VII.
OUTGROWTHS AND PERVERSIONS OF THIS RITE.
1. ELEMENTAL BEGINNINGS.
Apart from the mooted question of the origin and development of man as man,–whether it be held that he came into being as an incident in the evolutionary progress of the ages, or that his creation was by a special fiat of the Author of all things,–it is obvious that there was a beginning, when man first appeared as a higher order of being than the lower animals then in existence. The distinguishing attribute of man, as distinct from the lower animals at their best, is the capacity to conceive of spiritual facts and forces. Even at his lowest estate man is never without an apprehension of immaterial and supernatural personalities, intangible yet real and potent. The lower animals at their highest, and under the most effective training, give no indication of the possibility of such a conception on their part.
Both the Bible record and the disclosed facts of science show man at the start in a primitive state, with only elemental beginnings of knowledge or thought or skill. No claim is made for him, by any advocate of his pre-eminence in creation, that he then had skill in the arts, or attainment in civilization, or that he was possessed of a religious theory or ritual of even the simplest character. It is a matter of interest and importance to trace the course of man’s progress from the first to the present time, and to see how the good and the evil showed themselves along the line, from the same germs of thought and conduct rightly used or misused. The primitive rite of the Threshold Covenant, here brought out as initial and germinative, seems to present a reasonable solution of the observed course in religious development and in religious perversions in the history of mankind from the beginning until now.
Before primitive man could have concerned himself seriously with the course of the heavenly bodies, or the changes of the seasons, or the points of compass and the correspondent shifting of the winds, he must have recognized the sacred mystery of life and its transmission. It would seem that a covenant involved in the union of twain made one over outpoured blood, with power from the Author of life for the transmission of life, must have been the primal religious rite that brought man’s personal action into the clear light of a covenant relation with his Creator. Every subsequent development of the religious idea, good and bad, pure and impure, would seem to be traceable as an outgrowth, or as a perversion, of this elemental religious rite.
2. MAIN OUTGROWTHS
It would seem clear that the primal idea of a covenant union between two persons, and between those persons and their God, was found in the initial and primitive rite of marriage, with its outpoured blood, or gift of life, on the threshold of being; and that this rite contained in itself the germs of covenanting and of sacrifice, and the idea of an altar and a sacrament, where, and by which, man and God were brought into loving communion and union. Thus the beginning of religious rites was found in the primal Threshold Covenant as here portrayed.
Out of this beginning came all that is best and holiest in the thought of sacrifice and sacrament and spiritual communion. The very highest development of religious truth, under the guidance of progressive revelation from God, and of man’s growth in thought and knowledge with the passing ages, is directly in the line of this simple and germinal idea. Both the Bible record and the record of outside history tend to confirm this view of religious rites in their beginning and progress.
New life as a consequence of blood, or life, surrendered in holy covenanting, is a natural inference or outgrowth of the truth of the primal Threshold Covenant. Thus the thought of life after death, in the resurrection or in metempsychosis, comes with the recognition of the simple fact of the results of covenant union in the sight, and with the blessing, of the Author of life, in the rite of the Threshold Covenant.[599]
The transference of the altar of threshold covenanting, from the persons of the primary pair in the family to the hearthstone or entrance threshold of the home or family doorway, with the accompaniment of fire as a means of giving and sustaining life to those who sat at the common table or altar, in the covenant meal or sacrament of hospitality, brought about the custom of sacramental communion feasts with guests human and divine. And so, also, there came the rites of worship, with the altar of burnt sacrifice or of incense, and the marriage torch, and the doorway fire, and the threshold or hearthstone covenant at a wedding. Out of this thought there came gradually and naturally the prominence of the altar and the altar fire in private and public worship, as it obtains both in the simpler and in the more gorgeous ecclesiastical rituals.[600]
In conjunction with the place of fire on the family altar in the Threshold Covenant, there came naturally the recognition of fire and warmth and light as gifts of God for the promotion and preservation of life to those who were dependent on him. Thus the sun as the life-giving fire of the universe came to be recognized as a manifestation of God’s power and love. Its agency in bringing new life after death, in the course of the changing seasons, led men to connect the movements of the heavenly bodies with God’s dealings with man in the line of his covenant love. The too common mistake has been of thinking of this view of celestial nature as the origin of man’s religious rites, instead of as an outgrowth of the primal religious rite, which antedated man’s study of, or wonder over, the workings of the elements and the course of the heavenly bodies.
In summing up the results of such a study as this, of primitive customs and their outgrowth, it is necessary only to suggest a few of the more prominent lines of progress from the elemental beginning, leaving it to the student and thinker to follow out these, and to find others, in his more careful and further consideration of the subject in its varied ramifications. It is sufficient now to affirm that the Old Testament and the New point to this primitive rite of the Threshold Covenant as a basis of their common religious ritual; and that gleams of the same germinal idea show themselves in the best features of all the sacred books of the ages. It would be easy, did time and space allow, to follow out in detail the indications that all modes of worship in sacrifice, in oblation, in praise, and prayer, in act and in word, are but natural expressions of desire for covenant union with Deity, and of joy in the thought of its possession, as based on the fact of such covenanting sought and found in the primal religious rite of the human race.
3. CHIEF PERVERSIONS.
With the world as it is, and with man as he is, every possibility of good has a corresponding possibility of evil. Good perverted becomes evil. Truth which, rightly used, proves a savor of life, will, when misused, prove a savor of death.[601] And that which is a symbol of truth becomes a means of misleading when looked at as if it were in itself the truth.
The primitive Threshold Covenant as an elemental religious rite was holy and pure, and had possibilities of outgrowth in the direction of high spiritual attainment and aspiring. But the temptation to uplift the agencies in this rite into objects deemed of themselves worthy of worship resulted in impurity and deterioration, by causing the symbol to hide the truth instead of disclosing it.
Among the earliest forms of a temple as a place of worship was the ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, erected as a mighty altar, with its shrine, or holy of holies, at the summit, wherein a bride of the gods awaited the coming of the deity to solemnize the primal Threshold Covenant in expression of his readiness to enter into loving communion with the children of men.[602] From this custom the practice of Threshold Covenanting at the temple doorways became incumbent on women of all conditions of society at certain times, and under certain circumstances, in certain portions of the world, as a proof of their religious devotion,[603] and thus there grew up all the excesses of sacred prostitution in different portions of the world.[604]
The prominence given to the two factors in the primitive Threshold Covenant as a sacred religious act, led to the perversion of the original idea by making the factors themselves objects of reverence and worship; and separately, or together, they came to be worshiped with impure and degrading accompaniments.
Reverence for the phallus, or for phallic emblems, shows itself in the earliest historic remains of Babylonia, Assyria, India, China, Japan, Persia, Phrygia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Greece, Rome, Germany, Scandinavia, France, Spain, Great Britain, North and South America, and the Islands of the Sea. It were needless to attempt detailed proof of this statement, in view of all that has been written on the subject by historians, archæologists, and students of comparative religions.[605] It is enough to suggest that the mistake has too often been made of supposing that this “phallic worship” was a primitive conception of a religious truth, instead of a perversion of the earlier and purer idea which is at the basis of the highest religious conceptions, from the beginning until now.
Quite as widely extended, in both time and space, as the worship of the phallus as the symbol of masculine potency, is the recognition of the tree of life as the symbol of feminine nature in its fruit-bearing capacity. A single tree, or a grove of trees, or the lotus flower, the fig, or the pomegranate, with the peculiar form of their seed capsules, appear in all the earlier religious symbolisms, over against the phallus in its realistic or its conventional forms, as representative of reproductive life.[606]
In ancient Assyrian sculpture the most familiar representation of spiritual blessing was of a winged deity with a basket and a palm cone, touching with the cone a sacred tree, or again the person of a sovereign, as if imparting thereby some special benefit or power. This representation was long a mystery to the archeologist, but a recent scholar has shown that it is an illustration of a practice common in the East to-day, of carrying a cone of the male palm to a female palm tree, in order to vitalize it by the pollen.[607] The cone is one of the conventional forms of the phallus, worshiped as a symbol in the temples of the goddesses of the East in earlier days and later.[608] Hence this ancient Assyrian representation is an illustration of the truth that the primitive threshold covenant was recognized as the type of divine power, and covenant blessing, imparted to God’s representative, under the figure of the phallus and the tree.
It would seem, indeed, that the pillar and the tree came to be the conventional symbols of the male and female elements erected in front of an altar of worship,[609] and that, in the deterioration of the ages, these symbols themselves were worshiped, and their symbolism was an incentive to varied forms of impurity, instead of to holy covenanting with God and in God’s service. Therefore these symbols were deemed by true worshipers a perversion of an originally sacred rite, and their destruction was a duty with those who would restore God’s worship to its pristine purity.
Thus the command to Jehovah’s people as to their treatment of the people of Canaan was: “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars [or male symbols], and ye shall cut down their Asherim [or trees as a female symbol]: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord [Jehovah], whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods.”[610] Here is a distinct reference to the primitive Threshold Covenant in its purity and sacredness, and to its perversion in the misuse of the phallus and tree in their symbolism.
Again the command was explicit to the Israelites: “Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar; which the Lord thy God hateth.”[611]
From the earliest historic times the serpent seems to have been accepted as a symbol of the nexus of union between the two sexes, and to be associated, therefore, with the pillar and the tree, as suggestive of the desire that may be good or evil, according to its right or wrong direction and use. Its place as a symbol has been at the threshold of palace and temple and home, with limitless powers of evil in its misuse.[612]
“Mighty snakes standing upright,” together with “mighty bulls of bronze” were “on the threshold of the gates” in ancient Babylon.[613] A serpent wreathed the phallus boundary stone (as if suggestive of its being a thing of life) on the threshold of Babylonian domains.[614] As a symbol of life and life-giving power the serpent stood erect above the head of the mightiest kings of Egypt, who gave and took life at their pleasure,[615] and it even accompanied the winged sun-orb in its manifestation of light and warmth and life over the grandest temples of ancient Thebes.[616] The Egyptian goddess Ket, or Kadesh, “Mistress of Heaven,” a divinity borrowed from the Semites, was represented as standing on a lioness, with lotus flowers, their stems coiled in circular form, in her right hand, and two serpents in her left hand, as she came with her offering to Min, or Khem, the god of generative force.[617] A similar representation of a goddess of life is found in ancient Assyrian remains.
In the representation of Nergal, the lord of the under world, in the ancient Babylonian mythology, the phallus and the serpent were identical.[618] Beltis-Allat, consort of Nergal, and lady of the under world, brandished a serpent in either hand. She was guardian of the waters of life which were under the threshold of the entrance of her realm.[619]
That which was primarily a holy instinct became, in its perversion, a source of evil and a cause of dread; hence the serpent became a representative of evil itself, and the conflict with it was the conflict between good and evil, between light and darkness. This is shown in the religions of ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and India, and Phœnicia and Greece, and Mexico and Peru, and various other countries.[620]
Vishnoo and his wife Lakshmi, from whom, according to Hindoo teachings, the world was produced, and by whom it continues or must cease, are represented as seated on a serpent, as the basis of their life and power.[621] Siva, also, giver and destroyer of life, is crowned with a serpent, and a serpent is his necklace, while the symbol of his worship is the _linga in yoni_.[622] A mode of Hindoo worship includes the placing of a stone _linga_ between two serpents, and under two trees, the one a male tree and the other a female tree.[623] And in various ways the serpent appears, in connection with different Hindoo deities, as the agent of life-giving or of life-destroying.[624] A suggestive representation of Booddha as the conqueror of desire shows him seated restfully on a coiled serpent, the hooded head of which is a screen or canopy above his head.[625]
Apollo, son of Zeus, was the slayer of the man-destroying serpent at Delphi; yet the serpent, when conquered, became a means of life and inspiration to others.[626] Æsculapius, the god of healing, a son of Apollo, was represented by the serpent because he gave new life to those who were dying. Serpents were everywhere connected with his worship as a means of healing.[627] The female oracle who represented Apollo at Delphi sat on a tripod formed of entwined serpents.[628] Serpents on the head of Medusa were a means of death to the beholder; and these serpents were given to Medusa instead of hair because of her faithlessness and sacrilege in the matter of the Threshold Covenant.[629] Thus the good and the evil in that which the serpent symbolized were shown in the religions of the nations of antiquity, and serpent worship became one of the grossest perversions of the idea of the primitive Threshold Covenant.
As in the matter of phallic worship and tree worship, so in this of the worship of the serpent, it would seem unnecessary to multiply illustrations of its prominence in various lands, when so many special treatises on the subject are already available.[630] It is only necessary to emphasize anew the fact that the evident thought of the symbol is an outgrowth or a perversion of the idea of the primitive Threshold Covenant.
The form of the Bible narrative, portraying the first temptation and the first sin, seems to show how early the symbolism of the tree and the serpent was accepted in popular speech. From that narrative as it stands it would appear that the first act of human disobedience was incontinence, in transgression of a specific command to abstain, at least for a time, from carnal intercourse. Desire, as indicated by the serpent, prompted to an untimely partaking of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and the consequences of sin followed. The results of this act of disobedience, as recorded in the sacred text,[631] make evident the correctness of this view of the case. When the Bible narrative was first written, whenever that was, the terms “tree,”[632] “fruit” of the tree,[633] “knowledge,”[634] “serpent,” were familiar figures of speech or euphemisms, and their use in the Bible narrative would not have been misunderstood by readers generally. Probably there was no question as to this for many centuries. It was not until the dull prosaic literalism of the Western mind obscured the meaning of Oriental figures of speech that there was any general doubt as to what was affirmed in the Bible story of the first temptation and disobedience.[635]
Philo Judæus at the beginning of the Christian era, seems to understand this as the meaning of the narrative in Genesis, and he applies the teachings of that narrative accordingly.[636] There are indications that the rabbis looked similarly at the meaning of the Bible text. There are traces of this traditional view in different Jewish writings.[637]
Evidently the original meaning was still familiar in the early Christian ages. But its becoming connected with false doctrines and heresies, as taught by the Ophites and other Gnostic sects, seems to have brought the truth itself into disrepute, and finally led to its repudiation in favor of a dead literalism.[638] The curse resting on the serpent, in consequence of the first sin of incontinence, was the degradation of the primitive impulse,[639] unless uplifted again by divine inspiration.[640] Because of their breach of the covenant of divine love our first parents were expelled from their home of happiness, and the guardians of the threshold forbade their return to it.[641]
In the closing chapters of the New Testament, as in the opening chapters of the Old, the symbolism of the tree and the serpent, and the covenant relations involved in crossing the threshold, appear as familiar and well-understood figures of speech. “The dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan,”[642] representing unholy desire, is shut out from the precincts of the New Jerusalem. Within the gates of that city is there the tree of life watered by the stream that flows from under the throne of power.[643] The city threshold is the dividing line between light and darkness, good and evil, life and death. “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolators, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.”[644]
Thus it is in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, at their beginning and at their close. And there are traces of the same truth in the teachings of the various religions, and of the more primitive customs and symbolisms. The all-dividing threshold separates the within from the without; and a covenant welcome there gives one a right to enter in through the gates into the eternal home, to be a partaker of the tree of life, with its ever-renewing and revivifying fruits.
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Footnote 599:
See “Blood Covenant,” pp. 310–313.
Footnote 600:
See pp. 22 f., 39-44, 99-164, _supra_.
Footnote 601:
2 Cor. 2 : 16.
Footnote 602:
See, for example, Herodotus’s _History_, Bk. I., chaps. 181, 182. See pp. 111 f., _supra_.
Footnote 603:
Herodotus’s _History_, Bk. I., chap. 199.
Footnote 604:
See Deut. 25 : 1–9. See, also, chapter on “Sacred Prostitution” in Wake’s _Serpent Worship_; and Professor W.M. Ramsay’s “Holy City of Phrygia,” in _Contemporary Review_ for October, 1893.
Footnote 605:
See, for example, Squier’s _Serpent Symbol_; Forling’s _Rivers of Life_; Westropp’s and Wake’s _Ancient Symbol Worship_; Knight’s _Worship of Priapus_; Jennings’s _Phallicism_; Frazer’s _Golden Bough_; Monier-Williams’s _Brahmanism and Hinduism_, and his _Buddhism_; Griffis’s _Religions of Japan_, etc.
Footnote 606:
See, for example, in addition to the books just cited, Fergusson’s _Tree and Serpent Worship_; Ohnefalach-Richter’s _Kypros, die Bibel und Homer_; Hopkins’s _Religions of India_, pp. 527 f., 533, 540, 542.
Footnote 607:
See Dr. E.B. Tyler’s article on “The Winged Figures of the Assyrian and other Ancient Monuments,” in _Proceedings of the Soc. of Bib. Arch._, XII., Part 8, pp. 383–393; Dr. Bonavia’s articles on “Sacred Trees,” in _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, III., Nos. 1–4; IV., Nos. 4, 5; and De Lacouperie’s articles on Trees, _ibid._, IV., Nos. 5, 10, 11.
Footnote 608:
See, for example, Ohnefalach-Richter’s _Kypros_, Tafel-Band, pl. lxxxii., figures 7, 8; Donaldson’s _Architectural Medals of Classic Antiquity_, pp. 105–109; Von Löher and Joyner’s _Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive_, p. 153 f., Perrot and Chipiez’s _History of Art in Phœnicia and Cyprus_, I., 123, 276 f., 281, 284, 331 f.; W. Robertson Smith’s _Religion of the Semites_, p. 191.
Footnote 609:
Compare W. Robertson’s Smith’s _Religion of the Semites_, p. 437 f.
Footnote 610:
Exod. 34 : 12–15; Deut. 7 : 5.
Footnote 611:
Deut. 16 : 21, 22.
Footnote 612:
There seems, indeed, to be a connection between the Hebrew words, _miphtan_, “threshold,” and _pethen_, “asp,” “adder,” or “serpent,” as first pointed out to me by Mr. Montague Cockle. Although the verbal root is not preserved in the Hebrew, there is no valid reason for doubting that they go back to the same root. In Arabic, the verb is preserved as _pathana_, “to tempt.” Its derivatives indicate the same meaning. This would seem to confirm the connection of the primitive threshold, the serpent, and temptation. In Leland’s _Etruscan Roman Remains_ (p. 131 f.) are citations from several ancient works, and references to current Italian traditions, showing the supposed connection of the serpent with the threshold, the phallus, and married life, that are in obvious confirmation of the views here expressed.
Footnote 613:
See p. 109 f., _supra_; also, Schrader’s _Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek_, Vol. III., Pt. 2, p. 72 f.
Footnote 614:
See, for example, Rawlinson’s _Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia_, III., p. 45.
Footnote 615:
See Erman’s _Life in Anc. Egypt_, p. 60.
Footnote 616:
_Ibid._, p. 259, vignette illustration.
Footnote 617:
See Wilkinson’s _Anc. Egypt._, III., 235, pl. lv., fig. 2. Prisse’s _Mon. Egypt_, pl. xxxvii.; also Layard’s _Nineveh and its Remains_, p. 169 (Am. ed.), and W. Max Müller’s _Asien und Europa_, p. 314.
Footnote 618:
See Perrot and Chipiez’s _History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria_, I., 349 f. See, also, Layard’s _Monuments_, Series ii., pl. 5, for representation of the conflict between Marduk and Tiamat. The serpent is there shown on the feminine Tiamat where it appears on the masculine Nergal.
Footnote 619:
See Maspero’s _Dawn of Civilization_, pp. 690–696; Sayce’s _Relig. of Anc. Babylonia_, p. 286.
Footnote 620:
See Sayce’s _Relig. of Anc. Babylonia_, pp. 281–283; Wilkinson’s _Anc. Egypt._, III., 141–155; Fergusson’s _Tree and Serpent Worship_, pp. 5–72; Squier’s _Serpent Symbol_, pp. 137–254; Réville’s _Native Religions of Mexico and Peru_, pp. 29–32, 53, 166.
Footnote 621:
See Wilkins’s _Hindu Mythology_, p. 99.
Footnote 622:
See Wilkins’s _Hindu Mythology_, p. 218.
Footnote 623:
Maurice’s _Indian Antiq._, V. 182 f.
Footnote 624:
_Ibid._, V.
Footnote 625:
See frontispiece of Sir Monier Monier-Williams’s Buddhism; see, also, Fergusson’s article on “The Amravati Tope” in “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” Vol. III., Pt. 1, pp. 132–166.
Footnote 626:
See Keightley’s _Mythology_, art. “Phœbus-Apollo.”
Footnote 627:
See “Æsculapius,” in Smith’s _Classical Dictionary_.
Footnote 628:
See Herodotus’s _History_, Bk. IX., chap. 81.
Footnote 629:
See “Gorgones,” in Smith’s _Classical Dictionary_.
Footnote 630:
See, for example, Maurice’s _Indian Antiquities_; Fergusson’s _Tree and Serpent Worship_; Forlong’s _Rivers of Life_, I., 93–322; Wake’s _Serpent Worship_, pp. 81–106.
Footnote 631:
Gen. 3 : 7, 10–13, 16.
Footnote 632:
See, for example, Psa. 128 : 3; Prov. 3 : 18; 11 : 30; Ezek. 19 : 10.
Footnote 633:
See, for example, Gen. 30 : 2; Deut. 7 : 13; 28 : 4, 18, 53; 30 : 9; Psa. 127 : 3; 132 : 11; Song of Songs 4 : 16; Isa. 13 : 18; Micah 6 : 7; Acts 2 : 30.
Footnote 634:
See, for example, Gen. 4 : 1, 17, 25; 38 : 26; Judg. 11 : 39; 19 : 25; 1 Sam. 1 : 19; 1 Kings 1 : 4; Matt. 1 : 25.
Footnote 635:
Gen. 3 : 1–13.
Footnote 636:
See, for example, Philo Judæus’s _Works_, “On the Creation,” I., 53–60; “On the Allegories of the Sacred Laws,” I., 15–20; “Questions and Solutions,” I., 31–41.
Footnote 637:
See, for example, _Midrasch Bereschit Rabba_, pararshah 18, § 6, in comments on Gen. 2 : 25; Weber’s _Die Lehren d. Talmud_ (ed. 1866), pp. 210–213.
Footnote 638:
See Clement of Alexandria’s _Miscellanies_, III., 17; also Irenæus’s _Against Heresies_, I., 30.
Footnote 639:
Gen. 3 : 14, 15.
Footnote 640:
Compare Num. 21 : 4–9; 2 Kings 18 : 4; John 3 : 14, 15.
Footnote 641:
Gen. 3 : 22–24.
Footnote 642:
Rev. 20 : 1, 2.
Footnote 643:
_Ibid._, 21 : 1–27; 22 : 1, 2.
Footnote 644:
_Ibid._, 22 : 14, 15.
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APPENDIX.
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APPENDIX.
SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOOD IN THE MARRIAGE RITE.[645]
In Ægypto Superiori, quemadmodum in aliis regionibus, ubi mores prisci praeservati vigent, matrimonium eousque non consummatur, donec, examine instituto, sponsus sanguinem, ceu testimonium virginitatis sponsae elicuerit. Linteolum quoddam singulare, mucinii vel mappae speciem prae se ferens, a parentibus sponsae ad obryssam hanc praeparatur.
Quum sponsus vigilia nuptiarum sponsam convenit, linteolum istud digito circumvolvit, atque periculum virginitatis instituit. Sanguis linteolum maculis cruentans fit insigne ac testimonium sponsi autographum virginitatis sponsae intemeratae atque comprobatae, necnon tessera eius in uxorem accitae. Ipsum linteolum, manu sua cruenta quasi sigillo signatum, parentibus, qui illud, tamquam indubitatum castitatis filiae suae virginalis servatae testimonium, insimul et pignus sacri foederis sui connubii custodiant, thesauri instar recondendum redditur. Receptio pignoris evidentiaeque tarn castitatis illibatae quam matrimonii iuncti, inter amicos, qui prae foribus cubiculi nuptialis adventum linteoli praestolantur, causa exsistit gaudii laetitiaeque exsultantis.
Verumenimvero si nec manamen sanguinis, nec rubrum manus cruentatae vestigium occasione istiusmodi se prodiderint, turba amicorum in limine conclavis nuptialis praestolantium, loco exsultationis laetae moerore tristi luget atque plangorem eiulatumque saevum ciet; aut vero silentium, eloquens luctus indicium, inter eos regnat, nam dolor est illatus domui decore honoris orbatae, cuius parem ne mors ipsa quidem gignere possit. Si res sic se habent, sponsa libello repudii, absque vinculo connubii, a sponso dimittitur. Ast si digitus suus tactu cruore manante contaminetur, ab ipso eo momento sua fit uxor, etiamsi consummatio coniugii, ut moris est, ad usque triduum aut hebdomadem differatur.[646]
Id quod foedus inter se suamque sponsam figit atque sancit, est cruoris tactu sponsi eliciti profluvium. Meatum in penetralia suae essentiae incisione aperiens, sponsus “caedit foedus” cum ea in conspectu sui Creatoris, ad litteram.[647] Sponsus “nocte nuptiarum sanguinem virginalem offerens,” fit sponsus sanguineus, “khatan damim.”[648] In hoc rerum statu divulsio est quod coniungit, atque vestigium manus cruentum est quod instrumentum foederis subministrat.
Sponsus, loco proprii digiti ansa interdum clavis ianuae ligneae pristinae, specie digito simili, quae linteolo hoc obvolvitur, examen instituit, eo quod haec, _aperiendo_ penetralia intemerata, quae penetrare[649] praeter se liceat nemini, actum _reseratus_ imagine quadam symbolica significet. Signaculum tamen cruentum in linteolo utroque in casu eiusdem omnino est momenti.
Pari modo camisia sponsae communis, loco mucinii vel telae, soluit notam manus cruentae recipere, quae ut testimonium matrimonii identidem custodiri consuevit. Caeterum hae sunt moris vigentis variationes exiliores, nec quae referantur dignae, nisi ut declarent, quam sint testimonia variorum, qui haec perhibuerint, secum pugnantia.[650]
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Footnote 645:
See p. 196, _supra_.
Footnote 646:
Vide Lane’s _Mod. Egypt._, II, 241; item Skertchley’s _Dahomey As It Is_, p. 499.
Footnote 647:
Foedus pangere Hebraice _Karath_ idem sonat ac “caedere.” Vide Gen. 15 : 17–19; 21 : 22–24, etc. Vide etiam Trumbull’s _Blood Covenant_, pp. 265–267, 322 _et seq._, Lane’s _Arab. Eng. Lex._, et Freytag’s _Lex. Arab. Latin_, s. vv. “Khatan,” “Khatana.”
Footnote 648:
Vide Fuerst’s _Heb. Lex._, s. v. “Khatan;” etiam Exod. 4 : 25, 26.
Footnote 649:
Burckhardt, in suis _Proverbiis Arabicis_ (pp. 139 _seqq._), moris huius meminit; Lane autem in suo _Modern Egyptians_ (I, 218) idem perhibet. Verum ego loquar de quaestione e fontibus fide dignis testium integerrimorum. Burckhardt enim asserit “clavim” magis idoneam putari a plebecula in Ægypto Superiori in examine hoc instituendo quam digitum.
Footnote 650:
Burckhardt meminit differentiae cuiusdam huiusmodi; constat tamen eum morem camisiam sponsae adhibendi nonnisi cognovisse.
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EXHIBITING THE EVIDENCES.
In Syria, veluti in Ægypto, tela cruenta, vel indusium sanguine maculatum loco probae castitatis testimoniique matrimonii habetur. In Sinis “linteolum” ferculo a famulo offertur sponso, ubi is cubiculum nuptiale primum intrat, quod his thalamo insternit, parentibus sponsae, sanguine inquinatum ad praeservandum traditurus.[651] Apud Dahomeanos thalamus, nocte nuptiarum gossypina nova impressa (vulgo “calico”) consternitur, postero autem die, si cuncta e sententia successerint, _godo_ (ligatura, quae Anglis “T bandage” sonat) ad amicos sponsae cum triumpho deportatur ... dum sponsus lodiculam thalami exhibet.[652]
In Ægypto indumenta nuptialia, vestigiis manus cruentae notata, “erant post nuptias supra fores domus rustici suspensa.”[653] Alias sponsa poterat postridie nuptiarum amicis se sistere indusio sanguine maculato supra alias vestes induta, atque in responsum coram eis congratulantibus saltare rogata.[654] Soluit, porro, indusium hoc amicis visum venientibus exhiberi, aut vero ad examinandum a vicinis in domos circumferri.[655] Mores consimiles in quibusdam etiam Syriae partibus usuvenerunt.
Ubi mappa vel pannus specialis in Ægypto Superiori adhibetur, haec, quamprimum madere cruore contingat, a sponso mulieribus praestolantibus foras exporrigitur. Mater sponsae, eam obtentam marito tradit, hic autem tiarae (Turcis _turban_) suae apponit, seque primoribus senioribusque populi in aedibus suis ut hospites congregatis sistit. Hi, testimonium istud illibatae filiae suae castitatis servatae intelligentes, atque insimul eam nunc foedere matrimonii in uxorem accitam, inclinatione reverenter facta, ei apprecantes aiunt: “Fidem facio.”[656]
In oris Africae occiduis, apud populos magis primaevos, indumentum sanguine commaculatum vicinis exhiberi consuevit. Quinimo et apud humaniores Christianorum gentes mos viget vestem hanc die Solis post nuptias in fana, ut a cunctis cernatur, deferendi atque exhibendi.[657] Siquidem absque veste hac cruentata indicium matrimonii est nullum.
Ritus nuptiales apud veteres Aztec atque Nahuas, gentes Americae Centralis, a ritibus Ariorum priscorum haud fuerunt absimiles. Quum enim sponsa a suis amicis ad novum deduceretur domicilium, ibidem a sponso excipiebatur. Utrisque erat thuribulum thusque cremabant, in matta coram focum domesticum simul sedentes. Tum sacerdos accessit, atque eos ritu sacro in matrimonium coniugavit. Hinc se in fanum contulerunt, in limine cuius sacerdotes praestolantes eos exceperunt. In cubiculo proprio in fano morantes, triduum tresque noctes exercitiis pietatis dediti, secum ipsis transigere debebant, tribus vetulis custoditi atque invigilati. Nocte quarta, quum connubium consummandum erat, sacerdotes duo thalamum suum praepararunt, tumque relicti sunt secum ipsi soli. “Nonnullis in locis proba virginitatis iuvencae postridie nuptiarum postulabatur. In quibuslibet nuptiis moris erat ut sponsores cubiculum, ubi nupturientes pernoctassent, intrarent, atque camisiam sponsae tradi postularent; quam, si cruore infectam reperissent, foras proferrent, perticae appenderent, atque ceu testimonium, sponsam virginem fuisse, visui exhiberent; tum choreae institutae totaque loca peragrata saltando, debacchando summaque laetitia exsultando; quae omnia ‘camisiam saltare’ appellari consueverunt. Si quando camisiam sanguine non maculari contigerit, gaudia lacrymis ac plangori cesserunt locum, non secus ac maledicta, sugillationes dicteriaque soluerunt in sponsam iactari, insimul vero et marito ius erat eam libello repudii donare.”[658]
“Si Muhammadanus puellam in uxorem ducit, atque lege pacti connubialis eam virginem castam esse oportere stipulaverit, indicia eiusdem interdum exigere consuevit. Quandoquidem familia eam, casu quo indicio hoc caruerit, repudio remittendam exspectare debeat, pater sollicita cura cavebit ut habeat quo se, si forte filia sua iacturam indicii virginitatis fecisset, purgare possit. Halebii versanti mihi audire contigit Arabem quemdam a Cadi documentum impetrasse, atque a testibus subsignari curasse, quo ostenderetur filiam camelo delapsam detrimentum tulisse.
“Muhammadani, de foeminis suis interrogati, aegre invitique respondent. Attamen post longam diuturnamque cum iis consuetudinem, data occasione, contigit mihi hac de re cum quibusdam eorum disseruisse, ex quo intellexi Arabes humaniores linteaminibus sordidatis parum fidei praestare.... Viri interdum deliquium cruoris, velut testimonium debilitatis propriae, vulgo innotescere abnuunt.
“Muhammadanis in Iemen atque in India persuasum est aiuntque lintea infecta visui offerre viro perquam dedecere. Nec profecto, nisi curiositas muliebris atque agnati, res huiusmodi insectantur. A mente sana neminem tam alienum existimandum arbitrantur quam quibus haec praeservanda videantur. Proinde linteum hoc apud eos eluitur traditurque ut usui consueto inter linteamina domestica restituatur. Percontanti mihi Iudaeus quidam de Iudaeis et Muhammadanis Muscatensibus, Christianus vero aliquis de Christianis et Muhammadanis Halebitis idem significaverat. Busrae tamen audisse mihi licuit dari mulieres ordinis plebeii, quae tesseram hanc pristinae suae castitatis velut vindicias praeservare solitae sint, nequis ganeo protervus de eius post pubertatem moribus quasi ambiguis sermocinari sibi praesumpserit.”[659]
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Footnote 651:
Gray’s _China_, I, 207.
Footnote 652:
Skertchley’s _Dahomey As It Is_, p. 499.
Footnote 653:
Lane’s _Modern Egyptians_, I, 221, nota.
Footnote 654:
_Ibid._
Footnote 655:
Burckhardt’s _Arabic Proverbs_, p. 140.
Footnote 656:
Facta haec a testibus fide dignis teneo.
Footnote 657:
Haec testimonio sacerdotis Æthiopici in Liberia nituntur.
Footnote 658:
Bancroft’s _Native Races_ (“Civilized Nations”), II, 256–261.
Footnote 659:
Niebuhr’s _Beschreibung von Arabien_, pp. 35–39.
Footnote 660:
Vide, exempli causa, Burtonii _Alf Laila va Laila_, II, 50; III, 289.
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SUBSTITUTE BLOOD FOR DECEPTION.
Quum in Arabia sponsa quaedam virginitatis orba sponso a parentibus imponitur, mater sponsae turturillam clam iugulat, eiusque sanguine camisiam sponsae, antequam illa amicis visui exhibeatur, tingit atque commaculat. Ad mores hos in fabulis “Noctium Mille et Unius” haud tam infrequenter referimur.[660] Burton haec interpretans ait: “Vetus ac venerabilis consuetudo linteum nuptiale visendi in plurimis Orientis regionibus pietate quadam religiosa adhuc praeservata viget; in familiis enim Muhammedanis, moribus priscis addictis, linteum hoc in gynaeceo, ut cernatur, expositum prostat, ut ... filiam marito illibatam se obtulisse ostendat testeturque.... Opinio popularis praevalet nullam sanguinem posse peritos, _h. e_. matronas iuratrices, fallere, praeterquam sanguis turturillae, utpote qui sanguini hymenaeo existimetur esse simillimus, nisi indages adminiculo microscopii instituatur. Fides haec apud Europae Australis populos bene universa est, tum etiam de re eadem in Anglia quoque me audisse memini.”[661] Burton porro subiungit: “Arabes atque Indi in diebus nostris linteum nuptiale indagare, quemadmodum apud Iudaeos Persasque usuvenit, raro sinunt. Sponsa mucinium candidum secum in lectum sumit, ut habeat quo cruorem manantem sopiat, postridie autem mane maculae in gynaeceo propalantur. In Darfuria vero, regione Africae, hoc ipsum a sponso perficitur.”[662]
Apud Morduinos, gentem Fennicam, accolas Rha, mores prisci vigent.[663] Consuetudinem testimonium virginitatis exhibendi, vel in eius locum sanguinem pulli gallinacei substituendi, velut in partibus Asiae atque Africae, in his Europae Septemtrione-Orientalis plagis ad usque modo reperiri licet. “In comitatu Crasnaslobodsceno, Provinciae Pensae, mulier neo-nupta e thalamo arcessitur, atque in camisia sua cruore commaculata (si opus sit, etiam sanguine pulli gallinacei) a duabus amicis labrum vacuum secum baiulantibus, vetulaque panem secum portante, ad fluvium proximum deducitur. In iis autem regionibus, ubi Morduini Russorum moribus sunt magis imbuti, hospites nuptiales, quamprimum virginitas sit comprobata, quidquid ipsis sub manus cadat, ut suum gaudium reverentiamque rite significent, confringunt atque comminuunt.”[664]
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Footnote 661:
Vide, exempli causa, Burtonii _Alf Laila va Laila_, II, 50, nota.
Footnote 662:
_Ibid._, III, 289, nota.
Footnote 663:
Vide p. 32-dam supra.
Footnote 664:
P. von Stenin: “Die Ehe bei den Mordwinen,” in _Globus_, Vol. LXV, No. 11 (1894), p. 183.
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PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF THE RITE.
Navarchus Cook, in Chronico sui primi circum orbem itineris de Fœdere Liminari, ceu modo cultus publici in Otaheita, seu Tahiti, sequentia refert:
“Die 14-mo (Maii), qui erat Solis, in castris cultum divinum celebrandum iussi; maximopere desiderabamus ut principes Indorum huic interessent, at hi, quum hora appropinquasset, domum discesserunt. Verumtamen Dñus Banks, traiecto flumine, Tuburai Tamaide suamque uxorem Tomio, secum reduxit, fore enim sperabat, ut cultus noster ab iis percontationes quasdam eliceret, non secus ac nobis instrui liceret: quum eos discumbere iussisset, ipse in medio eorum discubuit, qui durantibus ceremoniis suum agendi modum summa animadversione sunt prosecuti actionesque imitati; stantes, considentes, genua flectentes, prout eum facere videbant: haud erant nimirum ignari apud nos quiddam solemnis agi atque serii, ut hoc vel inde concludi potuerit, quod hi suos populares praeter castra tripudiantes clamando ad silentiam servandum cohortati fuissent; attamen cultu absoluto, neuter percontabatur quid rei gestum esset, nec ullis volebant tentaminibus res gestas explicandi aures praebere.
“Talia erant nostra officia matutina; Indi vero nostri vesperas toto coelo diversas iudicarunt esse offerendas. Vir quidam iuvenis, procerus, fere sex pedes, ritus Veneris cum pupula vix undenorum vel duodenorum annorum, pluribus nostrum magnoque popularium numero coram intuentibus, perfecit, quin actum dedecere, vel bonis adversari moribus senserit; verum, ut concludere licuit, moribus illius regionis omnino congruenter. Erant autem in turba inspectante non paucae mulieres ordinum superiorum, in specie autem Oberea (mulier principalis illius Insulae, quae primum regina esse reputabatur), quae ad ceremonias ministrasse iure dici potest; nam mulieres hae puellam monendo instituebant quemadmodum vidl. sibi sua parte muneris obeundum esset.”[665]
Quum apud Samoanos nuptiae cuiusdam optimatum in diebus primaevis celebrabantur, partes agnatique sponsae in _maroe_, seu foro publico congregabantur, ubi sponsus, cunctis intuentibus, primam virginitatis sponsae obryssam instituit. Si documentum virginitatis ab eo exhiberi potuerat, coetus omnis exsurrexit complosisque manibus sponsae gratulabundus acclamavit; at, si quo casu proba haec defuerit, eam probris scommatibusque lacessiverant. Apud plebem humilem ritus his in aedibus privatis, nec tanta pompa celebrabatur.[666]
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Footnote 665:
_Voyages of Capt. James Cook_, I, 56.
Footnote 666:
Turner’s _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago_, pp. 93–95.
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BIBLE TESTIMONY.
A distinct reference to the proofs of chastity, in the blood-stamped cloth, is found in the Bible record of the ancient law of Israel. “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and lay shameful things to her charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity: then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: and the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the garment [or cloth, Hebrew _simlah_] before the elders of the city.
“And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him; and they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel: then they shall bring out the damsel to the doors of her father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house.”[667]
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Footnote 667:
Deut. 22 : 13–21.
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WOMAN AS A DOOR.
In different languages and among various peoples there is, as already suggested,[668] an apparent connection between the terms, and the corresponding ideas, of “woman” and “door,” that would seem to be a confirmation of the fact that the earliest altar was at the threshold of the woman, and of the door.
Thus, in the Song of Songs 8 : 8, 9:–
“We have a little sister, And she hath no breasts: What shall we do for our sister In the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, We will build upon her a turret of silver: And if she be a door, We will inclose her with boards of cedar.”
Job, cursing the day of his birth, says (Job 3 : 1–10):
“Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man child conceived.... Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning: Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.”
Referring to this passage, the Babylonian Talmud (Treatise Bechoroth, 45 a) quotes Rabbi Eliezer as saying, “Just as a house has doors, so also a woman has doors.” Others say: “Just as a house has keys [_miphteakh_, literally ‘opener’], so the woman has a key; for it is said (Gen. 30 : 22) ‘God hearkened to her, and opened [a play upon _patakh_, ‘to open,’ and _miphteakh_, ‘key’] her womb.’” The famous Rabbi Akibah says: “Just as a house has hinges, so there are hinges to a wife; for it is written (1 Sam. 4 : 19), ‘She kneeled and gave birth, for her hinges had turned’ [translating _ṣîrîm_ (or _tseereem_) as ‘hinges’ instead of ‘pains’; the word has the former meaning in Proverbs 26 : 14, ‘As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the sluggard upon his bed.’]”
The Talmudic treatise Middâ (Mishna § 2, 5) explains the different parts of the womb under the metaphors _khĕdĕr_, “interior chamber;” _pʾrosdôr_, “vestibule;” _ʿalîyyâ_, “upper story.”[669] Professor Dr. Morris Jastrow, Jr., in citing these metaphors, suggests that they coincide with the Arabic and Egyptian custom of using a key in the marriage rite, as described at page 244.
Critics have long puzzled over the seemingly contradictory uses of the Hebrew word _pôth_ in two places in the Old Testament; and the connection of “woman” and “door” with the parts thereof, above suggested, may aid in resolving the difficulty. At 1 Kings 7 : 50, in a list of the holy vessels of the house of the Lord, there are mentioned “the hinges (Heb., _pôthôth_), both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple, of gold.” At Isaiah 3 : 17 the same word _poth_ is translated “their secret parts,” in a reference to the humiliation of “the daughters of Zion.” It has been suggested by some that there was a corruption of the text in Isaiah. (See Delitzsch and Dillmann, in their commentaries at this place.) Yet in view of the rabbinical uses of language, the text would seem to be trustworthy. _Pôth_ is an “opening,” of a _woman_ or of a _door_. Additional light is thrown on the use of the term _pôth_ as “opening” and as “hinge,” or “socket,” when we bear in mind that the hinge of an Oriental door was a hole, or cavity, or door socket, on which the door turned, in order to give an opening or entrance. Often these door sockets were made of metal,–bronze, silver, or gold.[670] Sometimes the entire thresholds, in which were these sockets or “basons,” were of metal. If, however, the threshold was of stone or wood, the socket, or a plate with a depression in it, was of metal. The _pôth_, therefore, when referring to a door, was the metal plate or socket in the threshold on which the door turned as on a hinge.
It is, indeed, possible that the opening or cavity in the ancient stone or metal threshold was sometimes the bason, or vessel, into which the covenanting blood was poured.[671] In that case, the correspondence of the opening of the woman, and the socket of the threshold, would be more obvious. Important inscriptions are usually found at or around these so-called “door sockets,” in Babylonian relics; and there is still doubt in many minds whether these cavities were always hinge sockets.
The word “hinges,” or “hangers,” is at the best an inaccurate and misleading term, as applied to the pivots or knuckles on which an ancient door swung in its socket. Ancient doors were not hung on hinges, but they swung on pivots. Instead of a hinge, there was a knuckle or pintle, with a corresponding socket, or cavity, or opening, in the threshold or door-sill. Both Gesenius[672] and Stade[673] give “socket” as one of the meanings of _pôth_. The plural, _pôthoth_, of course, refers to the sockets of two leaves of a double door on one threshold.
When Samson was shut in at Gaza by the Philistines, the double leaves of the city gate were held together by a bar, without the lifting of which the doors could not be opened. “And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts [the upright stiles, at the bottom of which were the knuckles that turned in the threshold sockets], and plucked them up, bar [cross-bar or latch] and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.”[674]
I have in my possession a bronze door-socket and knuckle of an ancient gate or door, unearthed from a mound in the vicinity of Ghuzzeh, the site of ἡ τύχηancient Gaza, that meets this description.
[Illustration]
In primitive symbolism, as shown in Babylonia, Egypt, and India, the circle or ring, like this socket, represents woman.
It would be interesting, in this connection, to follow out the meanings and uses of the Greek words πυθμήν (_puthmēn_), root φυ (_phu_); and φλιή (_phliē_), doorpost, root φλι (_phli_); compare φλέω (_phleō_), φίλος (_philos_). It is evident that the twofold idea of the threshold of life, and the threshold, or sockets, of the door, is in the uses of these terms and their derivatives in earlier and later Greek. But only this suggestion can be made here.
The correspondence of “woman” and “door,” or of “wife” and “threshold,” in the Arabic, has already been pointed out.[675] A similar suggestion is in Sanskrit terms.[676]
In Germany, even at the present time, a common term for “woman” is “woman chamber” (_frauenzimmer_), as in Arabic _hareema_ is a woman, while _hareem_ is the women’s apartment. A remark attributed to a prominent American clergyman, as showing the naturalness of the figure of woman as a door, is: “He who marries a wife opens a door, through which unborn generations shall troop.”
A Chinese character is the representation of “threshold,” of “door,” and also of “woman.”[677] It is suggested by the lexicographer that the origin of this character was a small door in a large gate, as the inner door to the hareem or women’s apartments; but it seems probable, from the correspondence of this twofold idea with the primitive thought of woman as the door of humanity, that the Chinese character must have had an origin prior to that degree of civilization which recognized such a classification in household apartments. The combination of “door” and “border” is another Chinese character[678] that stands for “threshold” or “door-sill.”[679] Confucius said that this
threshold “should not be trodden on when walking through” the door.
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Footnote 668:
See, for example, 197 f., _supra_.
Footnote 669:
See also citations from Buxtorf at p. 200, _supra_.
Footnote 670:
See pp. 127, 132 f., 207 f., _supra_.
Footnote 671:
See p. 207 f., _supra_.
Footnote 672:
_Handwörterbuch_, Mülhan and Volck, 11th ed., s. v.
Footnote 673:
_Woerterbuch u. Alt. Test._, s. v.
Footnote 674:
Judges 16 : 3.
Footnote 675:
See p. 200, _supra_.
Footnote 676:
See p. 197 f., _supra_.
Footnote 677:
_’kw’ un_
Footnote 678:
_yü_
Footnote 679:
See S. Wells Williams’s _Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language_, pp. 496, 1141.
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SYMBOLISM OF THE TWO SEXES.
As showing the antiquity, as well as the universality, of the symbolism of the two sexes as the source of life, in connection with reverent worship, an illustration of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead is noteworthy. In a vignette on Chapter CXXV, in the Papyrus Ani, a worshiper, is represented before the throne of Osiris, in the Hall of Righteousness, with uplifted hands, in token of covenant worship, while his offering is a lotus flower, the symbol of fecundity, laid on the conventional phallus, the symbol of virility.[680] This vignette is reproduced on the cover of this volume. The lotus flower has the same signification in Assyria and India as in Egypt.[681]
The pine cone, which, as the symbol of virility and vitalizing force, was prominent in the ancient Assyrian sculptures, as also in the Phenician and Grecian cults,[682] was likewise to be found in ancient Rome. An enormous bronze pine cone, eleven feet high, probably older than the Christian era, still ornaments a fountain in the gardens of the Vatican. Lanciani says: “Pope Symmachus, who did so much toward the embellishment of sacred edifices in Rome (between 498 and 514), removed the pine cone from its ancient place, most probably from Agrippa’s artificial lake in the Campus Martius, and used it for adorning the magnificent fountain which he had built in the center of the so-called ‘Paradise’ of S. Peter’s, viz., in the center of the square portico in front of the basilica.”[683]
Among the Pompeian relics in the Royal Museum at Naples is a representation of a woman making an offering to Priapus in order to be cured of sterility. She brings a pine cone, while her husband is near her.[684]
Evidences of the fact that boundary posts, landmarks, and milestones were intended to represent the phallus at the threshold in the Roman empire, as in the far East, abound among the same relics in the Neapolitan Museum.[685]
-----
Footnote 680:
Le Page Renouf’s Book of the Dead in _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_, for November, 1895. Plate xxxi.
Footnote 681:
See pp. 199, 234, _supra_.
Footnote 682:
See Barker’s _Lares and Penates; Or, Cilicia and its Governors_, p. 217 f.; also see p. 231 f., _supra_.
Footnote 683:
Lanciani’s _Ancient Rome_, p. 286 f.
Footnote 684:
Ainé’s _Herculaneum et Pompéi_, Tome VIII, Planche 56, facing p. 221.
Footnote 685:
_Ibid._, Pl. 24, 25, 27, 30, 39, 41, 44, 48, 54, 55, 56, 59.
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SYMBOLISM OF TREE AND SERPENT.
A striking confirmation of the view taken in this work of the symbolism of the serpent, as the nexus between the two sexes, the female being represented by the fig-tree, and the male by the upright stone, or pole,[686] is found in an ancient religious custom in Mysore, India. Captain J.S.F. Mackenzie contributed an interesting paper on this subject to the “Indian Antiquary.”[687] “Round about Bangalore, more especially towards the Lal Bagh and _Petta_,–as the native town is called,–three or more stones are to be found together, having representations of serpents carved upon them. These stones are erected always under the sacred fig-tree by some pious person, whose means and piety determine the care and finish with which they are executed. Judging from the number of the stones, the worship of the serpent appears to be more prevalent in the Bangalore district than in other parts of the province. No priest is ever in charge of them. There is no objection to men doing so, but from custom, or for some reason,–perhaps because the serpent is supposed to confer fertility on barren women,–the worshiping of the stones, which takes place during the Gauri feast, is confined to women of all Hindu classes and creeds. The stones, when properly erected, ought to be on a built-up stone platform facing the rising sun, and under the shade of two _peepul_ (_Ficus religiosa_) trees,–a male and female growing together, and wedded by ceremonies, in every respect the same as in the case of human beings,–close by, and growing in the same platform a nimb (_margosa_) and _bipatra_ (a kind of wood-apple), which are supposed to be living witnesses of the marriage. The expense of performing the marriage ceremony is too heavy for ordinary persons, and so we generally find only one _peepul_ and a _nimb_ on the platform. By the common people these two are supposed to represent man and wife.”
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Footnote 686:
See pp. 230–240, _supra_.
Footnote 687:
Cited in _Notes and Queries_, fifth series, Vol. IV, p. 463.
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COVENANT OF THRESHOLD-CROSSING.
An American gentleman traveling among the Scandinavian immigrants in Wisconsin and Minnesota, was surprised to see their house doors quite generally standing open, as if they had no need of locks and bolts. He argued from this that they were an exceptionally honest people, and that they had no fear of thieves and robbers. A Scandinavian clergyman, being asked about this, said that they had thieves in that region, but that thieves would not cross a threshold, or enter a door, with evil intent, being held back by a superstitious fear of the consequences of such a violation of the covenant obligation incurred in passing over the threshold.
I asked a native Syrian woman, “If a thief wanted to get into your house to steal from you, would he come in at the door, if he saw that open?” “Oh, no!” she answered, “he would come in at the window, or would dig in from behind.” “Why wouldn’t he come in at the door?” I asked. “Because his _reverence_ would keep him from that,” she said, in evident reference to the superstitious dread of crossing a threshold with evil intent,–a dread growing out of an inborn survival of reverence for the primitive altar, with the sacredness of a covenant entered into by its crossing.
The very term commonly employed in the New Testament for thieving indicates the “digging through” a building, instead of entering by the door. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves break through [literally, dig through; Greek, _diorussō_ and steal.”[688] “If the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have left his house to be digged through.”[689]
Canon Tristram tells of an Adwan shaykh who was proud of being a “robber,” a “highwayman,” but who resented the idea that he was a “thief,”–a “sneak thief.” “I am not a thief,” he said; “I do not dig into the houses of fellaheen in the night. I would scorn it. I only take by force in the day time. And, if God gives me strength, shall I not use it?” Canon Tristram adds: “A ‘thief,’ as distinguished from a ‘robber,’ would never think of attempting to force the door, but would noiselessly dig through a wall in the rear,–a work of no great labor, as the walls are generally of earth, or sun-dried bricks, or, at best, of stone imbedded in turf instead of in mortar.”[690]
A former missionary in Palestine[691] says: “Digging through the wall is the common method pursued by housebreakers in Palestine, and, save in the cities, the operation is not one of great difficulty. Windows, in our sense, do not exist in the houses of the villagers; ... but the walls, built of roughly broken stones and mud, are easily, and by a skilled hand almost noiselessly, penetrated. One night, about midnight, I was driven from my resting-place under a stunted olive-tree in the plain of Sharon by a terrific thunderstorm, and took refuge in the miserable fellahy village of Kalansaweh. A good woman unbarred her door and admitted me to a single apartment, in which, on the ground level, were several sheep and cattle, with an ass, and on the higher level a pretty large family asleep, all dimly discerned by the light of a little oil lamp stuck in a crevice of the wall. The atmosphere was awful. I asked why they did not have a window or opening in the wall. The woman held up her hands in amazement. ‘What!’ she exclaimed, ‘and assist the robbers [“thieves”]?’... The robbers [‘thieves’], she explained, were the Arabs in the plain. Greater rascals do not exist. They were great experts, she explained, in ‘digging through’ the houses; to put a window in the wall would only tempt them, and facilitate their work.”
Now, as of old, among the more primitive pastoral people of Palestine, “He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.... The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy.”[692]
I remember now, what I did not realize the meaning of at the time, that while I was journeying in Arabia we did not set a watch before the entrance of our tents, when we were near a village; but the guards were at the rear of the tents, to watch against thieves, who would crawl underneath the canvas to steal what they might.
It seems to have been a custom in medieval times, and probably earlier, for the besiegers in war time to endeavor to enter a city which they would sack through a breach in the walls, or by scaling the walls, rather than by entering the gates. On the other hand, if a conqueror would protect the inhabitants of a captured city, he would pass in through the opened gates. To deliver up the keys of the city gates to a hostile commander was equivalent to capitulating or making formal terms of surrender. In the military museum at Berlin are preserved the keys of cities captured by the emperors of Germany at various times along the centuries.
There is a trace of this custom of besiegers, even in Old Testament times, in the injunctions to Israel with reference to its warfares: “When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it [proffer quarter]. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open [the gates] unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God delivereth it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.”[693]
It has been suggested on a former page,[694] but perhaps not sufficiently explained, that this idea of subjecting one’s self to the covenant obligations of citizenship by passing through the city gates, over the threshold, had to do with the Grecian custom of welcoming back to his own city the victor in the Olympian games through a breach in the walls, instead of through the gate. The meaning of this Greek custom (continued in Rome) was not clear in the days of Plutarch, and he, in seeking to account for it, suggests that it may have been intended to show that a city having such men among its citizens needed no walls of defense.[695] But, as they rebuilt their walls after the entrance of the victor, this explanation is not satisfactory. The world-wide recognition of the covenant obligations of a passage through a gate over the threshold is a more satisfactory explanation. If the victor, on returning in triumph from the games, were to enter his city through the gates, like any other citizen, he would be subject to the laws of the city as a citizen or a guest; but if the city would recognize him as a conqueror, at home as well as at Olympia, they would let him come in through a breach in the walls. In this act the citizens nominally submitted themselves to him; and a city thus entered, and, as it were, captured, often felt that it received more honor from its victor than it could confer upon him.[696]
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Footnote 688:
Matt. 6 : 19; also Matt. 6 : 20.
Footnote 689:
Luke 12 : 39; also Matt. 24 : 43; Exod. 22 : 2; Ezek. 12 : 2–7.
Footnote 690:
See The Sunday School Times for March 7, 1896.
Footnote 691:
The Rev. William Ewing, in The Sunday School Times for March 7, 1896.
Footnote 692:
John 10 : 1, 10.
Footnote 693:
Deut. 20 : 10–13.
Footnote 694:
See pp. 5–7, _supra_.
Footnote 695:
Plutarch, _Symp._, Bk. ii, Quest. 5, § 2.
Footnote 696:
See Smith’s _Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiq._, s. vv. “Athletæ,” and “Olympic Games;” Gardner’s _New Chapters in Greek History_, pp. 297–302.
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DOORKEEPER, AND CARRIER.
A “porter” and a “porter” are two very different persons, as the terms are employed in both Europe and America. We speak of a porter as a menial who carries burdens, such as parcels or baggage, a mere carrier for hire. Again, we speak of a porter as the attendant at, or the custodian of, the entrance gate of a mansion or public building. In the one case the porter is a very humble personage, in the other case he is a person of responsibility and importance. How it came about that the same term is applied to both these personages is worth considering, in view of its bearing on the importance of the door and the gate.
It is said to have been a custom of the ancient Etruscans and Romans, and perhaps of older peoples, in laying out the foundations of a city, to mark first the compass of the whole city with a plow. When they came to those places where they were to have the gates of the city, they took up the plow and carried it across the gateway, “transported” the plow at that space. It is said that from this custom the Latin word _porta_ came to apply to “a gate,” “_a portando aratrum_,” “from carrying the plow,”–_porta_, in Latin, meaning “to carry.” Whether or not the traditional custom referred to had a historical basis, it will be seen that the mere fact of the tradition will account for the twofold use, in languages derived from the Latin, of the word “porter” as a carrier, and again as a doorkeeper, or a gate watcher, or a guardian of the threshold. Apart from the question of the origin of the terms, we find that the porter or carrier is one who goes through the gate as the place of entrance or exit in his carryings; or, again, the porter or guardian of the gate is one who watches the place of carryings, and of outgoing and incoming.
Among the stories told of the founding of Rome by Romulus, it is said that at the threshold of this enterprise the people kindled fires before their tents, and then leaped through or over the flames.[697] In connection with this ceremony sacrifices were offered, and offerings of the first-fruits of forest and field were made to the gods.[698] A heifer and a bull were yoked to the plow, as in symbol of marriage, and afterwards were offered in sacrifice, thus supplying the symbolic blood on the threshold of the new city.[699] Plutarch, it is true, thinks that, in consequence of this custom of laying out a city, the walls of a city, _except the gates_, were counted sacred; but in this, as in other matters relating to the threshold,[700] it is evident that Plutarch was not sure to be correct as to the meaning of archaic customs.
There seems to be force in the suggestion that the two Latin words, _porta_ and _porto_, like the Greek _poros_, were derived from the common Aryan root _par_ or _por_, “to go,” “to bring over,” “to pass through.”[701] However this may be, we have the common English use of the term “port” in words meaning a door or entrance, and again a carrying or a place of carriage, as “export,” “import,” “transport,” “portico,” “porthole,” “portfolio,” etc.
An illustration of the twofold use of the word is found in the word “a portage” or “a carry” as the designation of “a break in a chain of water communication over which goods, boats, etc., have to be carried, as from one lake or river to another.” It is not merely that this is a place where a canoe, or other luggage, must be carried, but it is the definite “carry” or “portage,” the bridge, or isthmus, or door, or threshold,[702] by which they enter another region. This is the common American use of the term in pioneer life.[703]
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Footnote 697:
A primitive wedding ceremony. See pp. 39–42, 142 f., 212, _supra_.
Footnote 698:
See, again, pp. 16 f., 46 f., _supra_.
Footnote 699:
See _Plutarch’s Lives_, “Romulus;” also references to Strabo, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in Hooke’s _Roman History_, I., 42.
Footnote 700:
See references at pp. 39, 263, _supra_.
Footnote 701:
See Skeat’s _Etymological Dictionary_ and the _Century Dictionary_, s. v.
Footnote 702:
See p. 180 f., _supra_.
Footnote 703:
See “portage” in _The Century Dictionary_, with examples of usage.
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PASSING OVER INTO A COVENANT.
As these pages are going to press, Dr. Sailer calls my attention to the phrase לעבר בברית _laʿabhor bibereeth_, to enter, or pass over, into a covenant. This phrase, as Dr. Driver[704] points out, is found only in one place, at Deuteronomy 29 : 12. “That thou shouldest enter [or pass] into the covenant of the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day.”
It is evident that here is the idea of passing over a line or boundary, or threshold limit, into another region, or state or condition. Until that threshold is crossed, the person is outside of the covenant with its privileges and benefits; but when it is crossed, or passed, the person is a partaker of all that is within.
This word _ʿabhar_ corresponds with, while it differs from, the word _pasakh_. The two words have, indeed, been counted by some lexicographers as practically equivalents. Thus Fürst[705] gives “_pasakh_=_ʿabhar_.” In the covenant which Jehovah makes with Abraham, for himself and his posterity (Gen. 15 : 1–21), when the heifer and the she goat and the ram had been slaughtered and divided, and the pieces laid over against each other as two walls, or sides of a door, with the blood probably poured out on the earth as a threshold between, “a smoking furnace and a flaming torch,”–representing the divine presence–“passed,” or covenant-crossed, the blood on the threshold “between these pieces,” between these fleshly walls or door-posts of the sacrifice.[706]
In Jeremiah 34 : 18, the word appears in its twofold signification, in conjunction with a similar double use of the word _karath_ (“to cut”). Jehovah says, “I will give the men that have transgressed [_ʿabhar_, crossed or passed] my covenant, ... which they made [cut] before me when they cut the calf in twain and passed [over its blood] between the parts thereof.” Again, in Amos 7 : 8, Jehovah says of his reprobate people, “I will not again pass by [_ʿabhar_] them [covenant-cross them] any more.”
There seems to be a trace of this cross-over, or pass-over, covenant idea in the references to the passing through the fire in the worship of false gods, as at 2 Kings 16 : 3, where King Ahaz is said to have “walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through [_ʿʿabhar_] the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen.”[707] It is evident that this passing through the fire in honor of a false god was not the being thrown into the fire as a burnt offering; for such sacrifices are referred to by themselves, as at Deuteronomy 12 : 31, where it is said of the people of Jehovah that “even their sons and their daughters do they burn [_saraph_] in the fire to their gods.”[708] In the same chapter of 2 Kings (17 : 17, 31) the two phrases of causing children to “pass through” the fire, and of “burning” children in the fire, are separately referred to, in illustration of the fact that they are not one and the same thing.
It has already been shown[709] that jumping across, or being lifted over, a fire, at the threshold, is an ancient mode of covenanting, still surviving in many marriage or other customs; and that the blood of both human and substitute sacrifices has often been poured out at the same primitive altar.
Under the figure of a marriage covenant Jehovah speaks, in Ezekiel 16 : 8, of entering into a covenant, when he takes the virgin Israel as his bride: “Yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.” Here the more common word _bo_ is used for the idea of entering; but its connection with the covenant of marriage would seem to connect it, like the other words, _pasach_ and _ʿabhar_, with the thought of crossing over the threshold or barrier into a new state.
ENGLAND’S CORONATION STONE.
A notable survival of the primitive reverence for the one foundation, or the original threshold, as the earliest place of sacrifice and covenanting,[710] is shown in the famous “Coronation Stone” in Westminster Abbey. This stone is under the chair in which all the sovereigns of England from Edward I. to Victoria have been crowned. It was brought by Edward I. to England from Scone, the coronation seat of the kings of Scotland. The legend attached to it was that it was the stone pillar on which Jacob rested at Bethel,–the House of God where Abraham worshiped, and where Jacob covenanted with God for all his generations.[711]
“In it, or upon it, the Kings of Scotland were placed by the Earls of Fife. From it Scone became the ‘_sedis principalis_’ of Scotland, and the kingdom of Scotland the kingdom of Scone.” Since the days of Edward I., it has never been removed from Westminster Abbey, except when Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector in Westminster Hall, on which occasion it was brought out in order that he might be placed on it.
As in ancient Babylonia, in Egypt, in Syria, in India, in China, in Arabia, in Greece, in Scandinavia, the one primitive foundation was deemed the only foundation on which to build securely with Divine approval, so in the very center of the highest modern civilization the reputed foundation stone of the kingdom of the “Father of the Faithful” is deemed the only secure coronation, or installation, seat of King, Queen, or Lord Protector. Is it not reasonable to suppose that this feeling has a basis in primitive religious convictions and customs?
Dean Stanley, referring to this Coronation Stone as “probably the chief object of attraction to the innumerable visitors to the Abbey,” says of it: “It is the one primeval monument which binds together the whole Empire. The iron rings, the battered surface, the crack which has all but rent its solid mass asunder, bear witness to its long migrations. It is thus embedded in the heart of the English monarchy–an element of poetic, patriarchal, heathen times, which, like Araunah’s rocky threshing-floor in the midst of the Temple of Solomon, carries back our thoughts to races and customs now almost extinct; a link which unites the Throne of England to the traditions of Tara and Iona, and connects the charm of our complex civilization with the forces of our mother earth,–the stocks and stones of savage nature.”[712]
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Footnote 704:
Driver’s _Deuteronomy_, p. 323.
Footnote 705:
_Heb. Chald. Lex._, s. v.
Footnote 706:
See p. 187 f., _supra_.
Footnote 707:
See, also, 2 Kings 21 : 6; 23 : 10; 2 Chron. 33 : 6; Ezek. 16 : 21; 20 : 26, 31; 23 : 37.
Footnote 708:
See, also, Jer. 7 : 31; 19 : 5.
Footnote 709:
See pp. 39–42, 142 f., 212, _supra_.
Footnote 710:
See pp. 153–164, _supra_.
Footnote 711:
See Dean Stanley’s _Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey_, first edition, pp. 59–67; also, Appendices, pp. 492–502.
Footnote 712:
See Dean Stanley’s _Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey_, first edition, pp. 64–66.
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INDEXES.
TOPICAL INDEX.
Aaron and his sons consecrated at doorway, 119. Aberdeenshire: New Year’s custom in, 20 f.; sacredness of threshold in, 34. Abimelech and Abraham settling disputed boundary, 170. Abiram, Jericho’s foundation laid in blood of, 47. Aborigines of America, worship of, 148. Abraham: promise that his seed should possess gate of enemies, 65; lifting up his hand to God, 82; coming from Haran and Ur, 160; his offering on Mt. Moriah, 161; directed to rebuild holy house at Meccah, 163; and Abimelech settling disputed boundary, 170; the Lord’s covenant welcome to, 187; his visit to home of Ishmael in Arabia, 200; covenant with, 211. Absalom in “way of the gate” to do judgment, 64. Abyla and Calpë as boundary marks, 181. Abyssinia: bride carried to her new home in, 38; prominence of door in, 107; churches of, on hill or in grove, 130 f.; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Acropolis, Propylæa built by Pericles on, 158. Adam as builder of Holy House at Meccah, 163. “Adam Khan and Durkhani,” poem of Afghans, 58. Adonis of Greece, reference to, 115. Adoption: of guest in Egypt and Syria, 3; of bride by stepping over blood at threshold, 26; among Arabs accompanied by sacrifice at door, 59. “Adultery,” affiliation with any but true God called, 213. Æneas at court of Queen Dido, 130. Æschylus, reference to, 134. Æsculapius represented by serpent, 236. Afghans, protection for all at threshold among, 58. Africa: human sacrifice in Central, 8 f.; fowl sacrificed for guest in West, 9; sheep sacrificed for guest in Central, 9; bloody grass on threshold in Equatorial, 15; sacrifices at threshold among Somalis of, 27; threshold customs in South, 28; bride carried over threshold in West, 39; bloody hand in North, 78 f.; bloody hand in, 93; primitive sacredness of doorway in, 132; boundary lines in, 174; trees as boundaries in Equatorial, 174; exhibit of blood stains in western, 246. Agade, Istar of, 153. _Agni_, masculine, 198. Ahab, reference to time of, 47. Ainé’s _Herc. at Pomp._: cited, 258. Akibah, Rabbi: cited, 253. Alaska: dead not carried over threshold in, 24; human sacrifices at foundation of houses in, 50 f. Albanians, crossing threshold right foot foremost, 37 f. Alcinoüs, temple palace of, 132, 135. Alee, kissing threshold of tomb of, 124. Alexandri, poem by, regarding foundation sacrifice, 52. Algiers, walls of, laid in blood of Christian captive, 48. Algonquins, prominence of hand among, 84. _ʿAlîyyâ_, symbolic meaning of, 253. Allat, sovereign of Hades, life restored at threshold of, 113 f. Altamash, emperor of India, building mosk, 157. Altar: primitive family, 3; reverence for threshold, 10-25; offering of life on threshold, 16; near door in Mexico, 21; sanctity of threshold as primitive, 22; reference to souls under, 25; saint or ecclesiastic buried under, in Europe, 25; threshold, in Russia, 31 f.; offerings at threshold, in Holland, 33; before door at marriage in Borneo, 34; sacredness of threshold in Scotland, 34; fire taken over threshold among Hindoos, 40 f.; lamb buried under, in Swedish tradition, 56; before Greek houses, 72; at or before threshold, 102, 136; in doorway of temple at Nippur, 111; of burnt offering, blood poured out at, 119; at doorway, in Jerusalem, Phenicia, Phrygia, Aphrodisias, 121; at threshold in Egyptian temple, 126; at Yeha, 131; _lélé_, name for, 150 f. Altar-fire: connecting link between nuptial torch and, 41; crossing, in Russia, 42; references to, 39 f., 99-102, 226. Amara Deva, temple builder, 156. Amara Sinha, temple builder, 156. Amenophis IV. before Aten-ra, 81. America, Central: bridal couple carried over threshold in, 45; blood of sacrificial offerings smeared on doorways in, 73; earliest form of temple in, 144; boys sacrificed in, 145; temples of, 145, 148; nuptial customs of, 196; sculptures indicating covenant rite between first pair in, 202; marriage ceremonies in, 246. America, North: survival of sacrifice in, 8; treading on threshold in, 13; coffin passed out window of house in, 25; window opened and door closed at death in, 25; nailing horseshoes on side-posts of doorway in, 73 f.; symbol of open hands in museums of, 79; red hand among aborigines of, 83 f., 93; laying of corner-stones in, 147; survival of primitive sacredness of threshold in, 147; aborigines of, religious worship of, 148; boundary lines in, 174; symbol of covenant among primitive peoples in, 201; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. America, South: blood smeared on doorway in, 73; earliest form of temple in, 144; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; serpent as religious symbol in, 235. America, United States of: vice-consul of, in Egypt, reference to, 7 f.; boundary marks in, 126, 182 f. American Architect, reference to the, 175. American Indians, red-hand symbolism among, 85-93. Amon, temple of, reference to, 185. Amorite, daughter of, 213. ʾAnazeh Bed´ween, sacrifice at threshold among, 26. Andersson, Charles John: cited, 28. Ani before throne of Osiris, 257. Animals: images of, on Mordvin door-posts, 42 f.; substituted for human beings in sacrifice, 46; lower, as distinguished from man, 223. Animals sacrificed. See _Sacrifice_. _Ankh_, or _crux ansata_, 201. Anointing door-posts among Latins, 29 f. Antariksha invoked on door-sill, 15. Antelii presiding over entrance, 97. Antiquary, The, reference to, 50. Anu, gate of, reference to, 95 Apaches: prominence of red hand among, 87; reference to, 88. Aphrodisias, altar on threshold in ancient, 121. Apollo: temple of, at Delphi, 134; represented by female oracle, 236; slayer of serpent, 236. Apollo Agyieus, altar of, placed before house among Greeks, 72. Apollo Thyræus, at entrance, 97. Arabia: crossing threshold in, 10; blood at door-post to secure protection in, 59 f.; kissing threshold in, 129; Eve settling in, 164; Abraham’s visit to Ishmael in, 200; use of pigeon poult’s blood in, 248. Arabic term for woman, 256. Arabs: of Central Africa, blood welcome among, 9; sacrifice at threshold among, 26; “house of hair” of, 57; of Syrian Desert, doorway sacrifice in joining another tribe, 58 f.; red hand on houses of, in Jerusalem, 76; _wely_ common as place of worship for, in Egypt, 129; exhibit of evidences among, 249. Arafat near Meccah, 163 f. Arapahoes, red hand among, 87. Arch, memorial, meaning of, 103. Archangel, foundation sacrifice in, 54. Architecture: influence of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt in doorway, 60; of temples in China and Japan, 101; sacredness of threshold recognized in, 102. Arcot, Nabob of, banners with painted hands carried before, 78. Areca-nut eaten in marriage covenant in Borneo, 34. Arickarees, red hand among, 87. Ark of Hebrews in house of Dagon, 116. Armenian Christians, blood on threshold among, 26. Armenians, sacred inscriptions above doorway of, 71. Arta, bridge of, story of burying women alive to secure, 52. Artemis Propylæa at Eleusis, 134. Aryan origin of red hand, 75. Aryan races: reference to, 197; language and customs of, 199. Asherah, command to Israelites concerning, 233. Ashtaroth, symbol of, 214. Ashurnâsirapli, references to, 178, 184. Asia: bloody hand in marriage in, 93; traces of primitive sacredness of doorway found in, 132; boundary lines in, 174. See, also, _China_, _India_, _Japan_. Asia Minor: human sacrifice in, 47 f.; references to, 93, 132, 174; altar on threshold in early Christian remains in, 121. _Askuppu_, word for threshold, 110. Asshur and his worshipers represented with uplifted hands, 80. Assioot: threshold sacrifice at, 7 f.; General Grant at border line of, 186. Assyria: images buried under threshold in, 14; crossing threshold in marriage in ancient, 39; influence of, shown in architecture of doorways, 60; uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79; inscriptions at doorway in, 108 f.; guardians of threshold in, 111; Zephaniah’s curse on, 115; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Assyrian: word _nish_–lifting up hand, 83; city gates named after special god, 95; god Nergal beneath threshold, 95; gods Ea and Merodach at gate of house, 95; monuments on doorway shrine, 105; king, sculptured image of, with arms uplifted, 115; kings and boundary lines, 177; kings offering sacrifices at boundaries of empire, 184; temples, furniture of, 207; sculpture, testimony of, 231, 257. Assyro-Babylonians and boundary lines, 185. Athaliah, priests assigned to service at threshold in days of, 120. Athenian generals offering sacrifices to Mercury, 172. Atlas upholding heaven, 132. Attica and Peloponnesus, boundary between, 180. Aubrey, John: cited, 74. Avaika, or under world, 152. Avatea, part man and part fish, 152. Azila, reference to, 62. Aztecs, marriage ceremonies among, 246.
Baal, symbol of, 214. “Bab,” or Door, spiritual head of Babists, 103. Babel, tower of, or door of God, 103. Babelon, Ernest, reference to, 60. Bâb-ilu, Bâbi-ilu, Bab-el, Door of God, 103. Babist sect in Persia, 103 f. Babylon: Daniel as judge in, 64; reference to, 75; king of, recognized by uplifted hand, 80; building of walls of, 109 f.; gates dedicated to gods in, 110; temples with altars outside in, 111 f.; kings of, 154; final overthrow of, 211; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; ancient, in religious symbolism, 234. Babylonia: inscriptions placed at threshold in, 22; influence shown in architecture of doorways, 60; red hand on houses and animals in, 75; uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79; swinging doors in religious symbolism of, 105; sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.; guardians of threshold in, 111; crossing threshold in death in literature and legends of, 112 f.; sacredness of doorway above threshold in, 126 f.; temple building in, 153; boundaries in, 177; indications of presence of deity in, 201; ancient, religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235. Babylonian: tablet of Nebuchadrezzar on gate as place of justice, 60; character for house, palace, and temple identical, 99 f.; monuments on doorway shrine, 105; literature, reference to, 109; Hades surrounded by seven walls with seven gates, 113; idea of future life, 128; king, reference to last, 153; sun-god Shamash, 201; temples, furniture of, 207. Babylonian and Oriental Record, reference to, 231. Babylonian Talmud, reference to, 253. Babylonians, twofold symbols among, 200. Bagdad, khaleefs of, threshold custom of, 10. Baker, Sir Samuel W., quotation from, 9. Balawat gates, gods and kings at, 105. Baldensperger, P.J.: cited, 29. _Bali_: meaning of word, 15; placed on door-sill among Hindoos, 15; offering demanded at all doors, 15. Ballads, popular, on human sacrifice in foundation building, 52. Baltimore, Lord, boundary lines reported to, 182. Bancroft, H.H.: cited, 34 f., 45, 56, 144, 146, 202, 247; reference to, 108. Bangalore, serpent worship in, 258 f. Banks of lakes as boundaries, 178. Banners inscribed with open hand in Turkey and Persia, 78. Baptism, place of, in early churches, 137. Baptismal custom with reference to threshold, 18 f. Baptismal font, location of, in Protestant Episcopal churches, 147. Baptist, John the, mission of, 218. Baring-Gould, Rev. S.: quotation from, 138 f. Barker, W.B., reference to, 257. Barnabas and Paul at Lystra, 135. “Bason” word for _saph_ in English Bible, 206. Bat: under threshold in Roumania, 20; superstitions among primitive peoples regarding, 20. Baveddeen, famous threshold stone at, 124. Bay and laurel in doorway at marriage among Romans, 73. Bayt-el-Walli, rock grotto of, 180. Beans under threshold, among Magyars, 19 f. “Beating the bounds:” in England, 174; in New England, 176. Beccah. See _Meccah_. Becker, W.A.: cited, 37, 41, 72 f. Beer-sheba, well at, in dispute, 170. Beginning of religious rites, 199, 225. Beirut. See _Beyroot_. Bektashi derwishes of Syria, threshold custom of, 10. Bel, gate of, reference to, 95. Bel-Merodach, new king of ancient Babylon adopted by, 80. Belford, marriage customs at, 142. Beltis, gate of, reference to, 95. Beltis-Allat: “lady of the great hand,” 113; brandishing serpent in either hand, 235. Benjamin, S.G.W.: cited, 71. Bent, J. Theodore: cited, 107, 131. Bergeron, Pierre: cited, 13. Berlin, keys of captured cities in museum of, 262. Beth-el: Jacob at, 160; meaning of, 160. Betrothal: ceremony in Russia, 32; threshold custom in Central America, 34. Beyroot, boundary marks near, 178. Biaz, B.: cited, 21. Bible: carried into new home in Pennsylvania, 21; references to lifting up hands unto God, 82 f.; references to leaping over threshold, 117; reference to temple threshold as fitting place of worship, 117; its record of man, 224. Bingham, Joseph: cited, 136; quotation from, 136 f. Bird, Isabella: cited, 20, 72, 96, 101, 104 f., 126, 151. Birth: custom in Bombay, 17; new, help to, 199. Birthday, striking child on his, 176. Bishop, Isabella Bird. See _Isabella Bird_. Bishop of Paris, reference to, 139. “Bismillah,” use of word, on passing threshold, 10. Black hand: among Pecos, 87 f., Jicarilla Apaches, 89 f.; in Korea, 93 f. Black stone of Meccah, reference to, 10. Blessing, spiritual, represented in Assyrian sculpture, 231. Bliss, Dr. Frederick J.: cited, 58. Blood: welcome at door in Syria and Egypt, 3-10; stepping over, in East, 4 f., 7 f., 26; coffee as substitute for, 5; salt as substitute for, 5, 9, 20; in threshold in Central Africa, 8 f.; poured out on threshold in covenanting, 14 f.; threshold sprinkled with, in Ireland, 21; hospitality in outpoured, among Arabs, 23; at threshold in marriage ceremony in desert of Sinai, in Egypt, in Turkey, 26; stepping over, in marriage in Cyprus, 27; wedding-party to step over, among Armenians, 27; stepping over in Central Africa, 28; and fire, significance of, 40; world-wide custom of laying foundations in, 46; foundation-laying in, in Hindostan, Burmah, Tennasserin, Borneo, Japan, Galam, Yarriba, Polynesia, 51 f.; on foundation-stone in Greece, 53; of thousands of captives at consecration of altar in Mexico, 56; on threshold deemed essential factor in covenant with deity, 57; voice of, among Arabs, 59; poured across road to secure help in necessity in Morocco, 63; hand dipped in, struck upon door-posts in Stamboul, 66 f.; on lintel and door-posts, 66; of wedding sacrifice placed on door-posts, 67 f.; sentences in, on door-posts as protection from disease in China, 71; on bow, or threshold, of Chinese junk, 72; affixed to post or walls of new house in Palestine, 76 f.; of Christians, hand dipped in, stamped on wall to seal victory over them, 77; or ink used in hand or finger stamp, 93 f.; of sacrifice sprinkled on door in Guatemala, 98; of sacrifice at base of altar at Yeha, 131; proffer of, foundation of family, 194; stains exhibited in Western Africa, 246. “Blood of the grape,” in covenant, 5, 8. Blood-color, doorways painted, 104. Bloody grass representing dignity and power, 15. Bloody hand: stamped in dough placed on lintel, 28 f.; on lintel of temple at Jerusalem, 67; on walls among Jews in Tunis, 78 f.; red seal on modern documents probably survival of, 94; in testimony to covenant, 244 f. See, also, _Red hand_. Bloody sacrifices at temple thresholds in India, 122. Blue hands on houses in Palestine, 76. Blunt, J.H.: cited, 137. Boaz meeting elders at gate in justice to Ruth and Naomi, 64. “Bodhi-Gaya,” reference to, 156. Body, not to cross threshold, 23-25. Bombay Anthropological Society, reference to, 17. Bombay, birth custom at, 17. _Bomoi pronaioi_, 134. Bonavia, Dr., reference to, 231. Bonomi, Joseph: his suggestion regarding word “teraphim,” 109. Booddha: commanding temple to be built, 156; and serpent, 236. Booddha-drum, reference to, 156. Booddha-hood, Sakya Sinha attaining to, 156. “Booddha’s foot,” 156. Booddhism concerning temple, 156. Booddhist: Gog and Magog of, 96; temples, doorways apart from, 104; temples, pilgrims at threshold of, 125; prayer in Tibet, 199. Book of Records, Chinese, reference to, 158. “Book of the Dead,” Egyptian, references to, 128 f., 257. Border landmarks, form of, 170 f. Border lines referred to, 183. Borneo: pig’s blood sprinkled at door in, 20; marriage custom in, 34; survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f. Borsippa: sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.; temple of, threshold plated with zarîru, 111. Bothnia, East, iron bar on threshold for cows to cross, 17. Botta, P.E.: cited, 109. Boundary: references to, 13, 17, 154, 165-192, 234; as place of worship and sacrifice, 166; stones, importance of, 167; Nebo protector of, 177. Bourke, Capt. J.G.: cited, 87. Bowing: to gate on leaving bride’s home in Russia, 44; before threshold, 126. Boys sacrificed in Central America, 145. Brahmanas, reference to, 197. Brahmanic religion concerning temples, 155 f. Brahmanical Mahâdeva, commanding temple to be built, 156. Brandy offered to threshold gods in Russia, 32 f., 43 f. Bread: placed under threshold as “gods’” portion, 32; thrown over bride at door in Scotland, 34, 44; and honey placed on bride’s gate-post in Russia, 42 f. Bread and salt: at threshold in Russia, 9; in hospitality among Arabs, 22; as factors in sacred covenant, 32. “Breaking the stick” at threshold in Skarpanto, 31. Bremen, skeleton of child found in walls of Bridge Gate of, 50. Bridal couple carried across threshold in Central America, 45. Bride: made to step over blood of sacrifice in Syria, 26; in Central Africa, 27 f.; called “princess” at wedding in Russia, 32; bread thrown over, at door in Scotland, 34, 44; carried over threshold among Towkas, 35, in Abyssinia, Egypt, and Upper Syria, 38, in West Africa, 39, in Russia, 44; to step over threshold among Hindoos, 36 f.; not lifted over threshold in India, 38; borne in sedan-chair to new home, 39 f.; carried over fire in China, 40; worshiping at altar-fire of new home in India, China, Greece, and Rome, 41; inducted into household office at hearth, 44; represented by the Church, 218, 221. Bridegroom: to step over blood at threshold in Central Africa, 27 f.; bread thrown over, at door, 34; Jesus called, 218; of blood, 244. British envoy welcomed at threshold of Kauzeroon, 189. Bronze bulls on gates of Babylon, 109 f. “Bronze threshold,” reference to, 132. Broom laid across door-sill in Pennsylvania, 21. Browne, Edward G., reference to, 104. Bruce, James: quotation from, 9; cited, 38, 130. Brugsch Bey: references to, 103, 127, 161, 179 f., 184 f. Brush-topped pole as symbol, 214. “Buddha-Gaya,” reference to, 156. “Buddha-pad,” reference to, 156. Buffaloes sacrificed in Egypt, 7. Bühler, G.: cited, 169. Bukohōla temple in Sandwich Islands, 150. Bulgarian foundation custom, 53. Bullock: sacrificed at door for guest, 4; sacrifice of, 7 f. Bulls: winged, with human heads to guard entrance way, 95; of bronze on gates of Babylon, 109 f.; as guardians of threshold in Babylonia, 110 f.; of bronze, in Babylon, 234. Bunsen, Chevalier, reference to, 111. Burckhardt, John Lewis: cited, 26, 38, 191, 244-246. Burder, Samuel: cited, 13. Burials made under threshold in East and West, 25. Buried images, symbols and treasures under temple doorways, 109. Burmah, survival of foundation laying in blood in, 51 f. Burton, Richard F.: cited, 164; quotation from, 248 f. Burying women and children in foundation, 18, 50. Bush as symbol of feminine in nature, 214. Bush, George, reference to, 112. Busrah, women exhibiting evidences at, 248. Butter or honey smeared on door-posts among Wallachians, 29. Buxtorf, John: cited, 200, 253. “By door,” entering house, 6. Byzantine age, sarcophagi of, showing altar at threshold, 121.
Cairo: Arab sitting in judgment at gate of, 60; protecting genius of different quarters of, 96 f. Calling on name of God at threshold, 29. Calpë and Abyla as boundary marks, 181. Cam, Diego, discoverer of Congo River, 182. Campbell, John: cited, 39. Canaan: gateway between Egypt and, 105; Israelites entering into, 211; people of, treatment of, 232. Candle on threshold in Russia, 41-44. Candlestick, five branched, similar to sign of hand, 77. Cão, Diego, reference to, 182. Cardea, Hinge-goddess of Romans, 97. Carlyle, Thomas: cited, 183. Carpathos. See _Skarpanto_. Carthage: uplifted hand above door in, 78; prominence of door in, 107; prominence of temple threshold in, 130. Cassotis spring, reference to, 135. Catholic Church, Roman: holy water in, 147; on marriage, 222. Catlin, George: quotation from, and reference to, 86. Cave, fire at entrance of, 23. Central America: threshold custom in, 34; blood smeared on doorways in, 72; red hand stamped on doorways and walls in, 81 f.; “the god of houses” in, 98; sacrifice of boys in, 145. Ceremony: wedding threshold in North Germany, 18; of laying threshold in India, 95. Ceylon, Adam settling in, 164. Chahalka, “the god of houses,” in Central America, 98. Chamberlain, Basil Hall: cited, 101, 104. Chambers’s Journal, reference to, 175. Charans, appeal at threshold for justice among, 61. Chardin, Sir John: cited, 124. Charms: on threshold and door in Uganda, 15; under door-step in Russia, 19; fastened above door in China, 71; on doors and door-posts in China, 71, 95; worn in Jerusalem, 75 f. Chase, W.G., quotation from, 51. Chateaubraud, Viscount de: cited, 147. Chaucer, Geoffrey, quotation from, 139. Cheetham, Samuel. See _Smith and Cheetham_. Chelly canyon, red-hand symbol in, 87. Cheyennes, red hand among, 87. Chicago, Columbian Exposition at, reference to, 57. Chief rabbi, in Jerusalem, sacrifice at threshold in installing, 67. Child: held over threshold after baptism, 18 f.; buried in ramparts of Copenhagen, 49; buried under citadel of Dyetinets, 50; adopted into family by clasping hands in Babylonia, 80; striking, on birthday, 176. Children: custom of, relative to boundary lines, 13; buried under threshold in Russia, 18; buried in foundations, 49 f.; sacrifice of, in Central America, 145. China: body to be removed over wall, 23; fire on threshold in marriage in, 39; bride worshiping at altar-fire in, 41; human sacrifice to make sure foundations in, 48; coins and charms under door-sill in, 71; sacred inscriptions on side-posts and lintel in, 71; tutelar gods of threshold in, 95 f.; temple and house in architecture, 101; doorways apart from temples in, 104; sacredness of temple in, 158; nuptial customs of, 196; phallic emblems in, 230; marriage customs in, 245. Chinese: custom of avoiding threshold, 23 f.; native clergyman, testimony of, 48; year, festival of fifth month of, 71; junk, sacrifice on bow of, 71 f.; honorary portals and ancestral tablets, 108; classics, most ancient of, 185; emperor passing boundary line of empire, 185; characters for threshold, door, border, and woman, 256. “Chinese gods of the threshold,” 96. Chipiez, Charles. See _Perrot and Chipiez_. “Christ, spouse of,” 222. “Christening” ship, custom of, 8. Christian: lands, niches for heroes in, survival primitive doorway in tomb in, 108; passover, reference to, 216. Christian churches: of Europe, burials under altar of, 25; tradition of burial of lamb under altar of, 56; symbol of horseshoe at threshold of, 74. Christian Fathers, reference to, 97. Christians: inscribed gates of, in East, 70; in Syria, sign of hand among, 76 f.; warned not to dishonor their gates with laurel crowns, 97; admonished not to make their gates heathen temples, 98; kissing threshold of church in Persia, 124. Church House in Philadelphia, reference to, 55. Church of England bishops replying to Presbyterians on position of baptismal font, 137. Churches always on hill or in grove in Abyssinia, 130 f. Cicero, hearth-fire and Penates in time of, 41. Cimon, gate of, in Propylæa, 159. Circumcision as practiced in Madagascar, 149. Cities of refuge: Hebrew law as to, 151; in Hawaii, 151. Clapping of hands at threshold in Japan, 126. Classic writers: their explanation of threshold custom, 39. “Cleansing the threshold” at wedding in Russia, 32. Clement of Alexandria, reference to, 239. Clothing stamped with red hand, 87. Coal under threshold among Magyars, 19 f. Cock sacrificed: in Ireland, 21; at foundation in Russia, 54 f. Cockle, Montague, reference to, 233. Coffee as Muhammadan substitute for blood, 5. Columbian Exposition, reference to, 57. Com, tomb of kings of Persia at, 124. Comanches: prominence of red hand among, 87; reference to, 88. Communion feasts, origin of, 226. Concord, beating bounds in, 176. Conder, Maj. C.R.: quotation from, 10, 28 f.: cited, 123. Confucius, reference to, 256 f. Confucian temple, doorways apart from, 104. Congo River, boundary pillar erected in mouth of, 182. Constantinople, red hand stamp in, 77. Contemporary Review, reference to, 229. Convent, trace of foundation sacrifice in rebuilding, 56. Cook, Capt. James: cited, 202; quotation from, 250 f. Coote, H.C.: cited, 50, 55 f. Copenhagen, immuring of child in ramparts of, 49. Copts, sacrifice of sheep at threshold among, 26, 45. Coral hand as talisman among Jews at Tunis, 79. Cord stretched across door to prevent bridal couple entering, 33 f. Corn: and water used in threshold ceremony, 16 f.; mixed with milk and sugar as offering, 17; thrown on bride at threshold in Rhodes, 31. Corner-stone: laying as survival of primitive sacredness, 22; recognized as beginning or limit of threshold of Babylonian buildings, 22; ceremonies in civilized lands, 55; laying of, in America, 55, 147. Cornhill Magazine, reference to, 48-50, 56. Corinthian Christians, Paul to, 216. Corpse: not to cross threshold in India, China, and Italy, 23 f., in Alaska, 24; passed out under threshold in Russia, 24. Correspondences of legends of Babylonia, Syria, Egypt and Greece as to door and threshold, 115. Cossacks, disputes over boundary lines among, 175. Cotton seeds thrown on bride at threshold in Rhodes, 31. Coulanges, Numa D.F. de: cited, 41, 99, 156. Covenant: through blood in Egypt, 3; Syria, 3-5; symbolized by uplifted hand, 81; sacrifice at threshold with God of life, 94; worship place of, 165. Covenanting: by crossing threshold, 5-10; by stepping over blood on door-sill, 9. Cow: gift from sacred, in India, 16; driven over iron bar on threshold, 17; sacrifice of, in Ireland, 21. Cowdung cake at seed-time in India, 16. Cranch, C.P., quotation from, 130. Croix, de la, J.F., reference to, 124. Cross: sign of, in curing disorder, 18; drawn on threshold to keep off hags, 18; under threshold of new house in Lithuania, 18. Crowbar at threshold, 17. _Crux ansata_ or _ankh_, 201. Cunningham, Alexander: reference to, 156 f. Curse: for removing threshold altar, 169 f.; for removal of neighbor’s landmark, 170. Curtea de Argest, superstition regarding sacrifice at building of, 52. Curtin, Jeremiah: cited, 142 f. Cushing, Frank H., communication from, 86-93. Cyprus: fowl sacrificed at door in, 27; prominence of door in, 107. Cyrus, reference to, 154.
Dacotahs, symbol of hand among, 84. Dagon, his overthrow, 116 f. Dahabiyeh, threshold custom on purchasing, 8. Dahomey, nuptial customs of, 245. Dalmatia, kissing threshold in, 31. Damascus, Hajj procession approaching, 186. Dances of American Indians, prominence of hand in, 83 f. Dancing custom in Central America, 247. Danes: immuring of girl in city walls among, 49; lamb buried under every altar of, 56. Daniel in gate of king, 64. Darfour, marriage ceremonies in, 249. Darmesteter, James: cited, 58; reference to, 99. David: sitting in gate, 64; erecting altar to Lord, 161. De Amicis, Edmondo: cited, 77. De Coulanges, Numa D.F. de: cited, 41, 156; reference to, 99. De Hesse-Wartegg, Chevalier: cited, 79. Dead: not to cross threshold in India, China, 23 f., Korea, Russia, Italy, Alaska, 24; taken over wall in China, 23 f.; taken under threshold in Russia, 24; prayers for, inscribed on false door of tombs of Egypt, 106. “Dead, Book of the,” references to, 128 f., 257. “Dead, Gate of the,” in Korea, 24. Death following building of new house, 54. “Death Week” among Slavonic peoples, 19. Dedications on doorways by primitive peoples, 69. Deer carried over threshold in betrothal in Central America, 34. Deity: appeal to, in East, 3 f.; of ancient Egypt with uplifted hands, 81; of threshold, reference to, 109; of gates of Hades, 113. Delhi and serpent, 236. Delitzsch, Franz, reference to, 254. Delitzsch, Friedrich, reference to, 100. Delphi: treasures of, described, 133; Neoptolemus attacking Orestes in, 134; temple of Apollo at, 134 f.; Apollo at, represented by female oracle, 236. Deluge: reference to, 103; destruction of Holy House in, 163. Detinetz, burial in foundations in, 50. Development and origin of man, 223. D’Herbelot, quotation from, 10 f. _Diabateria_, meaning of, 208. Dido, Queen, Æneas at court of, 130. Dieulafoy, M.: cited, 60. “Digging through” in New Testament, 260. Dillmann, Christian F.A., reference to, 254. _Ditya_, reference to, 50. Dives, Lazarus at gate of, 64. Divination and exorcism in Italy, 17. Documents signed in blood or ink, 94. Domestic divinities, protection from, in Lithuania, 18 f. “Domovoi:” household deity of Russia, sacrifice for, 19; invoked at threshold, 23. Donaldson, T., reference to, 86. Donaldson, T.L., references to, 121, 134, 231. Donatus: cited, 29 f. Doolittle, Rev. Justus: cited, 71. Door: animal sacrifices at house-door in Egypt, 3, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, among Pythagoreans, 12 f., among Slavonic peoples, 19, among Dyaks of Borneo, 20, in Ireland, 21, among Arabs, 22 f., in Syria, 26, 45, in Turkey, Cyprus, and Central Africa, 27, in Egypt, 45, all over world, 46, in Greece, 53, in Russia, 54, in Arabia, 58-60, in Morocco, 63, 67, in Turkey, 66 f., in Jerusalem, 67, in China, 72, in Palestine, 76, in tabernacle in Wilderness, 118 f., in South Sea Islands, 148; blood welcome at, in Syria and Egypt, 3-10, Central Africa, 8 f., West Africa, 9, Egypt, 7, 205; charms placed at, in Uganda, 15, in Russia, 19, in China, 71, in Jerusalem, 75 f.; dead not to pass out of, 23-25; human sacrifice at, in Central Africa, 8 f., references to, 46-48, 51 f., 144 f., in China and Algiers, 48, in Denmark and Thuringia, 49, on Danube and in Alaska, 49 f., in Bremen, Scotland, and Ireland, 50, in Arta, Tricha, and Wallachia, 52, in Turkey, 52 f., in India, 61, 122 f., in Tibet, 125, in Central America, 145 f.; kissing right hand at, 69 f., 144, serpent at, in Yezidis temple, 116, of holy places, 116, at mosk in Persia, 123 f., at tomb of Alee, 124; sacredness of, 10-25, 102, 174, 260, in Persia, 12, 123 f., references to, 25-36, among Nestorians, 124, among Scandinavians in America, 259 f., in Bible times, 261; stepping over blood at, in Syria and Egypt, 4 f., 7 f., 26, 45 f., in West Africa, 9, in marriage in Cyprus, 27, among Armenians, 27, in Central Africa, 28; reference to, 254, 256. Door-key, finger-shaped, symbolic use of, 244. Dörpfeld, Dr., reference to, 159. Dough: on door-lintel in Upper Syria, 28 f.; under threshold among Moksha, 42. Douglas, Robert K.: cited, 40; reference to, 105. Dozy, Reinhart, reference to, 200. Dragon representing unholy desire, 240. Du Bois, Abbé J.A.: cited, 23. Dumuzi and Ishtar, legend of, 113, 115. Dwelling-place, man’s first, 165. Dyaks of Borneo: blood sprinkled at door among, 20; marriage custom among, 34. _Dyetina_, reference to, 50. Dyetinets, burial in foundations in, 50. Dying person passed through hole in wall in Alaska, 24.
Ea, god of right side of gate, 95. Early churches, position of altar in, 136. Easter: continuance of Passover, 221; festivities in Jerusalem, 221; threshold of new Ecclesiastical Year, 221. Ebed-melech: his appeal in behalf of Jeremiah, 64. Edersheim, Dr. Alfred, references to, 120, 211 f. Edward I., marriage of, at door, 140. Eggs under threshold in Russia, 19. Egypt: blood welcome at door in, 3; sacrifice of buffaloes in, 7; threshold sacrifice of sheep in, 7 f.; sacrifice at threshold in, 26; bride met at gate of husband’s residence in, 38; door at one side of dwelling in, 55; its influence shown in architecture of doorways, 60; inscribed doors in, 68, 96; uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79, 81, 85; God bringing out of, with strong hand, 83; and Canaan, gateway between, 105; prominence of doorway shrine in, 106; false door as gift in, 107; literature of, 109; oldest temple in, 126; sacredness of doorway in, 126; saints’ tomb as place of worship in, 129; temples of, 145; concerning temple foundations of, 155; boundary customs among, 178; ancient stone thresholds in, 179; Lower, boundary of, 180; southern boundary of, 184; nuptial customs of, 196; ancient deities of, 201; presence of deity in, 201; Virgin of Israel in, 218; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; kings of, and serpent, 234; and serpent as symbol, 235; bloody cloth in marriage in Upper, 243; marriage customs in, 243, 245. Egyptian: sacrifice before door, 14; king, power imparted to, by touch, 85; hieroglyph for house or temple identical, 100; temple, oldest form of, 100, monumental temple gateway, 127, history of, 155; priest, prostrations of, at threshold of shrine, 127 f.; idea of future life, 128; “Book of the Dead,” 128 f., 257; empire and Heh, boundary marks between, 179; sacrifices at boundaries of empire, 184; twofold sex symbols, 200; attitude towards Jehovah, 205; passover rite, 212, 214, 216. Eki as boundary mark, 178. _El Gisr_ or threshold, 180. Eleusis, temple of Artemis Propylæa at, 134. Eliezer, Rabbi, references to, 200, 253. Elisha and Naaman, Syrian, 161. Elliot, Sir Henry M.: cited, 16 f. Ellis, Rev. William: cited, 83, 111, 148, 150 f., 202. _Embatikon_, gift of in-going, 31. Embleton, wedding custom at, 142. Emerson, Ralph Waldo: cited, 176. Enemy, appeal of, for protection among Arabs, 59. Entering “not by door,” 6. Entrance-way, importance of, 3. Episcopal, Protestant, churches, location of baptismal font in, 147. Epithalamium of Hebrew Scriptures, 214. Erman, Adolf: cited, 55, 100, 103, 106, 127, 234; quotation from, 106 f., 155; reference to, 128. Erzas: marriage custom of, 41; earth from under threshold for bride, 43. Esarhaddon, his search for boundary lines, 154, 177. Eskimos, importance of threshold among, 39. Eulmash, ancient Babylonian temple, 153. Eulbar, ancient Babylonian temple, 153. Euphrates, boundary marks at, 178. Euripides: cited, 134 f. Europe: treading on threshold in, 13; burials under altar in Christian churches in, 25; coffin passed out window of house in, 25; window opened and door closed at death in, 25; horseshoes on side-posts in, 73 f.; symbols of open hand found in museums and Jewish cemeteries of, 79; hand-print in marriage in, 93; traces of primitive sacredness of doorway found in, 122; ancient shrines in, 150; boundary lines in, 174; great divisions of landmarks along borders of, 182; nuptial customs of, 196; Jews of, observing passover, 212. Evil eye: references to, 19, 67; averted by bloody hand, 67 f.; by five fingers held up to, 76; image of hand as talisman against, 79. Evil spirits in Pennsylvania, guard against, 21. Ewing, Rev. William: testimony of, 45, 261; cited, 77. “Exalted Gateway,” high court of Turkey called, 65, 103. Exalted House, Gate, or Door, meaning of Pharaoh, 103. Exorcism and divination in Italy, 17 f. Eye, evil. See _Evil eye_. Ezekiel: his reference to waters from under threshold of temple, 114; his prophecy that Prince of Israel should worship at threshold of gate, 118; his vision of glory of Lord over threshold, 118; Jehovah speaking through, 213. Ezida (Nebo) shrine of, 110.
“Fahazza” in Madagascar, 149. False door: of tombs in ancient Egypt, 106 f.; as gift from sovereign to subject in Egypt, 107. Family: altar and sacrifices for, in primitive times, 3; offering itself for sacrifice in Central Africa, 8 f.; life, beginning of, in threshold rite, 194. Fathers, Christian, reference to, 93. Feast after sacrifice: 4, 7; at beginning of spring among Slavonic peoples, 19; of “hand-striking” at betrothal, 32 f. Fecundity, lotus flower symbol of, 257. Fellaheen threshold custom in Palestine, 29. Fellows, Sir Charles: cited, 121. Feminine in nature, symbol of, 214, 230, 258. Fergusson, Dr. James: references to, 103-105, 107, 231, 235-237. “Festival, Harvest,” among Indians of lower Mississippi, 147. “Festival of New Fire,” 147. _Ficus religiosa_, reference to, 259. Fielde, Adele M.: cited, 40, 71. Fig: in religious symbolisms, 230; tree representing female, 258. Figures of speech, Oriental, obscured by literalism of Western mind, 238. Finger-shaped door-key used in wedding ceremony, 244. Finland: shaking hands across threshold in, 12; high thresholds in, 12; threshold as altar in, 32; clergyman to step over threshold in, 143. Finmac-Coole, print of hand of, 81. Finn, James: cited, 67. Fire: and salt on threshold, 21; at entrance to cave or tent, in primitive times, 22 f.; on threshold altar in China, 39; and blood, significance of, 40; reference to, 41 f.; references to, 54-56, 158; masculine symbol, 198; production of sacred, 198; doorway, origin of, 226; as gift of God, 227. Fire-altar: center of public worship, 99; in Persia, 100, in India, 102; of family developed into that of community, 101; origin of, 226. First-fruits of grain-field offered at threshold, 16 f. Five: fingers held before evil eye, 76, extended on receiving praise, 79; pronouncing word, in response to praise, 79. Flaming torch in Roman marriage ceremonies, 41. Flesh: of sacrificed animal distributed, 4; and blood symbolized by bread and salt, 9. “Floor of the door” held sacred in Abyssinia, 131. Folk-Lore, London, references to, 8, 40, 42-44. Folk-Lore Journal, reference to, 221. Folk-Lore Journal, London, references to, 21, 27 f., 34, 50, 56, 196. Folk-Lore Record, London, reference to, 38. Foot: against threshold, “unlucky” to strike, 12 f.; importance placed on use of right, 36-38. Forculus, door-god of Romans, 97. Forlong, Gen. J.G.R.: references to, 230, 237. “Fornication,” idolatry called, 213. “Foundation:” and “threshold” interchangeable terms, 21 f.; references to, 47, 50, 53, 158; laying in blood in Galam, 51 f.; sacrifice in Algiers, 48, among Vlachs in Turkey, 52 f.; in Archangel, 54; in inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar II., 109 f.; or Papa, 152. Foundation-stone as threshold of building, 46. Fountain of life sought for, 148. Fowl: sacrificed at door, 4, 9, 21, 27, 45, 54 f.; sacrificed at foundation-laying in Greece, 53, in Bulgaria, 54; sacrificed on Chinese junk starting on long voyage, 71 f. Foxes, tribe of, red hand among, 87. France: marriages in ancient times in, 139; Marguerite of, married to Edward I. at door in, 140; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Frazer, J.G.: references to, 5, 93, 209, 230; cited, 147, 221. Freytag, G.W., reference to, 244. Friend of bridegroom: gifts made at threshold by, in Russia, 32; among Albanians, 37 f. Frog under threshold among Magyars, 19 f. Frothingham, Prof. A.L., Jr., testimony of, 24. Fruit: presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31; in Bible narrative, 238. Fuerst, Julius: cited, 244. Funeral: salt on threshold in Japan after, 20; coffin passed out window at, in Europe and America, 25.
Gabriel kissing threshold of gate, 124. Galam, survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f. “Galeed,” memorial of covenant between Jacob and Laban, 171. Galilee, Sea of, reference to, 11. Gardner, Dr. Percy: cited, 7; reference to, 263. Garlic placed under threshold among Magyars, 19 f. Garnett, L.M.J.: cited, 27, 30; quotation from, 53. Gate: justice at palace, in Persepolis, 60; of camp of Israel, Moses at, 63; inscribed, among Muhammadans, 70; dishonoring, among Greeks, 97; image as gate in New Zealand, 107 f.; gods of, 95, 110, 113, 127-129; of Beltis, 95, at Medina, at Ghuznee, of mosk at Meccah, images trodden upon at, 123; keys of captured cities preserved in Germany, 262. “Gate of the Dead” in Korea, 24. Gate-god of Romans, 97. “Gate of heaven” in Jacob’s dream at Bethel, 112. Gateway: sacredness of, among Greeks, 7; of city, images buried under, 14. Gauri feast, worship of serpent at, 259. Gaza, gates of, carried off by Samson, 255. Genesis, the temptation in narrative of: as understood by Philo Judæus, 238; teaching of Gnostic sects on, 239. Genii, winged, and winged bulls at entrance, 95. Gentleman’s Magazine, reference to, 74. Germany: threshold cure in North, 18; pottery broken on threshold on marriage eve in North, 33; South, Scripture inscriptions above entrance of houses in, 73; marriage rites of, 138; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; term for women in, 256; emperors of, preserving keys of captured cities, 262. Geronimo sacrificed in building walls of Algiers, 48. Gesenius, Wilhelm: cited, 83; references to, 103, 210, 255. Ghuzzeh, ancient site of Gaza, 255. “Gift of in-going” for bridegroom in Skarpanto, 31. Gifts at threshold: at wedding in Russia, 32; at marriage among Towkas, 35. Gilead, Jacob and Laban in, 171. Gill, Rev. W.W.: cited, 152. Gingiro, bloody threshold offering in, 8 f. Ginsburg, Dr. Christian D.: cited, #69.f190# f.; references to, 120, 212. Gnostic sects, teaching of, on narrative in Genesis, 239. Goat sacrificed: at threshold for guest, 4; in Central Africa, 27 f.; among Copts in Egypt, 45; on Arab joining new tribe, 59. Gobineau, Count de: reference to, 104. God: of household party to marriage covenant, 32; of life and fertility, 79; of threshold in China, 71, 95 f., in India, 95, in Japan, 96, in Egypt, 96 f., in Greece and Rome, 97, in Guatemala, 98; of doorways in China, Japan, Korea, Siam, India, 104; Asshur and his worshipers with uplifted hands, 89; doorway shrine as standing-place for, 105; of under-world, false door of tomb for, 106; of gates in Babylonia, 113; Ea in legend of Ishtar and Dumuzi, 114; Isis, guardian of gateway, 127; Nephthys, guardian of gateway, 127; Osiris–judge of living and dead, at door of gateway, 127-129. “Goddess of the homestead,” prayer to, in betrothal in Russia, 32. “Goddess of the dwelling-house,” reference to, 32. Goddess Ishtar, descent of, into Allat’s realm, 113 f. _Godo_ preserved from wedding night in Dahomey, 245. “Gods of entrances” among Romans, 97. “Gods’ portion:” salted bread under threshold in betrothal in Russia, 32; of brandy spilt under threshold in Russia, 33. Godwyn, Thomas: cited, 39. “Going out and coming in,” reference to threshold and deities, 109. Gold: under threshold in Roumania, 20; threshold plated with, 110. Goldsmith struck dead at threshold, 122. Gomme, George L., 50. “Good Abode, The,” inscribed on door-posts of dwelling, 68. “Good luck” from horseshoes on side-posts of doorway, 73 f. Goodwin, William W.: cited, 39, 41. Goose sacrificed in Ireland, 21. “Graf,” meaning of, 183. Grain, nuts, and fruit presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31. Grant, General: threshold sacrifice in honor of, 7 f.; at border line of Assioot, 186. Grant-Bey, Dr. J.A.S., reference to, 124. “Grape, blood of the,” among Muhammadans, 5. Grass dipped in blood representing dignity and power, 15. Graves, symbol of open hand above, 79. Gray, Archdeacon: cited, 40, 72; references to, 104, 108, 245. Great Britain, reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Greece: lifting bride over threshold in, 39; bride worshiping at altar-fire in, 41; flaming torch to accompany foundation sacrifice in, 53; reference to religion of, 97; palace and temple often identical in, 100; position of altar in temples of, 134; ancient ruins on sacred foundations of, 158; trees marking border lines in, 176; boundaries in ancient, 180; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235; prominence of pine-cone in ancient, 257. Greek Church, marriage sacrament in, 222. Greeks: sacredness of city gates among, 7; in Turkey, wedding custom among, 30; altars before houses among, 72; doorway ornamented for bride among, 72 f.; appealing to guardian deity at gateway among, 73; smearing side-posts of gateway with magic herbs among, 73; deities of doors and gates among, 97; temple of, developed from dwelling-house, 100; earliest literature of, in reference to threshold, 132; modern Easter observance among, 221. Gregor, Walter, quotation from, 34. Griffis, William Elliot: cited, 20; references to, 101, 104, 230. Grove of trees: sacred landmark of boundary in primitive times, 173 f.; in religious symbolisms, 230. Guardian deity’s protection secured by stepping over threshold, 12. “Guardian of the dwellings of Israel, the,” 69. Guardian of threshold as post of honor, 119 f. Guarding dwelling by placing sacrifices on threshold, 14. Guatemala: blood smeared on doorway in, 73; “the god of houses” in, 98. Guest: adopted by bloody sacrifice at door in Syria and Egypt, 3; welcomed by stepping over blood at door of host, 4; by blood among Arabs of Central Africa, 9; by sacrifice of fowl in Liberia, 9; refusal of welcome to, 217. Guhl and Koner: cited, 40 f., 72, 100. Guzelder, reference to, 190. Gwilt, Joseph: cited, 36.
Hades, Babylonian conception of, 113. Hagar: and Holy House, tradition of, 163; Abraham’s visit to home of, 200. Hags kept off by cross drawn on threshold, 18. Hajj procession returning from Meccah, 186. Hakham Bâshi, welcome to, 67. Haleb: reference to, 247; marriage customs among Christians at, 248. Hall of the Two Truths, deceased challenged at entrance to, 129. Hall of Two-fold Maat, place of final judgment, 129. _Hammaqâm_ or place of worship, 160. Hand: stamped on door-lintel in Upper Syria, 28 f.; wrought in silver placed on children’s necks, 76; figure of, similar to five-branched candlestick, 77; as symbol on banner and prayer-rug in Turkey and Persia, 78; as symbol of Siva, the destroyer, 78; as emblem of power in East Indies, 78; inscribed on or above door in ancient Carthage, 78; carved in coral or ivory carried by Jewess, 79; open, made in stone, metal, enamel, or bone, common in ancient Egypt, 79; symbol of open, found above graves near Tunis, 79; symbol of uplifted, in Babylonia, 79 f., Assyria and Phenicia, 80, Egypt, 81, 85, Polynesia, 83, 148, Central America, 148; clasping in covenant in Babylonia, 80; print of, giant Finmac-Coole as signature, 81; of clay impressed on human body among American Indians, 84; print of, as symbol on naked body, 84; of bride traced in ink in covenant in Korea, 93 f.; print of, as signature, 93 f.; of Muhammad signed to certificate of protection, 94. “Hand of might,” red hand as, 75. “Hand of Moses,” red hand called, 77. “Hand-striking” feast at betrothal, 32 f. Haran, reference to, 160. _Hareema_, Arabic term for woman, 256. Harper’s Magazine, reference to, 96. Harrison and Verrall, reference to, 159. Harvest threshold ceremony in India, 16 f. “Harvest Festival” among Indians of lower Mississippi, 147. Hasselquist, F., reference to, 222. Hathor, Queen, reference to, 184. Hawaii: ancient gods of, 150; cities of refuge in, 151. Hayes, Isaac I.: cited, 39. Hearth: as primitive altar, 22; Penates of Romans at, 23; bride taken to, in Scotland, 44. Hearthstone: of Arab shaykh’s tent, 22; as first threshold altar, 40. Hearn, Lafcadio: cited, 72, 201; quotation from, 125 f. Hebrew: word _nasa_–to lift up or to swear, 83; word for tent and tabernacle, 101; literature, reference to, 109; law as to cities of refuge, 151, as to local landmarks, 169; new year, 212. Hebrews: commanded to dedicate doorways to living God, 69; sacred ark of, in house of god Dagon, 116 f. Hebrews, Epistle to, on threshold sacrifice, 217. Hebron, reference to, 255. Heh and Egyptian empire, boundary marks between, 179. Heifer sacrificed at door for guest, 4. Hen: sacrificed in Ireland, 21; sacrificed at new houses among Metâwileh, 45; buried alive under house, 56. Henderson, William: cited, 142, 160. Herald in India responsible with life for repayment of debt, 61 f. Herbs, juice of magic, smeared on door-posts among Greeks, 73. “Hercules, Pillars of,” 181. Hermann, K.F.: cited, 172. Hermes, reference to, concerning boundary lines, 171 f. Hermes Propylaios, reference to, 159. Herodotus: quotation from, 14; cited, 111; references to, 229, 236. Herrick, R.: his poem on marriage, 139 f. Hesiod, reference to, 132 f. Hesperides, shores of, 135. Heuzey, Léon: cited, 29 f. Hiel, Jericho’s foundation laid in blood of son of, 47. Hieroglyphics placed on door-posts and lintels in Egypt, 68 f. High thresholds in houses of Finland and United States, and in Teutonic houses, 12. Highway, king’s, reference to, 176. Hilkiah, duties of guardians of threshold in days of, 120. Hillah, red hand over doors of large khan of, 75. Hilprecht, Dr. H.V.: cited, 22, 78, 109, 155, 209; testimony of, 33 f.; on use of red hand over doors in Babylonia, 75; quotation from, 167-169. Hindooism, modern, Saivism predominating in, 198. Hindoos: sacredness of threshold among, 11; law regarding door-sill, 15; belief that evil spirits keep aloof from iron, 17; rules requiring right foot to cross threshold first, 36 f.; sacredness of fire recognized by, 40; sacredness of oath taken at threshold of temple among, 121 f.; prejudice against shedding blood, sacrifices in spite of, 122 f.; worship of, 236; exhibit of evidence among, 249. Hindoostan, survivals of foundation-laying in blood, 50. Hinge-goddess of Romans, 97. Hinges, reference to, 254. Hittite, reference to, 213. Hofstad, temple in, 160. Hog sacrificed before door in Egypt, 14. Holland, strewing of threshold in, 33. Holy water at doorway of Roman Catholic churches in America, 147. Holy Sepulcher, Church of, 221. Homer: cited, 100;f267#, #132 f., 135. Hommel, Prof. Fritz: cited, 201. Honey: smeared on door-posts among Wallachians, 29; and water for bride at threshold in Morea, 30; and bread placed on bride’s gate-post, 42 f. Hooke, N., reference to, 265. Hopkins, Prof. Dr. E.W.: cited, 6, 62, 198, 231; quotation from, 15. Hormuz, son of Nurshivan, reference to, 11. “Horns of the altar,” meaning of, 58. Horus, image of, over temple door to drive away unclean spirits, 127; reference to, 179. Horse: sacrificed at threshold in Syria, 4 f.; passing through blood of sacrifice, 7; laid in churchyard before burial in Sweden, 56; stamped with red hand in Babylonia, 75; covered with red hands buried with Indian chief, 85 f. Horseshoe: nailed to door-sills in Bombay, 17, on door-step in Pennsylvania, 21, to side-posts for “good luck” in Europe and America, 73 f.; often found on ship’s mast, 74. Hospitality: law of, in India, 5 f.; among Arabs, 22. Hossein, banners with open hand at commemoration of death of, 78. House: preceding temple, 3; corners of, sprinkled with blood, in Ireland, 21; wall broken for removal of body, in India, 23; earliest form of Egyptian temple, 100; of king both palace and temple, 101 f.; to temple, gradual transition from, 101 f. House-father: as earliest priest, 3; among Hindoos, 15. House of the Bronze Threshold, 132. Household “teraphim,” 109. Hovel earliest form of Egyptian temple, 100. Huc, Abbé: cited, 125. Hughes, Thomas P.: cited, 37, 123; reference to, 164. Human nature and sacredness of threshold, 152. Human sacrifice: in Zindero and Central Africa, 8 f., in China, 48, in Alaska, 50 f., in Mexico, 56, at pagoda door in India, 122 f., on altar at temple gate in Tibet, 125; in modern times, 47; various substitutes for, 53 f.; reference to, 144. Human skeletons found under towers of ancient Irish, 50 f. Hut earliest form of Japanese temple, 101. Hwen Thsang, reference to, 156. “Hymen’s torch” in marriage ceremony, 41. Hyssop, significance of, 214.
Iceland, Thorolf of Norway in, 160. Idolaters, threshold and door-post of, beside Lord’s, 118. Idols: at door-altar in Mexico, 21; destroyed at gate in Meccah, Medina, and Ghuznee, 123. Image as gateway of village or cemetery in New Zealand, 107 f. Images: buried under threshold of houses, temples, and city gates, 14; in sacred “upper corner” of building in Russia, 55; under foundations in ancient Rome, 55 f.; of gods of threshold in China, 96. Imbiʾa, reference to, 60. Imgur-Bêl gate in walls of Babylon, 110. “Imposition of the Sa, the,” touch of uplifted hand of deity, 85. Incantations: mantra used in, 15; on paper placed in door-sill in Pennsylvania, 21. Incense: placed on threshold, 18; exorcism with, 18; burned on threshold in Tuscany, 42; origin of, 226. India: law of threshold in, 5 f.; sacredness of threshold in, 16; body not to cross threshold, 23; body removed through wall, 23; crossing threshold by bride in, 38; bride at altar-fire in, 41; appeals in blood at household altar in, 61; refusal to move from threshold until claim is heeded in, 61; offering to threshold god Vāttu in, 95; fire-altar center of worship in, 99; no temples in early, 100; fire-altar on threshold as place of worship in, 102; doorways apart from temples in, 104; judgments at temple threshold in, 122; bloody sacrifices at temple threshold in, 122; holy trees in Upper, 156; habit of building sanctuary in, 157; landmarks in, 169; laws of, regarding disputed boundaries, 169; visible aid of worship in, 198; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; serpent as religious symbol in, 235; marriage ceremonies in, 248; lotus symbol in, 257; religious custom in, 258. Indian Antiquary, reference to, 258. Indians: of Mexico, reference to, 21; of Yucatan, reference to, 82; red hand among American, 85-93; Natchez, religious ceremonies among, 147. Indies, East, hand as emblem of power in, 78. Indo-Aryans and boundary lines, 185. Inscription: and invocation placed at corner of building in Babylonia, 22; on gates and houses deemed protection against evil spirits, 70; at doorway in China, 71; among Greeks, 72; on tomb of kings of Persia, 124; showing sanctity of temple doorways in Asia, 109. Instructress in matrimony in China, 40. Invocations: on images buried under threshold, 14; and deposits at threshold in Babylonia, 22. Iona cathedral built in human blood, 50. Ionia, pillar as threshold stone in, 180. Ioways, red hand among, 87. Ireland: sacrifice in, 21; lifting bride over threshold in, 44; human skeletons in round towers in, 50; print of five fingers on “druidical altar” in, 81; mode of marriage in, 142 f. Irenæus: cited, 239. Iron as guard against evil spirits, 17. Isé: temples of, modeled on primeval hut, 101; great shrines of, chief Meccah of Shintō faith, 126. Ishmael: and Holy House, tradition of, 163; and Hagar, Abraham’s visit to home of, 200. Ishmael, Rabbi: cited, 208. Ishtar: gate of, 95; legend of, 113. Isis, guardian of Egyptian temple, 127. Islands, South Sea, temples of, 148. Israel: executing judgment against Benjamites for disregard of appeal at door, 63 f.; called to “establish judgment at the gate,” 64. Israelites: protected against Medes, Persians, Midianites, and Assyrians, 211; reference to, 216; command to, concerning Asherah and pillar, 233; exhibiting evidences among, 249. Istar of Agade, 153. See, also, _Ishtar_. Italy: prominence of threshold in folk customs of, 17 f.; corpse not to pass main door of house in, 24. Ivory hand as talisman among Jews at Tunis, 79.
Jacob: at Bethel, 160; and Laban agreeing on landmark, 171; his pillar, 268 f. “Jacob’s ladder” probably stepped-temple structure, 112. Jaffa, sacrifices of sheep at beginning of railroad at, 56. “_Janua_,” reference to, 200. Janus, Gate-god of Romans, 97. Japan: salt sprinkled on threshold in, 20; survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.; shimenawa suspended above door in, 72; gods of Ni-o guarding threshold in, 96; temples of, on model of primeval huts, 101; doorways apart from temples in, 104; pilgrims at threshold of sacred shrines of, 125; Shinto temples of, 201; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Jastrow, Prof. Dr. Morris, Jr.: cited, 79, 144, 253. Jastrow, Rev. Dr. Marcus, testimony of, 212. Jehoash, altar at threshold in days of, 121. Jehoiada: chest for offerings placed at temple door and altar, 121; his assignment of priests to threshold, 120. Jennings, Hargrave: cited, 230. Jeremiah, references to, 64, 213. Jericho: curse of Joshua on rebuilder of walls of, 46 f.; walls of, falling down, 211. Jerome: his translation of _saph_, 207. Jerusalem: and Jaffa railroad, sacrifice at beginning of, 57; blood placed on lintel of temple at, 67; red hand in Jews’ quarter of, 75; waters issuing from under threshold of temple at, 114; altar of burnt offering at threshold of temple at, 120; temple site at, 161; presence of Christ at, 215; Church of Holy Sepulcher at, 221. Jesus: reference of, to door, 6, to gates of Hades, 65; the Door, 104. Jews: red hand on houses of, in Jerusalem, 76, on houses at Safed, 77; open hand found over graves of, in Europe, 79; in Morocco, bloody hand on door-posts among, 67 f.; sign of hand found in houses of, 76; sacrifice of lamb at door of new house of, 76 f.; in Tunis, bloody hand among, 78 f.; hand as talisman against evil eye among, 79; rubbing fingers on synagogue door-posts among, 144; modern, observing passover, 211 f. Jicarilla Apaches: prominence of red hand among, 87; celebration of attainment to puberty among, 88-92. John the Baptist, reference to, 218 f. Jones and Kropf: cited, 12, 18, 20 f., 143; quotation from, 17. Jordan, source of, at threshold of grotto of Pan, 115. Joshua: his curse on rebuilder of Jericho, 46 f.; guardians of threshold in days of, 120. Journal of American Folk-Lore, references to, 5, 21. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, reference to, 236. Joyner. See _Von Löher and Joyner_. Judicial oath, uplifted hand in, 83. Julien, Stanislas: cited, 156. “Jumping the broomstick,” 143. Juno, Virgil’s reference to brazen threshold in temple of, 130. Jupiter: priest of, at Lystra, 134 f.; reference to boundary lines, 171; image of, as boundary mark, 172. Justice sought at gate: among Arabs, 57-59; in Arabia, 59 f.; in Babylonia and Elam, 60; in Egypt, 60 f.; in India, 61; in Morocco, 62 f.; among Israelites, 63 f.; in Turkey, 65. Justinian, Emperor: cited, 181.
Ka, or soul, of dead, offerings to, 106. Kaʿbah in mosk at Meccah, 163. Kadesh, Egyptian goddess, 234. Kadi, reference to, 247. Kamehameha, king of Sandwich Islands, 150. _Kami_, gods of doorways, 104. _Kardas Sarks_, god of house, prayer to, 44. Kathiawar, human sacrifice at threshold at, 61. Kauzeroon, British envoy approaching, 189. Keeper of gate, honorable position, 119 f. _Kef Miryam_, name of sign of hand, 77. Keightley, Thomas, references to, 172, 236. Keoroeva, ancient gods of Maui, 150. Ket, uses of the Egyptian goddess, 234. Key, uses of the Hebrew word for, 253. Khaleefs of Bagdad, threshold custom of, 10. Khedive, threshold sacrifice to welcome new, 7. Khem, god of generative force, 234. Khonds of Orissa, crossing threshold in wedding among, 39. Khorsabad, sanctity of doorway in, 108 f. Kid: outpoured blood of, in hospitality among Arabs, 23; sacrificed on threshold in Syria, 26. King, Capt. J.S.: quotations from, #27f72# f.; cited, 196. King: human sacrifice to welcome, 8 f.; and priest, offices claimed by same person, 101 f. Kings of Scotland crowned on Coronation Stone, 268. King’s highway, 176. Kissing: threshold in Persia, 12; doors among Pythagoreans, 13; threshold among Morlacchi in Dalmatia, 31; doorway serpent in Yezidis’ temple, 116; threshold of mosk in Persia, 123 f.; threshold of gate of tomb of Alee, 124; threshold of _wely_, 129; threshold and door-posts of church in Abyssinia, 130 f. “Kissing the church” in Abyssinia, 131. Kitto, John, references to, 120, 212. Kitzuki, sacredness of threshold among pilgrims at, 125 f. Kiva temples, hand on walls of, 92. Knight, Richard Payne: cited, 230. “Knowledge, Tree of,” reference to, 156. “Knowledge,” in Bible narrative, 238. Kohala, temple in, 150. Koner. See _Guhl and Koner_. Koran, See _Quran_. Korea: dead taken through hole in city wall in, 24; marriage covenant made by tracing woman’s hand on contract, 93; doorways apart from temples in, 104; pilgrims at threshold in sacred shrines of, 125. Kowalewsky, M.: cited, 42. Krasnoslobodsk, marriage customs in, 249. Kropf, Lewis L.: cited, 12, 18, 20. See, also, _Jones and Kropf_. Kurigalzu II., king of Babylon, 154. Kuru-Kshetra, holy ground, 156. “_Kuza bemuchsaz Kuzu_”–name of God, 70.
Laban and Jacob agreeing about landmark, 171. Lachish, Tell el-Hesy, site of ancient, 58. Lacouperie, Terrien de: cited, 185, 231. Ladder, Jacob’s, probably stepped-temple structure, 112. “Lady of the great land,”–Beltis Allat, 113. Lakshmi, wife of Vishnoo, represented as seated on serpent, 235. Lamb: sacrificed at door for guest, in Egypt, 4, in Syria, 4, 26; outpoured blood of, in hospitality among Arabs, 23; sacrificed at foundation-laying in Greece, 53; buried under altar in first Christian churches in Swedish tradition, 56; sacrificed on Arab joining another tribe, 58 f.; sacrificed at door of new house of Jew or Muhammadan in Palestine, 76 f. Lamberton, Prof. W.A.: cited, 132, 134. Lamps and laurels on gates in Tertullian’s time, 97 f. Lanciani, Dr. Rodolfo: cited, 56, 257 f. Landmark: sacred boundary of private, 166; local, in form of phallus, 166; in Babylonia, 166; in laws of Hebrews, 169; in India, 169; fixing and honoring of, origin of, 175. Landor, A. Henry Savage-: cited, 24, 94. Lane, Edward William: cited, 26, 37, 129, 245; references to, 123, 244. Lane-Poole, Stanley: cited, 129, 200. Lantevit Major Church, wedding customs at, 141. Lapland, significance of stepping over threshold in, 12. Lares and Penates in Cicero’s time, 41. Latins, marriage custom among, 29. Launching custom of “christening” in England and America, 8. Laurel: wreaths hung in doorway at marriage among Romans, 73; Christians warned against placing, on their gates, 97. Laurie, Dr. Thomas: cited, 124. Law of doorway, 5-10. Laws of Manu, reference to, 6. Layard, Sir Austen H.: cited, 68, 109, 111, 190, 201, 234 f.; his discovery of sculptured image of Assyrian king, 115 f. “Laying on of hands, the,” as symbol of imparting power, 85. Lazarus at gate of Dives, 64. Leaping over threshold, 117. Lebanon, Mt., region receiving European prince, 191. Legend and fact as contributors to proof of custom among Orientals, 77. Legends: of Dumuzi, Tammuz, Osiris, and Adonis, correspondences in, 115; and symbols employed concerning boundary lines, 171 f. Leland, Charles Godfrey: cited, 17 f., 233. _Lèlè_, name for altar, 150 f. Lemm, Oscar von: cited, 128. Lenormant, François: cited, 109. Levites and priests assigned to threshold and foundation, 120. Levitical laws concerning sacrifice not made at “door of tent of meeting,” 118 f. Levy, Rabbi Jacob: cited, 208. Libation of water offered on threshold, 16 f., 29. Liberia: fowl sacrificed to welcome guest in, 9; nuptial customs of, 196. Liberian clergyman’s testimony regarding threshold custom, 39. Liddell and Scott: cited, 208. Liebenstein, castle of, made fast by burying child, 49. Life: new, outgrowth of truth of primal threshold covenant, 226; tree of, symbol of feminine nature, 230; goddess of, in Egypt and Assyria, 234. Lifting bride over threshold: among Towkas, 35; in Abyssinia, Egypt, Syria, 38; in Greece, Rome, and West Africa. 39; in Russia, England, Scotland, Ireland, and United States, 44; in Central America, 45. _Limen_, Jerome’s word for _saph_, 207. Limentinus, threshold god of Romans, 97. Lindisfarne Abbey, marriage customs at, 141. _Linga in yoni_, symbol of Siva’s worship, 198, 236. Lintel: hand in dough impressed on, in Upper Syria, 28 f.; smeared with honey and water, 30; blood on, 66, 68; inscriptions as to sacredness of, 66, 68; blood stains above, 67; symbolic figures on, 70; sentences written on, in China, 71; Romans affixing spoils of battle on, 73; red hand on, 74; red hand on, in Babylonia, 75; ornamentation of, in ancient Egypt, 100; image of Horus on, 127; kissed by pious in Abyssinia, 131; decorations on, and above, 146; blood on, as protection for house, 206; and two side-posts, God passing over, 210. Lithuania, wooden cross placed under threshold in, 18. Littleton, Sir Thomas: cited, 140. London, horseshoes on threshold of houses in ancient, 74. Loong-moo, sacrifice of fowl in honor of divinity, among Chinese, 71 f. “Lord of the great city,” god Nergal as, 113. Lot welcoming angels, 211. Lotus flower: in religious symbolisms, 230; reference to, 234; symbol of fecundity, 257. “Louping stone,” 142. Lowell, Percival: cited, 104, 126, 201. _Lubare_, offering to, in Uganda, 15. Lubbock, Sir John: cited, 39. Luncz, A.M., quotations from, 67, 76. Lund’s Every-day Life in Scandinavia: reference to, 7, 12. Lystra, temple of Jupiter at, reference to, 135.
McDowell, Henry B.: cited, 96. McLennan, Dr. John F.: cited, 39. Mackay, Alexander: cited, 15. Mackenzie, Capt. J.S.F., quotation from, 258 f. Maçoudi’s _Les Prairies d’Or_, reference to, 200. _Madaa_, place of prayer, 164. Madagascar, importance of right foot in, 38; circumcision in, 149. Mafkat, land of, 184. Magharah, Wady, boundary marks in, 179. Magyars: stepping over threshold among, 12; custom to win love, 19 f. Mahabharata: cited, 6; on responsibility of heralds, 62; Hindoo epic, 157. _Mal occhis_, or evil eye, 79. Male represented by stone or pole, 258. Man, origin and development of, 223. Manoli in “Monastery of Argis,” story of, 52 f. _Mantra_, meaning of word, 15. Manu, Laws of, reference to, 6. _Maras_ kept off by cross on threshold, 18. “Marches,” reference to, 183. Marduk, reference to, 235. _Margosa_, reference to, 259. Margrave, origin of, 183. Mariette Bey, references to, 111, 126, 128. Market-places as boundaries, 178. “Markgraf,” meaning of, 183. “Marks,” reference to, 183. Marquardt, Joachim: cited, 30, 39, 41. “Marque, Letters of,” meaning of, 183. “Marquee,” meaning of, 183. Marquises, origin of, 183. Marriage: threshold covenanting in, 25-35; by outpoured blood at threshold, 26; customs among Somalis in Central Africa, 27, among Wallachians, 29, in Egypt, 243, 245, in China, Dahomey, 245, in Syria, 246, in Asia and Africa, in Krasnoslobodsk, among Mordvins, in Pensa, 249, in Samoa, 251; not “by capture,” 36; celebrated at church door in Abyssinia, 131; where solemnized, 138; Pre-Reformation rule of, 139; services in Protestant Episcopal churches, 148; covenant, primitive certificate of, 196; primitive rite of, 214, 225; sacrament of, in Roman Catholic Church, 222; torch, origin of, 226; certificate in Syria, 245, in Upper Egypt, 245; ceremonies among Muhammedans, 247; ceremonies among Christians at Haleb, 248; ceremonies in Darfour, 249. See, also, _Wedding ceremonies_. “Mary’s Hand, Virgin,” among Christians of Syria, 77. Masjid: bridegroom’s visit to, in Central Africa, 27; place of prostration, 163. Mask marked with hand among Jicarilla Apaches, 89. Mason, William Shaw: cited, 21, 81. “Mason and Dixon’s line,” 182. Maspero, Prof. G.: cited, 14, 39, 85; references to, 95, 102, 105 f., 113 f., 126, 169, 201, 235. Massachusetts, beating bounds in, 176. Mastabahs, false doors in ancient Egypt, 106 f. Matthews, Washington, reference to, 87. Maundrell, Henry, reference to, 222. Maui, Island of, ancient god of, 150. Maurice, Thomas: cited, 122; references to, 123, 236 f. Maya people, sacrifices among, 145. Meccah: black stone of, reference to, 10; prayer niche toward, 108; mosk of, image thrown down at gate of, 123; mosk at, reference to, 163; Hajj procession from, 186. Medals showing altar at threshold, 121. Medicine taken on threshold in Tuscany, 17 f. Medina, mosk of, pieces of idol thrown down at gate of, 123. Mediterranean, boundary marks on shores of, 178. Medusa and serpents, 237. Memorials in door form, in various lands, 107. Mercury: reference to, concerning boundary lines, 171; image of, as boundary landmark, 172. Merodach: god of left side of gate, 95; temple of, threshold plated with gold, 110. Metâwileh, hen sacrificed at building of house among, 45. Metempsychosis connected with threshold covenant, 226. Mexico: Indians of ancient, reference to, 21; sacrificial stone of temple of, 56; ancient, altar in doorway, 108; earliest form of temple in, 144; religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235. Meydoom, stepped pyramid of, in Egypt, 126. “Mezuza,” covenant record at door-way, 69 f. Middle Empire of Egypt: disappearance of door form in, 106; temples of, 155. “Midsummer Day” festival in Russia, 42. “Mihrab,” or prayer niche, probable origin of its form, 108. Mile-posts as landmarks, 176. Min, Egyptian god of generative force, 234. Mineptah I., memorial stone of, 180. Minnesota, threshold custom among Scandinavians in, 259. Mississippi, lower, religious ceremonies among Indians along, 147. “Mizpah,” memorial of covenant, 171. Mnesikles, architect, plan of, 158. Moksha, wooing custom among, 42. “Monastery of Argis,” foundation sacrifice in, 52 f. Monier-Williams, Sir Monier: cited, 156, 198 f., 230, 236. Monoliths in front of door of temple at Yeha, 131. Montezuma: his consecration of altar by blood of captives, 56. Moon-god Sin: Ur-Gur with uplifted hands before, 80; reference to, 161. Mordevins. See _Mordvins_. Mordvins: threshold as altar among, 32; marriage customs of, 41, 249. Morea, threshold custom in, 30. Morier, James: cited, 11 f., 78, 123; quotation from, 189 f. Morlacchi custom of kissing threshold, 31. Morocco, survival of sacrificing at door-way in, 62. Mosaic law, appeal to altar in covenant in, 65. Moses: at gate of camp, 63; meeting Jehovah at doorway, 119; in wilderness of Sinai, 160 f. “Moses, Hand of,” red hand called, 77. Mosk of St. Sophia, stamp of red hand in, 77. Mostur, temple of Thor in, 160. Mt. Lebanon region, European prince received in, 191. Mt. Moriah: temple on, reference to, 161; and Abraham’s offering, 161. Mt. Sinai, reference to, 94. Mountain peaks as boundaries, 178. Muhammad: certificate of protection signed with impression of open hand of, 94; throne of, reached only by kissing threshold, 124. Muhammad II.: his victory over Christians sealed by bloody hand, 77. Muhammad Issoof, letter from king of Mysore to, 94. Muhammadan: substitute for “blood of the grape,” 5; conquest of India, reference to, 123. Muhammadans: to place right foot first in crossing threshold, 36; inscribe gates, fountains, bridges, and houses, 70; sacred inscriptions placed above doorways by, 71; sign of hand among, 76; lamb sacrificed at door of new house of, 76 f.; “Hand of the Prophet” on houses of, 77; sultan as father of faithful, 103; prayer niche among, 108; treading on idol at gate, 123; threshold of mosks counted sacred among, 123; their estimate of first foundations, 162; marriage customs of, 247; reticent on matters concerning women, 247 f. Muir, Sir William, reference to, 164. Mülhau and Volck, reference to, 255. Müller, Ivan V., reference to, 172. Müller, Prof. W. Max: cited, 127, 234. Muslims. See _Muhammadans_. Mussulmans. See _Muhammadans_. Mysore: king of, hand-print on back of letter written by, 94; ancient religious custom at, 258. Mysoreans, hand-print equivalent to oath among, 94.
Naaman, reference to, 161. Nabob of Arcot, banners of, inscribed with hand, 78. Nabonidus, king of Babylon, 153. Nabunaʾid, king of Babylon, 154. Nahr-el-Kelb: as gateway of nations, 105; boundary marks at, 178. Nahuas, marriage ceremonies of, 246. Nakishbend, tomb of, threshold stone at, 124 f. Naomi, reference to, 64. Napier, James: cited, 44. Naples, pine cone among Pompeian relics at, 257. Narâm-Sin, reference to, 154. _Nasa_, meaning of Hebrew word, 83. Natchez Indians, religious ceremonies among, 147. Nations or states, boundaries of, 177. Neapolitan Museum, information concerning threshold at, 258. Nebo: shrine of, 110; references to, 177, 188. Nebuchadrezzar I.: meaning of name, 177; his empire boundary, 188. Nebuchadrezzar II.: inscriptions of, 109; his description of building walls of Babylon, 109-111; reference to, 154. Negeb: reference to, 160; boundary dispute on borders of, 170. Neoptolemus and Orestes in temple at Delphi, 134. Nephthys, guardian of gateway of Egyptian temple, 127. Nergal, threshold god among Assyrians, 95, 113, 235. Nestorians kissing threshold on entering church, 124. Nevius, Rev. J.W.: cited, 24. New Empire of Egypt: religious pictures on stele in tombs of, 107; buildings of, 155. New England: door at corner of house in, 55; “beating the bounds” in, 176. “New Fire, Festival of,” 147. New Testament, symbols of Old Testament explained in, 215. New Year: threshold custom in Aberdeenshire, 20 f.; of Hebrews, 212; Easter beginning new Ecclesiastical, 221. New Zealand, sacred image as gateway in, 107 f. Niche: as shrine in Egypt, 106; survival of tomb doorways, 108; prominence of, in Egypt, 106 f., in New Zealand, 107 f., in Muhammadan and Christian lands and in China, 108. Niebuhr, C.: cited, 248. Nikkō, shrines of, 126. Nile, Gen Grant on Upper, 7 f. Nimb tree, reference to, 259. Nimitti-Bel, gate of, in walls of Babylon, 110. Nimroud, blood-stained slabs at entrance to palace of, 68. Nineveh: sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.; sculpture of Assyrian king with uplifted arm found at, 115. Ni-o, prints of gods placed over doors in Japan, 95. Nippur: sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.; altar found between temples in, 111. _Nish_, Assyrian word for swearing, 83. Noetling, Dr., reference to, 77. Northly, Hen., reference to, 140. Norway, Thorolf of, removing to Iceland, 160. “Not by door,” entering house, 6. Notre Dame, marriage at door of church of, 130. November 11 as sacrifice day in Ireland, 21. Nubia: ancient map of gold districts in, 180; reference to, 185. Numa, directions of, concerning boundaries, 173. Nuptial torch in marriage ceremony, 41. Nurshivan and Hormuz, reference to, 11. Nuts presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31.
Oath, uplifted hand in judicial, 83. Obelisk, symbol of Baal, 214. Oberea, queen of Otaheite, 250 f. Offerings: at threshold, 28, 118 f.; to local divinity at threshold-laying, 95; for dead pictured on stele of Middle Empire of Egypt, 106. _Ohel_, applied to private tent and to sacred tabernacle, 101. Ohnefalach-Richter, reference to, 231. Old Empire of Egypt: false door in early tombs of, 106; temples of, 155. Old Testament and New: waters of life in, 115; rites and symbols of, 215. Oldest member of household first to enter new house, 54. Olympian games, references to, 7, 263. Olympus, House of Zeus, 132. _Om mani padme Hūm_, 199. Omaha chief, burial of, 85 f. Ophites, teaching of, 239. Oracle at Delphi, 236. Oran buried alive in foundation of cathedral in Iona, 50. Orestes and Neoptolemus at Delphi, 134. Oriental: sovereigns and boundaries, 177; Christians, covenanting at threshold among, 221; figures of speech obscured by literalism of Western mind, 238. Orissa, importance of threshold in marriage in, 39. Orme, R.: cited, 94. Osiris: annual feast in honor of, 14 f.; references to, 106, 115, 128 f., 179; door of gateway, 127. “_Ostium_” defined, 200. Otaheite, primitive threshold in, 250. Ovid: cited, 172 f. Owens, J.G.: cited, 21. Oxford, Penn., stone landmark at, 183.
Palestine: spilling water on threshold in, 29; sacrifice at beginning railroad in, 57; blood on lintel, 67; red hand in, 75; hand printed in blue in houses of, 76. Palgrave, William G.: cited, 10. Palm cone, symbolism of, 231. Palmer, Prof. E.H., quotation from, 26. Pan, threshold of grotto of, 115. Pan-kăng, emperor of China, reference to, 157. Paper sprinkled with blood in China, 72. “Parting-stool,” reference to, 142. _Pāsăkha_, meaning of, 208, 210, 266. Paul: with Barnabas at Lystra, 135; his reference to foundations, 162; to Corinthian Christians, 215; on Christian passover, 217; on relation between Christ and his church, 219. Pausanias: cited, 135. Pecos, red-hand symbol in ancient Pueblos of, 87 f. Peepul tree, in Upper India, 156, 259. Peloponnesus and Attica, boundary between, 180. Penates: reference to, 19; of Romans at threshold, 23; appeased by bread and salt, 32; and Lares in Cicero’s time, 41. Pennsylvania: threshold custom in, 21; corner-stone at door in, 55; horseshoes as doorway guards in, 74; stone landmark in, 183. Pennsylvania Magazine of History, reference to, 183. Pensa, marriage customs in, 249. “_Per-ao_” (Pharaoh), meaning of, 103. Pericles building new Propylæa, 158. Perrot and Chipiez: cited, 71, 78, 80, 85, 100, 103, 105, 111, 201, 231, 235; quotation from, 106 f. Persea, reference to, 180. Persepolis, justice at palace gate of, 60. Persia: sacredness of threshold in, 11 f.; sacred passages inscribed over doorways in, 71; banners and prayer-rugs inscribed with open hand in, 78; no temples in ancient, 100; fire-altar on uplifted threshold as place of worship in, 100, 102; veneration for threshold of mosks in, 123 f.; border sacrifices in, 188; shah of, entering Teheran, 189; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; marriage customs in, 249; phallus represented by boundary posts, 258. Peru: blood smeared on doorway in, 73; stepped pyramid temples in, 111; religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235. _Pesakh_. See _Pāsăkh_. Petrie, Dr. W.M. Flinders: his discovery of ornamental door-jams, 58; reference to, 126. “Petting stone,” at Lindisfarne Abbey, 141. Phallus, reverence for, in Babylonia, Assyria, India, China, Japan, Persia, Phrygia, Phenicia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Greece, Rome, Germany, Scandinavia, France, Spain, Great Britain, North and South America, Islands of the Sea, 230. “Pharaoh,” meaning of, 103. Phenicia: uplifted hand of deities of, 79 f.; prominence of door in, 107; altar at threshold in, 121; indications of presence of deity in, 201; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230; religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235; pine cone symbol in, 257. Philip II. of Spain, reference to, 139. Philistines, sacredness of threshold among, 11 f. Philo Judæus: cited, 208, 238; reference to, 239. _Philos_, _Phleō_, and _Phliē_, meanings and uses of, 255 f. Phœbus Apollo, reference to, 133. Phrygia: threshold altar in, 121; reverence for phallic emblems in, 230. Pig: sacrifice of black, in Russia, 19; blood of, sprinkled at door in Borneo, 20; buried alive under houses, 56; as sacrifice, 148. Pigeon-poult’s blood in Arabia, 248. Pigeons sacrificed at door, 4. Pilgrims at threshold in Japan, in Korea, in Shinto and Booddhist temple, 125. Pillar: of cloud at doorway of tent of meeting, 119; of Baal, 214; and tree in religious symbolism, 232; command to Israelites concerning, 233. “Pillars of Herculus,” 181. Pine cone: in ancient Assyrian sculptures, in Grecian and Phenician cults, and in ancient Rome, 257. Pinkerton, John: cited, 39. Pipal tree. See _Peepul tree_. Pipiles, sacrifices among, 146. “Plain of Kuru,” 156. Pliny, reference to, 93. Ploss, H., reference to, 93. Plutarch: cited, 25, 39, 41, 180 f., 263, 265. Pole, brush-topped, symbolism of, 214, 258. Polynesia: survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.; uplifted hand found in stepped-pyramid temples of, 83; boundary lines in, 174. Pomegranate: on threshold in Morea, 30, in Rhodes, 30 f.; in religious symbolisms, 230. Pompeian relics at Naples, 257. Ponce de Leon and fountain of life, 148. Poole. See _Lane-Poole_. _Poros_, derivation of, 265. _Porta_ and _Porto_, derivation of, 265. _Porta di morti_ in Italian houses for corpse, 24. Porter, Sir Robert Kerr: cited, 9, 71. Porter, twofold use of word, 263-265. Portuguese navigators and boundary pillars, 180 f. _Postliminium_, a recrossing of threshold, 181. _Pôth_: uses of Hebrew word, 253; as hinge or socket, 254. Prabhus of Bombay, birth custom among, 17. Prague, open hand above graves in, 79. Prayer: on burying articles under threshold, 20; offered to “goddess of the homestead” in betrothal in Russia, 32; for dead at door of Egyptian tombs, 106; Booddhist in Tibet, 199; meaning of, 228. Prayer-rug in Turkey and Persia, 78. Priest: house-father as earliest, 3; among Jicarilla Apaches, 89; as ruler, 165; of Dagon not to tread on threshold, 117. Primitive: altar of family, 3; threshold customs, 35; temple as rude door-way, 102; man and his knowledge, 224. Prisse’s Monuments of Egypt, reference to, 234. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, references to, 201, 231, 257. Propylon: of Egyptian temple, 127; of Greek temple on Acropolis, 158. _Pʾrosdôr_, rabbinical meaning of, 253. Prostitution, sacred, origin of, 229. Prostrating: at gate of palace in Bagdad, 10; at threshold of shrines of Egypt, 127 f. Protection: for enemy at home sanctuary, 57; at threshold among Afghans, 58. Protestan