The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

SYRIA.
mained deeply and even coarsely idolatrous in prac
133
tice, in theory it approached monotheism or, better ^/
perhaps, henotheism. By an absurd but curious ety
mology the name Hadad has been explained as "one,
one"
( ad W). 86
Everywhere the narrow and divided polytheism
showed a confused tendency to elevate itself into a
superior synthesis, but in Syria astrology lent the
firmness of intelligent conviction to notions that were
vague elsewhere. The Chaldean cosmology, which
deified all elements but ascribed a predominant in
fluence to the stars, ruled the entire Syrian syncretism.
It considered the world as a great organism which
was kept intact by an intimate solidarity, and whose
parts continually influenced each other.
The ancient Semites believed therefore that the
divinity could be regarded as embodied in the waters,
in the fire of the lightning, in stones or plants. But
the most powerful gods were the constellations and
the planets that governed the course of time, and of
all things.
The sun was supreme because it led the starry
choir, because it was the king and guide of all the /
other luminaries and therefore the master of the whole
world. 8 ? The astronomical doctrines of the "Chal
deans" taught that this incandescent globe alternately (/
attracted and repelled the other sidereal bodies, and
from this principle the Oriental theologians had con
cluded that it must determine the entire life of the
universe, inasmuch as it regulated the movements of
the heavens. As the "intelligent light"
it was espe
cially the creator of human reason, and just as it re
pelled and attracted the planets in turn, it was believed