Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

426 The supports of the Sky personified
of Solomon's temple' were, according to W. Robertson Smith, in the
1
Fig. 330-
nature of huge candlesticks or cressets,
perhaps in actual use as fire-altars^ The
names given to them Jachin, ' He will
establish,' ' the Stablisher,' and Boaz, ' in
Him is Strength '(?)^— imply that they
were in some sense personified supports*,
though still aniconic in shape'. And
their original character as sky-pillars has
been detected by R. Eisler*. When
broken by the Chaldeans and carried off
I Kings 7. 13—2-2, 40—42, 2 Kings 25. 16 f., 2 Chron. 3. 15—17, 4. n— 13.
^ W. Robertson Smith Lectures on the Religion of the Semites'^ London 1907 p. 487 ff.
J. B. de Rossi ' Verre representant le temple de Jerusalem' in the Archives de Vorient
latin Paris 1884 ii. 444 remarks a propos of these columns :
' II y en avait aussi a Rome,
dans la basilique constantinienne du Latran ; elles etaient au nombre de quatre, en
bronze dore, dans I'abside, et supportaient des lampes^^. ['' Le livre pontifical, vie de
Sylvestre, ne parle pas de ces colonnes ; mais il en est question dans la Descriptio
sanctitarii ecclesicE roynancc contenue dans le ms. Vat. Reg. 712 et dans un ms. de Valen-
ciennes du xn