Introduction to the History of Religions Part 67

[1646] Breasted, _History of Egypt_, p. 468, and see p. 558.

[1647] Gen. xi f.

[1648] Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, p. 349 f.

[1649] Gen. xx, 3; xxviii, 12; x.x.xi, 11; x.x.xvii, 5.

[1650] Dan. ii, iv.

[1651] _Iliad_, ii, 1 ff. So Yahweh, by a lying spirit, sends Ahab to his death (1 Kings, xxii, 19 ff.) and deceives the prophet, who misleads the people (Ezek. xiv, 9). The theory of these ancient writers was that a deity, like an earthly king, had a right to use any means to gain his ends.

[1652] Cf. article "Oneiros" in Roscher's _Lexikon_.

[1653] 1 Sam. xxviii, 6. The other means used, it is said, were the urim (urim and thummim) and prophets. These all failing, the king had recourse to necromancy.

[1654] See article "Asklepios" in Roscher's _Lexikon_.

[1655] See the description in Pater's _Marius the Epicurean_.

[1656] A G.o.d might send a dream to a seer for the benefit of some other person. So Ishtar spoke to a.s.surbanipal through the dream of a seer (George Smith, _History of a.s.surbanipal_, p. 123 f.).

[1657] Jastrow, _Religion Babyloniens und a.s.syriens_; Dan.

ii, 2 ff.; Deut. xiii, 1; Gardner and Jevons, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 258; Aust, _Religion der Romer_, Index, s.v. _Traum_, _Traumdeutung_; Roscher, _Lexikon_, article "Oneiros."

[1658] So it was in the case of magicians and prophets generally; cf. Ezek. x.x.xix, 21; Isa. xiiii, 9.

[1659] Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, p. 404, and German ed., ii, Index.

[1660] Dream-books exist at the present day. Those who believe in the predictive power of dreams regard them as messages from G.o.d or as products of telepathy.

[1661] The Nandi invoke a skull as divine witness (Hollis, _The Nandi_, p. 76 f.).

[1662] Ellis, _Tshi_ chap. xviii.

[1663] Apparently because he is thus shown to be unsupported by any evil spirit.

[1664] Frobenius, _Childhood of Man_, p. 190 ff.

[1665] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 184.

[1666] Purchas, _Pilgrimage_, ed. Ravenstein, pp. 56 f., 59 f.

[1667] "Code of Hammurabi" (---- 2, 132), by C. H. W. Johns, in Hastings's _Dictionary of the Bible_, extra volume.

[1668] Numb. v.

[1669] Hopkins, _Religions of India_, p. 275 ff.

[1670] She was rejected by the sacred water; cf. W. R.

Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 2d ed., p. 179; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i, 140. Cf. Ellis, _Yoruba_, p. 190 f.; id., _Tshi_, pp. 198, 201.

[1671] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 184.

[1672] Similarly, a blessing once uttered remains effective and cannot be recalled; so in the story of Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, Gen. xxvii.

[1673] Westermarck, "L'ar" in _Anthropological Essays presented to Tylor_; cf. his _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, Index, s.v. _Curses_.

[1674] Hence the opposition (now disappearing) to lines of railway and telegraph, which were supposed to interfere with the happy influences of rivers and hills and other natural features.

[1675] De Groot, _Religious System of China_ and _Development of Religion in China_; and his article "Die Chinesen" in Saussaye, _Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte_.

See above, -- 747 ff.

[1676] Haddon, _Head-hunters_, pp. 42, 182 f.; on the sacredness of the head see Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2d ed., i, 362 ff.; Frobenius, _Childhood of Man_, chap. xiii.

[1677] Hopkins, _Religions of India_, p. 532.

[1678] So when Rebecca wished to obtain information about her children, soon to be born, it is said simply that she went to inquire of Yahweh (Gen. xxv, 22), as if there was, as a matter of course, a shrine in the neighborhood.

[1679] Bouche-Leclercq, _Histoire de la divination dans l'antiquite_, ii, 250 ff.; iii.

[1680] c.u.mont, _Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain_, Eng. tr., _The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism_, pp. 105, 124 f., 168.

[1681] Cf. Steindorff, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, p. 113 f.

[1682] Wellhausen, _Reste arabischen Heidentumes_, p. 126 ff.

[1683] 1 Sam. xiv, 36 ff.; xxiii, 2; x.x.x, 7 f.; Isa. lxv, 1; Ezek. x.x.xiii, 30 ff.

[1684] 2 Kings, i, 2. The prophet Elijah, who was a zealous Yahwist, was very angry with the king for applying to a foreign deity; but evidently the Philistine shrine enjoyed a greater reputation than any in Israel.

[1685] Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, Index, s.v. _Oracles_.

[1686] Cf. Aust, _Religion der Romer_, Index, s.v. _Orakel_; see below, -- 933 ff.

[1687] Friedlander, _Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire_ (Eng. tr.), p. 3, 129 ff.; Fowler, _Religious Experience of the Roman People_, p. 339.

[1688] Cicero, _De Divinatione_, i, 34, 37 f.; Plutarch, _De Pythiae Oraculis_ and _De Defectu Oraculorum_; Gardner and Jevons, _Greek Antiquities_, Index, s.v. _Oracles_; Bouche-Leclercq, _Histoire de la divination dans l'antiquite_, Index, and Stengel and Oehmichen, _Die greichischen Sakralaltertumer_, Index; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th ed., article "Oracle."

[1689] On the position of women in ancient religion cf.

Farnell's article in _Archiv fur Relgionswissenschaft_, 1904.

[1690] Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_, pp. 102, 105; Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, iv, 187 ff.

[1691] See above, ---- 362, 366.

[1692] See article "Ancestor-worship" and articles on lower tribes in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[1693] Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, p. 511.