DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0050
406 DOVE CULT OLD ANATOLIAN AND MINOAN
Equally
an ' Old
Anato-
lian Cult'
Dove cult
taken
over by
Semites.
of the ' Terra-cotta Shrine' belonging to the Second Middle Minoan Perin 1
the sacred doves are seen perched on the shafts of the columnar shrine a
the visible token of divine possession.1 So, too, the dove, as well as the
snakes that symbolize her chthonic con-
nexion, is associated with the clay cylin-
ders of the early domestic cult,2 and in the
case of the figure of the Goddess in the later
' Shrine of the Double Axes' a dove is
settled on her head.3
In this connexion it may be well to
point out that the conclusions so carefully
drawn by Victor Hehn from Classical and
Semitic sources as to the date and origin
of the clove cult in Greece,'1 require radical
revision in the light of more recent dis-
coveries. The later assimilation of Astarte
with the dove Goddess of Cyprus and the
Syrian coasts, and the strange mythical
transformation of Semiramis (Sammuru-
mai), the historic queen of Assyria of the
latter half of the ninth century B.C., into a
sacred dove,5 and her actual transportation
from Nimrud to Ascalon had led to a general assumption of a Semitic
origin.
It is all part of the Mirage orientals. The idea of an early connexion
of Ishtar with the dove, or indeed with any bird, appears to be quite
unwarranted :6 her emblem, indeed, as, primarily, the Goddess of War, was
the lion. The specialized dove-cult, on the contrary, beyond all reasonao
doubt, was taken over by the Semites from the Syro-Anatolian ethnic
group of which we have traced a Western extension in an impor a
ingredient of the early"Cretan population. It was this element, indee ,
LehmannrHaupt,
and his Art-
Fig. SS7. a, Bird held by Votary
on Gem ; i, Rock-dove's Head.
1 P. ofM'., i, p. 220 seqq., and Fig. 166, F.
' Seeabove, p. 143, and Fig. 110, s(p. 141).
1 P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 340, Fig. 193, n 1,
a 2.
* Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem
Ueberga'ng aus Asicn nach Griechenland und
Italien (ed. 2. 1874^, p. 291 seqq.: Die
Tai/be.
' Lucian, De Dea Syria, c. 14. For Semi-
ramis see especially C. F.
Alio, i (1900), p. 665 seqq.
Semiramis in Roscher's Lexikon, v.
« So high an authority as the late L. » •
writes : ' I have little doubt that the assoc^
tion of a bird with the cult of Ishm ^
a comparatively late addition.' (In e ^
Prof. John Garstang:
Syrian Goddess, &'c, p.
A. Strong.
Equally
an ' Old
Anato-
lian Cult'
Dove cult
taken
over by
Semites.
of the ' Terra-cotta Shrine' belonging to the Second Middle Minoan Perin 1
the sacred doves are seen perched on the shafts of the columnar shrine a
the visible token of divine possession.1 So, too, the dove, as well as the
snakes that symbolize her chthonic con-
nexion, is associated with the clay cylin-
ders of the early domestic cult,2 and in the
case of the figure of the Goddess in the later
' Shrine of the Double Axes' a dove is
settled on her head.3
In this connexion it may be well to
point out that the conclusions so carefully
drawn by Victor Hehn from Classical and
Semitic sources as to the date and origin
of the clove cult in Greece,'1 require radical
revision in the light of more recent dis-
coveries. The later assimilation of Astarte
with the dove Goddess of Cyprus and the
Syrian coasts, and the strange mythical
transformation of Semiramis (Sammuru-
mai), the historic queen of Assyria of the
latter half of the ninth century B.C., into a
sacred dove,5 and her actual transportation
from Nimrud to Ascalon had led to a general assumption of a Semitic
origin.
It is all part of the Mirage orientals. The idea of an early connexion
of Ishtar with the dove, or indeed with any bird, appears to be quite
unwarranted :6 her emblem, indeed, as, primarily, the Goddess of War, was
the lion. The specialized dove-cult, on the contrary, beyond all reasonao
doubt, was taken over by the Semites from the Syro-Anatolian ethnic
group of which we have traced a Western extension in an impor a
ingredient of the early"Cretan population. It was this element, indee ,
LehmannrHaupt,
and his Art-
Fig. SS7. a, Bird held by Votary
on Gem ; i, Rock-dove's Head.
1 P. ofM'., i, p. 220 seqq., and Fig. 166, F.
' Seeabove, p. 143, and Fig. 110, s(p. 141).
1 P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 340, Fig. 193, n 1,
a 2.
* Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem
Ueberga'ng aus Asicn nach Griechenland und
Italien (ed. 2. 1874^, p. 291 seqq.: Die
Tai/be.
' Lucian, De Dea Syria, c. 14. For Semi-
ramis see especially C. F.
Alio, i (1900), p. 665 seqq.
Semiramis in Roscher's Lexikon, v.
« So high an authority as the late L. » •
writes : ' I have little doubt that the assoc^
tion of a bird with the cult of Ishm ^
a comparatively late addition.' (In e ^
Prof. John Garstang:
Syrian Goddess, &'c, p.
A. Strong.