In Surrye, not fer fro the Ryvere Eufrate, is a
Cytee that Holy highte and holy is in sothe, for it
is of Iuno Assurien. Hierapolis, or better, in accordance with the coins, Hieropolis. It is N.W. of Aleppo, on the main road into Mesopotamia, 15 Roman miles from the crossing of the Euphrates, and by road about 116 Roman miles from Lucian’s birthplace, Samosata. Its Syrian name was Makog, (properly Manbog, i.e. “spring,” according to Baudissin, Studien, ii, 159), in Greek, Bambyce. 1t was dubbed Hieropolis in the time of Seleucus Nicator (Ael. V.H. 12, 2), but the old name persisted (Manbij; le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p 500) and still attaches to the ruins, on which see Hogarth, Annual of the British School at Athens, 1907-8, p. 186 sqq ; Cumont, Beudes Syriennes, p. 22 sqq., p. 35 sgq. Lucian does not identify the city with “ancient Ninus,” as do Philostratus and Ammianus. Yit I wene that the cyteene
hadde not this name atte firste, whan that it was
founded, but of olden tyme it was other, and after,”
whan here servys of the Goddesse wex gret, it was their
chaunged to this. Touching this cytee I purpos
me to seyn alle that is in it, and I schalle speke of
the customes that thei folwen in here rytes, and the
feste dayes that thei kepen, and the sacrifises that
thei perfourmen. And I schalle reherce alle the
tales that men tellen of hem that establisschede the
holy place, and how that the temple was bylded.
And I that write am Assurien, Confusion between Assyrian and Syrian is not peculiar to this piece nor to Lucian. It goes back to Herodotus, who says that “Syrian” is the Greek equivalent of the barbarian “Assyrian” (7,63 ; see Macan’s note, and cf. 140). and of that that I
devyse you, some partie saughe I with mine owne
eyen, and some partie I lerned be informacioun fro _
the prestes, that is to seyn, tho thynges that I
descryve that weren beforn min owne tyme.
 
Of alle peples whereof wee knowen, Egyptyens
weren firste, as men seyn, for to taken conceyte of




 

Goddes, and to stablisschen holy places and closes,
and to apoynten feste dayes. And thei firste knewen
holy names and maden holy tales. But no long
tyme after, Assuryens herden rumour and speche
of Egyptyens as touching to goddes, and rereden
seyntuaryes and temples, in the whiche thei lette
putten ymages and setten symulacres. In Astrology, Lucian similarly credits the Egyptians with priority over the Chaldaeans in the study of the stars. In th cases his view, surprising in a Syrian, was the common one of his time, to be found, for instance, in Diodorus 

 
But auncientlye amonges Egyptyens weren temples withouten symulacres. And in Surrye ben temples almost
als olde as tho in Egypte, of the whiche I have seen
the moste, and namely the temple of Hercules in
Tyre, not that Hercules that Grekes preysen in here
songes, but that oon wherof I speke is moche elder,
and is Tyres patroun. The god was Melkart. Herodotus was told by the priests there that the cult was established when the city was founded, and was then (ca. 430 B.c.) 2,300 years old (Herod. 2, 44). 
 

In Phenicye is another grete temple that men of
Sidon kepen. Thei seyn, it is of Astarte, and
Astarte, I trowe, is Luna the Mone. The Emperor Elagabalus, being the Sun, brought — Astarte the Moon from Phoenicia and wedded her (Herodian 5, 6, 3-5). But she was not originally or at any time primarily the moon; and in Babylonia, as Ishtar, she had for her emblem a star, the planet Venus (Baudissin, 19). Clay (p. 47) believes that the name Ashera, Ashirta, Ishtar, is that of a mortal woman, an early queen of Hallab (Aleppo). But oon of
the prestes tolde me, it belongeth to Europe, Cadmus
suster. Sche was Agenor the Kinges daughter ;
and after that sche vanisched, Phenicyens yafen
hir that temple for worschipe and maden a storie
of hir, that sithe sche was fair, love coveytede hir,
and transformed his lyknesse in to a bole, and than
ravissched hir awey and bar hir on his bac to Crete.
That same storie I herde of othere Phenicyens also ;





 

and the moneye that Sidonyes usen hath Europe
sittynge on the bole that is Iove. The coins are described in Head, Historia Nummorum, 2nd ed., pp. 797 sg. The temple itself contained, in later days at least, a painting of the Europa episode (Achilles Tatius 1, 1). The story was also localized at Tyre, where the house of Agenor and the bower of Europa were shown (Arrian, Anab. 2, 24, 2; Nonnus, Dionys. 40, 353 sqq.) and where in the eighth century (Malalas, p. 31) the people still mourned the abduction in a feast called the ak) ayer, The name Europa is considered Greek ; whether this particular myth is Cretan or Phoenician in origin the evidence does not seem sufficient to determine. Natheles wille
thei not avowen that the temple is of Europe.
 
And Phenicyens han an other maner servys, not
Assuryen but Egyptyen, that cam from Elyople into
Phenicye. I have not seen it, but it also is gret and
auncien. This cult was at Heliopolis (Baalbek). The god, who appears to have been originally Hadad but to have undergone syncrisis with the sun-god and with the Syrian ‘ “Apollo,” was worshipped far and wide as Jupiter Heliopolitanus. The cult image, says Macrobius (Saturn. 1, 23, 10) came from Heliopolis in Egypt by way of Assyria. The ambiguity of Lucian’s Greek (for fepdy suggests “holy place”) seems meant to convey the jocose implication that the magnificent new temple, built by Antoninus Pius, had been transported thither without human hands,