The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism Part 15

64. Servius ad Verg., _Aen._, IV, 512: "In templo Isidis aqua sparsa de Nilo esse dicebatur"; cf. II, 116. When, by pouring water taken from the river, reality took the place of this fiction, the act was much more effective; see Juv. VII, 527.

65. This pa.s.sage, together with a chapter from Apuleius (XI, 20), is the princ.i.p.al text we have in connection with the ritual of those Isis matins.

(_De Abstin._, IV, 9):

[Greek: Hos pou eti kai nun en tei anoixei tou hagiou Sarapidos he therapeia dia puros kai hudatos ginetai, leibontos tou humnodou to hudor kai to pur phainontos, hopenika hestos epi tou oudou tei patrioi ton Aiguption phonei egeirei ton theon].

Arn.o.bius (VII, 32) alludes to the same belief of the votaries of Isis: "Quid sibi volunt excitationes illae quas canitis matutini conlatis ad tibiam vocibus? Obdormisc.u.n.t enim superi remeare ut ad vigilias debeant?

Quid dormitiones illae quibus ut bene valeant auspicabili salutatione mandatis?"

66. On the power of "barbarian names" see my _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p.

313, n. 4; Dieterich, _Mithrasliturgie_, pp. III ff. Cf. Charles Michel, _Note sur un pa.s.sage de Jamblique_ (Melanges, Louis Havet), 1909, p.

279.--On the persistence of the same idea among the Christians, cf.

Harnack, _Ausbreitung des Christ._, I, pp. 124 ff.; Heitmuller, _Im Namen Jesu_, Gottingen, 1903 (rich material).

67. Apul., _Met._, XI, 9.

68. _CIL_, II, 3386 = Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 442; cf. 4423.

69. Apul., XI, 24; cf. Lafaye, pp. 118 ff. Porphyry (_De Abstin._, IV, 6) dwells at length on this contemplative character of the Egyptian devotion: The priests [Greek: apedosan holon ton bion tei ton theon theoriai kai theasei].

70. In the Pharaonic ritual the closing ceremony seems to have taken place during the morning, but in the Occident the sacred images were exposed for contemplation, and the {237} ancient Egyptian service must, therefore, have been divided into two ceremonies.

71. Herodotus, II, 37.

72. Cf. Maspero, _Rev. critique_, 1905, II, p. 361 ff.

73. Apul., _Metam._, XI, 7 ff.--This festival seems to have persisted at Catana in the worship of Saint Agatha; cf. _a.n.a.lecta Bollandiana_, XXV, 1906, p. 509.

74. Similar masquerades are found in a number of pagan cults (_Mon. myst.

Mithra_, I, p. 315), and from very early times they were seen in Egypt; see von Bissing, _loc. cit._, n. 58, p. 228.

75. The _pausarii_ are mentioned in the inscriptions; cf. Dessau, _Inscr.

sel._, 4353, 4445.

76. Schafer, _Die Mysterien des Osiris in Abydos unter Sesostris III_, Leipsic, 1904; cf. Capart, _Rev. hist, relig._, LI, 1905, p. 229, and Wiedemann, _Melanges Nicole_, pp. 574 ff. Junker, "Die Stundenwachen in den Osirismysterien" (_Denkschrift Akad. Wien_, LIV) 1910.

77. In the Abydos mysteries, the G.o.d Thoth set out in a boat to seek the body of Osiris. Elsewhere it was Isis who sailed out in quest of it. We do not know whether this scene was played at Rome; but it certainly was played at Gallipoli where make-believe fishermen handled the nets in a make-believe Nile; cf. P. Foucart, _Rech. sur les myst. d'Eleusis_ (_Mem.

Acad. Inscr._, x.x.xV), p. 37.

78. Cheremon in Porphyry, _Epist. ad Aneb._, 31:

[Greek: Kai ta krupta tes Isidos epainei kai to en Abudoi aporreton deixei].

Cf. Iamblichus, _De myster._, VI, 5-7.--On the "mysteries" of Isis in Egypt, cf. Foucart, _loc. cit._, p. 19 f.; De Jong, _De Apuleio Isiacorum mysteriorum teste_, Leyden, 1900, pp. 79 f., and _Das antike Mysterienwesen_, Leyden, 1909.

79. Cf. _supra_.--De Jong, op. cit., pp. 40 ff.; Gruppe, _Griech. Mythol._, p. 1574.

80. _La Cite antique_, I, ch. II, end.

81. Cf. Erman, _op. cit._, pp. 96-97.

82. Sufficient proof is contained in the bas-reliefs cited above (n. 20), where apotheosized death a.s.sumes the shape of {238} Serapis. Compare Kaibel, _Inscr. gr._, XIV, 2098: [Greek: Eupsuchi meta tou Oseiridos]. This material conception of immortality could be easily reconciled with the old Italian ideas, which had persisted in a dormant state in the minds of the people, see Friedlander, _Sittengeschichte_, III^6, p. 758.

83. Reitzenstein, _Archiv fur Religionswiss._, VII, 1904, 406 ff. These are perhaps the most striking pages written on the meaning of the ceremony; it is an [Greek: apathanatismos]. Cf. also Reitzenstein, _h.e.l.lenistische Wundererzahlungen_, p. 116.

84. Apul., _Metam._, 23.--De Jong, the latest commentator on this pa.s.sage, seems inclined to take it as a mere ecstatic vision, but the vision was certainly caused by a dramatic scene in the course of which h.e.l.l and heaven were shown in the dark.--The Egyptians represented them even on the stage; see Suetonius, _Calig._, 8: "Parabatur et in mortem spectaculum quo argumenta inferorum per Aegyptios et Aethiopas explicarentur."

85. Apul., _Met._, XI, 6 end.

86. _Ibid._, c. 24: "Inexplicabili voluptate < aspectu=""> divini simulacri perfruebar."

87. Plut., _De Isid._, 78, p. 383 A:

[Greek: Hos an exertemenais (tais psuchais ap' autou (tou Osiridos kai theomenais aplestos kai pothousais to me phaton mede rheton anthropois kallos].

88. Cf., _supra_, n. 22.

89. We find similar wishes on the Egyptian monuments, frequently at least since the Middle Empire. "Donnez-moi de l'eau courante a boire....

Mettez-moi la face au vent du nord sur le bord de l'eau et que sa fraicheur calme mon coeur" (Maspero, _Etudes egyptiennes_, I, 1881, p. 189). "Oh, si j'avais de l'eau courante a boire et si mon visage etait tourne vers le vent du nord" (Naville,_op. cit._, p. 174). On a funerary stele in the Brussels museum (Capart, _Guide_, 1905, p. 71) is inscribed, "Que les dieux accordent de boire l'eau des sources, de respirer les doux vents du nord."--The very material origin of this wish appears in the funeral texts, where the soul is shown crossing the desert, threatened with hunger and thirst, and obtaining refreshment by the aid of the G.o.ds (Maspero, _Etudes de mythol. et d'archeol. egypt._, 1883, I, pp. {239} 366 ff.).--On a tablet at Petilia (see _supra_, n. 22), the soul of the deceased is required to drink the fresh water ([Greek: psuchron hudor]) flowing from the lake of Memory in order to reign with the heroes. There is nothing to prevent our admitting with Foucart ("Myst. d'Eleusis," _Mem. Acad. des Inscr._, x.x.xV, 2, p. 67), that the Egyptian ideas may have permeated the Orphic worship of southern Italy after the fourth or third century, since they are found expressed a hundred years earlier at Carpentras (_infra_, n. 90).

90. [Greek: Doie soi ho Osiris to psuchron hudor], at Rome: Kaibel, _Inscr.

gr._ XIV. 1488, 1705, 1782, 1842; cf. 658 and _CIL_, VI, 3, 20616.--[Greek: Soi de Oseiridos hagnon hudor Eisis charisaito], _Rev. archeol._, 1887, p.

199, cf. 201.--[Greek: Psuchei dipsosei psuchron hudor metados], _CIG_, 6267 = Kaibel, 1890. It is particularly interesting to note that almost the same wish appears on the Aramaic stele of Carpentras (_C. I. Sem._, II, 141), which dates back to the fourth or fifth century B. C.: "Blessed be thou, take water from in front of Osiris."--A pa.s.sage in the book of Enoch manifestly inspired by Egyptian conceptions, mentions the "spring of water," the "spring of life," in the realm of the dead (Enoch, xxii. 2, 9.

Cf. Martin, _Le livre d'Henoch_, 1906, p. 58, n. 1, and Bousset, _Relig.

des Judentums_, 1903, p 271). From Judaism the expression has pa.s.sed into Christianity. Cf. Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 6.

91. The Egyptian origin of the Christian expression has frequently been pointed out and cannot be doubted; see Lafaye, _op. cit._, p. 96, n. 1; Rohde, _Psyche_, II, p. 391; Kraus, _Realencycl. der christl. Alt._, s. v.

"Refrigerium"; and especially Dieterich, _Nekyia_, pp. 95 ff. Cf.

Perdrizet, _Rev. des etudes anc._, 1905, p. 32; Audollent, _Melanges Louis Havet_, 1909, p. 575.--The _refrigerii sedes_, which the Catholic Church pet.i.tions for the deceased in the anniversary ma.s.ses, appears in the oldest Latin liturgies, and the Greeks, who do not believe in purgatory, have always expressed themselves along the same lines. For instance, Nubian inscriptions which are in perfect agreement with the euchology of Constantinople hope the soul will rest [Greek: en topoi chloeroi, en topoi anapsuxeos] (G. Lefebvre, _Inscr. gr. chret. d'Eg._, No. 636, 664 ff., and introd., p. x.x.x; cf. Dumont, _Melanges_, h.o.m.olle ed., pp. 585 ff.). The detail is not without significance because it furnishes a {240} valuable indication as to the Egyptian origin of prayer for the dead; this is unknown to Graeco-Roman paganism which prayed to the deified dead but never _for_ the dead as such. The Church took this custom from the Synagogue, but the Jews themselves seem to have taken it from the Egyptians during the h.e.l.lenistic period, undoubtedly in the course of the second century (S.

Reinach, _Cultes, mythes_, I, p. 325), just as they were indebted to the Egyptians for the idea of the "spring of life" (_supra_, n. 90). The formula in the Christian inscriptions cited,

[Greek: anapauson ten psuchen en kolpois Abraam kai Isaak kai Iakob],

appears to indicate a transposition of the doctrine of identification with Osiris. In this way we can explain the persistence in the Christian formulary of expressions, like _requies aeterna_, corresponding to the most primitive pagan conceptions of the life of the dead, who were not to be disturbed in their graves.--A name for the grave, which appears frequently in Latin epitaphs, viz., _domus aeterna_ (or _aeternalis_) is undoubtedly also of Egyptian importation. In Egypt, "la tombe est la maison du mort, sa maison d'eternite, comme disent les textes" (Capart, _Guide du musee de Bruxelles_, 1905, p. 32). The Greeks were struck by this expression which appears in innumerable instances. Diodorus of Sicily (I, 51, -- 2) was aware that the Egyptians

[Greek: tous ton teteleutekoton taphous aidious oikous prosagoreuousin, hos en Haidou diatelounton ton apeiron aiona] (cf. I, 93, -- 1, [Greek: eis ten aionion oikesin]).--

It is probable that this appellation of the tomb pa.s.sed from Egypt into Palestine and Syria. It appears already in Ecclesiastes, xii. 7 (_beth 'olam_ = "house of eternity"), and it is found in Syrian epigraphy (for instance in inscriptions of the third century (_Comptes Rendus Acad.

Inscr._, 1906, p. 123), also in the epigraphy of Palmyra. (Chabot, _Journal asiatique_, 1900, p. 266, No. 47)).--Possibly the hope for consolation, [Greek: Eupsuchei, oudeis athanatos], frequently found engraved upon tombs even in Latin countries was also derived from the Egyptian religion, but this is more doubtful. [Greek: Eupsuchei] is found in the epitaphs of initiates in the Alexandrian mysteries. Kaibel, _Inscr. gr._, XIV, 1488, 1782 ([Greek: Eupsuchei kuria kai doie soi ho Osiris to psuchron hudor]), 2098 (cf. _supra_, n. 90). Possibly the twofold meaning of {241} [Greek: eupsuchos] which stands both for _animosus_ and _frigidus_ (see Dieterich, _Nekyia_, _loc. cit._) has been played upon. But on the other hand, the idea contained in the formula "Be cheerful, n.o.body is immortal," also inspired the "Song of the Harpist," a canonical hymn that was sung in Egypt on the day of the funeral. It invited the listener to "make his heart glad"

before the sadness of inevitable death (Maspero, _Etudes egyptiennes_, I, 1881, pp. 171 ff.; cf. Naville, _op. cit._, p. 171).

V. SYRIA.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Syrian religions have been studied with especial attention to their relation with Judaism: Baudissin, _Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1876. The same author has published veritable monographs on certain divinities (Astarte, Baal, Sonne, etc.) in the _Realencyclopadie fur prot. Theol._, of Herzog-Hauck, 3d ed.--Bathgen, _Beitrage zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, Berlin, 1888.--W. Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, 2d. ed., London, 1894.--Lagrange, _Etudes sur les religions semitiques_, 2d ed., Paris, 1905. The results of the excavations in Palestine, which are important in regard to the funeral customs and the oldest idolatry, have been summarized by Father Hugues Vincent, _Canaan d'apres l'exploration recente_, 1907.--On the propagation of the Syrian religions in the Occident, see Reville, _op.

cit._, pp. 70 _et pa.s.sim_; Wissowa, _Religion der Romer_, pp. 299 ff.; Gruppe, _Griech. Mythol._, pp. 1582 f.--Important observations will be found in Clermont-Ganneau, _Recueil d'archeologie orientale_, 8 vols., 1888, and in Dussaud, _Notes de mythologie syrienne_, Paris, 1903. We have published a series of articles on particular divinities in the _Realencyclopadie_ of Pauly-Wissowa (Baal, Balsamem, Dea Syria, Dolichenus, Gad, etc.). Other monographs are cited below.

1. Lucian, _Lucius_, 53 ff.; Apul., _Metam._, VIII, 24 ff. The description by these authors has recently been confirmed by the discovery of an inscription at Kefr-Hauar in Syria: a slave of the Syrian G.o.ddess "sent by her mistress ([Greek: kuria])," boasts of having brought back "seventy sacks" from each of her trips (Fossey, _Bull. corr. h.e.l.l._, XXI, 1897, p.

60; on the {242} meaning of [Greek: pera], "sack," see Deissmann, _Licht von Osten_, 1908, p. 73).