אל עולם
'den Gott der Welt.' Das Syrische hat nämlich einen formalen Unterschied festgestellt zwischen ‘ālăm, dem Status absolutus, 'Ewigkeit,' und ‘ālmā [ālemā] dem Status emphaticus 'Welt.'—Sollte übrigens die
Bedeutung Welt diesem Worte erst durch Einfluss griechischer Speculation zu Teil geworden sein? In der Zingirli-Inschrift bedeuted
בצלם
noch bloss 'in seiner Zeit.'"
[81]. Cf. CIL, III, 1090 = Dessau, Inscr., 2998: "Divinarum humanarumque rerum rectori." Compare ibid., 2999 and Cagnet, Année épigr., 1905, No. 235: "I. O. M., id est universitatis principi." Cf. the article of the Archiv cited, n. 73. The Asclepius says (c. 39), using an astrological term: "Caelestes dii catholicorum dominantur, terreni incolunt singula."
[82]. Cf. W. Robertson Smith, 75 ff., passim. In the Syrian religions as in that of Mithra, the initiates regarded each other as members of the same family, and the phrase "dear brethren" as used by our preachers, was already in use among the votaries of Jupiter Dolichenus (fratres carissimos, CIL, VI, 406 = 30758).
[83]. Renan mentioned this fact in his Apotres, p. 297 = Journal Asiatique, 1859, p. 259. Cf. Jalabert, Mél. faculté orient. Beyrout, I, 1906, p. 146.
[84]. This is the term (virtutes) used by the pagans. See the inscription Numini et virtutibus dei aeterni as reconstructed in Revue de Philologie, 1902, p. 9; Archiv für Religionsw., loc. cit., p. 335, n. 1 and infra, ch. VIII, n. [20].
[85]. CIL, VII, 759 = Bücheler, Carm. epig., 24.—Cf. Lucian, De dea Syria, 32.