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

284 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
19. Ambrosiaster, Comm. in Epist. Pauli, p. 58 B : "Dicentes
per istos posse ire ad Deum sicut per comites pervenire ad
regem" (cf. Rev. his. lit. rel, VIII, 1903, p. 427). The same
idea was set forth by Maximus of Turin (Adv. pag., col. 791)
and by Lactantius (Inst. div., II, 16, 5 ff., p. 168 Brandt) ;
on the celestial court, see also Arnobius, II, 36; Tertullian,
ApoL, 24. Zeus bore the name of king, but the Hellenic Olym
pus was in reality a turbulent republic. The conception of a
supreme god, the sovereign of a hierarchical court, seems to
have been of Persian origin, and to have been propagated by
the magi and the mysteries of Mithra. The inscription of
the Nemroud Dagh speaks of Aios Qpop&adov 6p6vovs (supra,
ch. VI, n. 26), and, in fact, a bas-relief shows Zeus-Oramasdes
sitting on a throne, scepter in hand. The Mithra bas-reliefs
likewise represent Jupiter Ormuzd on a throne, with the other
gods standing around him (Mon. myst. Mithra, I, p. 129; II,
p. 188, fig. n) ; and Hostanes pictured the angels sitting
around the throne of*God (supra, ch. VI, n. 38; see Rev. iv).
Moreover, the celestial god was frequently compared, not to
a king in general, but to the Great King, and people spoke of
his satraps ; cf. Pseudo-Arist, nepi K6<T/j.ov, c. 6, p. 398 a, 10 ff.
=r Apul., De mundo, c. 26; Philo, De opif. mundi, c. 23, 27
(p. 24, 17; 32, 24, Cohn) ; Maximus of Turin, X, 9; and
Capelle, Die Schrift von der Welt (Neue Jahrb. fur das klass.
Altert., VIII), 1905, p. 556, n. 6. Particularly important is a
passage of Celsus (Origen, Contra Cels., VIII, 35) where the
relation of this doctrine to the Persian demonology is shown.
But the Mazdean conception must have combined, at an early
date, with the old Semitic idea that Baal was the lord and
master of his votaries (supra, p. 94 ff.). In his Neutestamentliche
Zeitgeschichte (2d. ed., 1906, p. 364 ff.), Holtzmann
insists on the fact that the people derived their conception of
the kingdom of God from the pattern of the Persian monarchy.
See also supra, p. in.
A comparison similar to this one, which is also found among
the pagans of the fourth century, is the comparison of heaven
with a city (Nectarius in St. Aug., Epist., 103 [Migne, P. L.,
XXXIII, col. 386] ) : "Civitatem quam magnus Deus et bene
meritae de eo animae habitant," etc. Compare the City of
God of St. Augustine and the celestial Jerusalem of the Jews