Ans. This was another name for Adonis, whose story is of Eastern origin. His death, which we have already referred to in connection with the goddess Venus, is said to have taken place in the mountains of Libanus, from which the river Adonis flows to the sea. The Assyrian women mourned for him in the autumn-time. It was believed that at this season the river changed its color, and ran red, as if tinged with blood. To this Milton alludes:
“Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer’s day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.”
The prophet Ezekiel, in relating the iniquities committed in Jerusalem, says that he saw women sitting by the north gate of the temple, who mourned for Adonis. (In the Hebrew, Thammuz.)
OANNES.
Ques. Who was Oannes?
Ans. He was a god of the Assyrians, half man, half fish, who was said to dwell in the sea, from which he came at stated times, to instruct the Babylonians in wisdom and science. Oannes is the Dagon of the Philistines.
CHAPTER III.
PERSIA.
Ques. What was the religion of the ancient Persians?