Part 21

64. The Babylonian origin of the doctrine that the souls returned to heaven by crossing the seven planetary spheres, has been maintained by Anz (_Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnostizismus_, 1897; cf. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I. pp. 38 ff., p. 309; Bousset, _Die Himmelsreise der Seele_ [_Archiv für Religionsw._, IV], 1901, pp. 160 ff.) and "Gnosis" in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopädie_, col. 1520. It has since been denied by Reitzenstein (_Poimandres_, p. 79; cf. Kroll, _Berl. philol. Wochensch._, {254} 1906, p. 486). But although it may have been given its precise shape and been transformed by the Greeks and even by the Egyptians, I persist in believing that it is of Chaldean and religious origin. I heartily agree with the conclusions recently formulated by Bousset, (_Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen_, 1905, pp. 707 ff.). We can go farther: Whatever roots it may have had in the speculations of ancient Greece (Aristoph., _Pax_, 832, Plato, _Tim._, 42B, cf. Haussoullier, _Rev. de philol._, 1909, pp. 1 ff.), whatever traces of it may be found in other nations (Dieterich, _Mithrasliturgie_, pp. 182 ff.; _Nekyia_, p. 24, note; Rohde, _Psyche_, II, p. 131, n. 3), the idea itself of the soul rising to the divine stars after death certainly developed under the influence of the sidereal worship of the Semites to a point where it dominated all other eschatological theories. The belief in the eternity of souls is the corollary to the belief in the eternity of the celestial gods (p. 129). We cannot give the history of this conception here, and we shall limit ourselves to brief observations. The first account of this system ever given at Rome is found in "Scipio's Dream" (c. 3); it probably dates back to Posidonius of Apamea (cf. Wendland, _Die hellenistisch-römische Kultur_, p. 85, 166, n. 3, 168, n. 1), and is completely impregnated with mysticism and astrolatry. The same idea is found a little later in the astrologer Manilius (I, 758; IV, 404, etc.). The shape which it assumed in Josephus (_Bell. Judaic._, V, 1, 5, § 47) is also much more religious than philosophical and is strikingly similar to a dogma of Islam (happiness in store for those dying in battle; a Syrian [_ibid._, § 54] risks his life that his soul may go to heaven). This recalls the inscription of Antiochus of Commagene (Michel, _Recueil_, No. 735, l. 40):

[Greek: Sôma pros ouranious Dios Ôromasdou thronous theophilê psuchên propempsan eis ton apeiron aiôna koimêsetai].

It must be said that this sidereal immortality was not originally common to all men; it was reserved "omnibus qui patriam conservaverint adiuverint, auxerint" (_Somn. Scip._ c. 3, c. 8; cf. _Manil._, I, 758; Lucan, _Phars._, IX, 1 ff.; Wendland, _op. cit._, p. 85 n. 2), and this also is in conformity with the oldest Oriental traditions. The rites first used to assure immortality to kings and to make them the equals of the gods were extended little by little as a kind of privilege, to the important {255} persons of the state, and only very much later were they applied to all who died.

Regarding the diffusion of this belief from the beginning of the first century of our era, see Diels, _Elementum_, 1899, p. 73, cf. 78; Badstübner, _Beiträge zur Erklärung Senecas_, Hamburg, pp. 2 ff.--It is expressed in many inscriptions (Friedländer, _Sitteng._, III, pp. 749 ff.; Rohde, _Psyche_, p. 673, cf. 610; epitaph of Vezir-Keupru, _Studia Pontica_, No. 85; _CIL_. III (Salone), 6384; _supra_, n. 63, etc.) It gained access into Judaism and paganism simultaneously (cf. Bousset, _Die Religion des Judentums im neutest. Zeitalter_, 1903, p. 271, and, for Philo of Alexandria, Zeller, _Philos. der Griechen_, V, p. 397 and p. 297).--During the third century it was expounded by Cornelius Labeo, the source of Arnobius and Servius (Nieggetiet, _De Cornelio Labeone_ [Diss. Munster], 1908, pp. 77-86). It was generally accepted towards the end of the empire; see _infra_, n. 25.--I hope soon to have the opportunity of setting forth the development of this sidereal eschatology with greater precision in my lectures on "Astrology and Religion in Antiquity" which will appear in 1912 (chap. VI).

65. According to the doctrine of the Egyptian mysteries the Elysian Fields were in the under-world (Apul., _Metam._, XI, 6).--According to the astrological theory, the Elysian Fields were in the sphere of the fixed stars (Macrobius, _Comm. somn. Scip._, I, 11, § 8; cf. _infra_, chap. VIII, n. 25). Others placed them in the moon (Servius, _Ad Aen._, VI, 887; cf. Norden, _Vergils Buch_, VI, p. 23; Rohde, _Psyche_, pp. 609 ff.). Iamblichus placed them between the moon and the sun (Lydus, _De mens._, IV, 149, p. 167, 23, Wünsch).

66. The relation between the two ideas is apparent in the alleged account of the Pythagorean doctrine which Diogenes Laertius took from Alexander Polyhistor, and which is in reality an apocryphal composition of the first century of our era. It was said that Hermes guided the pure souls, after their separation from the body, [Greek: eis ton Hupsiston] (Diog. Laert., VIII, § 31; cf. Zeller, _Philos. der Griechen_, V, p. 106, n. 2).--On the meaning of Hypsistos, cf. _supra_, p. 128. It appears very plainly in the passage of Isaiah, xiv, 13, as rendered by the Septuagint: {256}

[Greek: Eis ton ouranon anabêsomai, epanô tôn asterôn thêsô ton thronon mou ... esomai homoios tôi Hupsistôi.]

67. Originally he was the thunder-god, in Greek [Greek: Keraunos]. Under this name he appeared for instance on the bas-relief preserved in the museum of Brussels (Dussaud, _Notes_, p. 105). Later, by a familiar process, the influence of a particular god becomes the attribute of a greater divinity, and we speak of a [Greek: Zeus Keraunios] (cf. Usener, _Keraunos_, Rhein. Museum, N. F., LX, 1901).--This Zeus Keraunios appears in many inscriptions of Syria (_CIG_, 4501, 4520; Le Bas-Waddington, 2195, 2557 _a_, 2631, 2739; cf. Roscher, _Lexikon Myth._, s. v. "Keraunos").

He is the god to whom Seleucus sacrificed when founding Seleucia (Malalas, p. 199), and a dedication to the same god has been found recently in the temple of the Syrian divinities at Rome (_supra_, n. 10).--An equivalent of the Zeus Keraunios is the Zeus [Greek: Kataibatês]--"he who descends in the lightning"--worshiped at Cyrrhus (Wroth, _Greek Coins in the British Museum_: "Galatia, Syria," p. 52 and LII; Roscher, _Lexikon_, s. v.)

68. For instance the double ax was carried by Jupiter Dolichenus (cf. _supra_, p. 147). On its significance, cf. Usener, _loc. cit._, p. 20.

69. Cf. Lidzbarski, _Balsamem, Ephem. semit. Epigr._, I, p. 251.--Ba'al Samaïn is mentioned as early as the ninth century B. C. in the inscription of Ben Hadad (Pognon, _Inscr. sémit._, 1907, pp. 165 ff.; cf. Dussaud, _Rev. archéol._, 1908, I, p. 235). In Aramaic papyri preserved at Berlin, the Jews of Elephantine call Jehovah "the god of heaven" in an address to a Persian governor, and the same name was used in the alleged edicts of Cyrus and his successors, which were inserted in the book of Esdras (i. 1; vi. 9, etc.)--If there were the slightest doubt as to the identity of the god of thunder with Baalsamin, it would be dispelled by the inscription of Et-Tayibé, where this Semitic name is translated into Greek as [Greek: Zeus megistos keraunios]; cf. Lidzbarski, _Handbuch_, p. 477, and Lagrange, _op. cit._, p. 508.

70. On the worship of Baalsamin, confused with Ahura-Mazda and transformed into _Caelus_, see _Mon. myst. Mithra_, p. 87.--The texts attesting the existence of a real cult of {257} heaven among the Semites are very numerous. Besides the ones I have gathered (_loc. cit._, n. 5); see Conybeare, _Philo about the Contemplative Life_, p. 33, n. 16; Kayser, _Das Buch der Erkenntniss der Wahrheit_, 1893, p. 337, and _infra_, n. 75. Zeus [Greek: Ouranios]: Le Bas-Waddington, 2720 _a_ (Baal of Bétocécé); Renan, _Mission de Phénicie_, p. 103.--Cf. _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, IX, 1906, p. 333.

71. Coins of Antiochus VIII Grypus (125-96 B. C.); Babelon, _Rois de Syrie, d'Arménie_, 1890, p. CLIV, pp. 178 ff.

72. All these qualities ascribed to the Baals by astrological paganism ([Greek: hupsistos, pantokratôr], etc.), are also the attributes which, according to the doctrine of Alexandrian Judaism, characterized Jehovah (see _supra_, n. 66). If he was originally a god of thunder, as has been maintained, the evolution of the Jewish theology was parallel to that of the pagan conceptions (see _supra_, n. 69).

73. On this subject cf. _Jupiter summus exsuperantissimus_ (_Archiv f. Religionsw._, IX), 1906, pp. 326 ff.

74. Ps.-Iamblichus, _De mysteriis_, VI, 7 (cf. Porph., _Epist. Aneb._, c. 29), notes this difference between the two religions.

75. Apul., _Met._, VIII, 25. Cf. _CIL_, III, 1090; XII, 1227 (= Dessau, 2998, 4333); Macrobius, _Comm. somn. Scipionis_, I, 14, § 2: "Nihil aliud esse deum nisi caelum ipsum et caelestia ipsa quae cernimus, ideo ut summi omnipotentiam dei ostenderet posse vix intellegi."--[Greek: Hêlios pantokratôs]: Macrob., I, 23, 21.

76. Diodorus, II, 30: [Greek: Chaldaioi tên tou kosmou phusin aidion phasin einai k. t. l.]; cf. Cicero, _Nat. deor._, II, 20, § 52 ff.; Pliny, _H. N._, II, 8, § 30. The notion of eternity was correlative with that of [Greek: heimarmenê]; cf. Ps.-Apul., _Asclep._, 40; Apul., _De deo Socratis_, c. 2: "(The planets) quae in deflexo cursu ... meatus aeternos divinis vicibus efficiunt."--This subject will be more fully treated in my lectures on "Astrology and Religion" (chaps. IV-V).

77. At Palmyra: De Vogüé, _Inscr. sem._, pp. 53 ff., etc.--On the first title, see _infra_, n. 80.

78. Note especially _CIL_, VI, 406 = 30758, where Jupiter Dolichenus is called _Aeternus conservator totius poli_. The {258} relation to heaven here remained apparent. See _Somn. Scip._, III, 4; IV, 3.

79. Cf. _Rev. archéol._, 1888, I, pp. 184 ff.; Pauly-Wissowa, s. v. "Aeternus," and _Festschrift für Otto Benndorf_, 1898, p. 291.--The idea of the eternity of the gods also appeared very early in Egypt, but it does not seem that the mysteries of Isis--in which the death of Osiris was commemorated--made it prominent, and it certainly was spread in the Occident only by the sidereal cults.

80. The question has been raised whether the epithet [Hebrew: MR' `LM'] means "lord of the world" or "lord of eternity" (cf. Lidzbarski, _Ephemeris_, I, 258; II, 297; Lagrange, p. 508), but in our opinion the controversy is to no purpose, since in the spirit of the Syrian priests the two ideas are inseparable and one expression in itself embraces both, the world being conceived as eternal (_supra_, n. 76). See for Egypt, Horapoll., _Hieroglyph._, I (serpent as symbol of the [Greek: aiôn] and [Greek: kosmos]). At Palmyra, too, the title "lord of all" is found, [Hebrew: MR' KL] (Lidzbarski, _loc. cit._); cf. Julian, Or., IV, p. 203, 5 (Hertlein): [Greek: Ho basileus tôn holôn Hêlios], and infra, n. 81; n. 87. Already at Babylon the title "lord of the universe" was given to Shamash and Hadad; see Jastrow, _Religion Babyloniens_, I, p. 254, n. 10. Nöldeke has been good enough to write me as follows on this subject: "Daran kan kein Zweifel sein, dass [Hebrew: `LM] zunächst (lange Zeit) Ewigkeit heisst, und dass die Bedeutung 'Welt' secundär ist. Ich halte es daher für so gut wie gewiss dass das palmyrenische [Hebrew: MR' `LM'], wenn es ein alter Name ist, den 'ewigen' Herrn bedeutet, wie ohne Zweifel [Hebrew: 'L `WLM], Gen., xxi. 33. Das biblische Hebräisch kennt die Bedeutung 'Welt' noch nicht, abgesehen wohl von der späten Stelle, Eccl. iii. 11. Und, so viel ich sehe, ist im Palmyrenischen sonst [Hebrew: `LM'] immer 'Ewigkeit,' z.B. in der häufigen Redensart [Hebrew: LBRYK SHMCH L`LM']. Aber das daneben vorkommende palmyr. [Hebrew: MR' KL] führt allerdings darauf, dass die palmyrenische Inschrift auch in [Hebrew: MR' `LM'] den 'Herrn der Welt' sah. Ja der syrische Uebersetzer sieht auch in jenem hebräischen [Hebrew: 'L `WLM] 'den Gott der Welt.' Das Syrische hat nämlich einen formalen Unterschied festgestellt zwischen _'[=a]l[)a]m_, dem Status absolutus, 'Ewigkeit,' und _'[=a]lm[=a]_ [_[=a]l^em[=a]_] dem Status emphaticus 'Welt.'--Sollte übrigens die {259} Bedeutung Welt diesem Worte erst durch Einfluss griechischer Speculation zu Teil geworden sein? In der Zingirli-Inschrift bedeuted [Hebrew: BTSLM] noch bloss 'in seiner Zeit.'"

81. Cf. _CIL_, III, 1090 = Dessau, _Inscr._, 2998: "Divinarum humanarumque rerum rectori." Compare _ibid._, 2999 and Cagnet, _Année épigr._, 1905, No. 235: "I. O. M., id est universitatis principi." Cf. the article of the _Archiv_ cited, n. 73. The _Asclepius_ says (c. 39), using an astrological term: "Caelestes dii catholicorum dominantur, terreni incolunt singula."

82. Cf. W. Robertson Smith, 75 ff., _passim_. In the Syrian religions as in that of Mithra, the initiates regarded each other as members of the same family, and the phrase "dear brethren" as used by our preachers, was already in use among the votaries of Jupiter Dolichenus (_fratres carissimos_, _CIL_, VI, 406 = 30758).

83. Renan mentioned this fact in his _Apotres_, p. 297 = _Journal Asiatique_, 1859, p. 259. Cf. Jalabert, _Mél. faculté orient. Beyrout_, I, 1906, p. 146.

84. This is the term (_virtutes_) used by the pagans. See the inscription _Numini et virtutibus dei aeterni_ as reconstructed in _Revue de Philologie_, 1902, p. 9; _Archiv für Religionsw._, _loc. cit._, p. 335, n. 1 and _infra_, ch. VIII, n. 20.

85. _CIL_, VII, 759 = Bücheler, _Carm. epig._, 24.--Cf. Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 32.

86. Macrobius, _Sat._, I, 23, § 17: "Nominis (Adad) interpretatio significat unus unus."

87. Cicero, _Somnium Scip._, c. 4: "So