THE PLANETS. 413 



alcliemistic manuscripts ; scarcely, in any case, to the oldest 

 manuscripts of Greek astronomers ; of Ptolemy, of Theon, 

 or of Cleomedes. The earliest planetary signs, some of which 



I have submitted to a learned investigator of Semitic anti- 

 quities, the Oriental traveller Professor Tischendorf, at Leip- 

 sic, the question, whether, besides the Sabbath, there occur 

 in the Old Testament any names for the individual days of 

 the week (other than the second and the third of the schebua) ? 

 Whether no planetary name for any one day of the seven-day 

 period occurred anywhere in the New Testament at a period 

 in which it was certain that the foreign inhabitants of Pales- 

 tine already pursued planetary astrology ? The answer was, 

 " There is an entire absence, not only in the Old and New 

 Testaments, but also in the Mischna and Talmud, of any traces 

 of names of week-days, taken from the planets. Neither is the 

 expression, the second or third day of the schebua employed, and 

 time is generally reckoned by the days of the month ; the day 

 before the Sabbath is also called the sixth day, without any 

 further addition. The word Sabbath was also transferred to 

 the week throughout, (Ideler, Ilandbuch der Chronol. bd. i. 

 p. 780) ; consequently, the first, second, and third day of the 

 Sabbath stand for the days of the week in the Talmud as well. 

 The word e/3o/ias for schebua, is not in the New Testament. 

 The Talmud, which certainly extends from the second to the 

 third century, has descriptive Hebrew names for a few planets, 

 for the brilliant Venus and the red-coloured Mars. Among 

 these the name of Sabbatai (literally Sabbath-star,) for 

 Saturn, is especially remarkable ; as among the Pharisaic 

 names of the stars which Epiphanius enumerates, the name 

 Hochab Sabbath is employed for Saturn." Has not this had 

 an influence upon the conversion of Sabbath day into Saturn 

 clay, the ' Saturni sacra dies " of Tibullus (Eleg. i. 3, 18) ? 

 Another passage in Tacitus extends the range of these rela- 

 tions to Saturn as a planet, and as a traditional historical per- 

 sonage. (Compare also Fiirst, Kultur- und Litter aturgeschichte 

 der Juden in Asien, 1849, p. 40). 



The different luminous forms of the Moon certainly attracted 

 the observation of hunters and herdsmen earlier than astro- 



