12 66 est. Mauri manifestè Reges colunt; nec ullo velamento hoc nomen prætexunt. The true reading then of the above passage is undoubtedly this; Il Alla Alla, Ouac Oubar Alla; that is, god "the sun is god, and the great lord Ouar" (the same as Orus and Ouranus)" is god." The Grecians were persuaded that one of these was the planet Venus or the Moon: and " Heliodorus has translated this passage, and applied the latter part accordingly, making it a feminine deity; ATO TOF Ήλιε, και Σεληνη Δεσποινα. They are the words with which Hydaspes, a king of the western Ethiopians, approaching the altar at Meroe to sacrifice, invokes the two deities of his country; and which would have been rendered more properly, Ω Δεσποτα Ήλιε, και συ γ' Ουρανε Δεσποτα. II Alla Alla, Ouac Oubar Alla. Ω Δεσποτα That I am not mistaken, will appear from a similar passage in Hesychius; though it is somewhat depraved., Aur, signifying light, was thought to be applicable to many of the celestial bodies, as I have shewn on which account the Greeks interpreted the word differently. Among others, Hesychius informs us that the planet Ju "Cyprian. de Vanit. Gentium. See also Lactant. Apologet. cap. 24. edit. Cerdan. Selden de Diis Syris. Syntagm. 2. cap. 1. and Ouzelii Animadvers. ad Minuc. Fel. pag. 134. piter was called by the Chaldeans Moxoßoßag. Maλοβοβαρ, Διος αςηρ παρα Χαλδαίοις : which Vossius 13 alters to Μολοχ Βααλ. In the first word, or part of the word, he is certainly right: but in respect to the second, he is guilty of a bold and, at the same time, an unnecessary alteration. The text is right as it stands and, if there be any thing seemingly uncommon, it arises from the different manner of describing the same word, "; a circumstance that must happen, when there is a variety of transcribers from one tongue to another. Oßag, like Oußap, Aßapis, Aragis, &c. relates to light, and is of the same radix: on which account it is made a representation of Venus, Jupiter, and other planets. The original reading in Hesychius was Moλox (the same as Μελεχ) " Οβαρο Διος αςηρ παρα Χαλδαίοις : 14 13 De Orig. et Progr. Idololatriæ. lib. 2. cap. 33. 14 In respect to the antient invocation of the Arabians, it may be worth while to attend to the different accounts of it. Euthymius Zygabenus says, that they worshipped the morning star, which they called Chabar or great: ειδωλολατρουν, προσκυνοῦντες τῷ εωσφορῳ ατρῷ, και τη Αφροδίτη, ην δη και Χαβαρ τῇ ἑαυτων επονομάζουσι γλωττης δηλοι δε ή λέξις αυτη την μεγάλην. pag. 1. edit. Sylburg. 1593. We learn from the author of the Saracenica that Allah Allah signifies God, that Oua is greater and Coubar great; that is, the Moon and Venus: Αλλα, Αλλα, ουα κεβας Αλλα. Και το μεν Αλλα, Αλλα, ἑρμηνεύεται ὁ Θεός, ὁ Θεός· το δε ουα, μείζων· το δε Κεβαρ, μεγάλη, ήτοι Σελήνη και Αφροδίτη. pag. 70. In the Cate chesis Saracenica, sive Saracenismi Anathematizatio, it is described in this manner. Αναθεματίζω τις τῳ πρωινῳ προσκυνούντας αέρῳ, ήγουν that is, "the lord or prince of light is a name given by the Chaldeans to the planet Jupiter." There is little difficulty in the passage; yet it has been the cause of much perplexity". It is apparent, from what has been said, that what is termed Ouc Oubar by one author, is expressed Melech, "the lord or prince" by another: whence we may arrive at the true meaning of this τῳ ἑωσφορῳ και τη Αφροδίτη, ἣν κατα την Αράβων γλωσσαν Χαβας ονομαζεσι, τετ' εςι, μεγαλην. pag. 85. "I hold accursed all those "who pay any adoration to the star of the dawn or morning, "and to the goddess Venus, whom in the Arabian tongue they "call Chabar, that is, great." So likewise says Cedrenus. Constantinus Porphyrogennetus supposes in like manner that the planet Venus was worshipped under the same name of Choubar; but makes oua a connecting particle only. Προσευχονται δε και εις το της Αφροδίτης αςρον, ὁ καλεσι Κεβαρ' το δε ουα αντι τε και συνδεσμο Tibao. De Administ. Imp. cap. 14. There being such a word as Chobar, which signified great, these writers were led to imagine that it was necessarily the true reading here. But they did not. consider the redundancy that ensued from two words of the same signification being joined together in so small a period. Constantine Porph. tried to rid himself of this inconvenience, by making the first a copulative: but that was contradicting the interpretation given by every person who had treated of the subject; and at the same time did not make sense of it. In short, Ovx or Ovan Ovcap is the same in acceptation as the Mλex Oßag of Hesychius: and the true reading and interpretation may be from thence confirmed. Ovx Ovßap," the great Ouranus or Alorus." 15 See Selden de Diis Syris; Syntagm. 1. cap. 16. and the readings quoted by the learned Joh. Albertus upon this word, in his edition of Hesychius. title of honour, though it be sometimes differently written. The term then 'Txovrows, which should have been Ὑκχουσσος Οι Ουκχουσσος, the same in analogy as Uchorus, signifies the lord Cusean : and it might easily have been mistaken for a shepherd. For, as the Egyptians hated the memory of the sons of Chus, who were of that profession; it was natural for them to call every shepherd a Cusean: so that a Cusean and a shepherd might have been taken for synonymous terms: but the true meaning is as I have represented it. I hope I have given a satisfactory account of the Arabian Shepherds, who came from Babylonia and settled in Egypt; where they introduced the worship of their god Alorus, and whose kings were the original priests of Vulcan. It has always been esteemed a dark and abstruse subject: yet many evidences of this affair may be farther obtained upon a diligent inquiry, as they lie here and there scattered in the vast field of history; where the Cuseans are alluded to under the names of Assyrians, Ethiopians, Chaldeans. By this means the place they originally came from is sufficiently pointed out; though the accounts are sometimes intermixed with circumstances foreign to their story. Eustathius has this remarkable passage about antient Egypt. 16 Εκλήθη δε ποτε, κατα την ίσοριαν, ἡ τοιαυτη χώρα και 16 Schol. in Dionys. Perieg. ad v. 232. Αερία, και Ποταμια, και Αιθιοπια, δια τας εκει Αιθίοπας· περι ὧν πολλοι των παλαιων ίςορεσι. The true meaning and interpretation of this may be explained in the following manner. "This antient kingdom was "called of old Aëria :" which name it received, not, as the Scholiast on "Apollonius surmises, Tαgα το μελαιναν είναι την γην ; which is a vulgar error: but from the city Auris and the Aurita, who gave it the name Auria, changed by the Greeks to Argia. It was called" the river country," because it was all acquired soil, and the gift of the river; 18 xтTOS τε γη, και δωρον τε ποταμς. Lastly, " it was called Ethiopia" from the Cuseans, who were called Ethiopians: the history of which people was, according to Eustathius, very antient. That the land of Egypt was not called Aëria from its colour is, I think, plain from the very passage that the Scholiast alludes to : επικτητος 19 Και ποταμος Τριτων καλλιῤῥους, ᾧ ὑπο πασα where the last word is a proper name, and cannot be interpreted μeλawn; as it would not be sense or grammar. It was, we find, an antient and almost 17 Ad lib. 1. v. 580. 18 Herodot. lib. 2. cap. 5. 19 Apollon, Rhod. Argonautic. lib. 4. v. 269. |