses, and the gross superstition of the age is perhaps most plainly traceable in the contemporary records of visits to holy places. The growth of traditional sites, of wondrous relics, and of superstitious practices, steadily increases from the year 326 A.D., when Helena, mother of Constantine, visited the sites of the Nativity and of the Ascension. Jerome speaks of pilgrims from Egypt, Persia, Ethiopia, and India, and even from Gaul and Britain. In 333 A.D., a nameless pilgrim comes from Bordeaux; and even in the third century a female pilgrim is mentioned by Cyprian as visiting the Holy Land. Chrysostom tells us that some pilgrims visited the dunghill of Job in Arabia — probably the site in the Hauran noticed in the last chapter ; and that Noah's ark was still to be seen on a mountain in Armenia. Lot's wife also, from an early period, is men- tioned as standing by the western shores of the Dead Sea, and Antoninus Martyr is careful to combat the idea that the pillar of salt was destroyed through its constant licking by animals.^
0 The Agapae, or love-feasts, were still a source of scandal in the Church (cf. Jude 12). Augustin ('Epist.,' 29) says that they had been substituted for pagan feasts. Paulinus of Nola says they went on all night, and that libations of wine were poured on saints' tombs. The celebration of Agapae in churches was forbidden by the Council of Laodicea, but they were not entirely suppressed till the seventh century. Tertullian already condemned them in the third century (De Jejuniis, 17).
t Irenaeus also (IV. xxxi. 3) mentions Lot's wife as a pillar still standing. Tertullian and Cyprian preserve a very curious Latin
280 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The wonders seen by the pilgrims continually in- creased. The cross said to have been found by Helena was distributed all over the world before St. Cyril began to preach in Jerusalem in 347 a.d.* Pieces were worn as ornaments set in gold, and the sign of the cross was stained on the foreheads even of kings. In 383 a.d., however, Sta. Paula worshipped before the true cross in Jerusalem, and the story of its miraculous discovery is as old as 410 a.d. (as mentioned by Rufinus), and is also credited by Theodoret in 440 a.d.
In 451 a.d. the miraculous blood of St. Euphemia, taken in times of emergency on a sponge from her tomb at Scutari by the Archbishop of Constantinople, is noticed.t In the same century (427-440) Eucherius saw on Mount Zion the pillar to which our Lord was bound, and which, melting like wax, received the print of His hands. Jerome in 383 a.d. says that the blood of Christ could still be seen on this pillar, which had originally stood, it seems, in the Pretorium. The lance, the crown of thorns, the stone which killed St. Stephen, were also shown in the fifth century. Antony in the sixth century saw the footprint of Christ in the Temple enclosure, just where it is still shown in our own times ; and the number of these marvels increasing with time, offered ever new inducements to pilgrims to visit the
hymn on the subject (cf. Anton. Martyr, xv.). It seems possibly to be the natural pinnacle now called Karnet Sahsul Hameid to which these writers refer, as I have pointed out previously. The feminine nature of this statue was supposed to be still perceptible, in spite of petrification.
0 ' Catech. Lect.,' iv. 10, and xiii. 4.
t 'Christian Institutions,' p. 322.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. . 281
holy places.* The sale of relics, which appears to have commenced even in the second century, developed into a regular trade in the fourth and fifth, and the tombs of saints miraculously discovered (as was that of St. Stephen in the fifth century) yielded constant fresh supplies of holy bones and other remains.
The minor heresies of the age were innumerable. Some heretics, who believed in transmigration and wore yellow robes, in Syria,t seem to have been akin to the Buddhists. The Docetae, Valentinians, Marcionites, Anthropomorphites, Sabellians, Anomaeans, Paulians, Melchisedekites, Cathari or Novatians, and the Mon- tanists, were all still in existence ; but the wrath of the Syrian fathers is chiefly roused by the errors of the later followers of Manes. This heretic, as already noticed, was remarkable for his acquaintance with Buddhism and with the religion of Persia. He was skinned alive ; but his disciples, Thomas, Baddas (or Buddha), and Hermas, spread abroad his dogmas. The
0 The footprint in the Aksa is still called ' the footprint of our Lord Jesus.' Jerome mentions a footprint of Christ in the round church on Olivet. This is also still shown. The footprint now shown as that of Muhammad beside the Sakhrah was also called a footprint of Christ by the Crusaders. Footprints of Adam and other Old Testament characters and of famous Nebys occur else- where in Palestine. Footprints of Buddha are common in the East. Herodptus (iv. 82) mentions a footprint of Hercules two cubits long on a rock in Scythia.
f Chrysostom, ' In diem Natalem,' Horn. 6, and ' In Gen.,' Sermo i. 3. The fact that so many heretical sects were tinged with Buddhism, especially the Manicheans, renders it easy to under- stand how St. John of Damascus (eighth century) possessed the legend of the life of Buddha, as mentioned by Max Miiller.
282 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
doctrines of the Manicheans serve to explain the origin of that part of the Druze creed which is founded on Christian heresy. Cyril accuses the Manicheans of practices which he is ashamed to describe — probably connected with Nature-worship. He says that they identified Christ with the sun.* In Justinian's time a fierce persecution of the Manicheans took place in Syria, and in the fifth century they were also attacked. They reappeared, however, in Asia Minor in the seventh century as Paulicians ; and at Tephrice, near Trebizond, they held the mountains till 880 A.D., when Basil the Macedonian drove them out. In the middle of the eighth century Constantine Copronymus trans- planted a colony of Armenian Paulicians to Thrace, where they were increased by others from the valleys of the Caucasus in the tenth century. They there con- verted the Bulgarians, and spread to Sicily, Rome, Milan, and France. In the twelfth century the Albi- genses in France derived their dogmas from these heretics, and no doubt also from the Gnosticism of the Manichean Priscillian (in the fourth century), Bishop of Avila, in Spain. Gnosticism had found its way to Gaul in the time of Irenseus, and Jerome speaks of the heresy of the great Gnostic Basilides, in Spain. Thus, side by side with the orthodoxy of Greek and Latin Churches, the great Manichean system, com- bining Christianity, Buddhism, and Mazdean ideas in one syncretic doctrine, flourished in the Byzantine age from Persia to Spain, in spite of persecution by Arian and orthodox emperors alike.*)"
0 ' Catech. Lect.,' vi. 12, 13, 23, 23 ', xv. 3. f See Gibbon, chap. liv.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 283
Even among the congregations of Cyril and of Chrysostom ancient pagan superstitions were rife. Paganism was the state religion until 313 A.D., when Constantius issued the edict of general toleration — half the Easterns being then probably Christians and half Pagans by profession. It was not until 380 a.d. that the Pagans were persecuted. In 390 a.d. the temples were wrecked by the monks, yet in the remote corners of the country they continued to exist down to the fifth and even the sixth century. In the latter half of the fourth century Chrysostom says that only a few temples re- mained, chiefly visited by old women and children. The Emperor Julian, about the middle of the century, found the famous shrine at Daphne sadly deserted. His attempt to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple in 362 a.d. failed. Whether the Jewish or the Pagan rites were to have been here restored is not clear, but the statue of Hadrian and that of Jupiter still remained in the time of Jerome in the Temple enclosure.* Jerome also and Eusebius speak of a temple of Venus erected by Hadrian over the Holy Sepulchre ; and even seventy years after the discovery of the Cross Jerome alludes to a marble statue of Venus on the Rock of the Cross, and to a statue of Jupiter over the place of the Resurrection, both of which he attributes to Hadrian. f
0 Jerome, ' Comm. in Isaiam,' ii. 8 ; ' Comm. in Matt.,' xxiv. 15. Cf. Bordeaux Pilgrim.
f Eusebius, 'Vita Constantini,' iii. 26. Jerome, 'Ep. 49 ad Paulin.' Sozomen (middle of fifth century) repeats this account (' Hist. Eccles.,' ii. 1). It is unnecessary here to speak of the controversy as to the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre at any great length. Helena
284 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
At Bethlehem also there was a temple of Adonis in the fourth century. Cyril speaks of the grove which had once existed at Bethlehem, and which seems still to have remained in Jerome's time. It is supposed that Hadrian had planted it round a temple of Adonis. The description given by Jerome would lead us to suppose that the rites of Adonis were celebrated in the cave now shown as the Grotto of the Nativity.* This
visited Jerusalem in 326 A.D., but the story of the finding of the Cross is not found in any history before 410 A.D. (Rufinus) and 440 A.D. (Theodoret). Still pieces of the true Cross had been dis- tributed before 347 A.D., as we learn from Cyril. This allows twenty years for the tradition to grow up. Eusebius says that Constantine came unexpectedly on the Holy Tomb after destroying the pagan temple above it. There is nothing to show any continuous tradi- tion of the site between the year 30 A.D. and 326 A.D., nearly 300 years ; and the dishonesty of the bishops of the Eastern Church in the fourth century is generally admitted to have been so notorious, that we cannot feel any confidence in their representations to Constantine as to the locality of the site. Pious fraud was tolerated by even the greatest and most honest men of the age, as, for example, St. Chrysostom. The identification of a site mentioned by Byzantine pilgrims does not bring us of necessity any nearer the discovery of the true site. The pilgrims were often notoriously wrong. Thus the Bordeaux Pilgrim makes David kill Goliath in Lower Galilee, near Gilboa ('Ain Jalud), while Antony of Piacenza is quite ignorant of the true site of Zoan. The apocryphal gospels are often followed by these pilgrims, and many obscure references can be traced by comparison with these gospels. The Bordeaux Pilgrim makes the Transfiguration occur on Olivet, and Antony of Piacenza follows the gospel of the Hebrews in localizing it on Mount Tabor.
0 Cyril, ' Catech. Lect.,' xii. 20. Jerome, 'Ep. ad Paulin,' 13 and 49 : Bethlehem nunc . . . lucus inumbret Thammus id est Adoni- dis, et in specu ubi quondam Christus parvulus vagiit Veneris amasius plangebatur.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 285
calls our attention to the strange mingling of Chris- tianity with Paganism which is noticeable in all countries during the dark ages. Thus the Church of St. Clement in Rome, built probably in the fourth century, stands over a Mithraeum. In Egypt the wor- ship of Serapis was mixed with that of Christ. In the north the missionaries of Pope Gregory the Great were instructed to reconsecrate Pagan temples to Chris- tianity, and the connection between dolmens and menhirs and the churches of France, Spain, and Scot- land show that these orders were carried into execution. We may suspect that the miracle of the Holy Fire at Jerusalem has an origin in some ancient fire-feast of the spring-time part of the ritual of the Venus Temple of Hadrian. This miracle is first noticed by a Christian pilgrim in 867 a.d., when Bernard the Wise states that an angel comes on Easter Eve and lights the lamps before the Sepulchre, of which light the patriarch gives shares to the bishops and congregation to carry to their homes. Jerome, in his ' Life of Hilarion,' men- tions the worship of Venus still practised at Elusa, which town is named from the Arab goddess Khalisah (' Refuge '), a form of the mother-goddess. There was a celebrated temple of Venus at Afka destroyed by Constantine in the fourth century, while others at Gaza remained until the beginning of the fifth century.* The Afka temple was built at the source of the
0 Gibbon quotes Eusebius (vii. 18) and Philostorgus (vii. 3) as to a bronze statue at Baneas existing about 300 a.d., with the title 1 Saviour.' The Christians supposed it to represent Our Lord, but the title was often given to Pagan gods, and to emperors.
286 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
river Adonis. The name Afka signifies a ! fountain,'
and it is here that from a rocky theatre the great
stream springs forth. Into the pool a star was said to
fall annually — the holy fire Urania* — thus rendering
fertile the river-water. The goddess was represented
mourning Adonis, her hands wrapped in her robe.-f*
The Syrian women offered their hair to this goddess.
The rites were abolished by Constantine on account of
the attendant immoralities, which were also associated
with the rites of Daphne, near Antioch, as mentioned
by Chrysostom.
The Gaza temples are described by St. Porphyry J in
the fourth century. There was a naked statue of Venus
on a marble altar in Gaza, which was much revered,
especially by women, who burned incense before it.
Marnas was the principal deity, to whom they prayed
for rain. The name Marnas stands, probably, for
Mar-na (' our lord '), and the Greeks identified him
with the Cretan Jupiter. There were eight temples in
Gaza — namely, of the Sun, of Venus, of Apollo, of
Proserpine, of Hecate, of Here, of Fortune, and of
Marna. The Temple of Marnas was round, with two
rows of pillars — perhaps a sort of cromlech. § These
temples were destroyed within the lifetime of Jerome, ||
0 Sozomen, ' Hist. Eccles.,' ii. 5.
f Macrobius, ' Sat.,' i. 21.
J ' Vita S. Porphyrii,' ix., Acta Sanctorum ; see Reland, ■ Pal.,' ii.
P. 793-
§ We are about to speak of the round churches of the sixth century. Even the word church (kirk), as' pointed out by Fergus- son, probably means ' circle ;' but this may be because the word originally applied to the Druidical circular temple.
|| Jerome, ' In Isaiam/ xvti.
THE BYZANTINE AGE.
287
r-jZ&*H,
and a church was built by Eudoxia in the middle of the
fifth century. Marnas was also known as Aldemios
(the Phoenician Baal Haldim, or
1 Lord of Ages '). It is probable
that the fine colossal statue of a
seated Jupiter discovered south
of Gaza, and now in the museum
at Constantinople, may be that
of Marnas.*
If we may trust the accounts of Christian writers of the age it would appear that human sacrifices were still offered in Syria in the fourth century. In Rome they were abolished A.u.c. 657, or 87 B.C. ; f but Tertullian speaks of such rites as still observed in Africa until the Roman governor Tiberius hanged the priests who per- formed them in their own sacred grove.| Eusebius says (on the authority of Porphyry) that a young girl used annually to be sacrificed at Laodicea in Syria.§ Chrysostom speaks of the practice of slaying slave children at a grave, in order that their souls might attend the dead
MARNAS.
?s Jerome and Eusebius, in the ' Onomasticon,' say that there was said to be a temple on the top of Hermon still visited by the natives of Paneas and of the Lebanon.
t Pliny, ' Hist. Nat.,' 30-2.
t Apol., 9.
§ ' Prasp. Evang.,3 iv. 11 ; Porphyry, ' De Abstinent.,' ii. 56.
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
man,* evidently a survival of a custom to which allu- sion has already been made in Phoenicia, and which is common to Zulus and Celts and Indians, as well as to early Semitic tribes. Cyril accuses the Montanists of chopping up small children and eating their flesh in the mysteries ;f but this charge, which had once been brought against Christians and Gnostics, and which was in later ages brought against the Templars, and down to 1881 against the Jews, may probably be con- sidered as a popular fallacy. It is, however, by no means improbable that Porphyry's statement as to the Arabs of Dumah may be true when he accuses them of sacrificing a child every year, and burying it at the foot of a menhir. %
Turning from avowed pagan customs to the super- stitions of the professed Christians, we are equally struck with the survival of paganism among them even in the latter half of the fourth century, and in the commencement of the fifth. § Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts those about to be baptized || to avoid idol temples, not to burn incense or light lamps at fountains
0 ' In Matt.,' Horn, xxviii. 2 ; * De Lazaro Concio.,' 1.
t ' Catech. Lect.,' xvi. 8.
$ Porphyry, ' De Abstinent.,' ii. The practice of infanticide among the Arabs was very common, girls being slain either as infants or even occasionally when grown up. Infanticide was common among the Gnostics. It is condemned both in the 1 Teaching of the Apostles ' and in the Koran. In Rome the exposure of infants was a common practice. The Patristic writers often condemn it (cf. Justin Martyr, 1 Apol. xxvii.).
§ The cruelties charged against sorcerers and those shown in punishment of sorcery are equally revolting. See ' Chrysostom's Picture of his Age,' S.P.C.K., 1875, P« 22-
II ' Catech. Lect./ xix. 8.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 289
or rivers in order to cure sickness, not to watch the movements of birds, nor to use amulets and omens, or charms written on leaves. He equally warns them against the allurements of shows, horse-races, hunting, the \ frantic dancing of effeminate men,' and the vanity of the theatre.
St. Chrysostom is still more explicit in his account of the superstitions of Antioch in the latter half of the fourth century.* It was thought unlucky, he tells us, to put on the left shoe before the right. Copper coins of Alexander were fastened to head and feet for luck. Old witches were consulted, and provided philtres. Lamps were lighted at a christening and given each a name, the last alight indicating the name to be given to the child. Amulets and written charms were placed on the children's heads as soon as they were born. Augury, the observation of times (as among the Akka- dians), and the employment of soothsayers are men- tioned. Bells were tied to the body of a child, and a scarlet thread round the baby's hand.t Christian
* See 'St. Chrysostom's Religion of his Age,' S.P.C.K., 1876, p. 131. St. Willibald (about 722 A.D.) speaks of the squeezing between two pillars in the church on Olivet to secure immortality. This same superstition survived down to 1882 in the Aksa Mosque, the pillars being worn thin by the rubbing of the bodies of pilgrims. I have squeezed through between them more than once. The prac- tice reminds us of one in Ripon Cathedral, and of superstitions connected with crawling through holes or trees or under dolmens, whether in India, Scotland, or elsewhere.
f Bells are commonly connected with superstitious practices. They were attached by the Romans to Priapic figures, and used in the rites of Bacchus, and as amulets with phalli (Payne Knight, edit. [876, p. 133).
19
290 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
mothers went to the witch for charms for their children, and copies of the Gospels were hung round the necks or on the beds of women and children. Those who met a funeral must make use of auspicious words. Lovers still offered libations to secure success. Chil- dren's faces were smeared with mud (as is still the practice) to guard against the evil eye or envious glance at their beauty. There is not one of these practices that may not perhaps still be noticed among the Christian peasantry of Palestine (and among Moslems), if not among the peasantry of Europe as well.*
The great wizards of the age were the Jews. Oaths sworn in the synagogue were held even by Christians to have particular sanctity, and to the Jews the people of Antioch resorted for amulets and charms.-f Nor is it only to Christian writers that we owe a knowledge of Jewish sorcery in this age. The Talmud of Babylon is full of folk-lore, and the six earthenware bowls filled with magic formulae, which have been found at Babylon, and which date between the fourth and seventh cen- turies A.D., were no doubt used in ceremonies of the black art. J Chrysostom tells us that on their fast- days (evidently at the time of Tabernacles), the Jews
0 Similar superstitions in Alexandria are noticed by Clement ('Strom./ viii. 4, etc.) ; and in Rome, in the first century, scepticism stood side by side with equally primitive superstition.
t Chrysost., ' Contra Judaeos Orat.,' i. 1, 3.
X See Taylor's ' Alphabet,' i., p. 275 ; Layard's ' Nineveh and Babylon,' pp. 509-526. The names of Satan, Nerig, Abitur, Lil, and of Barakiel, Ramie), Raamiel, Nehabiel, Sharmiel, Nadkiel, Damiel, Hachael, and Ashriel (the nine guardian angels), occur on these bowls.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 291
in Antioch danced barefooted in the forum, and that they collected so many actors and dancing women in their synagogues that they resembled theatres.* The persecution of the Jews had not yet become general, and under the Byzantine emperors they appear to have enjoyed considerable freedom. They were re- garded by Christians apparently with less hatred than were the Manicheans and other Christian heretics.
The Samaritans appear to have been very powerful even in the seventh century. If we may trust the Samaritan Chronicle, their organization shows them . to have existed in all parts of Syria save near Jeru- salem.f About 529 A.D. they massacred the Christians in Nablus, and were punished by Justinian. From that time the decline of their power seems to have commenced, but they existed still at Damascus, Gaza, and Alexandria down to modern times.
We must pause for a moment to consider the prin- cipal Jewish production of the age — the Babylonian Gemara or * completion ' of the Mishnah, which was written about 500 a.d., for in this work we trace the growth of superstition among the Oriental Jews, and the influence upon them of Persia and of India.
The story of the Shamir, or worm which cut the Temple stones, famous in the Middle Ages, is one of the legends of the Babylonian Talmud. I The demon who knows the secret of its capture is Ashmedai or
• 'Adv. Judseos Oratio,' 1, 2, and 4. See Chap. V. as to the dancing at the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem, p. 188.
t See my paper on ' Samaritan Topography ' in the ' Memoirs ' (volume of Special Papers).
% Tal. Bab., ' Gittin,' 6Sa, b.
19 — 2
292 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Asmodeus, evidently the Persian Aeshma Daeva, 'the raging fiend ' of the Zendavesta. We have here an indication of Persian influence on the Babylonian Jews, at a time when the Mazdean creed was the established faith in Babylonia. In the same way the ' Bereshith Rabba ' contains in a mutilated form the beautiful Persian legend of the fate of the soul after death, when, seated on the gravestone, it awaits the good or evil angel produced by its own thought, word, and deed.* The superstition as to nail-parings mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud t seems also connected with that recorded in the Zendavesta. Treading on a nail- paring was treading on dead matter, which defiled the living. To the present day Jewish women hide the nail-parings. The Esthonians believed that nail- parings, if not blessed, formed the visor of the devil's helmet, and in the Edda we read of a ship with demon crew sailing earthwards in the last day, and built entirely of dead men's nails.
The demons of the Talmud are the same in which the Akkadians and the Babylonians believed, as well as the Mendaites, or heretical Christians of Mesopo- tamia. Thus Lil ('the night ') and his consort Lilith are common to Jews, Babylonians, and Mendaites ; and the name Lil, as we have seen, occurs on the magic bowls from Babylon. The references to innu- merable demons in the Talmud show how large a part their existence occupied in Jewish belief, and prepare us for the statements of Christian writers concerning
* c Bereshith Rabba,' ch. ioo ; ■ Hadhokht Nask,' Zendavesta. t T. B., 'Moed Katon,' iSaj 'Vendidad,' xvii. i-io.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 293
the necromancy and astrology of the Jews in the Byzantine age. Witches, ghosts, the evil eye, astro- logy, the distinction of various kinds of fire (as among Persians), are frequently mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud ; and even the superstition about sleeping north and south may be traced to the same source.*
But besides these common and very ancient super- stitions, there are others which seem to indicate some knowledge of Indian ideas. We know that the Buddhists of Bactria had established themselves in Persia long before this time. We need not, therefore, feel astonished that the doctrine of transmigration forms part of the philosophy of the Babylonian Talmud ; or that the fables of Rabbi Meir are those of the Buddhist Jataka tales. Already, in the sixth century, we have a Syriac translation of Indian fables, and no doubt they were known in Persia long before the Babylonian Talmud was written. t It is impossible here to enlarge further on the origin of the Talmudic folk-lore tales and myths ; but the attempt once made to find an origin for Chris- tian and European ideas in the Hagadah of the Baby- lonian Talmud evinces a very narrow acquaintance with the literature of the East.
0 T. B., ' Beracoth/ 5^.
f The stories of ' The Fox in the Well/ ' The Man with Two Wives/ ' The Lame Man Carried by the Blind/ ' The Ring in the Fish's Mouth/ are instances. They reappear in many Indian and European folk-tales ; but their real origin is in the Indian parables, perhaps as early as 600 B.C. (see Max Miiller's * Selected Essays/ i., pp. 500-576). Other stories concerning Alexander the Great found in the Talmud resemble those of the ' Pseudo-Callisthenes/ and of the ' Shah Nama ' (Derenbourg, ' Pal. according to Talmuds/ p. 44).
294 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Turning from the consideration of the social and religious condition of Syria in the Byzantine age, we must now review the organization, civil and religious, of the country, its architecture, art, literature, and trade.
The political division of the country may be judged from the ' Notitise' collected by Reland.* The old roads
0 Reland (c Pal. Illustr.,' i., p. 229) gives the stations of the military forces, including equites, cohorts, and headquarters or prefects of the 10th Legion (Fretensis), and of the 3rd Legion (Gallicae). Some of the troops were native ; others were from Africa (Carthage, Cyrene, Egypt, etc.) ; others from Europe (Spain, Thrace, Gaul, Germany, Saxony, etc.,) ; others from Asia Minor (Phrygia, Galatia, etc.). Saracenic horsemen, a dromedary corps, a Cretan cohort placed near the Jordan, and a cohort from Arabia Felix, are noticed. There was evidently a great mixture of races in Syria during this period. Many of the stations are difficult to identify, because of the errors of copyists in the enumeration. The following places are tolerably certain, occurring in the order given : Beersheba, Minieh (further west), Carmel (of Judah), Jerusalem, Bethshemesh (of Judah), Zuweirah, Aila (or Akabah), Terkumieh, 'Ain Jidy, Khan Lubban, Tibneh, Haditheh, R. Arnon, 'Attarah, Palmyra, etc. These places, except the headquarters at Arnon and Palmyra, seem to have been chiefly in the south of Palestine.
The patriarchate of Jerusalem was established in 451 a.d. by the Council of Chalcedon. The bishoprics in the fifth century are given by Reland (' Pal. Illust., i. 205 et seq.) ; they included the following :
Palestina Prima.
Judea a?id Sain aria.
./Elia, or Jerusalem. Ascalon.
Anthedon, south of Gaza. Azotus Maritima.
Antipatris. Azotus Hippos (Esdud).
Apathus. Bitellium (Bethel).
Araclea (? Archelais). Baschat.
THE BYZANTINE AGE.
295
of the Antonine period appear to have been kept up, and the milestones are often noticed by Jerome. Along
Caesarea (Pal.).
Diocletianopolis.
Lydda.
Dora.
Eleutheropolis.
Gadara.
Gaza.
Gerara.
Jericho.
Jamnia.
Joppa.
Majuma Gazae (el Mineh).
Majuma Ascalonis.
Minois (Minieh).
Neapolis.
Nicopolis (Amwas).
Onus (Kefr 'Ana).
Raphia.
Sebaste.
Sozuza (Deir Serur).
Sycamazon (T. es Semak).
Toxus.
Tricomias (Terkumieh).
Abila.
Capercotia (Kefr Kud).
Capitolias.
Diocaesarea.
Gadas (? Kades).
Gadara.
Gaulame Clima (Jaulan).
Helenopolis.
Hippos.
Palestina Secunda. Galilee and East of Jordan.
Maximianopolis (Rummaneh).
Mennith (Minieh).
Nais (? Nain).
Pella (Fahil).
Scythopolis.
Tetracomias.
Tiberias.
Zabulon (? Neby Sebelan).
Palestina TexItia. In the South (Edom and Moab).
Aila ('Akabah).
Areopolis.
Arindela.
Augustopolis.
Birosaba.
Characmoba (Kerak).
Eluza (Khalasah).
Mamopsora.
Mapse.
Mitrocomia.
Pentacomia.
Petra.
Pharan (Feiran).
Phaenon.
Rabbath Moba.
Saltus Hieraticus (Salt).
Sodoma.
Zoara (? Zuweirah).
296 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
these roads the Roman troops were quartered, and in Syria the Gaul, the Saxon, the Phrygian, and Thracian met with troops from Egypt and Carthage, from Spain, or from Arabia Felix.
The ecclesiastical division of the country was into three provinces for Palestine proper, each containing certain episcopal towns, most of which are easily iden- tified. They are very numerous, considering the extent of the country ; but the organization appears to have been less elaborate than that of the twelfth century. The regions of Phoenicia and Syria contained an equal number of bishoprics, and the enormous number of small chapels found throughout Syria, and apparently built in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, reminds us how Chrysostom considered that every rich man should build a church on his estate. It is to the piety of such landowners, no doubt, that these small estab- lishments— a chapel and a monastery for a few Coeno- bites— are due.
Churches proper only began to be built on the establishment of Christianity by Constantine.* The
There were thus at least sixty-eight bishoprics in Palestine, besides all those in Phoenicia and in Syria. Bishops had not, however, as yet attained to the distinction which definitely separated them from presbyters of the Church- Chrysostom states that formerly the chief difference was that only bishops could ordain (' In i Tim.,' Horn. xiii. i). Bishops might be laymen, and were chosen by the congregation of the parish or diocese.
0 Traditionally the double church of the Apostles on Mount Sion is said to be the oldest. Cyril speaks of it as existing in 348 a.d. It was supposed to have been built in the second century. It is called ' Mother of all Churches ' by Theodorus
THE BYZANTINE AGE.
297
basilica at Bethlehem, partly still existing; that of Jerusalem, now alrnost entirely destroyed ; and that of St. Clement, at Rome (built, it is said, over an old Mithraeum), claim to be among the oldest churches in the world. The Bethlehem basilica was built about 330 A.D., and that at Jerusalem was completed about five years later. The basilica, originally constructed
CHURCH OF NATIVITY, BETHLEHEM.
for the administration of civil justice, was found a con- venient structure for the rites of the Church. We have an example of a pagan basilica at Jerash, beyond Jordan, of the second or third century. The judge used to sit on a platform in the apse, and apparently
(530 A.D.). It appears to have been generally called Hagia Sion, and the tombs of the attached Coenobites are still to be seen in the valley south of Jerusalem.
298 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
was concealed by curtains while reflecting on his judg- ment.* The vessels of the Christian mysteries were in like manner concealed in the basilicas by curtains across the apse ; for the celebration of the Eucharist was only permitted in presence of the initiated,*)* the unbaptized portion of the congregation being sent out of the basilica by the deacons, and the doors being closed before the ceremony of the Communion com- menced. The bishop on his throne sat behind the table (first of wood, but in the sixth century of stone), which stood, with a cross on it, near the front of the apse ;t and the floor of the apse seems sometimes to have been raised (as it still is at Bethlehem) above the level of the rest of the basilica.
In the Jerusalem basilica there appear to have been three small apses, or recesses in the wall of the apse ; and somewhat the same arrangement is found at Beth- lehem— where, however, the choir is said by Professor H. Lewis to be later than the body of the basilica ; it may, nevertheless, preserve the original plan.§ In the smaller examples found throughout Syria there are sometimes two small apses, or square chapels, at the east ends of the aisles, the central apse being the breadth of the nave. At the west end the basilica was
0 Chrysostom, ' In Matt./ Horn. xlii. 4.
■j* Chrysostom, ' Contra Judasos et Gentiles.'
£ See ' Christian Institutions,' p. 181. The table was sometimes silver-plated, with a covering spangled with gold. In Chrysostom's church the table was already made of stone. — ' Chrysostom's Picture of the Religion of his Age,' p. 22.
§ De Vogue" (' Eglises,' p. 61) gives reasons for rejecting the attri- bution of this basilica to Justinian, only found in Eutychius, writing about 937 A.D.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 299
entered by one or more doors, often through a narthex or narrow porch. In this porch the unbaptized might stand,* or the lunatics, who at a certain period of the service were conducted to the east end of the basilica, and made to bow to the table or altar.t It seems probable that in some cases the basilicas had galleries for the women. The separation of the sexes in church was strictly observed, and at least in the case of St. Sophia, at Constantinople,]: we know that the spacious galleries were built for the purpose of accom- modating the female congregation. § , The basilicas do not appear to have contained fonts for the purpose of baptism. This rite was most fre- quently celebrated by full-grown persons ; and, indeed, it was often delayed almost to the end of life, because it was very generally held that the remission of sins
0 The atrium, or open court with colonnade, west of the narthex (as at Jerusalem and Bethlehem) was the resort of the beggars and of the thieves, who even stole the women's jewels in church. The congregation washed at a fountain outside the church before service, like Moslems entering a mosque (' Chrysostom's Picture of the Religion of his Age/ p. 24). The congregation kissed the porch on entering and crossed themselves frequently during the service, just as Russian pilgrims still kiss the door of the cathedral and cross themselves incessantly. The congregation seem, however, to have indulged in talking and laughing and flirting, even during sermons.
f Chrysostom, ' In Matt./ Horn. lxxi. 4.
% Procopius, * De yEdificiis Justiniani.' Cf. ' Christian Institu- tions/ p. 298. In other cases there was a boarded partition for women. — Chrysostom, ' In Matt./ Horn, lxxiii. 3.
§ Votive offerings were suspended to the walls by silver chains. Silver rails (cancelli) enclosed sacred shrines, or parted the choir from the congregation. From these it seems the Chancellor took his title. These rails are noticed by pilgrim writers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
3od SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
by baptism could only absolve from those committed before the rite. This accounts for Constantine's only having been baptized just before his death, and for the large proportion of unbaptized persons who were found, it would seem, in the congregations of Cyril or of Chrysostom.
Baptism was administered in special buildings or in large pools, probably near the churches. The ordinary season of the year for baptism was Easter, and the Eastern rite is distinctly described by Cyril and by other Oriental fathers.* It took place at midnight, the baptistry 'being lighted with torches. Turning to the west in the outer hall the candidates renounced the devil. They were anointed with holy oil from head to foot, and it is clear that often, if not always, they were quite naked.*!* The women were baptized by them- selves, by deaconesses. The candidates descended thrice into the great pool after confessing the Trinity. After this bathing they received the chrism, or holy unction, on the forehead, ears, nostrils, and breast.
Baptism also occurred annually in Jordan.]; In
0 ' Catech. Leek/ xix., xx., xxi.
•j* Cyril, ' Catech. Lect.,' xx. 2, 3 : ' Having stripped yourselves ye were naked. . . . When ye were stripped ye were anointed with exorcised oil from the very hairs of your head to your feet/ The nuns who had undressed for baptism were turned out naked into the streets during a riot at Antioch. — Chrysostom, ' Ad Inno- centium,' Epist. 3.
% Probably the annual festival at Naples, when it is customary to jump into the sea, may be connected with this ancient ceremony of baptism. The Christians of Syria in the second century baptized in running water (' Teaching of Apostles,' vii.), and only sprinkled when water was very scarce.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 301
600 a.d. the rite took place at Epiphany, and a miraculous stoppage of the stream was supposed to occur. The river was blessed, and the Alexandrian Christians flung baskets full of spices into the water, and took away water to sprinkle their ships before leaving port (Anton. Martyr., xi.). This rite recalls many superstitious offerings to rivers and to the sea, from the days when Hea was propitiated by golden fishes thrown into the Persian Gulf, down to the wedding of the Adriatic by the Venetian doges. Similar rites survive in Egypt, in India, and in many other countries.
The place of baptism at Jerusalem appears to have been the pool called Hammam el Batrak (' the Patriarch's bath'), west of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is remarkable that the numerous fine Byzantine monasteries with attached chapels, found in Palestine, seem generally to have a large tank near at hand. Possibly these tanks were used at Eastertide as places of baptism.
The architectural style of Constantine's churches in the East appears to have approached to that of the classic buildings of the second and third centuries. We may judge by the existing columns of the Bethlehem basilica, and this example is perhaps a better guide than any of the buildings which he erected in the West. When we turn to consider the work of Justinian's age, which may be recognised in Jerusalem, on Gerizim, and round Antioch, we become aware of a considerable change both in the forms of the buildings and in the archi- tectural details. We must therefore consider for a
302 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
moment the Church of the Virgin at Jerusalem, the church built by Zeno on Gerizim, and the monastery of Kal'at Sim'an in Northern Syria.*
0 The following are the approximate dates of the Jerusalem churches of the Byzantine age, serving to show the gradual growth of sacred places :
St. Sion, supposed to have been built in the second century on
the site of the Last Supper. Ascension, on Olivet, existing in 233 A-D. (Bordeaux Pilgrim). Anastasis, completed 335 a.d. Gethsemane, fourth century (' Onomasticon '). Tomb of Virgin. Tomb noticed 390-450 A.D. ; church, 530 A.D. St. Stephen, built by Eudoxia 450-461 a.d. St. Simeon (south-east corner of Haram), mentioned 530 a.d. St. Mary, completed 532 a.d. (now El Aksa). St. Pelagia, mentioned 530 A.D., on Olivet. St. Mary in Probatica, mentioned 530 A.D. St. Sophia, apparently adjoined St. Mary : mentioned 600 A.D. St. Anne, mentioned 600 a.d.
Subsequently in the Moslem age apparently were added :
Chapel of the Credo, mentioned 680 a.d.
Chapel of the Agony, mentioned 867 a.d.
St. John, on Olivet, mentioned 867 a.d.
St. Leon, in Valley of Jehosaphat, mentioned 867 a.d.
Gallicantus, on Sion, mentioned 867 a.d. Perhaps the St. Peter
of 530 A.D. St. Mary Latina, founded by Charlemagne after 809 a.d.
The traditional sites in like manner increase as time goes on. Thus at Jerusalem we have the following :
Fourth century.— Lapis pertusus, tomb of Adam, Gethsemane, Ascension, footprint of Christ on Olivet, Holy Sepulchre, Calvary, Inventio Cruris, Solomon's, palace, Paternoster and Credo, Lapis traditionis, tombs of Hezekiah and Isaiah, Bethesda, the pillar on Sion.
Fifth century. — Tomb of the Virgin, crown of thorns, the lance.
Sixth century. — Pinna Templi as place of St. James's death,
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 303
Constantine's churches were basilicas as a rule,* though Jerome mentions the Church of the Ascension on Olivet as being round, with the footprints of Christ in the centre. Round and polygonal buildings also occur in the fourth century as tombs or baptistries ; but in the sixth century round or polygonal churches often take the place of the older basilica. The octagonal baptistery of St. Giovanni, attributed to Con- stantine, is a doubtful instance, as it is thought not to be older than 430 a.d. On the other hand the Church
tomb of St. James, St. Pelagia, St. Sophia, footprint of Christ in the Church of St. Sophia.
Seventh century.— St. Anne's house.
Several of the traditions were continually changing, such as Bethesda, the Pretorium, the stoning of Stephen, etc.
0 Byzantine churches east of Jordan are comparatively rare, perhaps because there were no sites connected with the New Testament in this district. At Amman there are two chapels and a basilica ; but the latter may be pagan, perhaps. At Gerasa there are remains of a church in addition to the pagan basilica.
In the Hauran we have already seen that monasteries — possibly with chapels — seem to have been built very early. In Moab, however, the latest ruins — save a few Byzantine remains near Mount Nebo — are generally of the pagan age ; and there is very little that is Crusading outside the castles of Monreal, Kerak, Rubad, and Salt. There are remains, however, of a large basilica at Madeba, and a lintel with a Greek cross occurs in these ruins. There appears also to have been a little chapel in Wady Judeideh, west of this city. The curious rock-cut monastery, called Ed Deir, in Wady es Sir, is also probably of the Byzantine age.
The semicircular temple at Baalbek was used as a church — it is said locally of St. Barbara — probably in Byzantine times. In 1 88 1 I found on the walls a Greek cross in circle, with the legend, 'En touto nike.' There is also a large basilica, erected by Theodosius, in the court of the Great Temple.
304 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of St. Mary, built by Justinian at Jerusalem in 532 a.d., has been restored by De Vogue from the existing remains in the Aksa Mosque as a basilica. The account given by Procopius is indefinite, though lengthy. He men- tions, however, the porch or narthex. The best evidence is afforded by the style of the capitals in El Aksa, which seem clearly of the same age with those of the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. De Vogue has pointed out that those forming the original aisles of the church can be distinguished among the additional pillars placed when the building was widened by the Crusaders and Arabs, and when the Crusading apses were built on the East.
The character of the capitals and cornices leads us to the supposition that the Golden Gate on the east wall of the Haram was also built or rebuilt by Justinian.* This is the opinion of De Vogue after careful com- parison with existing buildings of the same age in Northern Syria, and there is a strong resemblance in some of the details of the Hagia Sophia and of the Golden Gateway. The first distinct reference to this gateway known in any ancient writer is found in Saewulfs account (1102 a.d.): he attributes it to an age earlier than that of Heraclius (629 a.d.). Antony of Piacenza (600 a.d.) also seems to allude to the same structure.
The church built by the Emperor Zeno on Gerizim
0 De Vogue*, who studied this question very carefully, says (' Temple de Jerusalem,' p. 68), ■ II ne peut done subsister aucun doute quant a Page de la Porte Dore'e. Cest un monument Byzantin construit au plus tard pendant le vie siecle.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 305
_ — 1 •
(about 474 a.d.) was enclosed in a square fortress by Justinian.* The church is octagonal, with an apse on the east, and with five side chapels basilica-shaped. This curious arrangement approaches that of St. Vitale at Ravenna (dating in the latter half of the sixth century), and recalls the porch of the octagonal baptistery of Constantine (of about the same age) ; but in these cases only one oblong structure is added to the polygon, whereas at Gerizim it would seem that the complete plan should include six side chapels.
The church at Kal'at Sim'an, the monastery of the Stylites between Aleppo and Antioch, is an instance of
0 Procopius enumerates the following buildings of Justinian in Palestine (V. viii.) :
St. Mary, at Jerusalem, completed 532 A.D.
Gerizim, completion of Zeno's church 533 A.D.
In Jerusalem, monastery of St. Thalalaeus.
In the desert of Jordan, St. Gregory and St. Panteleemon.
In the desert of Jerusalem, church of the Lazi.
St. Mary, on the Mount of Olives (perhaps at her tomb).
St. Elisaeus, at the Well ('Ain es Sultan).
Church of St. Siletheus.
Church of Abbot Romanus. He also built reservoirs at St. Samuel (Neby Samwil) ; at the monastery of Zacharia (perhaps Beit Skaria, where are remains of about this period) ; at the monastery of Susanna (perhaps Susin) ; at that of Aphelius (perhaps 'Afuleh, in Lower Galilee) ; at St. John, on Jordan (Kasr el Yehud) ; and at the monastery of St. Sergius. The wall of Bethlehem and its church were repaired ; the wall of Tiberias ; the public buildings of Bostra in Phoenicia ; the house of the Virgin at Porphyreon (near Sidon) ; the house of St. Sergius at Acre ; and of St. Leontius at Damascus.
Other churches were built in Northern Syria at Apamea (Kal'at el Medik) ; at Daphne (Beit el Ma), near Antioch ; and at Laodicea (north of Tripoli). Justinian also built great walls round Antioch, and again at Palmyra (II, xxxi.).
20
306 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
a combination of the octagon and the basilica, giving a cruciform building with central dome. This fine structure dates at earliest from the fifth century. The octagon has in its centre the supposed pedestal of the pillar of St. Simon Stylites.
It is in Northern Syria that we find many of the most important buildings of this age, which, being in some cases dated, are of the greatest value for purposes of comparison. The chief, feature of the Byzantine fortresses, as still traceable at Antioch, on Gerizim and at Palmyra, consisted in numerous square and solid towers. The best example of a Byzantine town is per- haps to be found at El Bara, where, as described by De Vogue, the streets and private houses, as well as the two churches and a chapel, remain. There are, how- ever, many good ruins of the same character in central and southern Palestine, as -described in the Palestine Survey ' Memoirs ' (vols. ii. and iii.).
At El Hass, near El Bara, there is an important necropolis, including the mausoleun of Diogenes, of the fourth century. Another of these mausolea occurs at Ruweiha. At Kalb Luzeh we have an important church of the sixth century, and at Erfeidi a house or palace dating from the 13th August, 510 a.d.
The chief characteristics of these buildings are, the use of large well-squared masonry, of lintels with low relieving arches, of semicircular barrel vaults, or of flat stone roofs supported on arcades of round arches. The number of buildings in Syria of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, including large monasteries, cathedrals, churches, and chapels, sufficiently indicates the density
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 307
of the population, which must have exceeded that of our own times at least ten or twenty fold.
There are also cemeteries which can be identified as belonging to the same period, in addition to the mausolea or funerary monuments similar to those already noticed in the second and third centuries. The rock-cut tombs have arcosolia with rock-cut sarcophagi beneath, and in many cases a Greek text flanked by crosses is found over the door, which is small and square, as in the old Jewish and Phoenician tombs. One of the most remarkable of these cemeteries is that belonging to the Church of St. Sion, existing on the
C60A ** n* +
south side of Wady Rababeh at Jerusalem. Here we have the tomb of a German lady, and even later than this the grave of Thecla Augusta, Abbess of the Benat (or 'daughters') of St. George. She was the eldest daughter of Theophilus, son of Michel II., and was shut up in a monastery by her brother, Michel III. She was still alive in 867 a.d. From such monuments we learn that the character of tomb remained almost entirely unchanged in Palestine from the Christian era even to the ninth century ; for it is hardly likely that a person of royal birth would have been interred in an old sepulchre, and the tomb thought to be that of the
20 — 2
3o8 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Empress Eudoxia, near the Church of St. Stephen, north of Jerusalem (461 a.d.), is of very similar character, remarkable only for its large sarcophagus placed in the middle of one chamber.
Another cheaper method of sepulture consisted in sinking a simple grave in the rock, and placing over it a great block of stone carved into the form of a sarco- phagus-lid. These tombs may, however, be perhaps as early as the third century. They are unusual in Western Palestine, but occur in groups in Moab and Gilead, near Heshbon, Amman, and elsewhere. I have also found them near Seffurieh, in Lower Galilee.
Funeral ceremonies, like the tombs themselves, seem to have been little influenced by the adoption of Chris- tianity. St. Chrysostom tells us of the funerals in Antioch.* Hired mourners were employed, according to the ancient custom noticed in the Bible (Jer. ix. 17). Among the rich the bier was sometimes of gold, for in this barbaric use of the precious metals the Byzantine upper class delighted. The mourning-women rent their clothes, tore their hair, and lacerated their arms and faces ; and in the fourth century they were often heathens, even though employed at Christian funerals. t Chrysostom speaks of the magnificence of the mausolea, which is attested, as we have already noted, by existing remains.
In addition to the cemeteries, there were chambers in which (as is still to be observed at Mar Saba, or in
• ' Chrysostom's Picture of the Religion of his Age,' p. 65. f Such mourners were also employed in Rome, and called * praeficae.'
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 309
the Capuchin Convent at Rome) the skulls of departed monks were stored in rows. Those now shown at Mar Saba are said to have belonged to martyrs. The great demand for relics may possibly have been met by this ghastly custom. The Burj er Rus, or ' tower of heads/ at Damascus, appears to have originated in this prac- tice. At Ed Deir, near Arak el Emir, we have a rock- cut house in three stories, the walls carved with two thousand niches, each large enough to hold a skull ; and a wall at Masada, with niches on either face, still existing near the chapel, seems to have been built for the same purpose.*
From architecture we pass on to the art of the period, confining our attention to the existing indica- tions in Syria. From the absence of any allusion to pictures or images in the descriptions of Jerome, Cyril, and Chrysostom, we may conclude that neither statues nor paintings then existed in the churches ; and the pilgrims who describe the relics and sacred objects in the holy places do not give us any account of pictures. The writings of Tatian and other fathers against the idols of the pagans, and the influence of the Jews on the Eastern Church, no doubt tended to render the Oriental Christians, like the Moslems and the Pharisees, adverse to the representation of living forms in their churches. t
0 These niches must not be confounded with those of colum- baria used for urns containing ashes of the pagan Romans who burned their dead. The finest columbaria in Palestine occur at Beit Jibrin.
We must not, however, forget the ' statues not made by hands ' in Syrian churches before the end of the sixth century, and the
310 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
No remains of painting or mosaic, which can be attributed with probability to the Byzantine age, are known in Syria, unless we except the glass mosaic in the oldest part of the Damascus mosque, which might be thought to date from 395 a.d., when, according to a Greek inscription, the Emperor Arcadius built or re- built the Church of St. John Baptist, on the site, apparently, of a pagan temple. Damascus was never in the hands of the Crusaders. The mosaic on the walls, and the round arches under the dome of the mosque, may, however, possibly belong to the early Arab period.*
The paintings in the chapels above Jericho, with those at Kasr Hajlah, have been attributed to the Byzantine age ; but there is no doubt that, like those at Bethlehem, they are not older than the twelfth or thirteenth century.
The art of the Byzantine age, as exhibited on the coins, is indeed of a most primitive and debased cha- racter. It is strange that the money of Alexander the Great and of his successors should show a knowledge of art and a power of reproducing true forms which seem to have been utterly lost in the sixth century ; but a series of imperial coins, compared with those of Greece, shows a steady deterioration, continuing to
face of the Virgin on a pillar at Diospolis (Lydda). The icono- clasts in 726-840 a.d. revolted against these miraculous statues (see Gibbon, chap. xlix.).
0 See the account by Kemal ed Din (1470 a.d.). According to this writer, the Khalif el Welid levelled the buildings of the Christians, ' until the whole square was one flat surface,' and then built the mosque. See further, Chap. IX.
THE B YZA NTINE AGE. 311
the twelfth century, when the maximum of stiffness is attained. The sculpture of capitals and cornices tells the same story, and mere elaboration of detail takes the place, in the sixth century, of classic beauty of form. The great work of Justinian at Constantinople, as described by Procopius, was admired- for the beauty of its materials rather than on account of its forms. The marbles — green, red, white, and purple ; the trea- sure of gold, silver, and gems ; the fine brass covering the stone-work, are lovingly noticed by Justinian's eulogist. In some cases the pillars were painted, as may still be seen at Kal'at Sim'an. In the civil build- ings of Northern Syria birds and beasts are occasionally sculptured — the lamb with the cross, and the peacock occurring, with vine-trellises and crosses.
The use of the precious metals, which we have found to have been general among the early inhabitants of Syria even before 1600 B.C., was carried to extrava- gance in the fourth century. Pliny speaks of silver chariots in Rome before Chrysostom's account of golden chariots set with gems in Antioch ; but we have seen that the Hittites had such vehicles in the days of Thothmes III. Chrysostom, inveighing against the luxury of his age, speaks of gold capitals to the pillars of palaces, of gold tables and silver lamps, of chairs and footstools of gold, and beds adorned with silver. He tells us also of silk robes girded with golden belts, and drinking-cups of precious metals or of crystal mounted in gold. The church plate and furniture was equally enriched with precious metals and jewels. The practice of plating with silver continues among Eastern
312 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Christians to the present day, so that the pictures in Greek churches have often disappeared, save the face and hands of the figures, beneath a coating of metal engraved with outlines of the forms portrayed be- neath.
Chrysostom,* in describing the rich houses of Antioch, mentions, in addition to the gilded roof and beautiful marbles, the tesselated pavements and rich carpets. He speaks of pictures, statues, embroidery, of vases of curious workmanship, and of caryatides supporting the ceilings ; of caskets for jewels, rich vestments, and per- fumes contained in scent-bottles of gold. He even thinks that in time women will gild their hair and eye- brows, and pour melted gold over their faces.
Such luxury was of necessity accompanied by great misery. The slaves were often treated with great cruelty ; the thieves and beggars filled the towns. The tortures of the age were most barbarous, and of refined cruelty ; and the fear of witchcraft was so general that men lived in constant danger of suffering from such accusation.
Music, which in the East has always been rude and noisy, was probably not much studied by the Byzan- tines. The music which, with songs, dances of men or women, and the tricks of conjurors and buffoons, amused the indolent gentry of Syria at their feasts and midnight suppers, was probably not superior to that monotonous and jangling instrumentation which accompanies the nasal melodies of a pasha's banquet.
0 ' Chrysostom's Picture of his Age,' pp. 117- 136.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. .313
The songs of the theatre — and, indeed, the language of private life — were alike chiefly remarkable for the loose- ness of their morality; nor is the tone of Oriental society any more refined or elevated in our own times.
Music was not used in the churches, though singing was encouraged among the congregation in spite of the prohibition of the Council of Laodicea, which forbade any but canonical singers to take part in the chaunts. In our own times the caterwauling (no other term will express the sound) of Armenian or Syrian priests in their hurried and irreverent services is un- accompanied by instrumental music, and even the Greeks in the East confine themselves to vocal chaunt- ing. In short, the church furniture* and services of to-day, the rich vessels, the missals bound in gold and rough with gems, the crowns and vestments of the priests, the dark and dingy interior of the churches save where gold and silver cover pictures or walls, and precious lamps give a dim red or purple light, must give us a very close reproduction of the religious edifices and rites of the fourth century. Beauty of form seems in the East to give place to beauty of colour. In the West it takes precedence. The difference may perhaps depend on difference of climate.
Of the language and alphabets of the age a few words may be now said. Jerome tells us that the
0 The Iconostasis, or high wooden screen, in front of the apses, fitted with gates, and behind which in the Greek Church the Com- munion is celebrated, is a development of the curtains already noticed in the fourth century.
314 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Syrian peasantry of his days spoke Aramaic,* and the Syriac of the fourth century was not far removed from this dialect. Arabic, which was to become the speech of the dominant race in the seventh century, was already not unknown, for Jerome remarked on the Arabic words in the Book of Job. We have seen that the Arabs had reached the Hauran in the second century, and they are, indeed, mentioned in the Bible (cf. Neh. ii. 19) as inhabiting Syria. Greek was the literary language of the East, and Latin of the West, but the services of the Church were perhaps already conducted in Syriac, at least in the villages ; for Chrysostom tells us that the rural priests only knew the vulgar Syriac tongue.t
The native alphabets in use were Hebrew and Syriac, J which now formed distinct developments of the Aramaic script. Syriac did not begin to decline before the eighth century. The Estrangelo or ' rounded ' character was an uncial writing, which was not super- seded by the Serta or Peshito Syriac — a cursive hand still preserved by the Jacobites — until the ninth century. The separation of the Nestorians, to which we have already alluded, led to the development of another distinct variety of the Aramaic alphabet, which spread in the ninth century to India, and formed the Mon-
0 ' Lingua Cananitide quae inter ./Egyptiam et Hebraeam media est et Hebraeae magna ex parte confinis' (' Comm. in Isa.,' xix. 18). He refers apparently to the Aramaic spoken by the Egyptian Jews. Cyril (' Comm. in Isaiam') says the Canaanite language is that of Syria and Palestine, and of Phoenicia.
t ' Ad Pop. Antioch,' Horn. xix. 1.
% Taylor's ' Alphabet,' i., pp. 284-297. .
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 315
golian, Kalmuk and Manchu alphabets not long after the Nestorian schism. The practice of writing in vertical lines (which may be observed also in the Greek legends on twelfth century frescoes) originated in the Byzantine age in Syriac. A fragment of Syriac writing on a fresco near Jerusalem, which I discovered in 1872, presents this vertical arrangement. A MS. of the sixth century in the British Museum presents ver- tical columns of Syriac with horizontal notes in Greek in the margin.
The vowel-points used in Hebrew MSS. also originated in the Byzantine age. Rabbi Mocha, about 570 a.d., is said to have been the first to use points in order to instruct his pupils in the traditional vocalization of the Old Testament.* The Syriac copies of the Bible are the first in which a system of points is employed. St. Ephraem about 370 a.d. employed an imperfect nota- tion, but it is acknowledged that in the time of Jerome the pronunciation was only known by oral teaching. A Syriac MS. of 411 a.d. in the British Museum has points, but it was not until the sixth century that they were fully used in Hebrew writings, when two systems of punctuation arose, one now extinct originating at Babylon, the other, now generally used, in Palestine. There is a reference in the Talmud to certain signs used with difficult words, but the systematizing of the traditional pronunciation is not older than the seventh
0 Ginsburg's ' Cabbala,' p. 86. Cf. 'Trans. Bib. Arch. Soc./ v., p. 129. The vowel-points of the Odessa Codex (916 a.d.) are placed above the letters, and differ from those now used, as do the tonal accents inform and disposition.
316 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
century,* when the Massora was undertaken by various scholars, who claimed to possess the traditional pro- nunciation, which however differs (at least in proper names) very considerably from that of the Christian era, as preserved in the Septuagint and in the writings of Josephus.
This late adoption of the points is of course a matter of the greatest importance for Biblical criticism. The value of the Massora has been much exaggerated, for it represents, as we see, the Jewish traditions of the Byzantine age, which can be shown in some instances clearly to differ from the original meaning of the Hebrew. No careful scholar would hastily throw aside such tradition, for the pains taken to preserve the text of the Old Testament from corruption must be evident to any student ; but at the same time we are bound not to give more weight than is properly due to the interpretations of the Rabbis, which often reduce a perfectly simple and intelligible passage to something very closely resembling nonsense. In Biblical study it is often a question not merely of pronunciation, but even of the alteration of words by interchange of similar letters. How, then, is it possible that we should be bound by Massoretic pointing ?
0 See note, Chap. IX. It there appears that we have no MSS. of any part of the Bible which are certainly older than the seventh or eighth century, though one doubtful example claims to date from 489 A.D. This is an unpointed MS. of Deuteronomy (Firkowitz collection at St. Petersburg), said to come from the Karaite syna- gogue at Tschufutkale in the Crimea. It is thought that the date has been forged ; and the Harkavy unpointed MSS. of the Prophets are probably not older than the seventh or eighth century.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 317
Our review of the conditions of the Byzantine age will not prepare us to expect any considerable advance in science. The ignorance of physical and natural laws which we have remarked to be common to Christians, Jews, and Pagans alike in the second century, is equally notable in the fourth and sixth. The basis of modern mathematical progress was no doubt already laid, but it is only in the Arab period that this begins to affect the Western Asiatics. Some men did indeed, even in the time of Chrysostom, hazard the suggestion that the earth revolved.* They probably followed Pythagoras, who is said to have taught the revolution of earth and planets round the sun. Their views were, however, treated with ridicule. The orthodox opinion, as stated by Chrysostom,*!* was the old Babylonian theory that the earth floated on the chaotic ocean, while a solid firmament enveloped it like a glass case over an inverted cup. The Persian writings, founded on Babylonian science, show us that this firmament was supposed to have in it a kind of groove in which the sun moved ; and this path or maze was observed to be connected with 360 openings in the horizon, through which in turn the orb of day emerged at dawn.
Natural science was not in advance of astronomical or physical knowledge. St. Chrysostom believed that stags fed on snakes — a statement also to be found in Pliny's 'Natural History.'! Yet Chrysostom was a
• < In Tit.,' Horn.
f ' Ad Pop. Antioch.,' Horn. iv. 3.
% 'In Tit.,' Horn. ; ' Hist Nat.,' viii. 32.
3*8 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
man of learning and education in the eyes of his con- temporaries,* and we cannot read his writings without acknowledging that he thought deeply and possessed a poetic genius of high order. He was, indeed, too honest and courageous for his times, and became at length the victim of the jealousies and intrigues of meaner men.
The trade of Asia is the last point to which we must refer in closing this chapter. The conditions noticed in the preceding chapter underwent no material change. The knowledge of India and of other remote lands shown by Byzantine writers is chiefly derived from earlier Greek sources ; and the travels of the Westerns, as a rule, did not lead them beyond Persia and Arabia. On the other hand, the military system brought to Syria natives of Germany and North Africa, of Spain, Gaul, and Arabia. Pilgrims from Europe crowded to Jerusalem, and took back with them occasionally the products of the East ; and a new trade had arisen — namely, that in bones of saints, and in pieces of the true Cross.f
The Persian Christians were extending their relations with India and China, and the trade of Arabia was active. In 336 a.d. an embassy from India reached
• Education consisted of the seven arts, including the trivium of rhetoric, logic, and grammar, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry ; these, with exception of the first two, had come down from Seneca. In the fifth century we have a treatise by Martianus Capella on each of the seven. — See Yule's * Marco Polo,' i., p. 13.
t In 875, Charles the Bald founded a convent in Aquitaine, ' in quo posuit praeputium D. N. Christi.' See ' Bib. Res.,' i., p. 386.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 319
Constantinople,* bearing strange animals and precious stones. In 470 a.d. there were Brahmins at Alexandria lodging in the house of the consul Severus,t probably Buddhists by religion, or otherwise the law of caste would hardly have permitted them to travel. A tract written in Greek in the close of the fourth century compares the Brahmins with the Christian monks. Epiphanius (375 a.d.) speaks of the Roman ports in the Red Sea, at Akabah, Suez, and Berenice, from which last-named port Indian wares were brought to the Thebaid4 The India of the ecclesiastical writers is, however, not India proper, but Eastern Arabia, or Beluchistan — probably the Ethiopia of Asia. In the sixth century the geographical work of Cosmas,§ a merchant who became a monk, gives us an account of countries surrounding Syria which he had visited, though some perhaps, including India, he may have described from hearsay. This appears to be almost the only work of the age which gives fresh information about the east of Asia. Cosmas believed the earth to be a plane solid, having round it an impassable ocean reached by four gulfs — the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian ; beyond this ocean there was an Eden at the foot of the walls of the firmament. Cosmas had sailed on the Mediterranean,
0 Eusebius, * Vita Constantini,' iv. 50.
t ' Life of Isidorus.' See Priaulx, ' Indian Travels,' p. 189.
X Epiphanius, ' Haeres,' xlvi. The apocryphal gospels, which assumed their present form in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, in the Eastern Churches, often show a Buddhist influence, already- noticed as affecting the earlier Gnostics.
§ 'Topographia Christiana.'
320 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and had passed beyond the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, perhaps visiting Ceylon. He speaks of China as the country of silk, and of the trade from the East with Ceylon. He also describes, as before noted, the over- land route from Antioch, by Nisibis, to Bactria : this was used by Persian, not by Roman traders. In Ceylon he tells us that he found the Persian or Nes- torian Christians established, and he knew of numerous Christian churches in Bactria.
The trade in silk had, as we have already seen, com- menced in or before the first century a.d. In the time of Justinian, however, silkworms' eggs are said to have reached Constantinople, having been brought in a reed by certain monks, apparently Nestorians;* and as the sumptuary laws of Tiberius were disregarded, the importation no doubt increased the trade in silk and the luxury of dress which already in the fourth century Chrysostom deplores. In Syria itself silk was manu- factured from the Byzantine age downwards, and is still made in the Lebanon.
We have also Chinese accounts of trade with the Romans in the sixth century, which, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, commenced as early probably as the time of the Antonines.
Such, then, is a slight sketch of the Syria of Con- stantine and of Justinian, in an age when the civilization of the old world was slowly decaying, and when the barbarian was pressing towards the centres of wealth
0 Procopius, ' De Bel. Goth. ;' Theophanes, ' Hist/ See back, p. 205. Clement of Alexandria (Paed. ii. 11) speaks of the silk- worm— perhaps the bombyx of Ceos.
THE BYZANTINE AGE. 321
and culture from every side. The great Arab tide was rising, and, after the power of Rome had been shaken by the Persians, the flood of the Moslem conquest overwhelmed Western Asia, and swept the Western races out of their Holy Land.
21
CHAPTER IX.
THE ARAB CONQUEST.
The earliest authentic information which we possess concerning Arabia is found in the cuneiform inscrip- tions. The Arabs are first mentioned in the time of Shalmanezer IV., on a stele found at the sources of the Tigris, containing the name of an Arab chief, Jendeb. Tiglath Pileser II., in 734 B.C., invaded Edom and took 30,000 camels and 20,000 oxen from the Arabs. Sargon, in 715 B.C., conquered the Thamudites, and in 690 B.C. another expedition penetrated goo miles into Arabia to Hazu and Bazu (the Huz and Buz of the Bible). In the reign of Asshur Bani Pal (648-626 B.C.), the Arabs advanced on Babylon and on Palestine as far as the Hauran and Hamath, just as they did about 634 a.d. : they were, however, driven back, and their leaders were flayed alive at Nineveh. According to Lenormant, Asshur Bani Pal penetrated to Jeddah, returning by Petra after this revolt.*
0 It appears highly probable that there were non-Semitic inhabi- tants in Arabia as well as in Babylonia and Syria. I would suggest that the polyandry of South Arabia (see Strabo, xvi. 4) was more probably peculiar to these non-Semitic, perhaps Turanian, tribes. There is no evidence of the existence of polyandry among early
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 323
The Roman historians and geographers were only imperfectly acquainted with Arabia. Diodorus Siculus
Semitic tribes as far as I have been able to discover, unless it be recognised in the Levirate marriage custom. It exists still in parts of India among non-Arians, as well as in Thibet. Polyandrous tribes occur in the valleys of the Himalaya.
Professor Robertson Smith does not seem to me, with due deference, to have proved his case (' Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia') as regards the Semitic inhabitants of Arabia, but has shown, as was already known, that social relations were very lax among the Arabs before Islam.
It does not appear to me that the Totem idea is proved, any more than universal polyandry, to have existed in Arabia. It occurs among Kaffirs as among Americans, but the tribe-names of Arabia may be best explained by the early linguistic condition in which the abstract and the comparative were unknown. Thus, if it was desired to express the idea, that men were 'fierce as lions' or ' swift as hares,' they were called * lions ' and ' hares.' The Egyptians called their heroes 'bulls,' not because they believed them born of bulls, but because they were strong as bulls. This is the true origin of the animal heads of deities, as remarked by Pierret and Tylor, and not the Totem theory (cf. ' Early Hist. Mankind/ iii.). It must also be remembered that Arabs name children often from the first object seen after birth. This would account for such names as ' hedgehog,' ' lizard,' etc. The objection to eating the hare, lizard, hog, etc., appears to have arisen from the belief that the man eating was liable to imbibe some of the evil qualities of the animal eaten, e.g. the cowardice of the hare. This has been shown by Lubbock in the case of the hare {cf. ' Prehistoric Times,' p. 190), which among some people may be eaten by women but not by men. It has nothing to do with the Totem theory. As regards the Ausarn, or tribe-marks, the suggestion that they are rude sketches of a Totem seems improbable. I have collected a good many, and have been able in every case (see P. E. F. ' Quarterly Statement,' 1883) to show that they are derived from letters of the South Semitic alphabet. The names ' door,' ' spoon,' etc., given to these marks by the Arabs, show that they do not connect them with animal Totems. We have no trace of the worship of any animal
21 — 2
324 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
(about 8 a.d.) speaks of a celebrated temple of the Thamudites and Sabians venerated by all Arabia. This may be the old shrine of the Arab Venus at Mecca, to which a veil was presented by a Himyarite king, about 168-129 B.C. The Roman expedition under iElius Gallus, in the reign of Augustus, about 24 B.C., entered Yemen, but was soon forced to retreat. Strabo, writing about the same time, speaks of the Arab trade from Saba, M'areb, and Haura, to Petra. The seaports were no doubt from an early period visited by traders, for the South Semitic alphabet of Yemen seems to have been early derived from the Phoenicians, and the coins of Yemen date back to about 180 B.C., being rude reproduc-
by Arabs. Their worship was phallic and planetary : trees, stones, planets and stars were their gods. Professor Smith has objected to the eponymous theory of the tribe-names, that a man would not have a plural animal name. This seems sound, but east of Jordan still lives a chief named Dhiab, the plural of Dhib, a wolf. It is probable that in many instances tribes may be called by the singular or plural at will. Thus, the Beni Sakhr, ' sons of the rock/ are also called Sukhur, or ' rocks.' Among the Arabs, also, men named from different animals are found in one tribe ; this is evidence not favouring the Totem theory. What is really wanted in order to trace back Arab custom is further careful observation of the wild Arabs among whom Islam has very little power, and who are still to a great extent pagans. As regards social conditions, women appear from the earliest times in Arabia (as among Babylonians) to have been very independent. There were queens in the Hejaz and perhaps at Petra, as well as in Sheba ; and the prophet's wife and daughters were very great ladies. So in our own time the Arab women hold a position far higher than that of the sex among the settled Semitic people. They are admitted to council, and 'Aly Dhiab's wife sways the policy of his tribe. I was much struck with this feature of Bedawin life in 188 1-2 (see 'Heth and Moab '). Yet the matriarchate is unknown to modern Arabs.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 325
tions of Greek types. In the same century Agathar- chides speaks of the Sabeans as the richest nation in the world, possessing abundance of gold and silver.
The influence of Assyrian and Nabathean civilization on the Hejaz also begins to be traceable through the discoveries of Palgrave, Euting, Huber, Doughty, and others. A bas-relief of Assyrian style with an Aramaic text — as old, it is said, as the fourth century B.C. — has been found at Teima ; and Euting and Doughty have found rude imitations of Roman architecture in the interior of central Arabia, with Aramaic inscriptions. The Ziggurat of Babylonia and Assyria were appar- ently copied in Yemen, judging from a Moslem account of the temple of Ghumdan. The Assyrian gods were worshipped in Yemen under the names II, Bil, Atthor, Sin, Simdan, and Nasr. The Sabeans also adopted the Assyrian system of eponyms to mark the year.* Thus even to the extreme south of the peninsula the influence of Mesopotamian civilization extended. The Himyarite texts recovered in Yemen, at Taif, and in the Nejed, as well as near Damascus, are also now numerous. It appears, nevertheless, that the Arabs, down to the time of Muhammad, continued to practise the most barbarous pagan customs, possessing stone menhirs or cippi, and cromlechs or stone circles which they smeared with the blood of human victims, and sacred thorn trees hung with rags or decked with veils, and even with jewels. The names of the gods of Arabia have been recovered, through the labours of Halevy, Lenormant, and other scholars, and their
0 See Lenormant, 'Manual,' ii., pp. 321, 322 ; vol. i., p 422.
326 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
interpretation serves to connect them partly with astronomical personifications, partly with the rude nature-worship common to other early Semitic, Aryan, or Turanian tribes.
The indications which we possess of the diffusion of Jewish trade and of heretical Christianity in Arabia are important to a right understanding of the origin of the Moslem religion.
The Jews had spread themselves in Arabia seven centuries before the birth of Muhammad,* and about
0 A brief historical summary will serve to illustrate the present chapter. Some of the minor Khalifs are omitted :
Muhammad born -----
Muhammad flies to Medina (Hejira) -
Battles of Bedr and Ohud
Battle of the Ditch
Wars against the Jews. Mecca submits -
Heraclius defeats the Persians and Zeid -
Death of Muhammad. Abu Bekr succeeds
Defeat of the Romans at Yermuk. Death of Abu Bekr. Omar succeeds
Abu Obeidah takes Damascus - -
The Sassanians defeated by the Moslems -
Kufa founded. Jerusalem taken. Moawiyeh is made Governor of Syria -
Egypt conquered by Amru -
Omar stabbed by a slave. Othman (of the
Abd esh Shems family) succeeds - - 644
Othman assassinated by an Egyptian. 'Aly Ibn Abu Taleb, son-in-law of Muhammad, succeeds. Battle of the Camels. 'Aly goes to Kufa 656
Revolt of Egypt, under Keis ... 658
Murder of 'Aly. Moawiyeh becomes in- dependent in Syria. He was son of Abu Sofian, of the Abd esh Shems family - 661
|
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625 |
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|
634 |
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635 |
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636 |
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637 |
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641 |
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THE ARAB CONQUEST. 327
the Christian era Yusef (Dhu Nowas) is said to have thrown all his Himyarite subjects who refused to accept Judaism into a pit of flame. It is possible that the Books of Abraham noticed in the Koran (Sura lxxvii. 19), may have been Jewish works, though they mayon the other hand have been Christian. At all events the Jews were numerous in Medina in Muhammad's time, and the raids made by his wild followers on the un- fortuiate Israelite merchants formed the foundation of the wealth and power of the rising Moslem sect. The tribes of Kinanah, Harith, Ibn Kaaba, and Kendah, appear to have been partly converted to Judaism. The Beni Nadhir and Beni Kureizah were also Jewish.
Hasan, son of 'Aly, poisoned at Medina - 669 A.D.
Yszid, son of Moawiyeh, reigns at
Damascus ----- Hosein, son of 'Aly, killed at Kerbela Merwan I. succeeds at Damascus Abd el Melek „ Velid „
Dmar II. „ ^ezid II. „
Hisham „
Welid II. Yezid III. „ Merwan II. „ Battle of Zab. Abu el Abbas descended
from Muhammad's uncle Abbas defeats
Merwan II.
Baghdad becomes the capital of the
Abbasiyeh Khalifs
Syria conquered by Ibn Tulun, Governor of
Egypt
End of the Abbasiyeh supremacy. The
Fatemites become Khalifs in Egypt
|
676 |
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|
680 |
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683 |
11 |
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750 |
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763 |
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969 |
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328 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
As regards the Christians, we have seen that the Arabs came in contact with Ebionites and Mendaices in the second and third centuries. The kings of Ehra, like those of Bashan, built churches, and Epiphaaius states that followers of Beryllus, with Ebionites and Nazarenes, settled among the Arabs.* The Beni Hanifa of Yemama, the Beni Tai of Tayma, and the tribes of Rabia, Taghlab, Bathra, 'Abd el £eis, Tonukh, and some of the Kod'ah, with the Beni Haris Arabs of Najran, professed some kind of Christianity. The Collyridian heretics who offered a twisted cake (Colluris), from which they were named, to the Yirgin Mary,f were Gnostics who came from Thrace (hiving women as priests) and who settled in Arabia. The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy is by some suppostd to have existed before the time of Muhammad, ani its contents seem to show that it must have originated among the Mendaites. These then were the soirees from which Muhammad would have obtained a know- ledge of Christianity in his native country, or on his trading journeys to Basrah in Bashan. In addition, however, to Judaism and Christianity, a third religioi — the Magian creed established by the Sassanians — had
9 Epiphanius, ' Haeres.,' i. 40 ; iii. 75-79. The Sabians (Sabnn) mentioned in the Koran are connected with the Christians by some Arabic writers, and the Mendaites seem clearly to be in- tended by this term.
f This cake recalls the cakes offered to Ashtoreth, and shown on Phoenician statuettes. In Moab, and again near the Sea of Galilee, ruins are found, called in each case Hami el Kurseh — ' Sanctuary of the Cake ' — and perhaps connected with this Collyridian ritual, or with the older Ashtoreth cultus.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 329
influenced Northern Arabia. The Tamim tribe in the north-east of the Nejed appear to have held Magian beliefs.
The history of the fall of the Roman Empire only concerns us so far as it is connected with a great change in the fortunes of Syria.* The first result of the weakness of imperial authority was the Persian in- vasion of Palestine. Chosroes I. (Nushirwan) already reached the Mediterranean through Antioch in the time of Justinian. In 591 a.d. Chosroes II. ascended the
9 The Arab historians are not of very early date. The history of Muhammad by Zohri {circa 124 A.H.) is lost ; and that of Ibn Is-hak {circa 151 a.h.) is only partly preserved by Ibn Hishami (213 A.H.). Wakidi dates only from 207 A.H., and Tabari from 310 A.H. The materials collected by Tabari were used by Ibn el Athir in 630 a.h. There is thus a gap between the death of Muhammad and the earliest of his historians of nearly a century and a half, and even this account (Ibn Is-hak's) is only preserved in a work written two hundred years after the Prophet's death. The better-known Moslem writers date from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries of our era, such as :
The traveller and chronicler Masudy, died 956 A.D. The geographer Abu el Feda, died 1331 A.D. Makrizi the historian, died 1441 A.D. Kemal ed Din, the chronicler, circa 1470 A.D. The geographer Mejr ed Din, circa 1495 A-D*
Much of our information as to the conquest of Syria is derived from Christian sources, such as the Paschal Chronicle, and the Annals of Eutychius (870 A.D.), and the Chronograph of Theophanes (about 840 a.d.). These accounts are therefore earlier than almost any existing Arab histories. We may, how- ever, shortly obtain new light from ancient and important docu- ments when the Archduke Reiner's MSS. are published, including, it is said, a fine papyrus of the year 20 A.H., and military docu- ments with seals of the companions and disciples of the Prophet, including an order by Omar, the general who conquered Egypt.
330 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
throne. The usurper Phocas was attacked by this prince, who invaded Northern Syria, occupying Aleppo, taking Antioch and Damascus, and in the following year (614 a.d.) storming Jerusalem. Constantine's Basilica was destroyed by fire,* though the monk Modestus was allowed to rebuild this edifice, or rather to substitute humble chapels for the great church.
The succession of Heraclius for a time restored the power of the Christian Empire. For ten years the Persian camp had been in sight of Constantinople, and Rhodes and Pontus were alike conquered by Chosroes ; but the victories of Heraclius destroyed the Sassanian power, and Siroes, the son of Chosroes, submitted in 628 a.d. Thus the Persian domination in Syria endured not more than fourteen years, although at least one great architectural work is thought by some authorities to be attributable to this short period.
The destruction of the Persian power unfortunately also destroyed a great bulwark of civilization against the barbarians of Arabia, and let in the sea of Moslem conquest. The advance on Syria only became possible in consequence of the weakness of Persia. t The great
0 Chron. Pasch. ; Antiochus, Abbot of St. Saba (a contem- porary) ; Theophanes' Chron. ; Eutychius' Annals. See Le Quien, ' Oriens. Christ.,' iii., p. 250 ; Robinson, ' Bib. Res./ i., p. 387.
f So in the ninth year of Asshur Bani Pal (639 B.C.) the weak- ness of Assyria led to an Arab invasion of Syria by the same line of advance (' Rec. Past,' vol. ii., p. 92), by Edom to Beth Ammon, thence to the Hauran and to Zobah (Northern Syria), where Vaiteh, the Arab leader, was defeated, fleeing back to the Naba- theans, whose king was named Nathan. The Moslem general, Abu Obeidah, conquered Damascus, advancing from Bozrah, and took Horns and Hamah, Latakia, Jebeil, Aleppo and Tarsus,
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 331
victory of Islam on the Yermuk, south of the Sea of Galilee, due mainly to the wonderful desert march of Khalid, sealed the fate of Jerusalem, which Omar entered in 637 a.d. The traces of this conquest are still noticeable in the native names of the districts round Jerusalem, which are those of Arab tribes accompanying Omar.* As under Joshua, so under Omar, Palestine seems to have been shared among the
Antioch, and the towns of central Palestine, before the Yermuk victory, but retreated before Heraclius, until reinforced — so, at least, the Moslem historians relate.
• These districts, marked on the Palestine Survey, include :
Beni 'Amir, named apparently from the tribe so called in the Nejed, near Yemama, and south-east of Medina.
Beni Harith, whose name occurs in Yemen, north-east of Sana.
Beni Murreh, who occur east of Medina, and south of the Jauf.
Beni Salim. The Beni Suleim existed east of Medina.
Beni Malik, a division of Beni Temim, near Yemama.
The divisions of B. Zeid, B. Hamar, B. S'ab, B. Hasan have, no doubt, a similar origin. There were B. S'ab in Oman. The celebrated feud of the Keis and Yemini is also hardly extinct in Palestine. In 1881 I heard related in Taiyibeh (see 'Memoirs,' vol. iii.) a long account of the contests of these factions, occurring in quite recent times. See ' Heth and Moab,' p. 377. In Palestine the Eastern Arabs were the Yemini party, and the settled village population mainly the Keis party. This feud of Keis and Yemini, which arose when the Ommeiyah ruled Palestine, was a split between the Aramaic or North Arab tribes, who claimed descent from the Adites, and the Yemenites or South Arab tribes, who claimed descent from Himyar and from Kahtan. The two factions were, however, joined by various tribes from purely political motives, so that the division is not exactly one of race. In 64 a.h. Merwan had some tribes of South Arab origin on his side at the battle of Merj Rahif.
332 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
conquering clans, and the old families of Jerusalem claim to have ' come with Omar,' much as our nobles * came over with the Conqueror.'
Syria was never really ruled by the weak and unfor- tunate 'Aly. The descendants of Muhammad's old enemy, Abu Sofian, became the Khalifs, whose capital was at Damascus. The condition of the country under these Ommeiyah rulers appears to have been peaceful and prosperous, and while on the one hand Christian pilgrims continued to visit the country with but little interference on the part of its rulers, on the other the most beautiful of Moslem buildings in Palestine — the Dome of the Rock — is attributable to the same age.
The great age of Islam was, however, that of the Abbasiyeh Khalifs of Baghdad, when art, literature, and science flourished among the Arabs from Persia to Spain. It was not until the decay of this great house, and the conquest of Egypt by the Fatemites from Cyrene (Kairwan), that the fanatical spirit — -which as regards Christians has no place in the Koran — began to assert itself. The insane Khalif Hakem destroyed once more the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in ioio a.d., and the innumerable pilgrims who were flocking to Jerusalem in this age began to be treated with a cruelty which contrasts with the mild contempt of the Moslems in the eighth century. Soon after, the rise of the Turkish Seljuks, and the conquest of the Holy Land by these new Turanian invaders (in 1077) made the condition of the Christians in the East in- tolerable. The Italian trade was interrupted, the pilgrims were persecuted, and the dissensions of the
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 333
Turkish invaders reduced Palestine to the utmost misery. During this confusion came the first Crusade (which would have been impossible in the days of the Abbasiyeh Khalifs), and the establishment of feudalism in Syria, with which we are concerned later *
We have then to inquire into the condition of Syria during the great Arab ages of the Ommeiyah and Abbasiyeh Khalifs, from 660 a.d. to 969 A.D., and more especially into the religions of the country, the social relations of the population, . the architecture, art, literature, science, and trade of the age.
The condition of Arabia in the days of Muhammad
0 The history of the Seljuks is briefly as follows. They came from near Bokhara. In Iran they became rulers in 1038, after conquering the Turkoman Sultan, Mahmud. Togrul Bey, grand- son of Seljuk, conquered Herat, Merv, Irak, and, in 1070, Baghdad. He then became a Moslem, and compelled the rebel lieutenants of the Abbaside Khalifs to recognise his authority, being for these services named Emir el Omarah — 'Prince of Princes' — and be- coming the Maire du Palais, or protector of the Khalif. Alp Arslan, his nephew, succeeding next year, defeated the Greeks. His son, Melek Shah, succeeded in 1072 a.d., and ruled from Egypt to Iaxartes, conquering Damascus in 1075, by his general, Atziz, the Kharezmian, who advanced to Egypt, where, however, he suffered defeat. Atziz pillaged Jerusalem in 1077 while retreating on Damascus. Melek Shah superseded him, and gave Syria to his own brother, Tutush, as a fief. Jerusalem was given by Tutush to Ortok, one of his generals, as a fief. Ortok died in 1091. On the death of Melek Shah, and the defeat of his brother Tutush by the heir Borkiaruk, the sons of Ortok proclaimed themselves in- dependent. Antioch was taken by the Crusaders in 1098 ; and after its fall, El Mustaly, the Fatemite Khalif of Egypt, sent an army into Syria, where dissensions weakened the power of the Turks, and took Jerusalem and Tyre. Jerusalem had been in the hands of the Egyptians eleven months, when the Crusading army appeared before the walls.
334 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
was, as we have seen, not that of pure barbarism. The civilization of Assyrians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Jews, and Christians had not only touched the coasts, but had penetrated far into the interior ; and the trading expeditions of the Arabs had made them acquainted with the culture and progress of surrounding countries. A large part of the population no doubt was nomadic, ignorant of arts and agriculture, and devoted to the stone-worship of the phallic deities, and to the sacrifice of daughters to 'their mothers,' the great female deities of Arabia, whom Muhammad himself was long unable to recognise as idols.* The common supposition that Arabia had, and still has, a purely nomadic population, is, however, an error ; for, as Lenormant points out, the country inhabited by settled and agricultural populations in Arabia is three or four times as large as Great Britain, while three or four million Arabs till the soil and build houses, the nomadic Bedawin perhaps not exceeding a million in number.t The preaching of Muhammad
0 The simplest explanation of the survival of the worship of the Black Stone and of pagan rites in connection with the Haj seems to be that Muhammad himself retained some belief in these deities and practices. In a famous passage in the Koran (Sura liii. 19, 20), the original reading stood, 'These (Allat 'Azzi and Menat) are the exalted females (or the Sublime Swans), and truly their intercession may be expected.' This was altered* afterwards to the words, ' Shall ye have male progeny and God female ?' But we have no sufficiently early evidence to show when this alteration took place ; and it seems not impossible that Muhammad at one time believed in these three goddesses, even if his mind became widened later.
f ' Manual,' ii.? P- 345-
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 335
in such a country only represented the general incul- cation, on the wilder and more ignorant classes of the nation, of ideas which had long been familiar to the better educated. The triumph of Islam was political rather than religious, and but for the weakness of the Sassanians, and the decay of the Roman Empire, we should perhaps have heard no more of the famous poet of the Koreish than we hear of his Hanif* or of his Sabian precursors.
The more we examine the Koran, the more we must see how little there is in it that was original, or unknown before Muhammad ; and when we turn to the Moslem heresies which date back to the establishment of the power of the Khalifs in Persia, we find the same elements — Gnostic, Christian, Greek, Jewish, Indian, and Mazdean lying at their roots. It is impossible in these pages to follow to its full extent this comparison of Islam with the older religions of Western Asia, but a glance may be given at some of the evidence, which is sufficiently copious to fill a volume by itself.
The Koran as it now exists is not older than 652 A.D., or twenty years after the death of the Prophet, when the authorized version was published. In 634 A.D., Zeid, the secretary of Muhammad, collected the scat- tered Suras, some at least of which had never been
0 Hanif, one 'inclined' to the true faith. 'Abraham was a Hanif (Sura iii. 60). Khadijah's cousin, Waraka, was a Hanif, and is said to have translated the Gospels into Arabic. The Beni Hanifa are also called Christians. Zaid Ibn 'Amr, ' the Inquirer,' is also called a Hanif ; and the Arabs, who began to inquire into religious matters before Muhammad established Islam, appear to have adopted this title.
336 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
written down.* Considering how late is the literary evidence as to the history of the Koran, and how great is the difference between the wild poetic outbursts of the earlier Meccan poems of Muhammad, and the argumentative and legal provisions of the later Suras of Medina, it would be rash to affirm that all the Koran is attributable to Muhammad, and that no additions or alterations were made by his successors, and by the scribes of the Khalifs before or even after the authorized version was imposed on Islam ; but it is probable that, as in other literature, exegetical study will not succeed in establishing to the satisfaction of the world at large the precise origin or tendency of every passage in the Moslem Bible, and a comparative study is more likely to lead to results of general interest.
The original claim made by the Prophet was modest. He professed only to make plain to his more ignorant fellowst the religion which he held to have come down
° The texts on the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem, dating from 72 a.h. (688 A.D.), are the earliest specimens of parts of the Koran which we possess. They do not appear to have been as yet very fully compared with the authorized version.
t ' A book whose verses are made plain — an Arabic reading for men of knowledge bearing glad tidings and fraught with warning ' (S. xli. 2). ' I am but a man like you. By its own book shall each nation be judged' (S. lxxii. 27). 'We have sent down to you the Koran in the Arabic tongue ' (S. xiii. 37). ' It is He who sent to the pagan folk a prophet from among themselves ' (S. lxii. 2).
In later Suras, however, we read of claims to inspiration and of the 'mother of the book' (S. xiii. 39), or heavenly Koran, of which Muhammad's was but a fragment. The toleration of Christians, Sabians (or Mendaites), and Jews, as distinguished from pagans, is expressed in many passages (ii. 59; xxii. 18;
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 337
from the days of Abraham.* The Beni Hanifa of Yemama, who were apparently under Christian influ- ence, were no doubt representatives of the Hanifs, or ' inquirers,' to whom Muhammad first claimed to be- long, and who followed the pure monotheism which he attributed to Abraham.
The earlier Suras are chiefly concerned with the warnings as to the coming day of judgment, and with descriptions of the end of the world, and of heaven and hell, which, in spite of their wonderfully vigorous imagery and language, contain little or nothing not to be found earlier in Babylonia or in Syria. Even the bitter tree which grows in hell is the old Egyptian tree of Nut ; and Malek, the guardian of the infernal region, is the old Akkadian Mulge, the Moloch of Syria.f The ' tree of the limit ' in heaven is the tree of life of the Hebrews ; and the Houris of Paradise are the Persian Hurani Behisht, the older Apsaras or ' water-movers ' of India, who welcome heroes to Siva's Paradise. They are thus ultimately related to the Valkyres of the Norse and the Swan-maidens of Aryan folk-tales.
The stories which occur in the Koran concerning Old Testament characters are mostly traceable to the
v. 51, 56, 73, 85). The Jews, however, are to be regarded as enemies, and the Moslem is not to make a personal friend of a Christian (v. 56). There is very little of the fanatic in any of this teaching.
0 ' Abraham was a Hanif, and neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a Muslim, and not of those who add gods to God' (S. iii. 60).
t Sura lvi. 20, 40. Cf. lxxvi., lv., and xliii. 772. The subject of holy trees and infernal trees from the earliest age down to the mediaeval Arbre Sol and Arbre Sec would fill a large volume.
22
338 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Talmud and to the legends of the Jews.* The errors and anachronisms seem to show that the ' unlettered Prophet ' learned them orally rather than from books ; and the Gnostic stories concerning our Lord may, in the same way, have been gathered from the Ebionites of Basrah rather than from a study of the apocryphal Gospels. Muhammad seems to have received, into a mind remarkable chiefly for its passionate imagination, the ideas and legends of every race and faith with which he came in contact ;t and these he retailed in the Arabic tongue to the untravelled and unlettered Bedawin, to whom they were, perhaps, new and fasci- nating. From the Magian religion the Prophet bor- rowed almost as much as from the teaching of Jews and Gnostics; but this element in the Koran is perhaps less generally recognised because less familiar.];
0 This comparison was worked out in detail by R. Abraham Geiger in 1833 ; but in some cases the common source for both Talmudic and Koranic legends is certainly to be found in the Zendavesta.
f It must not be forgotten that one of Muhammad's concubines was Rihanah, a Jewess, and another Maria, a Coptic slave, who was no doubt a Christian. The story of the Christian monk Buheira first occurs in the history of Abu el Feda (1300-1330 A.D.). According to some commentators Muhammad used to listen to two slaves, Jabr and Yasar, who read the Torah and the Gospel to him. The Koreish called his Suras ■ old folk's tales ' (S. xxv. 5-7).
X To a Persian origin we must attribute the story of Dhu el Karnein {cf. Iskander Nameh), and the storming of heaven by the Jan (S. lxxii. 8 ; Bundahish vi.). Nodhar Ibn el Harith is said to have been the ' man with an idle tale ' (S. xxxi. 4), who brought with him from Persia the romance of Rustem and Isfendiar, which he said was superior to anything in the Koran. The ' boiling over of earth's oven,' which caused the deluge (S. xi. 42), may be com-
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 339
A legend localized even as far north as Ephesus also finds its place in the Suras in the story of the Seven Sleepers and their dog. The denunciations of the Koran are chiefly directed against the old paganism of Arabia, and against the immoralities and cruelties of the Bedawin ; their bloody human sacrifices, their worship of the sun, and such superstitious rites as the throwing of the arrows of fate, or the entering of their houses from behind when returning from Mecca.
Two Arab legends, as yet not traced in other lands, must be excepted — namely, the story of the Camel of Saleh, and that of the mission of Hud to the nation of 'Ad, in Irem. But although the Koran thus represents the final result of the influences of Northern civilization on Arabia, it seems clear that Muhammad never entirely emancipated himself from the beliefs in which he was brought up. He left almost untouched the main features of the Haj and of the worship of the Kaaba (or 'square' shrine of the Arab goddess), and purified the national creed only very partially, while
pared with the boiling over of the Sea Vouru Kasha (Aban Yasht, x. 38). The ideas of the ' brig o' the Dead ' (Sirat), the tree of the limit, the flat earth (cf. Bundahish xxx. ^3), also appear to have been learned in Persia ; and the name ' Stoned One ' for Iblis recalls the stoning of Ahriman with Honover, the Word, though Muhammad connected it with the old stone-throwing of the Valley of Mena— originally no doubt only a memorial rite of pilgrimage. The more purely Arab figures of the Koran include El Khadr, and Dhu el Kifl— that is, the ' Green One ' (like the Hottentot God of Spring), and the 'Lord of Division' — a God of Fate. The Persian ideas found in the Sunna, or traditions, are still more numerous, including the chief features of Mazdean mythology and eschatology, as found in the Zendavesta.
22 — 2
34o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
incorporating many Mazdean, Jewish, and Christian elements. There is certainly no reason, when calmly considering the results, to look on Muhammad as being either an impostor striving, for political purposes, to elaborate a system, or a fanatic believing himself in- spired with new truths. Rather should we regard him as a genius ; as a poet, in whose receptive mind all sorts of incongruous materials became fused ; and as an enthusiast calling on his fellows to abandon the barbarous superstitions of their cruel and degrading paganism.
In coldly analyzing the religions of such teachers as Muhammad or the Sakya Muni, we do not, perhaps, always keep in mind sufficiently what genius is, and how great its effect on those who come within its influence. The spark of fire burning in the eyes of the born chief and leader of men kindles in the breasts of those who see and hear a mighty flame, even when the lesson is neither new nor strange. Whatever the original sources of the teaching, the new faith is born when its prophet appears.
The conquest of Persia brought the Arabs under the immediate influence of Mendaites, Manicheans, Magians, and even Buddhists, and in contact with the philosophy of the age, of Greek and of Indian deriva- tion. The appearance of heresy was the inevitable result, and the teaching of the Persian Moslem sects is of great importance to the history of Syria, since it gives us the origin of the still existing beliefs of Metawileh, Ism'ailiyeh, Anseiriyeh, and Druzes.
The struggle of the Sunnis and the Shi'ah was
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 341
originally a political struggle between ' Aly, the husband of Muhammad's daughter, and Moawiyeh, the son of his old enemy Abu Sofian, of the rival Koreish family of the 'Abd Shems, a branch of the Ommeiyah. The separation of Syria from Persia led gradually to a dis- tinct development of the Moslem faith at two centres — the religion of Kufa, and of Persia generally, becoming continually more mystic. The doctrine of the Imamat, or successive incarnations of deity, was akin to the Persian belief in such successive incarnations of the Word of Ahuramazda, to the Indian dogma of the in- carnations of deity, and to the Mendaite teaching as to successive incarnations of Christ, which seems to have been founded on Magian teaching. The extravagances of the mourning for Hosein seem also best explained by connecting them with the survival, which we have seen to be traceable down to the tenth century a.d., of the mourning for Tammuz in Mesopotamia.*
One of the earliest philosophic or esoteric sects of
0 The Muharram ceremonies at the commencement of the Moslem year in Persia and in Egypt retain several clear survivals of older rites. The Tubut, or model of Hosein's tomb, is a Tebah, or 'ark/ like those which Phoenician and Alexandrian women used to make in honour of Adonis. Shamer, who slew Hosein, is traditionally said to have had boar's tusks, a last trace of the boar who slew Adonis or Horus. The practice of self-laceration with knives among Derwishes during this festival recalls the customs of the priests of Baal and of those of Osiris (Herod., ii. 61). In the processions, the bearers of poles, water-skins, and torches recall the phallophoroi, the water-bearers and torch-bearers of the Greek processions in honour of Dionysus. Hosein's head at Damascus recalls the head of Tammuz, over which the women of Byblos used to lament.
342 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Islam seems to have been that of the Batanin. Hasan el Basri, who taught free-will as against the Moslem fatalism, and his disciple Maabed Ibn Khaled, who was hanged by order of 'Abd el Melek in 704 a.d., were the earliest of these Batanin, or teachers of a mystic mean- ing to be attached to the plain words of the Koran. 'Abdallah Ibn Waheb Ibn Saba pronounced the dead ' Aly to be immortal, the thunder to be his voice, the light- ning his sword, and his future return to earth to be ex- pected.* In 874 a.d. the sect of the Karmathians was founded by Hamdan Ibn Ashath el Karmat in Basrah, and its adherents spread all over Irak. They became gradually powerful in Khorassan, in Syria, and in Egypt ; and they even took Mecca, insulted the Kaaba, and reduced Yemen to tribute. These sectaries were
0 See Churchill's 'Lebanon,' i., pp. 296-356; Lane's 'Intro- duction,' pp. 212-215; Hughes's 'Dictionary of Islam,' articles 'Philosophy' and 'Sufis.' The Sufi system is clearly indebted chiefly to India for its origin — to the Vedanta and Buddhist philosophy. The 'path,' the final 'unity' with God, the disbelief in all creeds, the inculcation of ascetic contemplation, of the abnegation of self, of the destruction of all desire, which form the great Sufi doctrines, are purely Buddhist. The Sufis seem to have been named from the Greek Sophia, but they were not philosophers but Bikshus. They date from Said Abu el Kheir in 820 a.d., and their cardinal dogmas were — 1st. That God is all in all ; 2nd. That all matter emanates from Him ; 3rd. That religious creeds are matters of indifference ; 4th. That good and evil are not realities ; 5th. That man has no free will ; 6th. That the body is a prison, and death a return to Divine Union ; 7th. That souls are purified by transmigration ; 8th. That Union depends on God's grace ; 9th. It is attained by following the path of ascetic contemplation. There is not a trace of Islam in such teaching. We might take every word from Buddhists, Brahmins, or Essenes, or even from some Christian teaching.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 343
mystics and ascetics. They allegorized the Koran, and had an esoteric teaching, which attracted to them both Christians, Jews, and Moslems. One of their leaders was El Faraj Ibn Othman, of the town of Nasrana, who was regarded as an Imam, and was held to have been pointed out by Christ in the words, ' Thou art the invitation, the proof, the camel, the beast, John son of Zachariah, the Holy Ghost.' From this sect are de- scended the modern Anseiriyeh of the Northern Leba- non, who still preserve this curious syncretic system with a eucharistic supper, and a ceremony of ' con- secrating the Fragrant Herb,' probably originating in the Haoma worship of the Persians.* They believe in Christ and in Selman el Farsi as divine, the latter forming one of a triad, including Muhammad and Ali, and opposed to an evil triad of the three Khalifs, Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othman, whom the Persian Moslems never accepted as Khalifs. This mystic system includes
0 See Palmer, ' City of Herod and Saladin,' p. 426. ' The officiating priest takes his seat in the middle of the assembly, and a white cloth, containing a kind of spice, called Mahlab, camphor, and some sprigs of olive, or fragrant herb, is then placed before him. Two attendants then bring a vessel filled with wine, and the master of the house in which the ceremony takes place, after ap- pointing a third person to minister to them, kisses their feet and hands all round, and humbly requests permission to provide the materials necessary for the feast. The high priest having prostrated himself on the ground, and uttered a short invocation to certain mystic personages, distributes the sprigs of olive among the con- gregation, who rub them on their hands, and place them solemnly to their nose to inhale their fragrance.' See Ezek. viii. 17. It is difficult to understand smelling olive-sprigs, which are not fragrant ; there is perhaps some misconception. The sprigs seem, however, to answer to the Barsom of Persia.
344 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
also the old phallic worship of Syria, and the adoration of sun, moon, and planets ; but its original meaning may be judged from a consideration of the beliefs of the kindred sect of the Ism'ailiyeh.
There were many other mystic systems in the first and second centuries of Islam. The Khatebi, an early immoral sect who permitted general licence to their followers, were apparently connected with the Gnostics, who, as we have seen, held similar views as to morality. The Sakti-worshipping sects of India down to our own times preserve such beliefs in the lawfulness of complete indulgence of all passions. The Khatebi adored Jaafer es Saddik of Kufa, the sixth Shi'ah Imam, and believed that he left behind a skin on which was written all knowledge, and which completely abrogated the Koran law. Mokanna, the celebrated ' Veiled Prophet ' of Khorassan, lived as early as the time of El Mohdi, and died about 162 a.h. : he claimed to be inspired by a certain Imam called Abu Selma. El Modhi, himself the twelfth Imam, was also believed to be immortal, and was said to have retired to a cave near Baghdad, whence he is to return in the future.
The Ism'ailiyeh were a yet more powerful sect, whose real teaching was a scepticism which denied all religious beliefs save that in two natures, male and female respectively, which they called God and the Word.* Such scepticism was, however, only taught
0 'The Word' is the Persian Honover, which was believed to have been often incarnate, even in the person of kings like Vistasp (Fravardin Yasht, xxv. 99), who was a monarch of Bactria, and a champion of the Mazdean faith.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 345
after an initiation which proceeded through seven degrees, corresponding to seven historical dispensa- tions under seven ' hidden ones/ or Imams. The sect was named from Ism'ail Ibn Jaafer es Saddik (that is to say, son of the Khatebi saint), whom they recognised as the sixth Imam. The Fatemite Khalifs, who con- quered Egypt, brought with them, in 971 a.d., the creed of the Ism'ailiyeh sect to which they belonged; and a few survivors, holding this curious creed, are still found in the Lebanon near Horns, where, in the twelfth century, they were known to the Crusaders as Hashshashin, or ' hemp-smokers ' — whence, as shown by De Sacy, originates the familiar name of the Assassins, of whom we must speak again in the next chapter.*
The phraseology of the Ism'ailiyeh systems is so close to that of the Druzes, as to serve to connect the
0 The modern Ism'ailiyeh preserve the grades of initiation, alle- gorical interpretation of the Koran, belief in transmigration, and a sacred libation (the Haoma). The lower orders believe in the worship of sun, moon, and stars, and celebrate (it is said) annual orgies of a phallic character. The seven revelations or dispensa- tions had each a Natek or prophet accompanied by an Asas or 1 power.5
|
1 st Revelation : |
Natek Adam, |
Asas Seth. |
||
|
2nd „ |
)> |
Noah, |
j? |
Shem. |
|
3rd „ |
» |
Abraham, |
)> |
Ishmael. |
|
4th „ |
)> |
Moses, |
,*) |
Aaron and Joshua. |
|
5th |
?> |
Jesus, |
>) |
Simon Peter. |
|
6th |
>> |
Muhammad, |
11 |
Ali. |
The seventh was still to come. Such systems recall the Manichean teaching and the enumeration of universal monarchs and Buddhas in India, or the successive emanations and incarnations of the Divine Word in Persia.
346 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
latter with their real precursors, who were teachers of the Ism'ailiyeh sect. The Druze system, of which the distinguishing feature is the belief in Hakem, the Egyptian Khalif, as a divine person, and in Hamzeh of Khorassan (the master of Muhammad Ibn Ism'ail ed Derazi) as their prophet, is, perhaps, more elaborate than any of the preceding. Hakem was born in 375 a.h., became Khalif in Cairo in 386 a.h., and was murdered by order of his sister in 411 a.h. (1021 a.d.) After his death Hamzeh disappeared, having previously quarrelled with Ed Derazi, whom the Druzes now hold in contempt. Boha-ed-Din, one of the principal converts, flying from Egypt, settled in Hermon, where Ed Derazi was teaching already in Wady et Teim, near Hasbeiyeh. So active was the new propaganda, that by 419 a.h. the creed had been spread by letters over all Syria, Irak, Egypt, Yemen, Arabia Petrsea, and even to Ghuzneh, to Mooltan, and to Constantinople.* The system attracted Jew, Christian,
0 It is useless here to expand on the details of the Druze faith, since we are only concerned in tracing its origin ; but these are very well known. Their chief dogmas are eight — 1st. The unity of God ; 2nd. Successive incarnations of the Deity ; 3rd. Belief in Hakem as the last of these ; 4th. Incarnations of the Wisdom of God ; 5th. Hamzeh, the last incarnation of Wisdom ; 6th. Trans- migration of souls, of whom a few attain the Imamat and are born no more ; 7th. Obedience to the seven laws of Hamzeh, including the renunciation of dogma and the substitution of pure morality ; 8th. That all former faiths are but types and forms of Druze teach- ing. The system of incarnations of the five emanations, including Natek, Asas, Imam, Hoja, and Dai is clearly founded on that of the earlier Ism'ailiyeh. The apocalyptic beliefs are perhaps of Mani- chean origin, though similar beliefs are common among Sunni Moslems. The teaching of the Druzes as to Christ is clearly
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 347
and Moslem alike ; and, like that of the Manicheans, appears to have been partly based on the Buddhism of Bactria. Thus the modern Druzes still expect Hakem to return from their sacred land in China, and their belief in transmigration may have the same source. All these mystic sects, Batanin, Druzes, Manicheans, etc., appear to have really taught a scepticism which may, perhaps, be traced to the Buddhist disbelief in accepted creeds. Scepticism lies at the root of all the earliest Buddhist philosophy, and we have already seen that Buddhism had spread into Persia, and probably farther west, in the times when the Manichean system was first formulated. The idea of the Imamat, on attaining to which the soul no longer requires reincarnation (which is a Druze dogma), is exactly the Buddhist idea of Nirvana. The dead are believed to pass to China, suggesting a con- nection with Thibetan Buddhism. We have already seen that Manes, from whose teaching the Druzes seem to have borrowed much, was well acquainted with Buddhist philosophy.
This slight sketch of the development of the mystic and sceptical sects of Islam will serve to show how soon the original teaching of Muhammad was per- verted and mingled with the extravagant and often immoral teaching of earlier systems. Islam from its
derived from the doctrines of the Nestorians and Mendaites. Benjamin of Tudela speaks of Druzes in Ceylon in the twelfth cen- tury (see 'Early Travels in Palestine/ p. 115), and calls them fire-worshippers. It is not impossible that the Druze religion may have spread thus far, but perhaps R. Benjamin confuses them with Buddhists or with Parsee refugees.
348 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
birth — like Buddhism or Gnostic Christianity — was shattered into innumerable and constantly changing sects, syncretic or eclectic ; and as among the Hindus so also among Moslems, from the seventh century to our own times, individual teaching has resulted in the continual formation of new combinations, which flourish for a time and decay, whilst the religion of the masses remains almost unchanged. It is, however, quite erro- neous to suppose that Moslems, unlike Christians, are accustomed to act habitually up to the standard set forth by their faith, for there has always been in Islam probably quite as much religious indifference or active unbelief as is found in Christian countries ; while the standard set up by the Koran is decidedly lower than that of Christian morality.
It is time to turn, however, for a moment to consider the condition of Christians and Jews under the Moslem rulers of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries a.d. in Syria.
Of the Jews and Samaritans we hear very little during these centuries. They were at times oppressed ; at times they seem to have been prosperous (judging from the Samaritan chronicle). They joined Chosroes against the Christians in 614 a.d. ; but suffered with them in later times. They were no doubt chiefly engaged in trade.* In the eighth century St. Willibald found a synagogue of the Jews in Tiberias.
0 It must not be forgotten that the oldest extant MSS. of the Old Testament belong to this age. The Harkavy MSS. of the Prophets are thought to be as old as the seventh or eighth century. The earliest MS. of which the date is certainly known, viz., 916 A. D.,
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 349
The fortunes of the Christians also fluctuated greatly,* according as the Moslem world was at peace or rent by such struggles as those preceding the fall of the Ommeiyah house in 750 a.d., and the great civil war in Syria at the close of the same century. Under the Ommeiyah princes, pilgrims appear to have travelled unmolested; and in the time of Yezid II., St. Willi- bald, though detained at Horns for some time, was yet allowed to travel up and down Palestine without further interruption. Rather earlier in the days of Merwan, Arculphus speaks of an annual fair at Jerusalem, at- tended by men of different nations; and in 876 a.d. Ber- nard the Wise draws a pleasing picture of the peace and security of Syria in the first year of the 'golden prime of good Harun er Rashid.' It was at this time that Charlemagne became custodian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and built a hospice in the centre of Jerusalem, and received a present of an elephant from the Khalif, which reached France 802 a.d. It appears
is the Odessa Codex at St. Petersburg, found in a synagogue in the Crimea, containing 225 pp. of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the minor prophets. The rolls of the Firkowitz collection, said to come from Karaite synagogues of the Crimea, are of doubtful antiquity. A codex from Aleppo and one at Cairo are believed to be older than the Odessa Codex. — See Taylor's ' Alphabet,' i., p. 276. Thus we have older MSS. of the New Testament than of the Old, since the Sinaitic is attributed to the fourth century a.d., and the Alex- andrian to the fifth.
0 Omar's treaty, when Jerusalem surrendered, according to Kemal ed Din, gave the Christians their existing churches, but for- bade them to build new ones, or to perform public ceremonies. They might not carry arms, or ride, or use bells, or cross them- selves in public, or lament abroad for the dead. The churches were to be open to Moslem inspection.
35o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
that the relations of Christians and Moslems must also have been peaceful in the latter half of the ninth century, when, as we have seen, a Byzantine Princess was buried south of Jerusalem.*
On the other hand, in 796 and in 812 a.d., the Monastery of Mar Saba was plundered, and the monks massacred ; and in 969 a.d. the Fatemite Khalif Muez, having established himself at Cairo, is said to have burnt the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was again destroyed by Hakem in 1010. Ten years pre- viously, the merchants of Amain founded the Hospice of St. John Eleemon in Jerusalem ; and after the death of Hakem pilgrimages began to become frequent, whole armies of Christians from the West invading Palestine from 1033 a.d."|* down to the time of Peter the Hermit's visit in 1094 A.D.
0 Bernard the Wise {cf. ' Early Travels in Palestine,' p. 30) says, in 867 a.d. : ' Now I will tell you how the Christians keep God's law, both at Jerusalem and in Egypt. The Christians and Pagans have there such a peace between them, that if I should go a journey, and in the journey my camel or ass which carries my baggage should die, and I should leave everything there without a guard, and go to the next town to get another, on my return I should find all my property untouched. The law of public safety is there such that if they find in a city, or on the sea, or on the road, any man journeying by night or by day without a letter or some mark of a king or prince of that land, he is immediately thrown into prison till the time he can give a good account whether he be a spy or not.'
*j* These pilgrimages in 1033 are described by Rod. Glaber (4, 6) : ' From the whole world an innumerable multitude began to flow towards the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem . . . (the Church having just begun to rise from its ashes in 1031, by arrangement between Ed Dhaher and the Greek Emperor Romanus). First came the lower class ; ther>, -later, the middle class ; and after-
'
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 351
Turning to consider the remaining monuments of the age, we must first speak of Persian buildings ; next of Moslem architecture ; and then of the Christian struc- tures in Jerusalem. The Sassanian architecture of Persia was based (as Mr. Fergusson tells us) on the older Assyrian architecture. It is marked by great peculiarities, both of structure and also of ornamenta- tion. In structure, we find square recessed chambers opening on a central court, and walls panelled or divided by piers and pillars supporting arches which are filled in with masonry, the panels being in some cases adorned (as at Takt-i-Bostan) by scroll-work in low relief. The arches and vaulting of the receding chambers are sometimes of great size (as at the Tak Kesra) ; the panelling is compared by Fergusson to that of an Assyrian building at Warka. At Takt-i- Bostan we have a rock-cut arched chamber attributed to Chosroes II., which presents similar features, and with classic figures of Victory flanking the arch.*
In Gilead a building which reproduces all these peculiar features of Sassanian art exists within the
wards the great — kings, counts, leaders ; and finally . . . many noble women, with others poorer.' The principal names are as follow (cf. ' Bib. Res./ i., p. 397) :
1033 A.D. Odolric, Bishop of Orleans.
1035 „ Robert of Normandy, father of the Conqueror.
1065 ,, The German Bishops of Maintz, Bamburg, Ratisbon, and Utrecht.
1094 „ Peter the Hermit.
0 See ' Hist. Arch.,' vol. i., pp. 377-399. This class of buildings ranges from the middle of the third century (at El Hadhr) down to the Moslem conquest in 636 A.D. The arches are round or elliptical.
152
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 353
citadel at 'Amman. I have already described it, and pointed out its apparent connection with Persian architecture.* A central unroofed court 33 feet square, has on each side a vaulted chamber fully open to the courtyard, each chamber 18 feet square and 27 feet to the roof. The walls are panelled and adorned with scroll-work in low relief, closely resembling that of the Takt-i-Bostan ;f the great arches are very slightly elliptical, recalling those of the Tak-Kesra at Ctesiphon. The object for which this building was constructed is not clear. It cannot be either a mosque or a church, but is more probably a kiosque or summer public hall.
Farther south the famous palace of Mashita ('the winter place'), discovered by Dr. Tristram]: in Moab, is attributed by Mr. Fergusson to Chosroes II. about 614-627 a.d. This large palace, measuring 500 feet square, contains a somewhat similar kiosque or court, with surrounding recesses (a triapsal hall, as Mr. Fergusson calls it) ; the Mashita palace is mainly of brick, while the 'Amman building is of stone. The character of the profile of the pilaster capitals is com- pared by Mr. Fergusson to that of the time of Justinian. The lower part of the outer walls is adorned with sculpture in low relief of a most intri- cate and beautiful character, with scroll-work of vines, figures of birds and lions (winged in some cases), and
0 ' Heth and Moab,' pp. 1 57-161.
f The origin of some of this ornamentation seems most pro- bably to be found in the artificial Samulti, or ' tree of the great light ' — the tree of Asshur commonly represented on Assyrian bas- reliefs.
% * Land of Moab/ pp. 195-215.
23
354 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
geometrical patterns. Though superior in richness and variety of detail to the panelling at 'Amman, the style of this palace is still very closely similar to that of the northern building. The outer wall is also strengthened by round and octagonal towers at inter- vals. The building seems, however, to have been abandoned before completion, when the walls had been raised twenty feet ; the ornamentation is un- finished, and the stones not always completely hewn. This building I was unfortunately unable to visit on account of disturbances among the Arabs. Inscrip- tions are said to exist which may throw light on the date and origin of the work, but meanwhile it seems hardly possible to accept, unquestioned, the dictum that this palace must have been built by Chosroes II., considering how short and how troubled was his rule over Western Asia.
The victorious Arabs had no great and distinctive style of architecture of their own * in which we might expect them to have begun to build as soon as they had conquered. They adopted the civilization of the people whom they vanquished, and Ibn Khaldun relates that they employed Greeks and Persians to build their mosques. It is not impossibly to the days of the rich and splendour-loving Ommeiyah Khalifs, rather than to the short period of Persian supremacy, that these two buildings just noticed are to be ascribed ;
0 Professor Palmer points out (' City of Herod and Saladin,' p. 92) that nearly all the technical words used as architectural terms in Arabic are of Persian origin. This, as will be seen later, is very suggestive.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 355
but this point can probably only be settled by the dis- covery of inscriptions as yet unknown. Turning from Moab to Jerusalem, we may therefore next consider the buildings more certainly to be ascribed to the Syrian Khalifs of Damascus.
The Dome of the Rock is stated by Moslem his- torians to have been built by 'Abd el Melek,* and the great Kufic inscription over the arcades contains the date of erection in his reign. This inscription is of great interest, not only in connection with the history of the building, but also as giving an early example of Arabic writing, and early extracts from the Koran, which, as De Vogue has remarked, should be carefully compared by those who desire to examine critically the text of that work.-)* The character used in this inscrip- tion is the same found on coins of 'Abd el Melek ; and the title Khalifah, which Mamun and el Mahdi affected, is (as Mr. Madden notes) not found in this text ; but, on the other hand, it is also absent from a Kufic inscrip- tion of el Mamun on the doors of the same building — the Kubbet es Sakhrah, or Dome of the Rock.
0 The later Moslem historians state that 'Abd el Melek encou- raged pilgrimage to Jerusalem because Mecca and Medinah were in the hands of 'Abdallah Ibn Zobeir, who would not acknowledge the Ommeiyah as Khalifs.
f See Taylor's 'Alphabet,' i., p. 321; Besant and Palmer's 1 Jerusalem,' p. 86 ; De Vogue's ' Temple de Jerusalem,' p. 84. The principal passages are as follows, as translated by De Vogue" :
1 Praise God. He has no son. He does not share the rule of the universe. He has no need of a helper. Proclaim His greatness* (S. xvii. in). 'Heaven and earth are His kingdom. He gives life and death ; His power is over all things ' (lvii. 2). ' O ye who have received the Scriptures, do not leave the faith ; speak truth only of
23—2
356 SYRIAN STONE-LORE,
The question of the origin of this building has been complicated by the supposed recognition of a Byzantine character in its style. Mr. Fergusson attributed it to Constantine, and Professor Sepp proposed to attri- bute it to Justinian. No doubt there is prima facie some reason for hesitation, but a careful consideration of the building in detail seems to show that these ideas are unfounded. The pillars supporting the Dome are in all probability Roman work, perhaps as old as the
God. Jesus is the son of Mary, sent by God and His Word. God made him to descend into Mary. He is His Spirit. Believe in God and in His messengers, and say not that God is three, for this is a better faith for you. He is one. Praise be to Him. Be it far from Him to have a son. All that is in heaven or on earth is His. He is a sufficient defence ' (iv. 169). ' The grace of God is on thy apostleship, Jesus, son of Mary. Peace shall be on me in the day of my birth, in the day of my death, in the day of my resurrection, said Jesus, the true son of Mary, concerning whom some doubt. It is not for God to have a son : praise be to His name. He speaks, and that which was not is. God is my Lord and yours ; worship Him, for this is the right way ' (xix. 34-37).
Socin's translation differs in detail. Professor Palmer gives the full text ('P. E. F. Quarterly,' 1871, p. 164 ; and ' City of Herod and Saladin,' p. 86), but again differs in detail ; so that a further copy is needed. There are passages in the inscription not taken from the Koran as now known.
The historical inscription is as follows :
1 Built this Kubbeh the servant of God, 'Abd [Allah el Imam el Mamun A]mir of the faithful, in the year two-and-seventy. May God be pleased thereby, and be content with him. Amen.'
The fact that Mamun's name has here replaced 'Abd el Melek's is shown both by the date and by the darker colour of the tiles in- serted containing the words, which (as shown in brackets) are somewhat clumsily substituted for El Melek Ibn Merwan. The letters are also more crowded in the renewed part than in the rest of the text.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 357
fourth century; but, as I have shown in a previous publication, they are certainly not in their original places, nor do they all appear originally to have belonged to one building. There are great differences of height and design in both the capitals and the bases ; in short, the pillars are older than the building in which they now occur, which is consequently later than the fourth, and perhaps than the sixth century. It is also no doubt true that round and polygonal buildings were erected both by Constantine and by Justinian, but, on the other hand, it is equally certain that the early Moslems employed these forms for their Kubbehs or ' domes ' erected over sacred spots, such as the Sakhrah or ' rock ' has always been in the eyes of the faithful of Islam.
Neither the form of the building nor the style of the pillar -bases and capitals can therefore be cited in favour of a Byzantine origin. As to the mosaics of the arcades, their elegant tracery is closer in style to the carved work of Amman and Mashita than it is to the mosaics of Justinian's time,* while the Kufic inscription represents evidence which can only be shaken by very strong contrary testimony. The vine- scrolls, with grape-bunches issuing from a central vase, at Mashita, are closely similar to the vine-scrolls and grape-bunches on the oldest mosaics of the Dome of the Rock; but there is one difference — in the latter building no birds or beasts are represented, while on the other
0 In the Hagia Sophia, for instance, we have a much stiffer style in the marble tracery ; while the mosaics in the Hagia Sophia present either crosses, human figures, or very geometrical designs.
358
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
■„ '- ' r"-y ■■' . JV, -rr ■-■'■— *-— "t' '' f,^1 TWU. r*" "V * — -• «•*■'■—- — ■* — ■ --'- * ^
DOME OF THE ROCK OUTER WALL.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 359
hand, u,p^fcross or other Christian emblem is discover- able. Trie mosaic is, in fact, exactly what would be expected in a Moslem building, such as that in which we find verses of the Koran written in Kufic characters of an early style.
There is thus, I believe, no single detail of the building which can be distinctly pointed out as neces- sarily Christian ; while, on the other hand, there is much that recalls the earliest Moslem style. Thus the arches of the arcade are strengthened by a wooden beam from capital to capital — a feature found in the Mosque of 'Amru at Cairo (seventh century), and in the Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Chain at Jeru- salem, as well as in many other Moslem buildings. It is a feature not known to exist in any church of the Byzantine age. The Byzantine style, in short, does not give us any such close similarities to the architecture of the Dome of the Rock as may be found in the Sassanian architecture of the age of Muhammad; and the Byzantine appearance of the Dome of the Rock is due to the re-use of Byzantine materials at a later date.
The original arches of the Kubbet es Sakhrah were round, and this not only under the dome and in the arcade, but also in the external wall. It is, however, not impossible that this outer wall may not be older than the time of the first restoration of the building by El Mamun. The Moslem writers consider the Dome of the Chain to have been the model of the Dome of the Rock, which would only be exactly the case if the outer wall did not then exist, in which case the larger building reproduces the smaller to three times its scale.
360 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The roof of the outer wall bears the date 913 a.d. (or 299 a.h.) ; and the gates bear an inscription of El Mamun, with the date 216 a.h. (831 a.d.)* If the wall be of the same age with its gates it should be attributed to El Mamun. It cannot be later, since the Moslems began to use the pointed arch in the ninth or tenth century,f and since it cannot be supposed later than the dated roof.
The original appearance of this outer wall was studied with advantage in 1874, when the building was under repair. Its distinguishing feature consists of panels between broad pilasters, pierced with windows. The arches of both windows and panels were originally round, and a dwarf wall, with an arcade supported on little coupled pillars, runs round the building at the top, forming a sort of balustrade above the roof. In general arrangement, and especially in the detail of this upper
0 The four gates are covered with bronze plates, on which are stamped in fine Kufic characters verses of the Koran, and beneath, on each gate, the following :
' This was made by order of the servant of God, 'Abd Allah el Imam el Mamun, Emir of the faithful — God lengthen his exist- ence ! — under the rule of the brother of the Emir of the faithful Abu Is-hak, son of the Emir of the faithful Er Rashid — may God give him long life ! Done by the hand of Saleh Ben Yahia, servant of the Emir of the faithful, in the month Rabi'a el Akhir, the year sixteen and two hundred/ — Cf. \ Temple de Jerusalem,' p. 86.
f There is a very interesting mosque at 'Amman, which is also, perhaps, attributable to the time of the Ommeiyah princes before 900 a.d. It has round arches to the gates, and stone beams or lintels in two cases beneath the relieving arches. The pointed arch occurs in the cistern of Helena at Ramleh, which contains a Kar- mathian text of the year 372 of the Hegira. It was therefore used in Palestine by the end of the tenth century a.d.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 361
order of dwarf pillars, the outer wall of the Dome of the Rock thus reproduces almost exactly features found in the Sassanian or early Arab building already de- scribed at 'Amman ; and also appearing in Sassanian architecture at the .Tak-Kesra (about 550 a.d.),. and at Ferouzabad (about 450 a.d.).
For the reasons thus enumerated, it appears to me fairly certain that the Dome of the Rock is a structure attributable to the end of the seventh century a.d., with additions of the ninth century a.d., built origi- nally, as the Arab historians all say, by Abd el Melek, and restored and enlarged by El Mamun.* The style is exactly that which would be natural to the first cen- turies of Islam, due to the influence of Persian art, and very probably designed by Persian, or perhaps by Greek architects. The prima facie suspicion of Byzan- tine origin seems due mainly to our familiarity with the
0 The following is a resume of the history of the Jerusalem Haram during the period now under consideration :
A.D.
637. Omar purifies the Sakhrah, visits Justinian's Church of St.
Mary, and builds a wooden mosque. 688. Abd el Melek builds the Kubbet es Sakhrah, and covers the
doors of El Aksa with gold and silver plates. 728. Date of the Dome of the Aksa Mosque. 758-775. Earthquake damages El Aksa. 775-785. El Mahdi increases the width and decreases the length
of El Aksa (still traceable in the form of the roof). 831. El Mamun restores the Kubbet es Sakhrah. 913. Date of the beams of the roof of Kubbet es Sakhrah. 1016. Earthquake partly destroys Kubbet es Sakhrah. 1022. Date of the woodwork of the restored dome (still visible). 1027. Date on some of the mosaics of the drum of Kubbet es
Sakhrah. 1060. Repairs to the roof of El Aksa.
362 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
work of the Greek emperors, and to our comparative ignorance of the early art of Islam.
The Arab work in the Aks'a Mosque is less im- portant, since it was merely restoration of the Byzan- tine basilica of Justinian. The north door of this mosque behind the Crusading porch, is thought by De Vogue to be Byzantine. He compares it to the doors of Byzantine buildings in Northern Syria. This similarity is very striking, although the supposition hardly tallies with Moslem accounts of the shortening of El Aksa by El Mahdi. At Damascus we have remains of another building by the Ommeiyah in the more ancient portions of the Great Mosque, which is attributed by Moslem writers to Welid, son of 'Abd el Melek (705- 714 a.d.) ; the arches here also are round, and the mosaics — if attributable to the same age — are extremely Byzantine in character. We are told, however,* that Welid seTIt to,. Constantinople to ask the Emperor for mosaic artificers for this very mos^ue^ a fact which not only accounts for the Byzantine character of the still existing mosaics, but which must also be kept in view in considering those of the Dome of the Rock.
Turning from Arab architecture, we must glance for
0 Kemal ed Din (1470 a.d.) appears to describe this mosaic. He speaks of the golden vine, which is still visible, and of a representa- tion of the Kaaba — perhaps the small square house which forms part of the design. The mosque was an adaptation of the Church of Arcadius (see Chapter VIII.), which held the head of St. John Baptist. The head of Hosein is now shown in a chapel in this mosque close to Salad in's tomb, where the Christians formerly showed the Baptist's head. At first both Christians and Moslems used the church for prayer, but in Welid's time the Christians were turned out. — ' Later Bib. Res.,' p. 462.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. ' 363
a moment at the contemporary fortunes of Christian buildings.
The Basilica of Constantine over the Holy Se- pulchre was destroyed, according to historians, by Chosroes. Certainly there are in Jerusalem no remains of any basilica save that of Justinian in the Aksa, nor is there any reason to doubt the correctness of the Paschal Chronicle or of Eutychius in this matter.* The buildings, erected by Modestus, are described by Arculphus, Willibald, and Bernard the Wise ; while those which replaced them after the further destruction by Hakem in 1010 a.d., were seen by Saewulf before the great Crusading Cathedral was built.
Of the four chapels constructed by Modestus, one was a round church, including the supposed Holy Sepulchre; the second, dedicated to St. Mary, was situated not far off, though the exact position is per- haps not certain ; the third was the Calvary Chapel ; the fourth was the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross. Of this latter the pillars still remain,t present- ing enormous Byzantine capitals, covered with a basket-work pattern, and rudely resembling some of the capitals of Justinian's age. The chapel has three apses on the east, from the southern of which is a descent to the cave or cistern where the cross was related to have been found. The vaulting is a Crusading restoration ; but the pillars, which no doubt originally supported a dome, are the last distinguishable remains of the chapel of Modestus.
0 See back, authorities, p. 330.
t De Vogue", ' Eglises de la Terre Sainte,' p. 159.
364 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The traces left of the buildings which were erected by the Greek emperors after the death of Hakem, and which were not completed till 1048 A.D., are more numerous and more easily recognised. Three chapels, which still remain, were erected south of the round Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and one north of the same. The so-called Prison and the colonnade running westwards from it are also attributed by De Vogue to this period ; and the chapels of Calvary and of the Invention of the Cross were rebuilt. The Crusaders in fact destroyed nothing which they found, but en- larged the building, raising a choir where formerly an open courtyard existed, and connecting all the chapels under one roof. Willis and De Vogue agree as to the restoration of the eleventh-century chapels on the ground.* Saewulf found the round church open to the air above, and speaks of a painting on the outer wall of the Chapel of St. Mary — the earliest mention of fresco in Syria, which became so common a mode of decoration in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
From such notices we see that Christian architecture under the Moslems was not remarkable for grandeur or beauty. Only humble chapels could now be reared where cathedrals and great basilicas had formerly existed.
© «Egiises de la Terre Sainte/ p. 165 ; Willis, 'Holy Sepulchre/ p. 161. The names of the various chapels were :
J St. James, the chapel still so named. South of the 1 Roly TrinitVj now St# Mary Magdalen. Rotunda. (^ gt j^ nQw the Forty Martyrs#
North of the J St. Mary, the Latin Chapel of the Apparition. Rotunda. \ Prison of Christ, still so called. In addition to the older and more important Chapels of Calvary and of the Invention of the Cross.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 365
The Arabs, when they entered Palestine, were already the possessors of more than one alphabet of Aramean origin.* The Koran was, perhaps, first written down in the local Meccan script, which developed into the so-called Neshki, from which modern Arabic letters are derived. The Kufic, which is older than the foundation of the town of Kufa whence it is named, existed side by side with the Neshki, and was used for monumental purposes, as we have seen, by the Ommeiyah Khalifs. It used to be supposed that the Neshki developed from the Syriac Estrangelo,' through the Kufic ; but this theory is now no longer tenable, and it is recognised that both Neshki and Kufic are develop- ments of the local Aramean scripts of Arabia akin to the Nabathean. A third very ornamental variety of Arab script was the Karmathian, chiefly used in Northern Arabia. A fine inscription in this character occurs in the woodwork of the Dome of the Rock, dating 413 a.h. (1022 a.d) ;f and another at Ramleh, already noticed, dates from 372 a.h. Kufic inscriptions are also found in Palestine besides those at Jerusalem — notably in the caves at Beit Jibrin. Neshki characters occur in Egypt as early as 133 a.h., and even in 40 a.h., on papyri. The coins ascribed to Muawiyeh, on the other hand, give us Kufic letters from 46 to 60 a.h. It seems that the Kufic was chiefly used in the East at the great copying school of Kufa ; while Neshki was
0 Taylor's 'Alphabet,' vol. i., pp. 312-332.
f This Karmathian text records the restoration of the Kubbeh by the Imam Ibn el Hasan 'Aly edh Dhaher li-'Azaz ed Din Allah Ben el Hakem Bi Amr Illah (that is to say, the son of the famous Fatemite founder of the Druze sect).
366 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the hand of the Egyptian scribes. The influence of Syriac may, perhaps, account for some developments of the scripts used by early Moslems ; but the local origin of these alphabets appears to be firmly established.
The coins of the early Khalifs are interesting, both as showing the early use of Kufic, and also because they bear human figures, which, though generally con- demned by Moslems, are still in all ages found occa- sionally portrayed by them. On one coin of copper, with the words ■ Muhammad is the messenger of God,' the reverse is a five-branched candlestick ; on others are read, beside the figure of the Khalif, the same words as above, and on the reverse ' Ailia ' (that is, y£lia or Jerusalem), and ' Falastin,' or Palestine. These last, also of copper, seem to be the coins to which Arab authors refer, attributing to Muawiyeh certain dinars, on which the Khalif was represented girt with a sword. A coin of 'Abd el Melek represents him so girt, with the legend : * To the servant of God, 'Abd el Melek, Emir of the faithful.' On the reverse, * Bi Horns ' (the place where it was struck), and the Moslem formula, ' There is no god but God alone ; Muhammad is the Messenger of God.' Another gold coin of this reign has on the one side the same formula, and on the other the words, * In the name of God is struck this Dinar, in the year six seventy.'
To the Arabs the invention of our modern numerals and of the value of place is often popularly ascribed. This, however, is a misapprehension.-)- The Arabs,
? ' Coins of the Jews/ p. 276.
t Taylor's ' Alphabet,' ii., pp. 263-268.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 367
indeed, seem to have invented nothing. . They only preserved and transmitted the inventions and know- ledge of others — of the Chaldean astronomers, the Greeks, the Persians, and Hindus. The cypher, sifr, or * number,' was introduced into Spain by the Arab conquerors,, and spread thence slowly into Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The new figures were first used chiefly for mathematical works and for paging books, and only came into general use in the fifteenth century. In the tenth century these numerals occur in Persia, and were called ghubar or ' dust.' They were traditionally said to be brought by the Arabs from India in the eighth century, and are akin to the Sanskrit numerals of that age. The Sanskrit numerals are traced back to the first and second centuries A.D., and finally to the letters of the Indo- Bactrian alphabet. We have thus monumental evidence of the early communication between the Arabs and Northern India, which agrees well with what is known of the diffusion of Indian learning in Western Asia during the palmy days of the great Khalifs of Baghdad. Although, as above remarked, the Arabs cannot be said to have invented or originated any new science or branch of knowledge, there can be little doubt that the vigour and energy of the new conquering race gave an impetus to the progress of culture, which caused a marked advance on the stagnation of the Byzantine world. The tone of the new creed was freer and less bound by the trammels of tradition than that of the Christianity of the Eastern Churches, and men who, like Omar, could enter a conquered capital in the
368 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
simple garb of a Bedawi chief, were fitter to rule man- kind than the luxurious, dishonest and effeminate nobles of Antioch or Constantinople. The diffusion of know- ledge over the Moslem empire, and its influence on the yet barbarous races of Spain, France, and Italy, present consequently a marked contrast to the ignorant and superstitious literature of the later Roman age. The great Ommeiyah Khalif 'Abd el Melek (the fourth, in- cluding Moawiyeh) was recognised, not only in Syria, but in Irak, Sigistan, and Khorassan. In the year 83 of the Hegira,the conquest of Spain commenced, and Roderic, last of the Goths, was defeated. Within ten years Sar- dinia, Majorca, and Minorca were annexed. Under Welid, the next Khalif, Kashgar, Turkestan, and part of North-west India were conquered. When the Khali- fate passed to the great house of 'Abbas (the uncle of the Prophet), the empire was yet further extended in Asia. During the rule of El Mohdi, his son Harun er Rashid carried his victorious arms over Asia Minor to the Hellespont, and Cyprus became part of the Arab empire.* Baghdad, the Medinet es Salam, or ' City of Peace,' founded in 140 a.h. by Abu Jaafar el Mansur on the Tigris, not far north-east of Babylon, became the centre of trade and culture, the capital of Islam. The sons of the great Harun were appointed each to a portion of the empire, Mamun ruling over Persia, Ker-
0 Cyprus had already been invaded by Othman as well as Khorassan ; and Omar subdued the countries east to the Oxus, and south-west to Egypt ; but the rule of Islam was not consoli- dated till the Abbaside times. See Chesney's 'Euphrates Ex- pedition/ i., p. 254 ; ii., p. 538.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 369
man, Khorassan, India and Kabul; Amin, his elder brother, over Mesopotamia, and all Arabia, Assyria, Media, Syria, Egypt, and the African conquests to the West ; while Mut'asem governed Armenia, Anatolia, Georgia, Circassia, and the shores of the Black Sea. In 809 a.d. Harun died, and troubles followed ; but in 813 Abu el Abbas el Mamun succeeded his elder brother Amin, and his reign saw the culmination of Arab prosperity. It was a golden time for literature, and for the learned societies centred in Baghdad.* The luxury of the age was very great, and India and China contributed to the riches of the empire. Law, theology, and grammar, astronomy and mathematics were studied, and the learned Christian or Hindu sub- jects of the Khalif, the Greeks, Persians, Jews, Syrians and Armenians, were encouraged in their studies. These branches of knowledge had, however, already been investigated even under the earliest Khalifs, and the first translations into Arabic of* works on astronomy and philosophy are said to have been made in the time of Welid. This culture gradually affected even Chris- tian Europe. As early as 873 A.D., Hartmot, Abbot of St. Gallen, caused some of his monks to study Arabic ; and the science which the Moors introduced into Spain was cultivated in the great towns of Andalusia, and at
0 The works of Aristotle were rendered into Arabic during the ninth century, and the Arab philosophers, El Kindi and El Farabi, founded their teaching on the writings of the great Greek philo- sopher. Ibn Sina, who, with the preceding, lived in the tenth century, modified the Neo-Platonic views of El Farabi, and was more strictly Aristotelian. The works of Plato were also translated into Arabic in the times of the 'Abbasiyeh Khalifs.
24
37o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Cordova. In the fourth century of the Hegira learned men were invited to Spain from Baghdad. Rhyme — especially the rhyming of the final syllable — was adopted in the Provencal poetry from Arabic, and the lyrical and romantic poetry of the Moors attracted the artist race of Languedoc. Mathematics, studied in the same age at Barcelona, were introduced into Europe by Gerbert and other scholars about iooo a.d. The Arab numerals came into use in the schools of France. This culture continued to spread northwards in the Crusading age, when Christendom was brought into yet closer relations with Islam, and many Arab works were translated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. About i ioo a.d., Adelard of Bath studied Arabic in Spain. Frederic II., in the thirteenth century, spoke Arabic fluently. Michael Scott in 1207 studied at Toledo, and his reputation as a wizard was based on his knowledge of the philosophy and science, the astronomy, alchemy, astrology and algebra of the Moors. So alarming was this spread of Moslem influ- ence, and so marked its results on the orthodoxy of great orders like that of the Templars, that when in 1215 a.d. the Koran was actually translated under the patronage of the Archbishop of Toledo, the Popes took the alarm and forbade the study of Arabic.
We have, however, anticipated the subject of the next chapter, and must return to the Baghdad of El Mamun in the ninth century of our era. El Fadhl, a convert to Islam, collected for this Khalif the works of the Greeks and Persians. The language, poetry, music, history, antiquities, religions, astronomy, and mathe-
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 371
matics of the great nations of whom the Arabs had become heirs, were now studied and adopted. Obser- vatories were established at Baghdad and elsewhere ; Sanskrit works were translated into Syriac and Arabic. Near Rakka, on the plains of Shinar, an arc of the meridian is said to have been measured in the ninth century,* and the fairy-tales of Buddhist India delighted the Khalifs of Islam.
The Persian collections of the tenth century are rich with tales of Indian origin, found in. the Shah Nama of Ferdusi (which was based on the older Bestan Nama), in the Tuti Nama, or ' Tales of a Parrot,' and in the Iskander Nama of Nishami, which preserves stories of Alexander, evidently much older, since they are indi- cated in the Koran itself. In the eleventh century the Sindibad Nama,f the old Indian story so familiar to us in * Sindbad the Sailor,' was translated into Syriac.
• This occurred under El Mamun, in 833 a.d., in the plain be- tween Palmyra and Rakka, the astronomers being Send Ibn Aly, Khaled Ibn Abd el Melek, Aly Ibn Aisa, and Aly Ibn el Bathary. El Mamun established two observatories— one at Baghdad, another at Damascus, on the top of Jebel Ghessun. Algebra the Arabs learned in India. Abu el Wafa, in the tenth century, at Baghdad, determined the lunar variation, attributed six centuries later to Tycho Brahe.
The Arabs also steered by the compass, with which they first be- came acquainted among the Chinese (Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' pp. 161, 174). The Franks learned the use of this instrument from the Arabs.
f See Gubernatis' 'Zool. Mythol.,' i., p. 119; and 'Book of Sindebad,' by D. Comparetti. The ' Thousand and One Nights ' contains tales of various date ; the earliest collection is probably not older than 1226- 1242 a.d., and the work as a whole than 1 320- 1 350 A.D., while additions of the sixteenth century a.d. are also to be found.
24 — 2
372 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
It is known in Hebrew, in Greek, in old Castilian, and in many European languages, but its origin may be traced to Indian legends, and some of its episodes at least are recognised in the Buddhist Sutras.
The tracing westwards of Indian fables, to which Max Miiller has devoted such patient labour, throws a brilliant light on the intercommunion of Asiatic races in the eighth and ninth centuries under the great Khalifs.* In the reign of El Mansur (754-775 a.d.), Ibn el Mokaffa wrote the collection called * Kalila-wa- Dimnah.' He was a Persian convert, and translated these fables from Pehlevi, the Sassanian language of Persia. The original was attributed to a certain Bar- zuyeh of the time of Chosroes Nushirwan, the con- temporary of Justinian, who was said to have been sent by that monarch to India in search of a certain book full of wisdom. A yet older version (from the Pehlevi in Syriac) was found by Dr. A. Socin in 1871 at Mardin, supposed to be little later than the work of Barzuyeh, and traced to a Buddhist origin. Some of the stories in this collection are found in the Panka- tantra in Sanskrit.
The Syrian Church continued during the best times of the supremacy of Islam, and even down to that of the Crusades, to occupy itself with literature. Edessa became the literary capital, and was full of libraries and schools. The works of the Greek philosophers — especially Aristotle, were here translated into Syriac ; and even as early as the reign of Zeno (circa 475 a.d.) a Nestorian school existed at Nisibin. At Kinnesrin a 0 Max Miiller's 'Selected Essays,' i., pp. 514-557.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 373
celebrated monastery, destroyed in 720 a.d., was famous for its school of philosophy. In Khuzistan the Nes- torians had a school of medicine ; and the Persians and the Arabs of Hira and Ghassan had Christian doctors. Harat Ibn Kalda, friend and doctor of Muhammad himself, was a Nestorian.*
Still more curious was the transmission during the same age of the story of Buddha through a Christian channel to the West. St. John of Damascus, once counsellor of El Mansur, is the reputed author of the story of Barlaam and Joasaph, which is but a version of the pathetic legend of the life of Gautama.f This tale became so popular in the Middle Ages that the Indian prince at length became a Christian saint, Josa- phat ; the 26th of August being his day in the Eastern Church, while Barlaam and Josaphat are commemo- rated on the 27th of November in the West. These indications of the relations of West and East under the Khalifs ; of the action of Buddhism on Islam, and of Arab literature on Europe, are in strict accord with what has been already said of. the character of the Koran, and of the Moslem heresies, and with what we know of the trading communications of the ninth and tenth centuries.
The Italian trading cities had opened communica- tions with Syria long before the Crusades. The mer-
0 See Rey's ' Colonies Franques,' p. 166.
-j- The legend occurs in the East in Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Hebrew ; in the West in Latin, French, Italian, German, English, Spanish, Bohemian, and Polish. In 1204 it was rendered into Icelandic by a king of Norway ; and a Jesuit has translated it into the old language of the Philippine Islands.
374 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
chants of Amain, the city in the beautiful Gulf of Salerno, south of Naples, were among the first to reach the Holy Land before Venice and Genoa had monopolized the Levant trade. The Amain merchants founded the Monastery of St. John Eleemon in Jeru- salem about the commencement of the tenth century* on the site of the later St. Mary Latin. In the ninth century Constantinople was trading with Venice and Genoa, and by the Black Sea, the Caspian and the Oxus, with Bactria and India. The Jews and Arabs, about 850 a.d., traded through Basrah with China and Ceylon. The Jews were also active on the Red Sea route, and from Spain and Tangiers they came to Egypt, Syria, and Baghdad ; while Iskanderun was also the port for the commerce through Antioch with the Persian Gulf.t We have seen, however, that
0 Will. Tyre, xviii. 4, 5 ; Jacob Vitriaco, 64. Rey (' Colonies Franques,' p. 69) says that the colony was as old as the sixth century, but gives no authority. The Amain" merchants had a quarter in Antioch before the Crusades.
t De Gingues (' Mdmoires de TAcade'mie des Inscriptions' ; * Sur l'Etat du Commerce des Frangais dans le Levant avant les Croi- sades '), quoted by Besant (' City of Herod and Saladin,' p. 127), states the chief articles of commerce obtained from Syria and the East by merchants from Pisa, Venice, Genoa, and Marseilles — viz. : cloves, nutmegs, mace, from India ; pepper, ginger, frankincense, from Aden ; silk of India and China ; sugar from Syria ; dates, cassia, and flax from Egypt, with quicksilver, coral, and metals ; glass from Tyre ; almonds, saffron, mastic, rich stuffs, and weapons from Damascus ; dyed stuffs from Jerusalem, where the Jews were the dyers.
In the eighth century the Arabs visited Canton in China (Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' pp. 193-5). Ibn Khordadbeh, in the ninth century, speaks of the two monsoons of the Indian Ocean.
THE ARAB CONQUEST. 375
these high-roads of commerce had been opened many centuries earlier, and that the Arabs of the ninth century only revived the trade of the Antonines, or of the earlier Phoenicians and Babylonians. It was, never- theless, a great age of peaceful commerce when Harun and Charlemagne ruled East and West, or when Mamun was acknowledged Khalif from India to Spain; and from the time of the fall of Carthage there was perhaps no period when a Semitic race had so much influence in the world as in the palmy days of the house of Abbas.
CHAPTER X.
THE CRUSADERS.
With the story of the Crusades we reach the last, but not the least, interesting period of the history of Ancient Palestine — an age of so romantic and pathetic a character that it stands out distinct and apart on the page of history, attractive not only on account of a few great figures which tower above their fellows, but also because of the intensely human motives of the actors in general, and of the love of adventure, the burning faith, the high ambition, the enthusiasm of a time when imagination played an important part in the history of the world. Two great figures stand above the rest — the first that of the mild, blameless and wise leader, with ruddy beard and handsome face, strong and tall, and against whom but one charge could be brought, that he was too fond of arch apologizing in the churches — this was Godfrey of Bouillon, the first Chris- tian King of Jerusalem.* The other figure, nearly a
0 The principal sources of information for the antiquities of the Crusading period are the works of De Vogue* and Rey, who have specially studied Norman Palestine. In addition to these, the Latin chroniclers have been studied, in preparing the present chapter, in the ' Gesta Dei per Francos,' from the earliest (Raymond d'Agiles) down to Marino Sanuto inclusive, as well as the chronicle of Geoffrey
THE CRUSADERS. 377
century later, is that of the brave Kurdish gentleman who reconquered Palestine for the Khalifs — Salah-ed- Din, 'the health of the faith.' Among many crafty, selfish and faithless leaders of the age, these two men stand forth as stainless knights of Christendom and of Islam respectively. The stories told of the magna- nimity of Godfrey, and of his brother Baldwin* — the humanity, for instance, with which the latter treated a poor Islamiyeh woman — like the story of Saladin's chivalrous abstention from attacking that tower of the Castle of Kerak where a bride and bridegroom were
de Vinsauf for the third Crusade, Joinville's ' Memoirs,' and the mediaeval pilgrims in the collection of Tobler. To these we must add Benjamin of Tudela, Saewulf, and later writers in Bonn's 'Early Travels in Palestine.' The Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre and that of the Teutonic Order have also been consulted, and the works of Robinson, Williams, and Reland. The account by Besant and Palmer (' City of Herod and Saladin') is also very interesting, and valuable for history and topography. William of Tyre was read in the French translation of Guizot, Paris, 1824. In addition to such sources, the information which I collected in Syria will be found in the Survey ' Memoirs.' Gibbon's ' History of the Crusades ' has been used, but that of Michelet I have not had the opportunity of consulting.
0 Of Baldwin I. it is related that his life was saved at Ramleh by a Moslem Emir whose wife he had treated with the greatest care when she gave birth to a child, being then a prisoner. Count Jocelyn, in like manner, was saved by a peasant to whom he had shown charity (as related by the chroniclers ; see Besant's ' City of Herod and Saladin,' pp. 221, 241). Of Saladin it is related that when he besieged Kerak, Isabeau, daughter of King Amory, had just married Hainfrois, son of Renaud of Chatillon. The wedding viands were sent out as a present to Saladin, who in turn inquired in which tower the young couple lodged, and ordered his men not to shoot at or assail that tower. — Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, quoted by Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' p. 21.
378 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
quartered, may perhaps not be historic ; they show us, however, what actions were in that age regarded as befitting the character of a knight or of an Emir ; and they show also that Godfrey and Saladin were held by their contemporaries to realize this standard of chival- rous generosity.
A great movement like that which produced the first Crusade cannot be attributed to a single cause. No doubt religious enthusiasm was an important — perhaps the most important — element in the emotion which stirred the masses ; but it was not so with their leaders. The Crusades were, properly speaking, the last waves of that great stream of migration which brought the Normans into the Angevin kingdom, which had much earlier carried the Gauls to Asia Minor, and the Norse- men to Africa. The Crusading hosts were not armies trained and accoutred, but rather great hordes of fight- ing men, priests, monks, and pilgrims, with women, and even children, pushing over Europe and the Levant towards their goal in the Holy Land (much as the Tatar hordes rather later advanced from Central Asia), and dropping by the way, smitten with disease, fatigue, hunger, thirst, and the sword, so that only a very small remnant — the strongest and best equipped — ever reached the end of the journey.
For such migrations there were good and sufficient causes. The countries whence the Crusaders came were poor, and the population was rapidly increasing. The feudal nobles were impoverished by the system which obliged them to provide men and horses when their liege lord required their services in payment for the
THE CRUSADERS. 379
fiefs they held. It would appear from the hatred of the Jews in this age that the nobles must have been in debt, and more or less involved in their affairs. At the same time the riches of the East, the trade of the great City of Baghdad, the fertility of the lands of Syria and of Mesopotamia, were known in Europe, and ha<d probably been much exaggerated by report. The Normans, under Robert Guiscard, had recently con- quered a new kingdom for themselves in Apulia and in Sicily, where they found the Arabs established as prosperous merchants. The needy knights and ambi- tious younger sons of Europe, hearing of these con- quests, dreamed of fair baronies to be carved by the sword in the land of Outremer. Even the Pope had his own reasons for encouraging Peter the Hermit, for his position as head of the Church must be strengthened against the Anti-pope by the triumph of Latin Christi- anity in the lands of the Eastern Church ; while to the lower class the promise of a plenary indulgence to those who took the cross was, as Gibbon has shown, a strong inducement to those under the ban of the Church, and to social outcasts and broken men.
Then, on the other hand, the disunion of Islam offered an opportunity which was, perhaps, not un- known to the more far-seeing politicians of the age. The Arab Khalifat was forcibly protected by Tatar masters only quite recently converted to Islam. The generals to whom the Seljuks had given provinces were impatient of the control of any superior, and were con- stantly quarrelling among themselves ; the Khalifs of Egypt were inimical alike to the Seljuks and to the
380 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
weak survivors of the house of 'Abbas at Baghdad. Thus the Moslem world was torn in pieces, and the central power, both in Cairo and in Baghdad, was too weak to secure the obedience of the provinces. The resistance which the Crusaders encountered was only really formidable in the vicinity of Antioch ; and after the great battle with the Turks following the capture of that city (which was due to fraud and not to arms), the Crusading army was able to march without any resist- ance as far as Jerusalem, where they encountered the Egyptians, who within the year had driven out the Turks ; and with the fall of Jerusalem, the power of either Turk or Egyptian to reconquer the country, colonized by the survivors of the Crusading migration, was lost for nearly three generations. In 1144 a.d., we find the Emir of Damascus allied to the King of Jeru- salem against the Turanian Moslems of Syria ;* and this disunion of the Eastern world continued until the genius, the capacity, and the military success of Saladin allowed of his gathering once more the scattered forces of Islam. The causes which led to the destruction of the feudal kingdom of the Levant were also numerous and complex. Among them, perhaps the most important
0 Kemal ed Din (1470), writing of the death of Alp-Arslan in his history of Aleppo, which event occurred in 11 14 A.D., says that no Moslem prince could be found to succeed this Seljuk ruler, since the small independent states formed by Moslem dissensions pre- ferred allying themselves with the Franks, in order to ensure their own freedom, to undertaking aggression in the cause of Islam. In 1 1 15 Roger of Antioch was allied to a Moslem prince — El Ghazi Ibn Ortok ; and in 11 16 and 11 19 the inhabitants of Aleppo called in Frank aid against Moslem pretenders to the possession of the town. — Rey's ' Colonies Franques,' iv., note 1.
THE CRUSADERS. 381
was the cessation of that constant infusion of fresh blood from the West, which occurred when the atten- tion of Christendom was turned to the conquest of Spain and of the pagan north in Germany, and when the great pilgrim migrations began to diminish, while the Syrian-born Franks and the half-breeds of Oriental origin began rapidly to deteriorate in sturdiness and courage. But besides this deterioration of the Aryan stock in Syria, and the decay of the enthusiasm of the Westerns, together with the unfortunate accession of the weak monarch Guy of Lusignan, there was also, perhaps, a further reason for Moslem exertion in the alarm which for a time united Islam, and which was roused by the encroachments of the Latin kingdom on the most holy country of the faithful. The bold and unscrupulous Renaud de Chatillon not only commanded, from his castles of Kerak and Montreal in Moab, the pilgrim route to Mecca, but he even made an expedition by sea in 1183 to the shores of Arabia, and penetrated to the vicinity of Medina, returning by land. There was good reason to fear that the ambition of the Templars pointed to the conquest of Mecca, and the final severance of Egypt from the rest of Islam ; and that the Kings of Jerusalem meditated the transference of their capital to Cairo. The spirit of Islam was moved by this advance on its sanctuary, just as Christendom had been moved by the seizure of Jeru- salem by the Turks.
The Crusading spirit (like the spirit of Islam some four centuries earlier) was, so to speak, ' in the air ' long before the leader (Peter the Hermit) appeared.
382 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The great movement of the close of the eleventh century was but the culmination of a movement which had begun with the commencement of the same century — such a movement as might in our own days be witnessed, should similarly favourable opportunity arise, if the disunion and decay of Islam coincided with the utilization by political adventurers of that fanatical enthusiasm which may be recognised in the pilgrim crowds which fill Jerusalem at Easter, and we saw the great masses of Russian devotees — strong armed men, mingled with sturdy peasant women, often with their children in their arms — surging southwards to storm the ancient walls of the Holy City.
It is, however, not the mere conquest of Palestine which is really interesting in studying the Crusades, but rather the subsequent colonization of the land, and the establishment of feudalism in an Oriental country. It is the close contact (often under peaceful auspices) between Christendom and Islam enduring for more than a hundred years, and the consequent interaction of the two creeds and two societies ; the growth of toleration on both sides ; the interchange of ideas and usages ; finally, the reflex action on Europe, which led in time to the broader religious thought of the Reforma- tion, and to the artistic development of the Renaissance, that most demands our attention. When we read the account of the Tatars in Marco Polo, or the summary of the Moslem faith by Sir John Maundeville, we see that already in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the old barriers of prejudice and superstition are begin- ning to fall ; and it is to the study of Oriental literature
THE CRUSADERS. 383
by the leading spirits in Syria, during the age of the Christian kingdom, that this broadening of public opinion may perhaps in part be traceable. We shall have occasion to examine these facts somewhat more closely in speaking of the Templars and the Sufis ; but before proceeding to consider the social questions of the age, we must glance for a moment at the leading events connected with the conquest and with the loss of Palestine by the Franks. In treating of this period, the difficulty lies not in the scarcity of material, but in judicious selection of the facts which are of primary importance, and suited to a short summary such as the present chapter may embrace. We have buildings, inscriptions, sculptures, pictures, coins, seals, docu- ments, contemporary chronicles, and even contempo- rary scientific works, from which authentic information may be derived, as well as from the Arab literature of the centuries immediately following.
We have already seen how, from the year 1033 A.D. onward, the number of pilgrims began to increase in Palestine, whole armies of all ranks thronging to Jeru- salem. It was, perhaps, the insecurity of the country, due to the Turkoman conquest, which rendered it neces- sary thus to move in large bodies, whereas in the peaceful times of the 'Abbasiyeh a single pilgrim was quite safe in Palestine. The Turkomans in Jerusalem are said to have invaded the churches, jumping on the altars, treading the holy vessels under foot, and dragging even the Patriarch by hair and beard to prison.*
As early as 1074, on the receipt of letters from the
c Will. Tyre, i. 10.
384 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Greek Emperor, Pope Gregory VIII. preached the Crusade. At the instigation of his successor, Victor III., the Italian republics of Tuscany, Venice, and Geneva assembled their fleets, defeated the Moslems (who were impeding the Mediterranean trade), and ravaged the cities of the North African coast. In the spring of 1096 the first Crusading host assembled on the banks of the Meuse and Moselle. They came on horses, on foot, or in ox-carts, from France, from Brittany, from Spain even, and the islands. Whole villages, with priests, women and children, cattle and household goods, migrated to the central point ; peasants, labourers, even the outlaws and brigands, seeking the plenary indulgence, gathered to the cross of Peter the Hermit ; and 100,000 men bearing arms, followed by a countless host of helpless women, old men, and infants, and led only by eight knights, besides Walter the Pennyless, set forth for the East. After them followed 20,000 Germans, under the Monk Gotschalk; and a third horde, headed by another monk, straggled after the sacred she-goat, and the sacred goose, which were led in their van. Of these hosts not more than 3,000 survived the marches, the assaults of those through whose countries they travelled, and the attack of the Turks at Nicaea after entering Asia.* The great army under Godfrey t and Baldwin, Robert
0 See Besant's ' City of Herod and Saladin,' pp. 141-189; Robin- son's ' Bib. Researches,' i., pp. 402-405. Gibbon's ' History of the Crusades,' p. 374. Ed. Chandos Classics.
t Godfrey was a feudal vassal of the Emperor, not of the King of France ; and the kingdom of Jerusalem could thus of right be claimed as a fief by the Empire— as in the time of Frederic IF.
THE CRUSADERS. 385
of Normandy, and Robert of Flanders, set forth in the spring of the succeeding year, including 10,000 knights and 80,000 foot, of whom about two-thirds came from the French provinces, the rest being southern Italians, Germans, and a few from England, under Edgar Atheling, who joined the main body in Syria. Of their leaders, some, perhaps, like Godfrey, were actuated by noble motives ; some, like Raymond of Toulouse, by calculating ambition ; some were soldiers who loved fighting for its own sake, like Tancred ; and some went because they saw others go — these, perhaps, were the most numerous class.
Pillaging and slaughtering, dying of hunger, thirst, exposure, and fatigue, the great host rolled on ; and after taking Nicaea, capital of the Seljuk Sultan Suleiman, where they were joined by the remnant of the hordes of Peter the Hermit, they defeated an immense Turkish force, and were able to advance un- checked to Antioch. In Asia Minor Baldwin, Godfrey's brother, after quarrelling with Tancred, left the main body, fought his way to Edessa, which he entered with a hundred knights, and became Count of a county which long formed the outwork of the Christian realm in Syria, flanking the advance on Antioch from Meso- potamia.
For more than eight months the Christian army besieged Antioch,* which fell by treachery on the 2nd
0 The Crusaders crossed the Orontes at the Jisr Hadid, and camped on the south side of the river. According to the Arab writers, they threw up earthworks between their camp and the city walls. They attacked the north half of Antioch, from the Gate of
25
386 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
June, 1098, and within a week of this event another large Moslem army appeared, and was defeated before the walls.
Fatigue, dissension, and pestilence delayed the further advance until the autumn ; but no enemy was encountered between Antioch and Jerusalem. Leaving on the 24th of November, the army took more than six months to reach the Holy City. The route was by Horns, down the Valley of the Eleutherus to Tripoli, thence along the sea-coast to Acre, and down the Maritime plain to Lydda and Ramleh. Bethlehem was immediately occupied by Tancred with a hundred knights, and Jerusalem invested on the 7th June,* the
St. Paul on the east, to the Gate of St. George on the west. Tancred, Roger of Flanders, and the Greek auxiliaries were on the east ; next to them were camped the Sicilians and Robert of Nor- mandy, as far as the north-east corner of the city ; the Count of Toulouse and Bishop of Puy were opposite the Dog Gate and the Duke's Gate ; the Duke of Lorraine opposite the Gate of St. Paul, on the extreme right. The Prince of Tarento was admitted by the traitor Pyrrhus at a postern on the south-west side of the city, at the ' Towers of the Sisters.' It was through these towers that the garrison of the place had been provisioned by Syrians and Armenians, and they were guarded by Firuz, an Armenian rene- gade.— See Rey's ' Monuments des Croise's.'
0 Will, of Tyre, book viii. Godfrey de Bouillon, on the left wing, camped in the Valley of Jehosaphat and near the north-east angle of the city. Next to him lay Count Robert of Flanders, then Count Robert of Normandy, then Tancred, opposite Tancred's Tower (Kasr Jalud). Raymond of Toulouse was on the west, opposite the Tower of David ; half his force being near St. Sion, at the south-west corner of the city. Water was brought from Tekoa and Bethlehem for the besiegers with great difficulty, as the Saracens sallied out from the south gates against the water-parties. The wooden towers were built by Genoese artificers, who arrived
THE CRUSADERS. 387
city falling on the 15th July, after forty days' siege. The army which conquered the Holy City numbered only 20,000 men of the 90,000 who set forth from Europe. Death, desertion, and the necessary diminution by garrisons in the north, had swallowed up nearly four- fifths of the original force.
Such was the course of this, the greatest wave in the tide of Norman migration and Norman zeal, overflow- ing Syria, and spreading to Armenia on the north, to the Philistine plains on the south, and to the desert of Moab on the east. Other waves followed. Hugh Count of Vermandois and Stephen of Blois, who had deserted the cause near Antioch, came back with fresh forces and with other nobles. The Bishop of Milan brought 100,000 Italian pilgrims, and Conrad of Bavaria joined the new army with a strong German contingent ; the combined host numbered 250,000 in all, including monks, priests, women, and children. This second horde was guided by Raymond of Toulouse from Constantinople to Paphlagonia, where the whole force perished miserably in the desert, from privation and the attacks of the Turks — Raymond fleeing north to Sinope on the Black Sea. This catas- trophe occurred about a year after the capture of Jerusalem. Another host, under the Duke of Nevers, followed and succumbed to a similar fate ; and another
with the fleet at Jaffa. Godfrey's tower was moved by night from the north-east angle to a spot about half-way, along the north wall, towards the Damascus Gate. Godfrey took the city by this tower, and opened the gates to the rest. Ten thousand Moslems are said to have been slain in the Haram, and quarter was only given to those in the Tower of David.
25—2
388 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
division, that of Hugh of Vermandois, was destroyed, by hunger, thirst, and the enemy, long before reaching Syria. With these disasters the history of overland invasion from Constantinople closes, and later expedi- tions seem to have come by sea from Sicily, a slower but less fatal route.*
It is in the spread of the Christian kingdom founded by the army of Godfrey that we are more immediately interested. No doubt the state was upheld by arms throughout the period of its existence, and every king of Jerusalem fought somewhere on his frontiers almost every year as the spring came round, and the Egyptians sallied from Ascalon, or the Turkomans came down from the north ; but such state of war was natural to the age, and by no means excluded the possibility of progress, and the development of the strength of the kingdom. In 1124, a quarter of a century after the taking of Jerusalem, Tyre was captured, and a period of comparative peace ensued. In 1153 Ascalon, the outpost of the Egyptians, was taken by the Franks, and in 1170 Darum, the south-western fortress of the kingdom, was built south of Gaza. The earlier defences of the kingdom, erected as soon as the con- quest was effected, included Toron in Upper Galilee, built in 1 107 to command the line between Acre and Damascus, and Montreal (Shobek), near Petra, erected
0 In 1 1 87, however, an army under the Emperor Frederic Bar- barossa penetrated into Armenia, where the emperor was drowned. This force was very carefully organized. It included 3,000 knights and 80,000 others ; but of these only 600 horse and 5,000 foot reached Antioch, many desertions occurring on the leader's death. — Geoff. Vinsauf, i., ch. 19-24.
THE CRUSADERS: 3§9
in 1 1 15 as the south-east bulwark, intercepting the pilgrim road to Mecca. Blancheward (Tell es San) and Ibilin (Yebnah) secured the route to Jaffa after 1144, and ten years earlier Gibilin (Beit Jibrin) formed a base for the attack on Ascalon. On the edge of the Philis- tine plain Toron (Latrun), Ernuald (probably El Burj), and Mirabel (Ras el 'Ain) further protected the route of the pilgrims from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Kerak was built in 1140, another link in the chain of castles surrounding the capital, which was further completed in 1 178 by the Chateau Neuf at the bridge near the Huleh Lake, and in 1182 by Beauvoir (Kaukab el Hawa), south-west of the Sea of Galilee.* The hills of Gilead — a rich woodland district — were further pro- tected by the castles of Rubud, Salt, and Ajlun, while Ahamant (M'an) and Taphila (Tafileh) continued the chain to the port of Aila or Akaba. The bounds of the kingdom thus marked by mighty strongholds, which still rear their proud heads as conspicuous landmarks in Palestine, included all the Holy Land west of Jordan, and on the east Gilead and Moab. Bashan alone was never conquered, partly on account of the proximity of the great Moslem centre at Damascus, partly because it was a waterless region very difficult to attack. The fortress of Banias was the limit of Christian conquest in this direction,t and the bold attempt of Baldwin III. to conquer Basrah (the old capital of the
0 Belfort (Kal'at es Shakif) is first mentioned in 1179 A.D., and may, like Chateau Neuf and Hunin and Beauvoir (Kaukab el Hawa), have been built after the loss of Belinas (Banias).
t The limit of the kingdom was at an oak-tree called ' Oak of the Balance,' between Banias (Belinas) and Beit Jenn, east of
39o SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Hauran) failed on account of the want of water, the Christian army never penetrating farther than to within sight of the town. Banias and its fortress were held by the Crusaders from 1130 to 1165, and the loss of this important outwork created a vulnerable point on the flank of the kingdom in Galilee, which was not sufficiently strengthened by the subsequent erection of Chateau Neuf, Hunin, and Beauvoir. It was at this weak place that Saladin finally broke in in the fatal year 1187.
North of the kingdom proper lay the great fiefs of the County of Tripoli, and the Principality of Antioch, including Lebanon and Mount Casius. The valley of the Orontes, with the Antilebanon, were always in the hands of the Moslems ; but the County of Edessa, north of Aleppo, extended to the Euphrates. These fiefs were fortified in like manner by famous fortresses, including Krak des Chevaliers (El Hosn), commanding the pass from Horns to Tripoli, and existing already in 1 1 10, when the Christians took it from the Prince of Horns ; with Montferrand farther north-east, and Chastel Blanc (Santa) to the north-west of Krak. On the north Tripoli was defended by Margat (El Merkeb), which was surprised by the Christians in 1140, situated not far from the coast between Tripoli and Latakia; and by Saone (Sahyun), which was also built in the first half of the twelfth century east of Latakia.*
Jordan, on the road to Damascus. — See Bernard the Treasurer, quoted by Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' p. 253.
0 It is curious to find the name of Zion (Sahyun) thus surviving in Phoenicia. It was probably indigenous, and not a Crusading title.
THE CRUSADERS. 391
The kingdom, with its fiefs, thus represented a great entrenched camp of Christendom, based on the sea and extending in a long narrow line on the borders of Islam, widening on the north and south to Edessa and to Moab, and narrowest in the vicinity of Mount Hermon, where the warlike Druzes maintained their independence. When the line was broken, in 1187, by Saladin, the outworks fell. Jerusalem and all the hills of Palestine were lost with the plains of Philistia ; but the base at Acre was not long in Moslem hands, and not until that city finally fell, in 1291, was the Christian kingdom really annihilated.
As above noted, the more prosperous period of the Frank rule lasted about fifty years, from the conquest of Tyre to the death of Nur fed Din. From 1140 to 1 180 a.d. was the great period for the construction of civil and religious as well as of military edifices ; and during the reign of Baldwin III. hostilities were for a time suspended, while the Normans in Syria awaited the coming of the new Crusading host of French and Germans raised by the preaching of Bernard. In 1148 this host reached Acre, when it was determined to attack Damascus, an enterprise which, however, was doomed to failure, although the Frank colony was con- siderably strengthened by the infusion of fresh blood thus following half a century after the departure of the army of Godfrey from Europe. It is about this time that Foulcher of Chartres describes the condition of the country. He notes how the citizen of Rheims or of Chartres had now become a citizen of Tyre or of Antioch. How the man who was poor and landless in
392 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Europe had become rich as a landowner in Syria ; the stranger had become the native, the pilgrim the settler; and by right of colour each Frank was an aristocrat as compared with the indigenous population. Some already held land by hereditary title ; some had married Christian women, Syrian or Armenian, or even Mos- lems who had abjured their faith. Surrounded by sons, nephews, and grandchildren, they cultivated the vines and tilled the fields, protected by the nobles in the strong castles to which they fled when Turkoman raiders came down from Aleppo or Damascus.* Jacques de Vitry speaks of the country as a garden, full of cultivated fields and inhabited villages. Men came to settle from Genoa, Venice, Pisa, from France and Ger- many, the Italians being noted for their commercial aptitude, the Germans, Franks, Bretons and English for their fighting qualities. There can be little doubt that during this middle period of the Frank rule, Palestine enjoyed a prosperity equal to that of any contemporary kingdom in Europe, and perhaps greater than that which the country had enjoyed in any other times. The seeds of final ruin were no doubt already sown, but the results were not visible until the third generation of Franks grew up in the country. The revenue of the country t was at this time regularly collected. The tolls on the public roads were received at the towers erected at proper points along the main lines of communication, and articles of commerce were thus taxed according to law. In the harbours the dues
0 Besant's ' City of Herod and Saladin/ pp. 245-287. f Rey, ' Colonies Franques/ pp. 257-281.
THE CRUSADERS. 393
for anchorage, and the customs, were regulated by- agreement with the traders from the West.* Taxes were also paid by the native population, and a poll-tax by the Moslems who were under Christian rule. Levies for time of war were also occasionally exacted, in addi- tion to the military services due by tenure of the fiefs. The churches and monasteries were taxed, in spite of the outcries of the clergy, who owned more land than any other class of society, unless it were the great military orders. Even the wild Assassins and the Bedawin paid taxes during the more prosperous period of the Frank rule, and monetary relations were estab- lished with the allied Moslem states on the eastern borders.
The civilizing influence of this close contact with Islam, and with the old culture of Greece and of India, which had been preserved by the Syrian Church, had, as already noticed, a marked effect in its reaction on Europe. It affected the upper class in Syria, and especially the Order of the Temple, very deeply, and was perhaps among the chief causes of the final collapse of the kingdom. The narrow fanaticism of the first Crusaders, on which their military zeal greatly depended, gave place to a scepticism which sapped the foundations of the Crusading spirit. Syria also was no longer a land of wonders, a distant, half-mythical country. It was simply a Levantine feudal state, differing only from other states in the continual drain of money and of men necessary to maintain its safety.
0 In 1223 John d'Ibelin, Lord of Beirut, exempted the Genoese from the anchorage dues as an important privilege.
394 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The hardships of pilgrimage, the disadvantages of Syria for colonization, as well as its advantages, became known in the West through the narratives of returning palmers. Close contact with Eastern Christians must also have affected the estimate formed in the West of their Oriental brethren, and the greed and corruption of the Latin clergy could not but have disgusted those who visited, in simple faith, the Holy Places of the East. The first colonists had gathered all the prizes, and we find, therefore, that, as time rolled on, the Franks in Syria found that they were visited mainly by traders, and no longer strengthened by the migra- tions of great hosts of hungry adventurers.
At length, in 1185, William of Tyre lays down his pen, disgusted by the degeneracy and corruption of the third generation, which, no doubt enervated by a trying climate and by the practice of Oriental vices, was also deteriorating through the admixture of native blood. The strength and vigour of the Norman race was rapidly disappearing, and the corrupt and effe- minate nobility were unable to hold that which their fathers won. On the fatal Horns of Hattin the miser- able remnant of the army, lost through the selfish con- tentions of the nobles, laid down its arms to Saladin, on the 2nd of July, 1187, and on the 2nd of October Jerusalem was given up.
This catastrophe led, however, to a partial reaction in Europe. The English, who as yet had taken small part in the invasion of Syria, were now called on by Richard Lion Heart to retrieve the failures of the French. The contemporary chronicle of Jeoffry de
THE CRUSADERS. 395
Vinsauf* gives us a most vivid picture of this English expedition, which joined the army of the French King Philip Augustus ; from the moment of landing it is possible to trace on the map every march of the Lion Heart, and clearly to estimate the amount of his suc- cess. One solid result of this third Crusade was the acquisition of Cyprus, which Richard handed over to Guy of Lusignan, thus practically settling for a time the Eastern question, by substituting a kingdom — taken from the so-called ' emperor ' — almost equal in extent to Palestine, and far more easily defended ; which to any, save those who still felt a religious devotion to the cause of the Holy Places, must have appeared to possess considerable advantages over their precarious tenure of Syria.t
The conquest of the maritime plains of Palestine, the reacquisition in 1191 of Acre, J which formed the base for an extension into Galilee, where the Teutonic order now built new fortresses, and the truce with Saladin, were more ephemeral successes, since the
0 Bohn's ' Chronicles of the Crusades,' pp. 69-339.
f Vinsauf represents King Guy to have been a brave, simple- minded man. The ruins of the kingdom were handed over to Henry Count of Champagne, who married Isabeau, daughter of King Amaury, and widow of Conrad of Montferrat, who was assassinated at Tyre just after he had been recognised by King Richard as King of Jerusalem.
X We possess a valuable plan of Acre in the thirteenth century, which serves to explain the topography of King Richard's siege of the city. The surrender of the town was due to the undermining, by the French and English, of the Turris Maledictum, which stood at the north end of the east face of the outer wall, and of another tower. — See Vinsauf, book iii., chap. xi.
396
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
kingdom could not long be held, when the mountains were in possession of the Moslems.
It has always seemed strange to historians that King Richard's successes were not pushed home, that he never seriously attempted to take Jerusalem, and finally made peace with Saladin. There were no doubt many reasons besides the acquisition of an equivalent in
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S. MICHAEL
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FROM THE PLAN GIVEA/ BY
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Cyprus. One was the desertion of the French king, who, no doubt, found Richard too masterful and too popular, and saw himself forced into a secondary posi- tion. Still, even after this desertion the English pushed on, and conquered the plains of Sharon and Philistia. The advice of the Templars and Hospitallers — whether given for good or for selfish reasons — also tended to
THE CRUSADERS. 397
dissuade the king from attacking the Holy City until Ascalon was rebuilt. Then came the Prior of Hereford with news of the usurpation of the realm by John, and Richard at once opened negotiations to compensate King Guy by the gift of Cyprus. Next, in spite of further ill news from England, he stormed Darum (Deir er Rum),* and thus erected a barrier to the advance of the Egyptians on Gaza; and again, in spring he led his soldiers to Toron (Latrun) and Betenoble (Beit Nuba) ; while again the Templars dis- suaded him from the attempt to seize Jerusalem. Dis- couragement, desertions, and sickness of course followed this mysterious hesitation in the face of probable victory. It seems on reading the chronicle that three causes co-operated with Richard's ill health in determining the final abandonment of the attempt. First, Richard's anxiety to get home ; secondly, the intrigues and jeal- ousies of the military orders, which aimed at the exclusive appropriation of the Holy Land, and which were influ- enced mainly by the French ; and lastly, in all proba- bility the prosaic reason that the money ran short, and that the funds raised by the sale of exemptions and of good home appointments — of which Richard of Devizes speaks so simply or so cynically — were spent in the maintenance of the forces during the last three years. Such expeditions could not be undertaken without great expense, which pressed hard on the upper orders especi-
0 Darum, which was first built by King Amaury about 1170, is called Domus Graecorum by Marino Sanuto— clearly Deir er Rum. It is the present Deir Belah ('date convent'), where Crusading remains still exist. It is south of Gaza, on the high-road to Egypt. — Cf. ' Memoirs,' vol. ill., p. 347.
398 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
ally, so that great nobles were often ruined by the necessity of fulfilling their feudal engagements.*
The English Crusade was followed half a century later by the ill-fated expedition of St. Louis, so charm- ingly described by Joinville, and so feeble in its execu- tion and results. For a short space of time between these Crusades, the accomplished Emperor Frederic II., who wrote Arabic perfectly, and was of all men of the age perhaps best fitted to deal with Orientals, suc- ceeded by diplomacy where arms had failed. In spite of the Church, which regarded him as an infidel, he obtained by treaty the possession of the Holy City in 1229 a.d. ; and it remained in the possession of Christen- dom for ten years, when the truce was broken by the knights, who began to rebuild the city walls, and who were promptly defeated by David, Emir of Kerak. Thus the Germans failed in their turn, and the loss of Acre was only a question of time, for the crusading spirit died out with Richard Lion Heart.
To the second period of the Frank rule belong several important fortresses in the Sharon plains and in Galilee. King Richard and the Templars rebuilt Ascalon and Plans (Kalansaweh),-f- Capernaum (Kefr Lam), and Galatia (Jelediyeh) ; but Blancheward (Tell es San), the most important of the castles on the edge of
0 Richard of Devizes appears (sect. 86) to intimate that there was no money left. He also makes Seif ed Din compare Richard, when hindered by the French, to ' a cat with a hammer tied to its tail.'
j" Maen, noticed with Plans, is a doubtful site. There are reasons for thinking it might be Tantura ; but perhaps Bir M'ain, near the road from Lydda to Jerusalem, is more likely.
THE CRUSADERS.
399
the hills, was never taken from Saladin. After Richard's departure, the Templars in 1218 began to
build the splendid castle called Chateau Pelerin (now 'Athlit), near the site of the little fort Roche Taillie (Dustrey), which is as old as 1103 a.d.
Caesarea was also forti- fied by Gautier d'Avesnes in the same year, 1218; and restored by St. Louis in 125 1, when the walls of Jaffa were rebuilt. In $ Upper Galilee the Teutonic \'||i x Order obtained possession
< of the mountains, and strengthened their position by the construction of Montfort, or Chateau Neuf, about 1228 a.d. (at the present Kul'at el Kurein) ; and of Mahalia (M'alia) about 1220 a.d. The records of this order, which was established in Acre about 1192 a.d., and had its hospice in Jerusalem, as well as in Acre, show possessions extending into Lebanon above Beyrout, and round Acre to the Jordan Valley, which were held
4oo
SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
apparently until 1291 a.d., when Acre was finally taken by Sultan Melek el Ashraf.*
Having thus briefly considered the history of the growth and decay of the Norman kingdom of Jeru- salem, we may turn to the examination of the social condition of Palestine during this important and in- teresting period ; and first of all we must consider the religious conditions of the age and country. The capture of Jerusalem was the triumph of the Western or Latin Church, which became dominant for more
0 The Tabulae Ordinis Teutonicae, abstracted by Rey (' Monu- ments des Croise's/ p. 279), give the following Casales or villages as belonging to the order about 1250 A.D. :
Massob, now Massub.
Le Mesherefie „ El Mesherfieh.
La Basse „ El Bassah.
Le Fierge „ Umm el Ferj.
Casal Yimbert „ Hamsin.
Kaphar Sin „ Kefr Yasin.
Lahanie „ Yanuh.
Busnen „ Abu Senan.
Amka „ 'Amka.
Coket „ Kueikat.
Merdjcolon „ MejdelKerum.
Gelin „ Talun.
Nef „ Nuhf.
Beitejen „ Beit Jenn.
Also ten dependencies in the land of Shuf, which was part of the Lebanon, near Sidon and Beirut (see Reland, ' Pal. Illustr.,' p. 320). These fiefs were perhaps obtained when, in 1240 (see Makrizi, in ' Chron. of Crusades,' p. 536), Saleh Imad ed Din, of Damascus, made an offensive and defensive league with the Franks against the Sultan, and gave up to them Safed and Shakif (Belfort), with half Sidon and a part of the country of Tiberias and Southern Lebanon.
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THE CRUSADERS. 401
than a century in the East. The Crusading churches are all built for the Latin rite, and the Eastern sects during this age either actually submitted to the Church of Rome, as in the case of the Maronites in 1167 a.d., and of the Melchites or Greek Catholics, or at least so far acknowledged the existing state of affairs as to be reckoned as attached to the Latin Church. Thus the Bishops of the Greeks, Syrians, Georgians, Armenians, and Nestorians were regarded as suffragans of the Western bishops established in Syria ; and the eccle- siastical division of the country was that of a Latin hierarchy.*
0 According to Rey, the Patriarch of Jerusalem had under him four archbishops, nine bishops, nine mitred abbots, five priors, fifteen suffragans of the Eastern sects, and the masters of the Hospital and of St. Lazarus. The Patriarch of Antioch presided over four archbishops, seven bishops, nine abbots, and two priors, with suffragan patriarchs of the various Eastern sects. — ' Colonies Franques/ p. 268.
The account given by William of Tyre of the various bishoprics is too confusing to be here reproduced. Changes seem to have been made at various times, and a few of the places are unknown (see Reland, * Pal. Illustr.,' p. 225, seq.~). There were six arch- bishops under the Patriarch of Jerusalem — viz. :
Cassarea Maritima, with -
Scythopolis, with -
Rabbath Moab, with
Arabia, with -
The Suffragan of Jerusalem, with
Bostra, with -
Some of these 119 bishops must have been in fiartibus.
Jacques de Vitry, about 1220, places four great sees under the Patriarch of Jerusalem : Tyre, with suffragans at Acre, Sidon, Beirut, and Banias ; Ccssarea, with suffragan at Sebaste ; Nazareth^ with suffragan at Tiberias ; Petra, with suffragan at Sinai. Besides
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402 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The rapid growth of religious edifices and orders, and of Church property, may be judged by the fact that the small city of Jerusalem contained no less than forty churches in the twelfth century ; while the Cartularies of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Abbey of St. Sion show us how enormous was the proportion of country owned by and administered for the Church. The clergy of Syria appear to have been the richest in the world at the time, and the tithes which they collected were a serious charge on the revenue of the country. The lands of the Abbey of St. Sion in 1178 are enumerated in a papal bull of Alexander III., including not only villages in all parts of Palestine and Syria as far as Antioch, but others in Asia Minor, in Sicily, in Italy, as far north as Lombardy and Pavia, and at Orleans, Bourges, and Poitiers in France, Valentia and Leon in Spain. The Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre contains the details of the various changes made in the property of that cathedral ; and its study is very instructive both topographically and also as showing the continual acquisition of land by the Church, through the gift of the kings and of the great feudal lords.*
these, there were two bishops directly under the Patriarch— viz., Bethlehem, which till the time of Baldwin I. was a priory of regular canons, and then converted into a bishopric ; and Hebron, also at first a priory. There were twenty monasteries of Oriental sects in the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and more than forty in that of Antioch.
0 The places owned by the Abbey of St. Sion included Hakk ed Dumm, near Jerusalem ; Sur Bahir and Jeb'a, also near the city ; Kerkefa, near Ascalon, with houses in the town ; land near Jaffa ;
THE CRUSADERS. 403
The Greeks were practically superseded by the Latins. Their Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch never held their sees until the conquest of Saladin drove out the Western bishops. The Syrians became for the time suffragans of the Latins, and retained their hold on the native population of the North. The Jacobites are said still to have preserved the custom of circumcision in the twelfth century; their centre was at
houses in Nablus, with four villages in the district ; Rameh and 'Ajja, near Sebaste ; three villages near Cassarea ; land near Lejjun, and at Mi'ar, near Acre, with churches in that city ; also two villages near Tyre, and a church in the town ; and a small property near Jibeil, and a house in Antioch.
The property of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre cannot here be detailed at length. I have studied it carefully in the Cartulary, and find the large majority of places mentioned to be easily recog- nisable, as noticed in the ' Memoirs of the Palestine Survey.' Briefly to summarize the results, it appears that Godfrey assigned to the canons twenty-one Casales lying north of Jerusalem, in a dis- trict where the Christian population is still very strong. Baldwin I. added four more in the same direction. Baldwin V. gave yet six more, with the Churches of St. Peter and St. Nicholas in Joppa. They further possessed Kalkilia, in the Sharon plain, and a village near Haifa, with Yebla and Kara, north of Jezreel, three villages near Acre, and two near Tyre (Ras el 'Ain), with a church in the city. Near Lydda, five Casales ; near Nablus, two ; near Tiberias, two ; in Philistia, three. The St. Saba Monastery sold four vil- lages to the canons ; the Prior of Mount Tabor gave them three others near Shiloh ; and four more were given by John Gothman ; making sixty-four properties in all, besides twenty-five farni in Jerusalem.
It must be remembered that this represents the property only of two out of many churches and abbeys ; and that in addition to churches and monasteries, the Templars and Knights Hospitallers possessed a large number of Casales.
26 — 2
404 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Antioch ; they were found also in Cyprus ; and pos- sessed the Church of St. James in Jerusalem, within the precincts of the cathedral. The Armenians held high rank as early allies, and were much esteemed by the kings, who even married Armenian wives. The Georgians were also somewhat numerous, and pos- sessed to a late date the Church of the Holy Cross near Jerusalem. On the taking of Jerusalem by Saladin they took the place of the Latins in the Quarantania hermitages, which they still occupy, and they appear even to have practised the Stylite penance in the twelfth century, for they possessed a convent of St. Simeon Stylites, near Antioch, including sixty monks. Finally, the Nestorians were found in Tripoli, in Jebeil, Beirut, and Acre, and were among the best educated of the Oriental Christians next to the Jacobites.
Monks and hermits were numerous in the twelfth century in Syria. In 1113 we hear of the Clunesians on Mount Tabor, and the Cistercians and Premon- strates had several abbeys. The hermits of the Valley of Jehosaphat, who lived in the tombs on the east side of the valley, are often mentioned, as well as those of the Jericho Desert and Mount Quarantania.
If we may confide in the fairness of the estimate by William of Tyre (himself a bishop) of the morality and character of the Latin clergy in the East, it must be confessed that the picture is not much brighter than that drawn, by the fourth century fathers, of the Eastern Church, to which we have already devoted a few thoughts. Nor were the superstitions of the twelfth century less blind and foolish than those of the Byzan-
THE CRUSADERS. 405
tine age ; but, on the other hand, the thought of the better cultivated and more open minds of the time seems to have been less fettered than that of the earlier Christian age.* The chronicles are full of marvels ; the appearances of the saints, the confidence in relics, in the power of fragments of the true Cross, in the arm of St. Ambrose or the spear dug up at Antioch, in the wonder-working picture of Saidnaya ; the belief in the miracle of the Holy Fire, in the trial by ordeal, in the incantations of witches and wizards — all mark a strong superstitious belief among the mass of mankind, which was not confined to the Christians, as is evi- denced by the power of the * Old Man of the Mountain.' Portents preceded every great event and predicted every calamity ; and, in the words of Vinsauf, ' the approach of future destruction was 'foretold by divers events ; famine, earthquakes, and frequent eclipses both of sun and moon, and that strong wind also which astro-
0 The most celebrated relic in the earlier period of the Frank rule was the true Cross, lost in 1187; though the Syrian Bishop of Lydda is said to have possessed a piece, which he gave to Richard Lion Heart in 1192. In the same year the Holy Fire lighted a lamp in the Cathedral of Jerusalem three times in presence of Saladin. The saints appeared chiefly during the first Crusade. The arm of St. Ambrose was lost in the attack by the Turks on the Crusading camp near Ancyra, when all the women were taken captive. A good many new sites were added at Jerusalem in the twelfth century, such as the Chapel of St. James (Dome of the Chain), Le Repos (Chapel of Flagellation), Spasma Virginis, the Portes Doulourouses, the Porta Aurea, Porta Speciosa, Mons Offensionis, Ubi Flevit, Gallicantus, Galilee (on Olivet), Schola Virginis, etc. Some of these were connected with the legends of the apocryphal Gospels, then in great repute.
406 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
nomers prophesied would spring out of the conjunction of the planets.'*
While Saladin was besieging Jerusalem, the ladies of the city, according to Bernard the Treasurer, ' took caldrons and placed them before Mount Calvary, and having filled them with water, put their daughters in them up to the neck, and cut off their tresses and threw them away.' It was the last survival of the old idea of human sacrifice in times of distress, which is so well known among the Phoenicians ; and the offering of hair to an offended deity was a sort of commutation for the life of these daughters of Jerusalem. When St. Louis set out for Syria his ship could not be got to pass by a certain mountain, until a procession round the masts had been performed, as Joinville, who was very sea-sick and obliged to be carried, tells us with much simplicity. The value of procession had been discovered by a ' very discreet churchman ' in his parish at home, when rain or dry weather was secured by a thrice-repeated procession on Saturday. In the present case the ship reached Cyprus on the third Saturday after the procession.
It was truly an imaginative age. The wondrous stories which men learned in the East from the Syrian and Nestorian literary priests, and from the Moslems, became popular all over Europe. Some were Indian tales, some are found in Pliny and in Solinus, and the
0 Geoff. Vinsauf, i. I. Richard of Devizes thought otherwise : * Those whom the motion of the universe occupies say that the making deficiencies of the sun and moon does not signify anything.' — Sect. 36.
THE CRUSADERS. 407
Pseudo-Callisthenes ; some came through the Persians and the Arabs ; but many of the mediaeval legends are as old as the earliest times of Egyptian or Assyrian mythology. The Arbre Sol and the Arbre Lune are no doubt originally the two Persea trees of the old Egyptian legend, and the dragon maid of the Greek Island is the old Leiathane whom Melkarth encoun- tered.*
0 As regards these legends, which fill the pages of Maundeville and to which Marco Polo also alludes, many are taken from Pliny and Solinus. The Wandering Jew can be traced back to 1228 A.D. (Baring Gould's ' Curious Myths/ p. 9). Maundeville also refers to the apocryphal history of the Virgin. Colonel Yule (' Marco Polo/ i., p. 120) gives a long note on the Arbre Sol, supposed to exist in the East ; and on the Arbre Sec, in the branches of which the Phoenix sat, while the sun and moon appeared on the companion trees. These trees are said to have prophesied to Alexander the Great.
There is no space in a note to trace the various connections of mythical trees ; but the recent investigations of Renouf show pretty clearly the origin of the idea in Egypt. The Arbre Sec of Maunde- ville is connected with the same legend ; and this tree he identifies with the Dirpe of the Saracens (apparently Turfah, or ' tamarisk/ the sacred Egyptian tree), and also with Abraham's Oak. The dry tree among the Buddhists was an emblem of celibacy (see Gubernatis' ' Mythol. des Plantes/ i., p. 65). The legend of the Cross was a very favourite mediaeval subject, connected with the 4 oil of mercy ' brought by Seth from Paradise. This story comes from the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of Nicodemus. The paintings in the Church of the Holy Cross, near Jerusalem — which church is mentioned by Saewulf in 1102 — give representations con- nected with this legend. The stories of the adventures of Alexander seem to have come from Persia — perhaps retailed to the Westerns by the Nestorians ; and they exist in the Iskander Nama, as already noticed. The subject of these wonderful stories would, however, fill a large volume. A legend is found in the Pseudo-
408 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
The Child's Crusade, again, bore evidence to the extremes to which religious enthusiasm might then carry whole nations. This insane enterprise was originated in 1212 a.d. by certain priests in France and in Germany, and it is said that 50,000 children of both sexes took the cross. One army of these poor inno- cents came from Germany, over the Alps, to Genoa, dying of hardships by the way, and robbed and illused by the villains who hung on their march. The sea refused to open its waves to let them pass farther, and they returned, ragged and ashamed, to their homes — those, at least, who lived. The remnant of the French children reached Marseilles. They were embarked by two rascals, Hugh Ferreus and William Porcus : two shiploads went down, five others were destined to a cruel fate, the unhappy little Crusaders being sold as slaves to the Egyptians. The two traders were hung, but it was on a charge of treason against the Emperor, not on that of so vile a treason against the innocent and misled.
It is in this boundless faith of the poor and ignorant, too often utilized to their own advantage by worldly priests or greedy rulers, that the pathetic aspect of the Crusading story lies. All along the road to Jerusalem the bones of these poor untaught believers, who went forth, perhaps, to atone for their sins, or perhaps from pure love for the sacred spots where Christ suffered or
Callisthenes of the trees which prophesied to Alexander. It seems to be alluded to on the Peutinger Tables (393 A.D.) ; and two cypress-trees shown on coins of the Roman emperors appear to be connected.
THE CRUSADERS. 409
taught, perhaps to seek mercy for themselves or pardon for their kith and kin sick or sorrowing at home, were bleaching in the sun and rain, while their leaders reaped the fruits of their heroic efforts. Even by the clergy they were deceived, and the sacred places were re- localized to suit the exigencies of the age. In the thirteenth century, when Galilee had been lost and Tyre destroyed, the Templars showed the holy sites close to their Chateau Pelerin. Here they located Capernaum (at Kefr Lam), making Peter to have fished in the Mediterranean. Here also they asserted that ancient Tyre really stood, with Sarepta and Maon and the Carmel of Abigail. But then the Templars believed, perhaps, in none of these things, and the pilgrims went away happy.* The relics of St.
c See * Tent-Work in Palestine,' i., p. 200. Rey (' Colonies Franques,' 285) enumerates also the relics of St. Anne at Seffurieh, St. John at Shefa 'Amr, St. Margaret on Mount Carmel, St. Peter at Jaffa, and St. Habaccuc and St. George. The ruins of the churches raised in honour of these sites can still be seen. At Tor- tosa, north of Tripoli, was shown St. Peter's portrait of the Virgin, which cured the sick. St. Catherine's, on Sinai, was visited by both Moslems and Christians, and the bones of the saint were shown to all. Notre Dame de la Roche was the Greek monastery of Sidnaya, north-west of Damascus. Here was an image of the Virgin which dropped oil from its breasts. The oil was collected by the Templars during times of truce, and carried away for sale. It wrought miraculous cures. The Moslems used also to venerate this picture. There still is (or in 1850, at least, there still was) a similar sweating picture in the Church of St. George at Heitat (see Rey's ' Colonies Franques,' pp. 294-5 ; and Churchill's ' Lebanon,' i., p. 49). In inventories of church property in Europe belonging to the thirteenth century there is often mention made ' de oleo S. Maria de Sardiney quod fluit de pectore et de mamillis ejusdem ymaginis B. M. Virginis.' In the thirteenth century St. Louis
4io SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Euphemia were shown at Chateau Pelerin (Athlit). Pardons were obtained by visiting them, with others at the various- towns within the limits of the remaining kingdom, after the original holy sites at Jerusalem, and in the mountains, had become unapproachable, save during times of truce with the Saracens.
But while such indications show clearly the beliefs of the lower orders, it seems equally clear that the Templars had learned, through contact with the Moslems and Gnostics, a scepticism which was only partially concealed. Even Baldwin I. was by no means a friend to the clergy, and Amaury astonished poor William of Tyre by his sceptical questionings. The Templars were early suspected of heresy and of in- fidelity. Their later ceremony of initiation is very interesting, because of its close connection with the ceremonies of Derwish initiation. The candidate was stripped, and stood naked outside the door of the chapel-house asking admission. He was re-baptized (apparently after renouncing his faith), and is said (though this seems incapable of exact proof) to have been obliged to spit on the cross.
The accusations brought against the Templars* in
obtained from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople not only the true crown of thorns, but also a large piece of the true Cross, the swaddling-bands of our Lord, the sponge, lance, and chain con- nected with the Passion, a part of the skull of John the Baptist, and the rod of Moses. — Gibbon's 'Hist, of Crusades' (Chandos Classics), p. 478.
0 The Bull ' Faciens Misericordiam,' issued by Pope Clement in 1312, at the instigation of Philip le Bel (see King's 'Gnostics,' p. 192 ; Du Puy's ' Hist.,' p. 262), accused the Templars, among 120 crimes —
THE CRUSADERS. 411
the West, early in the fourteenth century, are no more capable of proof than those preferred against the Jews in the time of Richard I., or against the Christians under Nero. In every case secret rites involving the murder
1. Of renouncing Christ, the Virgin, and the Saints.
2. Of spitting on and kicking the Cross.
3. Of adoring quendam cattam, ' a certain cat/
4. Of ceremonies apparently phallic.
5. Of unnatural crimes.
6. Of worshipping images — some with three heads, some with
one, some with human skulls.
7. Of placing the girdles which they wore on the head of such
an image.
8. Of placing excubia on the roofs of churches and houses.
In the ' Chronique de St. Denys,' ' Vie de Philippe le Bel,' ch. 66, they are said to have been charged —
1. With infidelity and secret teaching.
2. With trampling and spitting on the Cross.
3. Adoring a mummy with carbuncles for eyes.
4. Betraying St. Louis and Acre.
5. Being secretly in treaty with the Soldan of Babylon (Cairo).
6. Malversation of funds.
7. Unnatural crimes.
8. That the novices ate the ashes of dead Templars.
9. Wearing girdles.
10. Hatred of children (a Gnostic vice).
11. Roasting new-born infants, and anointing their idol with
the fat.
The six charges against the Italian Templars were similar to the preceding.
Their idol was probably called Baphomet ; but whether this name has any connection with that of Muhammad is not clear: a reference to a mummy seems to be intended. Of course, these charges may one and all have been false ; but the distrust of the Templars was due, at least in part, to their doubtful and selfish policy in the East ; and scepticism was too common in the twelfth century to make it seem improbable that the Templars were infidels.
412 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of boys, children, or infants, were supposed to have been observed. It is, however, remarkable that the candidate of the Bekhtashi Derwishes, like the Templar novice, is said to stand naked before the initiated, praying for admission on the door-sill. This sect also wears a sacred woollen girdle, just like that of the Templars, and vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty are taken by the Derwish Murid, just as by the Templar candidate in the twelfth century. It was, nevertheless, probably not from any Moslem order that the Templars derived their practices, but rather should we seek in the survival of Gnosticism for the common origin of the Sufi movement among the Moslems, and of the scepticism of the great military orders in Syria.
It has been suggested that the admission of Albi- genses into the Temple order explains their heresies, the Albigenses, as we have seen, being Manicheans; but it seems more probably from the East that this great society — which retained its possessions in Palestine to the very last — derived its secret disbelief in any accepted religion.
Turning next to consider the civil constitution of the Crusading society in Syria, we must first speak of the government of the country under its Christian kings.
The Assizes of Jerusalem, which give us the system of feudal law established in the kingdom, only now exist in the form which they assumed in Cyprus in the year 1369 a.d. ;* but the system was no doubt in its
o t r3igest of the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,5 by John d'lbelin, cf. Beugnot's edition of the Assizes of Jerusalem, in the * Recueil des Historiens des Croisades/ vol. i., chaps. 1-5 ; Gibbon's ' History of Crusades ' (Chandos Classics), p. 401.
THE CRUSADERS. 413
main principles the same from the earliest time of Christian rule. The main principle was the recog- nition of the right of every man to be judged by his peers. Thus the High Court, of which the judges were knights, and the king president, was established by Godfrey to deal with offences among the nobles. The Court of Burgesses had a jury of citizens, under a viscount appointed by the king, and dealt with bourgeois cases which could not be touched by the High Court. The laws were, however, equal for both. The third court was for natives, with a Reiyh as president, and a native jury. It dealt with all cases save those of blood- feuds and other criminal charges. It was found neces- sary later to substitute a mixed court (perhaps on account of the baksheesh scandals), and this was called Cour de la Fonde,* under the Baillie de la Fonde, with a jury of four natives and two Franks. There were similar courts connected with these central tribunals, and established in all the great cities. The same well- considered system was adopted in the great fiefs of Tripoli and Antioch, and later on in Cyprus. In 1265 the Constable Sempad caused the Assizes of Antioch to be translated into Armenian, and they were then adopted in the Armenian kingdom.t
0 Fonde (in mediaeval Latin funda) means a ' purse' or fund.
t The civil division of the country was distinct from the ecclesi- astical. There were four baronies : (1) the Earldom of Jaffa and Ascalon, with the seigneurie of Ramleh, Mirabel, and Ibelin ; (2) the seigneuries of Sidon, Caesarea, and Beisan ; (3) the seigneurie of Kerak and Montreal (Outre Jourdan), with the seigneurie of Hebron ; (4) the Prince of Galilee. Jerusalem, Acre, and Nablus belonged to the Crown. — Cf. Williams, ' Holy City,' i., p. 381.
414 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Each great vassal had a special court, consisting of a constable, a marshal, a bailly or treasurer, a seneschal, a butler, and a chancellor. Each fortress had its chatelain, and the princes had their chamberlains in addition.* From the king downwards the duty of every man in the realm was fixed by law ; though in some cases these laws savour of the peculiar ideas of the age, as, for instance, that which regulated ordeal by battle. Even the slaves were recognised as having a status in the society of the land.
The ecclesiastical courts had jurisdiction over the clergy, and decided cases of heresy, sorcery, and other matters connected with the faith. They could also annul marriages, the wife retiring to a convent and receiving her dower. Wills, bequests to the Church, tithes, and the preservation of the holy places, were referred to the ' Cour de l'yglise.'
Truly, in the present century, Syria might still be ruled well by a system founded on that of the Assizes of Jerusalem.
Outside the kingdom Northern Syria was part of the realm of Egypt. At Damascus was a governor with various Emirs under him ; at Hamah the Kurdish ruling family of Eyub were vassals of the Egyptian Khalif; at Aleppo was another governor with Emirs under his orders. It was to the Kurdish family of Eyub, who was a retainer of 'Amad ed Din Zanghi, and father of Saladin, that the Egyptians owed the recovery of Palestine after the death of Nur ed Din, who was the son of Zanghi, and Sultan of Damascus. Saladin
• Rey, ' Colonies Franques/ p. 3.
THE CRUSADERS. 415
married Nur ed Din's widow, and succeeded to his dominions.
The races ruled by the Christian kings were, as we have seen, very various. From Europe came the Normans, the Provencals, the Italians, Germans, Frisians, a few English and Spaniards, and at one time Norsemen and Danes, the former in 1109, the latter in 1190 a.d. The native races, Christian and Moslem, included Greeks (or Griffons), Armenians, Georgians, Syrians, and the Moslem Fellahin and Arabs, also apparently Persians among the Druzes and Assassins. The languages spoken included Nor- man French, and other European tongues, with Syriac and Arabic. The language of literature and of the Church was Latin ; and in addition to these the lingua Franca — a mixture of Arabic and of Italian, with other tongues of the Latin races — was the natural result of the communion of the East and West. Many words of this trading dialect still survive in the East.* It is, however, clear that many of the more cultivated Franks learned, like Frederick II., to speak and write Arabic. There is evidence of this in the Crusading names of places, which are often translations into French of the native name. We know also that Humphrey de Toron was able to act as interpreter for Richard Lion Heart with Melek el Adil, and that Baldwin
0 Among Arab words transported West we have ' admiral ' (Emir el), 'sheriff' (Sherif), 'tartan' (from Tyre), 'damask' (from Damascus), ' satin ' (from Zeitun). In Palestine we still have the words Bordugan for an orange (Portogallo in Italian), Burj for a tower, Kastal, the mediaeval Casale, and many similar Western words.
416 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
d'Ibelin also interpreted for St. Louis while a captive in Egypt.
The intermarriage of Europeans with native women produced the race called Poulains* by the chroniclers. The kings of Jerusalem, however, themselves married Armenian princesses, in the cases of Baldwin I. and Baldwin II. ; but this did not result in placing a half- bred king on the throne. The alliances of the noble fami- lies with Armenians were very numerous ; and the rosy cheeks and dark eyes of the women of this race seem to have been more admired than the dusky beauties of Syrians, even when of Christian belief.
The Italians, the Maronites, the Jews, the Assassins, Druzes, and Anseiriyeh, occupying as they did some- what exceptional positions in the kingdom, require special notice. The Italians were the principal traders, and in addition to the merchants of Amalfi, mentioned in the last chapter, a Venetian colony was now founded under a baillie, with colonies from Genoa and Pisa under consuls.t The Genoese sold their assistance
° Poulains is rendered Falaniyun, or ' anybodies,' by Palmer. Joinville, however, while noticing their mixed birth, says that ' the peasant is called Poulain ' (Bohn's ' Chron. of Crusades,' p. 466), which suggests that the word is a corruption of Fellahin (plural of Fellah).
f Rey (' Colonies Franques,' pp. 70-74) gives details as to these commercial communities. At the end of the twelfth century the merchants of St. Gilles, Montpellier, and Marseilles were repre- sented by consuls at Acre, at Tyre, and at Beirut. The Venetians had consuls at Tyre, Giblet, and Antioch, with a funduk (or com- mercial chamber), a church, and some houses in the latter city. In 1277 they were allowed by treaty a baillie, a prison, and a court in Tripoli, with right to try Venetian subjects. At Tyre their quarter
THE CRUSADERS. 417
dearly to Baldwin I., obtaining a third of the loot for every maritime city taken by aid of their fleet.* The Pisans were established in Antioch as early as 1109 a.d. The Venetians, though apparently coming later, seem to have been the richest and most important among the Italian republics represented in Palestine. The Baillie of Syria was chosen from one of the noble families of Venice, and held office for only two years. The names of these officers are known from 1192 a.d. to 1277 a.d. In 1 123 the Venetians by treaty obtained a quarter in every city in the kingdom.
The Maronites were early allies and friends of the Crusaders. They led the army of Godfrey through the Lebanon. Originally Monothelites, they were joined to Rome in 1167 or 1182,")* as variously stated, retaining
was close to the harbour. Originally they had a third of the city. In 1244 they held property round the town, with a tower, three churches (St. Mark, St. James, St. Nicholas), a funduk, baths, houses, shops, etc. At Acre they had a quarter by the sea, a Church of St. Mark, a palace, and a tower. The Baillie of Syria lived either at Tyre or at Acre. The republic also had lands and churches in 1201 at Tarsus and Ai'as. The Genoese were at Beirut in 1223, having left Acre, where they quarrelled with the Pisans. They were more powerful in Armenia, where the names of their viscounts are known from 121 5 to 1279 A.D. The Pisans in 1109 had a quarter in Antioch, a street and Church of St. Nicholas in Latakia, a quarter at Acre, at Tyre, and at Jaffa. In 1170 they had a consul in Antioch, and in 11 94 at Tripoli.
c" The Genoese gave great offence to the Western Church by allying themselves with the Greek Emperor against the French and Venetians in 1260 a.d.— Gibbon's 'History of Crusades,' p. 479-
f Rey gives 1 167 (' Colonies Franques/ p. 78) ; Taylor ('Alphabet,' vol. i., p. 292) and Socin give 1182.
27
418 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
the custom of marriage for their inferior clergy. The Monothelites date back to 629 a.d., but Mar Marun, the supposed founder of the Maronites, whose hermitage is on the right bank of the Orontes,* is traditionally referred to the fifth century.
The Jews do not seem to have flourished under Crusading rule. Benjamin of Tudela*f" gives us a fairly reliable account of their condition in the twelfth cen- tury. The prejudices against them were very strong, as we see in the chronicle of Richard of Devizes,j and they were not allowed to hold land, and were reckoned as socially inferior even to the Moslems. At Laodicea there were some 800 families, a few employed in glass- making at Antioch, fifty families at Giblet (Jibeil), and in the kingdom itself some 1,300 families in all, the greater number being at Tyre, where they engaged in trade and in glass-making. At Acre there were French Jews. At Jerusalem there were only ten families of dyers, while at Hebron they were both dyers and glass- makers. At Csesarea, Ascalon, Arsur, Tiberias, and
°'Heth and Moab,' p. 12 ; 'Later Bib, Researches,' p. 540; ' Oriens Christianus/ iii. 1-5 1.
f Benjamin of Tudela. See Bonn's ' Early Travels,' pp. 63-126.
X Richard of Devizes (sec. 79-83) gives a long story about the Jews of Winchester, who ' procured themselves notoriety by mur- dering a boy f but he himself doubts whether the accusation was well founded. The boy was missed about Passover-time. On the evidence of one woman, who said she saw the boy go down into a Jew's store and not come up again, a case was made, and, after considerable uproar, only settled by bribery. In 1881 I witnessed a similar scene in Alexandria, and in 1882 at Smyrna, about Pass- over-time, in spite of the Sultan's special Hatt in favour of the Jews.
THE CRUSADERS. 419
Bethlehem, there were some sixty families in all. In Jerusalem the Juiverie, or Jews' quarter, was on the north-east, and not, as now, on the south of the city ; but Benjamin of Tudela speaks of 200 Jews living in a corner of the city near the Tower of David. The Crusaders, in 1099, killed nearly all the Jews in the city. Rabbi Benjamin speaks often of the " mourners of Jerusalem," who appear to have been Jews living in the city, as they still do, supported by the Halucha, and representing Israel, when once a week they per- form their mourning service under the Temple wall. About 1190 A.D., under Moslem rule, the numbers in the city had increased, and by 1216 the various Jewish sects began to quarrel among themselves.
When once the limits of the Christian kingdom were passed, Rabbi Benjamin seems to have found his coun- trymen in prosperous circumstances under Moslem rulers. In Damascus, under Nur ed Din, he found a great trade established — there were 200 Karaites and 3,000 Jews of other sects, with 400 Samaritans in this city. At Palmyra, 2,000 Jews lived under the same ruler. The Khalif of Baghdad was very friendly to the Jews, and the " Prince of the Captivity " in this great city was treated with respect by all ; his authority over the Hebrews was recognised in Yemen, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Persia.* There were twenty-eight
p Colonel Yule (' Marco Polo,' i., p. 309) calls attention to the Jews in China. Ibn Batuta mentions them. A Jewish Chinese inscription exists, but only dating from 151 1 A.D. It speaks of a synagogue at Pien in 1164A.D. There are some 300 to 400 sur- viving Jews at Kaifungfu, the last Rabbi speaking Hebrew dying about 1830.
27 — 2
420 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
synagogues in Baghdad, richly adorned in some cases with gold, silver, and marble. Round Babylon dwelt 20,000 Jews, and at Hillah 10,000, with four syna- gogues; and at the old college of Pumbeditha there were still 3,000 Jews. Rabbi Benjamin goes on to speak of 100,000 Jews in Arabia, and represents them as independent rulers in Yemen, in Tehama, and else- where, being descendants of the Assyrian captives of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh — who dwelt beyond Jordan. These were, perhaps, connected with the Jewish tribes against whom Muhammad fought, as mentioned in the last chapter. When the learned Benjamin gets back to Sicily the numbers fall off again. Nor were they very numerous in Egypt or in Persia. The needy Norman nobles no doubt remembered how they had been ruined by Jewish usury at home, and seem to have been determined not to admit a similar element of weakness into their newly-constituted state. They preferred to borrow from the equally usurious Armenian Christians, or from the rich bankers of the Temple order.
The Assassins* (or Hashashshin) are among the most picturesque figures of the age. They were, as we know, the descendants of the Ism'ailiyeh sect, which had, however, developed a new organization in both Syria and Persia. The Ismailiyeh consisted of two
0 See Rey's ' Colonies Franques,' p. 100 ; Besant and Palmer's 'City of Herod and Saladin/ pp. 319, 323, 325; Yule's 'Marco Polo,' i., p. 132; Churchill's 'Lebanon,' i., p. 316; Geoff, de Vin- sauf, v. 26 ; Benjamin of Tudela and Sir J. Maundeville (Bohn's 'Early Travels in Palestine,' pp. 80, 106, 115, 266). The latter authority places the Paradise in the lordship of Prester John.
THE CRUSADERS. 421
orders, Rafik, or ' companion,' and Dai, or ' mis- sionary ;' but in the latter half of the eleventh century an Ism'aili named Hasan Ibn Subah el Homairi, one of the Dai, who was a native of Khorassan, founded a new branch of the sect, and a new lower order of Fedawi, or ■ devotee,' who were presumably only ini- tiates of the lowest grade. It is to the blind obedience of this lower order to the commands of their Sheikh that the chronicles refer, when they relate the curious Paradise story, according to which the chief of the order, or ' old man of the mountain,' admitted his younger followers into a terrestrial Eden, where they were allowed to enjoy the pleasures of the Paradise of Islam for a few days, and then brought back under the influence of the same narcotic, administered to them before they were carried to the garden. They were promised readmission to Paradise as the reward of perfect obedience, and among their duties was that of assassinating anyone obnoxious to their Sheikh. Hasan el Homairi was a friend of the celebrated atheistic poet Omar el Kheiyam ; he established himself, in 1090, at Alamut (' Eagle's Nest '), in Irak, thirty-two miles north of Kaswin ; but no relics of his Paradise seem here to have been found. It perhaps had no real existence, save in the dreams of the Fedawi, intoxicated with the Hashish, or ' hemp,' whence the name Hash- shashin is derived.
The Assassins were chiefly notable for their murders, in which they resemble the Thugs. Among their victims were Melek Shah and his vizier ; Amir Billah, Khalif of Egypt in 1149 ; Raymond, Count of Tripoli;
422 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and Conrad of Montferrat, titular king of Jerusalem, slain at Tyre in 1192; with two other Khalifs and various Turkoman and Arab princes. They also attempted the life of Saladin in 1174 and 1176, and that of Prince Edward of England, at Acre, in 1272.* Saladin suppressed the Ism'ailiyeh club, called Mejalis el Hikmeh, in Cairo ; but Bibars used the Assassins, and is said to have instigated the last-mentioned attempt in 1272. The order had, however, been offi- cially suppressed by the Mongols in Persia in 1254.
The sect first appeared in the Lebanon about the middle of the twelfth century. Its chief, who was an emissary of Hasan el Homairi (who died in 1124), lived at Kadmus in 1126, and by 1140 the Ism'ailiyeh owned ten castles, extending their borders to Tortosa. They seem to have numbered about 50,000 souls, no doubt recruited mainly among the Anseiriyeh. In 1152 the Templars reduced them to tributaries. They then pro- posed to King Amaury to become Christians if relieved of their tribute. This was quite in accordance with the tenets of the sect, since, like the Druzes and Anseiriyeh, these sceptics were allowed to profess any religion which was that of the local majority; the Templars, although promised by the king an in- demnity for the loss of the tribute, compromised the negotiations by massacring the messenger of the Sheikh. Possibly they had their own reasons for preventing a measure which would have strengthened
0 Colonel Yule's list (' Marco Polo,' i., p. 137) includes seventeen celebrated assassinations, between 1092 and 1192, attributed to this sect.
THE CRUSADERS. 423
the kingdom, and have removed the ever-present dread of the dagger, which haunted all princes in the East. The survivors of the sect are still found in the mountains west of Horns, and traces of them are said to survive in Kerman and among the Bohrahs of Western India. It is not impossible that the Templars may have been secretly connected with these Ism'ailiyeh, and with other of the Sufi orders of Islam.
Of the Druzes we do not hear much at this period. Benjamin of Tudela gives the popular beliefs con- cerning them, and seems to confound them with the Parsees. They were friendly to the Jews, and lived apparently in the Lebanon above Sidon. The sect was probably at this period not numerous.*
The Anseiriyeh, of whom we have also spoken in the last chapter, lived in the Northern Lebanon and on Mount Casius. They are called Nazarei by the chroniclers. Many were massacred in 1098. Jacques
• Benjamin of Tudela accuses them of habitually marrying their own daughters, of orgies with promiscuous intercourse, and of having no religion but believing in transmigration. The first accu- sation may show the Persian derivation of the Druzes, if it be true (as stated by Catullus, Carm., xc, etc.) that the Persians and Medes married their own mothers. The Druzes still profess any religion of Syria with indifference, and still believe in transmigration. According to one account given to me from a Turkish officer, they do have orgies with promiscuous intercourse. The Ism'ailiyeh and the Anseiriyeh are charged with the same custom, which certainly exists among Sakti worshippers in India, and is charged against the Gnostics, the Christians of Rome, and the Manicheans of the fourth century. Phallic worship is also extant among the Ansei- riyeh, and certainly formed part of the Gnostic systems, as described by Christian writers such as Tertullian.
424 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
of Vitry seems to confound them with their neighbours the Assassins, and believed them to be of Hebrew origin. Akkar and Santa finally became their strong- holds, and the mountains are still populated by this sect north of Tripoli.
In considering the real beliefs of these various Moslem sects, we must never lose sight of the develop- ment of Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy among the learned men of Islam, and of the unmistakable influence of the Vedanta dogmas and of Buddhist ideas among the Sufis.* Philosophy was finally discredited among Moslems when El Ghazzali in the beginning of the twelfth century discarded it for the Sufi ' path,' leading to a final union with God ; and to the Sufi all religious systems were equally indifferent, being all but partial expressions of the one truth which consisted in the pantheistic dogma of general emanation from the Deity.
We now turn to consider the social relations, manners, and customs of the principal classes of the population during the period of Norman rule.
The existing documents of the age show in detail
0 Jaber Ibn Abdallah el Ansari originated a mystic system closely resembling that of the great Egyptian Gnostics of the second century, but applied to Islam. According to him, the Nur en Neby, l light of the Prophet/ or essential fire of Muhammad (an old Persian idea), was the first creation from the light of God ; before creation it was divided into four, whence were created the pen, the tablet, the throne of God, and the universe, by successive emanations. This, like the systems of Valentinus and Basilides, with the ^Eons and the history of Sophia Prunike, was probably only an allegory with a very simple meaning. It is in such allegory that all Sufis delight. See back, p. 342.
THE . CR USA DERS. 425
the tenure of the smaller fiefs and the services rendered by the vassals.* The various knights were obliged, when called on, to take the field with so many horses or pack- animals. They paid rent either in money or in kind for their land. In some cases they served as officials, and received rations or salaries in return. The knights of the great Orders of the Hospital and of St. Lazarusf
0 Rey, ' Colonies Franques/ pp. 24, 25.
f The Order of St. Lazarus was founded at the beginning of the twelfth century in Palestine, especially to aid the lepers. They were distinguished by a green cross. Their hospice was on the north of Jerusalem, near the Postern of St. Ladre, west of the Damascus Gate. They were under the rule of St. Augustine, and nuns attached to the order tended female lepers. The first master, Roger, appears to have been elected in 11 12 a.d. They had also a hospice in Acre. They included knights, medical brothers, and priests, and had houses also in France, Italy, and Germany. They appear to have grown out of an early charitable order as old as the time of Heraclius.
The Hospitallers, originally Brothers of St. John, grew out of the old religious order of Charlemagne's Hospital in Jerusalem, which was Benedictine. The nuns of the order had a separate church (St. Mary the Little). Gerard was the first master under the Pope's charter, in 11 13. The great hospital of the order, in the centre of Jerusalem, still attests the riches acquired by the knights. The names of the nine masters down to Gamier of Nablus, in 1187, are known. In that year the knights retired to Margat, and in 1192 established themselves at Acre, after the fall of which city they retired to Cyprus (Limasol) ; and from 1309 to 1522 they were in Rhodes, after which they left for Malta. They took the well-known red cross.
The Templars grew out of the College of Canons of the Temple, established by Godfrey, under the rule of St. Augustine. In 11 18 King Baldwin gave his palace in the Aksa to nine French knights. They were poor, and vowed to chastity and obedience, and were joined to the canons. In 11 28 Pope Honorius gave them a rule, and they became the most powerful of the four orders (including
426 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
were subject to the Patriarch of Jerusalem ; but the Templars were entirely independent of the ecclesiastical authorities, and formed in fact an imperium in imperio, which rendered them a danger to the State.
The bourgeoisie were protected not only by their count and viscount, but also by the system of brother- hoods formed among themselves. These orders, under patron saints and protected by bishops, became rich and prosperous guilds, to which even the nobles and rulers in the later ages sought admission. St. Andrew at Acre belonged to such a brotherhood, which played a great part in the defence of Tyre in 1188, and pos- sessed lands round that city. The bourgeoisie were soon mingled with the native Christian population. They grew their beards, and kept their women in seclusion, only allowing them to appear veiled in the streets (a custom also in Venice down to the sixteenth century). From the ranks of the bourgeoisie the police were taken, whose head was called Mathassep (that is, Matahasseb, or ' accountant '), who regulated the arrangements of the shops, and of the street sales- men.
the Teutonic). Their banner (Beauseant) was black and white ; their cross was white ; their seal was a representation of the Dome of the Rock. The names of the nine masters who resided in Jerusalem from 11 13 to 1187 are all known.
The Templars had eighteen castles in Syria, the principal being Chateau Pelerin and Tortosa. The Hospitallers held, about 1200 A.D., five fortresses — Margat, El Hosn, Chastel Rouge, Gibelin, and Belvoir (Kaukab), with thirty-five villages. — See De Vogue's ' Eglises de la Terre Sainte/ and Rey's ' Colonies Franques.'
THE CRUSADERS. 427
The care of the poor and of the lower class of pilgrims devolved mainly on the Church.* The canons of the Holy Sepulchre are said to have used their funds mainly in assisting pilgrims and the sick. In 1165, according to John of Wurtzburg, the Hospital relieved every day 2,000 poor, giving them both food and medical aid. Great towns, like Jerusalem and NabluSji* had their hospitals for the lepers tended by the Knights of St. Lazarus.
The Franks held slaves of both sexes, who were employed as servants. They were bought in Armenia (just as in the time of Ezekiel), or were negroes sold by the Abyssinians at Jeddah, and sent north by the same route which slaves from Africa still traverse. Aias, on the north side of the Gulf of Alexandretta, was the great market for those slaves who came from Russia, Georgia, and Armenia. The slaves appear to have been sometimes Christians. Eunuchs were also employed not only by the Moslem princes, but even by the Kings of Jerusalem as well as in Armenia.^ Contemporary documents show that the slaves were often given their liberty. The Christians were careful that Christian slaves should not be sold to Moslems,
0 ■ Colonies Franques,' p. 278.
f The Jami'a el Mesakin at Nablus was the mediaeval hospital still inhabited by lepers, as I found when making the plan of the building in 1881. It is mentioned in 11 56 (Cod. Dipl., p. 33) as belonging to the Knights of St. John. The Maladrerie at Jerusalem has, however, been destroyed. It stood near where a French convent has been built within the last few years.
% Burchard of Mount Sion, quoted by Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' p. 106.
428 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
and the Assizes of Jerusalem regulated the treatment of all slaves.
From the Assizes it appears that the forces of the kingdom did not exceed some 7,000 fighting men, not counting the great orders. To the 577 knights of the kingdom the great fief of Tripoli added a hundred, and that of Antioch another hundred. The Count of Edessa could call out 500 knights, and the Templars and Hospitallers could command each, perhaps, an equal number.
In addition to these forces, the Turcopoles or native horsemen must be reckoned, and the Maronite archers. The grand total of the Christian permanent force in the country is calculated by Rey to have been between 20,000 and 25,000 men.*
The armour of the Crusading period is familiar from seals and pictures. The use of mail and of the great square-topped helmet was gradually adopted by the knights in Syria. The sketches on the pillars at Beth- lehem give us a very authentic idea of the lofty crests which were used on the tops of helmets in the earlier times of the Norman rule. The Rumh or long lance of the Arabs was also adopted by the Turcopoles. The Arabs wore scale and mail armour (some of which exists east of Jordan) ; the infantry were sometimes protected by boiled leather jerkins. The horses also were covered with chains and mail, and their heads by steel plates. Arms were freely sold by Moslems to Christians, and swords from Damascus were highly esteemed ; while others came even from India and 0 * Colonies Franques/ pp. 23) 1 10-120.
THE CRUSADERS.
429
Tftff
(ft^^ll
FROM PILLARS IN BASILICA AT BETHLEHEM.
43Q SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Yemen. It is to the Crusaders, also, that the inven- tion of the first simple armorial bearings is attributed, a custom, perhaps, originating in the difficulty of ex- plaining one's name and rank to men of another language. The Arab and Turkoman Emirs had such bearings even in the eleventh century, called Renk, or in the plural Renuk ; and in the later times, after the fall of Jerusalem, the Egyptian princes bore what are called in heraldry ' canting arms.'*
In civil life the dress of the Franks was apparently loose and flowing, and suited to the climate. Geoffrey de Vinsauf t gives us a full description of King Richard's wedding-dress, of rose-coloured stuff, ornamented with rows of crescents in solid silver, with a scarlet hat embroidered in gold with figures of birds and beasts. The sword-handle and spurs and clasp of his belt were also of gold, as was his horse's bit. Furs from the centre of Asia (where Marco Polo describes them), and from Russia, X with silk, satin, and various other stuffs ;
0 The Seigneurs of Ibelin bore or, a cross pate* gules ; the Counts of Tripoli or, a castle gules. The arms of the kingdom are false heraldry, according to later rules. The two-headed eagle (which is as old as the time of the Hittites) was borne by the family of Ortok : it occurs on the money of Amad ed Din Zanghi, in 1 190 ; it was adopted in Germany about 1345. Ibn Tulun had a lion for his arms ; Beybars, a lion passant ; and Kalaun, a duck, such being the Mongol meaning of his name (' Colonies Franques,' pp. 51-53). The lambrequin, according to the same authority (p. 12), is to be regarded as originating in the habit of wearing the Kufeyeh, or Bedawin headdress, over the helmet — a simple and probable explanation.
t'ltin. Ric. II.,' 36.
% Hence the heraldic furs, ermine, vair, and minever (menu vair), vair being the skin of the Siberian squirrel. — Yule's ' Marco Polo,' ii., p. 414.
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ostrich feathers and plumes of the peacock (white, or of the commoner species), were also worn, with lamb's- wool jackets, recalling those still common among the Arabs. The appearance of a mediaeval crowd on a gala day must apparently have resembled a flower- garden for colour.
The Franks took kindly to the diversions of the East. They admitted jugglers, tumblers, conjurors, dancing-men and dancing-women into the great halls of the castles. They enjoyed the bath, and the women spent much of their time in the public baths, while each castle had a bathing-place within its walls. Music and songs were also much in request, and the passion for romances and wonderful legends was insatiable. In time of peace the chase supplied excitement. The falcon, the gazelle-hound, and the hunting-leopard (Nimr) were used by the Franks as by the Arabs, and the fehed or ' lynx ' appears also to have been employed in hunting. Jousts, tournays, and similar sports filled up the time, and, indeed, according to some authors, the tournay originated in the sport of the Jerid, which still survives in Syria.
It is to be feared that the Crusaders both ate and drank much more than was good for them in such a climate. The table was luxurious, both as regards its viands, and also as to its furniture.* The wines of the country, strong and heady as they are, were supple- mented with beer, which was sold in Damascus as early as 1129. Sauces, sweetmeats, scents, and iced
\ 0 ' Colonies Franques,' p. 221.
432 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
drinks were also adopted by the Normans through Arab influence.
We have thus far been concerned with contem- porary chronicles and documents from which the social history of the Crusades is known to us so fully. It is time to turn to the existing monuments of the age in Syria, and to consider the architecture and art of the period, as well as the literature, the agricultural pursuits, and the trade of this great century of Norman rule in Palestine.
Of the castles and fortified towns of the Christian kingdom, some notice has already been taken. So strong and lofty were the ramparts of these great fortresses that the defence could be entrusted to a very small garrison. To take them it was necessary either to make a breach by means of the great catapults and other stone-throwing engines ;* to undermine the towers — a slow process used for instance at Acre, but generally impossible on account of the deep ditches cut in rock outside the walls ; or, in the third place, to assault them from huge wooden towers rolled up on wheels to the walls, f and covered with skins and with rope mantlets, as a protection against the Greek
c' As regards these engines, see Colonel Yule's note (' Marco Polo/ ii., p. 122). He divides them into great slings working by a counterweight, and great cross-bows. Not only stones, but Greek fire, carcases (even of horses and asses), bags of gold, and living men, have at various times been slung from manganels.
t Joinville calls these towers Beffroy. The skins were some- times boiled horse or bullock hides. There were four wheels. Another name was Chas-Chateil ; but the Cat was a covered gallery of approach.
THE CRUSADERS. 433
fire,* by which, however, they were most frequently destroyed.
The masonry of these castles is often an ashlar of very large stones, those in the outer walls being drafted with rustic bosses. These were hewn by the Franks, and not taken from older buildings as sometimes sup- posed, f On the other hand, at Csesarea and elsewhere, when only a crumbling stone was obtainable, small masonry, set in mortar of great hardness, is found in use in the thirteenth century. The rock-cut fosses were utilized for stables, with rock-cut mangers, as may still be seen at District (Dustrey), and at Saone. The castles of the great Orders included chapels, those of the Templars being round or polygonal, those of the Hospitallers (as, for instance, at Krak des Chevaliers, now El Hosn) being of the usual form observed in the churches.^ Under the castle walls lay the village, the inhabitants of which could easily find room in case of attack within the fortress. In one case (at El Hosn) the heavy oak door, studded with large nails, is still in place at the principal entrance, whence a long vaulted passage leads to the central courtyard. In each castle there was also a great hall, where feasts were served, and where receptions and entertainments took place.
0 Rey gives a long disquisition on the Greek fire (' Colonies Franques,' pp. 41-43). The chief ingredient was petroleum.
f See my paper on architecture at the end of the third volume of the ' Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine.'
% The chapel at El Hosn has a Gothic text outside the door, warning those who enter against pride {superbia). This, no doubt, was appropriate to the humility inculcated on the Knights Hospi- tallers, to whom the place belonged.
28
THE CRUSADERS. 435
The lines and extent of the walls depended on the natural features of the site, following the crest of the hill. A second line sometimes (as at El Hosn) existed within, and in other cases a great donjon only was built. The scarps were often sloping as in Arab fortifications.
The fortified towns of the Crusaders (as at Tortosa, Tyre, Sidon, Acre, Caesarea, Arsuf, Ascalon, etc.) are remarkably small. This is also observable in mediaeval towns in the West. They were, in fact, only fortresses intended to protect the principal buildings, and beyond the walls of which a certain portion of the inhabitants probably dwelt. At Tortosa, at Arsuf, and elsewhere, a second line of defence with a keep existed close to the shore. Between the towns there were posts on the road, fortified by a single square tower, of which many remain, such as those at Tanturah, Kakon, Kalensaweh, and many more. The houses in the towns were usually luxurious, with gardens and inner courts, and they were often of great height. The bazaars were sometimes hung with cloths to exclude the sun, sometimes roofed in with vaults. At Jerusalem the bazaar (the Crusading Malquisinat) still retains its original mediaeval walls and ribbed vaulting.
The finest civil buildings of the age are, however, the beautiful churches of the Crusaders.* In general style
c' The dates of the principal churches still extant in Palestine are as follows, according to De Vogiie" :
Cathedral of Holy Sepulchre - - - 1103 A.D. Church on Mount Tabor - - - 1110 „ St. Marie Latine, Jerusalem - - - 1120 ;,
28—2
436 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
these buildings show the influence of Byzantine art on the Latin architects. For about half a century from iioo a.d. the Crusaders continued to use round arches, although the pointed arch was already known in the West. Compared with early English architecture, there is a solidity in the Gothic work of Syria, which only gradually diminishes in the latter half of the twelfth century, when clustered pillars and fanciful capitals take the place of heavy columns with Corin- thian capitals. In plan and elevation, however, the Western form naturally followed with the Latin rite. Three apses occur always at the east end, and there is generally a transept, a nave and two aisles. The nave is lighted by a clerestory, and a cupola crowns the intersection of the transept and nave. In one case (at El Kubeibeh) the stone altar fixed to the back of the central apse still remains. The choir and the
Monastery of Bethany - 1138 a.d.
Hospital and St. Marie la Grande - - 1 140 „
Church at Bireh 1146 „
Hospital at Nablus - - - - 1156 „
St. Samuel (Neby Samwil) - - - 11 57 „
Church at Nazareth - - - - 11 85 „
There are others, of which the exact date is not known. The great church at Gaza is no doubt later than the capture of Ascalon in 1 1 53, or at least as late as the establishment of the Templars in Gaza in 11 52. The church at Ramleh and that at Suffurieh both seem to be comparatively late. Among the remaining principal churches are St. Anne, the Madeleine, St. Peter, St. James the Less, Olivet, and the Ccenaculum (restored in the fifteenth century) at Jerusalem ; the church at Hebron, and those of Abu Ghosh, Kubeibeh, Caesarea, Samaria, Lydda, Tyre, Beyrout, and Jibeil, with numerous smaller chapels.
THE CRUSADERS.
437
apses are usually raised some steps above the rest of the building. The roofs of the aisles, and sometimes of the nave as well, were flat outside, and supported by groined vaults.
In the Temple enclosure the Crusaders restored and added. They covered the exterior of the Dome of the
Scal-t 1..5..3 v m> V so eo 7p Off »p tpofttX
ST. MARY AT RAMLEH.
Rock with glass mosaic work, with long Latin texts, traces of which work are still to be found on the wall. In the interior they placed an altar on the holy rock, and painted frescoes on the walls. Two pieces of the altar, with elaborate twisted pillars and foliated capitals, are still preserved in the building, and two other Gothic capitals have been re-used in the Mihrab,but the pictures
438 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
were apparently destroyed by Saladin, or hidden behind the marble casing.* The Norman iron grille round the Rock is also of this age. The so-called Makam of Omar, and the great banquet-hall (Bak'at el Beida), are the chief remains of the edifices erected by the Templars. The present Gothic porch of the Aksa may also be attributed to this Order. Their horses, we are told, were stabled in Solomon's stables. Two curious Gothic capitals were uncovered some years ago in the Makam of Omar, flanking the Mihrab, and adorned with representations of mythical monsters in high relief.
The Latin rite of baptism necessitated the use of fonts. Noble specimens of these great fonts are found in the ruins of Palestine where churches once existed. They were so constructed that four persons could at the same time sit in them facing each other. At Bethlehem,
• The Dome of the Rock, according to Crusading tradition, was the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple (and in this case the tradition seems to have been substantially correct). The rock was also the Bethel of Jacob. Here the Virgin Mary was supposed (following the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary) to have been educated. In the cave under the rock the ark, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod were supposed to be hidden ; and here Christ was supposed to have been presented, and the Virgin to have been married (as shown in Raffaele's picture, where this building forms the background). Some thought that the Kufic texts, which they could not read, had been put up by Omar (Will. Tyre, i. 2). The subjects of the pictures, according to John of Wurtzburg, seem to have been : the Education of the Virgin, the Presentation, the Vision of Jacob, the Annunciation to Zachariah, the woman taken in adultery ; all having reference to events supposed to have taken place on the spot, though in some cases the tradition was in- correct.
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439
however, we have a smaller example with a Greek inscription on a tablet in relief, having a cross pate beneath. This font is octagonal without, but of the usual shape within. The text reads, * In memory and for the repose and remis- sion of sins of those of whom the Lord knows the names.'*
The masonry of the church and the castle interiors is usually dressed with a pecu- liar diagonal tooling, also found in European buildings of the same age.
Section on AB
MEDIAEVAL FONT.
A more certain indication of Crusading origin is, however, found in the use of masons' marks. These are sometimes letters of the alphabet of Gothic forms, and sometimes signs like the pentacle, the scutum David, the fish, the arrow, etc., which appear to have been used as luck-marks. They are not apparently the signs of individual masons in all cases, and they certainly do not indicate the position of the stone in the wall.t
° See De Vogue", ' Eglises de la Terre Sainte/ p. in.
t See my paper on these marks in the * Memoirs ' (vol. iii., appendix). As regards the marks which are not letters — the pen- tacle, or Solomon's seal, is a symbol of Siva and Brahma in India. The scutum David is a caste-mark, the union of Siva and Vishnu
440 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
A word in passing must be devoted to sepulture. The Crusaders sunk tombs in the rock of a peculiar character, having a chamber beneath the shaft fitted for two bodies (man and wife). The largest cemetery of these tombs with which I am acquainted is at Iksal, below Nazareth. In another case a Greek mediaeval text occurs in such a tomb, with a cross, clearly indi- cating the age and Christian character of this class of tomb. Graves in church walls or floors, with flat tombstones, having short Gothic-lettered inscriptions in Latin, are also known. Leaden coffins, with Latin crosses, found in a tomb on Olivet, close to the Credo Chapel, serve to show the use of lead in this age. It appears that the custom of employing hired mourn- ing women, which we have already found among the
being so symbolized. The fylfot, or Thor's hammer, is the Indian Swastica, often a Buddhist emblem (the wheel of the Law) : it was called ' tetragrammaton ' by the Christians ; it is found in Assyria, at Troy, in the Catacombs of Rome, on the rocks of Cornwall, and on old Greek coins and Etruscan vases, as well as on bells in the Norse settlements of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It is the Croix Cramponne'e, and also an Indian caste-mark. Other marks found on the Crusading masonry include the Indian Trisul and the fleur- de-lis, with the crozier (also an Indian mark) and the mason's hammer. The Trisul, the arrow, and the cross are among the masons' marks found by Ouseley on the Palace of Saadetalah, near Ispahan ; so that the use of these marks was not confined to the West. They are probably connected with the symbolism of the Freemasons, and thus with Manichean or other Gnostic emblems. They do not seem to have been borrowed from the Arabs, and the Indian connection is perhaps very remote, judging from the history of the fylfot. In like manner the three legs of the Isle of Man are found not only on the Sicilian arms but also on early Asiatic coins.
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Byzantine Christians of Antioch, was also adopted in the twelfth century,* perhaps, however, only by native Christians.
The art of the age survives in sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, and coins. It was stiff and poor, but had in it the germ of the great Italian revival. The sculptures, of which the best preserved examples are found over the gateway of the Hospital and of the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral at Jerusalem, are remarkable for the bold- ness of the relief, the fineness of the scroll-carving, and the stiffness of the figures, which resemble those in English work of about the same age.t
The mosaic pictures which remain to us are found at Bethlehem (1169 a.d., according to De Vogue];) and at
0 The custom was forbidden by the Synod of Nicosia in 1257.
f Images were also now used by the Latins in the churches. The inventory of the Cathedral of Antioch mentions a silver image. — Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' p. 230.
X 'Eglises de la Terre Sainte,' p. 99. An inscription gives the date in the reign of Manuel Comnenos, under King Amaury, the artist's name being Ephrem. The subjects are as follows.
On the west wall Joel, Amos, Nahum, Micah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Balaam are represented on a 'tree of Jesse.' On the side- walls the ancestors of Christ are represented by figures extending only to the waist. Above are shrines, including inscriptions re- lating to the Councils of the Church, with scroll-work between the shrines, in character not unlike that in the Dome of the Rock. Above these again, and between the clerestory windows, figures of angels appear.
The choir was adorned with subjects from the life of Christ and of the Virgin (as detailed by De Vogue'), and with figures of saints. Only a few fragments remain of this magnificent set of mosaics. At Jerusalem the subjects represented apostles and prophets, the Emperors Constantine and Heraclius, the Empress Helena, the
442 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
Jerusalem. The inscriptions which give the date in the first case are valuable, as showing the character and contractions used in this age, thus serving also to date the frescoes in the monastery of Kasr Hajlah, and in the two lower chapels on Mount Quarantania, which I described in 1874, as well as those in the monastery of Wady Kelt. The Kasr Hajlah frescoes are now entirely destroyed. At Wady Kelt traces re- main of a large fresco on the rocky cliff, outside the monastery, and exposed to the weather, as are the frescoes on the outer walls of some Italian churches. At Mar Marrina, south of Tripoli, in 1881, I examined another cliff also covered in like manner with frescoes, giving the legend of a saint.* The little chapel north
Resurrection, the Last Supper, Elijah and the Ravens, etc.— Cf. ' Eglises,' pp. 189 seq.
0 At Kasr Hajlah the subjects (see ' Memoirs of the Survey of Palestine,' iii., pp. 214, 192, and 202) include the Last Supper, the Coronation of the Virgin, the Annunciation, the Resurrection of the Saints, with figures of Andrew of Crete, John Eleemon, Syl- vester Pope of Rome, and Sophronius of Jerusalem. At Deir W. Kelt we find Athanasius of Mount Athos, St. John of Choseboth, Gerasimus of Calamon, Joachim the Virgin's father, with pictures of the Entombment, Washing the Disciples' Feet, the Death of the Virgin, and the Last Judgment. In the lower chapel of Quarantania the Pantocrator is represented, flanked by the Virgin and by John the Baptist ; also St. Saba extracting the thorn from the lion's foot. In the upper chapel Gregory the Theologos, Basil the Great, and Chrysostom occur, with Athanasius, ' the martyr for the truth.'
At Mar Marrina the original frescoes, with Latin texts, are partly defaced by a coarse Greek painting, evidently intended to obliterate all memory of the Western work. The original subjects were : Christ with the Hammer, as the carpenter ; the Annunciation ; a
THE CRUSADERS. 443
of Jerusalem has given us a fresco once occupying the interior, and representing the throned Christ and His twelve Apostles. At the Crusading site of Bethphage, pictures are also found representing the entry into Jerusalem. Marble mosaic floors of the age exist in several churches, and that at the Convent of the Cross is of great interest on account of the figures still visible upon it. On the walls of the churches there are also rude granite with pilgrims' names. The earliest of these which I have found with the date was, however, that of 1 Piero Vandam, 1384/ on the south door of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre. It is not impossible that the Maronite churches of the Lebanon may contain some pictures as old as the twelfth century ; a text, giving the date 1276, has been found in that of Meifuk.
The Moslem art of the age was far more beautiful than any that is traceable in the surviving work of the Franks. The glass lamps, which were made in Tyre, Antioch, Tripoli, Hebron, Damascus, and Acre, are in some cases as old as the eleventh century, and the Venetians learned the art of glass ornamentation in Syria. The mimbar, or pulpit, in the Aksa Mosque, presented by Saladin, shows us the wonderful perfec- tion attained in cabinet-work by the Moslems of the
figure in a tree — perhaps Zaccheus (or possibly a subject from the Gospel of Nicodemus— Christ seated on the Tree of Paradise); Christ between the Virgin and St. Joseph, on a throne ; the Salu- tation ; with other subjects seemingly connected with a saint's history. On the ledge in front of this cliff are several rock-sunk graves, probably those of hermits. The frescoes at the Crusading Bethphage are described in the ' Memoirs ' (Jerusalem volume).
444 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
twelfth century ;* while the pottery and fabrics of the Damascenes were equally celebrated for artistic finish. The work of goldsmiths and jewellers is illustrated by the inventory of the Cathedral of Antioch in 1209. f Illuminated manuscripts also survive, as, for instance, the Gospel belonging to Queen Melisinda, wife of Fulk of Anjou, now in the British Museum. The Assizes of Jerusalem were preserved in similarly ornate documents.
The coinage of the age, and the seals of the great orders, of the patriarchs and viscounts, and other officials, are curious rather than beautiful. At Acre, in the thirteenth century, a Christian coinage with Arab lettering was struck.J The coins of the kings of Jerusalem are usually very thin pieces of silver with Gothic lettering and rude designs — a head in helmet, a star, or tower, or a cross. §
0 See 'Temple de Jerusalem,' p. 103. The mimbarwas brought from Aleppo ; the date, 564 (1168 A.D.), is inscribed on it with the names of Nur ed Din and his son, and the name of the artist, Hamed Ben Thafir, of Aleppo.
f Rey, ' Colonies Franques,' p. 230.
% ' Colonies Franques/ p. 264. On one side was the legend, ' The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost ;' on the other the words, 4 Struck at Akka in the year a thousand two hundred one and fifty of the era of the Messiah.' The value was about 7s. 6d.
§ A coin of Baldwin IV. (see ' Eglises de la Terre Sainte,' p. 452), about 1 1 80 A.D., represents the Tower of David. Others of Amaury II. (1 197-1205) and of John of Brienne (1205- 1222) repre- sent the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre. One of Guy of Lusignan (1186-1192) may perhaps represent the Templum Domini. A lead seal of Amaury I. (1162-1173) represents all these three buildings, together with the legend, ' Civitas Regis Regum Omnium/
The seals of the towns of Tyre and of Caiffa (Haifa) also show
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The characters used in writing are also known from contemporary documents. The frescoes have inscrip- tions in an uncial character, with many contractions and accents, the letters sometimes arranged in vertical lines. The coins and tombstones have handsome Gothic lettering. The Greek minuscule character, which traces back to the ninth century, was already in use, as was the Latin minuscule of the West. The Syriac alphabet had developed the Estrangelo character, which is found on pictures of the thirteenth century; and Georgian and Armenian alphabets were also in use. Of the character used by the Saracens, we may judge from the fine Arabic text in the Dome of the Rock, which attributes the restorations of the cupola to Saladin himself.*
A word or two may be devoted to the education of the age. The culture of Islam had, as we have seen already, culminated three centuries earlier. The Cru-
us the walls of the town. That of the Hospitallers represented a sick man lying under a cross, with a censer and an oil-lamp above him. John dTbelin's seal shows himself in mail armour on his war-horse. John, Viscount of Ibelin, has a shield with a lion ram- pant, and on the reverse a tower. Amaury, Patriarch of Antioch, has a bishop in act of benediction, and on the reverse a saint's figure. Robert, Bishop of Tripoli, has the Virgin and child on the obverse, and a bishop in act of benediction on the reverse. The seal of the Abbey of Mount Sion represented the dove descending on the apostles' heads at Pentecost, and the adoration of the Magi.
• 'Temple de Jerusalem,' p. 92. In the Aksa also {cf. p. 101) Saladin is recorded, in an inscription, to have restored the Mihrab 'when God reconquered it by his hand' in 583 (1187). The characters are Neshki.
446 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
saders, when they reached Tripoli, destroyed the great library of the Ibn Ammar, consisting of 1,000 volumes in characters unknown to the Normans. But as time went on, the knights began to appreciate the learning of the Jacobites, who had preserved the works of Greek philosophy and even of Indian literature. The seigneurs of Sidon were celebrated for their knowledge of Oriental literature. In the thirteenth century also flourished Gregory Bar Hebrseus (Abu el Faraj), the eminent Jacobite writer, whose philosophical system included the seven arts, with cosmography, natural history, psychology, and metaphysics — in all some thirty volumes. About 1220 a.d. we find Jacques de Vitry writing about the Syrian fauna with great correct- ness, and describing some Indian animals, such as parrots, which he had seen. He adds accounts of the chimaera, the martichore, the onocentaur, etc., which he presumably had not himself encountered. In the thirteenth century we also find Rashid ed Din es Sury and Kaswini (the Arab Pliny) writing on the flora of Syria.
The cultivation of the country appears to have been highly developed. The vineyards were numerous and celebrated, and the vines of Engaddi * were specially noted with those in the fiefs of Tripoli and Antioch. Olives and fruit trees were also cultivated. Cotton was grown both in Syria and in Asia Minor. The
0 The vine was taken in ships by the Templars from Engedi to Cyprus. Vineyards existed at Jericho, Nazareth, Saphran (Shefa Amr), Cayphas (Haifa), Casal Imbert (Hamsin), at Bethlehem, Gaza, Sidon, Jebeil, Latakia, etc.
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sugar-cane was found by the Crusaders at Tripoli, and was grown in the plains of Jericho,* where the ruined sugar-mills of the Crusading period still remain. Indigo was also grown in the Jordan Valley, which district was no doubt tilled by aid of the negro slaves. The forests of the country were apparently much in their present condition, and wood was scarce near Jerusalem, but plentiful in Lebanon and the north, as well as on the west slopes of Hermon. Geoffrey de Vinsauf speaks of the forests between Chateau Pelerin and Jaffa, which are now much thinned, and indeed entirely destroyed, towards the south.*|-
One subject remains to be noticed to complete our review of the condition of the country in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries — namely, that of trade and commerce. In this there is little to note beyond the development of a condition of trading intercourse which we have traced back to a remote origin.
The Franks traded both with Egypt and with Damascus, and, through Antioch and Aleppo, with the East. William of Tyre laments that the ambition of King Amaury, in invading Egypt, destroyed the Egyptian commerce. As late as 1184 the Arab mer-
0 Joinville speaks of sugar-canes at Passe Poulain (El Basseh), a league from Acre, in the thirteenth century. — Bonn's ' Chron. of the Crusades,' p. 497.
t The Cartulary of the Teutonic Order gives us some information as to the division of the cultivated lands. The Casale was divided into ploughs, each of about 80 acres. The feddan in modern Syria varies from 30 to 40 acres (see Rey, ' Colonies Franques/ p. 242 ; * Tent-Work in Palestine,' ii., p. 255). The ordinary crops — barley, wheat, lentils, and millet — were no doubt the same then as now.
448 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
chants of Damascus were trading with the Christians of Acre. The great fairs, which continued in the four- teenth century, and even later, to be held at Neby Rubin, near Yebnah, in the Philistine Plain, and in the Meidan, or upper plain of Jordan, near Banias, attracted men of every race and creed. Besides the slave-trade already noticed, there was a trade in horses* and in arms, the Persian and Kurdish breeds being specially prized, and the blades of Yemen and of India much valued.
The later Crusaders were brought from Sicily by ships coasting from Crete to Rhodes, and thence to Cyprus and down the Syrian coast ; and this was the route followed by the Italian trading vessels. The fleets often numbered a hundred vessels. Geoffrey de Vinsauf tells us that there were never more than two rows of benches for oars.t He distinguishes the long,
0 Carts were used in the twelfth century (Will. Tyre), as also in the time of Amos (ii. 13). They are now only used between Jeru- salem and Jaffa, Beirut and Damascus, and in the vicinity of the German colony at Haifa.
t * Itin. Ric. I.,' ch. 34, ii. 10 ; Yule's ■ Marco Polo,' i., p. Ixiii. ; 'Colonies Franques,' pp. 150-164. The difference between the mediaeval arrangement and that of the classical triremes, etc., is clearly stated by Vinsauf. Rey gives the galiots only one bank of oars ; the saiettes, or despatch-boats, 50 to 60 feet long, had twenty to thirty oars ; the colombel was still smaller ; the gamels resembled the saiettes. Busses, or busenefs, appear to have been passenger- boats. Vinsauf mentions the queens as sailing in busses ; they could hold 200 to 300 passengers, were about 100 feet long by 25 feet broad, and had two masts. Salamanders were apparently trading vessels. From Marco Polo we learn that the single rudder was still a novelty, the usual arrangement consisting in a pair of great sweeps at the stern of the vessel. Joinville informs us that
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low galea, with a spur or ram at the prow, from the galleon, a short vessel easily turned, and with a single bank of oars. Richard had a fleet of 108 vessels, which met him at Marseilles, and took him thence to Sicily, Cyprus, and Syria. About 1,000 men must have been placed on board each vessel, if the whole army was embarked on this fleet. Horses were also brought either from England or from Sicily. The King of France hired Genoese vessels. It appears that two and sometimes three oars were arranged in each port- hole ; and as the vessels were narrow (only 15 J feet beam, according to Marino Sanuto), an outrigger deck, supported on brackets, was constructed to receive the rowlocks. A raised central gangway or deck between the rowers was occupied by the fighting men. In some cases it would seem that there were as many as 180 oars, but generally not more than 100.
Ships were built in the ports of Syria, especially (as noticed by Marino Sanuto) certain flat-bottomed barbotes of shallow draft for coast-fighting. The ships were cased with iron, and the heads of the rowers pro- tected by rows of shields hung on the bulwarks. The length of the galley was from 100 to 130 feet, not much
the stern of the vessels used to be removed to admit the horses, and was afterwards replaced and caulked in port.
Joinville also speaks of the ship on which St. Louis returned to France as containing 500 to 600 people. The passengers in the hold were no doubt as tightly packed as Russian or Moslem pilgrims on modern steamers, or as the refugees from Alexandria, with whom I voyaged in 1882. St. Louis took ten weeks (on account of storms and delays) to reach France from Syria.
29
450 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
longer than the Phoenician galleys, of which we have previously spoken.
The Crusaders used the old Phoenician harbours, restoring the moles and closing the entrances with chains. Acre, Tyre, Sidon, Latakia, Tortosa, Tripoli, and Seleucia were the chief harbours ; those in the south being roadsteads unsafe except in very calm weather. On the Red Sea, Aila, or Akabah, was held from 1116 to 1170, and from 1182 to 1183. In the latter years Renaud of Chatillon* got over by land on camels five galleys and other lighter craft, and rebuilt them at Aila. These ships ranged as far as Aden, and he was thus able to invade the Hejaz. Saladin, how- ever, brought ships over from Damietta to Kolzum, and burnt the Norman fleet at Haura. Renaud's troops were within a day's march of Medina, but were now obliged to return to Montreal and Kerak by land, with great loss.
It appears also that the Crusaders had ships on the Sea of Galilee and on the Dead Sea, the latter carrying provisions to the castles of Kerak and Montreal, and paying dues to Renaud. Ships had already been launched on the Dead Sea in the time of Herod the Great.*!*
The trading fleets used, with a fair wind, to reach Acre from Marseilles in eighteen, or even fifteen, days, sailing directly by the compass. These fleets generally set out about Easter or in June, and on their arrival
* Cf. Bernard the Treasurer, ed. Mas. Latin, p. 69. t 4 ' Wars,' viii. 4. Josephus describes the ships which collected the bitumen in the Dead Sea. See further, p. 456.
THE CRUSADERS. 451
great fairs were held.* The Venetians forbade their mariners to undertake the voyage in winter.
The land routes for trade were the same as of old. It is worthy of notice that the castles in Moab con- trolled the great north and south trading road of the Haj. The wide reach of Arab commerce is shown by the importation of Chinese china into Syria during the Crusading period.-f The bazaars of Damascus were filled with ivory and metal-work, with carpets and various stuffs, with silks, spices, glass and enamelled pottery. The names * damask ' (from Damascus), ' camelot ' (or camels' hair), and many similar titles remind us of the derivation of the fabrics brought Westward from Arab lands. At Tyre, Tripoli, Antioch, and Tarsus silk was manufactured for export, as well as at Damascus ; but silk was also brought to Syria from China. Boucran, made from Syrian cotton, is noticed in the Assizes of Jerusalem.
Among the industries of the country were salt-works, the pans for which are still visible at 'Athlit and else- where along the coast ; and sugar-mills, as already mentioned. Soap was also made from the olives, as it still is in Tripoli and other towns. The dyers, as we
0 The fu?iduk, or commercial hall of the Italian trading com- munities existing in the great towns, has been already noticed. It takes its name from the Greek Pandokeion. Colonel Yule remarks that the word is used by the mediaeval writers as meaning a ' factory ' (' Marco Polo,' i., p. 370) ; but he renders it ' hostelry' in speaking of Cambulac ; and this is the meaning oi funduk in Ibn Batuta. The word still survives in Syria.
t 'Colonies Franques,' pp. 204, 214-234.
2g — 2
452 SYRIAN STONE-LORE.
have already seen, were generally Jews. Iron was also found in Lebanon, and exported from Beirut.
From such an enumeration of trades and manufac- tures it must be clear that Crusading Palestine was not merely a country groaning under the presence of invaders, but a state constituted on the strong, if narrow, feudal basis, and enjoying the prosperity of a settled commercial community. When we close the ancient history of Palestine with the fall of Acre, we have already in existence every element of civilization which is found in the East at the present day ; and from a social point of view there is nothing further to interest us in the development of the country in later ages.
CONCLUSION. 453
CONCLUSION.
In closing this volume, I must beg those who read it with more intimate knowledge of the various subjects than I can command to judge it leniently, as an effort to gather up the scattered learning of many scholars, and to show how, when combined with the results of twenty years of exploration, it suffices to give us a very clear general idea of the social progress of Syria from the earliest ages to our own times.
The history of Palestine is that of the civilized world. As we have seen, this country was at the centre of the ancient world — the meeting-place of nations — the way whereby men must pass from East to West. It was not, as some have said, a self-contained and insignifi- cant little country, inhabited only by Jews, and shut out from the knowledge of that progress which great nations had made. There is not a great race of Europe or Asia which has not had its part in the history of this land ; and it is perhaps for this reason that the great Book, which is the chiefest gift of Palestine to the world, has been found fit for man in every other land, because it contains in itself the expression of the wants of our common humanity, and is in a sense the pro- duction of all those mingled races whose presence we have studied in the Holy Land.
NOTES AND ERRATA.
Page 4. — In correction of the note it should be stated that a king of Babylon is now known, said to have built the Temple of Shin at Uruk, in 2930 B.C.
Page 6. — The recent discoveries of M. Dieulafoy at Susa include coloured representations of the dark race of Mesopotamia — the Asiatic Aithiops.
Page 18. — The curly-toed boots are supposed, by Professor Sayce, to be peculiar to Hittites. They may, however, perhaps be con- nected with the Calceus repandus of Romans, and are known on Etruscan figures.
Page 22. — Hit is supposed to be a corruption of Ava, the later Is. In this case it may have no connection with Hittites.
Page 61. — I have been unable to trace my authority as to the Achivi, or to find any notice of their connection with the Phoenicians in Herodotus. This note — which is more curious than important — may, therefore, be cancelled as far as the Achivi are concerned.
Page 93. — Pottery statuettes of semi-Egyptian character were purchased by the late C. F. T. Drake, said to come from Gaza.
Page 101. — The Nebel is generally supposed to have been a kind of lyre. There is some evidence in favour of its having been a lute, but on the other hand the name occurs as that of a Roman instru- ment which seems to have been a lyre.
Page 109.— The Symbolic Eye was also painted on the prows of Roman ships. It is still used in Burmah, but the fashion in this case may have been derived from Arab or Egyptian traders.
Page 119. — Reference at bottom to p. 150 should be to p. 149.
Page 125. — The statement as to Ur is confused. If Ur be el Mognez'r, it was west of the Euphrates. If it be the Akkadian
NOTES AND ERRATA. 455
Uruk (* great city ') then it would be at Warka, east of the river.
Page 137, line 2. — ' Eyptians ' is a printer's error for ' Egyptians.' Page 156, line 20. — For 'Zendic' read ' Pehlevi.' Page 160. — Professor Socin and other scholars familiar with Naha, or literary Arabic, have called in question the orthography of the Palestine Survey map. This is because it represents the Fellah language, which, if carefully studied, would, I feel convinced, be found full of valuable archaisms indicating the Aramaic deriva- tion of the race. Even in the dictionaries some peculiarities of Syrian Arabic will be found noted.
Page 174. — 'Halacha' is a printer's error for 'Halucha;' cf. p. 419.
Page 180. — The evidence as to the derivation of the Hebrew words for ■ elephants/ ' apes,' and ' peacocks ' is somewhat conflicting. Some derive them from Tamil words, others from Sanskrit.
Page 201. — Note on phylacteries, 'armlets' is a printer's error for ' amulets.' Page 211, last line. — ' Nave,' is a printer's error for ' Naos.' Page 228. — ' Kodesheth,' printer's error for ' Kodeshoth.' Page 264. — The superstition as to the north being unlucky is widespread. The Chinese bury with the head to the south for this reason. It occurs in the Zendavesta. Cf. p. 293. Page 306, line 20. — ' Mausoleun,' printer's error for ' mausoleum.' Page 310. — Cf. p. 362. El Mukaddasi, writing in 985 A.D., attri- butes these mosaics to Welid, and says that the workmen came from Persia, India, West Africa, and Byzantium.
Page 322. — Jendeb, the early Arab chief here mentioned, may perhaps be the original of the mythical Jandabah, ' the locust child of Arab folk-lore. See Lane's ' Modern Egyptians,' vol. ii., p.
135. Page 327. — Date of Ibn Tulun is an error for 880 A.D.
Page 329. — Archduke ' Reiner,' printer's error for ' Re'nier.'
Page 339. — El Mukaddasi localizes the legend of the seven
sleepers at Tarsus, where Sir C. Wilson has found the cave still
shown. Page 343. — El Mukaddasi states that in his time half the people
of Nablus and Galilee, with all those of Tiberias and most of those
of 'Amman, were Shi'ah.
456 NOTES AND ERRATA.
Page 348. — El Mukaddasi, in 985 A.D., found Samaritans in all parts of Palestine up to Tiberias. He speaks of the Jews in Syria as assayers, dyers, bankers, and tanners.
Page 350. — What is stated in the text agrees with what El Mukaddasi tells us, writing under the Fatemites at the close of the tenth century. He says that the Syrian Moslems lived in terror of the Byzantines, that the Christians in the country were numerous and bold, and in Jerusalem had with the Jews the upper hand. The Greek ships came to the coast with Moslem prisoners for ransom.
Page 353. — The building at 'Amman seems to be that called by El Mukaddasi ' Uriah's tomb/ unless he confuses it with the mosque below the citadel.
Page 355. — El Mukaddasi attributes the Dome of the Rock to 'Abd el Melek. He speaks also of the outer octagonal wall, which therefore existed before 985 a.d.
Page 371. — The tales of the Shahnameh are of great antiquity. There are allusions in the Zendavesta to the same adventures of the same heroes (e.g., the sawing asunder of Jemshid, cf. Zamyad Yasht, viii. 46). Some of them seem to be derived from the Vedic legends, others from the Babylonian (see remarks on p. 157). Thus the story of Darab, who was placed in an ark on the river, and brought up by a washerman, is only a later form of the old legend of King Sargina. Among the heroes of Vedic origin are Jemshid and Feridun (Yama and Trita). Ferdusi's poem is to these legends much what Sir T. Malory's book is to the Arthur legends.
Page 374. — The commerce and cultivation of Syria in the tenth century are detailed by El Mukaddasi. He mentions cotton, indigo, sugar, and rice as grown ; and silk-worms at Gaza. The taxes amounted to a million sterling in his time. Glass was also then made at Tyre. Sugar-canes were grown at Tiberias, and cotton and rice near the Huleh Lake. There were canes also at Kabul, near Acre (cf. p. 447). In the Lebanon above Beirut there were iron mines (cf. p. 452).
Page 384, line 4. — ' Geneva,' printer's error for ' Genoa.'
Page 409. — The wonderful image of Our Lady of the Rock is said still to exist at Sidnaya.
Page 450. — There were boats on the Sea of Galilee also in the tenth century.
V~
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
The following are the books which I have read in preparing the present work, exclusive of some of minor importance, to which occasional reference is made :
Proceedings and Transactions Biblical Archaeologi- cal Society.
Publications Palestine Exploration Fund. * Records of the Past.' Birch's ■ Egypt.'
Brugsch's ' Egypt under the Pharaohs.' Sir G. Wilkinson's * Ancient Egyptians.' Renouf's ' Religion of Egypt.' Chabas's * Voyage d'un Egyptien.' Mariette's ' Pylons de Karnak.' Fergusson's ' Rude-Stone Monuments.'
,, 'Jerusalem.'
,, ' History of Architecture.'
Lubbock's ' Prehistoric Times.' Forbes Leslie's ' Early Races of Scotland.' Reland's ' Palestina Illustrata.' Robinson's ' Biblical Researches.' G. Smith's ' Assyria.'
„ ' Babylonia.' ,, ' Assyrian Discoveries.' Boscawen's ' British Museum Lectures.' Sayce's ' Babylonian Literature.'
458 LIST OF A UTHORITIES.
Lenormant's ' Lettres Assyriologiques.'
„ ' Origines de l'Histoire.'
„ ' La Magie.'
„ ■ Divination.'
„ ' Manual of Ancient History of the East'
Layard's ■ Nineveh.'
,, ' Nineveh and Babylon.' Tomkins's ' Life and Times of Abraham.' Taylor's ' History of the Alphabet.' Perrot and Chipiez's * Art in Phoenicia.' Kenrick's ' Phoenicia.' Bosworth Smith's ' Carthage.' Herodotus (reference). Strabo (reference). Tylor's ' Early History of Mankind.' 1 The Speaker's Commentary.' Colenso's * Pentateuch.' Wright's * Empire of the Hittites.' Sacred Books of the East (' The Zendavesta'). Vaux's ' Persia.'
,, ' Greek Cities.' Drummond's * Jewish Messiah.' Chiarini's ' Beracoth.' Surenhuse's ' Mishnah ' (reference). Hershon's ' Talmudic Miscellany.' Barclay's ' Talmud.' Buxtorff's ■ Lexicon ' (reference). Madden's ' Coins of the Jews.' Josephus, Greek and Latin edition (reference). Neubauer's ' Geography of the Talmud.' Derenbourg's ' Palestine According to the Talmuds.' Haug's ' Parsees.' Nutts's ' Samaritans.' Mills's f Modern Samaritans.'
LIST OF A UTHORITIES. 459
De Vogue's ' Temple de Jerusalem.'
„ ' Eglises de la Terre Sainte.'
De Saulcy's ' Voyage en Terre Sainte.' Juynboll's ' Samaritan Book of Joshua.' Neubauer ' On the Samaritan Chronicle.' Literary Remains of E. Deutsch. Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall ' (reference). Ginsburg's ' Kabbala.' Barth's ' Religions of India.' Herklotz's ' Indian Moslems.' Churchill's ' Lebanon.' 1 Irenseus.' ^
' Clement of Alexandria.' 1 Tatian.' Y Clark's Series.
'Justin Martyr.' 1 Clementine Recognitions.' Cyril's ' Catechetical Lectures.' Publications of Palestine Pilgrim Text Society. Tobler's ' Palestinse Descriptiones.' Cowper's ' Apocryphal Gospels.' King's ' Gnostics.' Mansell's ' Gnostic Heresies.' 1 Chrysostom's Picture of his Age ' (S.P.C.K.).
,, Picture of the Religion of his Age.'
Bohn's ' Early Travels in Palestine.' Renan's ' History of Christianity.' Farrar's ' Seekers after God.'
,, • • Early Days of Christianity.' Kingsley's ' Hermits.' Eusebius and Jerome's ' Onomasticon.' Priaulx's ' Indian Travels and Embassies.' Canon Williams's ' Holy City.' Lewin's ' Siege of Jerusalem.' Socin's ' Handbook for Palestine.'
460 LIST OF A UTHORITIES.
Baring Gould's ' Curious Myths.'
„ ,, ! Lost and Hostile Gospels.'
Stanley's ' Christian Institutions.'
Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.
Payne Knight's ' Symbolic Language.'
Brown's ' Dionysiac Myth.'
Chesney's ' Euphrates Expedition.'
Lane's ■ Modern Egyptians.'
Rodwell's Koran.
Sale's Koran.
Muir's ■ Life of Muhammad.'
„ ' Annals of the Early Khalifate.'
Rey's ' Monuments des Croises.' ,, * Colonies Franques.'
Carmoly's ' Itineraires.'
Willis's < Holy Sepulchre.'
1 Chronicles of the Crusades ' (Bohn).
Bongar's ' Gesta Dei.'
1 William of Tyre ' (French translation).
Gibbon's ' History of the Crusades.'
Besant and Palmer's * Jerusalem.'
Max Miiller's ' Selected Essays.'
Chambers's ' Hermes Trismegistus.'
' Teaching of the Apostles ' (translation).
Robertson Smith's ' Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia.'
Didron's ' Christian Iconography.'
Lundy's ' Monumental Christianity ' (many useful plates).
Lane's ' Thousand and One Nights.'
Yule's ' Book of Ser Marco Polo.'
Hughes's ' Dictionary of Islam.'
Rhys David's ' Hibbert Lectures on Buddhism.
Kuenen's ' Universal Religions.'
INDEX
Aaron, origin of name - 121 'Abdel Melek, 327,35 5,356,361,368 Absalom's ' hand ' - - 71 „ tomb (so called) - 220 Accad (Akkadians) 5
Achivi (Akhirri) - 61, 454
Acre (Akka), 386, 395, 396, 400, 403, 417, 425, 426 Acropolis, Athens, masonry- 196 Adamites (heretics) - - 251 Adar, Adara, Adoraim - 33 Adiabene, tomb of Kings of
193, 220
Adonai - - - - 161
Adonis - 82, 84, 148, 284
yElia, Ailia, Jerusalem 234, 366
Atka (Aphek) Temple - 286
Agapae, ; love-feasts ' - - 279
Ahamant (M 'an) Castle -389
Aila, Elath, Akabah - 389, 450
Aithiops (Cushites) - 6, 454
Akkadians, ' highlanders ' - 5
„ religion of - - 10
„ laws of - - 14
„ inscriptions of, 12, 13
Aksa Mosque, 304, 361, 362, 438
Albigenses - - 282, 412
Alexander the Great, 163, 181,
183, 371, 407
Alphabet, Phoenician - 63
„ Egyptian - - 64
„ Aramean, 106, 170, 192,
240 „ Hebrew - - 117
PAGE
Alphabet, Greek - 148, 149
„ Cypriote syllabary, 151 „ Samaritan - - 165 „ Square Hebrew - 192,
3M
„ Nabathean - 240
„ Himyaritic - 242
„ Syriac Estrangelo 314
„ Arab, Neshki, Kufic 365
„ Karmathian - - 365
„ Mediaeval - - 445
Altaic race - . _ 4
Altars, Pagan - - 43, 45, 70
„ Christian - 298, 436
Amalfi, trade of - - 374, 416
Amaur, Amorites - 30, 31
Amenemhat, inscription of - 50
Amman, buildtng at - 353, 456
Amraphel, King - - 124
'Amrit 97, 99
Amu or Beni Amu - 3, 36
Amulets - - 91, 201, 289
Amusements of Franks -431
Anaka, Anakim - - - 31
Anat (goddess) - - 33, 156
Anchor emblems 192, 253, 254
Ancient cities, size of - - 177
Animism - - - 8, 9, 18
Ankh emblem - - - 72
Anseiriyeh - - 342, 423
Antioch, 179, 1 83, 244, 289, 385,390
Antoninus, buildings, etc.,
of 244, 247
Anu, nation of - - - 114
462
INDEX.
Apamea (Cibotus) - - 84 Aperu, or ' redskins ' - - 114 Apes from India - 180, 455
Apocryphal Gospels - 251,319 Aptouchos, a Phoenician god, 1 09 Arabian Nights' Tales - 371 „ historians - - 329 Arabic words in Europe - 415 „ studied in Europe - 369 Arabs, earliest notices of, 314, 322 Arabs, civilization of the, 325,
354, 369 'Arak el Emir (Tyrus) - 194
Aram (Syria) 1
Aramaic alphabet, 106, 170, 192,
240
„ language - 119,314
Aramean colonists - 159, 314
Arbre Sec (Dry Tree)- 337, 407
Arbre Sol - - - 337, 407
Archaisms in Hebrew, 121, 167
Archelais (Kerawa) - - 217
Arches, true and false - 103, 360
Architecture, Phoenician, 97-100
„ Jewish - - 194
„ Herodian, 196, 219
„ Antonine - 244
„ Arab, in Hauran,
243, 246
„ Byzantine - 301
„ Arab - 35', 354
„ Crusading - 435
Arioch (Eri Aku), King - 124
Aristotle in Arabic - - 369
Ark, Canaanite - 32, 123
„ Phoenician, etc. - S3, 84
„ Hebrew - 163, 164, 438
Armenians - 4, 18,403, 416, 427
Armour - - 40, 47, 428
Army, Phoenician - - 88
Crusading - - 428
- 41, 105 Hebrew - - 137
- 310
- 441 Arzareth, land of - - 163 Ascalon - 217, 389, 397, 398 Ashdod, speech of - 171-2
Art, Phoenician
„ Byzantine - „ Crusading
PAGE
Asherah - -, - - 189 Ashima (Deity), 33, 160, 286, 328 Ashtoreth (Istar), 19, 32, 46, 61,
78, 144
Asoka's edict - - - 182
Assassins(Hashshashin), 345, 420
Asshur, tree of - 100
Assizes of Jerusalem - - 413
Astronomy, Hottentot - 8
„ Akkadian - 10
„ Hebrew - - 140
„ Byzantine - 317
„ Arab - - 369
'Athlit, castle of - 399
Aup, land of 36, 37
Ausam, tribe-marks - 242, 323
Baal, worship of- 76, 90, 144 „ Hamon - - 81, 148 „ Samim (or Samin), 77, 241,
257 Baalbek - - 70, 98, 244 Bacchus - - 70, 187, 189 Baldwin I., story about -377 Bamoth (' high places ') - 126 Banu or Bunai hermit - 202
Baphomet idol - - -411 Baptism - - 300, 438
Bar Cochebas - 234
„ Hebraeus - 446
Bashan, buildings in - - 243 „ in middle ages - 389 Basilicas - 298
Baskets, feasts of - 188, 191 Batanin Mystics - - 342
Beauvoir Castle - - 389
Beer made in Syria - - 431 Beffroy towers - 432
Belat, temple of - - - 98 Belfort castle ... 389 Belinas (Banias)- - - 389 Bellerophcn, story of - 82, 83 Bells as charms - 289
Beni Hezir, tomb of, 192, 193, 219 Bes (Egyptian deity) - - 81 Betenoble (Beit Nuba) - 397 Bethel - - - 128, 438 Bethlehem, 33, 34, 284, 386, 441
INDEX.
463
Bethsaida - - 33,34,218
Bethzida - - - 123
Bishops - - 294-296, 401
Blancheward Castle - 389, 398
Boats, emblems - - - 84
„ Neapolitan - 90, 109
Bonnets (Shebesim) - - 89
Boots (Hittite) - 17, 18, 90, 454
Bostra - - - - 256
Bourgeois, Frank - - 426
Bow and arrow emblem - 259
Bowls, magic - 290
Bozrah (Basrah) - 256,338,389
Brahmins - 174,182,229,319
Britain and the Phoenicians, 112
Brotherhoods, Frank. - - 426
Buddha, story of - 203, 373
Buddhists, 182, 203, 229, 342, 346
Burial, Hebrew - - 130-133
„ Egyptian - - 133
„ Babylonian - - 133
„ Byzantine - - 308
„ Crusading - - 440
Burj el Bezzak - - - 97
„ er Rus - 309
Byblos (Gebal) - 98
Byzantine towns, etc. - 303-6
„ architecture - 301
„ art ,- - - 310
„ astronomy - - 317
„ education - - 318
„ superstitions - 288
Caesarea Palestina - 214, 399 Cainites (heretics) - - 251 Cairns, memorial - - 43 Cake of Ashtoreth 78, 144, 328 Calendar, Akkadian - - 15 „ Hebrew and Assy- rian - - 141 Canaan - - - - 2, 3 Canaanites, religion of - 32 „ cities of - 33, 49
Capernaum (Kefr Lam), 398, 409 Caphtor - - - - 59 Capitals, Phoenician - 105, 106 „ Ionic and Doric - 150 „ Byzantine, 304, 356, 363
Capitals, Mediaeval, 436, 437, 438 Captivity, reason of the - 158 Carians - - 6, 150, 151 Carmel deity - - 32,127 Carthage - - - - 147 Carthaginian colonies - 67
„ coins - - 152
„ harbours - 109
Carts 448
Cartularies of churches, 400, 402
Casales, villages - - 400,415
Casdim 6
Cassiopaea - - - 33, 36
Castles, Crusading, 388-391, 432
Catacombs, Jewish - - 228
„ Christian - - 252
„ Syrian - - 253
Cathay (China) - - - 17
Caves in Palestine - 48, 49
Cepheus - - - - 36
Chaldeans - - - - 6, 7
Charges against Templars - 410
Chariots, 31,40, 41, 101, 136, 311
Charms - 71, 72, 91, 203, 289
Chas-Chateil - - - 432
Chastel Blanc - 390
Chateau Neuf - 389
„ Pelerin - - 399, 409
Cheres, or Haris - - 60
Cherethites - - - 56
Cherubim - - 84, 138
Child's Crusade - - - 408
Chimaera - - 82, S^ 446
China - - - -451
Chinese trade - - 231, 318
Chrestoi Christians - - 250
Christians of St. John - 241
„ numbers of - 268
„ in Arabia - - 328
„ and Moslems - 336,
349, 38o
Church of Holy Sepulchre, 283,
364 Churches, earliest - - 297 „ Crusading - - 435
Cibotus (Ark) ... 84 Cinyras 33, 37
City of David - - - 177
464
INDEX.
Civilization, Akkadian - 14
„ Canaanite - 20
„ Hebrew - 115, 143
„ Byzantine - 270
„ Arab - 325, 369
Clementine Recognitions - 249
Coats of arms - 430
Coffins - - - 95, 440
Coins, earliest Lydian - 151
„ Hasmonean 186, 190-2
„ Persian Darik - 152, 153
„ Phoenician - - 152
„ Carthaginian - - 152
„ Seleucid - - 183
„ Jewish - 205-6, 221-225
„ Roman - - - 235
„ Byzantine - - 310
„ Arab - - 324, 366
„ Crusading - - 444
„ Palmyrene - - 257
Colchians - - - - 55
Collyridian heretics - - 328
Colonists, Aramean - - 158
„ Frank - - 391
Columbaria - 309
Commercial communities - 416
Compass, invention and use
of - 37i
Cones, emblematic - 69, 70
Conrad of Montferrat - 395, 422
Constantine's baptism - 300
„ basilicas, 297, 330,
363 Cornucopia on coins - 191, 192 Cosmas the traveller - - 319 Cotton in Syria - - 446, 456 Courts of justice, Crusading, 413 Crests of knights - - 429
Cromlechs - - 43, 70
Cross, emblem - - - 254 „ true - - 280, 405, 407 Crusades, reasons for - - 378
„ history of - - 384 Cuneiform texts - 12, 13, 150
„ origin of - - 64 Cush (Kassi) - - 5, 17 Cutheans - - 17, 160, 161 Cyprus - - - 68, 395
Damascus Mosque, 310, 362, 456 Dan 126
Dances, Phoenician - - 100 „ Jewish - - - 188 Darum fortress - - - 397 Dead Sea, ships on - 450, 456 Decree of Canopus - - 1 Deir Wady Kelt frescoes - 442 Dekkeh, ed (Julias) - - 219 Dish of Zeid - - - 45 Dionysus - 33, 148, 149, 187 District (Dustrey) fort - 399 Districts near Jerusalem - 331 Dog River - - 55, 124
Dolmens - - - - 42 Dome of the Rock 355, 437-456 Doric order, origin of - - 150 Double gate - - - 210 Drafted masonry, 196, 209, 433 Dravidians 6
Dress, Phoenician - - 89 „ Byzantine - - 311
„ of Franks - - 430
Dressing of masonry - - 439 Druzes ... 346, 423 Dry Tree (Arbre Sec) - - 407 Dyers, Jewish - - 418-456
Ebionites, Christian - 248, 268
Education, Byzantine - - 318
„ Mediaeval - - 445
Egibi tablets - - - 173
Egyptian hieroglyphics, 26, 64
„ harbour at Tyre - 104
„ names in Bible - 121
„ race, origin - - 54
„ language - 53,54
„ ships - - 68, 180
El, the Phoenician god - 78
Elagabalus, Emperor - 238, 255
Elamites - ... 5
Eleazar Bar Azariah - - 261
„ son of Aaron- - 169
Elephants - - 116, 180, 181
Eleusinian rites - - - 187
Elkesaites (heretics) - - 251
Emesa (Horns) - 255
Encratites (heretics) - - 250
INDEX.
465
Engines of war - Epitaphs Ernuald Castle - Eshmun, Phoenician Essenes Essential fire Estrangelo character Ethrog (Lemon) - Eucharist - 249, 2 Eunuchs
Eutychian heresy Exodus, date of - Eye, symbolic
PAGE
- 137,432
" 134
- - 389
god, 80, 148
- 202, 251
- 201, 424
- 314,445
- 186
51, 298, 343
- 427
- 275
- 52 91, 109, 454
Fables in Talmud - - 293 „ Arab and Indian - 372 Fairs in Syria - - 349, 448 False arch, Phoenician - 103 Fawn-skin dresses - - 187 Fenek, Phoenicians 2
Fenish, Philistines 2
Fir-cones, symbolic - - 187 Fleets - 67, 68, 180, 448 Flint instruments - - 47 Flood - 120
Flounced dresses - - 46 Fonde, Cour de la - - 413 Fonts, mediaeval - • 439 Footprints, sacred - - 281 Fortification, Byzantine - 306 „ Crusading - 434 Fragrant herb ceremony - 343 Franks as colonists - - 391 Frescoes, mediaeval - - 442 Funduk (hotel) - - - 451 Funerals ... 308, 440 Furs 430
Galatia Castle - 398
Gauls, Galli - - - 153
Gaza temples - 286
Gems, Phoenician - - 107
Genoese - - - 374, 417
Georgians - 404
Gerizim - - 128. 168, 170
Gershom - - - - 121
Ghassan dynasty - - 243
Giant cities - 243
Gibeah Phinehas Gibeon Gibilin Castle Gilgal - Glass - Gnostic sects Goat-skin robes - Godfrey of Bouillon Gods, Canaanite - Phoenician Greek Nabathean Arabian - Palmyrene Gog and Magog - Golden Candlestick
PAGE
- I69
- 128 " " 389
44, 45, 128 108,418,443 251,254,328
- - 46
- 376,384
- 132
- 77
- 148
- 241
- 325
- 257
- 163
- 213, 249,
260, 366
Golden Gate - 304
Gospel of the Hebrews - 248
Government, Phoenician - 87
„ Crusading - 412
Graffite - - 254, 429, 443
Greek colonies - - - 147
„ alphabets - - - 148
„ language in Syria - 185
Greeks in Egypt - - - 149
„ in Palestine - 179-190
Guy of Lusignan - 395
Gyges- - - I, 151, 164
Hadrian's statue - „ arch
Haggai, seal of -
Hair, Phoenician - „ offerings
Halucha
Hamathite texts -
Hand emblem
Hanif-
Harbours -
Harp -
Hasan el Homairi
Hattin, battle of -
Hazeroth (circles)
Hebrew tombs - ,, civilization „ language „ literature
|
235, |
236, 283 |
|
- |
- 234 |
|
- |
- 118 |
|
- |
- 89 |
|
- |
286, 406 |
|
- |
174,419 |
|
- |
18,26 |
|
- |
- 7i |
|
- |
335, 337 |
|
- |
109, 450 |
|
- |
- 101 |
|
- |
- 421 |
|
- |
- 394 |
|
- |
- 44 |
|
- |
97, 130 |
|
- |
115, 144 |
|
- |
- 119 |
|
- |
- 119 |
30
466
INDEX.
|
Hebrew alphabet |
- 117 |
|
„ burial |
- 130-133 |
|
„ arts |
- 137 |
|
,, astronomy |
- 140 |
|
Hebron Haram - |
- 213, 214 |
|
Helena, tomb of - |
- 220 |
|
Hercules |
80, 150 |
Heresies - - 250, 281, 344 Hermits - - 182, 277, 404 Hermon ... i2j, 287 Herod's cities - 206
„ temple - - - 212 „ coins - - - 222 Herodium - - - - 217 Hezekiah - - 116, 136, 137 Hieratic writing - - - 64 Hieroglyphics, origin of - 64 High places - - - 126 Hilarion, Hermit - - 277 Himyarites- - 242
Hiram, tomb of - - - 97 History, Hebrew- - - 123 „ Crusading - - 384 Hittites ... 16-29 Holy Fire - - - 285, 405 Holy Sepulchre - 283
„ „ Church property, 403 Hor, Mount - - - 126 „ ha Har 2
Horses - 101, 448
Hospital, Knights of - 425, 427 Hottentots - - 7, 8, 10, 14 Houris - 337
Houses - 435
Human sacrifice- 46, 126, 287 Hunin Castle - 389
Hunting, mediaeval - - 431 Hyksos - - - - 51 Hypaethral temples - - 98 Hyrcanus, coins of - - 191 „ palace of - - 194
Iah (Jehovah)
Iao
Ibilin Castle
Idumaean kings
Images
Imamat dogma
341:
- 39
74, 254
- 389
- 197
- 309 344, 347
PAGE
Immortality - 130, 157, 201 India, 180, 229, 231, 293, 318, 368,
37l-3
Infanticide - 288
Inscriptions, Hittite - 16, 24
„ at Karnak - 30
„ Phoenician - 107
„ cuneiform - 124
„ Cypriote- - 151
„ Hebrew - 118, 134,
261
„ square Hebrew, 192,
258
„ Samaritan - 165
„ Greek, 212,213, 216,
257
„ Aramaic, 192, 194,
242
Sinaitic - - 240
Palmy rene - 257
Nabathean - 241
Himyarite - 242
early Christian, 253,
254, 260
„ Byzantine - 307
„ Kufic, 355, 360, 365
,, Neshki - 365, 445
„ Karmathian - 360,
365-6
„ Estrangelo, 443-5
„ Gothic - - 444
Ionic order, origin of - - 1 50
Irenaeus - 227
Ism'ailiyeh - - - 344, 420
Istar (see Ashtoreth).
Istar Chemosh - - 115, 126
Italian traders - - 373, 416
Ivory - - - in, 116, 138
Tachin and Boaz - - - 86 Jacob Baradasus - 275
Jaffa cemetery - 260
„ walls - - - - 399 Jar handles inscribed - - 118 Jehovah - 39, 74, 122, 126 Jericho - - - 34, 48 Jerusalem, 176, 206, 234, 302, 386 Jews and Persians - - 157
INDEX.
467
Jews and Greeks -
„ and Arameans
„ and Romans
„ in Palestine
„ and Christians
„ in Arabia -
„ and Moslems
„ and Crusaders
PAGE
- 186
" 171
- 228
- 258
- 290 " 326
" 336
- 4l8
„ in China - 419
Jewish legends in Koran - 338
„ trade - - 374, 456 Job, monastery and land of, 256,
279 Josephus, estimate of - - 199 Joshua, book of - - - 162 „ tomb of - - - 169 Julian's temple - 283
Justinian's buildings - 304-5
Kadesh on Orontes Kaft (Phoenicians) Kal'at Sim'an Kalensaweh (Plans) Kalila wa Dimnah Kamu'at el Hirmil Kanana, Canaan - Karmathians Karmathian alphabet Karnak inscriptions Kasr Hajlah Kassi (Cush) Kassiteridae Kefiyeh, head-dress
- 19 i,59
- 306
- 398
- 372
- 246
- 3
- 342
- 365
- 30
- 442
5, i7
- 112
47
Kefr Bir'im synagogues, 262, 265 Keis and Yemini factions - 331 Kenites - - - - 31 Khar (Phoenicians) - 2, 40, 59 Khatebi (heretics) - - 344 Khatuma - - - - 35 Khatti {see Hittites). Kheta {see Hittites). Kings of Israel and Judah, 122,
124 Kirjath Jearim - - - 129 Kirk (' circle ') - 286
Kodeshoth - 35, 47, 228, 255 Kokaba, site of - - - 248 Kokim in tombs - - - 132
Koran, origin of the - - 335 Krak, castle of - - - 390 Kubbet es Sakhrah (see
Dome of Rock). Kufic (see Inscriptions).
L and R - - - 1, 58
Labarum ... - 222
Land measures - 447 Language, Akkadian 6 „ Hittite - - 16 „ Phoenician - - 112 „ Egyptian - - 54 „ Hebrew, 119, 125, 185 „ Aramaic, 172, 204, 242 „ Fellah - 159,455 Languages, mediaeval - - 415 Latin Church in Syria - - 400 Lavers, Hebrew and Phoeni- cian 85
Laws, Crusading- - - 413
Legends of the Koraln - - 337
,, of Alexander- 371,407
Lemons, symbolic - - 187
Levitical laws - - - 174
Libation tables - - - 85
Libations - 188
Lil, Lilith - 292
Lingam - - - 47, 7 1
Lingua Franca - - - 415
Lions in Palestine - - 36
Literature, Jewish - 265, 291
„ Arab - - - 369
„ mediaeval - - 446
„ Christian - - 248
Lot's wife - 279
Luden, Lydia - - - 1, 2
Lulab (palm branch) - - 186
Lute - 101, 454
Luxury, Byzantine - 272, 312
„ ' Arab - - - 369
Lydia - 1, 147-8, 152
Lyre - 101, 454
M'abed (' place of worship '), 99
Magi 155
Mahalia, castle of 399
Malquisinat - 435
30—2
468
INDEX.
Mamun, Khalif - 360, 369, 371 Manes the heretic - 255,281 Manganels - 432
Manicheans 255, 281, 347, 412 Manufactures in Syria- - 451 Manuscripts of the Bible, 316, 349 ,, Rdnier - - 329 Margamah (Cairn) - - 264 Margat Castle - 390
Markosians (heretics) - - 250 Markulim - 264
Mar Marrina frescoes - - 442 Marnas - 287
Maronites - - - 417, 428 Marriage tokens - - - 91 Martu (the West) - 2, 59
Masada (Sebbeh) - - 218 Mashita, palace of 353
Masons' marks - 102, 209, 440 Masonry, Phoenician - - 102 „ Jewish- - - 195 „ Herodian - 209, 214
„ Byzantine - - 306
,, mediaeval - - 433 Mat-ha-Mim - - 37
Mathassep - 426
Maypole dance - 100
Medes - - - - 154 Medina attacked- - - 450 Megalithic masonry - 104, 195, 209, 214, 245 Melkarth - - 79, 94, 99, 148 Melchites - 401
Mendaites - - 241, 251, 328 Menhirs - - -42, 47, 70 Merkebeh - 140
Milestones, Roman - - 247 Military stations - - 294
„ orders - - - 425 Mimbar of Saladin - - 444 Minieh (Capernaum) - - 247 Minuscule characters - - 445 Mirabel, castle of - - 381 Miraculous images - 310,409 Mishnah - 266
Mithra - - - - 156 Mithraea - - 227, 285, 297 Mizpeh - 129
Moabite civilization - - 115 „ stone - - 115, 122 Modestus, chapel of - - 363 Mohar, journey of the - 35-39 Moloch - 79,81,118,337 Money (see coins). Monks (see hermits), 277, 319, 404 Monotheism - - 72, 237 Months - 141
Montferrand, castle of - 390 Montfort, castle of - - 399 Montanists (heretics) - - 255 Montreal, castle of 388
Monuments, sepulchral, 95, 246 Mortar, use of - - - 104 Mosaics, Arab - - 357,362 „ mediaeval - - 441 Moses, name of - - - 121 Mosques, early - - 359, 360 Mourners of Jerusalem, 174, 419 Mourning women - 308, 441 Muhammad - 338
Muharram festival - - 341 Mulge (see Moloch). Music, Phoenician - - 101 „ Byzantine - - 312
Mythology, origin of - 9-11
„ Phoenician - 82
Mylitta the goddess, 148, 156, 160
Naamah
Nabatheans
Nail-parings
Names
Naucratis -
Nazarenes -
Neapolitans
Nebel (lyre or lute)
Nebratein synagogue -
Nebuchadnezzar -
Neby Rubin, fair at -
„ Samwil
„ Turfini Negro slaves Nehemiah's wall
Nergal
Neronias Neshki alphabet
- 32
- 239, 242
- 292 74-76
- 149
- 248 109
454 264 123
- 448
- 128 131, 260 4*7, 447
- 177 62, 160
- 223
- 365
90, 101,
61,
4i,
INDEX.
469
PAGE
Nestorians, 162, 275-6, 315, 373 New moon ... 146
Niobe, statue of - - 26, 56 Noah's Ark ... 84
Nob 128
Notitias - 294
Numerals, origin of - - 367 Nur en Neby - - 201, 424
Old Man of Mountain - 421
Old Testament MSS. 316, 349 Olympia Temple and veil - 189
Ophel - - - - 128
„ wall of - - 177, 178
Ophites (heretics) - - 251
Orgies of I star - - - 46
of Druzes, etc. - 423
Osteophagi
258
Pagan names of towns - 33 Palace of Hyrcanus - - 194 Palae Tyrus - - 103, 104
Palmyrenes - - - 257
Paneas Temple - - - 215
„ northern wall at - 102 Pannag - - - - 113 Papyrus - - - 119, 149 Pataikoi ... 108-9 Patriarchate of Jerusalem,
294, 401 Patristic Hebrew - - 271 Pegasus - - - - 82 Pelethites - - - - 56 Peni Baal (Penuel) - -77 Pentateuch, language of - 120 „ Samaritan - 166
Periplus of Hanno - - 67
„ of Erythrean Sea - 231 Perseus - - - - 82 Persian languages - - 153
„ religion - - 154, 202
„ sources of Koran - 338 Petra - 239
Phallic worship, 47, 72, 187, 423 Pharisees - 201
Philistines - - - 2, 56, 57 Philosophy- - 183,369,424 Phinehas, name of - - 121
Phoenician origin, etc., 1, 2, 3,40
art - - 41, 105
gods - - - 62
alphabet - - 63
dress - - 89
tombs - - 97
architecture - 97
dances - - 100
music - - 101
masonry - - 102
inscriptions - 107
capital - 105, 106
coins - - 152
bevel - - 196
„ language - - 112
Phylacteries - - 91, 201
Picture-writing - - 8, 13, 63
Pictures in catacombs - 253
„ mediaeval - - 441
Pigs sacrificed - - - 189 Pilgrims - - 279,332,351 Pillars, superstition as to - 289
„ in temple - - 86
„ of Stylites, 278, 306, 404
Plans, castle of - - - 398
Plato in Arabic - 369
Points, Hebrew - - - 315
Pole-star, steering by - - 108
Polyandry in Arabia - - 323
Portents - 405
Ports, Phoenician - - 109
„ Crusading - - 450
Poseidon - - - - 77
Poulains - 416
Priests, Byzantine - - 272
Prince of Captivity - -419
Purple - - - - in
Putiel, name of - - - 121
Quarantania, pictures at - 442 Queen of Heaven - -77 Queens, Arab - 324
Rameses II. - 20, 30, 35, 56 Relics - - 280, 405, 409
Religion of Akkadians - 10 Phoenicians - - 69
Hebrews
- 144
47o
INDEX.
Religion of Medes - - 154
„ Jews - - - 186
„ Nabatheans - - 241
„ Ebionites - - 248
„ Gnostics, 251, 254, 328
„ Rome - - 227, 253
„ Palmyrenes - - 257
,, Byzantines - - 275
„ Arabs - - - 334
„ Muhammad - - 336
„ Latins - 400
„ Ism'ailiyeh - - 345
„ Anseiriyeh - - 342
„ Druzes - 346
Renaud of Chatillon - 381,450
Renk (coats of arms) - - 430
Rephaim (ghosts) - - 130
Resheph . - - 32, 33, 82
Resurrection - 131, 157, 201
Revolts of Jews - 233
Richard Lion Heart, 394-8, 430
Ring, symbolic - 140
River of Death - - - 130
Roads, Roman - - 247, 295
Robes, ceremonial - - 46
Roche Taillie - 399
Rock of Sesostris - - 56
Rolls, papyri, or of skin - 119
Roman remains in Syria - 244
„ Christianity - - 252
„ religion - 227
Romans in Arabia - - 324
Round churches - - 303
,, tombs - - - 97
Routes, ancient trade - - 250
Rude-stone monuments - 42
Ruten (Luden) 1
Sabeans - - - - 325 Sabians - - 241, 251, 328 Sacred trees, 72, 100, 189, 337, 407 Sacrifices at tombs - - 92
„ human (see Human).
„ of pigs (see Pigs).
Sadducees - 199
Saidnaya, our Lady of, 409, 456
Saint John of Damascus - 372
„ Lazarus, order of, 425, 427
Saint Sion, church of - 297, 307
„ „ abbey of - - 402
Saladin, 377, 380, 396, 414, 443,
445 Samaria, temple at - - 215 „ conquest of - - 117 Samaritans - 91, 113, 161
„ literature of - 163 „ alphabet - - 165
„ Pentateuch - 166
„ temple of - - 169 „ in seventh cen- tury - - 291 „ under Arabs - 348
„ under Franks - 419
„ Mukaddasi on - 456
Sanballat - Sanhedrin - Saone, castle of Sar (' chiefs ') Sarbut el Khadem Sarcophagi, Phoenician Sargon of Agade Sassanian architecture Sati (Asiatics) - Saturninus the heretic Science, early Christian „ Byzantine „ Arab „ mediaeval Seals from Nineveh -
„ Phoenician
„ mediaeval - Sebaste, temple of Sects, Jewish
„ Christian, 248,
162, 168, 170 - 186, 262
- 39o
- 16
• SO
■ 95
- 4
■ 351
■ 3
■ 250
- 227
- 317
- 368
- 446
- 26
- 107
- 444
- 215 199, 203
274, 328,
400, 417
Sects, Moslem - - 340, 420
Seigneuries - 413
Seljuks - 333
Semitic influence in Egypt - 52
„ „ Greece, 148
„ tribes in Syria - 29
Senefru, inscription of - 50
Sennacherib, inscription of- 116
Serapis - 228-9
Set, or Sut - - 18, 19, 20
Shaf'at - - - - 129
INDEX.
47 1
PAGE
Shamans - 203, 229
Shamash (the sun) - - 32 Shasu - 3, 5, 32, 38, 51
Shekels - - - - 190 Sheol - - - 130, 200
Shi'ah Moslems - - 341, 456 Shiloh - 128
Shinar 5
Ships, symbolic - - - 84 „ Phoenician - - 108
„ Egyptian - - 68, 180 „ Crusading - - 448
Shita, the god - - - 19 Shoes - - 16, 17, 90, 454
Shrines, Phoenician - - 99 „ ivory - - - 138 Shuf, land of 400
Siah, temple of - - - 211 Sidon - - - - 66
Sidonian colonies, 66, 113, 148 Sieges, mediaeval - - 432 Signet-rings, Phoenician - 107 „ „ Christian - 254 Silk - - 180, 205, 320, 456 Siloam inscription - - 117 Simeon Bar Jochai - - 263 „ Stylites - 278
Simon, forged coins of - 224 „ Hasmonean coins, 190-1 „ Magus - - - 251 Simoth stones - - - 184 Sinai ----- 126 Sinaitic inscriptions - - 240 Sin, or Sinah, temple of - yj Sindbad, story of - - 371 Siruga, or Soreg - - 184
Slaves of Hittites, etc. - 41
„ Phoenician - - in „ Hebrew - 142
„ Assyrian - - - 173 Slaves, Christian - - 249
„ Crusading - - 427 Soreg - - - - 98, 213 Soul, Phoenician idea of - 91 „ Hebrew „ „ - 134
„ Arab „ „ 135
South Semitic alphabet - 243 Spoils taken in Syria - - 39
Square Hebrew - 192, 258, 314
Statuettes in tombs - 93, 454
Stone doors in tombs - - 132
Stylite hermits - 278, 306, 404
Subintroduced sisters - - 278
Succoth Benoth - - 46, 160
Suffetes - - - - 87
Sufis (Moslem) - 342
Sugar in Syria - - 447, 456
Sumerians 5
Sunni and Shi'ah - - 340
Superstitions of Hebrews - 144
,, of Jews - 264, 266
„ of Christians - 288
„ of Arabs, 135,339
„ mediaeval, 404, 409
Suria (Syria) 1
Symbols, Jewish - 71, 259
„ Christian - 253-4
„ mediaeval - - 439
„ pagan, 47, 71, 84, 91,
109,140,187,192,454
Synagogues - 263
Syria ----- r
Syriac language - - - 314
Syrian hieroglyphs - 24, 25
„ emperors - - - 238
„ church - - 275, 403
„ literature - 273
Tabernacle -
Tabernacles, feast of
Table of Christ -
Tabor, Mount
Talmud
Talyots
Tammuz mourning
„ Tamzi - Tanith
Taphilah, castle of Tar ('chief') Targum
Tarphon, Rabbi - Tarshish Tarsus Tartak Ta Thsin - Taxes, Arab
- 40
- 187
- 250
- 127 266, 291
- 70
- 241 62, 120
- 78
- 387
16 267 260 no
455 161 232 455
172-3,
no.
472
INDEX.
Taxes, Crusading - - 393
Taylor Cylinder - 137
'Teaching of Apostles' - 249
Tear-bottles - - - 94
TellelFul - - - - 128
„ el Kady - 126
Tells - - - - 47, 48
Templars - - - 410, 425 Temple of Solomon, 86, 87, 122,
123
Temples, Phoenician - - 98
„ Babylonian - - 123
„ Roman - - 245
Ten tribes - - - - 163
Teutonic order - 395, 399, 400
Text of Koran - - 336, 35 5
Thecla Augusta, tomb of - 307
Theseus, legend of - - 245
Thothmes I. - - - 21
Thothmes III. - - 17, 30-32
Throne of Solomon - - 138
Tidal, King of Goim - - 124
Tin - - - - no, 112
Toleration of Moslems - 350
Tolls on roads, etc. - - 392
Tomb of Hiram - - 91, 97
„ of Thecla - 307
Tombs, Phoenician - 91, 93
„ Hebrew - - 97, 130
„ at Jerusalem - - 220
„ round - - - 97
„ towers - - - 245
„ Byzantine - - 307
„ Crusading - - 449
Toron, castle of - 388, 389, 397
Totemism 9, 323
Tourneys - - - - 431
Towers, wooden - - 386, 432
Trade, Phoenician - 108, in
„ Hebrew - - - 136
„ with India - - 180
„ Syrian - 204
„ with East- - - 230
Trade, Byzantine „ Crusading „ Italian „ Arab
Traditional sites -
Tree of life - „ and veil
Tribal sanctuaries „ districts -
Tribe marks
Tripoli, county of „ library
True cross -
Turanian tribes - „ dialects
Turcopoles
PAGE - - 318
- 447
- 373 180, 231, 375
- 279
- 72
- 73
- 126
- 33i
- 243, 323
- 39o
- 445 280, 405, 407
-4,6,7,59
- 5
- 428
Turkomans in Syria 5
„ at Jerusalem - 383
Tyre, 37, 58, 66-67, 99, 104-5, 112
Tyrus, palace at - - - 194
Ur, Uruk - - - 125, 454 Usu 59
Usurers, Jewish, etc. - 173, 420
Veils of temples - - 123, 189
Venice, trade of - - - 374
Venetians - 416
Vineyards, Hebrew - - 135
„ mediaeval - 431,446
Wady et Tin tomb - - 94
Witchcraft, 15,288, 290, 293, 312
Women, Akkadian - - 14
„ Arab - - - 324
Zambesi River - 230
Zechariah, tomb of - 220
Zendavesta - 155, 157, 338, 455
Zenobia - 239, 256
Zeno's Church - 304
Ziggurat - - - 129, 325
Zion (Sahyun) - - - 390
THE END.
BALING & SON?, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD,
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
TENT WORK IN PALESTINE. Bentley, 1878.
JUDAS MACCABEUS. Marcus Ward, 1879.
HETH AND MOAB. Bentley, 1883.
PRIMER OF BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. Sunday School Union, 1884.
HANDBOOK TO THE BIBLE. By F. R. Conder, M. Inst. C.E., and C. R. Conder, R.E. Longmans, 1879.
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