The Syrian Goddess De Dea Syria

Author : Herbert A. Strong
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330841136
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (411 download)

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Download or read book The Syrian Goddess written by Herbert A. Strong and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-06 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Syrian Goddess: Being a Translation of Lucian's "De Dea Syria," With a Life of Lucian To the student of oriental religions the Dea Syria is brimful of interest. It describes the cult and worship of the goddess of Northern Syria, Atargatis, at her sacred city, Hierapolis, now Mumbij. The time when Lucian wrote would be the middle of the second century B. C. We do not see any reason to reject the traditional authorship of the treatise: on the contrary, the work seems to reveal the famous satirist at home, taking a natural interest in local memories and institutions, while making, doubtless, mental notes that were to prove of use in the works for which he is best known. Of the many writers who refer to the Dea Syria, no one dwells upon the fundamental character of the cult at Hierapolis, nor deals with the problem of its historical origins. It is this aspect of inquiry, therefore, with which we chiefly deal in the Introduction and the foot notes. Lucian's description, amplified by the later account of Macrobius, and further illustrated by the local coinage of Hierapolis, reveals the central cult as that of a divine parr.' The male god, a form of Hadad, is symbolised by the bull, and is hence both "Lord of Heaven" and "Creator." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.