THE MOENING STAR IN THE GOSPELS. 



263 



proclaims," the feminine of the third person of nahtt, " to 

 proclaim." Therefore the Babylonian Venus was apparently a 

 planet and was regarded as "a proclaimer," I say apparently, 

 because there is a possibility that Venus was identified with other 

 heavenly bodies which were regarded as proclaimers, but at the 

 same time the planet Venus was a proclaimer. I will not touch 

 upon the point as to whether the word " star " comes from Istar 

 or not. I am a little doubtful. It is not certain until we can get 

 more information. 



Another question which has arisen in the course of this paper and 

 the discussion, is the visibility of the crescent form of the planet 

 Venus. There is a very interesting list of gods in the British 

 Museum which contains the name of Merodach and describes him as 

 being attended by four dogs, whose names are given. The question 

 is whether these dogs were to be identified with the four satellites 

 of Jupiter. At a meeting of the French Astronomical Society some 

 months ago one of the gentlemen present said that in his opinion it 

 was possible to see the satellites of Jupiter with the naked 

 eye ; and if the satellites of Jupiter could be seen with the naked 

 eye, it seems to me that in a country like that, where the 

 atmosj)here is so clear and the stars are so much more visible than 

 with us, it is very probable that the phases of Venus were visible 

 likewise to the more sharp-sighted of the star-gazers of that ancient 

 time. In connection with this it is not only to be noted what Colonel 

 Mackinlay has instanced, namely, that the stars as time-keepers and 

 time-givers have very much greater importance in the East than 

 with us ; but it is also a fact that, in ancient times, especially among 

 the heathen and semi-heathen nations, there were people who wished 

 to find out things from the stars, and who were always observing 

 them. As you know, we have a proverb which says, " Practice 

 makes perfect," and their vision was in all probability perfected by 

 practice to a much greater extent than the natives of that country 

 at the present time. Notwithstanding the existence of a piece of 

 crystal roughly shaped somewhat as a plano-convex lens, I do not 

 think, myself, that we can say that the Babylonians or any other 

 nation of antiquity had attained to the invention of the telescope. 



An interesting question is, whether Ashtaroth-Karnaim was the 

 moon-goddess or not. Of course the general opinion is that 

 Ashtaroth-Karnaim is the moon-goddess, but if the word Ashtaroth 



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