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

270 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
Hippolytus, Philos., V, I, says of Isis (Ishtar?) in connection
with the Naasenians. She is eTrrdo-roXoj, because nature also
is covered with seven ethereal garments, the seven heavens of
the planets; see Ps.-Apul., Asclepius, 34 (p. 75, 2 Thomas):
"Mundum sensibilem et, quae in eo sunt, omnia a superiore
illo mundo quasi ex vestimento esse contecta." I have insisted
upon the persistence of this idea, because it may help
us to
grasp the significance attributed to a detail of the Mithra ritual
in connection with which Porphyry relates nothing but con
tradictory interpretations. The persons initiated into the seven
degrees were obliged to put on different costumes. The seven
degrees of initiation successively conferred upon the mystic
were symbols of the seven planetary spheres, through which
the soul ascended after death (Mon. myst. Mithra, I, p. 316),
the garments assumed by the initiates were probably con
sidered as emblems of those "tunics" which the soul put on
when descending into the lower realms and discarded on re
turning
to heaven.
55. Renan, Marc-Aurclc, p. 5/9.
56. Anatole France, Le mannequin d osier, p. 318. Cf. Rei-
nach, op. cit. [p. 260], p. 232.
VII. ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC.
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Bouche-Leclercq s book L astrologie grecque
(Paris, 1899) makes it unnecessary to refer to the earlier
works of Saumaise (Dc antris climactcricis, 1648), of Seiffarth
(Beitrdge zur Lit. des alien Aegyplcn, II, 1883), etc. Most of
the facts cited by us are taken from that monumental treatise,
unless otherwise stated. A large number of new texts has
been published in the Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graccorum
(9 vols. ready, Brussels, 1898). Franz Boll, Sphaera
(Leipsic, 1903) is important for the history of the Greek and
barbarian constellations (see Rev. archeol., 1903, I, p. 437).
De la Ville de Mirmont has furnished notes on L astrologie
en Gaule au V* siccle (Rev. des Etudes anciennes, 1902, pp.
iiSfT. ; 1903, pp. 255 ff. ; 1906, p. 128). Also in book form,
Bordeaux, 1904. The principal results of the latest researches
have been outlined to perfection by Boll, Die Erforschung der