Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Zoroastres 3 5
statement in a somewhat earlier form. Mesraim (Mizraim), son of
Cham (Ham), was the first to study magic. He gave much attention
to the stars and, wishing to be thought a god, pretended to produce
sparks from them, till at length he was burnt b}' the demon, whom
he had too often invoked. His contemporaries regarded him as a
friend of God, carried up to heaven on a thunderbolt. They there-
fore built him a tomb, changed his name to Zoroastej', the 'Living
Star,' and worshipped him as such. Hence many persons still
honour victims of lightning with tombs and respect them as being
friends of God. Rufinus' account is followed in the sixth century
by Saint Gregory of Tours\ The Chronicon Paschale'^ of the
seventh century, together with the Byzantine historians Kedrenoss
{c. iioo A.D.) and Glykas^ {c. 1 120 A.D.), states that Zoroastres the
famous Persian astronomer, when about to die, prayed to Orion that
he might be destroyed by the fire of heaven, and told the Persians
to take up his burnt bones and preserve them, as the retention
in mains eum extollunt. exstructo enim sepulcro ad honorem eius tanquam amicum Dei
ac fulniinis ad coelum vehiculo sublevatum adorare ausi sunt et quasi vivens astrum colere.
hinc enim et nomen post mortem eius Zoroaster, hoc est vivum sidus, appellatum est ab
his qui post unam generationem Graecae linguae loquela fuerant repleti. hoc denique
exemplo etiam nunc multi eos qui fulmine obierint sepulcris honoratos tanquam amicos
Dei colunt.
J. B. Coteler ad loc. cites from Fest. p. 245 a 23 ff. Miiller, p. 285, 3 ff. Lindsay the
statement that Q. Fabius Eburnus was called piillus lovis because his hinder parts were
struck by lightning (cp. Arnob. adv. tial. 4. 26 and De Vit Onomasticon iii. 8 s.v. ' xiv.
Fabius').
"^
Gregorius Turonensis hist. Franc, i. 5 (Ixxi. 164 f. Migne) primogenitus vero Cham,
Chus. hie fuit totius artis magicae, imbuente diabolo, et primus idololatriae adinventor.
hie primus statuunculam adorandam diaboli instigatione constituit : qui et Stellas, et ignem
de coelo cadere, falsa virtute, hominibus ostendebat. hie ad Persas transiit. hunc Persae
vocitavere Zoroastrem, id est viventem stellam. ab hoc etiam ignem adorare consueti
ipsum divinilus igne consumptum ut deum colunt.
'^ Chron. Paschale i. 67 Dindorf e| avrov ovv tov yevovs iyei'vqd-q koX 6 TiwpbacTpoi (so
cod. V. for Zopodv
Kaio/j.evwv /xov oar^oiv itrdpaTe Kal (pvXa^an, Kal ouk e/cXeti/'ei to ^aa'CKnov eK ttjs v/xCov x