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

264 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS
The comparison of the formula ubi fcrrum nascitur with the
expression OTTOU 6 ffidijpos Tt/crercu, used in connection with the
Chalybians, leads to the same conclusion, see Revue de philo-
logie, XXVI, 1902, p. 281. Still, the representations of Jupiter
Dolichnus also possess a remarkable resemblance to those of
the Babylonian god Ramman ; cf. Jeremias in Roscher, Lexikon
der Myth., s. v. "Ramman," IV, col. 50 ff.
24. Rev. archeol. 1905, I, p. 189. Cf. supra, p. 373, n. 68.
25. Herod., I, 131. On the assimilation of Baalsamin to
Ahura-Mazda, cf. supra, p. 127, and infra, n. 29. At Rome,
Jupiter Dolichenus was conservator totius poll et numen praestantissimum
(CIL, VI, 406 = 30758).
26. Inscription of King Antiochus of Commagene (Michel,
Recueil, No. 735), 1. 43:
cf. 1. 33 : Qvpaviuv ayxiGra. Qpovuv.
27. Mon. myst. Mithra, I, p. 87.
28. Mon. myst. Mithra, I, p. 333. An inscription discovered
in a mithreum at Dorstadt (Sacidava in Dacia, CIL, 111,7728,
cf. 7729), furnishes, if I rightly understand, another proof of
the relation existing between the Semitic cults and that of the
Persian gods. It speaks of a "deforum?] sacerdos creatus a
Pal[myr]enis, do [mo] Macedonia, et adven[tor] huius templi."
This rather obscure text becomes clear when compared with
Apul., Metam., XI, 26. After the hero had been initiated into
the mysteries of Isis in Greece, he was received at Rome in
the great temple of the Campus Martins, "fani quidem advena,
religionis autem indigena." It appears also that this Mace
donian, who was made a priest of their national gods (Bel,
Malakbel, etc.) by a colony of Palmyrenians, was received in
Dacia by the mystics of Mithra as a member of their religion.
29. At Venasa in Cappadocia, for instance, the people, even
during the Christian period, celebrated a panegyric on a moun
tain, where the celestial Zeus, representing Baalsamin and
Ahura-Mazda, was formerly worshiped (Ramsay, Church in
the Roman Empire, 1894, pp. 142, 457). The identification of
Bel with Ahura-Mazda in Cappadocia results from the Ara
maic inscription of Jarpuz (Clermont-Ganneau, Recueil, III,