i88i] ANIMAL WORSHIP AND ANIMAL TRIBES 457 



out to be a pictorial representation of the attributes of the 

 celestial gods&quot; (Studien, ii. 146). Now it will of course 

 be admitted that among the Semites animal gods were 

 largely identified with astral powers. But this by no 

 means proves that from the first the animal was a mere 

 emblem of heavenly attributes. On the contrary the 

 religion of Peru affords an unambiguous example of the 

 elevation of totem gods to the skies, on the theory that 

 &quot; there was not any beast or bird upon the earth whose 

 shape or image did not shine in the heavens.&quot; l Indeed 

 when we look at the matter closely we find no complete 

 proof that all Semitic animal gods were identified with 

 planets or constellations even in the later developments 

 of their worship. What is the astral equivalent of the 

 fly-god Beelzebub ? or of Dagon, whose character as a 

 fish-god Baudissin himself accepts as probable ? Or if we 

 turn to Arabia, what proof can be offered beyond vague 

 analogy that the god worshipped by the Dhu- l-kala , 

 under the name and figure of an eagle (Nasr), was a form 

 of the sun-god, or that a planetary character belonged to 

 Yaghuth (the helper), whose image was that of a lion, or 

 Ya uq (the hinderer), who was figured as a horse. 2 It 

 would tax the ingenuity of the boldest symbolist to reduce 

 to its astral elements the Jewish worship of all manner of 

 creeping things and unclean beasts (Ezek. viii. 10, Deut. iv. 

 17, 18, contrasted with ver. 19). And it is strange that 

 Baudissin^ should deny that living animals had sanctity 

 among the Semites, when he has occasion in the very same 



1 Fortnightly Review, 1870, p. 212. 



2 These three appear in the Qor an as idols of the antediluvians, 

 which no doubt expresses a consciousness that they are gods of the 

 earliest antiquity. Nasr is mentioned in the Talmud, Tr. Aboda Zara. 

 The other two antediluvian idols Wadd and Suwa had the shape of a 

 man and woman respectively. The explanation of the latter name 

 by Osiander (Z.D.M.G. vii. 496) rests on an appellative sense given 

 to the word in the Qamus which is not acknowledged in the Lexicons 

 of Lane and Bistany. I have not access to Wiistenfeld s genealogical 

 tables, but learn from Osiander that in one tribe (the Qoraysh) we find 

 as proper names &quot; Servant of Yaghuth &quot; and &quot; Servant of the Lion,&quot; 

 which presumably refer to the same cultus. 



