ALLUSIONS IN SACKED BOOKS OF THE EAST. 



221 



the astrologer a very small scope in which to work his 

 prophecies. The Alexandrian astrologers assigned a deity to 

 eacli day of the 7-day week, and to each hour of the 24-hour day. 

 Pseudo-Enoch and his Parthian colleagues have a different 

 scheme, one which, so far as I know, is not found elsewhere. 

 He assigns " leaders " (a pseudonym for angel or deity) to the 

 lour quarters of the year, to the twelve months and to the 18 

 divisions of the 360 days which in his opinion make up the 

 complete year with an addition of 4 intercalary days. We know- 

 that this is a Parthian idea, for only in Eth. En. and in the 

 Bundahis do we find an 18-fold division of the day. 



For each of the 360 days there are heads over thousands of 

 the order of the stars who divide the days ; and there are 

 18 divisions of the day. Thisgives380 x 18 x 1,000 = 6,480,000. 

 But if we turn aojain to the Bundahis, we rind : 



" As a specimen of a warlike army, which is destined for battle, 

 they have ordained 6,480,000 small stars as assistance, and among 

 those constellations for chieftains appointed on the four sides as 

 leaders." 



According to the Bundahis one of these four leaders is Haptok- 

 ring, the seven Plough stars in the north. Pseudo-Enoch, 

 remembering that a function of Haptok-ring was to guide the 

 constellations and give them protection, makes these four leaders 

 the four Wain stars, and not knowing what to do with the three 

 Handle stars, asserts that these both "lead them" and " follow 

 the leaders," and to identify them, mentions the little star, 

 Alcor,* which is a close companion of Mizar, the middle star of 

 the Handle. 



Putting together the information derived from the Bundahis 

 and from Eth. En., I conclude that there was an attempt 

 in Parthia to found a school of astrology in opposition to the 

 famous one in Alexandria, based on a Graeco-Magian scheme 

 of the universe. The astrological plan, hinted at in Eth. En., 

 was a sub- variant of this. 



It was not in his astrological scheming alone that Pseudo- 

 Enoch was indebted to Greek science or Marian tradition : — 



" And the first wind is called the east, because it is the first, and 

 the second, the south, because the Most High will descend there, 

 yea, there in quite a special sense will He Who is Blessed for ever, 



* The " Test " star of the Arabs ; " Jack on the Middle Horse " of 

 English peasantry ; 83 Ursie Majoris of the astronomer. 



