The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Academy: Charles Eliot Norton of Cambridge, in Class III., Section 4. Ephraim W. Gurney, of Cambridge, and Rev. Horatio B. Hackett, of Newton, in Class III., Section 2. The following were chosen Associate Fellows: Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, President of the University of Mississippi, in Class I., Section 3. Professor John Le Conte, of Columbia, South Carolina, in Class I., Section 3. Dr. J. W. Dawson, Principal of McGill College, Montreal, in Class II., Section 1. Professor W. D. Whitney of Yale College, in Class III., Section 2. The following were elected Foreign Honorary Members:- Professor Albrecht Kölliker, of Würtzburg, in Class II., Section 3. Von Rauch, of Berlin, in Class III., Section 4. Four hundred and eighty-ninth meeting. December 11, 1860. MONTHLY MEETING. The PRESIDENT in the chair. Letters of acceptance were read by the Corresponding Secretary from Charles E. Norton, Ephraim W. Gurney, Professor John Le Conte, and Principal J. W. Dawson, elected into the / Academy at the preceding meeting. Professor Sophocles read the following communication: On some Magnesian and Pagasetic Inscriptions. Last June, while at Tsangarádha ( Toayyapáda), a village situated on the eastern slopes of Mount Pelion, and belonging to the district of Volo, I received from Mr. Arghíris Philipídhis ('Apyúpns iλinions) copies of two ancient Greek inscriptions, found, as he informed me in a letter, at Miliés (ή Μηλιές), another village of the same district. This gentleman is very familiar with the topography of the southwestern slopes of Pelion. One of these inscriptions was discovered, according to him, forty years ago, at Bupha (ή Μπούφα), a place in the immediate vicinity of Good Waters (τὰ Καλά Νερά), on the shores of Miliés. It formed part of the holy table (ἡ ἁγία τράπεζα) of a dilapitated church at that place. Inscription of Búpha.* ἀνιεὶς ἱερεῖα τέλεια λευκὰ ὀλόκληρα θύ]εσθαι τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ ἐθιζόμενα καθὼς κα]τ ̓ ἐνιαυτὸν ὑπὸ κήρυκα τῇ ἕκτῃ ἐπὶ δέκα τοῦ ἀρτεμί- . . . μου ὑπὸ τῶν προγεγραμμένων ἀρχόντων, συμπαρόντων καὶ τοῦ ἱερέ]ως τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ἀκραίου καὶ τῶν ἐξεταστῶν καὶ τὸ ἐκ τούτων συν]αγόμενον διάφορον .] παρὰ τῷ ἱερεῖ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ἀκραίου. From the expression τοῦ ἀρτεμισίου μηνός one might be tempted to refer the inscription to the Alexandrian period. But it may with equal confidence be referred to the Roman period. For although the Roman calendar began to be adopted by the Greeks as early as the first century, the Macedonian mode of dating had not become obsolete even as late as the second century of the Christian era. Thus, the names of some of the Macedonian months occur in the Apostolical Canons and Constitutions. As to the expression τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ἀκραίου, it is to be recollected that by θεοὶ ἀκραῖοι, the gods of the citadel, the Greeks meant the gods whose temples were in the citadel. § And as every important city had its citadel, it is natural to suppose that it had also its θεοὶ ἀκραῖοι, * Αὕτη ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ ἀνεκαλύφθη ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Βούφαν παλαιοεκκλησίᾳ. ARGHÍRIS PHILIPÍDHIS. + See GLOSSARY of Later and Byzantine Greek, v. πρό 2. CAN. APOST. 37. CONST. APOST. 5, 14, 1. 5, 17, 2. { POLLUX, 9, 40 ̓Ακρόπολις, ἣν καὶ ἄκραν ἂν εἴποις καὶ πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ θεοὺς ἀκραίους καὶ πολιεῖς. ECKHEL, 2, p. 504 Θεοὶ ἀκραῖοι, on Mytilenian coins. Ζεὺς ἀκραῖος is found on Smyrnæan coins * and in a Smyrnæan inscription. And according to Dicæarchus there was a temple of Ζεὺς ἀκραῖος on the highest peak of Mount Pelion, f that is, on what is now called Pliasídhi (τὸ Πλιασίδι), or the mountain of Portaria (τὸ βουνὶ τῆς Πορταριᾶς). Now, as this inscription was found in the vicinity of this peak, it is natural to suppose that its Ζεὺς ἀκραῖος is identical with the Ζεὺς ἀκραῖος of Dicæarchus. The other inscription, according to the same gentleman, was discovered last spring at Zerbhokhia (ή Ζερβόχια), in the township of Nekhóri (τὸ Νεχώρι). It was dug up by an ignorant person who was losing his time in searching for ancient hidden treasures. Near the spot where it was found there was a tomb containing human bones. The marble is now to be seen at Bizitsa (Βιζίτζα), a small village not far from Miliés. Inscription of Zerbhókhia.|| Ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ θήκῃ οὐκ ἔξεστιν οὐδέ[ν' ἄλ- ξε (sic), ἕξι (sic) κεχολωμένον βασιλέα [θεὸν ὅλων καὶ θεοὺς πάντας καὶ θε[ὰς καὶ βασιλίδα, διὰ τὸ ἅπαξ ἀπηγορε[ῦσθαι ἕτε]ρον σῶμα μετὰ τούτων τεθῆ [ναι. Translation. No other corpse, whether of a man or of a woman, is permitted to be deposited in this vault. And if any one shall recklessly dare to open it, he will anger the most great [god] the king, the almighty maker of *ECKHEL, 2, p. 508. † INSCR. 3146. † DIC ARCH. Descript. Græc. 2, 8 Επ ̓ ἄκρας δὲ τοῦ ὄρους κορυφῆς σπή λαιόν ἐστι τὸ καλούμενον Χειρώνιον, καὶ Διὸς ἀκραίου ἱερόν. § Πλιασίδι, τοῦ, τὸ, is the modern double diminutive of Πήλιον, but without its diminutive sense. It is formed as follows: Πήλιον, Πηλιάσιον (analogous to κοράσιον), Πηλιασίδιον, (analogous to κορασίδιον), Πλιασίδιον, and by omitting the ending -ον, Πλιασίδι, pronounced in three syllables ; thus, Πλια-σί-δι. [[ Ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ αὕτη εὑρέθη κατὰ τὴν Ζερβόχιαν. ARGHIRIS PHILIPIDHIS. all things; and [he will anger] all the gods and goddesses and demigods, and the lady queen herself. For the depositing of any other corpse [together] with these is forbidden once for all. Here it is impossible not to see that the maker of all things is the Hebrew god, and that he is classed with the gods of the heathens. Now in order to understand this apparently incongruous medley of Judaism and Heathenism, it is to be borne in mind that even before the commencement of the Christian era many of the Gentiles of Western Asia, especially the women, adopted the religion of Moses.* Sober-minded and austere people, it would seem, preferred Jewish morality to heathen licentiousness. Circumcision was not required of the converts at first. The stricter of the Jews, however, regarded it as one of the essentials of religion. † Proselytes to Judaism were called by the Greek Jews οἱ Ἰουδαΐζοντες, Judaizers, οἱ σεβόμενοι τὸν deóv, or simply oi oeßóuevo, the worshippers of god, that is, of the god of the Jews. Among these converts, it is natural to suppose, there were some who, although willing to venerate and even to give the precedence to the god of the hated and despised nation, were by no means ready to admit that he was the only god in existence. They could not see why the addition of a barbarian god to the received list rendered it necessary for them to discard the gods of their forefathers. And such seems to have been the author of the Magnesian inscription before us. People of this liberal tendency are not wholly unknown in the East even now. Thirty years ago there was a Mussulman in Cairo who believed that Christ was as good as Mohammed. His Greek friends, who could not conceive of religious sincerity unaccompanied by intolerance, applied to him the epithet coμnaixτns (from Oeós, épai∞), the mocker of God. It is hardly necessary to mention * JOSEPH. Ant. 20, 2, 1 Τῶν ̓Αδιαβηνῶν βασιλὶς Ἑλένη καὶ ὁ παῖς αὐτῆς Ἰζάτης εἰς τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἔθη τὸν βίον μετέβαλλον. Ibid. 20, 2, 3 et seq. Bell. Jud. 2, 20, 2 Εδεδοίκεσαν δὲ [οἱ Δαμασκηνοὶ] τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας ἁπάσας πλὴν ὀλίγων ὑπηγμένας τῇ Ἰουδαϊκῇ θρησκεία. 7, 3, 3 ̓Αεί τε προσαγόμενοι ταῖς θρησκείαις πολὺ πλῆθος Ελλήνων, καὶ ἐκείνους τρόπῳ τινὶ μοῖραν αὐτῶν πεποίηντο. †NT. Act. 15, 1. 16, 1 seq. JOSEPH. Ant. 20, 2, 4, Izates is circumcised. TACIT. Histor. 5, 5. NT. Act. 13, 43. 50. 17, 4. 17. 18, 7. JOSEPH. Ant. 14, 7, 2 Пávтwv τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην Ἰουδαίων καὶ σεβομένων τὸν θεόν. Bell. Jud. 2, 18, 2 Τοὺς ἰουδαίζοντας εἶχον ἐν ὑποψία. here the case of the Emperor Alexander Severus, who seriously thought of erecting a temple to the new god Christus.* With respect to the god of the Jews, the Greeks called him Iao ('Iu, rarely 'Iáw, a word representing approximately the pronunciation of in the first century before Christ), and regarded him as one of the many gods of the universe. There is no evidence that they identified him with any of their known gods. Thus, Diodorus of Sicily, in speaking of the Jews, says that Moses, their lawgiver, received his laws from the god Iao,† so called. It would seem further that heathen magicians made use of 'Ia in their incantations, together with other appropriate divinities. Strabo's knowledge on the subject of the Hebrew god was very imperfect. He asserts that Moses taught the Jews that god was identical with nature; that is, he makes the greatest of the Jewish prophets a teacher of pantheism. § Josephus, however, in his fabulous account of the miraculous translation of the Hebrew books into Greek, represents a learned Alexandrian as saying to Ptolemy Philadelphus that the god of the Jews was identical with the Hellenic Zeus. And in an oracle forged by some Judaizing Greek, Tao, the most high god, appears as Aïdes or Hades in the winter, as Zeus in the spring, as Helios (Sun) in the summer, and as Iacchus in the autumn. This is another species of pantheism. But who is the Lady Queen of the inscription? Were we to adopt the practice of the most popular interpreters of the Bible, namely, to transfer the floating notions of the present day to the past, we should at once affirm that she can be no other than the Virgin Mary. This, * LAMPRIDIUS, Alex. Sever. 29 In larario suo (in quo . . . Christum, Abraham, et Orpheum et hujusmodi deos habebat). Ibid. 43 Christo templum facere voluit eumque inter deos accipere. † DIOD. 1, 94. † INSCR. 5858, 6, Δαίμονες καὶ πνεύματα . . . . ἐξορκίζω ὑμᾶς τὸ ἅγιον ὄνομα Ἰαῶ . . . ὁ τῶν ὅλων βασιλεὺς ἐξεγέρθητι [καὶ] ὁ τῶν φθιμένων βασιλεὺς · μετὰ τῶν καταχθονίων θεῶν. See also IREN. 1, 4, 1. { STRAB. 16, 2, 35 Εἴη γὰρ ἂν τοῦτο μόνον θεὸς τὸ περιέχον ἡμᾶς κ.τ.λ. | MACROBIUS, 1, 18 Φράζεο τῶν πάντων ὕπατον θεὸν ἔμμεν Ιάω, Χείματος μέν τ' Αίδην, Δία δ ̓ εἴαρος ἀρχομένοιο, Ηέλιον δὲ θέρευς, μετοπώρου δ ̓ ἁβρὸν 'Iáw. The last word is obviously a mistake. The true reading seems to be "Iakɣov, the god of autumn when wine begins to be abundant. Lobeck's emendation "Adwviv is not tenable. |