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

246 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
Asia Minor, asserts (Handbook of Asia-Minor, p. 19), that
"the natives do not eat fish to any
extent." The "totemic"
prohibition in this instance really seems to have a hygienic
origin. People abstained from all kinds of fish because some
species were dangerous, that is to say, inhabited by evil spirits,
and the tumors sent by the Syrian goddess were merely the
edemas caused by the poisoning.
37. On the *Ix^ s symbolism I will merely refer to Usener,
SintHutsagen, 1899, pp. 223 ff. Cf. S. Reinach, Cultes, mythes,
III, 1908, pp. 43 ff. An exhaustive book on this subject has
recently appeared: Dolger, IX0T2, das Fischsymbol in friih-
christlicher Zeit, I, Rome, 1910.
On sacred repasts where fish was eaten see Mnaseas,
fragment 32 (Fragm. histor. graec., Ill, 115) ; cf. Ditten-
l^dvuv airodavri, KapTrovodu
berger, Syllogc, 584: Eav Si n<; TUV
avOrjfjLEpbv e-rri rov /3u/j.ov, and Diog. Laert., VIII, 34. There
were also sacred repasts in the Occident in the various Syrian
cults : Ccnatorium et triclinium in the temples of Jupiter Doli-
chenus (CIL, III, 4789; VI, 30931; XI, 696, cf. Mon. myst.
et mantelium offered to
Mithra, II, p. 501) ; promulsidaria
the Venus Caelestis (CIL, X, 1590) ; construction of a temple
to Malachbel with a culina (CIL, III, 7954). Mention is made
of a detirvoKpirr/S) ^eirrvott; Kpeivac; irohAa fj.tr f.i><j>poavvr}(;, in the
temple of the Janiculum (Gauckler, C. R. A cad. Inscr., 1907,
p. 142; Bolletino communale, 1907, pp. 15 ff.). Cf. Lagrange,
Religions semitiqucs, II, p. 609, and Pauly-Wissowa, Realenc.,
s. v. Gad."
38. W. Robertson Smith, pp. 292 ff.
39. An inscription discovered at Kefr-Hauar (Fossey, Bull,
corr. hell, 1897, p. 60) is very characteristic in this respect.
A "slave"
homage to his "mistress" (Kvpla).
of the Syrian goddess in that inscription offers his
40. Notably at Aphaca where they were not suppressed until
the time of Constantine (Eusebius, Vit. Const., Ill, 55; cf.
Sozom., II, 5).
41. Much has been written about the sacred prostitutions in
paganism, and it is well known that Voltaire ridiculed the
scholars who were credulous enough to believe in the tales
of Herodotus. But this practice has been proven by irre-