128 REV. HENRY LANSDELL^ D.D.^ ETC., ON 



corn to the temple of the sun god [at Sippara] as the tithe 

 required by him for the year. The tithes paid to the same 

 temple by Naboiiidus just after his accession [555 B.C.] 

 amounted to as much as six manehs of gold. Voluntary 

 gifts also Avere common and were often made in pursuance 

 ot a vow or in gratitude for recovery from sickness."* 



Professor ISayce observes also, in his Patriarchal Palestine.! 

 that Cyrus and Cambyses did not regard their foi-eign origin 

 as afFording any pretext for refusing to pay tithe to the gods 

 of the khigdom they had overthrown. 



The mention of Cyrus takes our thoughts to Persia (or 

 Elam), Avhere tithe-giving seems to have been known before 

 the days of Cyrus, for ]\Iaspero says : 



" These deities [of Elam dwelling near Susa] received a 

 tenth of the spoil after any successful campaign — the offer- 

 ings comprising statues of the enemies gods, valuable vases, 

 ingots of gold and silver, furniture and stuffs." 



Let us now pass to the Phoenicians, or Canaanltes, who 

 dwelt on the coast of Southern Syria, and were the manufac- 

 turers and merchants of antiquity. 



It was a colony of these Phoenicians from Tyre Avho 

 founded Carthage — say about 900 B.C. They brought with 

 them the custom of titlie-giving ; and, from the outset, used 

 to send the tithe of all their profits and increase to Tyre, 

 for Hercules, by one clothed in purple and priestly robes, 

 <ind so likeAvise they did Avitli their spoils of war taken in 

 Sicily. 



There remain now two other nations to be referred to 

 in coiuiection Avith tithe-giA^ng, namely, the Arabians and 

 Ethiopians. 



Plinyl mentions an Arabian laAv Avhereby the OAvner of 

 frankincense had to pay tithe of it to the god Sabis, Avhose 

 priests receiA^ed it, not by Aveight, but by measure. Nor 

 might any sale of it be made till the tenth Avas paid. 



Again, the lato Dr. Robertsoji Smith, Professor of Arabic 

 at Cambridge, speaking of sacred tribute in Arabia, says : 

 ^' The agricultural tribute of first-fruits and tithe is a charge 

 nn the produce of the land, paid to the gods as Baalhn or 

 iandlords."§ 



Once more, Avhat Pliny says of the Arabians and their 



* Social life among the Asi<yrians and Babylonians, p. 121. 



+ p. 166. ■ + Hist. Nat., lib. 12, cap. 14, § 63. 



§ Lectures on the religion of ilie Semites, p. 441. 



