Lucian of Samosata De Syria dea 15

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

De Syria dea. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Goddesse of Surrye (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)
Περὶ τῆς Συρίης Θεοῦ Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 15 focus

Notes on the current edition

The Goddesse of Surrye

1.
This identification of the Dea Syria with Rhea has been spoken of as a temple-legend. Is it not rather a simple deduction of Lucian’s “wise man,” based upon general resemblance and upon the presence of Galli in both cults? The resemblance, however, was real, and the identification was not unusual; a striking instance is in Bardesanes, where the Syriac version (Cureton, 31) has Tharatha, the Greek, as quoted by Eusebius, Rhea. It has been revived by modern scholars, notably Meyer, and with good reason; but whether the “Mother-goddess” is Semitic in origin, as he formerly held, or non-Semitic (Hittite), as he now argues, is still, it seems to me, an open question. See note below on Combabus.