DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8944#0105
MYCENAEAN TREE AND PILLAR CULT.
203
pouring oil on sacred stones as Jacob did at Bethel.1 On one side of this ' Niger
Lapis' is a kind of sunken hearth-stone, upon which are set candlesticks of
antique form for the nightly illumination of the stone—a distant reminis-
cence of the Phoenician candlestick altars and cressets, such as those seen on
either side of the cone at Paphos upon some well-known coin-types. On
the other side of the pillar is a small stone base, on which the votary stands
for his prayers and ritual observances. The floor is strewn with the fleeces of
sacrificed rams, and on the walls are suspended triangular plait-work offer-
ings made of ears of com, placed here by votaries who desire to draw forth
from the Spirit of the stone a beneficent influence on their crops.
Taking his stand on the flat stone by the pillar, the suppliant utters a
prayer for what he most wishes, and afterwards embraces the stone in such a
way that the finger tips meet at its further side. A sick Albanian was
walking round the pillar when I first saw it, kissing and embracing it at
every turn.
The worshipper who would conform to the full ritual, now fills a keg
of water from a spring that rises near the shrine—another primitive touch,—
and makes his way through a thorny grove up a neighbouring knoll, on
which is a wooden enclosure surrounding a Mohammedan Saint's Grave or
Tekke.2 Over the headstone of this grows a thorn-tree hung with rags of divers
colours, attached to it—according to a wide-spread primitive rite—by sick
persons who had made a pilgrimage to the tomb. The turbaned column
itself represents in aniconic shape the visible presence of the departed
Saint, and, conjointly with the thorn-bush, a material abode for the departed
Spirit, so that we have here a curious illustration of the ancient connexion
between Tree and Pillar worship.
In the centre of the grave was a hole, into which the water from the
holy spring was poured, and mixed with the holy earth. Of this the votary
drinks three times,3 and he must thrice anoint his forehead with it. This
draught is the true Arabian solwdn, or ' draught of consolation.4
It was now necessary to walk three times round the grave, each time
kissing and touching with the forehead the stone at the head and foot of it.
A handful of the grave dust was next given me, to be made up into a
1 Gen. xxvii. 18; xxxv. 14. See above,
p. 132. Compare Robertson Smith, Religion
of the Semites, p. 232, who illustrates the late
survival of the practice by the ' lapis pertusus '
at Jerusalem described by the pilgrim from
Bordeaux in the fourth century of our era.
' Ad quern veniunt Judaei singulis annis et
ungunt earn.' Near Sidon the practice of
anointing sacred stones with oil—in this case
strangely enough Roman milestones—goes
on to this day; Pietschmann, Geschichte der
PhBnizier, p. 207. Theophrastus (Hi), makes
the superstitious man anoint and worship
smooth stones at the cross-ways. The practice
itself is connected witli the oriental custom of
anointing living persons as a sign of honour
(cf. Psalm xlv. 7) which still survives in the
case of kings and ecclesiastical dignitaries.
- Near it was a wooden coffer for money
offerings.
3 It is permitted to drink it through a cloth
or kerchief.
4 Robertson Smith, op. cit., p. 322. N. 3
remarks that this draught ' that makes the
mourner forget his grief, consists of water
with which is mingled dust from the grave
(Wellhausen, p. 142), a form of communion
precisely similar in principle to the Australian
usage of eating a small piece of the corpse,
203
pouring oil on sacred stones as Jacob did at Bethel.1 On one side of this ' Niger
Lapis' is a kind of sunken hearth-stone, upon which are set candlesticks of
antique form for the nightly illumination of the stone—a distant reminis-
cence of the Phoenician candlestick altars and cressets, such as those seen on
either side of the cone at Paphos upon some well-known coin-types. On
the other side of the pillar is a small stone base, on which the votary stands
for his prayers and ritual observances. The floor is strewn with the fleeces of
sacrificed rams, and on the walls are suspended triangular plait-work offer-
ings made of ears of com, placed here by votaries who desire to draw forth
from the Spirit of the stone a beneficent influence on their crops.
Taking his stand on the flat stone by the pillar, the suppliant utters a
prayer for what he most wishes, and afterwards embraces the stone in such a
way that the finger tips meet at its further side. A sick Albanian was
walking round the pillar when I first saw it, kissing and embracing it at
every turn.
The worshipper who would conform to the full ritual, now fills a keg
of water from a spring that rises near the shrine—another primitive touch,—
and makes his way through a thorny grove up a neighbouring knoll, on
which is a wooden enclosure surrounding a Mohammedan Saint's Grave or
Tekke.2 Over the headstone of this grows a thorn-tree hung with rags of divers
colours, attached to it—according to a wide-spread primitive rite—by sick
persons who had made a pilgrimage to the tomb. The turbaned column
itself represents in aniconic shape the visible presence of the departed
Saint, and, conjointly with the thorn-bush, a material abode for the departed
Spirit, so that we have here a curious illustration of the ancient connexion
between Tree and Pillar worship.
In the centre of the grave was a hole, into which the water from the
holy spring was poured, and mixed with the holy earth. Of this the votary
drinks three times,3 and he must thrice anoint his forehead with it. This
draught is the true Arabian solwdn, or ' draught of consolation.4
It was now necessary to walk three times round the grave, each time
kissing and touching with the forehead the stone at the head and foot of it.
A handful of the grave dust was next given me, to be made up into a
1 Gen. xxvii. 18; xxxv. 14. See above,
p. 132. Compare Robertson Smith, Religion
of the Semites, p. 232, who illustrates the late
survival of the practice by the ' lapis pertusus '
at Jerusalem described by the pilgrim from
Bordeaux in the fourth century of our era.
' Ad quern veniunt Judaei singulis annis et
ungunt earn.' Near Sidon the practice of
anointing sacred stones with oil—in this case
strangely enough Roman milestones—goes
on to this day; Pietschmann, Geschichte der
PhBnizier, p. 207. Theophrastus (Hi), makes
the superstitious man anoint and worship
smooth stones at the cross-ways. The practice
itself is connected witli the oriental custom of
anointing living persons as a sign of honour
(cf. Psalm xlv. 7) which still survives in the
case of kings and ecclesiastical dignitaries.
- Near it was a wooden coffer for money
offerings.
3 It is permitted to drink it through a cloth
or kerchief.
4 Robertson Smith, op. cit., p. 322. N. 3
remarks that this draught ' that makes the
mourner forget his grief, consists of water
with which is mingled dust from the grave
(Wellhausen, p. 142), a form of communion
precisely similar in principle to the Australian
usage of eating a small piece of the corpse,