Lucian of Samosata De Syria dea 32

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).) — 32 focus

Notes on the current edition

The Goddesse of Surrye

1.
Compare Plutarch, Crassus, 17, 6: “And the first warning sign came to him from this very goddess, whom some call Venus, others Juno, while others (cf. Cornutus 6) still regard her as the natural cause which supplies from moisture the beginnings and seeds of everything, and points out to mankind the source of all blessings. for as they were leaving her temple (where, Plutarch says, he had been taking an inventory of the treasures), first the younger Crassus stumbled and fell at the gate, and then his father fell over him” (Perrin’s translation). The identification with Aphrodite, which occurs on inscriptions from Delos, is due to her Astarte side; to Lucian in this case it is of course particularly suggested by the famous cestus. What suggested the other goddesses is not clear to me in the case of Athena or of Nemesis; the rays indicate Selene, the distaff Artemis, and the sceptre the Parcae, or Moirai (Fates). cestus
2.
Compare Herodotus2, 44, on the great emerald pillar in the temple of Melkart at Tyre; also Mandeville, pp. 239, 276, ed. Halliwell, on luminous stones in the possession of the Emperor of Cathay and of Prester John. Diodorus (3, 39, 8) credits the topaz with this power.