DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0113
2. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 87
a distorted memory of the facts. The Apostle Philip was described as
the evangelist of Tripolis, and as closely connected also with Hiera-
polis. There his chief enemy was the Echidna, in which form Satan
deluded the inhabitants of Hierapolis. John, who had already
expelled the abominable Artemis from Ephesos, visited Philip in
Hierapolis, and the united efforts of the two Apostles drove away the
Echidna1. It lay in the character and nature of tradition to attribute
the expulsion of the Echidna to the Apostles ; but history, if materials
for writing it survived, would show the Echidna surviving as the
chief enemy of Christianity throughout the second and third centuries.
It is probable that the Christians took advantage of the victory of
Constantine over Licinius to destroy the Charonion: that would imply
that the new religion was the ruling power within the city in
320 a.d., which is probable from other reasons.
Now let us consider the character of the Anatolian religion. Its
essence lies in the adoration of the life of Na.tui'e—that life subject
apparently to death, yet never dying but reproducing itself in new
forms, different and yet the same. This perpetual self-identity under
varying forms, this annihilation of death through the power of self-
reproduction, was the object of an enthusiastic worship, characterized
by remarkable self-abandonment and immersion in the divine, by
a mixture of obscene symbolism and sublime truths, by negation of
the moral distinctions and family ties that exist in a more developed
society, but do not exist in the free life of Nature. The mystery of
self-reproduction, of eternal unity amid temporary diversity, is the
key to explain all the repulsive legends and ceremonies that cluster
round that Avorship, and all the manifold manifestations or diverse
embodiments of the ultimate single divine life that are carved on the
rocks of Asia Minor, especially at Pteria (Boghaz-Keui).
Hierapolis was maj-ked as a seat of such a religion, and a place of
approach to God; and a great religious establishment (hieron) existed
there. As Greek manners and language spread, a Greek name for
the city came into use. At first it was called Hiero-polis, the city of
the hieron ; and on a few coins of Augustus this name appears. But
as the Greek spirit became stronger in the Lycos valley, the strict
Greek form, Hiera Polis, established itself2. Under the Roman
1 See M. Bonnet Narratio de Mime, tradition, which had taken shape before
Chonis pair. 1. This document, as we the Charonion disappeared. Add. 15.
have it, was written in the eighth or - Throughout the hellenized East the
ninth century (Church inEmp. Ch. XIX). same rule holds. Such cities are origin-
If we possessed the Acta Philippi com- ally called Hiero-polis, the city round
plete, we should probably find an older the hieron ; when the city becomes more
a distorted memory of the facts. The Apostle Philip was described as
the evangelist of Tripolis, and as closely connected also with Hiera-
polis. There his chief enemy was the Echidna, in which form Satan
deluded the inhabitants of Hierapolis. John, who had already
expelled the abominable Artemis from Ephesos, visited Philip in
Hierapolis, and the united efforts of the two Apostles drove away the
Echidna1. It lay in the character and nature of tradition to attribute
the expulsion of the Echidna to the Apostles ; but history, if materials
for writing it survived, would show the Echidna surviving as the
chief enemy of Christianity throughout the second and third centuries.
It is probable that the Christians took advantage of the victory of
Constantine over Licinius to destroy the Charonion: that would imply
that the new religion was the ruling power within the city in
320 a.d., which is probable from other reasons.
Now let us consider the character of the Anatolian religion. Its
essence lies in the adoration of the life of Na.tui'e—that life subject
apparently to death, yet never dying but reproducing itself in new
forms, different and yet the same. This perpetual self-identity under
varying forms, this annihilation of death through the power of self-
reproduction, was the object of an enthusiastic worship, characterized
by remarkable self-abandonment and immersion in the divine, by
a mixture of obscene symbolism and sublime truths, by negation of
the moral distinctions and family ties that exist in a more developed
society, but do not exist in the free life of Nature. The mystery of
self-reproduction, of eternal unity amid temporary diversity, is the
key to explain all the repulsive legends and ceremonies that cluster
round that Avorship, and all the manifold manifestations or diverse
embodiments of the ultimate single divine life that are carved on the
rocks of Asia Minor, especially at Pteria (Boghaz-Keui).
Hierapolis was maj-ked as a seat of such a religion, and a place of
approach to God; and a great religious establishment (hieron) existed
there. As Greek manners and language spread, a Greek name for
the city came into use. At first it was called Hiero-polis, the city of
the hieron ; and on a few coins of Augustus this name appears. But
as the Greek spirit became stronger in the Lycos valley, the strict
Greek form, Hiera Polis, established itself2. Under the Roman
1 See M. Bonnet Narratio de Mime, tradition, which had taken shape before
Chonis pair. 1. This document, as we the Charonion disappeared. Add. 15.
have it, was written in the eighth or - Throughout the hellenized East the
ninth century (Church inEmp. Ch. XIX). same rule holds. Such cities are origin-
If we possessed the Acta Philippi com- ally called Hiero-polis, the city round
plete, we should probably find an older the hieron ; when the city becomes more