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426 The supports of the Sky personified

of Solomon's temple1 were, according to W. Robertson Smith, in the


1 1 Kings 7. 13—22, 40—42, 2 Kings 25. 16 f., 2 Chron. 3. 15—17, 4. 11 —13.

2 W. Robertson Smith Lectures on the Religion of the Semites'1 London 1907 p. 487 ff.
J. B. de Rossi ' Verre representant le temple de Jerusalem' in the Archives de Vorient
latin Paris 1884 ii. 444 remarks a propos of these columns : ' II y en avait aussi a Rome,
dans la basilique constantinienne du Latran ; elles etaient au nombre de quatre, en
bronze dore, dans l'abside, et supportaient des lampes17. [17 Le livre pontifical, vie de
Sylvestre, ne parle pas de ces colonnes ; mais il en est question dans la Descriptio
sanctnarii ecclesice romance contenue dans le ms. Vat. Reg. 712 et dans un ms. de Valen-
ciennes du Xlle siecle (V. Musaici di Roma, texte relatif a la mosai'que de la chapelle des
Stes Rufine et Seconde). Leur antiquite n'est pas douteuse et leur position isolee ne me
parait pas pouvoir etre attribute aux restaurations de la basilique pendant le Moyen Age.]
Je ne dis pas que sur celles de Jerusalem il y eut des lampes au dessus des chapiteaux
termines en forme de lys; bien que, dans l'art chretien et dans la liturgie chretienne, le
terme de lilia ait designe des chapiteaux et des candelabres.'

3 t Kings 7. 21, 2 Chron. 3. 17.

4 Alii aliter. (1) E. L. Curtis—A. A. Madsen A critical and exegetical commentary
on the Books of Chronicles Edinburgh 1910 p. 329: 'These pillars were in Solomon's
Temple because they were a usual feature of Semitic temples, symbols of the deity,
a survival in this form of the ancient stone pillars the Mazzeboth.' (2) G. Maspero The
Struggle of the Nations trans. M. L. McClure London 1896 p. 746 n. 1 : ' we may...see
in them merely an equivalent of the Egyptian Stele-Pillars—as, for instance, those of the
temple of Karnak.' (3) R. Eisler Weltenmantcl und Hinimelszelt Miinchen 1910 ii. 629
n. 2 : 'Die phallische Bedeutung der beiden Saulen, die der Ps.-Lucian den Exemplaren
in Bambyke ausdrucklich beilegt {supra i. 591 n. 3], ist auch fur den salomonischen Tempel
durch die kabbalistische Tradition (Karppe, Le Zohar p. 433) bezeugt. Dort wird tiber-
dies erzahlt, dass diejenigen P'rauen, die sich Nachkommenschaft wiinschten, vegetabi-
lische Opfergaben am Fusse der beiden Saulen niederzulegen pflegten.' (4) W. Robertson
Smith op. cit. p. 208 n. 1 : ' doubtless symbols of Jehovah.' (3)+ (4) T. W. David in A
Dictionary of the Bible ed. by J. Hastings Edinburgh 1898 i. 308 f. : 'the pillars stood
for deity, and they formed a part of that Phallic worship of which we are finding more
and more traces in the ancient world...even to the Israelites these pillars were symbols
of J", so that...the true God was set forth by these Phallic emblems... Possibly the two
pillars stood for male and female, the active and passive principle in nature.'

5 Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de VArt iii. 120, iv. 288 ff., 314 ff. fig. 164 (restoration "by
C. J. M. de Vogue), figs. 165 and 166 with pis. 6 and 7 (restorations by C. Chipiez).
See also O. C. Whitehouse in A Dictionary of the Bible ed. by J. Hastings Edinburgh
1900 iii. 881, F. Vigouroux in his Dictio7inaire de la Bible Paris 1899 ii. 856 ff.

6 R. Eisler Wellenmantel und Hinimelszelt Miinchen 1910 i. 48, ii. 624. Id. ib. ii.
603 n. 8 cites from the Midras tadse ii (S. Funck Monutnenta fudaica, altera pars,

Fig- 33°

nature of huo-e candlesticks or cressets,
perhaps in actual use as fire-altars2. The
names given to them—Jachin, ' He will
establish,'' the Stablisher,' and Boas, ' in
Him is Strength ' (?)3—imply that they
were in some sense personified supports4,
though still aniconic in shape5. And
their original character as sky-pillars has
been detected by R. Eisler5. When
broken by the Chaldeans and carried off
 
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