Lucian of Samosata, De Syria dea, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 4

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[4] In Phenicye is another grete temple that men of Sidon kepen. Thei seyn, it is of Astarte, and Astarte, I trowe, is Luna the Mone.¹ But oon of the prestes tolde me, it belongeth to Europe, Cadmus suster. Sche was Agenor the Kinges daughter; and after that sche vanisched, Phenicyens yafen hir that temple for worschipe and maden a storie of hir, that sithe sche was fair, love coveytede hir, and transformed his lyknesse in to a bole, and than ravissched hir awey and bar hir on his bac to Crete. That same storie I herde of othere Phenicyens also; and the moneye that Sidonyes usen hath Europe sittynge on the bole that is Iove.² Natheles wille thei not avowen that the temple is of Europe.

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).) — 4 focus

[4] ἔνι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἱρὸν ἐν Φοινίκῃ μέγα, τὸ Σιδόνιοι ἔχουσιν. ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ λέγουσιν, Ἀστάρτης ἐστίν· Ἀστάρτην δʼ ἐγὼ δοκέω Σεληναίην ἔμμεναι. ὡς δέ μοί τις τῶν ἱρέων ἀπηγέετο, Εὐρώπης ἐστὶν τῆς Κάδμου ἀδελφεῆς· ταύτην δὲ ἐοῦσαν Ἀγήνορος τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατέρα, ἐπειδή τε ἀφανὴς ἐγεγόνεεν, οἱ Φοίνικες τῷ νηῷ ἐτιμήσαντο καὶ λόγον ἱρὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῇ ἔλεξαν, ὅτι ἐοῦσαν καλὴν Ζεὺς ἐπόθεεν καὶ τὸ εἶδος εἰς ταῦρον ἀμειψάμενος ἥρπασεν καί μιν ἐς Κρήτην φέρων ἀπίκετο. τάδε μὲν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Φοινίκων ἤκουον, καὶ τὸ νόμισμα τῷ Σιδόνιοι χρέωνται τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐφεζομένην ἔχει τῷ ταύρῳ τῷ Διί· τὸν δὲ νηὸν οὐκ ὁμολογέουσιν Εὐρώπης ἔμμεναι.

Notes on the current edition

The Goddesse of Surrye

The Emperor Elagabalus, being the Sun, brought — Astarte the Moon from Phoenicia and wedded her (Herodian 5, 6, 3-5). But she was not originally or at any time primarily the moon; and in Babylonia, as Ishtar, she had for her emblem a star, the planet Venus (Baudissin, 19). Clay (p. 47) believes that the name Ashera, Ashirta, Ishtar, is that of a mortal woman, an early queen of Hallab (Aleppo).

The coins are described in Head, Historia Nummorum, 2nd ed., pp. 797 sg. The temple itself contained, in later days at least, a painting of the Europa episode (Achilles Tatius 1, 1). The story was also localized at Tyre, where the house of Agenor and the bower of Europa were shown (Arrian, Anab. 2, 24, 2; Nonnus, Dionys. 40, 353 sqq.) and where in the eighth century (Malalas, p. 31) the people still mourned the abduction in a feast called the ak) ayer, The name Europa is considered Greek; whether this particular myth is Cretan or Phoenician in origin the evidence does not seem sufficient to determine.

Lucian of Samosata De Syria dea 4

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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