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THe owe, APRIL, (2, 1914. 
THE SYRIAN GODDESS, 
The Syrian Goddess; Being a_ translation of 
Lucian’s “De: Dea Syria” with a Life of 
Lucian. By Prof. H. A. Strong. Edited with 
notes and an introduction by Dr. J. Garstang. 
Pp. xiiitizr. (London: Constable and Co., 
1603... perice 4s net. 
. view of recent excavation upon sites in Syria, 
and of the increased interest the ancient cults 
of that region have for the archeologist, it was 
well worth while to produce an annotated edition 
of the well-known treatise “De dea Syria.” The 
editors accept the traditional ascription of the 
work to Lucian, and there is much to be said 
for this view; for, although the rest of Lucian’s 
works are written in pure Attic Greek, he may 
well in his early youth have adopted the Ionic 
dialect for this treatise in imitation of Herodotus. 
We should then assign its composition to the 
middle of the second century B.c. In any case, 
the record is that of an intelligent traveller who 
is anxious to make known the facts he has been 
able to ascertain as to the strange Oriental rites 
of Syria, and as such it has the very greatest 
value for the archeologist. Its author describes 
the cult and temple of the goddess of North Syria, 
Atargatis, and that of her male consort, at Hiera- 
polis, near Mumbij, on the Euphrates. It has 
long been recognised that Atargatis was a com- 
bination of the Cilician goddess Atheh with Athar, 
the Aramaic form of the goddess Astarte or 
Ishtar. 
In his introduction Prof. Garstang would trace 
her descent from a still more remote antiquity, 
connecting her with the chief goddess of the 
Hittites, the great nature-mother who appears 
in the Anatolian rock-sculptures. One of the 
earliest of her images may well be that mysteri- 
ous and gigantic figure carved in the living rock 
on Mount Sipylus, near Smyrna. The fact that 
Atargatis of Hierapolis is always represented as 
robed upon coins from the site is in favour of 
the Hittite comparison; and the descent of her 
consort from the Hittite and Mitannian weather- 
god Teshub is rendered probable by the fact 
that the author of the treatise, ‘“‘De dea Syria,” 
identifies him with the Syrian Adad. Thus it may 
well be that much of the cult the author describes 
had been inherited from the ritual of the Anatolian 
deity as practised fifteen centuries before he 
wrote. 
Prof. Garstang’s notes and introduction give 
NO.) 2316, VOL; 93| 
evidence of wide reading in the course of his study 
of this interesting theme, and the book will form 
a useful supplement to the collection of material 
he has already published in his larger work on 
“The Land of the Hittites.” Le. Woe 
STONES AND SUPERSTITIONS. 
The Curious Lore of Precious Stones. By Dr. 
G. F. Kunz. Pp. .xiv+406+63 plates, and 
numerous illustrations in the text. (Philadel- 
phia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 
1913!) Price 21s.net: 
R. KUNZ’S wide knowledge and experience 
in connection with precious and semi- 
precious stones, and his familiarity the 
voluminous literature dealing with the subject, 
afford a sufficient guarantee to all interested in 
gems and their “curious lore,” that the work he 
has now produced is one of exceptional value. 
On the title-page of this handsome volume the 
subjects to be dealt with in relation to gems are 
enumerated as “their sentiments and folk-lore, 
superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medi- 
cine, protection, prevention, religion, and divina- 
tion, crystal-gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones, 
and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetary ’”’— 
and this long list is far from exhausting the mass 
of extraordinary and fanciful ideas treated of in 
the book, and constituting one of the strangest 
illustrations of human credulity and love of the 
marvellous. 
With regard to the disputed question as to 
whether precious stones first came to be prized 
as ornaments or talismans, our author does not 
attempt to give a decision; he justly points out 
that the absence of precious stones in the oldest 
known interments, where shells, etc., appear to 
be used as ornaments, may be accounted for by 
the hardness of the stones which prevents easy 
perforation. Jet ornaments, however, occur with 
Paleolithic remains, both in the caves of Belgium 
and Switzerland, and harder stones are found in 
Neolithic graves. Of the early use of stones as 
fetishes there is no doubt; life, sex, powers of 
reproduction, and many extraordinary virtues and 
influences were ascribed to them at the dawn of 
history. Magic formule concerning stones are 
found alike in the clay tablets of Sumero-Assyrian 
age and in Egyptian papyri of very early date. 
The earliest engraved cylinders of Babylon are 
ascribed to 4000 B.c., and scarabs of Egypt to 
2000 B.c., while amber was found in abundance 
in the graves of Mycene. In classical times 
magical influences were ascribed to the beauti- 
fully engraved gems, partly on account of the 
with 
| materials of which they are composed, and partly 
EF 
