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

IV, 2). Cf. Patily-Wissowa, Realenc.,
2242.
33- Tibullus, I, 7, 17.
NOTES SYRIA. 245
s. v. "Dea
Syria," col.
34. Lucian, De dea Syria, 14; 54. Cf. Diodorus, II, 4, 2;
Ovid, Met., IV, 46; V, 331.
35. Pauly-Wissowa, loc. cit., col. 2241 ; W.
P- 175-
Robertson Smith,
36. The ancient authors frequently alluded to this super
stition of the Syrians (the texts have been collected by Selden,
De dis Syris, II, C 3, pp. 268 ff., ed. of 1672). W.
Robertson Smith (loc. cit., p. 449), is right in connecting it
with certain ideas of savages. Like many primitive beliefs,
this one has continued to the present day. It has been pointed
out to me that at Sani-Keu i, a little west of Doliche, there is
a pond fed by a spring and well stocked with fish, which one
is forbidden to take. Near the mosque of Edessa is a large
pond where catching fish is prohibited. They are considered
sacred, and the people believe that any one who would eat
them would die instantly. (Sachau, Rcisc in Syricn, 1883,
pp. 196 ff. Cf. Lord Warkworth, Diary in Asiatic Turkey,
London, 1898, p. 242). The same is the case at the mosque of
Tripoli and elsewhere (Lammens, Au pays dcs Nosa iris [Rente
ilc I Oricnt clircticn}, 1908, p. 2). Even in Asia Minor this
superstition is found. At Tavshanli, north of Aezani on the
upper Rhyndacus, there is to-day a square cistern filled with
sacred fish which no one is allowed to take (on the authority
of Munro). Travelers in Turkey have frequently observed
that the people do not eat fish, even when there is a scarcity
of food (Sachau, loc. cit., p. 196) and the general belief that
their flesh is unhealthful and can cause sickness is not en
tirely unfounded. Here is what Ramsay has to say on the
subject (Impressions of Turkey, London, 1897, p. : 288) "Fish
are rarely found and when found are usually bad: the natives
have a prejudice against fish, and my own experience has
been unfavorable. .. .In the clear sparkling mountain stream
that flows through the Taurus by Bozanti-Khan, a small
kind of fish is caught ;
I had a most violent attack of sickness
in 1891 after eating some of them, and so had all who par
took." Captain Wilson, who spent a number of years in