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follow? In accordance with the naive magic of early times, persisting after its original meaning had been forgotten, the revival to life can be understood as expected after the ceremonial of casting " garden " or effigy into the supposed sources of fertilization.

The date of the festival has caused no little discussion. For Babylonia the month Tammuz (JuneJuly) is indubitably indicated, and about July 15 is implied by Maimonides and Makrizi as cited by Chwolson (Die Ssabier, ut sup., ii. 202 sqq.) for a late period in the Christian era; for

of the and Ueber Tammuz, ut sup., p. 38). Festival. Jerome (ut sup.) seems to imply June as the date for the death of Tammuz. The feature of the " gardens " as just related suggests surely the heat of summer. According to Frazer (Adonis, etc., p. 7), relying upon W. R. Smith, the month Tammuz does not absolutely fix the time of year, inasmuch as the Syrian calendars varied considerably. Jastrow (ut sup., pp. 547, 682), speaking for Babylonia and adjacent regions, sets the time at just before the summer solstice. For Antioch the data afforded by Ammianus Marcellinus (XXIL, ix. 15) in connection with Julian's visit to the city necessitates a.time before Aug. 1. The description in Theocritus, Idyl, xv., implies a date sufficiently late in the summer for certain fruits to have ripened (cf. W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- ured Feldkulte, p. 277, Berlin, 1875-77). The data from Byblus are confusing. Lucian (De dea Syria, vi. sqq.) gives the time as when the Nahr Ibrahim runs red, which seems to imply the season of spring freshets, the color being locally attributed to the blood of the god who is slain annually; but this is against most other indications, which imply midsummer, though an alternative supposition is that sandstorms caused the discoloration. There was a spring festival at Byblus, which, however, had no connection with Adonis, and Lucian may have confused his references. On the other hand, the scarlet anemone blooms at this time of the year, and the legend derived its color from the blood of the god either as springing from it or being stained by it. The Arabs still call the flower " the wounds of Na'aman " (na'aman . being an epithet of Adonis; W. R. Smith, in Historical Review, ii., 1887, p. 307). Yet somewhat inconsistent with this in the same region the color of the red rose, blooming in June, is attributed to the blood from Aphrodite's feet wounded by a thorn as she went to meet her lover. In Attics the date is fixed for midsummer by the departure of the expedition to Sicily (ut sup.; cf. Thucydides, vi. 30). At Hierapolis in Syria there was an annual festival at the beginning of spring at which trees were cut down and planted in. the temple court, animals and birds were hung on them as sacrifices, and then fire was set and the whole consumed. This may have been wrongly brought into connection with the Cypriote festival described above and have influenced the conception of the date. General indications from many incidental allusions suggest the beginning of the harvest season, which for Syria, Greece, and Egypt varies from the end of March to the end of June (see Acxrcur. TURE). The dating in spring may be due to confu-

sion of the Adonis celebration Kith one to Aphrodite. The final conclusion will in some degree rest upon the solution of the question of the significance of Tammuz-Adonis.

mind was as variously answered in antiquity as now. Macrobius (Saturnalia, L, xxi. 1 aqq.) says that he was considered to be a sun-god; and Martianua

Capella (De nuptiis, ii. 192) gives IS. Signifi- " Bybliua Adon " as one of the names cance of of Sol. Ammianus Marcellinus (XIX., the Deity. i. 11; Eng. transl. ut sup., p. 186)

speaks of " the solemn festival of Adonis, which the mystical doctrines of religion show to be some sort of image of the ripened fruits of the earth . . . cut down in their prime." Porphyry (cited in Eusebius, PraParatio evarcgelica, III., xi., Eng. transl., i. 120) also asserts that " Adonis was the symbol of the cutting of the perfect fruits," Attis representing the early blossoms which drop off unfertilized. Origen (ut sup.) makes him represent the seed corn placed in the earth and fructifying; Jerome on the same passage reports that the common idea related the celebration to the death and resurrection of the seeds; and Smith (Rel. of Sem., p. 318) connects it with the harvest. Jastrow (ut sup., pp. 547-548) lends his weighty authority to the idea that Tammuz was a local solar deitya god of spring approaching the summer solstice. Zimmern (Schrader, KAT, p. 397) calls him the " god of spring vegetation." Frazer (Adonis, etc., passim) also makes him a deity of vegetation. His position is strong, though allowance has to be made for the thesis which underlies his volume. A. Jeremias (Das Alte Testament, etc., pp. 114 sqq.) shows that Tammuz is a form which admits identification with sun, moon, or star, since he represents dying and reviving life. The Babylonian relations do little to clear up the question, since Tammuz appears now in the circle of Ea, now in that of Anu, again in that of Shamash (cf. Zimmern, Abhandlungen, ut sup., p. 715), as well as with such deities of vegetation as Gishzida and Ningirsu. The " gardens " might turn the scale in favor of the vegetational theory did they not seem a late intrusion. Baudissin's contention '(Hauck-Herzog, RE, xix. 336337) that the midsummer date best attested for the festival is against a solar significance falls with the consideration of specialized " seasonal suns " which ruled a part of the year, and these existed in Babylonian as well as in Egyptian thought. Were Tammuz the god of the spring sun, the summer solstice would be the time of his death. To be sure, the roles of solar and vegetational deity are not exclusive (see SUN AND SUN WORSHIP, IL, 1); and where great deities like Shamash emerge with definite solar functions, it is not uncommon to find lesser and local deities having originally the same relations relegated to subordinate functions. This may be the solution of the question. That later philosophical conceptions should advance beyond these was to be expected. So Hippolytus seems to regard Adonis as typifying the soul (Hcer., v. 7, Eng. trans]., ANF, v. 56-58). The triple conception AdonisOsiris-Dionysus was regarded as giving a hope for a future life. The life substance of Adonis was con-